JUST POLITICS
The Latest On Kiwis At The Maralinga Tests
More Dairy Merger Advice Made Public
Business Should Be Concerned About Budget
ACT Will Press For Submissions On GST Tax Grab
CHP Propose A Homemaker’s Allowance
Farmers Welcome Single Food Agency
Air Force Staff Join Brain Drain
Green Amendment Will Call For NZ Housing Strategy
Benefit Loophole To Be Closed
Whitianga Waterways Decision Abuse Of Power

POLITICS FROM TODAY'S TOP SCOOPS
Scoop Is In The House: Today’s Q&A
C.D. Sludge On - And Reaction To - This Morning’s Reserve Bank MPS
Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement
YELASHGATE: Wilson Breached Privilege – Prebble
Hard-ass Smoking Law Changes Anti-business
Free Trade Victim Tally Growing

JUST POLITICS

The Latest On Kiwis At The Maralinga Tests

- The Minister of Veterans' Affairs Mark Burton this afternoon updated Parliament on the information that has been collated to date regarding New Zealand involvement in the British Atomic Test programme in Australia in the 1950s. See... NZ Involvement In Maralinga Atomic Tests [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00325.htm

More Dairy Merger Advice Made Public

- Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton today made public another report to inform the current debate on the proposal to merge New Zealand Dairy Group, Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, and the Dairy Board. See... More Advice On Dairy Merger Published [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00323.htm

Business Should Be Concerned About Budget

- Small and medium sized businesses have every reason to be concerned about their prospects in the run-up to this year's Budget, Opposition Leader Jenny Shipley said during a pre-Budget speech in Auckland this morning. See... Budget Holds Little Hope For Business [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00322.htm

ACT Will Press For Submissions On GST Tax Grab

- ACT Finance spokesman Rodney Hide said today that he will be pushing for the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee to call for submissions on the Government’s last-minute call to make GST payments retrospective. See... ACT Will Press For Submissions On GST Tax Grab [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00319.htm

CHP Propose A Homemaker’s Allowance

- Party Leader Graham Capill has criticised the government’s proposed paid parental leave package as “discriminatory of mothers who have chosen to stay at home with their children and those on low income.” See... PPL Discriminates Against Career Mums [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00079.htm

Farmers Welcome Single Food Agency

- Federated Farmers' Vice President Tom Lambie has welcomed the announcement that Government will set up a new Food Administration Agency to control food safety standards and food exports. See... Federated Farmers Welcomes Single Food Agency [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00078.htm

Air Force Staff Join Brain Drain

- The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is set to save hundreds of millions of dollars by gaining New Zealand pilots as a result of the scrapping of New Zealand's Air Combat Force, ACT Defence Spokesman MP Owen Jennings said today. See... New Zealand's Loss is Australia's $1b Gain [1] and Put Airforce Redundancies On Hold [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00330.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00331.htm

Green Amendment Will Call For NZ Housing Strategy

- Green MP Sue Bradford said today she intends calling for a New Zealand Housing Strategy when the Housing Corporation Amendment Bill is debated through its Committee stages at Parliament. See... Green Amendment Will Call For NZ Housing Strategy [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00329.htm

Benefit Loophole To Be Closed

- Legislation to remove a loophole in New Zealand's social security rules affecting couples where one partner is temporarily in New Zealand has been introduced to Parliament today by Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey. See... New Law To Clarify Benefit Entitlement [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00317.htm

Whitianga Waterways Decision Abuse Of Power

- “The Minister of Conservation’s instruction for Whitianga Waterways to recommence their consent approval process is outrageous and an appalling example of political manipulation to the point where it breaches the law,” says ACT Deputy Leader Ken Shirley. See... Sandra Lee’s Decision An Outrageous Abuse Of Power [1] and Waterways Nightmare Is Property Rights Disaster - Libz [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00316.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00060.htm

POLITICS FROM TOP SCOOPS

Scoop Is In The House: Today’s Q&A

- Today's questions of the day concerned: Yelashgate – Budget – Yelashgate – Medicinal Marijuana - Resource Management Act – Rural Social Services – Health Funding/Hospital Deficits – Solomon Islands – Parental Leave – Intermediate Schools – Smoking In Bars – Dave Morgan. See... SCP HOUSE: Questions Of The Day – 16 May [1] . For yesterday's Q&A see... SCP HOUSE: Questions Of The Day – 15 May [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00096.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00088.htm

C.D. Sludge On This Morning’s Reserve Bank MPS

- It is time to put our dear Dr Don on a steak only diet. In C.D. Sludge’s recent experience Reserve Bank Governor Dr Don Brash has twice now announced weak-kneed 25 point basis cut in interest rates, only hours after the world’s most powerful private capitalist Dr Alan Greenspan has announced rate cuts twice as big for United States borrowers. See... Sludge Report #63 – More Steak Less Vacillation [1] MORE MPS REACTION: - EMA - Slow Action On Interest Rates Holding NZ Back [2] - NZ First - Reserve Bank Makes Right Decision – Peters [3] -Deutsche Bank - RBNZ May Monetary Policy Statement [4] - RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement - May 2001 [5] - ANZ - ANZ Decreases Variable Home Loan Interest Rates [6] - ASB - ASB Bank Reduces Variable Home Loan Interest Rate [7] - WestpacTrust - Westpactrust Matches Reserve Bank Interest Move [8]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00092.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00135.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00326.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00134.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00137.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00133.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00132.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00131.htm

Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement

- We have decided to reduce the Official Cash Rate again, by 25 basis points to 5.75 per cent. See... RBNZ MPS: Overview And Policy Assessment [1] - RBNZ MPS: OCR reduced to 5.75 per cent [2] - RBNZ MPS: Summary Of Economic Projections [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00129.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00128.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00127.htm

YELASHGATE: Wilson Breached Privilege – Prebble

- “There has never been a taxpayer-funded settlement for a defamation by a Prime Minister. The government has never paid money to keep any settlement secret. This agreement gives Mr Yelich $20,000 for the defamation and $35,000 to keep it secret," ACT Leader Hon Richard Prebble said today. See... Breach Of Privilege – Prebble [1] and Privileges Complaint - Shipley [2] EARLIER: - Nats - PM caught red handed over backroom deal [3] - ACT- PM a Risk to Taxpayers, Prebble says [4] - Clark Should Pay Defamation Costs Herself [5] - Govt- Attorney General's statement on defamation action [6]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00321.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00332.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00274.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00273.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00252.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00268.htm

Hard-ass Smoking Law Changes Anti-business

- ACT Internal Affairs Spokesman MP Penny Webster today slammed the Government's moves to ban smoking in bars, saying the move is anti-business, and totally lacks common sense. See... Common Sense Out The Window [1] and and Govt's Double Standards Continue - Nats [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00320.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00328.htm

Free Trade Victim Tally Growing

- The axing of over 80 clothing workers' jobs in Christchurch and Porirua is a direct consequence of successive Governments' free trade policies, the Green Party said today. See... Clothing Workers Victim Of Free Trade Policy [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00318.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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