Journalist gets admission on Solid Energy out OF English

Not as accomplished liar as John Key

Radio NZ Journalist, Guyon Espiner gets an admission out of Bill English

Solid Energy, a company that valued itself at two point seven billion dollars less than four years ago is worth less than nothing now, thanks to this government

English concedes Govt late on Solid Energy

English defends Govt's record over Solid Energy

Solid Energy, a company that valued itself at two point seven billion dollars less than four years ago, is set to go into voluntary administration or worse within days.

But what the heck! New Zealand may lose its democracy, its sovereignty and economy but NZ'ers get a chance to choose a new flag.

Parliament passes law to change flag

Legislation clearing the way for referenda on changing the nation's flag has passed its third and final reading in Parliament.

The Downward spiral of the New Zealand economy - 08/13/2015

$128m down the Solid Energy gurgler

The taxpayer will not get back the millions of dollars it poured into Solid Energy, Finance Minister Bill English says.

Photo: RNZ / Conan Young

Radio NZ.,

13 August, 2015

The State-owned coal miner has been put into voluntary administration so it can keep trading for the next two-and-a-half years.

During that time it will see which assets are profitable and can be old.

Mr English said it was no secret that Solid Energy had faced significant financial hurdles - both from the falling international coal price and its debt burden.

"Any taxpayer value in the company has gone, and the voluntary administration is fundamentally about the ability of the company to keep trading, which is secured and the banks recovering some of their debt from the asset."

Finance Minister Bill English.   Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell

Mr English said the banks were taking a hit and the Government would also not get back any of the $128 million it put into Solid Energy.

"The Government is not in line to recover anything from the sale of the assets, the banks and other creditors as appropriate would be ahead of us."

Labour state-owned enterprises spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove said it was positive workers had some job security for the next couple of years.

"However, the truth is we are where we are because Government ministers failed to react when the coal price moved south - they sat there and they did nothing.

"Other coal companies around the world reacted within days and have survived and are producing and are profitable."

Mr Cosgrove said Solid Energy's woes were not just about the price of coal bottoming out.

"Any fool in that Beehive could have read in the paper that the coal price was heading south back in 2010.

"They should have called in the board and [asked] 'what is plan B', if the board then failed to react, they should have been sacked or they should have changed the statement of corporate intent and directed them."

Green Party Energy spokesperson Gareth Hughes said Prime Minister John Key promised no more asset sales but said it looked like that was exactly what was planned for Solid Energy.

"Well, it looks like we could quite well see parts of Solid Energy been sold off, this could mean equipment is sent overseas to cheaper low-cost mining countries.

"It could mean equipment is moth-balled for potentially decades as we wait for the coal price to increase."

Mr Hughes said the Government needed to come up with economic development and employment strategies for places like the West Coast.

Miners relieved with Solid Energy move

Negative creditwatch for Fonterra

A global credit ratings agency has placed Fonterra on negative creditwatch, citing weakening market conditions.

Radio NZ.,

13 August, 2015

Standard & Poor's said the creditwatch placement reflected its concerns regarding potential weakness in the dairy co-operative's finances given its high debt levels, which came at a low point in the global milk price cycle.

It said the move followed the lower forecast milk price announced by Fonterra last week due to weak demand and surplus supply in the global dairy market.

S&P said Fonterra's debt was at high levels due to a large acquisition and peak capital expenditure, placing downward pressure on its finances.

S&P has placed the co-operative's "A" long-term and "A-1" short-term ratings and its associated debt issues on CreditWatch with negative implications.

Fonterra has responded to the agency's announcement, saying it has taken proactive and positive steps to maintain the financial strength of the co-operative.

"We have continued to exercise financial prudence and discipline in challenging times for dairy globally," chief financial officer Lukas Paravicini said.

The measures included significantly reducing capital expenditure, and that it is now targeting a spend of $500 million in the 2016 financial year, which is $600 million less compared to the 2015 financial year.

