Britain’s Supreme Court on trial?

Britain’s highest court is hearing arguments this week over the legality of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament earlier this month.  Its decision is unlikely to shift entrenched views – and may not make much difference to the path or outcome of Brexit.

But a piece in The Times by political commentator Daniel Finkelstein suggests that it may be of the greatest importance for the Supreme Court itself.  In his view, the hearings “may mark the moment Britain stopped being a political democracy restrained by law and became instead a legal democracy tempered by politics”.

DairyNZ attacks economic report – but has no problem with the NZIER’s work which dairy people commission

DairyNZ chief executive Ian Mackle should have done a bit more thinking about the implications before he dismissed an economic report as an inaccurate, trivial attack on farmers.

He was assailing the credibility of a recent NZIER report which (he said) trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package.

He made special mention of the report having been commissioned by Fish & Game, Forest & Bird and Greenpeace.

And he huffed that it was less an economic report and more a high-level commentary on the dairy sector’s role in the economy – and painted an inaccurate picture.

The Single Economic Market: do the governments in Canberra and Wellington really want to advance the agenda?

Although the governments in Canberra and Wellington declare they are both committed to advancing the Single Economic Market (SEM) agenda, building on the success of the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Agreement, the recent meeting of the respective trade ministers in Auckland didn’t produce much more than an array of platitudes, and certainly left business lobbies on both sides of the Tasman yawning.

Air Rarotonga’s second Saab 340B opens possibilities in the north (but NZ help would be welcome)

Here’s a project for the New Zealand  government to support – before the Chinese arrive.

Air Rarotonga has just added a second Saab 340B to its fleet and is considering flights to the northern Cooks.  However, the basic crushed coral runways at Manihiki, Penrhyn and possibly Pukapuka need upgrading.

Surely  Foreign  Affairs  Minister  Winston Peters,  with his enthusiasm  for the  Pacific, will be eager to  back the project – wouldn’t he?

Air Rarotonga, in business since 1978, says the second Saab will add capacity initially to the Rarotonga-Aitutaki route with the potential for regional charter flights to Tahiti and Niue.  The new aircraft has been the catalyst for Air Rarotonga entering discussions with government about upgrading those runways.

The big question around spike in oil prices is when Saudi supply will return to normal

NZ motorists can brace for higher fuel prices with good cause. The attack on Saudi oil facilities poses one of the greatest threats to oil production and supply in recent years.

Crude oil prices posted their largest-ever jump in a single day, as Saudi Arabia counts the damage caused by aerial strikes on its state-owned petroleum giant, Saudi Aramco.

The Aramco plants targeted are crucial to the company’s operations. If they are offline, for even a short while, it will drastically reduce the output of Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter.

This poses important questions: When will Saudi oil production return to its level before the attack? The country aims to restore part of its output today, but when production and supply will return to normal remains unclear.

Ardern to meet Trump?

Shaking off the political unease stirred up by sexual harassment allegations by a Labour Party staffer in her department, PM Jacinda Ardern hopes to meet President Donald Trump in New York next week. This would be a first for her and will follow up on the meetings Deputy PM Winston Peters has had in Washington DC.

Warm welcome awaits Peters on his return from surgery, as Labour seeks to regroup

With the Labour Party in some disarray, Deputy PM Winston Peters may be surprised how warmly he is welcomed back in the Beehive when he returns.

Initially it was expected he would be absent for not much more than a week after he took leave on August 19 for surgery to what was said to be a recurrence of an “old rugby injury”.

Labour Party in disarray – and the flow-on to the PM

The once-proud NZ Labour Party was in a sorry shape this week. Its president Nigel Haworth handed in his resignation, the PM Jacinda Ardern was looking rather bedraggled, and several of her senior staff stood accused of a cover-up, in the wake of the scandal involving allegations of sexual assault against a Labour staffer said to be working in the Beehive.

Stuff reported earlier this week that a 19-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted on two occasions by a staffer with “strong influence” in the party.  It took a year after the second alleged assault before the party eventually launched an investigation into multiple complaints. But in spite of the young woman meeting with Labour Party officials including Haworth to seek help, the party contended the allegations did not include sexual violence.

Labour gets a Brexit policy

Britain’s Labour party leaders are not regular Point of Order readers.  Back in March we suggested it made sense for them to vote for then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal which would have ensured a (very) close ongoing relationship with the EU. They decided not to.

Now, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson charges towards the 31 October departure date with a policy of new-deal-or-no-deal, they have changed their mind.  The party’s shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, says their plan is to tweak the May agreement and then put it to a second referendum, asking the voters to choose between it or remaining in the EU.

Good for Northlanders – but how about the rest of taxpayers?

Hosannas for one of the latest handouts from the so-called Provincial Growth Fund – a $94.8m “investment” to bring up to operational standard a 54km section of the Northland rail line – were muted, not surprisingly.

NZ’s state-owned KiwiRail, which racked up a $235m loss in the 2018 year, and a $197m loss the year before that, looks as if it will be saddled with yet more loss-making services – but Deputy PM Winston Peters justifies the investment on the grounds the rail line to Whangarei would otherwise become “unsafe” and have to close within 5 years.