Politics Central

2:56pm NZ time today marks exactly 50 years since Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon and uttered those legendary words "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". We look at the celebrations around the world and how Apollo 11's moon landing changed space flight forever.

A moonstruck United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's "giant leap" by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at parties, races, ball games and concerts today
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Aldrin showed Vice President Mike Pence the launch pad where he flew to the moon in 1969. At the same time halfway around the world, an American and two other astronauts blasted into space on a Russian rocket. And in Armstrong's hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio, nearly 2,000 runners competed in "Run to the Moon" races.
"Apollo 11 is the only event in the 20th century that stands a chance of being widely remembered in the 30th century," the vice president said.

Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the moon, 50 years ago today. Photo / AP
Wapakoneta 10K runner Robert Rocco, 54, a retired Air Force officer from Centerville, Ohio, called the moon landing by Armstrong and Aldrin "perhaps the most historic event in my lifetime, maybe in anybody's lifetime."
At the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Gilda Warden sat on a bench and gazed in awe at the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia, on display.
"It's like entering the Sistine Chapel and seeing the ceiling. You want to just sit there and take it in," said Warden, 63, a psychiatric nurse from Tacoma, Washington.

Neil Armstrong's iconic photograph of Edwin 'Buzz Aldrin' from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission which saw the first crew to land on the moon. Photo / AP
On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin undocked from Columbia in lunar orbit and then descended in the lunar module Eagle to the Sea of Tranquility. The Eagle landed with just 17 seconds of fuel to spare. Six hours later, Armstrong was the first to step onto the lunar surface, proclaiming for the ages: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
It was humanity's first footsteps on another world.
In a speech at Kennedy, Pence paid tribute to Armstrong, Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins — if they're not heroes, "then there are no heroes" — as well as the 400,000 Americans who worked tirelessly to get them to the moon.
Aldrin, 89, grabbed the right hand of Neil Armstrong's older son, Rick, at Pence's mention of heroes. He then stood and saluted, and received a standing ovation. Armstrong died in 2012. Collins, 88, did not attend the Florida ceremony. But Apollo 17's Harrison Schmitt, the next-to-last man to walk on the moon in 1972, was there.
Pence reiterated the Trump administration's goal of sending American astronauts back to the moon within five years and eventually on to Mars. He said this next generation of astronauts will spend weeks and months on the lunar surface, not just days and hours like the 12 Apollo moonwalkers did. Alongside the stage was the newly completed Orion capsule that will fly to the moon and back, on a test flight without a crew, in another year or two.
NASA had other celebrations going on today, most notably at Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to Mission Control; The US Space and Rocket Center next door to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the Saturn V moon rockets were born; and the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
And where better to celebrate than Apollo, Pennsylvania — located in Armstrong County not far from Moon Township and the town of Mars. The historical society revived the annual moon-landing celebration in honor of the big 50. All of the Apollo astronauts have long been honorary citizens of Apollo, the society's Alan Morgan said.

The three crew members of Apollo 11 pose for a group portrait a few weeks before...

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John Banks is seriously considering a tilt at the Auckland Mayoralty, saying if he stands and is elected he will chair the board of Auckland Transport.
Banks has hired a team of political strategists and held focus groups to determine his chances, telling the Herald today he will make a final decision in the next two weeks.
"Phil Goff's mayoralty reminds me of grandma's boiled cabbage. It never gets better by the day," said the former National MP who entered Parliament with Goff in 1981.
Banks, who is 72 and lives at the Viaduct on the city's waterfront, said he gets approached every day to stand for the mayoralty.
He said the focus groups showed that many people will not vote for a mayoral candidate, Auckland's leadership is colourless and mostly invisible and people want a mayor who understands the city and the effects on people's daily lives.
If no-one steps up to the plate, said Banks, the city faces a democratic disaster and more of the same.
Banks said his team included Topham Guerin, the New Zealand digital and creative agency that helped Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison get re-elected and Andrew Laidlaw, who has worked for the controversial political strategists Crosby Textor. No-one from the established political machinery in New Zealand was involved, he said.
Banks said he would bring innovative ideas to provide financial responsibility, stop wastage and contain debt.
He said there is widespread concern about the lack of accountability by council-controlled organisations and he would seek to change the law so councillors could sit on the boards of all CCOs.
At present, councillors are only allowed to sit on the board of Auckland Transport.
"If I was the next mayor of Auckland I would chair the Auckland Transport board. Within a week I would change the culture and have a direct link of communication between the ratepayers, local communities and the AT board," said Banks.
Asked if he was too long in the tooth to return to politics, Banks said, "Yes, life is running out but I still feel I have got a lot to contribute".
"I'm fit as a fiddle. I walk every day and still fly my aeroplane," he said.
The centre-right has been struggling to find a high profile candidate to take on Goff, who thrashed the centre-right's Vic Crone by 76,000 votes in 2016.
One political source said the centre-right needs to put up a candidate by the end of this month to have any chance of competing with Goff, who is standing as an independent but has the backing of the Labour Party and volunteers at hand.
Banks stood for election at the first Super City elections in 2010 where he was comfortably beaten by Manukau Mayor Len Brown by 66,000 votes.
He was mayor of the former Auckland City Council from 2001 to 2004, a tumultuous term that saw him defeated by the left-leaning businessman Dick Hubbard. A 'transmogrified" John Banks beat Hubbard in the 2007 local body elections, serving out the last term of the old council.