Fonterra had set a prudent advance rate payment to its farmers for the current season given the ongoing volatility of global dairy prices, and the company was progressing well with its business transformation, he said.

The measures reinforced Fonterra's sound financial position "and are enabling us to provide support to our farmers during this difficult period of low global dairy prices".

Mr Paravicini said Fonterra's current debt levels were in line with expectations.

"While current global prices are unsustainably low, we take a longer term view of the cyclical nature of the international dairy market and have confidence in the fundamentals for dairy."

Fonterra cut leaves a $3.3b hole in the economy

A string of Bad News Down-Under - 08/01/2015

As I turned the radio on this morning the news was full of bad news - none of it a suprise.

Firstly, the el-Nino was acknowledged (sort of) while climate change was not. 

Concerns over strong El Nino

NIWA fears this year's El Nino may be as bad as 18 years ago, when widespread drought cost the country a billion dollars in lost exports

Radio NZ,

1 August, 2015

The research agency said guidelines indicated a 97 percent chance of the El Niño weather pattern continuing for the next three months, and a 90 percent chance it would continue over summer.

An El Nino typically sees the west wet, and the east very dry.

NIWA fears this years El Nino may be as bad as the one in 1997/98 when there was widespread droughts costing the country about a billion dollars in lost export.

International guidelines indicate a 97 per cent chance of El Niño continuing over the next three months and a 90 per cent chance it will continue over summer.

El Nino typically sees the west of New Zealand wet, and the east very dry.

Niwa's forecaster, Chris Brandolino said it was looking like it could be as significant as the El Nino in the nineties.

"There are some indications it could be a very strong El Nino, it could rival the 97/98 one. It is probably premature to say that for sure, but some of the ingredients for that are in place.

"That is mainly the unusually warm water temperatures east of the date line. That is the fuel which sets off a chain reaction starting with more rainfall. That has a domino effect, which could have consequences for New Zealand.

"A strong El Nino doesn't always mean strong impacts.

"In other parts of the world there is a connection between strong El Nino and strong impacts, in New Zealand we can have strong impacts during a strong or weak El Nino."

There goes our coal industry, the first part of our 'rockstar economy' to go belly-up-  which has been left to collapse under its own steam by the present government.

Solid Energy raises possibility of liquidation

Debt-ridden state-owned enterprise Solid Energy has raised the prospect it could be liquidated.

Radio NZ,

1 August, 2015

In a statement, the company said it had told staff three options were on the table.

"In our staff updates, we have explained that there are three potential paths for the company under consideration - some arrangement that would allow us to trade on, some kind of controlled sell-down, or liquidation," it said.

The statement stressed no final decision had been made, and there was no timeline for doing so.

However, Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) West Coast organiser Garth Elliott said he expected a decision within weeks.

"The rumours did come out earlier this week that the company was going into liquidation, so I called the head of HR and she assured me that the company had not made a decision," he said.

"But I understand within weeks a decision will be made."

Workers attend a meeting about job losses at Stockton Mine in May 2015.

Photo: RNZ / Georgina Stylianou

In April, Finance Minister Bill English ruled out the Government putting more money into the company, which is struggling to service about $320 million of debt.

Mr English would not comment last night.

The Labour Party's spokesperson for state-owned enterprises, Clayton Cosgrove, said the Government had run a company that used to turn a profit into the ground.

He said someone needed to be held to account.

"This potentially has a knock-on effect to other entities like KiwiRail, businesses, suppliers to Solid Energy and it appears the only people paying the price for the incompetence, lack of governmental oversight and mismanagement are the local communities and workers."

The falling coal price has led to Mr English attending regular briefings on Solid Energy's financial state for more than a year and a half.

Its viability was questioned in April after revelations former chair Pip Dunphy quit because she did not believe any more could be done for the company.

Solid Energy has already cut almost 300 jobs at Stockton Mine on the West Coast.

Huge trucks carry high-grade coal at Solid Energy's Stockton Mine in 2009.

