Politics Central

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that an "erosion of trust" and "lack of communication" with his former justice minister led her to resign and accuse him of applying inappropriate pressure in a corruption prosecution — a dispute that has shaken his government.
But the prime minister made no apologies as he discussed the issue at a nationally televised news conference.
Former Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould told a parliamentary committee last week that Trudeau and senior officials tried to pressure her into instructing prosecutors to avoid criminal prosecution of Montreal-based engineering giant SNC-Lavalin and instead require it to pay fines for alleged bribery in Libya.
The case has led to the resignations of two high-profile Cabinet ministers and his top aide, as well as opposition calls for him to step down
Trudeau and his aides deny doing anything wrong, saying they were only pointing out that prosecution could endanger thousands of people's jobs because a conviction would make the company ineligible for government contracts.
"In regards to standing up for jobs and defending the integrity of our rule of law, I continue to say there was no inappropriate pressure," Trudeau said.
The prime minister said Wilson-Raybould told him on Sept. 17 that she was declining to seek a remediation agreement, which would allow the company to pay a fine instead of facing criminal prosecution. But Trudeau said he and other officials felt she was still open to arguments on the issue because such an agreement would be possible until the last moments of a trial.
"We considered that she was still open to hearing different arguments and different approaches on what her decision could be," Trudeau said.
"What we see now is that she wasn't prepared to change her mind."
Trudeau said Wilson-Raybould did not come to him to express her concerns about inappropriate pressure and said he wishes she had. He said situations were "experienced differently and I regret that."
"I am obviously reflecting on lessons learned," he said. "There are things we have to reflect on and understand and do better next time."
Wilson-Raybould was demoted from her role as attorney general and named veterans affairs minister in January as part of a Cabinet shuffle. She resigned weeks later.
Wilson-Raybould has said she believes she was demoted for failure to give in to the pressure.
Trudeau's former chief aide Gerald Butts denied that in testimony to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. He said the shakeup, which involved several other Cabinet posts, was due to other factors.
Trudeau said he tries to foster an environment where his lawmakers can come to him with concerns, but one of his Liberal party colleagues, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, took issue with that, tweeting, "I did come to you recently. Twice. Remember your reactions?"
Caesar-Chavannes, who is not running for re-election, did not elaborate and did not immediately return messages seeking comment. She has issued messages of support for Wilson-Raybould on Twitter.
Other Liberal lawmakers have rallied around Trudeau in an election year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National is accusing the Government of wasting taxpayers' money on using Tax Working Group chairman Sir Michael Cullen as a "hired gun," after his contract was extended.
But Cullen – who was also once a Labour Party Finance Minister – rubbished the claim and said he was only staying on to "defend the integrity of the report".
Speaking on The Weekend Collective, Cullen said he although people may assume he is biased towards the Labour Party, he is solely focused on the tax working group.
"My job is to defend the integrity of the process and the recommendation and facts which it is based. That is what I am being paid to do."
LISTEN ABOVE AS SIR MICHAEL CULLEN SPEAKS TO THE WEEKEND COLLECTIVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT leader David Seymour says the Prime Minister has an opportunity to really test her leadership.
It centres on Shane Jones, who is being criticised for helping to gain almost $5 million in funding for a cultural project in Northland which he previously had connections to.
While Jones did declare he had been in line to run the project, he still went to a key ministerial meeting at which the grant was discussed.
David Seymour says Shane Jones has to go.
"There is no question what would have happened to Jones if Helen Clark was still Prime Minister and the question is whether Jacinda Ardern has the same metal."
Speaking on Newstalk ZB's The Weekend Collective, Shane Jones was asked if he had any plans on offering his resignation, and he didn't hold back at the ACT party leader.
"I am not particularly interested in that urban gravedigger, he is after a political corpse but it will be a long day in hell if he finds it in me."
