Why walk to opposition wilderness?

The Maori Party’s opponents were very keen for it to walk out on its coalition agreement with National.

But difficult as coalitions and the compromises it requires can be, the party knows where it can achieve most:

This week in the clearest statement she has made on why the Maori Party will not walk away from its coalition agreement with National, Turia (who many regard as the true leader of the Maori Party) said: “Why would we jeopardise the greatest opportunity Maori have ever had to benefit from political influence by abdicating our responsibilities and disappearing into the crowded wasteland of the opposition?”

In this single sentence she encapsulated what she thinks the Maori Party can achieve in alliance with National, but also her distaste for what she calls “the Labour House” where she says, when she was in it, she “had huge difficulty in learning by rote the key lines of the day.” She says the Maori Party contributions at Cabinet Committees have a free and frank flavour which leaves little room for doubt “if we have concerns.” She says “just as importantly we acknowledge the compromises made in our favour: the transformation across all sectors through Whanau Ora, and the increased priority given to addressing poverty and a range of social issues.”

Labour had the Maori seats sewn up for so many years it took them, and Maori, for granted.

National showed respect for the party after the 2008 election by inviting it into coalition when it didn’t need to.

Yesterday, the government completed the third reading of the Ngai Tāmanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill during which Tariana Turia struggled with tears .

Three other settlements were also finalised and several MPs made Facebook entries saying how moving the waiata from the gallery were.

Sporting success good, business success . . . ?

Tomorrow the Olympic Games open. We’ll all be hoping our athletes do well and celebrating their success.

Today the NBR publishes its Rich List and the success it represents is less likely to be celebrated.

After more than a quarter of a century, the NBR Rich List 2012 still draws a variety of strong reactions, many of them negative.

My description last year that we should treat those successful in business as “national treasures” was especially controversial.

It would appear many New Zealanders – probably even a majority – object to wealth, even though by world standards this country’s levels of prosperity are modest indeed…

Few are wealthy because of luck, most earn it. Financial fitness is at least as much a result of ability and hard work as physical fitness.

This year’s list shows that investments in property and natural resources have paid off:

Those who have invested in natural resources or high-growth companies have seen their wealth increase dramatically, while those in the more traditional sectors have found the value of their businesses drop or remain static in a world still in the grip of subdued consumer spending. . .

The list also introduces an international section in recognition of the globalisation of wealth:

These new members have invested parts of the their fortunes in New Zealand or have substantial assets that give them residency rights.

The assets are both for business and pleasure.

To these we have added some of the richer New Zealand-born expatriates, who have created billion-dollar fortunes overseas and do not have this country as their primary residence. . .

At least some of this will count as foreign investment to which the xenophobes show such antipathy.

But New Zealand is richer because of the inward investment and also through the philanthropic activities of the investors.

These people don’t seek medals. But just as watching elite athletes might encourage the less active amongst us to exercise more,  financially successfully people can be role models who provide positive examples and their achievements should be celebrated.

 

 

 

July 27 in history

1054  Siward, Earl of Northumbria invaded Scotland to support Malcolm Canmore against Macbeth of Scotland, who usurped the Scottish throne from Malcolm’s father, King Duncan. Macbeth was defeated at Dunsinane.

1214 Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France defeated John of England.

1302  Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines, opened up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.

1549 Jesuit priest Francis Xavier’s ship reached Japan.

1663 The English Parliament passed the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies had to be sent in English ships from English ports.

1689  Glorious Revolution: Battle of Killiecrankie ended.

1694  A Royal Charter was granted to the Bank of England.

1720  The second important victory of the Russian Navy – the Battle of Grengam.

1768 Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat who killed Jean-Paul Marat, was born (d. 1793).

1778  American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fought to a standoff.

1794  Maximilien Robespierre was arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 “enemies of the Revolution”.

1824 Alexandre Dumas, fils, French author, was born (d. 1895).

1862 The SS Golden Gate caught fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.

1866  The Atlantic Cable was  completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.

1870 Hilaire Belloc, English writer, was born (d. 1953).

1880  Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – Afghan forces led by Ayub Khan defeated the British Army.

