Minister's Drug Revelation Leads To Call For Resignation

ACT on Campus is calling for the resignation of Justice Minister Simon Power, following his comments on Drug Reform policy on Thursday.

Responding to a set of drug law reform proposals laid out by the Law Commission, Mr. Power told The Dominion Post on Thursday that there was not a single solitary chance that as long as he was the Minister of Justice that drug laws would be relaxed in New Zealand.

“Where's the justice in Minister Power proclaiming what will be the law without regard for the Commission's research and the views of the New Zealand public? The Minister should resign and make way for someone who is willing to consider the evidence and listen to the public.” said Peter McCaffrey, ACT on Campus Vice President.

ACT on Campus is encouraged by the Law Commission's proposals which would allow marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes, and ensure that those using marijuana recreationally would not be criminalised and imprisoned, but instead be sent to rehab.

“Victimless crimes should not be crimes and all and highly restrictive drug laws are more harmful than the drugs themselves as they drive the drug trade underground, often leading users and addicts resorting to crime to fund their habits.” said Peter McCaffrey.

ENDS

Media Contact: Peter McCaffrey, 021 1417 026, vicepresident@actoncampus.org.nz

An email sent to Kate Wilkinson, Paula Bennett and John Key:

-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Ministers,

Thank you for your recent comments regarding the minimum wage for youth.

National had very sound reasons for opposing the changes made to youth minimum wage laws by the previous Labour Government, but in light of Minister Bennett's comments that she hasn't seen any evidence of a link between minimum wages and higher unemployment I wished to draw your attention to a few points.

Firstly, I recommend reading the following posts by Eric Crampton, and economics professor at Canterbury University, who has studied the government's own statistics and found increases in unemployment in youth since the law change (note, higher increases even than what would proportionally be expected due to the recession):

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates.html
http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates-revisited.html

He has also applied similar techniques to data from previous minimum wage changes and come to the same conclusions:

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2010/02/youth-rates-re-revisited...

In addition, I'd suggest that both common sense and principle should be considered.

If the government were to impose a $5 minimum price on coffee, would you purchase a good $5 coffee that used to cost $5, or a bad $5 coffee that used to cost $2? Employers have no incentive to hire an inexperienced and more risky young worker, than an older, more experienced and more proven worker when they cost the same amount.

Furthermore, principally, why should the government have the right to tell a young person (or anyone really) that they may NOT work for a lower wage, even if they wouldn't mind doing so, and must instead go without a job at all?

Here is some quick analysis of the candidates' responses to some of the questions:



Please note that not all questions were phrased as Yes/No questions or for short answers, so in some cases this table represents our interpretation of candidates responses. For explantations, justifications and the candidate's own words, please read the full survey.

ACT members will have now received their voting forms for the 2010 ACT Board Elections.

This year, ACT on Campus has conducted a survey of the various candidates and we're pleased to present the results for members to read before they cast their votes.

Board Candidate Survey 2010

The candidates are:

Bruce Haycock - Vice President
Kevin Campbell - Vice President
Nick Kearney - Auckland North (Board)
Peter Tashkoff - Auckland North (Board) - Withdrawn
Lech Beltowski - Auckland South (Deputy)
Clyde Johnson - Auckland South (Deputy) - No Response
James Read - Waikato (Deputy) - No Response
Carl Freimann - Central (Board) - No Response
Robert Douglas - Central (Board)
Ivor Watson - Upper South (Deputy)

Ballot papers must be returned before 4pm on the 23rd of February, so there is plenty of time, but don't leave it too late!

The US Supreme Court has today voted 8-1 and 5-4 to strike down various campaign finance restrictions on US elections, including the infamous McCain-Feingold law.

The laws banned spending that was seen to "influence" a vote in any way or that could "potentially" rather than actually lead to corruption, but contained exceptions for unions' spending - very reminiscent of the Electoral Finance Act here in New Zealand.

One organisation has already announced its plans to run a campaign against "earmarks" at the 2010 election.

[Via WSJ]

ACT on Campus is today pleased to welcome new NZUSA Co-Presidents, David Do and Pene Delaney, to their positions for 2010.

"I, for one, welcome our new student overlords," explained ACT on Campus Vice President, Peter McCaffrey.

