ACCEPTABLE RISK
Now that the Avondale fruit-fly has been found to have been a lonely bachelor, some of the heated rhetoric about border security has eased off. Interestingly, the Insider has heard suggestions that preliminary monitoring shows risk-based biosecurity screening is proving more effective than the old approach, in terms of the amount of material being intercepted at airports.
EXPENSIVE FUN
Economic ammunition for republicans - the extra bank holiday Britons received last month, to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, has been blamed for keeping the country in recession. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research says Britain's economy shrank by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, the third quarterly fall in a row. Underlying growth was about 0.2 per cent, the organisation said, but the national knees-up wiped 0.4 percentage points off that figure and turned the resultnegative.
FRIEND AND FOE
When Labour MPs gathered in Waitangi for their caucus retreat, there was much talk about poor dress sense and even more about how much power MPs should hand over to the party in selecting leaders. But there was also debate about the party's relationship with the Greens. Much of this stems from events across the Tasman, where senior Labor figures are starting to vent their frustration, accusing the Greens of being a protest movement which undermines jobs and sensible policy. The subtext in Australia is also that the Greens are "stealing" votes which Labor desperately needs. In New Zealand, such talk doesn't go down well with voters as it hints at arrogance. MP Phil Twyford has made a few tentative attempts at criticism of the Greens on the Resource Management Act, saying "being an environmentalist is not just about stopping stuff". Some have argued Labour should hand over its environmental mantle, because it will be impossible to take votes off the Greens on such issues, and instead talk more about jobs and the threats Green policies present to working class livelihoods. The strategy is risky, so it will be interesting to see if there are more broadsides at the Greens from Labour MPs.
DISHING THE DIRT
Last week's Insider item about the new super-Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - and bureaucrats' insistence that it be pronounced "Embee", not "Mobie" - reminded correspondent Murray Hunter of an unfortunate Australian name choice. In 1979 the NSW Department of Labour and Industry was replaced with the much more snazzy Department of Industrial Relations and Technology, apparently without anyone noticing the unfortunate acronym: yes, DIRT. The "and Technology" bit was dropped soon afterwards but, proving that some people never learn, a few years later they came up with Department of Industrial Relations and Employment, or DIRE.
FAST-LANE ESCAPEE ...
The bosses of the Auckland Council's business arms are finding the public spotlight an uncomfortable part of the job. A few weeks back, the Insider reported Regional Facilities Auckland chief Robert Domm being left alone to face a press conference on reorganising the city's under-used and financially shaky stadiums. Last week, the new boss of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Brett O'Riley, showed a clean pair of heels to escape media questions about a secret report on the V8 Supercars.
