Subject: 11 November, 2008 ----- WYSIWYG NEWS ------------------------------ Copyright, Brian Harmer.
Two elections in one week is a bit wearing. The sheer scale and exuberance of the US election and the technological resources used to bring it to the rest of the world tended to cast our own national election into the shadows. To be honest, I have found that people seemed to feel so beaten down, so lacking in anything close to exuberance that the election campaign here has been a tedious process which, I am glad to say, is now over. People interviewed on the radio have said there is so little real difference between the main parties that they just didn't care, and wouldn't vote. I don't remember it myself, but apparently there was an advertisement from the electoral commission in the 2002 election which said "If you don't vote, I don't want to hear a peep out of you for the next three years!" Seems fair enough. Well, I have taken a news item out of sequence and made it the first one of the news this week. It summarises the outcome of New Zealand's election. National/ACT/United Future in, Labour/Greens out, New Zealand First gone. On Sunday, Mary and I decided to take a diversion from our usual direct route to Wanganui, to visit the Cross Hills gardens just to the North of Kimbolton. Happily the day was one of those magical clear blue sky events that we expect but haven't had for a while. Absolute perfection. A typical New Zealand day at last! To get to Kimbolton, we turned left at Sanson towards Palmerston North and a few kilometres from there, right towards Feilding. For some reason I have never travelled that road before, and it came as a compete surprise to me. This must be some of the most beautiful and gentle pastoral landscape on the planet. The broad plains to the South of Feilding were very lush and green, while the Ruahine ranges in the background were given extra scenic value with a fairly solid, if unseasonal coat of snow. Feilding itself creates an excellent impression with neat gardens and well kept houses, at least on the main road through to the North. The road steadily climbs a ridge to the West of a magnificent valley, passing through tiny towns I had never heard of, Almadale, Cheltenham and Kiwitea and arrived eventually at Kimbolton. I suspect that the latter town is one of those, like Greytown in the Wairarapa, that will be "discovered" and become gentrified. Already there is a nice little café and wine bar in the town. There was a time when the alcohol in rural towns was draught beer, whisky, vodka or rum, or if they were really sophisticated, a cardboard "cask" of Velluto Rosso which had probably been first opened three months prior. A wine bar in rural New Zealand! What next? However, it was far to early in the day for such diversions, so we continued on the road North pausing at the Apiti lookout. From a small and none too sturdy viewing platform we admired the magnificence of the landscape, marred only by the high voltage transmission lines dangling just between us and the view. They rendered photographs worthless, but couldn't hide the grandeur beyond. A few kilometres further we came to Cross Hills. This is a private garden of some 7 hectares (or 17 acres) owned by the Wilson Family, and operated partly as a plant nursery and partly as a tourist attraction. It specialises in Azaleas and Rhododendrons but has a magnificent collection of conifers as well. Most of the azaleas and rhododendrons were in glorious riotous blossom creating an overwhelming visual spectacle. Surprising to me were the delicate flowers on the enormous variety of conifers. At certain angles to the bright sunlight, it was possible to see a more or less continuous drift of vast quantities of pollen on the very light breeze. A warning perhaps, that this might not be the ideal season for allergy sufferers to visit, or at least to avoid the conifer collection. If you like formal gardens and beautifully cared for flowering bushes, Cross Hills is absolutely unmissable, and I urge any gardening tourists to make every effort to get there, despite its remote location. We spent half a day there before continuing our round about journey to Wanganui. Immediately North of Kimbolton, there are the heritage gardens, also devoted to Rhododendrons and Azaleas. These are somewhat different in character, since their purpose was to be a base for the New Zealand Rhododendron Association. It seems to function more as a place where samples of various varieties of the plant can be seen. It lacks the visual spectacle and mass plantings of Cross Hills but is worth a visit anyway, and I suggest you do it before Cross Hills. Enough for now. It's an area to which we shall return. Today is of course, Remembrance day. "At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them." ---- Any text above this point, and all subsequent material in parentheses, and concluded with the initials "BH" is the personal opinion of Brian Harmer as editor of this newsletter, or occasionally "GS" will indicate an