TEAM NZ

Taxpayer funding for Team NZ has all but finished after the announcement that there will be no pre-regatta for Auckland.

Team New Zealand's bid for government funding hinged on a qualifying regatta.

Team NZ is going to arbitration but this is surely futile.

The syndicates don't want to come to Auckland.

What Grant Dalton is therefore suggesting is that they should be forced to come here before the America's Cup in Bermuda.

That is not going to happen.

More to the point, even if was to happen, the regatta would be nothing but a sail around the harbour and count for nothing.

Again, the other syndicates don't want to come here.

I have always been a supporter of Team New Zealand getting some taxpayer funding on the basis of it increasing trade opportunities.

Bermuda though makes it a big ask -there doesn't appear to be much in it for NZ Inc.

My support evaporated when Dean Barker was sacked. It wasn't the sacking but the underhand way it was done and the misinformation that was spun from Team NZ. I've lost trust in Team NZ.

I doubt this is the end of the road for Team NZ but if it is - the taxpayer has been more than generous over the years.

 

 

SPYING

Over the weekend more spying stories.

One about the GCSB spying on China with the inference that it will damage our trade with China.

The other about Sony emails and how powerful Sir Peter Jackson is and the TPP.

All this stuff was stolen by Snowden and Assange. Its tainted material and gives no context. Its selective and its embellished. Its also destructive.

More to point, nobody cares, including the Chinese who are doggy deep in spying themselves.

 

SECURITY

Professor Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor of Auckland University says New Zealand urgently needs a major security overhaul.

Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor has warned New Zealand is a sitting duck for terrorists, and needs security searches and ID checks in places like shopping malls, movie theatres and train stations. She wants more CCTV.

Dr Sullivan-Taylor has even gone as far as suggesting routine ID checks for New Zealanders.

She spoke as five people were arrested yesterday in Melbourne over an alleged ANZAC Day terror plot.

The civil libertarians have rejected any more security because its an invasion of privacy. In todays troubled times, I'm not sure the public would see it that way. The public wants protection. If some privacy is intruded so be it.

Without over reacting I think we do need to ramp up security. In particular increased CCTV coverage. CCTV detects crime. CCTV is a deterrent. With a lack of cops on our streets, increasing CCTV coverage is something that is a no-brainer. Its hardly an infringement on privacy.

The ID's is an interesting thing. I don't have an issue I see it as no different to a young person having to provide ID to buy booze. However, I'm not sure an ID prevents terrorist attacks.

In summary, we would be advise to take notice of what Sullivan-Taylor is saying - she may be on the money.