1882  Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer, was born (d. 1965).

1914  Felix Manalo registered the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government.

1916  Elizabeth Hardwick, American literary critic and novelist, was born (d. 2007).

1919  The Chicago Race Riot erupted after a racial incident on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.

1917 The Allies reached the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.

1921  Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1928  Tich Freeman became the only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before the end of July.

1929 Jack Higgins, British novelist, was born.

1940 The animated short A Wild Hare was released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

1941  Japanese troops occupied French Indo-China.

1944 Bobbie Gentry, American singer and songwriter, was born.

1949 – Maureen McGovern, American singer, was born.

1949 – Robert Rankin, English novelist, was born.

1949  Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1953  Korean War endeed: The United States,  China, and North Korea, signed an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, refused to sign but pledged to observe the armistice.

1955  The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ended.

1958 Christopher Dean, English figure skater, was born.

1963 Pioneeer aviator George Bolt died.

1964 Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers were sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

1968 Cliff Curtis, New Zealand actor, was born.

1969 Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer, was born.

1974  Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.

1976  Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka was arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.

1981  On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow married Deirdre Langton.

1983  Black July: 18 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.

1987 RMS Titanic, Inc. began the first expedited salvaging of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

1990  The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declared independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union.

1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen staged a coup d’état attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying Parliament and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson, most of his Cabinet, and the staff at the television station hostage for 6 days.

1995  The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C..

1996  Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, Georgia, a pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Alice Hawthorne was killed, and a cameraman had a heart attack fleeing the scene. 111 were injured.

1997  Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.

2002  Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashed during an air show at Lviv, killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

2006  The Federal Republic of Germany was deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it was illegal to outsource flight surveillance.

2007  Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from television stations KNXV and KTVK collided over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase; there were no survivors.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Refocillate– to refresh, reanimate, revive, comfort.

John Wilson Fonterra’s chair-elect

Fonterra board member  John Wilson,is to succeed Sir Henry van der Heyden as the company’s chair.

Mr Wilson is a previous Chairman of the Co-operative’s Shareholders’ Council. John lives on his family dairy farm near Te Awamutu and also manages a dairy farming business in South Canterbury. He is the Chairman of South Auckland Independent Testing Society Ltd and a director of Turner & Growers Ltd.

“Over the past two years the Board has been working through a considered and disciplined process to appoint a Chairman Elect and ensure the succession plan we have is in the best interest of the Co-operative,” says Sir Henry.

“John and I will work together over the next few months to assist with a smooth transition to provide continuity for the Co-operative.”

The announcement has been welcomed by Federated Farmers Dairy Section chair Willie Leferink who said:

. . . John will be in charge of taking the world’s fourth largest dairy company forward in its second decade of life. This includes delivering to shareholders and unit holders, everything promised from Trading Among Farmers (TAF) and the strategy refresh.

“The immediate priority for John, during the transition phase, is to put to bed Fonterra’s constitution in November so we can all move forward. . . “

The passing of the DIRA legislation this week ushers in a new era for Fonterra.

It has grown considerably under Sir Henry’s leadership. Reducing the redemption risk should help the company continue to grow and prosper which will be good for its suppliers and the country.

Electoral law needs tightening

Police have  concluded that there is  insufficient evidence to consider a prosecution of then-mayoral candidate John Banks for an offence under section 134(1) of the Local Electoral Act 2001.

This follows complaints about returns filed relating to donations from Sky City Casino, Mr Kim Dotcom and a radio advertising donation to the 2010 Auckland Super City mayoralty campaign of Mr Banks.

The inquiry has established the return was compiled by a campaign volunteer who assured Mr Banks it was accurate before Mr Banks signed and transmitted the return.

The 2010 election was 20 months ago so even if there was evidence it would be too late.