"Clearly students are incapable of thinking for themselves and need their views on all the major political issues of the day dictated to them by two unelected apparatchiks. Without NZUSA telling us how and what to think, we'd all be lost and hopeless."

ACT on Campus is also pleased that NZUSA has given up on representing the views of its forced compulsory members and has instead decided to make its key focus for 2010 the defeat of a bill that many of their members support - the Voluntary Student Membership bill.

"Why would NZUSA support students and represent their beliefs when it is much easier and more efficient for them to simply promote their own policies? Students can't leave their student associations or get their money back, so there is no reason for NZUSA to waste time and energy on such activities."

"Representing the views of your members is an outdated idea whose time has long passed. We look forward to another decade of NZUSA's generous and benevolent wisdom and guidance." said Peter McCaffrey.

Those who have seen Not Evil Just Wrong will remember the references to Malaria in Africa and the US. That reference was simply to show how a majority can be wrong, as with the banning of DDT in Africa and its subsequent re-introduction years later after Malaria rates skyrocketed and millions of people had died.

That section of the movie ended with an African woman telling some US environmentalists how unfair it was that the US had been able to use DDT to rid itself of Malaria, but then wanted to prevent African countries from doing the same. The environmentalists response was that Malaria had never exited in the US and they hadn't used DDT. The movie then cut to scenes of streets, houses, schools and swimming pools being sprayed with DDT in the US in the '20s and '30s.

The following video is slightly different, but along the same lines. During a debate over the recent ClimateGate issue, one interview talks about how the UN should be spending the money its collecting for Climate Change on combating things like Malaria in the third world. The interviewer jumps right in and claims that rising temperatures from Global Warming will cause more Malaria, and the second interviewee joins in, plainly stating: "Malaria never happened in Russia before, now it is."

The first interviewee calls the second on the ridiculousness of that claim, and his only response is to ask him if he's a Medical Doctor, and when he was last in Russia.

Two online polls, both unscientific, but given their high turnout and large margin, the results are still very interesting.


Are you sick of being told we're killing the planet? - NZ Herald:





The president's progress with the battered economy has been both praised and criticized. How well are his efforts measuring up with you? - Yahoo:





(Yes, that's 13 million votes!)

From: patrick.leyland@gmail.com
Subject: Women’s Sector Fundraising Breakfast – Saturday 12th August

Dear all,

Please find attached a PDF flyer for the Women’s Sector Fundraising Breakfast on Saturday morning, at 7am at St Andrews on-the-Terrace.

The guest speaker is Hon Steve Chadwick, Minister of Women’s Affairs.

Please Rachel Boyack (details below) know if you would like a ticket for this event, or purchase one at Congress on Friday. Look forward to seeing you there!

I’d appreciate if you could forward this throughout your networks.

Kind regards,

Rachel Boyack
Vice Chair | Harbour Branch
Women’s Liaison Officer | Wellington Central LEC
Labour Women’s Sector Councillor
New Zealand Labour Party

This post is really about the media and contrasting points of view. The fact that Rodney is the relevant minister is simply how I happened to come across the two stories and is really just co-incidental.

Last week Rodney announced a review of dog control laws. Or at least, he announced there will be a review at some point this term, government priorities don't allow for it right now.

Gisborne residents woke up to see this in their paper the next day:


"Dog Control Officers Not Happy With Hide’s Review"

ANY relaxation on dog laws from a review planned by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide would make the work of local animal control officers “very difficult”.

Microchipping, which was questioned by Mr Hide, has had excellent results locally, says Gisborne District Council chief animal control officer Pat Collins.

“I believe any dog owner who is not prepared to provide a lifetime ID for their dogs is not a responsible owner,” said Mr Collins.

“Mr Hide needs to be aware that the lack of dog control, or the relaxation of what is in place now, would equate to allowing the public to wander around New Zealand with loaded and cocked firearms.”


Meanwhile, if you lived in the Bay of Plenty you, literally, got a different story:


"Dog Control Officers Welcome Govt Review:

Brent Lincoln, team leader for animal services at Tauranga City Council, welcomed the review announced this week by Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.

Mr Lincoln said dog control officers and NZIACO had been advocating for changes to the dog control act for several years.