Copyright © 1995 Brian Harmer
The election is over, and there is a deafening silence. We don't really know what happens now as we wait for parties to begin the ritual mating dances as they try to form coalitions. Winston Peters of New Zealand First is clearly in the position of "king maker," to borrow a cliche. Where NZF goes, there goes the governance of the country. Without them, no bloc has sufficient seats to form a stable government. My pick is that Winston will milk the opportunity for all it's worth, and we won't know who will attempt to form a government for weeks. This does not pose any kind of risk, at least for a while, as the present governmnet remain in power until a new governmnet is appointed, or the Governor General calls a new election. Sir Michael has said he would not need to do that before the new year at the earliest.
This morning, as the hangovers from the post-election parties throbbed, there was a howling Wellington Nor'wester, with rain sweeping almost horizontally in vast sheets across what little could be seen of the landscape. Only the yellow clay of the firebreaks down the Eastern hills showed up in brief lulls. The glass in my windows was bouncing with the force of the wind which was gusting to 140 kph. Spring blossoms were thrashing about, and the lovely wisteria which hangs over my neighbour's fence was beaten about quite badly. As predicted, the rain stopped in the early afternoon, and it is expected that the wind will die, and then resume from the South West.
The Hutt River, swollen with rain, laden with silt, is surging towards the harbour, and the level is creeping towards the edge of the stop-banks. The Wairarapa is experiencing even harsher weather, and trees are reported as felled by the wind. Apart from that, it's not a bad sort of day :-)
On with the News
A couple who own a farm on the Eastern tip of the Chatham Islands have sold the rights to view the first sunrise of the "new millennium" to an Auckland telecommunications consultant who will sell them to the highest bidder. Places which might see the sun as much as 15 seconds earlier are nature reserves, and people are not permitted to land.
(Given that 1 Jan 2000 is a whole year early for the start of the new millennium, it reminds me of Barnum's dictum that there is one born every minute - BH)
Citing family pressures, John Banks has announced his retirement as a talk-back host. He apparently spent several minutes on his last broadcast listing all the people who tried to get him "canned" but failed.
Sarah Porter recognised that her own chances of winning the Wellington Central seat were small, so she pulled out of the contest, urging supporters to vote for anyone else except Richard Prebble.
If you planned to go to the Martinborough wine festival this November, and haven't got your tickets yet, forget it. The 8,500 tickets sold out in two hours flat, notwithstanding the $40 price.
For the second time in a row, Labour Leader Helen Clark was adjudged the clear winner in the televised leaders' debate. The TV audience rated Jim Anderton second, followed by Jim Bolger with Winston Peters a distant fourth. Press reports also put Clark ahead, but ranked Peters second, and Anderton last.
The vice chancellor of Massey University went where no other VC was willing to go when he called the police to serve trespass notices on protesting students occupying the Massey registry building. After a day picketing the building from the outside, the students re-occupied the building the next night. The VC then negotiated a deal in which they left peacefully in return for an agreement that library overdue fees from the campus would be donated to the student hardship fund. In addition, he agreed to publish a half page advert in major papers detailing the mechanisms which required the proposed fee increases for the coming year.
A Wellington hairdresser who charged women more for men's haircuts on the grounds that they took longer has been censured, and ordered to desist. In return, the commission has been savagely ridiculed in the columns of many media commentators.
Christopher Crean, 28, of New Plymouth came to his door to see who was knocking. He was shot dead through the glass door by an unknown assailant who escaped in a car. The dead man's family came downstairs to find their husband and father dying at their feet. Mr Crean was to have been a witness in a trial related to gang violence. Police have been reluctant to leap to the conclusion that the two facts are related. Mr Crean, who is survived by his wife and three children, had declined police protection.
Agreement in principle was reached on the settlement of Ngai Tahu treaty grievances. Subject to ratification by both the Ngai Tahu people and the incoming parliament, the deal involves payment of $170 million, and agreement to make the Maori name of 78 landmarks official. Foremost among these, Mt Cook will henceforth be officially Aoraki-Mt. Cook. Fox Glacier will be Weheka, and the Southern Alps will be Ka Tiriti O Moana. Official maps will show the English name first followed by the Maori name for all except Aoraki-Mt. Cook which has especial significance for the tribe.
ACT leader, Richard Prebble was critical of the Government for entering such a deal just prior to an election, but treaty negotiations minister, Doug Graham said it would be manifestly unfair on the negotiating parties to have gone through a five year process only to have it fall at the last fence because an election was imminent.
