Two a penny

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The Office of the Auditor-General says there are no grounds for an inquiry into Finance Minister Bill English’s housing arrangements. .

The Auditor-General’s conclusions were predictable, Mr English says.

“Importantly, the Auditor-General concludes that the current parliamentary system is designed to establish whether an MP maintains a current residence outside Wellington, rather than where an MP lives in an everyday sense.

“I welcome the Auditor-General’s confirmation that I correctly completed my declarations and provided other information as required to claim Wellington accommodation costs.

The report called for a “simple and sensible” system for providing MPs and Ministers with support for the costs of their accommodation while in Wellington.

Mr English came under fire after it was disclosed he received more than $900 a week in allowances while living in his family home in Karori, twice what he was able to claim for living in the same house as an Opposition MP.

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A man tried to snatch a 10-year-old boy just half a kilometre away from where Aisling Symes vanished two days later, can reveal.

The boy’s story has emerged as police announce the investigation into Aisling’s disappearance is to be further boosted by additional police staff. He offered to buy him sweets as he shopped in the Discount Food Mart, on Rathgar Rd, Henderson.

The schoolboy was approached by a man in his 30s two days before two-year-old Aisling’s disappearance, has learned. It made me feel weird,” the boy said.

“I asked the shop person the price of the candy and, when she said $4, the man asked if he could pay for me and said I could go along with him.

The boy’s mum, who is desperately concerned for Aisling, said: “It could have been anyone’s kid and even ours.

He ran screaming from the store, which is close to where two-year-old Aisling disappeared from her late grandparents home in Longburn Rd last Monday.

“From what has happened in the last week in this area it is going to make me a lot more careful. I always tell my son not to go off on his own but he doesn’t listen. Who knows if the guy was joking but my son did the right thing.

“I didn’t like hearing about what happened in the shop with my son.

Police spokesperson Noreen Hegarty downplayed the incident.”

Police questioned the boy on Thursday and again last night for several hours.

She said police were not seeking the man. She said police believed the man hadn’t made any attempt to “abduct” or “lure” the boy away from his family.

The boy, who has agreed not to identity, was in the superette around 12. Asked why police then interviewed the boy’s parents, Hegarty said they had to “take everything that comes to this investigation seriously”.

“I was by the candy and the guy came up to me and gave me a really strange look and started talking to me,” the boy said.30pm last Saturday while his mum and aunt were in Creative Cutz hairdressers nearby.

“That made me worried,” said the schoolboy.

He was concerned that the stranger, who described as about 33, Maori or Pacific Islander, wanted to buy him candy.

“I was scared, pretty scared.

“Suddenly I ran out of the store screaming for my mum as I thought he wanted to kidnap me.”

The brave lad knew he had to run away from stranger danger.”

The brave lad knew he had to run away from stranger danger. “I’ve been told that if someone wants to give you something or take you anywhere you just say `no’ and get away,” he said. .

Harrison Williams, the owner of Creative Cutz hairdressing, has also been spoken to by police.

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The SPCA goes into an employment hearing today with its former general manager alleging he was made redundant after questioning the amount the charity was spending in tough economic times.

David Lloyd-Barker lost his job on 30 June this year when he was made redundant after a management restructure.

Mr Lloyd-Barker sent a copy of his brief of evidence which he intended to present to the ERA. .

Bob Kerridge, executive director of the SPCA said the charity would defend the matter, but would make no response to Mr Lloyd-Barker’s allegations outside of the hearing.

In this brief Mr Lloyd-Barker describes himself as a “whistleblower” and alleges his redundancy was part of a sham restructure.

Mr Lloyd-Barker said he joined the SPCA in 2006, was promoted to inspectorate and hospital manager and later also as general manager in 2007.

He expected the employment authority would ignore some of allegations Mr Lloyd-Barker was trying to put before it as they were not pertinent to an employment dispute. I was called to cut costs and increase prosecutions, this I did saving the society some $800,000 approximately and increasing prosecutions by over 400 percent year on year.

He said in his brief of evidence: “I have consistently over achieved and represented the society in good faith and with professionalism.

Mr Lloyd-Barker said he emailed the SPCA board recommending it should not replace the CEO role, instead combining its duties into his role as general manager.”

Mr Kerridge left the role of chief executive and instead became executive director in September last year, shortly afterwards Mr Lloyd-Barker said he had a “Jerry Maguire moment” – a reference to a Tom Cruise movie where he sends a memo throughout his company and subsequently lost his job.

