Two a penny

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Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has announced he will not receive any more taxpayer-funding housing allowances.

The finance minister this afternoon confirmed actions he had taken with the aim of putting the “unnecessary distraction” of the row over his housing expenses behind him.

His announcement comes ahead of an informal meeting scheduled with the Auditor-General’s office this evening to discuss an investigation into his housing allowances claim.

* Had not received any housing allowance payments since July 28.

Mr English said he:

* Would no longer receive a housing allowance.

* Had received a legal opinion from Stephen Kos, QC, that changes made to his family trust arrangements did not affect his eligibility for the housing allowance.

* Had repaid all housing allowance payments received since last November’s election to Ministerial Services.

“What I’m announcing today reflects a set of personal decisions I have made about my own situation,” Mr English said.

“At all times my decisions have been driven by my desire to keep my family together and provide them with as much stability as possible.

“It is in no way setting a precedent for others although I make the point here that I believe Parliament does have to think how it can accommodate the families of long-term politicians.”

A TV One poll showed that voters felt the issue was denting Mr English’s credibility. It’s now clear that the system has struggled to deal with my circumstances.

The Deputy Prime Minister considers the Southland town of Dipton, in his electorate, to be his primary residence under parliamentary rules, but his family has lived in, and owned, a house in Wellington for years.

Asked if the issue had damaged his credibility, 62 percent said yes and 27 percent no; asked if Mr English has acted with integrity, 54 percent said no and 30 percent yes.

He came under fire when it was revealed he was now claiming a much higher allowance to stay in the Wellington house than when he lived there as an opposition MP.

He came under fire when it was revealed he was now claiming a much higher allowance to stay in the Wellington house than when he lived there as an opposition MP.

Today, a spokesman for Mr English said the Auditor-General’s office wrote to the minister after receiving the complaint.

Auditor-General Lyn Provost has asked for more information before deciding whether to investigate a complaint by Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton into the matter.

He will meet with a team from the office tonight for informal talks which will not form part of the inquiry, the spokesman said.

They said “feel free” to get in touch and Mr English has done that. .

Mr English will be informed about what the Auditor-General’s office is doing

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An energy drinks company has denied organising a publicity stunt that resulted in three New Zealand soldiers being sent home in disgrace from Afghanistan.

They were photographed posing with a large bomb carrying an advert for Demon energy drinks and were sent home for breaching operational security.

One photo showed a Demon energy drink sticker with the slogan “no limits, no laws” attached to the bomb suspended from a plane, with the soldiers standing around it.

The men took the photos and sent them to the drink company.

A decision was made to send the soldiers home immediately after the incident, which went against clear guidance given to all military personnel on operations, Joint Forces commander Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell said yesterday.

Another showed a handwritten message, “dear Taliban enjoy this demon”, on the side of the bomb. .

Demon Drinks company said today that the soldiers were not involved in any kind of commercial sponsorship agreement.”

The soldiers were not directly asked to take part in any kind of promotion.

“Demon Drinks has no understanding of army procedures, so did not know this would cause an issue.

“Often we ask for photos of people drinking the product in return.

The company said it donated products and did sampling all over the country every day.”

The company regretted what had happened to the soldiers, and had expressed that to them personally several weeks ago. In no way was this a publicity stunt.

“Demon Drinks was acting in good faith to help NZ troops and we wanted to show our support for them.

“If we had realised that this was going to be the outcome we would never have provided free drinks.”

AVM Stockwell said two of the soldiers had been found to have contravened the Armed Forces Discipline Act and were formally reprimanded. It is very unfortunate the way this has panned out for the soldiers and we will do everything we can to help these soldiers if their careers are in jeopardy.

Green Party MP Keith Locke, who previously criticised the soldiers’ actions, said sending them home was an appropriate punishment.

“Irrespective of the investigation into whether the acts contravened military law, the NZDF sets and expects very high levels of professionalism and behaviour from its people – this is especially the case in an operational theatre where the protection of information is vital to the overall security of New Zealand interests and activities,” he said.

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A man has been arrested after allegedly chasing a car with a replica pistol in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay.

Acting Senior Sergeant Corey Watts said the man, who gave himself up last night after police set up a cordon around his house, had been charged with presenting a firearm.

Police were called to Island Bay after 10pm yesterday after receiving calls that a man was seen running down a road after a car armed with a pistol.50pm.

Mr Watts said police then cordoned off a property in Eden St around 10.

Mr Watts said police had determined the firearm was an air pistol, and that it had been used to fire plastic BB pellets in the early stages of the incident. .