And the news that we don't want. The potential to drill for oil 

off our coasts - and for a major oil spill for which there is (and 

can be) no plan

Major oil potential in Canterbury Basin

New Zealand Oil and Gas has flagged a potentially significant oil find off the coast of Canterbury.

Radio NZ,

30 July, 2015

The company said the Barque prospect in the Canterbury Basin contained three prospective formations, which it said had the potential to be the largest hydrocarbon discovery in New Zealand to date.

The energy exploration company said it was still early days, but the Barque prospect appeared promising.

It said the largest of the three formations it had assessed may contain the equivalent of 530 million barrels of oil.

It hopes to drill the site, which is 60 kilometres from shore and between 2500 and 3000 metres below sea level, in 2017.

The company said it was in discussions with potential partners who had significant experience in operating in such environments.

The company also revealed it had assumed control of Australian-based explorer Cue Energy after acquiring a 48 percent holding. It now has three representatives on Cue's five-member board of directors.

The company's quarterly report also showed net operating cash flows of $1.4 million in the June quarter, and $8.6 million for the year.

And in the silent rush to a police state (and fascism) police are now going to carry tasters at all time - the thin edge of the wedge

Tasers policy 'rushed in', says campaigner

A civil liberties campaigner says the move to have front-line officers carry tasers at all times while on duty has been rushed in without public debate.

Radio NZ,

1 August, 2015

Until now, they have only had access to them from lockboxes kept in vehicles.

Barry Wilson, from the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties, said it was a major change in public policy and should have been introduced as a law change only after a proper debate in parliament.

He said there had already been cases where officers had broken protocols and used excessive force with their tasers.

Mr Wilson feared it was a step closer to arming the police with guns.

The roll-out of the new policy began yesterday, though it could be weeks or even months before all front-line officers are carrying tasers.

And the further slide in this country with the corruption and use by the executive for political ends. Our leading investigative journalist gets raided by police while right-wing scumbag blogger, Cameron Slater gets away with theft under plain view and is left untouched by the Law

Response to Dirty Politics claims 'inadequate'

The Labour Party says police's refusal to take further action about allegations made in Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics is deeply unsatisfactory.

Radio NZ,

1 August, 2015

Senior Labour MP David Parker wrote to police in September last year to ask them to look into allegations made in the book, which include the hacking of the party's computer system.

Police responded yesterday with a letter saying the computer breach raised privacy and ethical issues, but there was no evidence of criminal offending.

Labour general secretary Tim Barnett said that response took far too long and was a dismissive way to treat serious allegations.

He said the police closing the case was not the end of the matter for the party, which would be taking further action.

And then there's the TPP and a government that is determined to sell off our democratic rights and our nation's sovereignty for - it seems, NOTHING

Groser should pack up and leave TPP without good dairy deal - but he probably won't

The TPP has the potential to transform the economies of the 12 Asia-Pacific nations - but the devil, as always, is in the fine print.

NZ Herald,

31 July, 2015

It shouldn't take much for Tim Groser to exercise his theatrical talents and tip the chess board over and walk away from the Trans Pacific Partnership talks if New Zealand does not get a decent deal on dairy access.

The ministerial negotiations in Maui are timetabled to finish early this afternoon with a news conference to be screened on YouTube.

But realpolitik dictates that the trade minister and his boss Prime Minister John Key are more likely to opt for a sub-optimal deal rather than walk away empty-handed from the lengthy negotiations. That's because both politicians have invested substantial personal political capital in chalking up a TPP outcome.

New Zealand has a natural interest in getting to the finishing line on a race it started.

The problem is it's quite unclear whether the gains from greater access for New Zealand dairy interests in Asia Pacific markets which are currently heavily protected - such as Canada, Japan and to a lesser extent the US - will offset the impact on some of the country's other economic interests that will inevitably be affected during the TPP trade-offs.

