Politics Central

A New Zealand woman has spoken out about her experience of being given a nickname by her boss.
Julie Savage went to a South Australian Employment Tribunal after her boss, Vili Milisits of Vili's Cakes, kept calling her 'Kiwi' rather than by her name.
The news was met with some ridicule online, but Savage has told The Weekend Collective that it was more about respect.
"There was always someone making a joke." 
She says Vili always called her 'Kiwi' and never once addressed her by her name.
Savage says that if she complained, nothing ever happened, and that she was not alone in feeling uncomfortable working there due to the nickname habits. 
"A lot of people left before me because of racial comments."
Savage says she is a proud Kiwi, but that's not the point of her argument. She says that she worked every weekend at the bakery for nine years, and she expected to be treated with more respect.
However, her case was thrown out by the tribunal. Savage says it has left her in an awkward predicament, and now her name is out in the media.
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The National Party have again come under fire, this time with allegations of bullying and abuse of power within Parliament. 
Former MP Deborah Coddington gives us an insight into the political culture and why politicians react the way they do. 
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The Ministry of education has come out swinging at the credibility of internal exams for NCEA.
They have found that students are two or three times more likely to get excellence if assessed by a teacher compared to only 11 percent of those with external exams.
We talk to the President of the PPTA Jack Boyle to discuss whether or not internal exams have a place in our secondary schools?
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It's crunch time for UK Prime Minister Theresa May as she hopes the EU will sign off on a draft Brexit deal at a summit in Brussels overnight.
May, who arrived in Brussels Saturday evening for preparatory talks with EU leaders, will then have the momentous task of selling the deal to a recalcitrant British Parliament and a nation still fundamentally split over whether the U.K. should leave the EU on March 29 and under what conditions.
International Relations Expert Robert Patman says the deal on the table is no good.
"And the deal she's delivered seems to have the worst of both worlds. Britain actually becomes weaker than it was when it was within the EU."
He told The Weekend Collective that it's highly unlikely the British Parliament will vote for the current deal, and may even lead to another referendum.
The latest developments come after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Saturday that Madrid would support the Brexit divorce deal after the U.K. and the EU agreed to give Spain a say in the future of the disputed British territory of Gibraltar, which lies at the southern tip of the Mediterranean nation.
Spain wants the future of the tiny territory, which was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain, to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London, not between Britain and the EU.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk assured Sanchez that Spain's "prior agreement" would be needed on matters concerning Gibraltar.
"Europe and the United Kingdom have accepted the conditions imposed by Spain," Sanchez said. "Therefore, as a consequence of this, Spain will lift its veto and tomorrow will vote in favor of Brexit."
May said Britain had conceded nothing on the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
"I will always stand by Gibraltar," May said after meeting with Juncker. "The U.K. position on the sovereignty of Gibraltar has not changed and will not change."
The move should allow EU leaders speedily to sign off on the Brexit agreement between Britain and a special summit Sunday morning.

