The Labour Market Statistics were released today, showing that unemployment has dropped to 5.1%. Even so, there are still 131,000 unemployed - 26,000 more than when National took office.
But while the unemployment rate is dropping, its not expected to get anywhere near the levels which prevailed during Labour's term. Rather than driving it to 3.5% or lower, National seems quite content to let it hover around 5%. And the result is stagnant wage growth and declining standards of living. That's just not good enough, and New Zealand deserves better.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
26,000 unemployed under National
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Against anti-whistleblower laws
Yesterday the government introduced new spying legislation into Parliament. The new law would enable the GCSB to engage in the mass-surveillance of New Zealanders while granting the SIS even more power to lie, cheat, and break into people's houses. But it also has another unwelcome feature: an anti-whistleblower provision. The proposed new section 78AA of the Crimes Act would impose a five year jail term for passing on, retaining, or refusing to return "classified information". And it would apply this penalty not just to government agents who hold that classified information in the course of their jobs - but to anyone who has ever held a security clearance, and over all classified information whether or not they've ever seen it before.
To give an idea of what this means in practice, a large number of public servants hold security clearances in the course of their work. MPs and Ministers automatically hold such clearances. Various people in the IT sector can be required by the GCSB to obtain a security clearance in order to keep their jobs. And this law would see all of them thrown in jail for five years for reading the Guardian, the Intercept, or any other news site which regularly publishes stories based on leaked government data (in other words, any news media worthy of the name).
Its a ridiculous overstretch, effectively an attempt to re-impose the long-repealed Official Secrets Act. It's also obviously incompatible with section 14 of the Bill of Rights Act, which affirms freedom of expression, including the right to impart and receive information. While the protection of (some) classified information may be an important public purpose, this measure is neither rationally linked to that purpose, or proportionate to it. Reading someone else's leak should not be a crime.
It is also of course completely unnecessary. We already have laws imposing confidentiality on spies (which are replicated in section 177 of the new bill), and we already have laws which criminalise the passing on of information which will harm "national security". The difference is that that law requires that real harm be likely and intended. Clearly, the spies feel that that is too high a threshold, and that their classification decisions should be exempt from factual scrutiny and impose penalties in and of themselves. It is our job as citizens to rein them in.
Meanwhile, if you are asked to gain a security clearance for your employment, you should refuse. Holding a security clearance exposes you to the whims of the spy agencies and allows them to fuck up your life at any time in the future if they ever want to. The safest way to protect yourself from such threats (other than campaign to disband those agencies) is to refuse to have anything to do with their bullshit.
Open Government: What do people want?
The SSC and Engage2 are currently conducting public consultation on New Zealand's second Open Government partnership national action plan. Proposed commitments are flowing into the co-creation site here, and some good ones are emerging (the current winner is signing up for the International Standards for Lobbying Regulation, which would see lobbyists registered and regulated). But earlier, they ran a short consultation on the background to the action plan, including what people meant by "open government" and what themes they wanted in the action plan. Engage2 has reported back on some of the ideas that emerged from that here, but they missed the big one: what do people mean by "open government"?
Analysing the public submissions, and the answer is clear: open government means transparency. Nine of the fourteen submitters talked about transparency and access to information in their answer about open government. By contrast, six talked about participation (so this is clearly important to people too), three about accountability, and only two about technology.
Compare this to SSC's hidden agenda, which is all about technology - because focusing on technology allows them to avoid fundamental change and allowing us dirty peasants some scrutiny and say. But its clear that that agenda isn't what people want. And if the action plan reflects it, then it will be another failure, just like the last one.
Finally: while the public and civil society are contributing their ideas through the co-creation site, I've been told that SSC won't be - perhaps because they're afraid of public criticism and rejection. But if they want the action plan to be truly co-created, they should seek public endorsement of their proposals and preferred themes. Otherwise, they run the real risk of the entire process being seen as a cynical box-ticking exercise aimed at legitimising an agenda into which the participants have no input - and a complete waste of our time.
Monday, August 15, 2016
John Key lied about the GCSB circumventing NZ law
Back in 2013, when the Snowden leaks were first released, John Key faced some very uncomfortable questions about whether the GCSB used the NSA's PRISM system to circumvent the law (nad in particular, the law against spying on New Zealanders). His response was a categorical denial:
On TV3's Firstline this morning, the PM categorically denied New Zealand uses systems like the NSA's PRISM to circumvent NZ law.
