Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Yesterday Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced New Zealand will support the United Nations Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration after receiving legal advice from Crown Law. We voted for it at the UN overnight along with 149 other countries. Five chose not to vote and we had a handful of nations including the US and Australia who pulled out of the process well beforehand.
Now I agree with the Crown Law summation and it is broadly similar to the editorial I wrote about the Compact three weeks ago. I have said repeatedly there is nothing to fear in the compact. We already comply and if the compact ever compels us to take any migrants against our will and our laws, or supplants our sovereignty, I’ll eat my hat. And I’ll eat yours too.
Speaking about the compact this morning, Winston Peters said there had been unwarranted fear mongering over the thing and he blamed the alt-right. Well, he got that wrong. There were plenty of lefties freaking out too. My thought is that the opponents co-opted the compact as part of their personal political battles against immigration and the UN in general.
But as I said yesterday, my beef with the Government is that they have failed to lead us through the debate. In fact, they just did just the opposite and ran away from it, saying they were thinking about it.
So I’ve looked at other countries who like us have supported the compact. Let’s look at the UK. A country who pulled out of the EU with one of their major concerns being migration. But the UK has voted for the compact.
In the UK a petition was raised against it which gained 100,000 signatures, out of a country of 67 million. Nigel Farage has railed against it and has been the go-to for Fox News. There he said what the UN wants to do is to make migration a human right. Countless people have rubbished that including the UK government itself who said, “It does not establish a ‘human right to migrate’ or create any new legal categories of migrant.” Rather it says migrants have human rights. It's called English, Nigel.
Mr Farage also claimed it makes refugees and migrants the same thing. The Government reminded Mr Farage that Refugees are defined by the Refugee Convention of 1951. Which is, by the way, legally binding. The compact changes nothing.
Meanwhile, the UK's International Development Minister Alistair Burt has been arguing for the compact for weeks now. He’s said the UK was a leading voice in the negotiations and their interests were paramount.
Five weeks ago he said the compact has a clear differentiation between refugees and migrants; it recognises a state’s right to control their borders. It has proposals to help states build capacity in controlling their borders. And there is an explicit acknowledgement of states’ responsibility to accept the return of their nationals who no longer have the right to remain elsewhere.
In other words what he’s saying is, the compact is going to affect the countries where the migrants are coming from, not where they’re going to. Which is the complete opposite of the argument you’re hearing from opponents like Nigel Farage.
One side has been telling fibs in the debate and I’m pretty sure I know which one.
But here in New Zealand, we’ve had none of that from our politicians.
The Foreign Minister, Winston Peters revealed the Crown Law legal advice and our support for the compact simultaneously giving us no chance for public debate.
He did so in the last hour of the last day of Parliament, denying debate in the House.
The Government led us to believe that they hadn’t made up their mind until the last minute and then presented a fait accompli.
I found that untenable. So much for being the most open and transparent government ever. They’re starting to look a bit tricky dicky and devious.

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It has been suggested that not enough is being down to curb drunk driving in New Zealand. 
Newly released figures from NZTA show that 41 per cent of fatal crashes in the first half of 2018 were caused by people under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. 
Road safety charity Brake told Stuff that they want to see the blood alcohol limit lowered to 20mg per 100ml for drivers. 
However, speaking to his listeners, Andrew Dickens says that he thinks there should be zero tolerance for anyone drinking and then driving. 
He says that there is a zero alcohol limit for people under 20, and people consider that acceptable. 
His suggestion was met with mixed reaction by listeners, with many saying it was too harsh. 
Caller Blair was in favour though, saying that he has seen first hand from his experience working in the emergency services that we need to make drastic changes. 
LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVE

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I’m surprised that more people aren’t up in arms after a report yesterday found an investigation firm have been spying on New Zealanders and invading their privacy on the behest of State agencies.
Security company Thompson and Clark has been barred from doing any more work for the government after the investigation by the State Services Commission found it used an unlicensed private investigator and produced electronic recordings of closed meetings without the consent or knowledge of attendees.
To me the report is eye opening.
Two brothers who claimed they were physically, sexually and psychologically abused in state care were seeking legal redress and damages from the Government. But rather than taking responsibility the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and Crown Law hired private investigators to dig up dirt on witnesses.
An entire government department, MBIE, has been found to have abandoned impartiality and become politicised.
The report reveals Thompson and Clark also invaded the privacy of political parties like the Greens and Mana and various iwi groups around the country. And it had a peer into Greenpeace. The report says it was concerned that Thompson and Clark investigated so called “issue motivated groups” under the excuse that they raised security concerns. But then they stepped over the mark into information mining.
And most disturbingly they invaded closed meetings of Christchurch earthquake victims to mine information for Southern Response, the government's insurance agency. This had led to the immediate resignation of the agency’s chairman Ross Butler.
Now while we can call it spying it’s at the lower end of the scale but not in the eyes of some. 
Kim Dotcom was all over Twitter last night saying that New Zealanders pride themselves on being the least corrupt nation on earth but that’s a delusion. Of course he reckons the rot goes deep. After all the GCSB was found to have illegally spied on him. And on the face of it state agencies hiring private investigators to spy on New Zealand citizens going about their lawful business just sounds awful.
My concern is how it demonstrates the deep polarity that exists in our society these days. The contest of ideas has grown so vicious that if we not for something we’re against it. And we’ll do anything to defeat our so called enemies and in doing so we lose all perspective.
We saw it in Jami Lee Ross’s leaks of banal information. The rise of political strategists like Simon Lusk and the co-operation of bloggers to spread dirt. The whisper campaign against Clarke Gayford that caused the police to issue an extraordinary statement refuting the rumours. The way this morning when Russell Norman raised his concerns at being spied on most texts just waved them away because they just don’t like what Greenpeace stands for.
It seems to me that some New Zealanders fervour in their own beliefs have caused them to lose their soul. So step back, take a chill pill and stand up for yourself, but do it honestly and openly.

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The Rouxle Le Roux case has generated a lot of feelings throughout the country, but for some, the incident hits close to home.
Le Roux was sentenced to 11 months home detention last week after killing 15-year-old Nathan Kraatskow in a hit and run earlier this year. 
The 19-year-old has earned backlash over an apparent lack of remorse and her limited sentence.
Caller Chris phoned in to Andrew Dickens Afternoons today, and says that his family has been through a similar situation.
His son was killed by boy racers in Australia last year while crossing the road 
Chris said that they went to jail for two and half years, which doesn't change what happened but it made a difference.
He explains why he's so angry about this Le Roux case.
LISTEN TO CHRIS TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

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Canadian rap artist Drake has secured the top spot of the New Zealand 2018 singles chart with his single God's Plan, which spent nine consecutive weeks at number one. 
His album Scorpion came in at number six on the charts.
Drake is also Spotify's most-streamed artist of all-time.
Newstalk ZB host Andrew Dickens gave his best Drake impersonation a shot on the show today in respect to the rappers achievement. 
Not a bad effort Andrew! 
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE

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So this morning I listened to the Prime Minister’s last Tuesday morning slot with our breakfast show, today hosted by Mike Yardley. And I was under-impressed, to be honest. Now I know we’re all a little bit over it this week and it’s been a massive year for her, but I felt the fairy dust had fallen off. Princess Jacinda was absent. There was no echo of Jacindamania.
It wasn’t that anything she was saying was particularly wrong, it was more that, she was just saying nothing at all.
It started with questions about the Le Roux petition being presented to parliament. A petition complaining about overly lenient sentencing. Her answer was a long-winded conversation about the processes of lawmaking and how there needs to be an absence of political influence on the judicial system. It made me feel like she was talking to us like we were children.
At the time of the interview, 134,000 New Zealanders had expressed a very real concern about the sentencing and she didn’t talk to those people at all. She didn’t empathise with those concerns. She didn’t say she’d pass those concerns onto the judiciary, perhaps at her next meeting with the new Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann. It was the sound of a bureaucrat flapping her gums, offending no-one.
It reminded me of the strange ambivalence and lack of leadership she displayed through the Karol Sroubeck case. When the only person in the country supporting the bizarre decision was Richie Hardcore it would have been a simple step to say Iain Lees-Galloway screwed up so we’ll give the immigration job to someone else. In politics, it’s important to be seen to be doing something and she seemed inert.
This morning’s interview then careered into the Global Compact on Migration, due to be signed today. For some reason known only to the PM, she refuses to confirm or deny our signing. She pointed out how the compact is not legally binding and how she will not surrender sovereignty. She also pointed out that our current policy setting is already compliant with the compacts aims. Yet at the same time gave the impression that she doesn’t even know if we’re going to sign it or not.
How we yearned for a passionate statement that there is no way on Earth that the UN will ever dictate our migrant policy or numbers. If they do sign it the Prime Minister has shown no ability to lead us to an understanding or acceptance of the gesture.
The suspicion that she’s not in control extends to other areas of foreign policy. This year Winston Peters has railed against China and re-exerted our influence in the Pacific. In Georgetown, USA, this weekend he urged America to get more involved in the Pacific.
But when asked this week if the Foreign Minister’s speech indicates the Government is moving towards America, Jacinda Ardern said no. Absolutely not. It made people like Matthew Hooten wonder if she really knows what’s going on.
Now before you say this is a National Party hit job, I should add that I could say just the same about Simon Bridges, who has been saying some remarkable dog-whistle things that appeared designed to appeal to only a 60-year-old conservative.
As we come to the end of this first year of this term, I feel we have a new generation of political leaders on all sides who are underdone. Who have not got the trick yet of how to be grown ups and responsible and yet show clear and insightful leadership.
To be honest it feels like we have an entire House of Representatives that is still on training wheels.