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The future of the free fees policy is up in the air.
The Government was left red-faced this week when figures revealed that the free first year of tertiary education scheme did not boost first year enrolments.
It also showed that the people benefiting from the scheme the most were white and middle classed. 
However, political commentator Bryce Edwards says that one year is too early to tell if the scheme is working.
"We might actually see that after a while we might see it changes the culture, and poorer people will see there isn't the barrier there."
Edwards doubts that Labour will do a u-turn, but says it is likely that the rollout of the second and third year parts of the policy may be scrapped. 
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The Mental Health Foundation is calling on a leading retailer to drop what it says are unethical and potentially illegal recruitment practices.
People applying for jobs at Kathmandu are being asked to list any prescription drugs or medications they're taking.
Applicants can't proceed unless they surrender the information.
Mental Health Foundation chief Shaun Robinson says people should be judged on their abilities, not the medications they take.
"It's just a completely unnecessary, unfair and illegal approach to employment, and it really needs to stop."
Robinson says it's a dangerous policy.
"It can make people not want to seek help, not want to get on medications, because they don't want to be discriminated against. They can see it could disadvantage them/"
He says medications are often an indicator a person has their illness under control.
Kathmandu has not so far responded to a request for comment.
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National's accused the Government of being soft on crime, after 84 people caught importing drugs got off with warnings.
Police carried out raids as part of an operation targeting people buying Class A and B drugs on the dark web, and shipping them in from overseas.
National's Mark Mitchell says the Police Minister has questions to answer.
He claims Stuart Nash and the Government is sending signals to police, about how they should operate and apply drug policy.
Mitchell says anyone who brought in more than a personal amount, should be criminally charged.
"They've taken a very soft approach on people that are actually importing Class A drugs, serious drugs that can do a lot of harm, and they are going around giving a warning. To me, it's just not acceptable."
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A tattoo removal programme may be reintroduced in prisons.
The Government's considering reviving a similar programme to the one which was ditched in 2006.
That was after controversy was sparked when taxpayers paid thousands for a violent offender to have a "Mongrel Mob Forever" tattoo lasered off. 
The Government has now asked Corrections for advice on how a revived tattoo removal scheme might work, and whether it would be user pays.
Corrections Chief Custodial Officer Neil Beales told the Weekend Collective tattoos are proving a roadblock for prisoners trying to re-enter society.
"It's hard enough for a prisoner who wants to go on straight and narrow to be accepted back into society as is. Even harder when they've got a tattoo that some may deem offensive or insulting." 
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Over 100 vendors, mainly women, turned up to see Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern officially open Gordon's Market in an outer suburb of Port Moresby this morning.
And they got a rallying cry from her to get involved in politics in PNG – where there are no women MPs.
She made the 7.30 am event before official meetings of the day got underway at the Apec leaders' summit being hosted by Papua New Guinea.
It was very much a women's focused project and women's focused event.
Most of the stall holders are women and photos of the former market show trade previously being conducted on the dirt and around puddles and great piles of rubbish.
When the complex is complete in a few months – Fletchers it doing it – it will provide two vast levels of covered area for about 2000 stall holders, funded to the tune of $7 million from New Zealand's Overseas Development Assistance.
"Gutpela monin tru olgeta," Ardern began (good morning everyone)."Welcome to your new home."
Up to 90 per cent of the vendors at Gordon's market were women "and behind them will be families and behind them will be the success of their community so this is a very deliberate project on behalf of the people of New Zealand."
If you want a community or a country to thrive you look after the women she said, to applause.
"I hope that as a result of this project, the women here thrive, they are safe, they have a safe space where they can work, where you can build your business, where you can build the well-being of your family because that's where success builds.
"And I hope also that as a result of more women thriving in their communities, building their business, maybe some of them will go into politics as well because we can always use more women in politics.
Ardern mingled with most of the stall holders afterwards although avoided the table at which vendros were selling bunches of tobacco leaves grown in their own garden.
PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato was there and got a special reception from a group of women originally from his electorate.
Jacinda Ardern meets some of the stallholders after the official opening. Photo / Audrey Young
Asked why there were no women MPs, he told the Herald that women had stood in most electorates last election but none had been elected.
"The elections are fair open and free and I have said many a time and so has the Prime Minister that we are about gender equality, empowerment of girls and women and we would like to get representation of women in the Parliament of our country."
The constitution provided for unelected representation "and because of the lack of women in Parliament we are thinking of invoking that provision to ensure women are represented – at least by one."
Foreign Minister Winston Peters was not at the event but later in the morning he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a St John Ambulance operation centre which New Zealand funded to the tune of $1.1 million.
The Government has also announced a $10 million contribution specifically for polio vaccinations for PNG where there has been a recent outbreak.
 

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The teachers' strike is going ahead tomorrow because the venues for union meetings were already booked.
The primary teachers' union offered that explanation when asked why the pay offer it received on Thursday wasn't enough to avert next week's action.
Principals and teachers will be rallying on more than 100 street corners in Auckland at 7.30am tomorrow, and will br holding mass meetings to consider the current situation later in the morning.
Other regions will follow throughout the week.
The NZEI's teacher lead negotiator Liam Rutherford told the Weekend Collective the offer came through really late in the piece.
"And so to that extent, we didn't consider calling off the strike because we've got venues booked around country."
Rutherford says they have been really flexible, but when you already have so many meeting venues booked, a half day to consider an offer is not enough.
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