The logic is that if the US government spy agency collects traffic arriving at its borders through PRISM, then it will be hoovering up lots of txts, emails and calls from New Zealanders (it has also been alleged PRISM collects information from the servers of tech companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft - the companies deny this is happening, at least with their knowledge; in some cases the denials are very carefully worded). When information is exchanged between US and NZ agencies, this US-gathered information would be shared, providing a warrant-less way to spy on Kiwis).
[...]
The Prime Minister continued: "I can’t tell you how the United States gathers all of their information and what techniques they use. I simply don’t know that."
He added, "If the question is, 'Do we use the United States or one of our other partners to circumvent New Zealand law?' then the answer is categorically no we don’t."
It turns out he was lying. A major story released by The Intercept today (and teased by TVNZ last night) tells the story of how the GCSB spied on kiwi public servant Tony Fullman over his links to Fiji's pro-democracy movement. And a key part of that spying? Getting the NSA to use PRISM to grab all of his communications, so they could be passed on to the GCSB:
Between early July and early August 2012, New Zealand spies appear to have requested American assistance to obtain the emails and Facebook communications of Fullman and Ratu [ Tevita Mara], including from a “democfiji” email address used by Fullman to organize events for the campaign group, whose slogan was “thumbs up for democracy.”
The NSA’s documents contain a “priority list” that names the two men as “Fiji targets” alongside their Gmail addresses and an account number identifying Fullman’s Facebook page. The documents indicate that the NSA began intercepting messages associated with Ratu’s accounts on about the July 9, 2012 and on August 3 started spying on Fullman’s messages. The agency also obtained historic messages from the two men dating back to the beginning of May 2012.
To conduct the electronic eavesdropping, the NSA turned to one of its most controversial surveillance programs: PRISM. The agency uses PRISM to secretly obtain communications that are processed by major technology companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo, as the Washington Post and The Guardian first reported in 2013.
[...]
The classification markings on the files — “REL TO USA/NZ” — make clear that the intercepted communications were to be released to New Zealand spies. In one of the files showing Fullman’s intercepted emails and Facebook chats, the NSA explicitly noted that the intercepted material had been forwarded to its New Zealand intelligence counterpart, the GCSB.
And yet the Prime Minister was denying that was was happening just six months later, despite apparently having "personally" signed the warrant authorising the interception. I guess he just wasn't paying that much attention.
But its not just a case of political deceit about spying - it is also a crime. Because it is very clear that by receiving Fullman's information, the GCSB was intercepting it. And as that interception was not authorised by the GCSB Act (being explicitly contrary to the section 14 prohibition on intercepting the communications of New Zealanders), it is a breach of s216 of the Crimes Act.
The government clearly owes Fullman an apology and compensation for unlawfully invading his privacy. But more importantly than that, someone at the GCSB needs to go to jail. And the Prime Minister who lied to us about what they do? He needs to resign, now.
National's state housing rip-off
When National sells off state houses, it tells us that its done to recycle capital and allow more state houses to be built.
Bullshit:
Housing New Zealand has sold about 300 state houses for less than their government valuation, says the Labour Party.
According to documents released under the Official Information Act, most of the state houses sold between July last year and April this year were in places like Palmerston North, Gisborne, Dunedin, Invercargill and Taumarunui.
[...]
He said the government got $60 million from the sales, but could have got much more.
"On average, each of the properties has been sold at $32,000 below council valuation. And that amounts to a $12.5 million hit on the taxpaper."
These aren't the prudent sales of a government trying to manage the state housing stock and ensure it has the right-sized houses in the right places. Instead, its a fire sale, dumping these houses at a discount simply for the sake of selling them. And the government is doing this purely to degrade the capacity of Housing New Zealand to perform its vital task of ensuring that every kiwi has a roof over their heads.
People are going homeless because of this policy. It is a fucking crime, and National's Ministers need to be held to account for it.
Against domestic spying
Last year, National held a strapped-chicken review into "our" intelligence agencies. In March, it duly reported back with the expected results, recommending more money, more powers, and fewer legal restraints for the spies. One of their core recommendations was to remove the longstanding prohibition on the GCSB spying domesticly. And today, it looks like the government is going to introduce legislation to do that.
We should not be doing this. The techniques used by the GCSB in collecting foreign intelligence - full-take collection of entire countries' internet and telephone communications feeds - are mass surveillance. The justification for using them for foreign intelligence is tenuous - we're not at war, and we simply have no enemies which justify such extreme action. The idea of doing it to New Zealanders, in peacetime, is simply monstrous. It turns us into a mass-surveillance society, and no amount of GCSB bullshit about how its not "surveillance" until they pick your data out of the feed and look at it changes that.