opinion from our editorial assistant. In all cases they are honest expressions of personal opinion, and are not presented as fact. All news items (except where noted otherwise) are reproduced by kind permission of copyright owner, Newstalk ZB News. All copyright in the news items reproduced remains the property of The Radio Network Limited. Sponsorship this week is courtesy of my friends Clay and Louise Sollers in Northern California. Many thanks to you both. ---- On with the News. Sunday, 9 November, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "THEY VOTED FOR CHANGE" - KEY ----------------------------- Helen Clark expects her party to have a new leader before Christmas. After leading Labour for nine years as prime minister Miss Clark announced, while giving her concession speech, that she was standing down as party leader following Labour's loss to National. "I will give that new leader, whoever it is, the total loyalty and support that I have enjoyed from every single Labour leader of Parliament for a very, very long time." National won 59 seats while Labour has 43 seats but Miss Clark said Labour had achieved a lot during its time governing. "I just utter one fear, and that is that I do hope that all that we've worked to put in place doesn't go up in flames in a bonfire created by the right wing of politics." During his speech to supporters National leader John Key said New Zealanders have spoken in their hundreds of thousands and voted for change. Mr Key said New Zealand has voted for a safer, more prosperous and more ambitious country. "They voted for hope, they voted for action and they voted for results." Mr Key referred back to his first speech after becoming leader of the National Party. He said as a boy growing up in a state house, he would ride his bike past the homes of kids more fortunate than he was. He said what inspired him then and what still inspires him is that people have the ability to make their lives better. "As it is for individuals, so it is for our country because New Zealand has so much more potential. This is not as good as it gets." Mr Key said New Zealand faces challenges but will rise to them because as a country New Zealand has tremendous capacity. He said that capacity includes producing food, landscapes and scenery and the "incredible kiwi ingenuity." He said the road ahead may be rocky because of the financial global situation and everyone must work together. ACT leader Rodney Hide told his supporters he had had a phone call from Mr Key congratulating him on his re-election. The pair plan to meet on Monday to discuss forming a new Government. National newcomer 28-year-old Nikki Kaye snatched Judith Tizard's Auckland Central seat. Damien O'Connor lost his West Coast/Tasman seat to National's Chris Auchinvole. The New Plymouth MP, Transport Safety Minister and Associate Minister of Energy Harry Duynhoven, is out of a job after losing to National's Jonathan Young. Mr Duynhoven is not on Labour's list. Labour's Otaki seat held by Darren Hughes fell to National's Nathan Guy and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has lost his seat for the first time in three decades. He graciously called National's Simon Bridges a "bright young guy." The Greens won eight seats. Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said she was disappointed National has won the election but has vowed to work with the party. She is hoping to pick up an additional seat with the special votes which generally favour the Greens. (Michael Cullen followed his leader, and also resigned from the leadership of the Labour Party. Phil Goff and Annette King are their likely successors - BH) Monday, 3 November 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GREENS WON'T WORK IN CABINET WITH PETERS ---------------------------------------- The Green Party has ruled out sitting around the Cabinet table with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. It follows the latest round of allegations that Mr Peters accepted donations for policy deals. Green co-leader Russel Norman says the new allegations are extremely serious, and it would be too difficult for the party to work with Mr Peters. He says it is clear Mr Peters is under a lot of pressure, and the stress he is under is beginning to show. Dr Norman says there needs to be a full scale inquiry into the allegations. (As is now obvious, Mr Peters is no longer in the house, and the Greens are not invited to be part of the cabinet. - BH) SALARIES AND WAGES RISE 3.6 PERCENT ----------------------------------- Salaries and wages rose 3.6 percent in the year to September. Statistics New Zealand says it is the largest annual increase recorded since the series began in 1992. The increase for the September quarter was 1.1 percent, up from increases of 0.8 and 0.7 in the June and March quarters. (Inflation was just a little North of 5% so on average, we all went backwards. - BH) RAIL EXCHANGE FOR STH AUCK WELCOMED ----------------------------------- An Auckland business leader is welcoming an economic