The US did not help the dairy negotiations by withdrawing an offer it previously made to Australia for increased dairy access. The conjecture was that US Government officials could not sell the move if Canada and Japan did not also reduce their dairy barriers.

New Zealand has been playing at brinkmanship in what has been billed as the TPP endgame. But so have the other 11 nations - something which is frequently overlooked. The negotiations are not binary.

When the intention to form the Trans Pacific Partnership was first announced in New York in 2008, former Labour trade minister Phil Goff said New Zealand would pursue a comprehensive and high-quality agreement; this negotiating position was underlined when Groser succeeded him at the 2008 election.

Unsurprisingly, the partnership agreement has since morphed to provide some new rules for the economic integration which is already under way in the Asia Pacific region. But what the United States has billed as a 21st century free trade agreement has become a platform for the other nations to dance to the US playbook when it comes to complex commercial areas like intellectual property. New Zealand has largely gone along with this.

But there is little evidence in the various economic studies that have been published on TPP as to where the upside will be for New Zealand's ICT entrepreneurs and others who are leveraging the digital age.

Cabinet ministers have also not made a strong case for the TPP. It is only now as the endgame is in play that Key has fronted up and said the Government would fund any changes which bump up the prices New Zealand will have to pay for some medicines as a result of the TPP. In the past, Key has obfuscated. Fronting up makes sense when the talks are themselves bedevilled by leaks from parties seeking to overturn particular negotiating lines or advance their own interests.

Groser has had little of substance to say since the talks began.

It was left to New Zealand's agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen to fly a red flag by telling Inside U.S. Trade that the Key Government had signalled it was willing to delay the conclusion of the deal beyond this week's ministerial negotiations. Particularly if pushing the talks out into August would pave the way to securing an acceptable outcome on dairy market access.

The US Trade Representative's office has booked a slot on YouTube for a live news conference from Maui early this afternoon - complete with a live countdown - on the outcome of the TPP negotiations. This is a useful piece of pressure tactics from the US side.

But at the time this column was written there had yet to be a breakthrough on dairy which New Zealand politicians and officials have determined is the major benefit for the country from the negotiations.

The TPP has the potential to transform the economies of the 12 Asia-Pacific nations. It can also help to progress the World Trade Organisation's multilateral negotiations which have essentially been stuck in a groove. But the devil, as always, is in the fine print.

Meanwhile the key factor in the 'rockstar economy' is going to hell in a handbasket. Milk commodithy prices are falling throught the floor and farmers who have borrowed on the promise of everlasting propsperity are faced with going to the wall

Kiwi Dollar Falls As Dairy Prices Plunge At Latest Auction

16 July, 2015

The latest Global Dairy Trade auction was another shocker, the GDT price index dropping by 10.7% from the last sale a fortnight ago and with wholemilk powder prices registering their biggest fall in 12 months Whole milk powder – which is responsible for about 75% of Fonterra’s farmgate milk price – fell in price by 13.1% to US$1,848 a tonne to its lowest level in six years. Fonterra’s current milk price forecast of $5.25 per kg of milksolids for 2015/16 is based on GDT prices reaching about US$3500 a tonne towards the end of this season. Dairy NZ estimates $5.70 a kg to be the breakeven point for most farmers. AgriHQ dairy analyst Susan Kilsby said the auction result was “disastrous”.

“Farmers now face two consecutive seasons of extremely low milk prices,” she said in a commentary. “The majority of farmers can’t breakeven at such a low milk price.” Economists estimate a $1/kg drop in the milk price equates to about $2 billion less income for dairy farmers. “Farm debt levels will rise. Rural communities will suffer as farmers reduce spending to the bare essentials,” Kilsby said. AgriHQ’s theoretical 2015-16 farmgate milk price has decreased to $4.22 per kg milksolids – down 83c on a fortnight ago and $1.27 lower than a month ago. The dairy auction result was responsible for taking around 40 pips off the Kiwi dollar, and the NZ/Australian dollar cross rate dropped to below A89.50c.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=11481405

Focus on New Zealand

There used to be a time when New Zealand never made the foreign media – because we were once a reasonably hormonious and peaceful country, Now New Zealand has been in the headlines on RT, both today and yesterday – and not for any reasons that one would like

New Zealand, like all its anglophone cousins, now has a liberal/corporate fascist government that practises crony capitalism and is destroying what remains of a civil society.