Despite the best efforts of the spy agencies to convince us otherwise, New Zealand faces no credible domestic or external threats. None whatsoever. And insofar as we have transnational criminals and potentially violent extremists, they're jobs for the police. We have no need for spy agencies, and absolutely no need to let them spy on every aspect of our lives as proposed.
Instead of granting the GCSB more powers, we should be shutting them down. Disestablish the agency, sack all their staff, and throw all their gear and records into a volcano. Make New Zealand a Five Eyes-Free Zone, rather than another US-run surveillance state.
Meanwhile, I'm wondering: will Labour oppose this? Will they repeal these changes if National rams it through with Winston's votes? And if not, what fucking good are they?
Open Government: Co-creation
On Friday, Engage2 launched its Open Government Partnership co-creation site, allowing people to suggest (and vote and comment on) commitments for our next OGP action plan.
The site relies on public input: people suggesting, voting, and commenting on proposals. Its already hada few. I dumped nine on there on Friday, covering the suggestions from my posts on freedom of information and corruption and public integrity, as well as proactive publication of Ministerial briefing lists, and proactive publication of treaty negotiation documents. Since then, other people have added suggestions for
- Proactive publication of Ministerial diaries
- Adopting international lobbying standards
- Signing the declaration on Parliamentary Openness
- Signing the declaration on political finance openness
- Creating an annual citizen's budget
Intimidation in Opotiki
Back in April, Opotiki Mayor John Forbes publicly suggested that no-one should stand against him or incumbent councillors because elections were a distraction. And then, when someone announced they were running against him, he turned up at their house to try and bully them out of it:
One of New Zealand's longest-standing mayors went to a rival candidate's home in his mayoral car and told him the region could save $50,000 if he continued in office unopposed.
Mayoral candidate Les Keane says incumbent Opotiki mayor John Forbes knocked on his door this week to discuss Keane's decision to challenge him for the mayoralty - and there would be no need for a costly local body election if no one opposed him for a sixth term.
When approached by the Herald on Sunday yesterday, Forbes admitted he used the mayoral car to pay a visit to Keane's house on Thursday, and he went there specifically to discuss Keane's candidacy.
This is undemocratic bullying, plain and simple. And Opotiki voters should respond to it by voting out the bully.
Meanwhile, in Palmerston North, the fear that Grant Smith, the meathead mayor, would be elected unopposed are unrealised. Unfortunately, his sole "opposition" is a four-time convicted child-beater, so its not really any competition at all. Which means I'll just be spoiling that part of my ballot, because I can't stomach either of them.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Open Government: Co-create!
The State services Commission and Engage2 are currently running a public engagement process on the development of New Zealand's second Open Government partnership National Action Plan. And after some initial work on developing the background (which you can still submit on here), we're into the second phase: co-creating the actual commitments. For those who haven't been following this closely, our action plan has to consist of specific, measurable, answerable (I would say "additional"), relevant and time-bound commitments - basicly, promises to do something that can be checked on. They should also be ambitious, aimed at creating a "race to the top" among countries for transparency and open government. The commitments in our first action plan failed miserably at this task. This is our chance to do better.
There's a specific website for submitting suggested commitments here. There's also a host of good advice on commitments, including some suggestions on format and structure. Once you've read those, you can register on the website and start making suggestions. We'll also be able to comment on suggested commitments, so we can refine them and see what has popular support.
If you're looking for ideas, I have a couple of suggestions here and here. There's also an open government guide to see what other governments have promised.
Finally, there will be a co-creation workshop in Wellington on August 26 to discuss these ideas. Details are here.
Australia's fraudluent gulag-guards
In addition to exposing torture, neglect and child sexual abuse, the Nauru Files have also exposed something else: pervasive fraud by Australia's gulag-guards, Wilson Security:
Self-harm and sexual abuse incident reports filed on Nauru were routinely altered and downgraded in seriousness by the security company tasked with protecting asylum seekers on the island, new documents reveal.
Save the Children, one of the major agencies in the detention centre, protested that they were “usually downgraded without any clear justification”. A spokeswoman for Wilson Security said the company followed the reporting guidelines established by Australia’s immigration department and denied that incident reports are systematically downgraded in breach of the guidelines.
The reason? Simple:
Critical incidents must be reported verbally within 30 minutes and in writing within three hours. Major incidents must be reported verbally within an hour and within six hours in writing. Minor incidents don’t require a verbal report. A written report only needs to be filed within 24 hours. Timeframes for reporting incidents to the department are extremely important because failures to meet these deadlines can trigger financial penalties.
Those financial penalties are up to $80,000 per incident. Downgrading incidents extends the timeline and allows Wilson to escape the penalty. Of course, they're ripping off the Australian taxpayer, but that's just what happens when you give a contractor control over the metric they will be judged by.
