Transport Agency focused on state highways

Yes, a cursory visit to the website of the Labour led government's latest bureaucratic creation - the NZ Transport Agency, shows that the merger between Land Transport NZ and Transit New Zealand has created an agency that primarily puts out press releases about - state highways.

This is the agency that manages driver licencing, is contracted to collect Road User Charges, manage the National Land Transport Account (where all motoring taxes go), and allocate funding to itself (!) to manage state highways, and to local authorities to build and maintain local roads, and subsidise public transport.

When National was last in power it took away responsibility for looking after funding decisions on roads from Transit by creating Transfund - largely so that a bureaucracy wasn't funding itself over the roads of local authorities. The intention was also to make Transfund responsible for managing motoring taxes so that it could be "buying road services" on behalf of motorists, a precursor to allowing tolling and other direct ways for the public to buy road services from road providers.

Labour rejected all that in favour of central planning and now there is one behemoth of a bureaucracy contracted to collect much of the motoring taxes, allocate money from those motoring taxes and build things with it, oh and in the meantime do it really really efficiently, and spend money on roads its not responsible for.

Oh and Christine Caughey, who wants Wikipedia and blogs state regulated, is on its board.

Now this is surely something that the Nats can reverse and get back to moving road management towards users paying for services, rather than Ministers directing decisions?

Ian Wishart - really that popular?

Now Ian Wishart's blog "Briefing Room" claims that his online publication "TGIF edition" is a huge hit, with 20,000 downloads and counting. Who knows, maybe it is true and it hasn't got through to Alexa, because Alexa doesn't rank his site highly at all.

You see Briefing Room gets a ranking of 3,542 in New Zealand.
Investigate Magazine gets a ranking of 8,594
By contrast I get a ranking of 2,002.
Tumeke ranked his blog at 29th in June, and it will be interesting to see where it was in July.

I know I get on average 241 hits a day at present. Weekends dip below 200 and weekdays can regularly get over 300. To get 20,000 downloads would take around 10-11 weeks.

However this all pales into comparison with the likes of Kiwiblog, Public Address, Whale Oil and Not PC. Naturally I don't want to deny Wishart any genuine success he has, I may not like some of what he writes, but that isn't the point. The point is that either Alexa is badly wrong, Wishart is claiming success over a longer period than some may think or it's hyperbole.

What politician will take on the IRD?

Not PC blogs about the appalling case of the IRD turning its back on a written agreement regarding GST.

"In 2001, members of the Inbound Tour Operators Council (ITOC) signed formal, written agreements with the IRD about the GST tax treatment of the fees they charge to overseas wholesalers for arranging tours.

The IRD advised in the formal, written agreements that the fees should be zero-rated, and the industry has followed this advice.

Now, however, seven years later, the IRD has advised the industry that it has changed its mind, apparently because it believes it made an error.

In a meeting with the industry last week, top IRD officials said they would not honour the formal, written agreements signed with the industry in 2001 and would now seek back taxes."

So the word of the state means nothing.

What do I expect the politicians of the main political parties to say AND do about this?

Labour and Anderton- nothing.
Greens - nothing.
Maori Party - maybe say something, but not the philosophical conviction to care
United Future - nothing, remember Peter Dunne chaired the last enquiry into the IRD's practices. He is now Minister of Revenue, especially nothing to see here.
NZ First - nothing. Winston did nothing as Treasurer after all.
National - say lots, hold an inquiry, do nothing. Although Whaleoil seems to have confidence in Bill English, I hope it is well placed.
ACT - say lots and support a more strongly worded inquiry, do little.

I hope I am wrong, but I have heard words before about IRD - it's time for action. Retrospective changing of minds should not cost the public, but should cost the IRD - I'd suggest the officials who drafted and signed the letter be made liable, and pay up the taxes. It was their job to be fair after all.

British lobby group upset by sign

UK lobby group Age Concern is calling for street signs used to warn of the elderly to be changed because they are "out of date, condescending and in need of replacement" according to the Daily Telegraph. "Very few older people are hunched over, with a walking stick. They are assuming everyone who is old looks like that, and they don't" said a woman working for the organisation.

I simply want to know what the woman silhouette is doing with her hand.

Wellington boobs on bike? nah

Now I don't care much for Steve Crow's view of taste but I do think the Hive's opposition to a bare breasted Helen Clark lookalike because "it could be used by opponents to ridicule the PM" is misplaced. This is in response to Dominion Post reports that Crow wants to put Boobs on Bikes in Wellington.

However, so what if the PM is ridiculed? Is the PM to be immune from ridicule? Why would this encourage anyone to vote for Helen Clark? Wouldn't those offended be voting for her anyway (or more likely conservative enough to be voting National anyway)? Isn't making fun of politicians just part of a free society?

Leftwing Wellington City Councillor Celia Wade-Brown said she "believed the parade was offensive to women and the capital's diverse ethnic groups". Well clearly not women who choose to participate, but more importantly how does SHE speak on behalf of all ethnic groups? What nonsense! I think the idea will go down badly in Wellington because so many will just find it tiresome and uninteresting, and those who do like it will be far too emasculated by the overwhelming culture of "offence" to show it!

Now if he paraded it around the Hutt Valley, he'd get a far friendlier response I am sure.

UPDATE: Picture from the Waikato Times of a cop stopping three young women trying to bring bare breasts to Hamilton. Now here's a thought - is it more sexual if they can dress in hotpants and over the knee boots in public with breasts covered, than wearing jeans and jandals with bare breasts? More importantly, what did the Police warn the women about? If it is legal in Auckland, what right does a cop have to warn people to not do something legal?