It seems John Key's clear points are of privatizing and letting foreign business and corporate power control everything much like a third world country, example in another case is ACC. However everyone thinks he's doing a good job by acting quick and promptly etc etc, well he's acting promptly only to answer from what his consultant and script writers tell him. Only actions he's gone for is to delay Sect 92A of the Copyright Law and push forward with a Business Elite like Super Council for Auckland's region, see the past post from 09/2008 here, the first three paragraphs from that post read;

Auckland City officers are floating the idea of replacing elected councillors with businessmen to run the city's parks, swimming pools, libraries and zoo along commercial lines.

In a surprise move, officers have expanded the proposal for a "holding company" to manage the council's interests in Auckland Airport and Westhaven Marina to include a vast range of community services.

Officers acknowledge the plan would be a sensitive issue with the public and create a perception of maximising profits and a step towards privatisation.

The convergence of the two threats comes as Britain is already on "severe" alert, meaning security officials believe an attack is highly likely.

Bankers are being warned to dress casually to deflect populist anger and luxury hotels are securing their perimeters.

Concern is particularly high because the last major summit in Britain - the G8 meeting in July 2005 at Gleneagles - was marked by suicide attacks on London's transit network that killed 52 people.

"We will be challenged. We will be stretched," said Simon O'Brien, a police commander responsible for the 7.2 million ($18 million) operation to secure the city.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators plan four days of protests at sites across London, threatening to overwhelm police and potentially leave the capital more vulnerable.

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said that while no specific plot against the G20 summit had been identified, terrorists could strike "without warning at any time".

Michael Clarke, head of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said small terrorist groups might use the cover of protests by environmentalists, antiwar activists and unions to mount an attack.

"The protests will cause uncertainty and chaos, and if they turn violent could complicate the lives of those police and security service staff who are looking for terrorists," said Clarke, who sits on the Government's National Security Forum advisory panel.

Police arrested five people in Plymouth yesterday under terrorism laws and recovered replica weapons, fireworks and activist material. Officers are investigating whether they planned to target the summit.

The investigation was sparked after a 25-year-old man was charged with spraying graffiti on a wall in Plymouth city centre, prompting officers to search his flat. They discovered a replica Kalashnikov assault rifle and several minor explosive devices made from fireworks.

About 5000 police - some armed with Tasers - will guard London, and an extra 35,000 will be on standby for the summit tomorrow night NZT. Some will be at the summit venue in London's Docklands, with others protecting posh hotels and the sleek glass towers of the financial district.

In the light of November's seaborne attack on Mumbai, India's financial centre, extra patrol boats will guard the Thames, and police frogmen will scour the river for floating bombs.

Police will tap London's network of 10,000 CCTV cameras to monitor protests, while an Army special forces unit will be on alert to respond.

Pepe Egger, a senior security analyst at Exclusive Analysis Ltd, said banks and hotels had prepared for attempted raids or sieges.

Unlike previous summits, most protests in London would be away from the actual meeting venue at the ExCel centre, he said.

"The interesting thing is that the protesters are unlikely to target the G20 delegates, their anger is not directed at the G20 itself. They will target the banks and financial district."

Anger at bankers is high in both Britain and the United States, where some of the bailout money for stricken banks was spent on staff bonuses.

Banks have told staff to dress in casual clothes today and tomorrow, to forgo cigarette breaks outside and cancel all but their most critical meetings.

"I'm pretty worried," said Luke Keyser, a 28-year-old at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "We've already been told to dress down. If we want to, we can work from home."

People living near the G20 venue in Canning Town have been advised to carry photo IDs to ensure they can pass through police roadblocks and get home.

- AP, INDEPENDENT

Time has come to take firm action if the United Nations does not want to be rightly accused of complicity by omission.

The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.

Those violations include:

Collective punishment – the entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.

Targeting civilians – the airstrikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.

Global Peace and Justice Auckland and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign are planning a major mobilisation to protest the latest Israeli outrages against Palestinians living in the Gaza strip.

The protest will gather at 12 noon, Aotea Square, Auckland on Saturday 10th January.

We have received numerous calls asking what actions are planned for Aucklanders to register their outrage at Israel's actions. Saturday's mobilisation gives that opportunity.

(An organising meeting for the mobilisation and to plan immediate steps in the campaign to boycott Israel will be held at 6pm on Tuesday 6th January at the Unite Union Office at 6A Western Springs Road, Auckland)

Meanwhile like most New Zealanders we find the government's failure to condemn the Israeli massacre an outrage. The utterances of Foreign Minister Murray McCully are obsequious and embarrassing. His fawning to the US position will be welcomed in Israel but will be condemned around the rest of the world. He is putting New Zealand well out of step with the United Nations.

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto called the launching of the ground offensive in Gaza "a monstrosity" in an accurate reflection of international opinion. McCully on the other hand has yet to issue a single word of criticism.


Mike Treen – (09) 8452132 or 0295254744
John Minto – (09) 8463173(H) or (09) 8469496(W)
For the GPJA Committee

Janfrie Wakim – 09 5200201 or 027 629 1004
For the Palestine Human Rights Campaign

Global Peace and Justice Auckland is organising a protest against Israeli's latest attacks on the people of Gaza.