It also of course helps cover up just how awful Nauru is, and how many people are tortured, sexually abused, or try to kill themselves there. Which is convenient for Australia's politicians, which is perhaps why they don't bother looking too closely at whether Wilson is really adhering to their contract.
The real crime on nauru is the torture and abuse and coverup thereof, but this just makes it an example of toxic privatisation as well.
When will the government condemn Australia's refugee concentration camps?
For the past three years the Australian government has intercepted vessels on the high seas, detained their passengers, and rendered them to concentration camps on Nauru and Manus Island, all because those people dare to exercise their legal right to claim asylum in Australia. In those camps, the prisoners are tortured and children are physically and sexually abused. It is a crime against humanity, being committed by our closest neighbour (and supposedly closest friend). So what has our government said about this?
Nothing.
New Zealand is supposed to stand up for human rights. We're supposed to oppose torture and cruelty. And yet, we're silent in the face of ongoing human rights abuse by our closest neighbour.
This isn't good enough. Our government should stand up for our values. Our government should condemn Australia. It should also offer to take all the refugees from Nauru and Manus Island, simply to free them from Australia's gulags. It would be a significant investment of resources, but we can cope, and rescuing these people is the right thing to do.
And remember, don't buy Australian. Decent people don't give money to torturers.
The TPP is dead
Its official: Hillary Clinton won't support the Trans Pacific Partnership:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been given the formal kiss of death this morning, with Hillary Clinton saying she'll will not sign up to it if she's the next US President.
"I oppose it now, I'll oppose it after the election and I'll oppose it as President," the Democratic nominee told supporters at a factory in Michigan.
It's one of the few policy positions she has in common with Republican candidate Donald Trump.
[...]
"So my message to every worker in Michigan and across America is this: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership."
Without the US, the TPP cannot come into force. And with a hostile congress and both presidential candidates opposing it, the US is out. So, thankyou Hillary Clinton - you've saved Pharmac and ensured the NZ copyright term won't bloat to US levels of insanity.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Predator-free by 3300!
In Question Time today Conservation Minister Maggie Barry was quizzed on the cost of her recently-announced predator-free New Zealand policy. First, she tried not to answer; then, when she was forced to answer by the Speaker, she admitted it:
There have been a number of estimates that have been put forward, some of which are accurate, some of which are building on suppositions. For example—[Interruption] Well, we think that they are accurate. At this stage, when we look at how much it costs us to, for example, rid the Million Dollar Mouse from the Antipodes, that is a million dollars and upwards. There are various studies—a $9.04 billion figure came through from Auckland University, for example. That figure is based on the estimated highest-per-hectare cost of current eradication technology. It does not, though, take into account potential technological advances, and it is really simply a scale-up of current methods that are used on islands.
Yes, that's right: the best estimate is $9 billion, but it will be cheaper because of magic Technology
And against that $9 billion estimated cost, the government is contributing $28 million. Over four years. That's $7 million a year. And at that rate, we'll meet their target in... 3300 or so.
Making New Zealand predator free is a great goal. But its clear from the funding level and Barry's answers today that the government has no real commitment to it and view it only as a PR stunt. New Zealand - and our native birds - deserves better than this bullshit.
For a Taonga levy
Last month the government announced a new goal to make New Zealand predator-free by 2050. Its a bold ambition, and one worth supporting, but horrificly under-resourced. So the Greens have suggested a solution: a "taonga levy" on tourists to help pay for it:
The Green Party would nearly double the tax foreign tourists pay at the border to fund conservation efforts and regional tourism.
Its so-called "Taonga Levy" would increase current border charges for international visitors by between $14 to $18 to a total border levy of around $40.
The proposed tax, not applicable to Kiwis, would be split 70-30 toward the just-announced Predator Free New Zealand (PFNZ) effort and the Regional Mid-sized Tourism Facilities Fund.
Outlining the policy at the Environmental Defence Society's annual conference in Auckland today, party leader James Shaw said the new tax would generate about $46 million each year for PFNZ, or $1.5 billion by its zero-pest predator goal of 2050.
That's not enough to pay for the full programme, but its a substantial contribution, and one which will help fund the technological breakthroughs we need to achieve it. If the government is serious about making New Zealand predator-free, rather than just looking for cheap PR photos, they should adopt this proposal.