The rumble of a low flying DC-6 spraying Auckland's Eastern suburbs is becoming familiar as the Canadian spray-equipped aircraft showers the organic pesticide Btk on the area infected with the caterpillar of the tussock moth. Early tests show that the caterpillars are dying as expected. Spraying will continue for some weeks to catch the caterpillars which have not yet hatched. MAF officials paid for horses which normally graze in the affected zone to be relocated for the duration of the programme. A major hitch which is now in search of a solution is that the annual Ellerslie flower show is within the gazetted area, and under the bio-emergency regulations, no plant matter may be removed from the zone.
Rugby World magazine in the UK has published a list of the top 100 rugby players of all time. New Zealand fans are snorting into their beer mugs at the one-eyed nature of the list. According to the Evening Post, "you're a mug England fullback and you fell over in the face of Jonah Lomu, and you're one of the top 100 players of all time. But if you're John Gallagher, star of the first rugby World Cup, you just don't rate. Mike Catt, the man Lomu ran over to start the All Blacks on their way to last year's semi-final win over England has been rated better than any All Black in history other than George Nepia, Bob Scott and Christian Cullen. Where are Gallagher and Don Clarke? That's the sort of absurdity rampant in Rugby World's ratings."
Helen Clark's new found surge in the ratings owes much to media training given to the Labour leader by Judy Callingham and Brian Edwards, according to inside sources. Her personal approval rating has soared from 6% a few weeks ago to 17% in the most recent polls.
Christchurch police circulated photos to Christchurch schools, of an 18 year old sex offender recently released from jail. The youth who was under the care of a Social Welfare "minder" disappeared as the publicity escalated. Parents in the Sydenham area were taking extra care to escort their children to and from school. Social Welfare, and Civil Liberties were angered by the police action which, they say, got out of hand. The rehabilitation efforts aimed at the youth were estimated to have cost in excess of $250,000 according to one source, but under the media lights, it had all reverted to square one.
Keith Ramstead, the British surgeon extradited from the UK to face manslaughter charges after three of his patients died, is said to have made inexcusable errors according to high profile witnesses such as Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes. The trial continues with diagrams and videos of procedures conducted by the surgeon in Christchurch.
(OK, I admit the sub-head is my personal opinion of what I regard as a sleazy action - BH)
National party members in Wellington Central headed by Stewart Gibson, took out advertisements urging National Party members to vote for Richard Prebble rather than the official National candidate, Mark Thomas.
The candidate's troubles escalated the next day when the Prime Minister said he thought Mr Prebble would win the seat. He stopped short of explicitly endorsing Mr Prebble.
Eric Clive Upton was charged in 1992, with failing to report for periodic detention, whereupon Judge Michael Green sentenced him to three months in jail. The judge did not give the man an opportunity to address the court or offer any explanation before sentence was passed. Upton sued the crown for wrongful imprisonment, violation of various freedoms. Most of his complaints were dismissed, but on the premise that, if he had been permitted to explain his problems, he might have drawn a lesser sentence, Upton was awarded $15,000.
With 93% of all eligible voters enrolled, and 1.8 million actually turning out in rotten weather to vote, this was the biggest election in New Zealand's history.
A summary of the voting patterns and resulting allocation seats follows. Remember, under MMP, the number of candidates successful in electorates is augmented from the party lists by the number required to bring the total in the house up to the proportion of the support gained by that party in the Party vote section of the ballot.
Party Name Pct% Candidate Party Total Vote Seats Seats Seats
NZ National Party 34.13% 30 14 44 Labour 28.27% 26 11 37 New Zealand First 13.13% 6 11 17 Alliance 10.12% 1 12 13 ACT New Zealand 6.17% 1 7 8 Christian Coalition 4.35% 0 0 0 Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis 1.42% 0 0 0 United New Zealand 0.91% 1 0 1
Parties not mentioned above either got no electorate seats, or failed to make the 5% cut-off necessary to get list-members into the house.
The long drawn out wait now is to see where Winston Peters will cast his lot. Neither of the main parties can mount a successful coalition without NZ First. Commentators say most of NZ First would be reluctant allies with National. On the other hand, the Alliance, whose support would also be necessary to Labour, would be reluctant bedfellows with NZ First. It seems clear that ACT would only ally itself with National.
Among the noteworthy events of the day was the clean sweep of the Maori Seats by NZ First, leaving long time MPs such as Peter Tapsell and Whetu Tirakatene-Sullivan out in the cold. Wellington Central saw support for National Candidate Mark Thomas collapse to a miserable 14% of the vote. He was obviously hurt, but in my opinion, left the field with more dignity than those who remained.
The website referred to gives a seat-by-seat account of who got how many votes.
Date: 10 October 1996
Brian Dooley
Wellington
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