KEY POINTS:
The scariest sight on television in recent days had to be the gaggle of grumpy, bull-necked pastors outside Parliament on Wednesday, haranguing their flocks about the Christian virtues of smacking children. One placard identified a contingent from something called the City Impact Church. Don't tell me there's a ministry that specialises in discipline.
While the fundies were frothing away on the steps of Parliament, inside, the lions were lying down with the lambs as Helen and John and Sue cuddled up to bring forth a blessed compromise, one which banned smacking, except when it was "inconsequential".
And to think we laughed when Bill Clinton claimed he didn't inhale that marijuana. Or have sex with that woman. What "inconsequential smacking" means is now up to the constabulary and inevitably, the judiciary, to decide.
Of more immediate interest to me was the unusually public outbreak of affection between the two main political parties, coming as it did just as the private bill seeking support for the regional funding of 11 key Auckland arts, museums and community service organisation is about to be sent to Wellington.
Is it too much to hope that Wednesday's love-in was the start of a new political era and that issues like the Auckland regional funding initiative will, in turn, be considered in a similar, group-grope sort of way.
Until now, most of the discussion about the chances of this bill - to be called the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill 2007 - being passed has centred on the likelihood of support from minor parties like the Greens and New Zealand First. This is based on the belief that Labour, while not actively promoting the bill, will introduce it, and be sympathetic.
But instead of fussing about trying to herd the parliamentary minnows into line, the more obvious solution would be to get the National Party on board a la the anti-smacking grand coalition.
That way, the eccentricities of a Winston Peters or a Peter Dunne can be put to one side.
One of the most encouraging straws in the wind is that National's latest spokesman for the arts is Wellington barrister Chris Finlayson.
Mr Finlayson served on the Creative New Zealand board for six years and chaired its funding arm, the Arts Board, from 1998 to 2001. He is now a trustee of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Foundation. So he brings to politics a rare insider's knowledge of the funding woes of arts organisations.
The final draft of the bill was approved by a steering committee of the 11 beneficiary organisations yesterday, and now awaits approval from each of these organisations.
It will be lodged in the House next month, the plan being that it be passed in time for the first round of local authority funding to come on stream for the 2008-2009 year.
The bill proposes that 11 organisations, from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra through to Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust and Surf Life Saving Northern Region, be funded like Auckland Museum, through a levy on the region's ratepayers.
In the first year, the levy would be $13 million, the next year $16 million and the next $19 million. After that, the maximum levy cannot exceed 2 per cent of the region's total rates levies.
As I've written before, Auckland local politicians, apart from Auckland City councillors, refuse to back these regional organisations with the cash they deserve, despite surveys showing overwhelming support from Aucklanders for regional funding. With this bill now on its way to Parliament, individual Aucklanders have the chance to make this wish come true.
Everyone who has been rescued by a surf life saver, enjoyed a Town Hall orchestral concerto or gazed at the stars from the Stardome planetarium should write to their MP urging them to support this bill.
If parliamentarians can come together to almost ban smacking, they can surely unite again to support a bill that the vast majority of Aucklanders agree will improve the wellbeing of each one of us.