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE AS SHANE JONES AND DAVID SEYMOUR SPEAK ON THE WEEKEND COLLECTIVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff today launched his bid for a second term, pledging to continue "building Auckland's Future" but providing no new policies and little in the way of detail behind the slogan.
"There are hard decisions that must be made over the next three years. None of it is easy. The challenges are immense," Goff told Labour MPs, councillors and other supporters at the Mt Albert Memorial Hall.
In an exclusive interview with the "Herald" before the launch, Goff said general rates would increase by 3.5 per cent a year in his second term - an increase on the 2.5 per annual cent rate rises in his first term.
The Mayor said he aimed to keep rates low in his first term against all the challenges and pressures on the cash-strapped council, but his long-term budget set rates increases of 3.5 per cent in his second term, which he would stick to.
Goff told The Weekend Collective that over the last three years, Auckland has had the lowest rate increases across any city in New Zealand.
He said the council consulted with the public about the next 10 years and the amount of investment needed. 
"The feedback that we got was in support, and almost all councillors voted for it in favour of, a 3.5 per cent general rate increase going forward."
He says it would still make our rate increases amongst the lowest in the country. 
Goff says that you could have no rates increases, but then the city's infrastructure would remain stagnant and traffic would not improve. He says that the rest of the country can't pay for Auckland's problems. 
"We've got to put our share in, and we equally expect from the Government to have their matching share to tackle those problems."

Phil Goff hopes to win a second term as mayor. (Photo / NZ Herald)
Goff is placing trust at the centre of his campaign as he squares off against former Labour MP John Tamihere with former National MP Chris Fletcher as his running mate.
"This year's mayoral election is about who Aucklanders trust with the job of building the future of their city, and whose values and vision best matches up with their own," Goff said.
He said he would be standing on his merits, integrity, skill, experience and trustworthiness.
Tamihere has "welcomed" Phil Goff's announcement that he is seeking a second term but labelled him "a puppet for central government". Goff is standing as an independent with the endorsement of the Labour Party.
 
On Goff's announcement, Tamihere said Goff had "stumbled" on a decision to seek re-election and claimed the incumbent was a "reluctant" candidate.
"It's game on. I've been waiting for Phil to make up his mind and I'm glad he has finally come to a decision," he said.
"Auckland desperately needs strong leadership and that's why I've committed to being Mayor for three terms if I am elected."
Tamihere said there were huge problems in Auckland that Goff had "totally neglected".
"In fact, they've got worse under his lack of leadership – and it's time we got these issues out in the open and got them sorted," he said.
He told the Weekend Collective that he is a viable candidate there is deep dissatisfaction about leadership in the city.
Tamihere said council spending and debt levels were also "out of control" and there had been huge cost blowouts in infrastructure projects.
"And Phil's the only mayor in New Zealand that has imposed new petrol taxes on his own people.
However, Tamihere says that he cannot say that he will scrap the regional fuel tax.
"I've got to get the mandate and the votes of Aucklanders in order to have that conversation with the previous Government. I've got to go back down to Wellington re-negotiate." 
He says there is no other region with a such a prejudiced tax against it. 
 

John Tamihere and running mate Chris Fletcher will challenge Phil Goff for the Auckland mayoralty. Photo / Michael Craig

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smiling and holding up his clasped hands in a victorious pose, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday boarded his private train at the Vietnam-China border for a 60-plus-hour ride home, ending a trip to Vietnam that saw a summit breakdown with President Donald Trump.
He spent his last day in Hanoi laying large red-and-yellow wreaths at a war memorial and at the mausoleum of national hero Ho Chi Minh, surrounded by Vietnamese soldiers in crisp white uniforms and his own entourage of top North Korean officials. At the border, he got out of his armored limousine and clasped his hands, waving to a crowd of people cheering his departure.
Since Trump flew home to Washington, Kim has stepped assuredly into the spotlight, keen to show himself as a poised leader taking his rightful place on the international stage. He met Friday with President Nguyen Phu Trong, the country's top leader and Communist Party chief, grinning broadly as he was feted by top officials and escorted down a red carpet.