In terms of Section 134 (2) of the Local Electoral Act relating to transmitting a false return there is a statutory limit of six months from the time of elections when complaints must be laid. Police first received the complaint for investigation on 27 April 2012, well after the expiry of six month period. Police are therefore unable to consider charges pursuant to Section 134 (2).

The case has done nothing to improve Banks’ reputation.

It has also shown that local body electoral law is looser than it ought to be and is in need of tightening.

Thursday’s quiz

1. Who said: “Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.“?

2. Who wrote, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?

3. It’s too easy in French, genitori  in Italian, padres in Spanish and in matua  in Maori, what is it in English?

4.  What is the current period of paid parental leave in NZ?

5. Which is your favourite Margaret Mahy book?

P.S. After last week’s premature post, I’ve checked and am sure today is Thursday, all day.

MP challenges city to say yes

Dunedin has joined some other councils in calling moratorium on fracking – hydraulic fracturing.

National MP Michael Woodhouse, has responded by challenging the city to say yes.

He’s calling on Dunedin’s city leaders to publicly state their support for oil and gas exploration as long as environmental risks can be managed.

Speaking in yesterday’s General Debate he compared the national GDP per capita of $46,000 with that of Taranaki where the GDP per capita is $88,000.

In that province agriculture, tourism and oil and gas exploration co-exist. The latter adds significantly to the economic and social benefits without environmental problems.

Do the maths

Quote of the day:

. . . Let me run the maths past the member. There were a touch over a million New Zealanders who voted for the National Party at the most recent general election, where front and centre stage was this policy, and last weekend 79 protestors turned up to oppose it. And 1 million is greater than 79. If the member cared enough about it, he would have gone out in the rain and protested, but he was tucked up in his warm, insulated—thanks to the National Government— house, reading some leftie magazine he enjoys, instead of being out there protesting with the other 79. Prime Minister John Key

No-one pretends that all the people who voted for National supported everything on which the party campaigned.

But Labour made sure that the sale of a minority of shares in a few state owned companies was a big election issue and many people still voted National in spite of it if not because of it.

 

Speakers lets sun shine on access

Proving once more that sunlight is a good disinfectant, Speaker Lockwood Smith has released a list of members of the public who hold access cards to Parliament:

Dr Smith said that members of the public were only given approved visitor status if they had been security cleared and agreed to their names being public.

“The benefit of being an approved visitor is that the person does not have to be security screened each time he or she comes to Parliament. Instead, an approved visitor can access the public areas of Parliament through a security cleared entrance”, said Dr Smith.

 CARD HOLDERS

Name	Organisation
Nicholas Albrecht	Vector
Tim Clarke	Russell McVeagh
Peter Conway	Council of Trade Unions
Daniel Fielding	Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
Charles Finny	Saunders Unsworth
Helen Kelly	Council of Trade Unions
Tony O’Brien	Sky TV
Phil O’Reilly	Business NZ
Leigh Pearson	L.A. Pearson Limited
Barrie Saunders	Saunders Unsworth
Mark Unsworth	Saunders Unsworth
Jordan Williams	Franks & Ogilvie
Rasik Ranchord	Parliamentary Breakfast Group
Philippa Falloon	Former MP’s spouse
Lady Jane Kidd	Former MP’s spouse

July 26 in history

657  Battle of Siffin.

811  Battle of Pliska; Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I was slain, his heir Stauracius was seriously wounded.

920 Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.

1309  Henry VII was recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.

1469  Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor – Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.

1581 Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.

1745  The first recorded women’s cricket match took place near Guildford,.

1758  French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg ened with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opened in south London.

1822  José de San Martín arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet Simón Bolívar.

1847 Liberia declared independence.

1856 George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Laureate, was born (d. 1950).

1861 American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumed command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.

1863 American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid ended –  Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers were captured by Union forces.

1865 New Zealand’s parliament moved from Auckland to Wellington.

1875  Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, was born  (d. 1961).

