THE NEW WRITE

Official Newsletter of the New Zealand Young Nationals

20th May 2002

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
-Ayn Rand

1. BURSARY POLICY MEANS THOUSANDS FOR STUDENTS
2. NON-ALLIANCE IN FOR MORE HARD TIMES
3. NICK KELLY RANT
4. BIG BROTHER GOES POLITICAL
5. HOT GOSS FROM PARLIAMENT
6. THE LATEST TOP TEN LIST
7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

1. NZQA POLICY MEANS THOUSANDS FOR STUDENTS
2.

National’s qualifications policy, released last week, will make a significant dent in the level of student debt facing students, says Young Nationals Chair Grant Tyrrell.

“By increasing the payment for a B bursary to $1000, and A bursary to $2000, around xx students will have a significant chunk of their university fees paid for. In monetary terms there is little difference with Labour’s policy of interest free loans, except that this policy reduces debt rather than encouraging it.”

The policy also revamps the NCEA school qualification scheme, to use more percentage marks and more adequately reocrd success and failure.

‘National believes students will strive to be the very best they can in an environment where success is properly acknowledged and rewarded. The education sector must bury the tall poppy syndrome. It must also be upfront with students when they fail. We do a disservice to our young people by not being honest with them about their achievements or lack of, because beyond school, success and failure is only made more pronounced.’

You can read the whole policy at www.national.org.nz

3. NON-ALLIANCE IN FOR MORE HARD TIMES

National has written to the Speaker of the House labelling the Alliance split a “charade” and asking him to formally put a stop to it.

National MP Gerry Brownlee says in the letter that there is nothing in the Electoral Integrity Act that prevents the Speaker from acknowledging the reality of the Alliance split.

“The Speaker has said that no member has written to tell him this. Since Standing Orders are silent on who should notify the Speaker of changes to a Party, we are advising him formally of what we believe the situation to be.

“We expect him to rule on this matter this week. But if it is all too hard, we request that he refer it to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee so that this current farce can be dealt with for once and for all”, says Mr Brownlee.

Meanwhile, an alert member of the Young Nationals has sent in this particularly ironic quote from Helen Clark on the Labour Party website:

“Many people had become disillusioned after several instances of 'party hopping' by MPs and the resulting propping up of a minority government by MPs who had changed parties or become independent…We are rebuilding trust by delivering stable coalition government."

4. LABOUR PARTY MEMBER ARRESTED AT CONFERENCE

By Nick Kelly

Labour has reached an all time low when it actually puts its own members in
prison for trying to attend the Party conference. However at this weekend’s
Labour conference this is exactly what happened.

My intention at this weekend’s Labour Party conference was to circulate a
moderate leaflet about “removing education from the GATS agreement”. However when attempting to enter the conference I was prevented from going in by Labour New Zealand council member Paul Tolich, who became abusive at me, telling me I had no right to attend the Labour conference – a police officer actually had to ask Mr Tolich to calm down. I showed my Labour Party membership card (number – 0240098), and a written invitation from Helen Clark sent to all Labour members inviting members to the conference. However Mr Tolich refused to listen to what I said, instead flying into a rage.

In the end I was told I had being given a trespass notice – although the
police officer then said “this isn’t from the police, it’s from Labour” and
appeared reluctant to do it. When I asked for a written copy, they said they
couldn’t do that, but they would post one out latter. I am still unsure
about the legality of the supposed trespass notice. I decided instead to join the lobby group outside where I was able to hand out a number of leaflets to Labour members - many of whom were appalled at the trespass.

Just before 2pm I attempted to enter the Labour Party conference. I again
showed my Labour Party membership card and the invitation from Helen Clark. I was told “you have been given trespass notice, and if you step across this line you’ll be arrested”. I looked the officer in the eyes and replied “do what you have to do”. I then stepped over the line.

I was immediately hand cuffed and taken to the police car – membership card
and invitation to the party conference still in my hands.

I was taken down to the Wellington Police station, where I was formally
charged with trespass and told I’d have to appear in court in seven days.
The statement I gave to the police was “As a member of the Labour Party, it
is my democratic right to attend the Labour Party conference”. I was then
frisked, made to remove my shoes, watch and other accessories and put in the Police sells. I was told I’d have to stay there until 4:30pm (it was 2:30 at
the time).

The cells were cold and very unpleasant. I had nothing more than
a hard concrete seat, and a metal toilet. I was by myself in a cell without
even a watch to know how long I had to go, the experience was very
demoralizing. It angered me that by trying to exercise my democratic right I
was treated like a common criminal.

At around 3:45pm a police officer came in and said “I’ve never known this to
happen before, but a very senior officer in this station has just demanded
you be let go immediately and that all charges be dropped”.

I have no complaint with the police involved – they were pressured to do
what they did by the Labour Party hierarchy. It is disgraceful that the
Labour Party has once again used our police force as a way of settling a
Party dispute. The 5th objective of the Labour Party
is “Democratic socialism” – however Labour Party democracy is fast becoming a contradiction in terms.

It is a sad day not just for the Labour Party, but for democracy generally –
when people are sent to prison by the government for exercising their
democratic rights.

5. BIG BROTHER GOES POLITICAL

Big Brother has become Australia's newest political battleground as Young Liberal and Young Labor parties unofficially attempt to put a fix on the reality TV show.