As Kim met with officials in Hanoi, the United States and North Korea have both been spinning their versions of what happened during one of the most high-profile diplomatic collapses in recent years.
But some experts believe that Kim, by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump at a summit that captivated many around the world, will have one sure win: He'll be able to portray himself to his people and supporters as the charismatic head of a nuclear-armed power, not an international pariah that starves its citizens so it can build nukes and missiles.
On Saturday, Kim, his trademark high-and-tight pompadour a bit disheveled, walked slowly behind a wreath with his name on it and a message that said, "I mourn the heroes and patriotic martyrs," as it was taken to the Monument to War Heroes and Martyrs. He also oversaw the presentation of a large wreath at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where he bowed and walked inside.
Talks between Kim and Trump broke down on Thursday, the second day of their two-day summit, in a dispute over how much sanctions relief Washington should provide Pyongyang in return for nuclear disarmament steps. Despite a senior North Korean official's suggestion — in a rushed, middle-of-the-night news conference called to dispute Trump's version of the summit's end — that Kim may have "lost the will" for diplomacy, the North Korean leader seems to have emerged from the diplomatic wreckage as a winner.
Kim answered questions with humor and ease when confronted by an aggressive international media contingent here. And, crucially for his image at home, he stood firm on his demands for the relief of sanctions imposed over a nuclear program North Korea says it built in the face of unrelenting U.S. hostility meant to end its leadership.
Kim, as he considers his next move after Hanoi, will be backed by state-controlled media that were already busy portraying the summit as a victory for their leader, saying Kim and Trump "appreciated that the second meeting in Hanoi offered an important occasion for deepening mutual respect and trust and putting the relations between the two countries on a new stage."
North Korea said it had asked for partial sanctions relief in return for closing its main nuclear site at Yongbyon, an important nuclear-fuel production facility but not the only place the North is believed to make bomb fuel.
The United States also has been spinning the summit breakdown, with senior officials saying that North Korea wanted billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for only partial dismantlement of Yongbyon, and demanded the North scrap more of its nuclear program for such a high level of concessions.
It's unclear what will come next: Working-level meetings among experts to close the negotiating gap? Another summit? Or will Trump, consumed with controversy in Washington and burned by the failure in Hanoi, lose interest?
The worst-case scenario would be a...

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand faces another year of strike action, with question marks hanging over multiple industries. 
Secondary school teachers are the latest threatening to strike over pay increases, following strikes throughout the medical sector so far this year, including lengthy action from junior doctors.
It comes after 2018 saw more strikes in one year than in the previous 10 years, and employment lawyer Max Whitehead says that we can expect more "crippling" strikes to come this year.
He told The Weekend Collective that there is no coincidence that this started after Labour got into power.
"The unions put Labour into power. They funded them, they got their members to vote for them, and what they are saying is 'we want you in power as we want more wages'."
He says they are clearly not very pleased about the rates they are currently getting. 
Whitehead says he is not sure why they waited until National was out of power. 
"I think they smelt blood. As soon as Labour got in, they sensed they'd get a big wage rise."
Whitehead says that strike action is quite an aggressive action to take. 
"It is violent action on an employer; 'If you don't give me a raise, I'll shut your business'."
He says that it is a frightening time for employers, with unions getting special treatment to come into businesses and pressuring them into engaging. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Green Party is urging Justice Minister Andrew Little to adopt a Greens members' bill which would ban foreign donations to political parties and enabling prisoners rights.
Greens electoral reform spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman is introducing a bill which she said would "stop unfair influence and potential corruption in politics".
As well as cracking down on foreign donations, the bill would also overturn a ban on prisoner voting, enable Māori to change roll types at any time and lower the MMP threshold to 4 per cent.
Although New Zealand has a strong democratic system, Ghahraman said there is "definitely room for improvement".