“Consider this: a new CEO plus retaining Bob will cost the society in excess of $300,000 per annum.

He also questioned the spending the SPCA was making supporting Mr Kerridge’s new role.

He said at the same time as hiring a new CEO other SPCA staff were on a wage freeze. Why? Would it not be a better option to amalgamate the CEO and GM roles or indeed dissolve the CEO role completely?” he said.

He later applied for the job, but failed to get it.

He was told the CEO role would remain.

Mr Lloyd-Barker then complained about spending $61,000 to rent a car for Mr Halliday. Instead the SPCA hired a new CEO, Garth Halliday.

Mr Barker said the SPCA relied on donations to fund itself and said in his brief of evidence:

“Surely, it is only right and proper that these donations are spent effectively and not wasted on luxuries?”

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It may be no surprise to new fathers to know that they survive on an average 42 minutes’ less sleep a night than other men.

This gem is among a raft of facts released today by Statistics New Zealand to mark Father’s Day on Sunday.

Other ”father figures” include:

* In 2008, a new baby was a Father Day’s present for 143 men.

* Today’s newborn babies have fathers who are, on average, four years older than their own fathers were when they were born.

* The average age of fathers of new babies is 33 years, but one in 100 babies has a father aged 50 years or over. This is because men generally start parenting later in life and women have a longer life span. .

The first Father’s Day is thought to have originated in Babylon over 4000 years ago.

A number of northern hemisphere countries celebrate Father’s Day in June.

The modern Father’s Day celebration had its origins in the US at the turn of the 20th century.

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Police say three Chinese tourists who were robbed in the Far North at knifepoint by men they had stopped to help yesterday are “stunned and shocked” at the incident.

The attack happened on a stretch of gravel road which runs through Te Paki Reserves and farm land leading to Te Paki Stream and 90 Mile Beach, from State Highway 1F.

When they stopped to help, the touring group was set upon by the two men who assaulted them, produced knives and then demanded money and property.

Detective Sergeant Trevor Beatson from Kaitaia police said the tourists had been hailed by two Maori men in a maroon coloured station wagon, who claimed they were lost.

“It was the worst possible thing that could have happened to them when they went out of their way to help these two men. Mr Beatson said.”

Police were this morning combing the area and the victims’ car for forensic evidence.

“They had come to New Zealand fully believing it was a safe place to holiday and now their holiday and impressions of our country have been shattered.

They were driving a maroon or dark red coloured station wagon similar to a Subaru legacy, which had fishing rods sticking out of a side window.

The two men were believed to be in their 20s, and were described as tall with strong physical builds. .

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Top schools will take over the management of troubled ones in the new Government’s education reforms, stunning those in the industry.

The Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) says such a “fundamental” change to school governance is a surprise.

A revised Education Amendment Bill, tabled in Parliament last week by Education Minister Anne Tolley, says boards at the worst schools can be replaced by “a body corporate (including the board of another school) or a corporation sole”.

It gives legal protection against mistakes made by the limited statutory managers and commissioners appointed at problem schools.

The bill also gives power to the minister to set up a single board to govern two or more new schools.

“There is a small pool of persons experienced enough to be a limited statutory manager or commissioner,” she said.

Tolley said last night that the Government would introduce an expanded range of intervention in schools.

“There are times when successful boards of trustees from other schools can be usefully employed as limited statutory managers or commissioners to help struggling schools by sharing their best practice and experience.

The appointments would be for a limited time, so if another school’s board was appointed it would only be until a new board could be elected.”

Tolley said the Government expected the use of another school’s board of trustees at troubled schools “to be limited”.

“These changes are about ensuring that all students are getting the best start by attending a school that is well-governed,” Tolley said.

The minister was given power in the bill to consolidate the governance of two or more newly established schools in a single board.

“To do any tinkering of a fundamental nature in the absence of a review or a good look at what the flow-on effects could be is something that we would be very worried about,” she said. .

A school’s links with its community through the school board was “a fairly fundamental tenet of the model”.

A school’s links with its community through the school board was “a fairly fundamental tenet of the model”.

Three of those are in Canterbury and a further seven come from throughout the South Island.

A further 42 schools nationwide have limited statutory managers in place.

“You would have to make sure that you would be matched pretty well with another school with the same clientele and the same type of area,” she said.

Judy Hurdle, the acting principal of Swannanoa School, which has also previously had a commissioner, said she had reservations about the change.

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The New Zealand School Trustees Association could not be reached for comment on the changes