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Forest and Bird is calling for the Hauraki Gulf-to-Bay of Plenty cray-fishery to be closed for three years to allow the species to start recovering.
It says the crayfish population in the region has undergone a significant decline.
The Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash halved the total allowable catch in April. 
However, Forest and Bird marine conservation advocate Katrina Goddard says that while the quota reduction did have a small impact on some operators, but had no impact on a large majority.
Talkback callers to Andrew Dickens shared their feelings, and most seemed in favour of the move if it means allowing more crayfish for future generations.
Andrew called on people to spread out the types of fish and options that they eat so the pressure is not on one species to meet the demand, a call many listeners were in favour of. 
LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVE

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Who would have thought that on the first day I’d be waking up thinking, “Where’s Leighton Smith when you need him”.
I thought of him as I heard the news that there was a breakthrough in the COP 24 talks on climate change in Poland. Leighton would have railed at the so-called breakthrough and continued his rearguard action to remove man-made climate change from the world’s consciousness and it would have been very entertaining indeed.
But I come at this in another way. The so-called breakthrough in Poland is actually proof that the whole process is essentially powerless and is more about posturing than anything else.
The language around the meeting was all about providing a rulebook for the control of emissions with the hope that controlling emissions may reduce the temperature on Earth over the next few decades. Yet by my reading, there are no rules here. All there is is a ruler.
Rules are not rules unless they have consequences. Rules are not rules unless if they’re broken there are penalties. And the weakness of this agreement is that there is no consequences or penalties for those countries that choose not to achieve their goals.
What they’ve agreed on is a common method to measure the promises that various Nations many have made in the process. We will now know what Nations have promised and whether they’ve done anything about it.
But as the Sydney Morning Herald reports, like the landmark 2015 agreement in Paris, it does not legally bind countries to hit their targets. So countries can say what they like and yet do what they like.
Alex Braae at the Spinoff wrote about it succinctly this morning. He said, “So if a country (for example Brazil, where the new President has threatened to log and exploit the Amazon rainforest) were to completely miss the targets they set at the Paris talks, they'd be subject to a lot of stern finger-wagging, and maybe some impolite remarks over dinner. But that's about where the sanctions would end”.
The scientists are understandable hacked off about that but I think it shows the reality of emissions control. There is little political will anywhere in the world to change a thing.
The COP 24 does urge nations to lift their ambition on emissions control and James Shaw has brought that language back with him, telling the TV yesterday that New Zealand should be a high ambition country.
But let’s have a reality check on that. This government has been in power for a year. New Zealand is still the fifth highest emitter per head of capita on the planet. Meanwhile, the government is still pondering whether to bring agriculture into the emissions trading scheme. So far it doesn’t seem like a high priority for this supposedly lefty greenie government.
My take is that the 196 countries that signed up to Paris nearly four-years ago are all talk and no action, including us. So If you’re anti-man-made climate change you could take comfort in the fact that so far you may not be winning the battles but you are winning the war.

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Following up someone's final ever show on air after 33 years is no easy task.
Still, the show must go on, though Andrew Dickens wasn't going to begin without recognising the man who came before him.
Dickens told his audience that it had been lovely listening to all the good wishes being sent to Leighton Smith during his final show.
"I have little to be said about Leighton Smith that has not been said so well by you.  I’m a child of 1ZB It has murmured in the background of my family’s kitchen my whole life and so I have listened through Leighton’s entire 33 year tenure. 
"A tenure of unrivalled quality, consistency and intelligence.  And I heard a listener this morning talk about Leighton being gentle and I thought that so very profound.  He could be grumpy angry or argumentative.  But he was always gentle.  Farewell mate."

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Two people have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that vaping products have been promoted on TV.
ASA chief executive Hilary Souter says both parties questioned why vaping ads were being shown when there's a blanket ban on advertising cigarettes.
The complaints have sparked a furore of feedback on talkback over what sort of ads are acceptable.
Callers to Andrew Dickens shot down the idea of vaping ads as promoting a dangerous product.
However, callers Aiya and Tyson also raised concerns over ads for fast food and alcohol and whether those are acceptable. 
John said that putting these ads on television will only lead to an epidemic. 
LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVE

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