"The bill seeks to stop unfair influence and potential corruption in politics," she said.
One of the key measures will give prisoner's back the right to vote.
Ghahraman defended the measure, telling the Weekend Collective that the current legislation is a breach of human rights, which goes against the criminal justice system. 
"By removing people from the community, we're trying to make the community safer, we're trying to rehabilitate them and reintegrate them back in. We know that being disconnected from society hinders that, so that should be the key aim of the criminal justice system."
She says prison is a punishment already, and taking away their rights erodes all our human rights.
"The punishment is encompassed in the imprisonment itself, it does not apply to other rights."
Ghahraman says we are an anomaly when it comes to this, and warns that it puts us on the same level as Iran and Saudi Arabia when it comes to human rights.
Given the example of Malcolm Rewa voting on sexual assault reform, she says that is an extreme example and that it would make for bad law.
The law will also tackle electoral donations.  Current electoral law prohibits overseas donations of more than $1500 to political parties, but Ghahraman said she wants that made zero.
"We should absolutely not be seeing political donations come from overseas and we need to reduce the anonymity threshold so that we can see who is donating to political parties."
She appears to have an unlikely ally in her quest to stamp out foreign donations.
Last month, veteran National MP Nick Smith signalled electoral reforms were needed to ensure the integrity of the New Zealand electoral system.
"The existing electoral law does put limits on foreign donors, but needs strengthening. Only Kiwi citizens and residents should be able to donate to political parties or to campaigns that seek to influence an election outcome," Smith said.
A members' bill goes into the ballot and are picked at random to be debated in the House. There are 70 bills in the ballot, meaning the likelihood of a bill being pulled is slim.
That's why Ghahraman is urging Little to pick up her bill, meaning the Government could introduce it at any time.
She has spoken to Little about it and he is now in the process of looking into it, she said. "I am hopeful that the Government will pick it up."
Her bill would also implement all 10 of the 2012 MMP review recommendations.This includes reducing the proportion of votes a party has to win to get into Parliament from the current 5 per cent, to four.
Ghahraman's bill would also mean Māori would be able to choose which role they are on at any time. At the moment, Māori can only change to the Māori roll once every five years.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Housing Minister Phil Twfyord is remaining coy on how Government changes to rental properties will affect rents.
This morning,Twyford unveiled new requirements for landlords as part of the Government's new healthy homes standards, which will come into effect between 2021 and 2024.
These include requiring all rental properties to have a heater in the main living room, as well as making sure kitchens and bathrooms have extraction fans.
But the most expensive requirement for landlords, according to the New Zealand Property Investors' Federation (NZPI), would be the new requirements around insulation.
The new rules will require the minimum level of ceiling and underfloor insulation to either meet the 2008 Building Code, or – for existing ceiling insulation – have a minimum thickness of 120mm.
The National Party and a property lobby groups say the cost of the Government's new rental minimum standards will be borne by renters in the form of increased rents.
Twyford told The Weekend Collective that these changes would cost approximately $7,000 for landlords to bring a three bedroom home to standard, but he believes only a small majority will be affected.
“Half the rental properties out there have extractor fans. Two thirds have a fixed heating source. We’re really talking about bringing the bottom end of the market up to where everyone else is and setting a minimum standard.”
He says that Housing New Zealand has 68,000 properties, and they will need to spend over $200 million, which will come off their balance books.
“We’ve set three years from now, basically, they have to have all their houses being compliant.”
NZPIR executive officer Andrew King said more than 90 per cent of the landlords represented by his group have already insulated their properties.
"A large proportion of those are going to now have to turn around and top it up to meet these new requirements."
He said the cost of bringing the level of insulation up to the new required level would cost roughly $1500-$2000 per home.
The insulation material itself does not cost a lot, he said, but the cost of the labour will be high.
"It costs just as much to top up insulation as it does to install it."
He said this cost – and the cost of complying with the rest of the new standards – would be passed on to the tenants, in the form of higher rent.