Apart from oil drilling the major threats to the survival of Maui's dolphins are "entanglement in gillnets and capture by inshore trawl fisheries. These are estimated to be responsible for over 95% of all Maui's dolphin mortalities. 

"Other potential threats include boat strike, pollution, mining, oil and gas exploration and activity, accoustic disturbance and coastal development".

New Zealand govt accused of opening world's rarest dolphin's habitat to oil & gas drilling

Maui's dolphin (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

RT,

18 June, 2014

The New Zealand government is insisting that the endangered Maui dolphin is not at risk after it signed off 3,000 square kilometers of a marine mammal sanctuary off the North Island’s west coast for oil and gas drilling

Documents released to the New Zealand Green Party show that the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary, home to the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin, was part of New Zealand’s waters that has been signed off to drill for oil and gas, New Zealand’s 3 News reports.

Documents, seen by 3 News, show that the Department of Conservation had highlighted that 3,000 square kilometers overlap into the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary but the area was still signed off for drilling.

“I think primarily once you go from exploration right through to production, you’re not jeopardizing the wildlife,” said Simon Bridges, the Minister of Energy and Resources.

The co-leader of the Green Party Russel Norman accused Bridges of being happy “to kill some more”dolphins with oil exploration.

But Nick Smith, the Conservation Minister, insisted that the drilling will be taking place “nowhere near where the Maui’s live.”

“There hasn’t been a single observation of a Maui’s dolphin, and the oil and gas industry hasn’t been involved in a single Maui’s dolphin incident in Taranaki over the past 40 years, despite 23 wells being drilled,” Smith told parliament Wednesday.

The Maui’s Dolphin is the world’s rarest and the smallest; there are estimated to be just 55 adults left off New Zealand’s North Island and they are seriously threatened by fishing and disease.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has called on the government to do more to protect the dolphins.

“We need to be doing more to save the last 55 Maui’s dolphins, not exposing them to further risks from seismic surveying for oil exploration. The government’s failure to fully protect Maui’s dolphins from net-fishing across their range is already putting them at risk of extinction,” said Peter Hardstaff, head of campaigns at WWF.

The International Whaling Commission also said it has “extreme concern” about the decline in Maui’s dolphins.

Coverage from the local press

Maui's dolphin sanctuary in oil drilling move - Greens

The Government has opened up for oil drilling more than 3000 square kilometres of a marine mammal sanctuary - home to the critically endangered Maui's dolphin, the Green Party says.

Stuff

18 June, 2014

Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said documents obtained under the Official Information Act showed the Government included more than 3000sqkm of the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the competitive tender for petroleum exploration permits, known as Block Offer 2014.

The area, home to both the Hector's and Maui's dolphins, was declared a sanctuary in 2008 as part of the threat management plan to protect the species.

Last week, the International Whaling Commission published a report slating Nationals' management changes as "inadequate" to stop the Maui's dolphin becoming extinct.

"The International Whaling Commission is calling for even greater protections for Maui's dolphins - this National government is putting these beautiful dolphins at greater risk of extinction," Norman said.

Only 55 Maui's dolphins are thought to remain. They can only be found in New Zealand.

"The Government should stop putting the short-term interest of a few mining companies ahead of the thousands and thousands of New Zealanders who love and want to protect the endangered Maui's dolphin," Norman said.

His comments come as a decision is expected from the Environmental Protection Authority today on whether an iron-sand mining development will be allowed in the same Taranaki waters where the Maui's dolphins are found.

If given the green light the Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) operation would cover an area of 65.76sqkm off of Patea.

