Posts by Phil Lyth
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Speaker: So NZ First gets another list…, in reply to sean mahoney,
Thanks Sean - I accept that Electoral Commission are in good faith telling people that. However, they are not the arbiters of whether a vacancy is created or not.
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Graeme Edgeler (asked on Twitter)
@philiplyth is it your view that the statement "Members' seats become vacant only as provided in Electoral Act 1993" is debatable?
I note that is the heading to s23 of the Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014 the whole of which is:
23 Members' seats become vacant only as provided in Electoral Act 1993
(1)The House has no power to make a member's seat become vacant by expelling the member (whether to discipline or punish the member, to protect the House by removing an unfit member, or for any reason or purpose) from membership of the House.
(2)Subsection (1) overrides any law to the contrary.To answer the direct question, yes, I can see various MPs, past and present, being only too willing to debate the meaning depending on the circumstances. So it is certainly debatable.
I haven't yet gone back and read all the public domain documents and Hansard relating to that Act. S23 would be subject to interpretation. I doubt it would be justiciable in practical terms. Arguably for example, the meaning of "a member's seat" could be the subject of much argument before Privileges: if and when Peters is sworn in as the MP for Northland (assuming for a moment that is required), then is the list seat still his?
I do not purport to be an expert and I expect this questions will be addressed by Members in the coming weeks and a solution found.
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Surely you mean “noting that the Official Count and the return of the writ are nearly two weeks away” ,
Oops, you are quite right Steve – mea culpa. Will get it fixed.
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It's published, let it be.
Not sure whether the old scheme is online anywhere, but the international travel perk was always capped at the value of a return business class airfare to London. I cannot remember if explicitly stated as Air NZ, but back in the day fares were pretty standard between all airlines.
That's no longer the case. Yesterday I found Cathay Pacific offering as low as $3,400 each way.
What I am very surprised at is that Cabinet agreed to make this change at this time and in this way.
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Thanks, I think, for the mention. I'm more of a WWDITS sort of guy.
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To kick things off: overwhelmingly younger people do not participate and so their concerns are addressed less than those of the older generation who do.
People can encourage everybody under 30 to enrol. It's not hard. Anyone who is 17 now can "pre-enrol" and they'll be automatically transferred to the main roll the day they turn 18.
Factoid: anyone born 20 Sept 1996 and thus turns 18 on the day of the election, can vote as long as they have pre-enrolled.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Why do they persist with that ranking system? Does National do it too?
Because historically, 'it's always been done that way.' Particularly in the two largest parties, and in the Ministerial list. The ranking is so strong within the Ministry that when two or more Ministers are meeting, they do so in the highest ranking Minister's office.
That said, Labour, and I think National, are now relaxing to the point of having maybe 1/3 of the caucus unranked. And the Greens as far as I observe are much less hierarchical.
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Speaker: The Strange Tax on Your Internet, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Could you show us the working to get $600 million as the number?
From a report prepared by economists Covec. You can read the Coalition's media release here and it includes a link to Covec's 35 page report
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Somewhere in the commentary about the Australian election I heard that Australia is about to join the Security Council, which probably means their rep will get their instructions from Abbott. (Which will also mean no welcoming of refugees)
Australia is currently a Security Council member for a two-year term. What happens on 1 September is that it becomes President of the Security Council for a month. Which would explain why Obama was recently reported as being on the phone to Rudd.
And which raises the interesting question of what would the NZ Government be doing? After all we are close to the end of a decade-long campaign for another term on the Security Council, for the Jan 2015 - Dec 2016 term.
If NZ succeeds (and the term starts after our next election), what would our Government be doing if faced with a similar crisis?
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I make no claims for my kitchen.
But the wonderful @cle0patra for a year or so blogged her foodie gadgets at http://beanslicer.wordpress.com/
May there be a meeting of minds.