Scoop: Just Politics

Wednesday, 4 July 2001, 4:10 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

JUST POLITICS
Suing Rapist Highlights Need For Truth In Sentencing
Biosecurity Threats Remain As Campaign Winds Down
Defence Dissonance Driving NZ & Oz Apart
Social Health-O-Meter Misses Dependency Problem
Let’s Have Some Consistency In RMA, Eckhoff Says
Nats Support Light Regulation On Airport Activities
Nature Walk Good For The Blood
Swain Spreads The E-commerce Word In Hamilton

POLITICS FROM TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
Letter From Elsewhere: Dangly Earrings Are Not A Feminist Issue
Burton Leaves Post Board Unchanged
Big News: Keep The Moral Out Of Oral
Locke Petitions PM To Exclude Diplomatic Missions From GCSB Bill
Ken’s Rail Romance Blossoms
Reserve Bank Leaves OCR Unchanged
Sutton Rejects Ministerial Inquiry Into Enza

JUST POLITICS

Suing Rapist Highlights Need For Truth In Sentencing

- The case of a convicted rapist held in jail 'illegally' for 15 months - after two-thirds of his sentence, but still within the ten years the judge handed down - highlights a need for law change, ACT Justice Spokesman MP Stephen Franks said today. See... Criminals Shouldn't Prosper For Serving Time [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00064.htm

Biosecurity Threats Remain As Campaign Winds Down

- The public awareness campaign about the risks of foot and mouth disease is winding up, but the risk of that or many other pests and diseases wreaking havoc in New Zealand is still with us, Biosecurity Minister Jim Sutton says. See... Biosecurity Awareness An Ongoing Need [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00062.htm

Defence Dissonance Driving NZ & Oz Apart

- The relationship between New Zealand and Australia has deteriorated to the point that if nothing is done to repair it, it will dissolve altogether, National's Defence spokesperson Max Bradford told the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs today. See... Australia Drifting Further From NZ [1] . See also Jim Sutton Speech - Institute Of International Affairs [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00059.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00055.htm

Social Health-O-Meter Misses Dependency Problem

- The Social Report 2001 skirts around New Zealand's most serious social problem - that more than three-quarters of a million people are now dependent on the state for their livelihood, ACT social welfare spokesperson Muriel Newman says. See... Report Avoids Issue Of Welfare Dependency [1] and Measuring The Nation's Social Health [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00047.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00031.htm

Let’s Have Some Consistency In RMA, Eckhoff Says

- The Deputy Prime Minister's assurance to the boat industry that the helping hand given to Sovereign Yachts will be 'available to everyone on the same basis' shows Mr Anderton is happy to ride roughshod over the Resource Management Act, Gerry Eckhoff said today. See... RMA Treatment Must Be Fair And Consistent [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00056.htm

Nats Support Light Regulation On Airport Activities

- National has reservations about the need for price controls on airfield activities at Auckland International Airport, National's Transport spokesperson Belinda Vernon said today. See... National Sceptical About Price Control [1] and Com Com Draft Report On Airport Activity [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00065.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00060.htm

Nature Walk Good For The Blood

- Health Minister Annette King says New Zealand is closer to its goal of having the best blood service in the world, but it is still a major challenge to recruit and retain new donors. See... Walk Marks National Blood Donor Week [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00054.htm

Swain Spreads The E-commerce Word In Hamilton

- The Government’s e-commerce strategy took another step forward today with the launch of the ECAT Network in Hamilton. See... Virtual Community Takes E-Commerce Forward [1] and Launch Of Regional E-Commerce Road Show - Swain [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00051.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00052.htm

TOP SCOOPS

Letter From Elsewhere: Dangly Earrings Are Not A Feminist Issue

- As a feminist of thirty years’ standing, I would like to make a short statement. Being able to wear short skirts and long earrings to work is not an inalienable feminist right. It is not even a feminist issue. See... Letter From Elsewhere: Inalienable Feminist Rights [1] . See also... Dangly Earring Craze Snowballing [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0107/S00020.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0106/S00154.htm

Burton Leaves Post Board Unchanged

- The board of New Zealand Post has addressed its internal differences and has provided assurance that it is focused on its job of running a successful government-owned business, the Minister for State Owned Enterprises Mark Burton announced today. See... Resolution Of NZ Post Board Issue [1] EARLIER: - ACT - Stop The Bank Until NZ Post Is Sorted [2] - Auditor-General Must Investigate NZ Post Board [3] - Nats - Government Paralysed By Politics [4] - Armstrong's Immediate Resignation Called For [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00067.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00050.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00022.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00039.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00017.htm

Locke Petitions PM To Exclude Diplomatic Missions From GCSB Bill

- Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Keith Locke today asked Prime Minister Helen Clark to amend Government Communications Security Bureau Bill to specifically exclude Government spy agencies from spying on diplomatic missions in New Zealand. See... Exclude Spying On Foreign Missions From GCSB Bill [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00063.htm

Shirley's Rail Romance Blossoms

- ACT deputy leader Ken Shirley says he enjoyed a return trip from Tauranga to Auckland on the Kaimai Express this week and believes the threatened rail service could be viable if revamped and properly marketed. See... Revamped Kaimai Express Could Be Viable [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00058.htm

Reserve Bank Leaves OCR Unchanged

- As expected by the market and most market economists, the RBNZ left its official cash rate unchanged at 5.75%. The RBNZ issued a short statement - reproduced overleaf - setting out the rationale for this decision. See... NZ: RBNZ leaves OCR at 5.75% [1] EARLIER: - Business NZ - Reserve Bank Could Boost Business Confidence [2] - EMA - Interest Rates Must Be Cut As Economy Stagnates [3] - ACT - Auckland Economy Shrinks by More Than $600 Million [4]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0107/S00043.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0107/S00029.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0107/S00028.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00024.htm

Sutton Rejects Ministerial Inquiry Into Enza

- It was too early to call a ministerial inquiry into the circumstances of ENZA's past losses, Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said today. See... Apple Industry In Crisis: Minister [1] MORE: - Nats - Smith Calls For ENZA Inquiry [2] - ACT - Ministerial Inquiry Needed For Apple Industry [3] - Govt - ENZA past losses - Jim Sutton Statement [4]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00053.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00036.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00032.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00027.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.

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