Posts by Graeme Edgeler
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Jeanette King,
Ngā mihi ki a koe, Steve – while Te Reo and NZSL are official languages de jure, English is a de facto official language of NZ – so powerful and ubiquitous it doesn’t need the power of the law to consolidate its position. Tēnā tātou katoa!
If English is not a de jure official language, then someone will need to tell the Courts, Government and Parliament. We have entered into a number of international agreements (e.g. in respect of applications relating to international abduction of children) in which, for example, legal process must be executed in an official language.
Are you seriously suggestion, for example, that a parent from overseas with lawful custody of their children, who is illegally taken to New Zealand, can only file the legal papers in New Zealand to get their child back in either Maori or New Zealand Sign Language, or that New Zealand service personnel detained as prisoners of war aren't entitled to a copy of the Geneva Convention in English?
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Russell Brown,
The 3 News item tonight made Mathers look awesome and Smith like even more of an out-of-touch idiot.
The three news article headlined "Speaker staunch on deaf MP’s technology funding"? I saw the link somewhere else, and ignored it. An article whose headline is so misleading (the Speaker has said Parliament will separately fund the technology) is unlikely to be enlightening. And on the off-chance the article itself is accurate, how would I know this, and thereby by able to rely on any information in it?
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Hilary Stace,
From the website of the Office for Disability Issues at www.odi.govt.nz. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is there too.
One Paragraph after pointing out that individuals have impairments and not disabilities, is probably not the best time to point out that we've confirmed the rights of persons with disabilities :-)
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Legal Beagle: It's (almost) never that simple, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Fall foul in what sense?
In the sense that a body like the Human Rights Review Tribunal or a Court could look into it and decided whether it had? No. I anticipate that parliamentary privilege/comity between the branches of government tells everyone else to stuff off.
In the sense that reasonable accommodations weren't provided as required by law? Well, is two full-time staff members who will do whatever you want within reason and ~$1.8m provided each year to the Greens, the sole purpose of that money being to be spent almost however they want to assist Green Members of Parliament to function effectively as representatives a sufficient accommodation, or not?
Other parties spend the similar staff time/money/ they get to assist, for example, technologically-challenged MPs by printing off all their incoming email and drafting all their emails from dictation. Parties without this technological disability can spend that money on other things, but haven't seemed to complain that parties with technologically-adept MPs get the same funding without the same need etc. etc.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to steve black,
From the stranger than fiction department: I know Te Reo is an official language, but I think you’ll find that English is not an official language. I heard that some time ago from a linguist discussing preservation and support for languages on NatRadio (long before this event). It turns out that “official language” actually means “a language other than that of the dominant group which we feel we ought to help preserve/foster”. Enjoy the irony if it checks out. ..I haven’t tried to fact check it yet.
There is no statute that defines English as an Official Language of New Zealand, but there is no way that that is what "Official Language" means. English is an official language in New Zealand.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Shit ! Can we get subtitles too! I find it rediculous that I cannot understand what Maori MP’s say in the House.
Parliament TV is, I understand it, only on Freeview, or on the Internet. Both of these options allow you to choose the audio stream with simultaneous translation.
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Legal Beagle: It's (almost) never that simple, in reply to merc,
Labour-reveals-PMs-emails-over-radio-show
I understand that the email advice was released before the election on The Standard.
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Legal Beagle: It's (almost) never that simple, in reply to tussock,
If Key’s giving his time to a commercial body during an election campaign, isn’t that treating?
No. Is he corruptly trying to change that body's vote (or someone else's)? If not, it's not treating.
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Legal Beagle: It's (almost) never that simple, in reply to Steve Barnes,
If Sky City thinks it a good business deal to build a conference venue then why do they need changes to the gambling laws?
That’s not what I was meaning when I said “good business practice”.
Sky City is intending to build an expensive convention centre as part of its casino business. This is a risk. They will spend upwards of $300m on it. And they will not cover that cost is the first year of its operation, or even the first several. It is good business practice to ensure that your business will be able to remain open long enough for you to be able to actually make a profit from it. And it is sensible to make the offer to a Government that wants something like that built that “hey, we’ll build it, but we’re taking a risk, and it may be too much of a risk if the licence to operate our business isn’t renewed in a few years, so can we have it renewed early (while still allowing it to be suspended or revoked if we breach the terms)?”.
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Legal Beagle: It's (almost) never that simple, in reply to Steve Barnes,
So Sky City just has to promise to build a conference centre, which no doubt will be used for National’s conferences and Joyce will change the law to suit them. What is that if not pure corruption?
Sound business practice?
How is that possibly corruption? If National was going to get to use it free or something sure. But as you've phrased it, it's an offer that may or may not be accepted. We like to film in your country, but the tax is too high, can we get a partial rebate? I'd like to hold a function in your restaurant, what kind of discount can I get if I bring 80 people? I'd like to build a function centre, but it's a bit of a risk, especially if my current business might cease to be able to operate in a few years, can I get my licence extended early, so I'm in a position to make this investment? etc. etc.