1878 Poet and American West outlaw calling himself “Black Bart” made his last clean getaway when he stole a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box was found later with a taunting poem inside.

1882 Premiere of Richard Wagner‘s Parsifal at Bayreuth.

1882 The Republic of Stellaland was founded in Southern Africa.

1887 Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement.

1890 In Buenos Aires, the Revolución del Parque forced President Juárez Celman’s resignation.

1891  France annexed Tahiti.

1894 Aldous Huxley, English-born author, was born (d. 1963).

1895 Jane Bunford, Britain’s tallest-ever person, was born (d. 1922).

1897  Paul Gallico, American author, was born  (d. 1976).

1908  United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issued an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).

1909 – Vivian Vance, American actress, was born (d. 1979).

1922 Blake Edwards, American film director, was born.

1928  Gisborne-born Tom Heeney took on Gene Tunney for the world heavyweight title in front of 46,000 spectators at Yankee Stadium, New York. Although he was defeated, his title bid aroused tremendous interest in both New Zealand and the US.

1928 Stanley Kubrick, American film director, was born (d. 1999).

1936 Mary Millar, English actress, was born(d. 1998).

1936  The Axis Powers decided to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

1936  King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicated the throne, officially unveiled the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

1937  End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.

1939 John Howard, 25th Prime Minister of Australia, was born.

1941 In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.

1943 Mick Jagger, English singer (The Rolling Stones), was born.

1944  World War II: Soviet army entered Lviv,  liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jewish survivors left, out of 160,000 prior to Nazi occupation.

1944 – The first German V-2 rocket hit Great Britain.

1945 Helen Mirren, English actress, was born.

1945  The Labour Party won the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.

1945  The Potsdam Declaration was signed.

1945 The US Navy cruiser Indianapolis arrived at Tinian with the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

1946 Aloha Airlines began service from Honolulu International Airport.

1947  Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act into law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.

1948  U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.

1949 Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen), was born.

1950 Susan George, English actress, was born.

1952 King Farouk of Egypt abdicated in favor of his son Fuad.

1953 Fidel Castro led an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks beginning the Cuban Revolution.

1953  Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle ordered an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek – the Short Creek Raid.

1956  Following the World Bank’s refusal to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.

1957  Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, was assassinated.

1958 Explorer 4 was launched.

1959 Kevin Spacey, American actor, was born.

1963  Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.

1963 – Earthquake in Skopje, Macedonia left 1100 dead

1964 Sandra Bullock, American actress, was born.

1965  Full independence was granted to the Maldives.

1966  Lord Gardiner issued the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House was not bound to follow its own previous precedent.

1968 Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu was sentenced to five years hard labour for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.

1971   Apollo 15 launched.

1973 Kate Beckinsale, British actress, was born.

1974  Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis formed the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.

1975 Formation of a military triumvirate in Portugal.

1977 The National Assembly of Quebec imposed the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.

1989 A federal grand jury indicted Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

1994 Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the removal of Russian troops from Estonia.

1999 Cessation of combat activities after the Kargil War; celebrated as Kargil Vijay Diwas in India.

2005   STS-114 Mission – Launch of Discovery, NASA’s first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.

2005  Mumbai received 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days.

2005  Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader, was released after spending 11 years in a solitary confinement.

2007 – Shambo, a black cow in Wales that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, was slaughtered due to a bovine tuberculosis infection, causing widespread controversy.

2008 – 56 people were killed and over 200 people were injured in 21 bomb blasts in Ahmedabad bombing in India.

2009 – The militant Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram attacked a police station in Bauchi, leading to reprisals by the Nigeria Police Force and four days of violence across multiple cities.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Coterminous – having the same or coincident boundaries; coextensive in scope or duration; a suppplemental loan with a maturity that is the same as the senior, or original, loan.

Rural round-up

Alliance expands greenhouse measuring programme:

Alliance Group is expanding a green-house gas monitoring programme to all of its suppliers after a successful trial.

The meat co-operative introduced the web-based Hoofprint programme late last year and tested it with farmers supplying meat for Sainsbury’s supermarket chain in the UK.