TTR proposes to extract up to 50 million tonnes of sediment a year and process it aboard a floating processing storage and offloading vessel.

About 5 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate would be exported.

But Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges today dismissed the Greens' concerns.

"There's negligible effect from petroleum [exploration] on Maui's dolphins," Bridges said, saying there had been no recorded deaths from the industry in 40 years.

About 95 per cent of threats to Maui's dolphins come from fishing, with set nets identified as the biggest threat.

"The Government's got a proud record on Maui's Dolphins," Bridges said.

"We've extended the set-net ban for fishing, and the marine mammal sanctuary area.

"But what the Greens are basically suggesting is that an area that's had petroleum development for over 40 years without incident should be shut down, and that's not correct and I don't think that's what anyone wants."

Bridges said raising concerns about seismic testing was "probably the best point [the Greens] can make", but he claimed there should not be concerns about the process, with a mandatory code of conduct for testing requiring marine experts aboard all vessels.

Information on Maui's dolphins from WWF

Elsewhere, as we have mentioned before, the government is opening up a pristine forest park, Victoria Forest Park, in the South Island.

The minister who signed the deal off had not even heard of the park!

Here is a report from TV3 that has been the only NZ media outlet to give this coverage. Kudos to John Campbell.

Locals speak out on oil drilling in Victoria Forest Park

Rock climber, Duffys Creek, Victoria 
Forest Park

Yesterday it was announced that the Government has opened up more than 3,000 square kilometres of a marine mammal sanctuary for oil and gas exploration.

That decision has prompted questions about which areas are opened up for prospecting, and why?

One area is Victoria Forest Park in the South Island - the man who signed it off was Energy Minister Simon Bridges.

But soon after the announcement it was discovered that Mr Bridges had never even heard of the park.

So what is this forest park like, and is there really any oil?

Reporter Dan Parker travelled to the West Coast to find out how the people who spend time in it feel about the decision to drill.

Watch the full report

Meanwhile the Minister of Conservation (sic) has given the green light to an Australian mining company to start work on a coal mining project despite the fact that coal prices are 'depressed'' internationally and state-owned Solid Energy is heavily in debt and has made more workers redundant and reduced its activity by a quarter

Green light for Denniston mining

Final permission has been given for work to start on a controversial mining project on the Denniston Plateau. Building work could start in two weeks, but it will be smaller than first planned.

Radio New Zealand,

19 June, 2014

Conservation Minister Nick Smith granted an access agreement for Bathurst Resources to build an open-cast coal mine on the West Coast in May last year.

On Wednesday, the Department of Conservation gave the Australian company the go-ahead to start work.

Bathurst Resources will have to reapply with DoC to continue operating the mine after six months, and each year thereafter.

Dr Smith said the company was going to give $22 million over five years to compensate for environmental damage, but that would now be spread over seven years.

Because the international price of coal remains low, Bathurst said it would mine less than a third of the proposed area to begin with and extend to full capacity when the price rises.

The first two years of production has been reduced from 62.2 hectares to 19.3 hectares, and amount of coal extracted reduced from 558 kilotons to 75 kilotons.

Bathursts' managing director Hamish Bohannan said it would begin mining for the domestic market and start exporting when the price of coal is higher.

Mr Bohannan said getting permission for the mine has been a longer process than anticipated. Work is scheduled to begin on 1 July this year.

_{Solid Energy cuts 137 jobs at Stockton Mine}

6 June

Solid Energy has confirmed job cuts at its Stockton Mine on the West Coast, as international coal prices continue to slump.

At a meeting this afternoon, the company confirmed 137 of the mine's 521 jobs will be axed.

It also plans to reduce the number of contractors it employs on-site, shedding around 50 contract jobs, and bring the work in-house for existing staff.

"We are going to lose families, we are going to lose skills and some very good people," says Buller District Mayor Garry Howard. "We really feel for those particular people at the present time."

Solid Energy chief executive Dan Clifford says the mine's production will be reduced by a quarter, from 1.9 million tonnes per annum to 1.4 million in the next financial year.

