Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill 2009
RMA reform was part of National's 100 days actions, and it's now online. Here it is.
I don't have time to read it yet, I'll try to do that this weekend to see if there's anything interesting. So far it looks like they didn't change the definition of environment, that's a good sign.
equity under National
Government kills pay-equity inquiries:
The Government has axed two investigations aimed at improving the pay of women as it tries to save money by controlling public sector salaries.
... State Services Minister Tony Ryall said the investigations would "generate an additional form of remuneration pressure that is unaffordable in the current economic and fiscal environment".
I can't see how this National government is different from the one 30 years ago : socialism for the rich, and capitalism and discrimination for the poor. If bail out is a valid and effective way to save economy (which I don't necessarily agree), bailing out ordinary people should be as important as bailing out big businesses. Yes business needs to be saved but they can only prosper if there's a market for their products.
This is the same reason as why we need a minimum wage - far right people treat workers like "goods", and apply the basic supply-demand model to human being. In a purely economic sense that's perfectly true, and I can claim that if businesses only pay its workers five cent an hour, we will then have a nice 100% employment rate, but will that do any good to either businesses or workers?
Not to mention this is denying women equal opportunities as their male counterparts had.
There must be a balance, John Key was campaigned as a centrist and I hope he keeps it that way, otherwise honeymoon could soon end with a backlash as the economy deterioates in the coming years.
Maori rugby team is racism?
The South African Rugby Union has said a rule that forbids South African rugby players to play against teams that have been "selected along racial lines" could stop the Maori side from touring. ( via New Zealand Herald)
This is bit funny because just little less than 30 years ago it was NZers who bravely raised against racism, or apartheid in South Africa, now the tide is turning?
I'm not a big rugby fan but it is my understanding that NZ Maori is a long kept tradition, existed for more than a century, prior to the Aparthid era. I even remember I have once read a news archive from a South Africa newspaper, dated somewhere around 1920s, disgusted of New Zealanders‘ behaviour because Kiwis cheered NZ Maoris' victory against their own "white brothers and sisters".
But I think NZ made a good argument in this case, Maori team is acting as an "ambassador" for Maori culture, not an discriminate act designed to divide cultures and races.
Section 92a of the copyright act, update
While I was away there were some interesting development on this issue. First the latest response from the parliament, Simon Power, Minister of Commerce:
Yes; I respond by saying that I am mindful of the concerns that have been expressed by the public in relation to this provision coming into force. As the member will be aware, industry representatives are currently working on a code of practice to help implement this law, which was passed by the previous Labour Government.
For me, this means that the government is not going to delay the implementation or abolish 92A, but rather leave the job of fixing problems to the "Code of Practice".
I talked about that "Code of Practice" before, I was quite happy on the draft version but that code is not in concrete yet. It is still open to public submission so to copyright holder submissions as well. This submission is now far more important than blackout your facebook page or write a letter to your local MP. I'm preparing my own submission.
I also checked responses from ISPs, here are the extracts:
There will be a fee for rights holders lodging infringement notices to offset the work that we will have to undertake in order to process the alleged infringement. There will be no additional fees or charges for customers.
I hope Orcon charges them a good price. ISPs shouldn't get abused by copyright terrorists as well. I also think ISPs should cut the internet of any copyright holder who have made 3 false accusations - it's more than fair.
Telecom New Zealand (via twitter):
We recognise the importance of protecting individuals' copyright. However we don't believe #s92 in its current form is the best solution.
I certainly agree, I'm not endorsing piracy, but this society should not giving up its liberty and undermining its justice system to protect the profits of some.
Vodafone didn't got a lot to say, but they already finished the work on the format of infringement notice(PDF).
I'll keep you updated. I can't tell the full effect of s92a at the moment, but believe me, this thing is not going to work -for real and serious infringer, there are plenty of ways to get around this law - I removed the way to get around the S92A here as I realise that I'm attracting real infringers here.
a week off from this blog
Well, I already took a week off anyway. It's exam time and I think I still need a bit more time to go over my courses, so I'll be back after the exam, friday or weekend. But now, I'm in panic mode.
The Vision
The government today announced the $500m investment programme on country's infrastructures, including more capial injection on new schools and roads. This will be part of the $9 billion stimulus package.
I have very little knowledge on that $9 billion total package, but today's announcement amused me a little - it may sounds like "new" schools and roads, but in fact most of the them were already planned, and I believe some projects are possibly already on the book. All the government did is to "bring them forward", accelerate the speed.
Now this is bit strange, other countries invest on new things, or improvement of current infrastructure, but we just could not bother to do that - do we really need to bring forward a construction for a bridge so Aucklanders can have a nice holiday without worrying the traffic bottleneck? Or maybe New Zealand is just too small so there isn't much we can invest on? I'm sure you don't agree with this.
Or even worse, maybe the government is just cutting and pasting some of the planned spendings and relabel it as part of the "package"?
Crisis also means opportunity, an opportunity that could enable us to grow even faster, stronger after the bad times. However, I failed to see how this infrastructure spending plan will help us doing that - where's the investment on new technologies? I don't expect nats to invest on "green stuffs" , but energy efficient and electrified car/train aren't all about green?
Uncertainty on energy cost was, and still is a huge barrier that have restrained growth in NZ, high and fluctuating oil prices hurt just about every one bad, and rising demand of electricity requires either more water dam, or an easier and cheaper option of improving what we got now and make it more efficient.
So where's that man with a vision? Sure I cannot find him here.