It’s a software system that farmers can use to measure and monitor agricultural greenhouse gases associated with beef and lamb production on their farms and improve their productivity. . .

Lean manufacturing helps Tru-Test Group become first to achieve NZQA certification:

Tru-Test Group is bucking the trend towards outsourcing manufacturing to lower-cost economies overseas. The world leader in electric fencing, milk metering and animal weighing and recording, has chosen to keep more than 80 per cent of its production in Auckland.

Reflecting this commitment to the local market, Tru-Test Group has become the first New Zealand company to achieve a New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) Level 2 Certificate in Competitive Manufacturing for its entire production and stores staff.

The NZQA qualification allows factory operators to become actively involved in developing systems that improve productivity and quality. . .

Beef + Lamb NZ has photos and presentations from the Red Meat Sector conference here.

Among them are:

Opening address – Wayne McNee, Director general of Minsitry of Primary Industry.

NZ political environment  – Colin James.

The International Meat Industry – an update  – Murray Johnston General Manager Merchandise  Progressive Enterprises

An Australian perspective – market development, access and outlook – Scott Hansen, Director, Meat & Livestock Australia

Domestic trends and measuring progress against the Red Meat Sector Strategy  –  Rob Davison, Executive Director Economic Service, Beef + Lamb New Zealand

Best practice implementation – tertiary institutions, crown research institutes and industry working together – Dr Andrew West, Vice-Chancellor, Lincoln  University

Dairy sector – best practice in action – Dr Mark Paine, Strategy Investment Leader for People & Business, Dairy NZ

And from Facebook:

#Songs from the South Island

Twitter has a whatever things are called on Twitter on songs from the South Island.

Among them are:

Bluff the Magic Dragon; Stairway to Blenheim; You Picked A Fine Time to Leave Me Mosgiel; Wake Me Up Before Otago; Sgt Peppers Lonely Hast Club Band; If I had a Hamner; Hazy Shade of Winton; Sumner Nights;  Fraction Too Much Picton; Stuck in Middlemarch With You; Shine On You Crazy Diamond Harbour; I See Red-Zone; and Mull of Rakaia.

Hat Tip: Today Is My Birthday

Without them we’d be Greece

Quote of the day:

Every week we borrow from the savings of hardworking Swiss, Germans and Chinese so we can keep consuming.  New Zealand would be another Greece without those who get up in the morning and milk the cows; those who take the milk, process it, and sell powder to the world.

In the year to December 2011, dairying generated almost 13 billion in exports – it accounts for about 25 per cent of our exports.  Dairy exports help close our current account deficit and that means lower borrowing costs for all business.

The ACT Party stands with the productive; the wealth creators.  Yes a tiny minority of dairy farmers ignore their responsibility not to pollute local waterways.  But the vast bulk of farmers are keen on a clean environment.

To damn a whole industry as ‘dirty dairying’ because of a tiny minority – as some in this House do – is just ignorant.

Members of Parliament should be deeply grateful for dairying – it keeps the lights on in this place. . .  John Banks.

From boom to ?

Farmer confidence is down in the latest Federated Farmers survey.

“In January, the mid-way point for the 2011/12 season, farmer confidence in their profitability was strong. This has gone fully into reverse gear with most farmers now expecting farm profitability will worsen over the coming year,” says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President.

“While a drop in sentiment was expected its size wasn’t. The 2011/12 season was probably one of the best in recent times for dairy, meat and wool and would be near impossible to top. Instead of a slight easing, farmer confidence has found the trap door and jumped right in.

“The past few months have seen large falls in commodity prices, with the June 2012 ANZ World Commodity Price Index down 12.3 percent from January. The Exchange rate has not fallen to the same extent so has eaten into farmgate returns.

“As farmers are exporters, the European sovereign debt crisis has been extremely negative on sentiment. That comes on top of weak growth out of Japan and the United States.