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Will the refusal to build 12 major roading projects send the Coalition lose the 2020 election?
The Business Advisory Council, chaired by Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon, last week presented a damning indictment of New Zealand's infrastructure regime saying there is "no overarching vision or leadership in New Zealand for infrastructure development".
"This means there is no nation-building narrative upon which to build a strategic direction," it says.
They want the Government to proceed with 12 roading projects that are on hold or under review, and open them to private investment, saying that public sector does not have the funding mechanisms to properly run these projects. 
However, while Transport Minister Phil Twyford dismissed the report when he appeared on Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive later that day.
du Plessis-Allan in turn wrote an opinion piece disparaging the response.  "When Phil Twyford out-of-hand dismissed the advice to resurrect 12 crucial highways, the texts and emails flooded in to me on the radio. Business lobbyists and roading advocates asked for a chance to respond. All wanted to make a case for why we need those roads."
She says that "refusing to build these roads is an election loser".
"It might not lose the entire country, but it can lose electorates for sure. Labour's dying to steal Hutt South from National's Chris Bishop. Good luck to them given how angry Hutt South voters are about the Melling Interchange being put on ice."
du Plessis-Allan joined The Weekend Collective to discuss the piece and what can be done about public transport.

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One Canterbury gun owner says the atmosphere at the first gun buyback event had an interesting atmosphere. 
Author Ray Berard was one of the 169 owners who attended the event at Riccarton Racecourse yesterday. 
A total of 224 guns were handed in yesterday, the first of 258 that will run across the country over the next three months.
On top of more than 200 guns, owners handed in 217 parts and accessories, with the total compensation cost coming to $433,682.
Berard says he was happy to hand his guy over. It was a 45 minute process, and he received 90 per cent of what he had paid for the gun as compensation.
He says that most people seemed to be fine with the process, but there were some that were still divided over the process.
"It's a big thing when the Government decides to change the law and buy it back." 
Berard has accepted that he had to hand it back. He says that he has come to understand that military style rifles should not be in the hands of private citizens. 
"My rifle was a beautiful rifle, but my rifle in the wrong hands could kill a lot of people really, really quickly."
Berard intends to buy a bolt-action rifle with his compensation, and will continue to hunt at least once a year.

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The head of Customs has handed back $302,000 seized from a mysterious foreign diplomat after he failed to declare the vast sum of cash in his luggage.
The experienced traveller, part of an official delegation invited to New Zealand, was let off with a warning instead of being prosecuted. They had claimed that they had forgotten they had the money in the bag. 
The identity of the individual involved is not known, nor the country they were representing or when the cash was sized. 
The money was confiscated, but has since been returned following a review.
Anyone arriving in the country with $10,000 or more must declare the cash under anti-money laundering laws, or face three months in prison.
Money laundering expert Dr Ron Pol told the Weekend Collective he questions whether a New Zealander would be treated the same.
"If it was just an ordinary New Zealander in the situation, if we had made an honest mistake, we'd love to have our money back as well."
He says that the element of secrecy may be less now that the case is over, we may learn more about it in the future. 
Customs Minister Jenny Salesa said she was satisfied Customs had acted appropriately and "without pressure or influence".
However, National's spokesperson for foreign affairs Gerry Brownlee told The Weekend Collective that there is something very odd about this.
He says that it is hypocritical, as if a New Zealander had ordered something online and the seller did not fill the form out properly, the goods are seized and the New Zealander is forced to pay a fee. 
"A little bit of consistency here from Customs, and certainly an explanation that is well and truly overdue."