Though the Armed Offenders Squad was initially called out, officers were not deployed. We treated it very seriously,” Mr Watts said.

“It’s pretty provocative running down the street with one of those in your hand.

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It was a reunion of reunions.

Twelve Apollo astronauts reminisced, traded stories and poked fun at each other Friday night as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and moonwalk approached.

The crowd of hundreds at the National Museum of the United States Air Force erupted in cheers when a video chronicling the space program replayed Armstrong’s famous first words after stepping on the moon July 20, 1969: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

The astronauts, including first moonmen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, attended the ceremony in which the National Aviation Hall of Fame presented the Apollo crews with the “Spirit of Flight” award for their courage and dedication. “Any time you go to a place where everything you see is different than anything you’ve ever seen before in your life, it’s unique and it’s memorable.”

“It was spectacular,” Armstrong recalled of gazing at the moon’s surface as he took those first steps.”

However, Armstrong said he and Aldrin had little time to savor the experience. And that certainly was.

Armstrong said he had been a backup on Apollo 8 and that when he wasn’t needed was asked if he wanted to be on the third mission down the line — what turned out to be the fateful Apollo 11 mission.

“We didn’t rest hardly five seconds when we got a message from Mission Control, saying get on with the next item,” Armstrong said.

“We knew we had a chance at landing, but it was by no means certain,” he said. He said it was difficult to predict the exact mission of succeeding flights.

Astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, also flew in the flight preceding Armstrong’s.

As they sat together on the stage, the astronauts joked and bantered with each other.

“Everyone knew Neil could land on the moon, but we didn’t have a lot of confidence Neil could find it,” Cernan quipped. He joked that his job was to paint a white line to the moon that Apollo 11 could follow.

But the first lunar landing was a serious matter for the astronauts and those in mission control.

“I’ve been listening to that for 40 years, and this is not the time to change my position,” Armstrong shot back, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“I can’t say it was panic, but it was a lot of attention to detail in mission control,” said Charles Duke, who was at mission control at the time. When the designated landing zone proved to be too rocky, Armstrong had to burn fuel from a diminishing supply to find a suitable place to touch down.” When there were only 30 seconds of fuel left, “it got dead silent. .”

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Freezing weather moving across the country looks set to continue resulting in major disruption on South Island roads today.

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In Otago, State Highway 8 between Omarama and Tarras, and between Alexandra and Roxburgh, and SH6 between Haast and Makarora were closed due to snow, while in Canterbury, snow had closed State Highway 80 close to Mt Cook.

Also closed due to snow were SH85 from Omakau to Alexandra, SH6 from Cromwell to Queenstown, and the Lindis Pass. Further north, SH65 from SH6 to Springs Junction was also closed.5cm expected over the next day.

The MetService said that snow showers are expected on Arthurs and Porters passes this morning above about 700 metres with around 1.

State Highway 94 had two warnings in place since yesterday morning – between Mossburn and Te Anau as a result of ice on the road, and between Te Anau and Milford due to snow, the Automobile Association said.

Between three and five centimetres of snow are forecast above 500 metres between Lake Gunn and the Homer Tunnel on Milford Rd during the day.

Snow warnings were also in place last night on SH73 between Springfield and Arthur’s Pass and between Arthur’s Pass and Otira.

A snow warning was also in place on Crown Range between Wanaka and Arrow Junction since midday yesterday.

A Queenstown police spokeswoman said it was the first time in years she had heard of snow forcing the closure of the Kawarau Gorge.

The Kawarau Gorge (SH6) between Queenstown and Cromwell had been closed temporarily but re-opened early this morning.

The MetService warned of snowfall on a number of Canterbury and Otago roads.

Motorists were reported to have become stuck in heavy snow in some areas and police were urging others to be aware of closures and warnings. .

The MetService said two to three centimetres of snow could fall to 800 metres on Lewis Pass, and five to eight centimetres on Arthur’s Pass down to 700 metres, between midnight and 6am this morning.

In the North Island the Desert Road is closed, with conditions set to remain treacherous with snow showers forecast to turn to rain this morning before clearing by about midday.

At Lindis Pass, up to eight centimetres of snow had been expected to fall down to 400 metres in the 15 hours from midnight, easing this afternoon.

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SCHOOLS CLOSED

Meanwhile, the treacherous road conditions have led to the closure of several schools in Central Otago today

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Australia is reducing measures to check the spread of swine flu, after figures showed the disease to be more infectious, but less likely to require hospital admission, than ordinary flu. .