“As the global economy is on the edge, questions remain if China’s high rates of growth can be sustained. Recent Chinese economic news has not been rosy as China is dependent on exports to an anaemic West. Meanwhile Australian growth, like our own, hinges on China.

“This is the backdrop for farmers at the start of the 2012/13 season. We aren’t alone because our survey reflects a general pessimism among the wider business community.

“The $64,000 question for all farmers is whether prices will fall further? We are all keeping a wary eye on the global economy and frankly, we don’t like what we are seeing.

At the National party conference last weekend Finance Minsiter Bill English spoke of the black cloud of the Global Financial Crisis which is still on the horizon.

We’re a trading nation and what happens in the rest of the world will affect us.

If our customers aren’t doing well they will either buy less of our produce or be able to pay less for it, either way it will impact on export income and farmers’ balance sheets.

“That New Zealand is ‘less bad’ when compared to Europe and North America, provides cold comfort when our Dollar is kept artificially high because of it.

“While dairy production in the United States, the world’s third largest dairy exporter, will be hit hard by drought the culling of dairy cows there may increase the supply of beef. In the short term that could soften demand for our beef.

“We cannot anticipate what the weather has in store for New Zealand either; especially in areas that rely on plentiful rainfall without much water storage and irrigation infrastructure.

“Most farmers seem to be hoping they can continue to increase production. It won’t come as a surprise that farmers are also looking to reduce on-farm spending too.

“Lower spending will have an impact on the local, regional and especially, the national economy. This partly explains farmer pessimism about the general economy.

“Despite a negative outlook many farmers still expect to reduce debt, although worsening profit expectations appear to be putting a brake on deleveraging.

“Reserve Bank statistics indicates agricultural debt has started to rise; at the end of May it was up 2.6 percent on the same point last year at $47.9 billion. Debt needs to be put into context because the primary industries are a growing part of the New Zealand economy.

“Farmers across the board continue to perceive the farm labour market as tight and getting tighter.

The last couple of seasons have been good ones for farming but anyone who’s been in the industry for long knows that prices that go up also come down.

We’ve had the boom but most shouldn’t be facing bust.

Prices for our produce are almost certain to be lower in the coming season but most farmers have been paying off debt and keeping a tight rein on costs which should help most weather whatever the new season delivers.

The survey is here.

This is why we need a threshold

One of the questions under consideration in the review of MMP is what the threshold should be to allow a party to enter parliament, or whether there should be a threshold at all.

This is why there should be a threshold and why the threshold for registering as a party should be higher:

TV star and comedian Ben Boyce has been discharged without conviction for a botched fake pilot stunt which was condemned by the aviation industry and Prime Minister John Key. 

 The former Pulp Sport star was discharged, alongside The Rock host Bryce Casey and TV producer Andrew Robinson at the Manukau District Court today. . .

The trio were charged with providing false information in an attempt to gain access to a secure area after a skit for the TV3 series WannaBen in September 2011 went wrong.

This is the Ben of the Bill and Ben Party which gained .56% of party votes in the 2008 election.

With no threshold he could have been in parliament.

Having a threshold is no guarantee against idiots gaining seats and power.

But having a higher hurdle to jump before being able to register as a political party and a threshold of at least 5% does make it harder and gives some protection against the plague-on-all-their-houses votes inflicting this sort of accidental MP on the country.

July 25 in history

285 Diocletian appointed Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.

306 Constantine I was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.

864 The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald ordered defensive measures against the Vikings.

1139  Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León declared after the Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, were defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.

1261  The city of Constantinople was recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.

1536  Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search for El Dorado founded the city of Santiago de Cali.

1547 Henry II of France was crowned.

1567 Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.

1593  Henry IV of France publicly converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.

1603 James VI of Scotland was crowned bringing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into personal union.

1722 The Three Years War began along the Maine and Massachusetts border.

1755  British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council ordered the deportation of the Acadians.

1758 Seven Years’ War: the island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia was silenced and all French warships destroyed or taken.