The revelation that one of last week's eviction nominees, Katrina Miani, was a Victorian Young Liberal, sparked an email campaign by Young Liberals in her home state and New South Wales to keep her in the house.

"We cannot let Katrina, the only YL ever to make the starry heights of Big Brother, suffer the humiliation of being the next Andy voted out of the house," said a supporter in a nationally circulated email.

Every week three housemates are nominated before one is evicted by audience vote. News of the Young Liberal campaign leaked to Young Labor Party members, who secretly entered the Big Brother battle with a sabotage plan.

"Katrina on Big Brother is a Lib. So vote her out, and spread the word......" an email from a Young Labor member urged. Both parties were stumped when the Casanova of the house, Damian, was shown the door on Sunday.

The Young Labor Party also believes there's political mileage in reaching out to Big Brother.

"The generation that we are trying to appeal to doesn't necessarily read the newspaper everyday. They don't watch the evening news but they are tuning into Big Brother," said national president Lauren McGregor.

This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/23/1019441249389.html

5. HOT GOSS FROM PARLIAMENT

*Jim Bolger has been given an honorary doctorate in literature from Massey…what for is anyone’s guess.

*Highly rated (by himself) Labour MP David Cunliffe has been visibly upset in Parliament over taunts about his list placing – he is the last ranked Labour MP. In particular when Parekura Horomia bumbles in the House, opposition MPs loudly remind him that “he’s your number 5!”

*A bizarre but true story: firemen were called to Jim Anderton’s Ministerial home a few weeks ago to discover a faulty fire-alarm. However as they were leaving the false alarm they noticed a burning smell – and found a faulty wire on Jimbo’s fridge was about to catch fire, and would have gone undetected.

*Laila Harre’s office had red faces earlier this month after sending out a release stating that under the Holidays Act all employees would get "11 pubic holidays".

*Former MP Ross Meurant, convicted of assault recently after a road rage incident, is actually still in Parliament - he currently works for Winston Peters as a policy advisor. It explains a lot.

And no, apparently he is not the mysterious “psyclone” who will be fighting Bill English.

*David Lane, spokesman for the Society For The Promotion Of Community Standards has now managed to get three films banned from Wellington’s Incredible Film Festival. Mr Lane is something of an expert on the movie ‘Baise Moi’, featuring graphic sex and violence – he’s seen it twice.

*Rick Barker has banned all Labour MPs from taking part in the ‘fight for life’ boxing event, saying it is “dangerous and irresponsible to their electorates.”

A commentator has pointed out the irony of this, given that the current Labour caucus is probably the fattest and unhealthiest caucus seen in the history of the New Zealand Parliament.

*Remember how Helen Clark tried to claim that “all MPs and celebrities” fake their paintings? It now turns out she only knew of just one MP who has done it – an obscure Labour MP from the 1970s who has long since passed away.

*The above article from Nick Kelly is not something I picked up by accident – Nick sent it specifically to the New Write. You have to ask…why would a committed socialist want to join a centre-left Labour party? Or is it just the publicity he enjoys?

*The ACTivists, the youth wing of the ACT Party are now attending all meetings of the Education Action Group at Victoria University. The EAG, an extreme leftist group, is funded by the students association but has dwindled away over recent years. It claims to be open to everyone, and it will be interesting to see how it handles a right wing takeover.

*The Christian Heritage Party have criticised the stage show “Puppetry of the Penis” for being “unsavoury and degrading.” This is not surprising. However, they have also criticised the serious stage show “The Vagina Monologues”, which features no nudity, as “Female obscenity masquerading as theatre”.

6. TOP TEN SIGNS YOU WORK FOR THE PROGRESSIVE COALITION PARTY

1. One entire wall of the office is covered by a flow chart that
explains why Jim Anderton is still the legitimate leader of the
Alliance.

2. Somebody who sounds like Matt McCarten keeps ringing up and shouting "show me the money!".

3. You are one of twenty three people who knew that John Wright was the leader of the Democrats for ten years.

4. You wonder why your entry in the Parliamentary Services staff directory says you work for the Alliance, yet all you do all day is work for some outfit named after a drug.

5. As the holder of a licence to operate tow trucks, John Wright is the academic achiever in caucus.

6. If Parliamentary Services ring up and ask for Jim Anderton you have to say you've never heard of him, but if Jim himself rings up you have to say "hail leader!".

7. You get fired if you comment that "whatever her faults, Laila Harre really is quite cute".

8. All your computers are labelled "Property of the Alliance".

9. Grant Gillon has made everyone in the office buy one of his firemen calendars.

10. On Friday you get lots of calls from people wanting "a bit of dust for the weekend".

Courtesy of the mysterious St Molesworth:
www.geocities.com/stmolesworth

7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

www.mp4.com

Very fancy site with lots of multimedia stuff going on. The best part is the interactive greeting cards you can send, with audio and animations you can choose. You’ll need a fast connection to get into a lot of this stuff.

Any views expressed here are not necessarily those of New Zealand Young
Nationals, or the New Zealand National Party.

Contributions, feedback, articles and subscriptions welcome. Email
newwrite@national.org.nz

Editor: Phil Rennie

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