By: Larry Williams | Tuesday, May 22, 2012 6:59 PM

Foreign flagged fishing boats

Foreign fishing vessels are going to be banned from operating in New Zealand waters.

Foreign flagged vessels will no longer be able to legally operate in our waters after a four year transition period.

A requirement will be that all vessels will have to obey New Zealand law.

Observers will also be placed on all vessels to check on labour and safety standards.

The reason this has come about is because of the treatment of the crew on these vessels. The industry needed to be cleaned up. Our international reputation and sustainable fishing practices are under attack.

What we have is NZ companies chartering foreign companies whose work practices are nothing but 'sweat shop' conditions.

Budget

It’s all on for this Thursday and the Budget.

According to Russell Norman, the economic guru from the Greens, the 2010 "tax switch" was not in fact revenue neutral -costing $2.2 billion over its first 18 months.

Norman is playing with numbers.

There is a difference between tax revenue and tax forecasts.

The forecasts are down, no question about that. That kind of happens when the world is in the grip of an economic meltdown.

Tax revenue though is up.

The NBR did the sums - since 2010 tax revenue is up 4.8% and growth has been up 1.5%.

It’s not flash but to try and blame it on the tax cuts is disingenuous.

Pension

Labour's plan to raise the age of the pension is the right one. It’s not if but when, and the sooner the better.

The Prime Ministers stance on this is mystifying considering he's a money man.

Expenditure for NZ Super for 2033 will be $33 billion! This cannot be sustained. The PM must know this.

The problem with Labour's plan is that it will save just $3b. Chump change in the scheme of things.

Labour, like National, lack the fortitude to go the whole hog.

Jones

It is beyond belief that Shane Jones who was associate Immigration Minister approved citizenship to this Chinese man Bill Yiu.

The defence appears to be that approval was given on humanitarian grounds.

Jones says he will give more information once the court case is over. 

I look forward to that although I don't think the court case matters in this. It’s irrelevant. What we are talking about is the Ministerial decision not the court case. 

What the court finds doesn't alter the fact that the Minister approved citizenship in circumstances that appear quite unusual.

If a Minister is presented with information like an Interpol 'red flag', questions around multiple names and passports, and the DIA and Immigration advocating against approval, you would think that it would be automatic rejection.

You would think a Minister wouldn't even entertain approval.

The links with the Labour Party cannot be overlooked in this matter.

Facebook

Facebook's shares dumped 10% today. The company lost $10 billion of its market value.  It’s now priced at $US34.26. It’s most likely too expensive at that.

What we witnessed was hype by passionate Facebook retail investors. They got carried away with it all and didn't focus on the fundamentals. They didn't care. They might now.