package to bring forward funding for a better rail exchange in Manukau City. The project involves an upgrade of the rail exchange at the inland port in Wiri and follows Labour's announcement it will fast track the government's spending plans to mitigate the economic downturn. Michael Barnett, CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce says 100,000 truck trips a year will be removed from Auckland's southern motorway, as result of more freight being carried by rail. LAWYERS BELIEVE JURORS HAVE ENOUGH INFO --------------------------------------- The trial of Liam Reid has renewed calls for jurors to have more information about the past convictions of people on trial, but lawyers are firmly against the idea. Reid was convicted on Friday of the rape and murder of Emma Agnew a year ago and of the rape and attempted murder of another woman a few days later. He has previous convictions for violence and had also been acquitted of abduction, sexual violation and attempting to kill a woman in 2002. Garth McVicar from the Sensible Sentencing Trust says jurors would have built up a better picture of Reid if they had been aware of his previous offending. "You'd find that with those guys who are very fast becoming career criminals, the jury would convict them a lot easier. They'd look at his previous history and say, hey, this guy, we're never going to be able to rehabilitate them, so let's make the safety of the community paramount." He says New Zealand is lagging behind other countries by not revealing an accused's past convictions. "It's happening in Britain now and in other countries I've visited. It's just New Zealand seems to be well behind the eight ball. I think the legal process in this country is being driven by the defence lawyers and a bunch of liberals." But Christchurch lawyer Nigel Hampton QC says research shows that people will tend to be influenced by past convictions and put them above the evidence presented, which can lead to wrongful convictions. Mr Hampton says the legal community would be very reluctant to see the system change. (I think the lawyers are wrong, not as a matter of law, but as a matter of values. - BH) GREENS WANT MORE TRANSPARENCY ----------------------------- The Greens are calling on the government to be more transparent with the public, claiming a lot of things are being kept secret from the public that do not need to be. The party will hold a media conference outside Parliament this morning to shed some light on what it claims are the "hidden workings of the Government." Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says New Zealanders have lost faith in democracy, given the recent political donation dramas. "Obviously the whole funding scandal around New Zealand First has been one of the biggest issues of recent times but obviously at the last election we had the whole funding scandal around National. So I think we need to tidy that up and make it more open and transparent." Mr Norman wants to "cast away a few shadows obscuring the Government and its procedures." SWARM OF SMALL QUAKES --------------------- There has been a succession of small earthquakes in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington. The largest of the three jolts was felt in Bay of Plenty at 11.59pm last night. It measured 4.3 on the Richter scale and was centred 10km north of Matata at a depth of five kilometres. A few minutes after at 12.03, a magnitude 3.6 quake was felt in the same area. At 3am, there was a magnitude 3.7 quake, centred 30 kilometres north-east of Wellington. Tuesday, 4 November 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MORE FOREIGN TRAINED TEACHERS FOR NZ? ------------------------------------- Labour wants to make it easier for foreign trained teachers to work in New Zealand. The party has released its schools policy and is promising to boost the number of teachers, and increase funding. Labour says there needs to be better recognition of those who teach overseas, and they plan to develop a bonded bridging programme to help foreign trained teachers to work in New Zealand. The party also plans to ensure every high school student has a personalised education plan, that every school has at least two teaching staff, and that it will introduce a leaving age of 17 in 2011 rising to 18 by 2014. MAORI PARTY KEEN TO GIVE POOR FAMILIES $500 ------------------------------------------- The Maori Party wants to see all families with children living below the poverty line receive a one-off payment of $500 next month. Hauraki-Waikato candidate Angeline Greensill says the tax free payment would be a welcome relief for the 230,000 children, and their families, who are living in poverty. She says while it would be a temporary measure, it has been one which has been successfully applied in Australia. Co-leader Pita Sharples says the $500 payment would cost around $136 million, or just one percent of the $150 billion the Government is offering to support the banking sector. (It would be an uphill battle, I suspect, to