Latest news with #ChrisFinlayson
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
The bill that's left people dazed, confused and angry
David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii The Regulatory Standards Bill is in its fourth iteration. There have been three previous attempts - and three failures - in getting a bill that aims to improve law making over the line. But this time, the ACT party's baby is part of the coalition agreement, and David Seymour can see the finishing tape. The bill has passed its first reading and will shortly hear submissions, but everything about its path has been controversial, including the short timeframe to hear those submissions. The Detail talks to Newsroom political editor Laura Walters about what the bill aims to do, and why so many people hate it. Critics include former Attorney-General and Labour Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who really is an expert in writing laws, and who has reviewed a previous iteration of the bill when he was president of the Law Commission. He calls it "one of the oddest bills I've ever seen". When asked what the new law will actually do, Walters says: "We don't know." "I just don't know what the impact is going to be. I'm kind of constantly like... storm in a teacup? Or constitutional nightmare? It's kind of somewhere in the middle." Some commentators - including another former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson - have said the bill is unnecessary. Others say it will not have a big impact because, like the Bill of Rights, it can be ignored by Parliament when forming legislation. Seymour's own regulation ministry and the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee have advised that it is not needed. "Despite what people say, it is constitutionally important, this piece of legislation. People care deeply about this... this is going to impact our future and current laws," says Walters. "It is hard to unpick, it is hard to interpret. But it's worth having the debate over." Some of the sideshows around the bill have distracted from what it is about. They include a spat between Seymour and one of the country's top academics Dame Anne Salmond; Seymour's social media attacks on those who disagree with it; some "unparliamentary language" during Seymour's monologue at the Finance and Expenditure Committee; uproar over the mere 30 hours allocated to hearing submissions; and Seymour making comments that he later had to walk back about most of the submissions coming from bots. Walters prefers to refer to this bill as the "good law-making bill", which is what Seymour has billed it as. "It would essentially set up some foundational principles for what constitutes good law-making," she says. "All past and all future laws would essentially be tested against these principles. So we kind of refer to them as a set of core principles. They are quite complex but the shortened version of these principles are - the rule of law; liberties; taking of property; taxes, fees and levies; the role of courts; and good law making. "The idea, David Seymour says, is to ensure that all future laws are better; that legislation is of a good quality; that will ensure that poor laws aren't made, that we don't have issues with redundant or excessive legislation and regulation." But "when we're talking about the principles of good law making... it's really hard, because those principles are so contested. The idea is that this law should make for better law-making, but everyone has to agree that this law is the right mechanism for it and has those principles right in the first place. And it seems New Zealand just cannot agree on that." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
1News
6 days ago
- Business
- 1News
'Terrible idea': Finlayson weighs in on Ngāpuhi settlement proposal
Former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has called Shane Jones' proposal to force New Zealand's largest iwi Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement 'a terrible idea'. Jones confirmed yesterday that he was drafting a Members' Bill that would stop the Northland tribe from receiving multiple commercial redress packages with smaller groups. That's despite Ngāpuhi being made up of more than 100 individual hapū or subtribes. Ngāti Hine, a group affiliated to Ngāpuhi, has long challenged the idea of a single commercial settlement and would like to negotiate its own separate deal. Shane Jones (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Finlayson told 1News Ngāti Hine should be allowed to given how 'organised' and 'advanced' it was to enter negotiations. He said the Crown could adopt a similar settlement model to that Ngāti Kahungunu, the country's third largest iwi, which successfully negotiated multiple commercial deals. The official signing will be later today, former National minister Chris Finlayson saying the deal has been achieved in good time. (Source: Breakfast) That iwi's tribal territory stretches along the eastern coast of the North Island and was divided into seven 'natural groupings' according to geography and whakapapa. Each received their own commercial redress package. However, Finlayson said he did not agree with some suggestions that Ngāpuhi would receive the biggest settlement to date. He said Ngāpuhi did not experience 'raupatu' or 'land confiscation' to the same extent of other iwi like Waikato of Ngāi Tahu, who each settled for $170 million, ADVERTISEMENT He warned that if Ngāpuhi was to receive a quantum above that amount, it would dismantle the principle of 'relativity' among other settled iwi.