But the estimates prepared for the government show that the hospital admission and likely death rate is a fraction of that suffered by Australians with seasonal flu, which claims 1000 to 2000 lives every year.

There were 2024 swine flu casesacross the Tasmanby late yesterday, with nine people in hospital, three of them in intensive care.

There have yet to be any deaths from swine flu in Australia.

Because of the mitigation measures, no more deaths from swine flu than from seasonal flu were expected. The Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Jim Bishop, said it might be that the arrival of swine flu had led to an easier flu season in Australia this year.

“We hope we will do better than seasonal flu.

Australia’s health minister, Nicola Roxon, announcedthat Australia would move to new flu alert arrangements, scrapping measures including widespread school closures and thermal screening at international airports. We do not know …whether H1N1 09 [swine flu] will replace seasonal flu, but if it does, it will make the management of the disease easier to treat,” Professor Bishop said. These would be available from the national stockpiles for those people with moderate or severe disease or with vulnerable conditions.

The government is also relaxing quarantine provisions and tightening distribution of antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu.

Measures will focus on early treatment of vulnerable people such as pregnant women and those with chronic diseases such as asthma and heart disease.

But Ms Roxon said it was not appropriate to give antivirals to healthy relatives.

The new regime, officially called “pandemic phase protect”, will begin first in South Australia and Western Australia within days and later in other states.

The new regime, officially called “pandemic phase protect”, will begin first in South Australia and Western Australia within days and later in other states.

– By MARK METHERELL, SMH

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Ms Roxon said the new phase recognised that swine flu was not as severe as originally envisaged when the health management plan for pandemic influenza was written last year

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‘Stalker’ mum calls off pursuit

– Monday, 26 January 2009

Police have struck an unusual deal with a woman planning to stalk her daughter's rapist – leave him alone and we will tell you where he lives.
The woman agreed, and has called off her planned pursuit of 46-year-old Jack Michael Harris when he finishes a 4½ year sentence today for raping her daughter, who was aged 12 at the time.
The agreement was reached after an attempt to track a prison van yesterday was met with a swift police reaction.
The mother, who cannot be named, had intended to follow Harris to his new address, and then warn neighbours via leaflets that he had moved into the area.
The mother said an informant had told them Harris was being released on Sunday morning to avoid her attentions. Four cars swooped on a tracking vehicle and warned the driver, a 22-year-old woman, that her actions could be construed as obstructing police business.30am and a prison van emerged about 9am. She said a team of helpers in five cars staked out Paparua Prison from 5."
The woman rang her 22-year-old daughter, the sister of Harris's victim, who was waiting in a side street and she took up the chase.
"[The van] came out, stopped, they looked up and down the road real good then took off.
The van drove in loops around western Christchurch before four police cars, three marked and one unmarked, arrived and pulled the woman over so the van could make its escape.
"They led her on a merry dance," she said.
The woman, who stands 1.
"They said it was resulting in a nuisance and it was a security threat," she said.
Police have since confirmed Harris was not in the van, which was ferrying prisoners to Nelson.5m tall, has a professional job, and drives a "little Holden Astra", said the response was a "huge over-reaction".
He said though it was "not really my role" he had become concerned with the family's plans and decided to contact them.
Senior Sergeant Roy Appley, of the Papanui police, visited the family yesterday afternoon and negotiated the resolution.
"Whether we like it or not, he's up for parole," Appley said. Appley proposed that if the family would trust him to see Harris into accommodation, he would let them know what area he was living in so they would not run the chance of bumping into him. What I could certainly assure them was that something was getting done.
"I'd provide a little bit of information so they'd feel protected and like they had some control.
Harris would be released to those lodgings and he did not want to see the accommodation exposed."
Appley said he had worked with released offenders for some time and he was a firm believer in the "supportive accommodation" the Salvation Army ran."
Appley said the people living near the homes knew who the residents were, so the mother's proposed leaflet drop would be unnecessary."
Appley said the people living near the homes knew who the residents were, so the mother's proposed leaflet drop would be unnecessary.
Appley said he had ordered the police cars to intercept the car tailing the prison van.
At that stage it was not known who was following the van. .
The negotiation approach was "a lot less risky".
Appley said he had built rapport with several offenders one who he had rearrested twice but managed to stay friendly with so the offenders were able to contact him if they felt they needed support.
The mother said Appley was "awesome".
"He explained his role in all this and said he was going to see if we could get a meeting [with Harris]."