1788 Wolfgang Mozart completed his Symphony number 40 in g minor (K550).

1792 The Brunswick Manifesto was issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French Royal Famiy was harmed.

1795 The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was laid.

1797 Horatio Nelson lost more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife.

1799 David Douglas, Scottish botanist, was born (d. 1834).

1799 At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.

1814 War of 1812: Battle of Lundy’s Lane.

1837 The first commercial use of an electric telegraph was successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone on 25 July 1837 between Euston and Camden Town.

1853 Joaquin Murietta, the Californio bandit known as “Robin Hood of El Dorado”, was killed.

1861 American Civil War: the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution was passed by the U.S. Congress stating that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

1866 The U.S. Congress passed legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (commonly called “5-star general”). Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank.

1869 The Japanese daimyō began returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.

1894 The First Sino-Japanese War began when the Japanese fired on a Chinese warship.

1898  The United States invasion of Puerto Rico began with U.S. troops led by General Nelson Miles landing at harbour of Guánica.

1907  Korea became a protectorate of Japan.

1908 Ajinomoto was founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovered that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock was monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patented a process for manufacturing it.

1909  Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine, from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

1915  RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker became the first British military aviator to earn the Victoria Cross, for defeating three German two-seat observation aircraft in one day, over the Western Front.

1917 Sir Thomas Whyte introduced the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket 4% and highest 25%).

1920 Telecommunications: the first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast.

1925 Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was established.

1930 Murray Chapple,  New Zealand cricketer, was born (d. 1985).

1934 Nazis assassinated Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

1940  General Guisan ordered the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.

1942  Bruce Woodley, Australian musician (The Seekers), was born.

1942 Norwegian Manifesto called for nonviolent resistance to the Nazis

1943  Jim McCarty, English musician (The Yardbirds), was born.

1943  Benito Mussolini was forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

1944 Operation Spring – one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during WWII:  1,500 casualties, including 500 killed.

1946 Operation Crossroads: an atomic bomb was detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.

1946   Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis staged their first show as a comedy team.

1948  The Australian cricket team set a world record for the highest successful run-chase in Test cricket history in the Fourth Test against England.

1951 Verdine White, American musician (Earth, Wind & Fire), was born.

1953 Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, was born.

1956 Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collided with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sank the next day, killing 51.

1957  Republic of Tunisia proclaimed.

1958 The African Regroupment Party (PRA) held its first congress in Cotonou.

1959  SR-N1 hovercraft crossed  the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.

1965  Bob Dylan went electric as he plug in at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.

1969 Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon declared the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States expected its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense.

1973 Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.

1978 The Cerro Maravilla incident – two young Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed in a police ambush.

1978  Louise Brown, the world’s first “test tube baby” was born.

1981 The invasion of  Hamilton’s Rugby Park by 350 anti-tour demonstrators forced the Springboks-Waikato match to be abandoned.

1983  Black July: 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.

1984  Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a space walk.

1993  Israel launched a massive attack against terrorist forces in Lebanon.

1993 The St James Church massacre in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa.

1994  Israel and Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.

1995 A gas bottle exploded in Saint Michel station in Paris. Eight were killed and 80 wounded.

1996 In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposed Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.

1997  K.R. Narayanan was sworn-in as India’s 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called “untouchable”— to hold this office.

2000  Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashed just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.

2007  Pratibha Patil was sworn in as India’s first woman president.

2010 – Wikileaks published classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Paying to implode

If you’ve ever wanted to demolish something big, here’s your chance to bid for it on TradeMe:

Naylor Love & Ceres NZ, the contractors demolishing 14-storey Radio Network House in Christchurch, have donated this fundraising opportunity for someone to ‘push the button’ to detonate the explosives that will bring the building down, to the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Buildings Fund – http://www.savecanterburyheritage.org.nz  

The current bid is $8050.

Word of the day

Mahy – a word wizard; literary genius; writer with the gift of  scansion and sense of verbal play.