He blames the losses on a slump in international coal prices, which have fallen from US$330 per tonne in 2011 to US$120 per tonne today.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Solid-Energy-cuts-137-jobs-at-Stockton-Mine/tabid/423/articleID/347409/Default.aspx#ixzz3529PKBjH

As far as this govenment is concerned, forget alternative energy, forget public transport.

All their energy is directed towards helping their friends in the road transport industry.

Crony capitalism at work

National plans to spend billions on roads

National is proposing to spend billions over the next decade on the country's roads, prompting opposition parties to accuse the Government of being stuck in the past.

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has released the Government's draft land transport policy statement, showing an emphasis on the country's road network at the expense of public transport and walking and cycling initiatives.

Brownlee said the proposal continued National's focus on "economic growth and productivity, road safety and value for money".

The $38.7 billion would be spent on building and maintaining roading networks that were "critical" to the country's economic performance, as well as on road safety and walking, cycling and public transport initiatives.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10162805/Opposition-parties-slate-land-transport-plan

Politically, the Labour Party has been engulfed by a new crisis ("a storm in a tea party") which demonstrates how the incumbant fascists are able (with the help of the media) manufacture consent for their criminal, crony capitalist government.

It also demonstrates that Labour is not substantally different from National and that we are increasingly unlikely to see a change of govenment in the coming election which was cunningly announced early by the government to exploit the difficulties of the opposition.

We live in dark times and events will be manipulated to ensure the incumbent government get to further their agenda.

Welcome to liberal/corporate fascism

Poll adds to Labour woes

Subliminal messages: Notice how the New  Zealand Herald places a confident, 'smiling' Key next to an angry Cunliffe

A poor result on a new political poll has added to Labour's woes today.

Labour has dropped six percentage points to 23 per cent in the stuff.co.nz/Ipsos political poll. National rose to 56 per cent - a result that would let them govern without a coalition partner.

The polling took place early in the week before the revelation that David Cunliffe wrote a letter in support of Donghua Liu's residency application in 2003.

The poll showed results for Mr Cunliffe as preferred prime minister slipped two percentage points to 11 per cent, while results for Prime Minister John Key to remain as prime minister rose three points to 51.4 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11277146

Key on Liu-Labour link: More to come

Prime Minister John Key believes the Labour has a lot more than $15,000 in donations from wealthy Chinese political donor Donghua Liu.

He also acknowledged he had known for some weeks that Labour leader David has written a letter supporting Mr Liu's application for residency.

The release of the letter yesterday in the face of denials from Mr Cunliffe that he wrote any such letter has thrown his leadership into crisis.

It followed revelations earlier this week that Mr Liu donated $15,000 to Labour in 2007.

It did not show up in the donations register although that may have been lawful at the time.

A new poll will fuel Labour's crisis, with the Stuff.co.nz/Ipsos poll today recording a 6 point plunge by Labour to 23 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11277098

Meanwhile a very dangerous legal precedent has been set whereby a book on Kim Dotcom, written by a journalist, is deemed not to be journalism - and therefore not subject to laws protecting journalists' sources

Privacy ruling on Dotcom research

The High Court has ruled that research material used for a book about internet businessman Kim Dotcom is not protected by the Privacy Act, because the book is not journalism.

Radio New Zealand,

19 June, 2014

The Crown wants access to research material from a book called The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom as it prepares a court case against the internet businessman.

Normally, journalists' research material is protected from Privacy Act requests, but Justice Winkelmann found the exemption only covers news articles and programmes, not books.

The book's author, David Fisher, says he is astonished by the ruling and worries it will have a chilling effect on journalism.

Media lawyer, Ursula Cheer agrees the Privacy Act has a narrow definition of news.

But she says the ruling only applies to information held about people already involved in court cases.

