The proposal is for Horizons Regional Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the NZTA to fund the Capital Connection as part of the Wellington Metro rail service.

This makes complete sense since the Capital Connection is the only commuter rail service in New Zealand that is currently expected to run on a totally commercial model. The funding proposal simply brings the Capital Connection into line with every other commuter train in the country.

The problem is that while the two regional councils have indicated support for the proposal, the NZTA is holding out. Why? Because a Road of National Significance is being built near by.

Suddenly, the only criteria the NZTA will consider is whether or not the rail line will relieve congestion. Ignore the environmental benefits, ignore the social benefits it’s all about congestion and of course spending billions on roads that don’t stack up economically is much better than encouraging people to use the train.

If yet another regional rail service is lost this year, it will have been killed off by National’s significant obsession with roads.

I thought the Minister of Labour would get the hint that Labour knew more than she was telling when I asked her a question in the House last Wednesday. Then in my speech on Tau Henare’s strike ballot bill I outlined the stupidity of her government’s proposals in regard to pay reductions for partial strikes – and she was in the House listening.

So I was gobsmacked that when the papers were revealed in the Dompost, Kate Wilkinson suggested that I had made them up. Later that day, the government was forced to come clean and made the announcements I knew were coming.

The changes will systematically take apart our labour relations framework, part by part and clause by clause. Our employment law will still be called the Employment Relations Act, but the worst provisions of that most draconian of employment laws from the 1990’s, the Employment Contracts Act will replace much of it. They will do nothing to address the most volatile industrial relations environment we’ve seen in NZ in years, and will definitely do nothing to increase wages and provide decent work.

The government is couching their plans in the Crosby Textor language of “choice, balance, flexibility” and are described as “minor” by the PM John Key.

That’s rubbish. We’ve got a wages crisis in New Zealand and that’s because our employment relations system isn’t working to ensure fairness for working people. The government’s changes will make this worse.

Last week, when we were debating Tau Henare’s secret ballots for strikes bill (which has now passed and will soon become law), National Party MPs indulged themselves in an outburst of the “free at last” quote from Martin Luther King.

Well, that great man died in Memphis when he was attending a struggle for the right of public workers to have a union and to collectively bargain.

King declared : “Let it be known everywhere, that along with wages and all of the other securities that you are struggling for, you are also struggling for the right to organise and be recognised.” The key issues for the Memphis strikers were their demands that the City of Memphis grant collective bargaining rights and the collection of union fees.

I’m taking bets on how many National MPs stand up and quote Martin Luther King on collective bargaining and workers rights when these miserable changes come to the Parliament.

And let it be known everywhere : Labour will oppose these changes vigorously and determinedly.

I’m on the road at present but as soon as I get to a computer I will have a lot to say.

No matter what your background, your occupation, your age, your circumstances, this is a day when it’s good to pause and think about why mums are important. And to tell them.

This week, young mums have been in the spotlight. I believe that as a country we could do better to treat mothers of all ages and backgrounds with high respect. Nurturing the next generation, the teaching of values, the strength and stability of that primary bond. These are all things to be highly valued by our nation.

I worry that these values are being eroded.

On a personal note, at 10 to 7 this morning I received a text  which read Happy Mother’s Day. God Bless.

It took me a while to work out who it was from. He was a constituent who had contacted me in desperation last August after being made redundant from Hillside. He had debts, four kids, his electricity was about to be cut off and his terminally ill wife was dependent on a respirator. It was a terribly sad story and I did what I could to help him. He now has another job and things are back on track. His text today made me cry.

There’s another day when we value our dads. But today I wish all the mums a happy mother’s day. Especially my own mum. She’s certainly not perfect and sometimes drives me mad, but she’s always been there for me and has been a moral compass throughout my life. In recent years she’s become more of a friend.

And thoughts to those who have lost their mum.

Happy Mother’s Day.

GIMME A LOAN: The zero budget has brought big changes to the student loan scheme. Students will have to pay back their loans more quickly. While access to student allowances is tightened. Are these changes unfair to the youth of NZ? Are the students of tomorrow paying the prices for the students of yesterday who haven’t paid their loans? The money will be reinvested in tertiary education—so isn’t this a good thing?

PLAYING POSSUM: Playing possum, the NZ drinking game, which has some Dunedin students boozing until they fall out of trees has made international headlines. So, perhaps a good sign we’ve got a bit of an issue with the drink? Here are some proposals from the Alcohol Reform Bill—split purchase age, sales ban between 4am-7am, and parental permission for under-18s to drink at a party. Will these changes do the trick? Do they go far enough? Or are we over-reacting to a few stupid apples who ruin the cider for the rest of us?

Live pub politics from the Backbencher Pub: Wednesday, 9th of May from 9:05pm and on TVNZ7.

The Panel: Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty, Labour MP Shane Jones, New Zealand First MP Brendan Horan and National MP Mark Mitchell.

The Goodnight Kiwi was a animated short used to signal the end of the broadcast day on Television New Zealand channels, before they went 24hrs.I understand it aired from 1980/81 till October 19,1994.

It is a classic. The song is a instrumental arrangement of the traditional Māori song,”Hine e Hine” composed by Fannie Rose Howie (1868-1916) in 1905.

TVNZ7 will cease to be on 30 June due to a decision of the National Government.

There are nine more episodes of Back Benches left. Watch it tonight at 9pm.

On 30 June, unless the government changes its mind, or is forced to change its mind, TVNZ 7, our commercial free public broadcast TV Channel will be switched off.

Tell Craig Foss, the Minister of Broadcasting that it’s wrong. Send him an email craig.foss@parliament.govt.nz

Tell John Key john.key@parliament.govt.nz

Join the Save TVNZ7 facebook page. Sign their petition.

Write letters to your paper. Attend a public meeting in your town and city in the next few weeks. Save TVNZ 7 is setting up a series of public meetings to talk about why Public Service TV is so important to New Zealand. So far they have organised meetings in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin. They arelooking for people to help organise and publicise these meetings. They also want to setup meetings in other towns and cities around the country too. So if you’re able to help please email at savetvnz7@gmail.com

Today we learn that the government caved into another demand from Sir Peter Jackson and Warner Bros which involved bending immigration rules in their favour.

In 2010, Peter Jackson told Government Ministers that Warners were worried about our employment law, because the distinction between “contractors” and “employees” established five years earlier in the Bryson case required employers to treat him as an employee.

Bryson was not an actor, yet we changed the law because Warners said so and in doing so, removed rights for a whole category of workers.

Turns out, it was just one of their demands.

Official Information finally released, shows that the government was only too happy to fall into line with other concerns, such as the alleged visa “blockages” for overseas performers.

And hey presto : changes have been made. And they don’t only apply to actors – they apply to everyone working in the industry.

I seem to recall John Key saying this was about New Zealand jobs.

But secret deals in immigration processes like this completely undermine our immigration systems and are unfair to Kiwi workers.

The integrity of our immigration system stands or falls on transparency, but this latest revelation adds to a trend of giving privileges to the better off and a willingness to bend the rules when money is involved.

Update: You can view the OIA request here.