persuade the new government of this - BH) CULLEN TALKS UP DEFICIT ----------------------- Finance Minister Michael Cullen is talking up his handling of the economy amid new Treasury figures showing the Government's books have nose-dived into the red. The books show an operating deficit of $757 million in the three months to September. A surplus of $943 million had earlier been forecast. Treasury says the main reason is unrealised losses on government investments caused by turbulence on global share markets. The loss could have been worse if it was not for tax revenue being half a billion dollars higher than forecast. Finance Minister Michael Cullen says New Zealand is in a better position to weather the current economic situation because of the Government's decision not to blow the surplus in the good times. However, ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie is lukewarm about the figures. "If you look at the underlying numbers, it actually came in a little bit above expectations. Our tax take is still holding up reasonably well, a little bit above expectations, timing influences are likely to play a role. So, you look at the overall numbers and there's not too much to get excited about." CHILDHOOD OBESITY LINKED WITH LACK OF SLEEP ------------------------------------------- A lack of sleep during childhood may be contributing to the increasing rates of adult obesity. Otago University has followed more than 1,000 children born in Dunedin between 1972 and 1973. It found that children who spent less time in bed between the ages of five and 11 have higher body mass indexes as adults. Lead author Erik Landhuis says they were also significantly more likely to be obese. He says children today are probably getting less sleep than children were about 30 years ago, which coincides with the increasing rates of obesity. The researchers were able to rule out television watching, socio-economic factors and parental history of obesity as possible explanations for the results. Dr Landhuis says sleep deprivation may disrupt the hormone that regulates appetite. He says worldwide trends show a significant reduction in children's sleep times over the past 30 years. The research will be published in the prestigious US journal 'Pediatrics'. MANIFESTO SAYS RURAL SECTOR KEY TO RECOVERY ------------------------------------------- Farmers are calling for clear policy frameworks around infrastructure and development to help steer the country out of recession. Federated Farmers launched its manifesto at Wellington's railway station this morning. The organisation says farming is the key to weathering the recession and the document focuses on an economic transformation which will benefit New Zealanders and their standard of living. President Don Nicolson says agriculture is the backbone of the economy and important to everyone. He says political parties should rethink the emissions trading scheme and make sure farm animals are left out of it. ?New Zealand's comparative advantage is growing grass and converting it into protein more efficiently than anyone else on the planet. Our primary sector earns 65 percent of all our foreign exchange, which not only provides jobs across the country but helps pay New Zealand's bills. "The economic climate is challenging to say the least. We are in recession with ongoing fiscal, trade and balance of payments deficits forecast and the world is anything but certain. With the dairy payout forecast to be $1.2 billion lower next year and our sheep numbers down by nine million, this impacts not just our rural communities, but our urban ones too." Mr Nicolson what is needed is increased trade access, good market returns and competitive input and compliance costs. He says the manifesto shows political parties where they can take the industry if they have the fortitude to do so. Agriculture Minister and Progressive leader Jim Anderton is congratulating Federated Farmers for its contribution to the debate about the economy's future direction. He says it is important that everyone appreciates the productivity of the primary industries and how they benefit the entire country. "Primary industry productivity has been three times higher as that of the general economy since the 1980s. "That is a legacy of the past ? investments made 30 years ago into research and development that paid off for our primary industries. "Many of our primary industries are our most science-based, our most research and development-based, and our most innovative industries. There is as much science in landing a fresh gold kiwifruit or lamb chop in a foreign supermarket, as there is in a flat screen television set." Mr Anderton says New Zealand could not afford to coast on that legacy of investment any longer and that it is time to fund innovation, research and development. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS IN THE RED ------------------------------ The Government's accounts are in the red, with an operating deficit of $757 million for the three months to September. That is in contrast to a forecast operating surplus of $943 million. Treasury is blaming the deficit on a $1.8 billion loss in the investment portfolios of the Crown financial institutions. It says there was also a $400 million loss arising from a drop in discount rates used for the valuation of ACC's outstanding claims liabilities. Treasury says the losses were partially offset by tax revenues which were $500 million higher than forecast. BEST PAY RATES IN WELLINGTON ---------------------------- Wellington is the place to be for better pay rates. The latest Labour Cost Index from Statistics New Zealand shows that nationwide, there was a 3.6 percent rise in salary and wages in the year to September. It is the largest annual increase recorded since the index started in 1992. But in the capital, the average hourly earnings has increased by 7.2 percent to the highest rate in the country at $27.43. Charles Finny from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce says the increase is being driven by the public sector which is forcing private businesses to increase their wages as well. He says there are a limited number of good workers in this economy and the private sector wants to recruit them, but right now, the government is dangling a more exciting carrot. Mr Finny believes it is currently a good time to look for a new job before the economy tightens up next year. The Canterbury Chamber of Commerce is warning the record wage increases of recent times will not continue. Chief executive Peter Townsend says the future picture is not looking so bright. "The way the economy is tightening up at the moment, you'd be very optimistic to expect this trend to continue, although I have to say there are still gaps in the market where there are still skill shortages and that will put upward pressure on wages." Mr Townsend says businesses in Canterbury, like the rest of the country, are facing hard economics times and the Chamber is helping out with redundancy measures and corporate restructuring. (Silly generalisation. Certainly not true in the tertiary education sector. - BH) Wednesday, 5 November 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LABOUR ANNOUNCES PLUNKET FUNDING BOOST -------------------------------------- Just days from the election, Labour has announced a funding boost for Plunket. It will get $3 million a year to deliver more Wellchild checks. Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick says an unexpected rise in the number of births means Plunket is having trouble meeting the increase in demand for its services. PARLIAMENT COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE MOOTED -------------------------------------- Progressives leader Jim Anderton is calling for the incoming Parliament to set up a complaints procedure to stop police time being wasted with politicking. It follows news police have cleared New Zealand First over complaints laid by Act's Rodney Hide. Mr Anderton says police resources are needed to investigate crime, not stunts to make a rival politician look shady. He says it would be better to have an independent investigator appointed to look into such complaints to reduce the pressure on other agencies. TRANS-TASMAN GREENS TARGET FOOD LABELS -------------------------------------- The Green Party has announced it will work with its counterparts in Australia to revamp food labelling laws on both sides of the Tasman. The announcement comes as Australian Green MP, Senator Bob Brown, visits Auckland. He says it is time food labelling was more effective and truthful. Senator Brown says New Zealand does not have mandatory country of original labelling. He says he cannot understand why governments would oppose something as basic as consumers' right to know where their food comes from. EXPORTERS DRINK IN WINE FIGURES ------------------------------- Wine exports have reached a new high. More than $100 million worth was shipped overseas in September, which equates to more than 14 million bottles or almost 11 million litres of wine. It is a monthly record for volume and value. New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive, Philip Gregan, says the industry is on track to achieve its target of $1 billion in exports by 2010. Thursday, 6 November 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POLLS PICK NATIONAL-LED GOVERNMENT ---------------------------------- Two opinion polls out tonight signal a National-led Government is on the cards after election day. A One News' Colmar Brunton Poll and TV3's TNS Poll both have National with a respective 13 point lead and 12 point lead over Labour - two days from the election. National has more than 45 percent support in both polls, and would have the numbers, with support from ACT and United Future, to form a Government. Both polls have Labour at 35 percent and below. With New Zealand First failing to make the five percent MMP threshold, the figures show Labour unable to muster the numbers to take the Treasury benches. (The polls were well within the ball park and were, on