JUST POLITICS
Cullen Comes Up With ACC Double Dipping Solution
NZ’s Starlink Corn Safeguards Insufficient
Brownlee Sets Sights On Education Red Tape
Child Violence Victim’s Protection Amendment
Maori IT Education Awards
Goff Talks To The Commonwealth
Students’ Summer Of Steve
Treasury’s Economic Slowdown Warning

POLITICS FROM TOP SCOOPS
Scoop Is In The House: Today’s Q&A
Sludge Report: Learn The Political Power Of Magnanimity
Spouse House Stoush: Mallard Simmers Down
Further Smears On NZ Meat Outrages Sutton
NZ Finally Gets Out of The Gulf
Questioning The Questioners

JUST POLITICS

Cullen Comes Up With ACC Double Dipping Solution

- ACC is putting a system in place to allow businesses that were double billed in the transition from payment of premiums in arrears to payment in advance to seek redress. See... Cullen Deals With ACC Double Billing [1] and Nine Months Persistence With ACC Pays Off- FF [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00323.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0103/S00135.htm

NZ’s Starlink Corn Safeguards Insufficient

- Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley today said that New Zealand was not doing anywhere near enough to keep an unapproved genetically engineered Starlink corn out of the country. See... Kiwi Controls On Rogue GE Corn Still Inadequate [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00319.htm

Brownlee Sets Sights On Education Red Tape

- National will be fighting every step of the way the Government's plans to prescribe a one-size-fits-all regime to all schools, National's Education spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said today. See... Red Tape Regime For Schools Opposed [1] and Quick-Fix Solution Not Good Enough [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00317.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00325.htm

Child Violence Victim’s Protection Amendment

- The Green Party will today be introducing a supplementary order paper on the Taxation (Beneficiary Income of Minors) Bill to protect money set aside for children exposed to domestic violence. See... Green Tax SOP Protects Funds For Kids [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00316.htm

Maori IT Education Awards

- The Associate Minister of Education, the Hon Parekura Horomia said information technology, if handled properly, could reduce inequalities and raise Maori student achievement across the entire curriculum. See... Te Hiringa i Te Mahara Excellence Awards [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00314.htm

Goff Talks To The Commonwealth

- Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff has expressed New Zealand's concern about events in Fiji and Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth's watchdog on democracy, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). See... Goff Voices Concerns Over Fiji & Zimbabwe [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00312.htm

Students’ Summer Of Steve

- Employment Minister Steve Maharey has yet again attempted to spin success out of abject failure, ACT Social Welfare Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today. See... Summer of Steve: No ‘Real Jobs’ [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00307.htm

Treasury’s Economic Slowdown Warning

- Treasury has warned that the slowdown in global economic growth will have a material impact on the New Zealand economy, National's Finance spokesman Bill English said today. See... Treasury warns of lower growth [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00294.htm

TOP SCOOPS

Scoop Is In The House: Today’s Q&A

- Today's questions of the day concerned: Foot and Mouth – ACC Double Payments - Beehive Timber – Health Research Decisions (Peter Davis) – NCEA Compromise - Saltmarsh Mosquitoes – Pharmac Inquiry Costs – Police Cars - Air Force Resignations - Home Detention. See... SCP HOUSE: Questions Of The Day – 20 March [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0103/S00139.htm

Sludge Report: Learn The Political Power Of Magnanimity

- Listening to today’s morning political radio interviews, on the day after Helen Clark offered her truce on house spousal mudslinging, Sludge has been astonished to see how little politicians appear to understand the political value of magnanimity. See... Sludge Report #55 – Magnanimity Vs Sanctimony [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0103/S00134.htm

Spouse House Stoush: Mallard Simmers Down

- "Peter Davis is a good friend of mind. Last week he was attacked. I was incensed. I made some comments which were inappropriate. I made comments about Mary English which were incorrect. I know that her heart is in the right place. I apologise." See... SCP HOUSE: Spouse House Stoush - Mallard Apology [1] . EARLIER: PM Calls For Truce In Spouse House Wars [2] Full Coverage: - Wyatt Creech - PM's bid for moral high-ground lacks credibility [3] - English & Bradford - MPs Spouses Seek Legal Advice [4] - Bill English - Clark's truce call rings hollow [5] - Wyatt Creech - Transparency needed over $750,000 research grant [6] - Winston Peters - Clark Response Highlights Labour Hypocrisy [7] - Health Research Council - Health Research Assessment Process Eliminates Bias [8]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0103/S00138.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0103/S00129.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00305.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00318.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00309.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00293.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00306.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0103/S00071.htm

Further Smears On NZ Meat Outrages Sutton

- New Zealand was fed-up with its disease-free status being maligned by other countries, Acting Biosecurity Minister Jim Sutton said today. See... Government outrage at foot and mouth claims [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00311.htm

NZ Finally Gets Out of The Gulf

- The Government withdrawing New Zealand's contribution to the American-led coalition in Kuwait further distances this country from our defence partners, National's Defence and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Max Bradford said today. See... Government pulls NZ from defence coalition [1] . See also… Greens support Clark on withdrawal from Kuwait [2] .

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00308.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00302.htm

Questioning The Questioners

- The Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today said that he would be conducting a survey of TVNZ journalists and commentators today at 1:00 pm on Parliament’s steps regarding their salaries, perks and clothing allowances. See... Peters To Hold Survey Of TVNZ Journalist Salaries [1] and Re: TVNZ's 6pm News: Allowances And Perks [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00321.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0103/S00322.htm

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

CONTACT ALASTAIR THOMPSON

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