NZ Snippets Monday 29 October

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Announcing NEW ZEALAND ALTERNATIVE, a new organization seeking more debate about NZ's place in the world. Check it out.

Parliament. Question time Oct. 24. Read this pointless exchange between Simon Bridges and Jacinda Adern, and then ask what is the point. 

Taupo man pleads not guilty of threatening to kill the PM.

Housing in Te Kauwhata. Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford announces infrastructure grant to local government and the first Kiwibuild houses in Te Kauwhata, which is expected to become a major growth area in the northern Waikato.

"White person's country"? Probably a nutter but this is as racist as you can go. Not good for the tourist industry. Mentally deranged people need help.


An aftermath of the Bridges-Ross affair: the Party and MP donation gap.
$15,000 for the party and $1500 for the MP, means parties are taking advantage of the gap. Otago law professor Andrew Geddis said the basic structure of the law was fine, but the thresholds weren’t. Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson warns that donations from powerful vested interests run the risk of corruption. 

How can this situation be fixed? Increase state  funding for campaigning, up from $4m; protect privacy; lower the high party threshold and increase the MP threshold to make them both the same. If the amount was too low, parties will find ways of skirting the law. The Justice Select Committee reviews electoral laws every three years. Time for  review?
- Condensed from Newsroom.

Spinoff
Yesterday was an important milestone anniversary in New Zealand's history, but one that has largely slipped out of the collective Pākehā memory. On October 28 1835, the northern-based United Tribes signed He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni – otherwise known as the Declaration of Independence. E-Tangata have published a fascinating transcript of a discussion of what He Whakaputanga has meant to Māori – particularly the Ngāpuhi iwi – and what it means in Aotearoa today. 

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