Justice Winkelmann ruled Kim Dotcom should ask for the research material and, if relevant, supply it to the Crown

More on the political shenannigans

David Cunliffe says he has full caucus support

Beleaguered Labour Party leader David Cunliffe is sure he has the support of his colleagues despite revelations over a letter on behalf of controversial businessman Donghua Liu.

Mr Cunliffe told reporters at Wellington Airport on Thursday morning he had no intention of quitting the leadership, and later told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme he had the full support of his caucus.

"Because media have been asking the question, I double-checked," he said. "We are a unified team and we're going forward to win this election."

Mr Cunliffe said it was technically possible under Labour's constitution that he could be rolled in a caucus-only vote, but he thinks that's unlikely and he won't be putting it to the test.

"The reason for that is people are well aware that that kind of change so close to an election would be extremely damaging to Labour's chances and a lot more people would be worrying about their own place."

It was revealed on Wednesday that Mr Cunliffe wrote to the Immigration Service in 2003 on behalf of Donghua Liu. A day earlier the Labour leader had said he had never advocated on behalf of the Auckland property developer.

But Mr Cunliffe said his electorate office had failed to find the letter and told him he had had no involvement with the businessman. He said the letter made it clear that he did not advocate on Mr Liu's behalf, but simply asked if the businessman could be told how long his application would take.

Mr Cunliffe told Nine to Noon the timing of the release of the letter under an Official Information Act request was "interesting" and that "people were primed to ask questions".

Former party president Mike Williams earlier rejected suggestions that Mr Cunliffe's leadership was now damaged beyond repair, saying the latest reveleation was a storm in a teacup.

"Having said that, it's not a good look and he's been let down by his staff," he told Morning Report.

A Fairfax/Ipsos poll published on Thursday showed a 6 point drop in support for the party, down to 23 percent, compared with National on just over 56 percent. Two major polls at the end of May had the party on about 30 percent support.

Mr Williams said apart from Thursday's poll, Labour had been doing better than at the same time in the last cycle, but if the trend continued in larger polls there could be a panic reaction in caucus and a leadership challenge would be possible.

"If the polls continue around low 20s that will become a possibility because at that point you've got people losing their seats and nothing focuses the mind of an MP more than the thought of losing their seat."

Under Labour Party rules, MPs can vote out a leader without triggering a party-wide contest during a 90-day pre-election period, which begins on Friday.

Some of Mr Cunliffe's senior MPs said he still has their confidence. Former Labour leader Phil Goff said there was nothing wrong with the letter Mr Cunliffe wrote, that he was not doing it for favours, nor was there anything inappropriate. Deputy leader David Parker told reporters Mr Cunliffe had done nothing wrong.

Andrew Little and Nanaia Mahuta have ruled out a change of Labour leadership before the election and Jacinda Ardern told Radio New Zealand Mr Cunliffe has her full confidence and support. Other Labour MPs including Grant Robertson, Trevor Mallard, Annette King have not returned messages or not commented.

'Future rests with caucus'

But the Government said Mr Cunliffe will have a hard time convincing the public his word can be trusted.

Finance Minister Bill English said Mr Cunliffe's future rested with his caucus. Mr English told Morning Report that MPs don't remember everything they do, and the question for Mr Cunliffe's caucus colleagues is whether they believe his explanation or not.

One problem for the Labour Party leader is that he has repeatedly attacked the National Party over its links to Mr Liu, who is due to be sentenced on domestic violence charges in August.

Maurice Williamson was forced to resign as a minister in May this year after it was revealed that he had rung police about the charges Liu faced. As well, the businessman made a substantial donation to National, which prompted accusations of cronynism from Labour.

Prime Minister John Key said Mr Cunliffe would have to decide if he will judge himself by the same standards of accountability he has been so vocal about for government ministers.

John Key said people genuinely make mistakes in politics, but Mr Cunliffe has often not accepted that and has called for the heads of national ministers over similar issues.

Mr Key said even if Mr Cunliffe had initially forgotten the interaction with Liu, he should have investigated better when the matter came under scrutiny.