The protest will be outside the US Consulate in Quay Street Auckland from 4pm this Tuesday 30th December. The consulate is being targeted because the US has given unconditional backing to the Israeli government in these attacks.

Initial reports indicate at least 200 Palestinians have been killed and close to 800 injured in what has been described as one of the worst indiscriminate killings of Palestinians in the 60 years since they were driven from their homes and their land by Jewish terror squads at the founding of Israel.

Israel says the attacks are in retaliation for rocket attacks against Israel from inside Gaza. However having besieged one and half millions Palestinians in Gaza and refused to allow land, sea or air access Israel is keeping these people in a massive open-air prison.

It is to be expected that Palestinians will fight back with whatever means they have at hand.

We are calling on the New Zealand government to condemn these cowardly Israeli attacks.

- Source

The decision to lay new charges against five of the Urewera activists has been described as "ludicrous" by supporters of the defendants.

Global Peace and Justice spokesman John Minto said authorities had "failed to brand" the activists as terrorists so the charges were nothing more than an attempt to "brand them as criminals".

Tame Iti, Emily Bailey, Urs Signer, Tuhoi Lambert and Whiri Kemara are all expected to be charged within the next few weeks with participating in a criminal gang.

The charge, which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, will be added to firearm charges the individuals are already facing.

Those charges were laid more than a year ago against 17 people who were alleged to have participated in weapons-training camps around the country.

Police had originally wanted to charge the group under the Terrorism Suppression Act but that was not allowed by the Solicitor-General, who said the legislation was flawed.

Yesterday, politicians were reluctant to comment on the new charges. Prime Minister Helen Clark and National leader John Key had no comment to make, while Police Minister Annette King said the first she knew about it was when she read the story in the Herald yesterday morning.

Iti said he had been told not to talk to the media about the latest charges and referred all queries to his lawyer, Annette Sykes. Ms Sykes did not return the Weekend Herald's calls.

"Why lay these charges more than a year after the arrests?" asked Mr Minto। "It seems the police will leave no stone unturned in trying to make the case look more serious than it is and in the process to salvage some credibility from the hopeless mess they have got themselves into."

- NZ Herald

Fresh charges are to be laid against some of those seized in the Urewera police raids - more than a year after they were arrested.

Five of the 18 people arrested during the nationwide operation last October are to face new allegations of participating in a criminal gang.

One of the five is Maori activist Tame Iti.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and has angered supporters of the accused, who claim the Government is trying to save face after failing in an attempt to bring charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

Seventeen of the 18 defendants charged with firearms offences were committed to trial last month.

They were alleged to have participated in weapons-training camps at various locations around the country.

But the Crown has added new charges of participating in a criminal gang in a draft indictment sent to lawyers of five of the accused.

The new charge would be laid under section 98A of the Crimes Act and is expected to be added to the list of charges the five already face.

Because it is more serious than the firearms charges, it will have to be heard in the High Court.

A group called Justice Now Collective, which is supporting the accused and their families, last night reacted angrily to the new charges saying they were "a desperate attempt by the Government to save face after the Solicitor-General found insufficient evidence to bring charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act".

Police originally wanted to charge all of the accused with offences under the Terrorism Suppression Act but that was not allowed by Solicitor-General David Collins, QC, who said the legislation was flawed.

Instead police laid firearms-related charges under the Arms Act.

All but one of the 18 who were originally charged were committed to trial on those charges at a depositions hearing in the Auckland District Court last month.

More than 300 charges were heard at that hearing.

Some charges, relating to three of the alleged camps, were dismissed by Judge Mark Perkins, who found there was insufficient evidence to support them.

But Crown Prosecutor Ross Burns said last night the crown would be re-laying those charges in the same indictment with the new charges.

Justice Now Collective spokeswoman Sally Darity criticised that decision.

"This is part of a systematic attack on Maori communities," she said.

"The Government's support of the war on terrorism in the passage of a raft of anti-terrorism laws and expanded police and Security Intelligence Service budgets confirm their agenda to control the population through surveillance and brutal repression of any genuine dissent."

The Crown is entitled to reinstate charges if it believes there is sufficient evidence to support them, as not all available evidence is presented at a depositions hearing.

The other four defendants facing the new charge are Emily Bailey, Urs Signer, Tuhoi Lambert and Whiri Kemara.

A YEAR ON
* October 15, 2007: Police raid several properties including suspected weapons-training camps. Several people are arrested on firearms charges, with the possibility of more serious charges being laid under anti-terrorism laws.
* November 8, 2007: Solicitor General David Collins, QC, rules against the police's application to charge the accused under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
* October 17, 2008: Charges are dropped against one of the accused, Rongomai Pero Bailey. The remaining 17 are on bail awaiting trial.
* October 28: After a month of depositions hearings, the Crown issues an indictment charging five of the accused with participation in a criminal gang under the Crimes Act.

- NZ Herald