There has been much talk about Jacinda Ardern being appointed to an UN or other international role given her exemplary leadership.
The facts however show that Jacinda Ardern failed a simple test of good governance when she did nothing to address the recovery of money stolen from 1MDB held by or via New Zealand entities.
TO BE READ WITH
Monday, October 1, 2018
Dear Ms Ardern, how do you say "NZ links to money stolen from 1MDB " in Maori?
Ardern began her speech with a greeting in Māori after entering the General Assembly carrying an orator's comb, gifted to her by Ngati Rehia. It is worn by leaders at prominent events and is an acknowledgement of her mana.
Which is all well and good, but this not so little theft and New Zealand's part in it remains outstanding:
As previously reported on this blog, New Zealand's Shewan inquiry's own work into NZ foreign trust should have led to the 1MDB theft, the proceeds of which are being hidden in part, by the family of Larry Low Hock Peng using a NZ Foreign Trsut.The beneficiaries include his son Jho Low, who has been the subject of international media attention since at least early 2015,with regards his central role in the 1MDB affair.
Despite all that reporting and ongoing investigations in the US, UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong, the Shewan Inquiry declared that there was no direct evidence of illicit funds being hidden in New Zealand foreign trusts.
The Shewan Inquiry managed to come to that conclusion despite Jho Low's visits to New Zealand on his private jet and yacht.That these visits did not come to the attention of the New Zealand Department Of Premier & Cabinet's National Security & Intelligence Group is hard to believe, given the amount of data concerning these visits in even the public domain.
Observed at Dunedin airport, this Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, made an interesting addition to an otherwise routine domestic flight. The aircraft registration is N689WM and the date 8 August 2015.
Global 5000 N689WM, operated by Malaysia based Wynton Group/Jet Aviation Flight Services Inc, arrived at Dunedin late morning 03 August direct from Bali. It is understood the passengers then caught a chartered Airwork/Inflite Metroliner for the journey to Queenstown.
One of the world's most spectacular superyachts is lording it at Auckland's waterfront.
The 91.5m Equanimity accommodates up to 26 guests and comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect from a billionaire owner.
The boat has a helicopter landing deck and boasts its own 20m pool, gym, spa, turkish bath, beauty salon, elevator, movie theatre and "beach club". The boat's interior is also said to be decorated in gold.
It is believed to be owned by reclusive Malaysian billionaire Jho Low who has been using it to entertain famous friends at exotic locations around the world.
Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx are said to be fans of the superyacht. Gangnam Style singer Psy, socialite Paris Hilton and actress-model Kate Upton are other well-known faces who have attended lavish parties on board.
The vessel was built in 2013 and is manned by a crew of 26.
In the past few months Equanimity has visited Florida, Holland, South Korea, Greenland, Alaska and Japan.
A crew member from a neighbouring vessel said it was thought the superyacht was in Auckland for maintenance work.
Australian academic Professor Marcia Langdon has told the ABC that the Australian Constitution is a racist document, and has specifically targeted sections 25 and 51 (26) of the Australian Constitution for amendment .
These will require additional refenda in the future, for the Constitution can only be amended by referendum. Langdon was being interviewed on among other things the The Voice referendum. which has yet to voted on. The transcript below is auto-generated from the Youtube video above.
As reported in June 2022 Infrastructure Australia, then headed by Romilly Madew AO, decided that Sun Cable was investment ready, and could receive taxpayer funding, despite the fact that it did not at that time, as is the case now, have permission to import electricity into Singapore (see story below).
Sun Cable has since collapsed, and that event has motivated Brian Slattery, who has had experience laying underwater cables, to publish this article that summarises the issues that Madew seems to have ignored:
The problems are obvious, and well known.The promoters of the Bakun Dam and South China Sea cable for example had to deal with those problems more than 30 years ago.
If Madew was not aware of the problems, then it is not only her judgement but her expertise that is in question. Madew is now CEO of Engineers Australia.
Readers will be aware that even the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has insisted that is a done deal (see story below).
Following Albanese's false claims, Infrastructure Australia, a Commonwealth statutory body has endorsed the project so that it now qualfies for funding by Albanese's ALP Government.
After completing its own assessment of the economic impact of the project, Infrastructure Australia, which first added AAPowerLink to its Infrastructure Priority Initiative List in 2021, provided its endorsement, recommending the project for commonwealth investment.
PM Albanese's assertion suggests that his country's Sun Cable has been given preferential treatment in the ongoing EMA call for renewable energy proposals. If true, other bidders are being disadvantaged, and clarification is required
END
Transcript from PM Albanese's official website, containing his latest claims about Sun Cable.
NORTHERN TERRITORY CHIEF MINISTER: It's a unique opportunity to work with a Federal Labor Government that believes in climate change, believes we need to shift across to renewables. We have enormous opportunity here in the Northern Territory. I think COVID put us on the radar with the Howard Springs facility, but the rest of Australia is waking up. We have natural resources, we have solar, we have NASA and so it's an exciting time. So I look forward to working with the incoming Commonwealth Government that Sun Cable project is huge and every Australian should go and Google it after they watch the news tonight and see the investment in the Northern Territory and the fact that we will have a cable linking Australia to Singapore and this is an exciting opportunity for us to have our renewables going offshore, giving us economic opportunity. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll make this this point as well about the Sun Cable project. One, it is the largest by a long way. Overwhelmingly the largest solar project in the world on the planet, and that is very exciting for us. The other thing is I have had discussions with Mike Cannon-Brookes and others connected with Sun Cable about how we maximise Australian input there. So areas like the production of the cable itself, this is a manufacturing boom that we have potentially here in Australia. It's what, when I spoke about a feature made in Australia during the campaign, it's exactly that. We have, there isn't a solar panel in the world that doesn't have Australian IP involved. Whether it's ANU or UNSW, we need to maximise Australian input.
