Scoop: Just Politics

Friday, 20 July 2001, 4:15 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

JUST POLITICS
These Are The Days Of Our Select Committees
Shipley’s 5% Growth Target Wildly Optimistic, History Shows
Cross-Ditch Foreign Ministers Meeting Calls For Harmony
Men’s Groups Wrong, Family Court Fair, Say Lawyers
Better Planning & Advice Would Have Prevented Hospital Bed Crisis
Polynesian Whale Sanctuary Support Welcomed
ERA Translates To Lost Dollars – Prebble
Police Search Me With No Justification – Tanczos

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
Hard News Is Here
West Coast Beech Logging An Environmental Success
G8: Drop The Debt, Now! – Jubilee 2000 Aotearoa
Global Warming IS A Clear & Present Danger
G8: Soccer Pantomime In Cuba Mall
Humour: PM Winds Up Underused Country

JUST POLITICS

These Are The Days Of Our Select Committees

- There were 13 committee meetings this week, three of which were outside Wellington. The remainder were in the parliamentary complex. See... Select Committee Business 13-20 July 2001 [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00337.htm

Shipley’s 5% Growth Target Wildly Optimistic, History Shows

- Associate Finance Minister Paul Swain says the opposition hasn't the policies or the ideas to deliver doubled economic growth – and history supports that. See... Swain Dismisses Nats Phoney Promises [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00336.htm

Cross-Ditch Foreign Ministers Meeting Calls For Harmony

- Alexander Downer and Phil Goff met in Katoomba, NSW on 19-20 July for a regular biannual exchange between Australian and New Zealand Foreign Ministers covering a range of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. See... Australia-New Zealand Foreign Ministers Meeting [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00334.htm

Men’s Groups Wrong, Family Court Fair, Say Lawyers

- Despite the very vocal claims of some disgruntled men, the Family Court is not biased, say family law specialists who regularly practise in the court. See... Family Court not biased, say lawyers [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/GE0107/S00033.htm

Better Planning & Advice Would Have Prevented Hospital Bed Crisis

- “The crisis of too few beds in Auckland’s public hospitals to cope with emergency admissions and forcing patients into corridors highlights serious planning and funding failures of successive governments,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. See... Auckland Bed Crisis - Poor Planning And Funding [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0107/S00075.htm

Polynesian Whale Sanctuary Support Welcomed

- “New Zealand and Australia welcome French Polynesia's announcement it will turn its exclusive economic zone into a sanctuary for whales and other marine mammals,” Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said today. See... NZ And Australia Welcome Whale Sanctuary Support [1] EARLIER WHALING NEWS: - NZ Govt - NZ appalled at Japanese admission on whaling [2] and NZ says Japan has opportunity to explain [3] - Japan Govt - Japan Fisheries Head Not On ABC Radio In Australia [4] - Sandra Lee - Kiwi Minnow Takes On Whaling Giants [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00327.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00303.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00314.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0107/S00053.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00307.htm

ERA Translates To Lost Dollars – Prebble

- Industrial stoppages have cost the country more than $900,000 in the first three months of this year and indications are that the cost of strikes will be worse for the June quarter, due to the Employment Relations Act, ACT leader Richard Prebble said. See... ERA Pushing Up The Cost Of Strikes [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00328.htm

Police Search Me With No Justification – Tanczos

- Green Party Justice Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos today called on the Police Commissioner to issue a directive to all police officers in New Zealand to refrain from abusing the emergency search provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act. See... Tanczos calls for inquiry on police abuse of power [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00324.htm

TOP SCOOPS

Hard News Is Here

- Hi Mikey, Happy birthday! How's your week been? Mine's been a bit tiring, on account of the woman I love being stricken with the killer flu of 2001. What a m********er. Anyway, I'm taking the kids to school so I can't fit in a broadcast this week. You can read this email out to the listeners instead. See... HARD NEWS 20/07/01 - Letter to Mikey [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0107/S00120.htm

West Coast Beech Logging An Environmental Success

- The development of sustainable beech production on private land on the West Coast is a positive move, which should slow the rapid rise of wooden furniture imports sourced from heavy logging of tropical forests, the Ecologic Foundation said today. See... Beech Project Positive Says Conservationist [1] MORE: - Greens - Greens Philosophical About Private Beech Logging [2] - Nats - National welcomes West Coast indigenous logging [3] - Govt - Smith's spurious claims rejected [4] - Smith Distorts Facts Over Logging Volumes [5] - ACT - $120m Grant Has Not Saved a Single Beech Tree [6] - Give Kit Richards An Award [7]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0107/S00074.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00331.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00321.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00319.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00329.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00323.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00326.htm

Global Warming IS A Clear & Present Danger

- New research published in Europe and the United States today discloses an even greater prospect of significant global warming over the next century unless world-wide mitigation policies are introduced, senior NIWA climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said today. See... Signiticant Global Warming During The 21st Century [1] . See also… US Statement to the Convention on Climate Change [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/SC0107/S00061.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0107/S00066.htm

Gender Based Murder Defence Outrages Men's Group

- Convicted murderer Gaye Oakes who killed in cold blood claimed the battered woman excuse, and became a cause celebre. The Oakes case must be taken as a clear warning of what would prevail if thie bizarre new proposal from the Law Commission is adopted. See… FARE Condemns Gendered Excuses For Murderers [1] MORE: - Nats - No excuse for premeditated murder [2] - Govt - Law Commission Report On Battered Defendants [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0107/S00071.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00316.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0107/S00308.htm

G8: Soccer Pantomime In Cuba Mall

- With none other than Monty Burns as the referee and Mike Moore as a cheerleader, the G8 "all-stars" will take on "People United". There's also the chance of a guest appearance by Helen Clark supplying half-time oranges to the G8 - but not to the people! See... Wellington Solidarity anti-G8 Demonstration [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0107/S00070.htm

Humour: PM Winds Up Underused Country

- Following the successful disbanding of the armed forces the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, has unveiled a new bold plan to total disband the entire nation. See... Humour: NZ To Be Disbanded [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0107/S00119.htm

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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