Meanwhile, he said just adding more insulation would not even have a major effect on keeping homes warm, if the home is already insulated.
National's housing spokeswoman Judith Collins agreed.
She said rents have increased in many parts of the country over the past year and the Government's new rules would see rents climb even further.
"There will be some landlords who are going to say 'it's just not worth it for me to retrofit this property'."
Instead of renting the property, Collins said many would-be landlords would just sell it on the open market.
Speaking at the unveiling of the new standards this morning, Lynley Thomas, a property owner and landlord, said although she would not increase her tenants' rents, there would likely be a flow-on effect whereby the costs could flow on to the tenant in the wider market.
"Indirectly, through a market rent raise which I think will inevitably happen, that's where the rent will go up."
There were already concerns over rising rents after the prospect of a Capital Gains Tax was raised by the Tax Working Group.
When that was put to him by the Weekend Collective, Twyford did confirm or deny that rents would rise.
He says that we have to do a lot to get the housing market back on track and bring it into the 21st century.
“We can’t wait around for the ideal moment of history to improve the quality of housing.”
 
Twyford says that when it comes to Capital Gains Tax, there’s no evidence from overseas countries that a tax would force rents up.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Maori Climate Commissioner wants school students to protest for action on climate change.
On March 15th, some New Zealand students will 'bunk' school to strike in a bid to push politicians to act aggressively on climate change.
It follows a string of similar protests around the world, where school students have been staging regular strikes in order to fight back against climate change. 
Maori Climate Commissioner, Donna Awatere Huata told the Weekend Collective the impact of a few hours off school doesn't compare to the impact of climate change.
"They sent a strong message to their elders, to their parents and grandparents, that they must take climate change more."
 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After reports that Australian coal had been blocked at a key port in north-eastern China, officials have defended the action.
A Chinese official said yesterday that the delays were a result of stepping up efforts to check the quality of imported coal,
“In recent years, China Customs has found that some of the imported coal didn’t meet our environmental protection standards when it carried out inspection and testing on safety and quality risks of the imported coal,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters during a routine briefing in Beijing.
Customs officials were simply complying with strengthened quality and safety inspections of imported coal “in accordance with relevant laws and regulations” to better protect Chinese importers and ensure environmental safety, Geng said.
He also shot down reports of an Australian coal ‘ban’, saying: “I would like to clarify those reports are false.”
It was feared that the holdups in coal processing was an act of political retaliation, after Australia’s blocking of telecoms gear giant Huawei Technologies from rolling out its 5G networks.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has since downplayed the delays, saying on Friday he had no reason to believe China is banning Australian coal.
 “I want to provide reassurance that we have no basis to believe that there is a ban on Australian coal exports into China or into any part of China,” he said.
The Minister for Trade also said he did not see any problem in the relationship between the two countries.
Since coal is one of Australia’s largest exports, reports that China might be blocking shipments caused the Australian dollar to tumble, coal stocks to fall, and officials to scramble for answers.
China’s markets are vital for Australia and relations are sensitive after the decision by Australia last year to keep Huawei out of its 5G network due to security concerns.
But Senator Birmingham was confident the delays had nothing to do with Huawei.
Chinese import quotas and product testing for quality assurance “may be slowing down the processing of coal in certain ports across China”, he explained.
He also pointed out that China was applying its rules to all countries and wasn’t discriminating against Australia.
Australia is working to clarify China’s policies and to reassure Australian coal companies, he said.
According to the ABC, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe wasn’t concerned by the reports either, saying the volumes involved were a relatively small proportion of Australia’s coal exports.
“If it were to be the sign of a deterioration in the underlying political relationship between Australia and China, that would be much more concerning.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was travelling in New Zealand, advised people to avoid jumping to conclusions.
“This is not the first time that on occasion, local ports make decisions about these matters,” he said.
“This happens from time to time, and we will just work constructively with our partners in China about those issues.”

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.