By: Larry Williams | Monday, April 16, 2012

An Auckland lawyer who's alleged to have smuggled contraband into prison has failed in a bid to keep her name secret.

Davina Murray has been accused of breaching the Corrections Act.

She reportedly took a cell phone, a packet of cigarettes and a lighter to convicted murderer and rapist Liam Reid last year.

Davina Murray has pleaded NOT guilty to the charges.

She was a candidate for the Maori Party in last year's general election.

I must say that it's hard to think that a lawyer would smuggle in stuff to prison let alone to a rapist and a killer. Deaf woman Emma Agnew was Reid's victim. Reid was convicted of raping and attempted murder of another woman also. He had 61 previous convictions.

Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley loves 'fracking'.

That's the interpretation by the media. TVOne news last night was in frenzy over Heatleys comments. They more or less said the governments mind was already made up. This doesn't appear to be true.

What he actually said was that he believed fracking was safe and that it had gone on for 20 years in this country. Heatley wants to wait until the investigation by the Environment Commissioner is completed before making decisions on moratoriums and the like. Heatley made the same views over a month ago.

What we are getting though is misinformation and scare mongering from the media and political opponents.

They are the ones who have already made their minds up.

The Christchurch City Council votes against full rates relief for residents forced out of their quake hit homes.

Apparently the council may re-consider. Oh yes, that would be a good idea.

It’s remarkable that they voted this down just last week.

Rates are for services provided. If the occupier's house has been wrecked and uninhabitable you would think that would be a good reason for that occupier not to have to pay rates.

The council will back track on this before court orders them to.

The Government is keeping the door open to extending paid parental leave, with Prime Minister John Key saying that although unaffordable now, the issue could be discussed in the future.

Now David Shearer wants to have a conversation. The irony there is that Shearer admits that Labour's cost on paid parental leave were wrong.

The PM is however just repeating what Bill English said from the get go: That when we return to surplus the issue can be discussed then.

That seems fair enough.

The Warriors looked a much better outfit against the Rabbitohs. I'm not sure you can get much of a gauge against a rather weak Rabbitohs but at least the Warriors seem to play with a bit more discipline.

The Crusaders were quite something against the Stormers who are a very good side. Both teams play a pattern of rugby that is cohesive. They are unified. They play the percentages. It’s a disciplined calculated approach. They don't make silly mistakes. They construct segments of play, which leads me to the Blues.

There is nothing about the Blues that looks like they have a carefully thought out or planned approach. Certainly they are undisciplined. The Blues are erratic. They have no control over themselves or their teammates or the direction at which they want to play the game. In other words, the Blues are completely lost.

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