the whole good indicators of the outcome, except that the Greens got fewer votes - and seats - than the predictions. - BH) REGULATION FOR TERMINATION CHARGES POSSIBLE ------------------------------------------- The Commerce Commission is investigating whether mobile phone termination access services should be regulated. The commission feels phone companies are charging too much for termination services, which are the prices charged for calls and text messages received from different phone networks. The commission says there are reasonable grounds to investigate because there are indications the charges in New Zealand are significantly above the cost of providing the service. The commission says it is also considering whether there are grounds to regulate mobile roaming charges. LABOUR BIGGEST RECIPIENT OF UNION'S DONATION -------------------------------------------- The country's largest union has released details of its donations to political parties. The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union has given $60,000 to Labour. The donation is the union's largest. It has also given $5,000 to the Greens, $4,000 to the Maori Party and $1,000 to the Progressives. UNEMPLOYMENT HITS 4.2 PERCENT ----------------------------- Unemployment has risen to 4.2 percent, following an increase of 0.3 percent in the September quarter. In September 2008, there were 94,000 people unemployed, 16,000 more than there had been a year earlier. It is the highest level of unemployment since December 2003. While the unemployment rate has increased, so has labour work force participation. There were 3,000 more people in jobs during the September quarter, mostly caused by an increase in the female workforce. Statistics New Zealand says there are 5,000 fewer men in work, but 8,000 more women in work. CLARK NOT RULING OUT MAORI PARTY MP IN CABINET ---------------------------------------------- Prime Minister Helen Clark is refusing to rule out a Maori Party MP becoming a Minister of Maori Affairs in a Labour-led government. In recent weeks, Miss Clark has been warming to the idea of forming an agreement with the Maori Party after the election. When asked whether one of the Maori Party's four MPs could become Maori Affairs Minister, Miss Clark hedged her bets. She said she has tremendous confidence in Parekura Horomia, who currently holds the portfolio, so the issue of who gets what will be decided after the election. Miss Clark says minor parties have every right to talk to the major party about what the nature of that relationship is during talks after the election. UNIVERSAL STUDENT ALLOWANCE NOT COSTED -------------------------------------- It appears Labour's universal student allowance package has never been costed by Treasury. Prime Minister Helen Clark launched the policy on the first week of the campaign announcing means testing on student allowances would be phased out by 2012. When fully implemented Labour put the cost of the package at $210 million a year, but in response to an Official Information Act request, Treasury says it provided no advice, no briefings, papers, or documents to the Government regarding the package. That suggests the initiative has not been formally costed. Friday, 7 November 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RESERVE BANK OFFERS BANKS SHORT TERM HELP ----------------------------------------- The Reserve Bank has announced two new measures to give New Zealand banks a helping hand in the short term. The new facilities will support banking system liquidity at a time when offshore markets remain disrupted. They involve extra lender facilities to banks. Reserve Bank head of communications Mike Hannah says the facilities will help banks cope with the lead up to the Christmas period. He says basically the Reserve Bank is assuring New Zealand banks that more cash will be available for borrowing. GAP NARROWS IN FINAL ELECTION POLL ---------------------------------- Hope for Labour in the last of the opinion polls out before election day. The Roy Morgan poll has the gap between National and Labour down to just 7.5 percent. That compares with the 11 to 18 points in the TV and newspaper polls released in the last 24 hours. National has fallen one percent to 42 percent. Labour is up 2.5 points to 34.5. New Zealand First also has a glimmer of hope at four and a half percent, just below the MMP threshold. (Will-o'-the-wisp comes to mind - BH) TOURISM INDUSTRY BRACES FOR QUIET SUMMER ---------------------------------------- The tourism industry is bracing for hundreds of millions of dollars of downturn in business this summer. Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton says that is the expected impact of the global recession on tourism. He says visitor numbers are already down and are expected to fall off by at least 10 percent as people postpone travelling. Mr Hickton says that at least half a billion dollars less in tourism receipts and it will have a big impact. He says they have greater concern for the low season after April next years because forwards booking a very light. UNDECIDED VOTERS CRUCIAL FOR LABOUR ----------------------------------- Labour leader Helen Clark is banking on getting support from undecided voters if the party is to be in with a chance of forming the next government. She is spending the final day of the campaign touring around Auckland. Her deputy Michael Cullen has joined Helen Clark on the campaign trail for the first time today. They have been on a walkabout of WestCity shopping mall in West Auckland, accompanied by several other Labour MPs; Chris Carter, Lynne Pillay and Darien Fenton. According to the polls the hill may prove just too steep for the Prime Minister to get a fourth term in office. However she is remaining optimistic she still has a chance of a fourth term. Her first stop this morning was Manurewa Primary School, where she told staff Labour is in with a chance if undecided voters back her tomorrow. Miss Clark will spend the rest of the day touring Auckland shopping malls and factories. She is hoping to boost the turnout of voters, particularly in South Auckland, which she believes will benefit Labour. UNITED FUTURE PITCHES "MODERATING INFLUENCE" -------------------------------------------- United Future is making a last minute play to be the moderating influence in a National-led Government. The Party, along with ACT, is committed to form a partnership with National after election day tomorrow. Based on the latest opinion polls, the coalition bloc has a realistic chance of becoming the Government. United Future leader Peter Dunne says one thing he has picked up on the campaign trail is a very strong fear of a National Government being dominated by ACT and Sir Roger Douglas. He says there is a real concern that Sir Roger will pull Rodney Hide's strings - and people are scared stiff of a return to the 1980s. Mr Dunne says the more votes his party gets the less influence Sir Roger, and ACT, will have. Mr Hide denies he is Sir Roger's puppet, saying no- ones ever pulls his strings. He says he listens to Sir Roger as he would any other member of his team. Mr Hide says Mr Dunne's position in the centre has been marginalised because of policy moves by National. (One of the satisfying outcomes of the election was the rejection of these people ... just a little further and I could have had an MP in whom I might believe - BH) CAR DEALERS HIT HARD TIMES -------------------------- Sales of new and used cars are continuing to fall, forcing dealerships in some areas to close yards and lay off staff. Andy Cummings from the Motor Trade Association says sales of used imports are taking the biggest hit, down 22 percent in the year to October, while sales of new cars are down three percent. He says the new vehicle market had been performing strongly in recent years, but in the last 12 months several factors have had an impact, including the economic recession, a move to smaller cars and the collapse of several finance companies. Mr Cummings says there is no evidence of widespread lay-offs, but anecdotally he has heard of some dealerships where staff have lost jobs. BAN WANTED ON SMOKING IN CARS ----------------------------- There is a call for a ban on smoking in cars when young children are present. The research, published in today's New Zealand Medical Journal, reveals 96 percent of smokers surveyed are in favour of such a ban. Lead author George Thomson says other countries have brought in similar laws and the issue is something the next government could look at. Dr Thomson says politicians have been hesitant about proposing such a ban in the past because they have thought it would be unpopular and have argued that education should be the first step. He believes that in general, smokers tend to be very considerate about the health implications of smoking near children. MASSIVE DROP IN Q1 NET EARNINGS FOR TELECOM ------------------------------------------- Telecom has suffered a massive drop in first quarter net earnings. Figures for the September quarter are down 33.8 percent, to $149 million compared with the same period last year. Costs were five percent higher. Telecom says the result reflects salary inflation and increased staffing to deliver the government-enforced operational separation, which opens its network to competitors. Capital expenditure for the quarter was up 63 percent to $340 million. Chief executive Paul Reynolds says the figures reflect a significant investment for the long term health of Telecom's businesses. He says the key drivers of revenue growth were broadband and IT services, which both delivered double-digit growth compared with the same quarter last year. Telecom's shares have dropped nearly 48 percent this year and closed last night at $2.27. SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian Harmer does NOT administer the mailing list. Please do not send subscription related messages to him. Instead, visit the website listed below, where you can make changes as required. 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