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A small-town mayor is calling for the creation of a mayoral political party to contest parliamentary elections because of his difficulty getting a hearing in Wellington.
Embattled Horowhenua Mayor Michael Feyen has pitched the idea to the mayors and chairs of New Zealand's 78 territorial and regional councils ahead of the Local Government NZ conference that starts in Wellington on Sunday.
"My concerns are that members of Parliament are out of touch with local government and communities in New Zealand ...," Feyen says in a letter sent today to the mayors and chairs and obtained by the Herald on Sunday.
"Personally I have had no opportunity to get appointments with MPs on any matter," Feyen says in the letter.
He believes chief executives and the bureaucracy hold the power at councils and that Local Government NZ - the councils' association and lobby group - prevents direct access to central government decision-makers.
Feyen, who is seeking re-election as mayor, says he is prepared to stand against Otaki MP Nathan Guy for his seat in Parliament.

Horowhenua Mayor Michael Feyen is promoting the idea of mayors standing for Parliament. Photo / Horowhenua Chronicle
He wants his proposed mayoral party to contest electorates and to campaign for the party vote.
The idea has been dismissed as unfeasible by a political historian.
Dr Michael Bassett told the Weekend Collective they are two distinct jobs and you can't do both.
"I mean, what's he going to be doing? Is he going to be going to Wellington on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays if he was elected? What happens to the people of Horowhenua?"
He does not think that this proposal would affect turnout for local body elections.
Mayoral responses to his pitch were mixed.
"It sounds a bit bonkers," said Wellington Mayor Justin Lester. "I strongly doubt it will happen any time soon - through lack of support from mayors and most importantly the public."
Lester said it would be impossible to do both jobs effectively.
Feyen describes himself as a "minority mayor" and has failed to get his way on council issues including his pick for deputy mayor and his opposition to selling pensioner housing.
He has said he has "hit brick walls with literally everything that I've wanted to do".
He told the Herald on Sunday that if he was both mayor and MP he would take only the MP's salary. He would want to have two mayoral deputies and for the mayor's and deputy's salaries to be shared between the two deputies.
Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt said Feyen's idea was "well worth looking at", but he wouldn't join the proposed mayoral party. He believed local government could have more influence by keeping out of national party politics.
"Because we are in battles all the time with Parliament - the latest one is over amalgamating all the polytechs and technical institutes into one organisation, we are very opposed to that - but I think we can be more effective by not belonging to a political party."
Dr Bassett says that support does not change a lot, as Shadbolt has "always rowed the boat slightly differently from everybody else".
Lester said Local Government NZ was a very effective organisation and added that mayors had a responsibility to build relationships with government decision-makers. "We've managed to do that effectively in Wellington."
Local government historian Dr Graham Bush pointed to two mayors who had simultaneously been MPs: Christine Fletcher and Sir Robert Macfarlane.
Fletcher, a current member of the Auckland Council, was elected mayor of the old Auckland City in 1998 and remained a National MP until the 1999 general election.
She said last night she hadn't wanted to risk causing a general election by leaving Parliament early. It was "taxing" doing the two jobs but "very productive" in getting the Government to engage in Auckland issues such as redeveloping...