Australia's gulag guards lied to Parliament
Yesterday the Guardian released more than 2,000 leaked incident reports from Australia's refugee concentration camp on Nauru. One of the revelations? Their gulag guards Wilson Security lied to Parliament about the number of sexual assaults that happened under their watch:
The Guardian can also reveal that some of the incidents disclosed in the logs in 2014 and 2015 were not reported by Wilson Security when it was asked to provide materials to an Australian parliamentary inquiry into Nauru in 2015.
An Australian Senate inquiry examined conditions and allegations of abuse at the centre. Wilson Security was asked by Hanson-Young for details of all known incidents or allegations of sexual assault, child abuse and assaults on minors.
The company later provided a table of reports of sexual abuse and child abuse to the Senate.
But the Guardian’s analysis shows the reports provided by Wilson Security to parliament are incomplete and that incidents that occurred several months before the hearing were not reported. Although not every allegation will necessarily be proved, the documents Hanson-Young requested concerned allegations, not proven offences.
At least 16 serious cases of child abuse and sexual assault were not disclosed by Wilson Security to the Senate. The sexual assault allegations not reported include:
Wilson Security is in denial, but the files don't lie. And they should be facing contempt of parliament charges for it.
Drawn
A ballot for three member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn:
- Residential Tenancies (Safe and Secure Rentals) Amendment Bill (Metiria Turei)
- Airport Authorities (Publicising Lost Property Sales) Amendment Bill (Nuk Korako)
- Land Transfer (Foreign Ownership of Land Register) Amendment Bill (Mahesh Bindra)
Open Government: Something to go to
The State Services Commission and Engage2 are currently running a public engagement process on the development of New Zealand's second Open Government partnership National Action Plan. So far, we've been asked to provide input on the draft background for the action plan. But from next week, the engagement will be moving into phase three, and we'll be asked to suggest, share and respond to actions for possible inclusion in the plan. As part of this, Engage2 will be hosting two public meetings and an online webinar to introduce people to the OGP and allow them to develop potential actions for the action plan:
- In Auckland on 17 August from 13:30 pm to 15:30 at Victoria University of Wellington Business School, Level 4, 50 Kitchener Street, Auckland CBD. Register here;
- In Christchurch on 23 August from 9:00 to 11:00 at EPIC (Enterprise Precinct Innovation Centre), 76/106 Manchester St, Christchurch Central. Register here; and
- Online on 15 August 2016 from 19:00 to 20:00. Details here
(If you're in Wellington, there's apparently something on the 26th. Details to come when I hear about them).
If you're interested in the Open Government Partnership, I recommend attending one of these events. Open government is too important to be left to SSC and Paula Bennett.
Finally: oddly, none of this information is online. I had to join their mailing list to receive it. Which isn't the best way of running an engagement process...
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Corrections lies to the Ombudsman
When the Department of Corrections was caught subjecting a prisoner to cruel and degrading treatment by routinely tying him to his bed, they promised they'd stop doing it. They also promised they'd provide regular reports to the Ombudsman on his treatment, to ensure there was no re-occurance.
They lied:
The Ombudsman raised concerns in May about the length of time the prisoner was tied down and the Corrections' chief inspector launched an investigation, promising to provide the Ombudsman weekly updates.
However, chief Ombudsman Judge Peter Bouchier has told RNZ that Corrections took three weeks to release its first and only weekly update.
When the Ombudsman queried the progress of the investigation on 23 June, Corrections said it would be completed by the end of the month.
But the Chief Ombudsman is yet to receive a copy of the investigation's findings.
Withholding information from the Ombudsman is unprecedented. So what are Corrections hiding? Or are they just so used to unaccountability that they're willing to piss all over a core part of our constitution to maintain it?
Don't buy Australian
Don't like Australia's torture and systematic neglect of refugees in Pacific island concentration camps? Want them to end this environment of self-harm, despair, and sexual abuse and accept their responsibilities under the refugee convention? If you're Australian, you can try voting for those outcomes. If you're not, then there's really only one thing you can do: don't buy Australian.
Buying Australian goods and supporting Australian companies supplies the Australian government with tax revenue - tax revenue it spends on the torture and abuse of refugees. Refusing to buy Australian or support Australians with your business reduces that revenue. It also ensures you are not complicit in supporting these crimes against humanity.
Boycott campaigns have a mixed record. But they were successful against apartheid South Africa, and (judging by the intense Israeli reaction) are being successful against Israel. At the least, they de-legitimise behaviour and make it clear it is unacceptable to the global community. Australia's behaviour is unacceptable - and they need to know that. So, don't buy Australian, and let the companies you have stopped buying from - Arnotts, Harvey-Norman, Jacob's Creek, Holden, whatever - know about it. Because while you can't do much to change Australian government policy, they can, and will if it starts to hurt their bottom line.