1News
24-06-2025
- Business
- 1News
Chris Finlayson weighs in on Ngāpuhi settlement proposal
Former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has called Shane Jones' proposal to force New Zealand's largest iwi Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement 'a terrible idea'. Jones confirmed yesterday that he was drafting a Members' Bill that would stop the Northland tribe from receiving multiple commercial redress packages with smaller groups. That's despite Ngāpuhi being made up of more than 100 individual hapū or subtribes. Ngāti Hine, a group affiliated to Ngāpuhi, has long challenged the idea of a single commercial settlement and would like to negotiate its own separate deal. Shane Jones (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Finlayson told 1News Ngāti Hine should be allowed to given how 'organised' and 'advanced' it was to enter negotiations. He said the Crown could adopt a similar settlement model to that Ngāti Kahungunu, the country's third largest iwi, which successfully negotiated multiple commercial deals. That iwi's tribal territory stretches along the eastern coast of the North Island and was divided into seven 'natural groupings' according to geography and whakapapa. Each received their own commercial redress package. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds including Iran's retaliation, Auckland Council's catering cost, and the new way to look deep into space. (Source: 1News) However, Finlayson said he did not agree with some suggestions that Ngāpuhi would receive the biggest settlement to date. He said Ngāpuhi did not experience 'raupatu' or 'land confiscation' to the same extent of other iwi like Waikato of Ngāi Tahu, who each settled for $170 million, ADVERTISEMENT He warned that if Ngāpuhi was to receive a quantum above that amount, it would dismantle the principle of 'relativity' among other settled iwi.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How did every passenger walk out of a fiery Delta plane crash in Toronto?
Investigators are attempting to determine how all 76 passengers and four crew members aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 4819 survived after their plane crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday. Despite the plane skidding down the runway at over 100 mph, flipping over and losing a wing, all 80 people onboard walked away with minimal injuries. ABC News spoke with aviation experts who pointed to three key elements that begin to explain how the passengers survived the crash: the plane's landing gear, its wing and its fuselage. The regional jet was a Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ-900. Experts described the 16-year-old narrow-body plane as a workhorse plane for flights between midsized cities. Delta Flight 4819, traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto, was operated by Endeavor Air. Chris Finlayson used to fly that route for Endeavor. "When you come into land and then you roll out, it's very easy to end up pulling the nose a little bit too high," Finlayson said, adding that angling the plane too high can cause "motion where you end up driving your main landing gear into the runway." Brian Erickson, one of the 76 passengers, described experiencing a particularly hard landing, something experts say could have caused the collapse of the CRJ-900's right landing gear. "When we hit down, it seemed like we hit pretty hard. And I thought, 'OK, this is a pretty rough landing, but I've had that before.' And then all of a sudden, the plane started listing and turning to the right," he said. John Nance, an ABC News aviation analyst who examined video of the landing, said that the angle of the landing placed stress on the right landing gear, potentially contributing to its collapse. "The impact on the right main gear has driven the gear past its limitations, and in the vernacular, it's driven the gear up through the wing," Nance said. MORE: Delta plane crash latest: 'Extreme conditions' at Toronto airport in days before crash After the right-side landing gear appeared to collapse, the plane's starboard wing began to scrape the runway and was ripped from the fuselage. Images taken after the crash clearly show the right wing cleanly snapped off the fuselage, while the right landing gear is ripped off the plane. Inside the cabin, passengers described feeling the heat emanating from a fire outside the fuselage as they skidded down the runway. "It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass," passenger John Nelson said. According to multiple aviation experts, the split-second loss of the wing – which holds half the jet's fuel – might have helped ensure the structural integrity of the cabin and the safety of passengers. "If you are actually experiencing such a hard impact that you know the plane is crashing, which would have been the case here, then you would want it to snap off, because the alternative is that your fuselage would have been structurally the weakest point, in which case it would have crunched and torsioned," explained Ella Atkins, a Virginia Tech aerospace professor. MORE: Dramatic video shows moment Delta plane flipped after landing in Toronto As the plane slowed to a stop, passengers found themselves hanging upside-down in the cabin. They were locked in place thanks to modern seats and belts that can withstand the force of the crash, experts said. "I was hanging by the seat belt, which are very sturdy because I'm not a little fella. And, you know, everybody was helping their neighbor," said Erickson. The final factor that saved the lives of DL4819's passengers was likely its well-trained crew and the fast response from airport firefighters, experts said. "When you have something that is so abnormal and so outside of what your psyche can kind of deal with, you go to your foundational knowledge," explained Finlayson. "And that's what that's what you do as an airline employee, you have a strong foundational knowledge, so that way when emergencies happen, you just go to your instinct, and your instincts are to get people out safely." Many passengers reported the intense smell of jet fuel in the cabin. However, by 2:21 p.m. – less than 10 minutes after the crash landing – every passenger and crew member safely exited the plane, escaping before the fuel reignited. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is beginning to uncover clues about the cause of the crash, though the investigation will likely take months to complete. How did every passenger walk out of a fiery Delta plane crash in Toronto? originally appeared on