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After a six month phase in, New Zealand's ban on single-use plastic bags takes effect tomorrow.
Supermarkets made the switch by the end of last year.
Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage says Kiwis really support the move.
She says research found in April last year 56 percent of shoppers surveyed were bringing reusable bags, and that figure rose to 91 percent by September.
"Banning these bags means that we;ll be saving tens of millions of bags going to landfill or getting into rivers and streams and into the oceans, protecting our marine life - fish, seabirds and marine mammals.'
Bin liners, dog poo bags, and the bags used for meat, fruit and vegetables are not included in the ban.
Sage told the Weekend Collective it does include compostable, degradable bags.
"We don't have the facilities around New Zealand to deal with compostable bags, and they don't degrade in home compost heaps."
Sage was unsure about the rules for the stronger plastic bags Countdown has been selling.
Still confused? Here are the five other things you need to know:
There's a precise definition for what's actually banned
The rules apply to any type of plastic less than 70 microns in thickness, that's new or un-used, has carry handles, is provided for carrying sold goods, and is made of bio-based materials like starch. It also covers bags made of plastics that are degradable, biodegradable or oxo-degradable.
These are sometimes marketed as "not plastic". The typical type of bag covered are those offered at supermarkets and stores - the old yellow Pak N Save bags measured about 35 microns, while those from clothing or department stores are usually between 50 and 70 microns.
The bags many people are using now are jute or polypropylene bags, that can be reused over and over.
The Government was encouraging retailers to clarify with their suppliers on the thickness of their bags they offered, and recommended they choose reusable ones.
Over the six-month phase-out period that led up to the law kicking in, supermarkets have already switched away from single-use plastic shopping bags, stopping tens of millions of them from entering circulation.
Kiwis also appear to have adopted the change early, with survey results showing more than 80 per cent of shoppers were bringing their own reusable bags with them as at last September - up from just over half a few months before that.
That said, a Herald survey conducted in central Queen St last week counted what appeared to be five new single-use plastic shopping bags carrying goods out of four shops.
Noel Leeming, Farmers, Daiso Japan, Yummy Jianbing takeaways, Jay Jays, Mirrou and Hannahs all said they would have compliant bags from tomorrow.
The survey counted 25 paper, woven and other types of bags, which would be permitted after Monday.
Many people put smaller purchases in their own bags or into a pocket.
Bio-bags are banned too
Even though bio-based plastic bags are sometimes made from plants, their manufacturing process prevents them from breaking down as quickly or as easily.
Compostable bags, for example, if not composted properly, ended up being a problem too, and not everyone had access to a home compost that could process these bags.
But the Ministry for the Environment has advised that this part of the ban might be revisited if the right infrastructure is developed.
Lots of other types of bags can still be used
People will still be able to buy lightweight barrier bags, like the ones that you get in the deli or butchery, along with bin liners, pet waste bags and nappy bags.
Also exempt were bags used in packaging, like bread bags and pouches for cooked chicken.
The Government's reasoning was that these types of bags were needed for hygiene purposes, and at this stage, it wasn't looking at extending the ban to them.
The rules also didn't apply to long-life...

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Is Jacinda Ardern a smiling assassin or a wimp unable to make the big calls?
The Prime Minister unveiled her first ministerial reshuffle last week, with the biggest change the splitting of the housing portfolio role between three ministers.
Kris Faafoi got the biggest promotion, moving into Cabinet and picking up one third of the new housing roles, while Phil Twyford lost control of KiwiBuild but picked up the Economic Development portfolio. 
The move for Twyford led to split reaction from political commentators, with some saying Ardern was too soft while others praising the move.
Saturday Mornings and Q+A host Jack Tame joined the Weekend Collective to discuss the reshuffle, and he went straight down the middle.

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Kiwis will be able to vote at next year's general election while doing their weekly food shop.
Justice Minister Andrew Little has announced that ballot boxes will be in more venues at the 2020 election - including supermarkets and shopping malls.
"New Zealanders deserve to have their votes counted. Nearly half of voters are now exercising their right to vote prior to election day," Little said.
"Those early voters are able to both enrol and vote at the ballot box. It's only fair that people who vote on election day have the same right to enrol as those casting an early vote.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE AS DR SANDRA GREY SPEAKS TO THE WEEKEND COLLECTIVE

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President Donald Trump says he abruptly called off the military strikes on Iran Thursday because the likely deaths of 150 Iranians would have been out of proportion to the shootdown of an unmanned American surveillance drone.
He is also indicating he still hopes for talks with Iranian leaders rather than any escalation of military conflict.
Trump says he is "in no hurry," adding that increasingly severe sanctions meant to push Iran to the nuclear negotiating table are "biting" the Iranian economy.
Iran, though, is showing no public inclination to negotiate. It is unclear whether Trump, who says the U.S. military had been "cocked and loaded" to hit Iran, is considering new military options.

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