Indian Newslink October 1 2018 Digital Edition

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OCTOBER 1, 2018 12 Viewlink The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999) ISSUE 401 | OCTOBER 1, 2018 Direct flights to India remain on air The rhetoric never stops. Year after year, and conference after conference, our politicians and businesses keep harping on the need to establish direct airlink between New Zealand and India, as if that is the only obstacle to a Free Trade Agreement. Aviation, Tourism and Technology were the theme of the well-organised Summit of the India New Zealand Business Council on Friday, September 28, 2018 at Pullman Hotel in Auckland. A sizeable contingent of impressive speakers representing a cross-section of the industries from India and New Zealand were at the Conference offering valuable thoughts and statistics on the emerging trends in civil aviation across the world. Airlines not committed So far so good. But governments and conference speakers and organisers saying that a direct link is a must, fall short of two things: Reality and airline operators. Both betray expectations, for, despite an Open Air policy, neither Air New Zealand nor any of the Indo-Pak relations at another stalemate Hopes of relations between India and Pakistan reaching a turning point to move towards conciliation rather than confrontation have yet again died with the cancellation of a proposed meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The meeting, proposed to be held on the side-lines of United Nations General Assembly in New York last week was called off, after India showed its ire over the killing of three Jammu and Kashmir policemen and the release of Stamps commemorating Burhan Wani. New Delhi said that these developments showed the ‘true face of (the new Pakistani Prime Minister) Imran Khan.” Dialogues important It is often said that two parties at loggerheads must have increasing avenues for dialogues at various levels; because it is through talks that tension can be reduced, creating an environment to get down to serious business. Notwithstanding the common ancestry and embittered political relations that have made India and Pakistan Indian airline operators has expressed an interest in serving the route. An Asia New Zealand Foundation Report published in 2016 said that India has always been more than a single non-stop flight away, unlike destinations within ASEAN and North Asia. “Now, however, the technology exists to make non-stop flights to and from India possible. Both Air India and Air New Zealand have Boeing 787 aircraft in their fleets that could manage the 16-hour flight time, but they look unlikely to chance their arms on this in the immediate future,” the Report said. Air New Zealand regards the yield on the sector as insufficient to justify non-stop flights, which require a very heavy fuel load and thus a potentially smaller payload. Air India, which is now a Star Alliance member, crucially has the right to fly directly to Auckland from New Delhi as well as from any other Indian city it wishes. The nearest it has come so far, though, is Australia. strange bedfellows, long and arduous years of belligerence have led to constant failure of talks, angry confrontations and periods of estrangement. The two countries have fought several wars since independence and continued low-key conflicts during times of peace. As a writer mentioned, reels of news space on both sides have been devoted to the desperation at the Line of Control. And the pain of the average Kashmiri is nothing short of human misery. Estranged neighbours From politics to culture and cricket to business, India and Pakistan loom large in each other’s psyche as estranged brothers, both of whom would like to love but end up antagonising the other. Will there ever be lasting peace? Can the two nuclear capable neighbours learn to live in peace and husband their considerable resources for mutual benefit? Can the people across the two borders linger hopes of reuniting families, exchange goods and services and foster goodwill and understanding? There are no easy answers to these questions Indian Newslink is published by Indian Newslink Limited from its offices located at Level 1, Number 166, Harris Road, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013 and printed at Horton Media Limited, Auckland. All material appearing here and on our web editions are the copyright of Indian Newslink and reproduction in full or part in any medium is prohibited. Indian Newslink and its management and staff do not accept any responsibility for the claims made in advertisements. Managing Director & Publisher: Jacob Mannothra Editor & General Manager: Venkat Raman; Marketing & Sales Manager: Ronny Kumaran; Production Manager: Mahes Perera; Financial Controller: Uma Venkatram CA; Phone: (09) 5336377 Email: info@indiannewslink.co.nz Websites: www.indiannewslink.co.nz; www.inliba.com; www.inlisa.com Is the government characteristic of two-headed llama? Tim Murphy The Government held an evangelical gathering on Sunday, September 16) to explain what it is and what it hopes to do. It wasn’t exactly clear why a relatively new administration holding up relatively well in the opinion polls needed to explain itself, but explain it did. It wasn’t on a particularly auspicious day, being just 11 months since its formation rather than the usual, celebratory one-year mark. It was an invite only affair, in a university lecture theatre darkened to permit viewing of a skite-video of the first, well, 11 months and featuring a scrolling, too-fast-toread list of the achievements of this Labour-led Government. Or the Labour-New Zealand First Coalition. Or the Labour-New Zealand First Coalition with support on confidence and supply from the Green Party. Script-reading politics New Zealand First got to speak first, with the old-school leader Winston Peters doing old-school podium and script reading politics. Then Labour’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stepped out to a podium-less stage, adorned only with a remote in her hand and a smart Persian rug to measure her steps left and right as she gave what immediately became labelled a political Ted Talk. Reading - peering - from screens high up in the lecture theatre, Ardern announced the Government’s path forward. Thirty years forward. Virtuous and nebulous As with all 30-year plans it was virtuous and nebulous. Everything to agree with, nothing to oppose. And it was un-detailed and unspecific and unformed and unknown. Imagine if Peters had done a 30-year-plan 30 years ago when: he was in the National Party, happy to be the Member for Tauranga, yet to be sacked and stood down from various ministries - and so far from being an international statesman he couldn’t recall whether he’d met the former US President Ronald Reagan or not. The atmosphere in the room was warm, but a furnace away from the sort of heat Ardern produced a year ago on the election campaign trail. She stayed resolutely to the screens’ script and raised a few muted laughs at moments of self-deprecation. At the final line: ”We are going to keep doing this” -aflatline mutation of the zeitgeist “Let’s Do This” of 2017 - there was an obligatory standing ovation. First up was Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. Unusual political event What was this unusual political event? Ardern declared it a historic moment. Self-declared history seldom is. Asking herself to sum up this agenda, she said: “We want to be the country that we are already pretty proud of.” Which is not quite Sir Robert Muldoon’s “leave the country no worse than I found it” but hardly a searing political ambition. Winston Peters, Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw front the media at the launch of the Government’s 30-Year Plan (Photo by Tim Murphy). But this was the three parties of the Government of New Zealand trying to cut through the political ‘chat’ and, in their earnest hopes, get their story out there. It comes after weeks of the low-level bushfires that governments encounter and weeks of New Zealand First doing what it does - contrarian, stand-apart, look-at-meism. Ardern’s speech featured themes and priorities. There were three themes: the economy, wellbeing, and leadership. Themes and Priorities Each of the themes had priorities. For example for the economy, the first was to grow and share prosperity, the second was to support the regions, the third was transitioning to a green carbon neutral country, and the fourth was broadening the ‘measure of success’. (Unusually, that fourth one was third in the A to D listing in the documentation produced with the event’s media pack). In any case, there were four for wellbeing and four more for leadership. National probably could have signed up to all of them - other than a commitment to warm, dry homes and the indulgence of expanding Peters’ Super Gold Card for superannuitants. Abstract targets To achieve these abstract targets the Government has split its cabinet committees to have responsibility for each theme - or priority. It wasn’t clear. There is to be much on these themes and priorities on the Government’s website - and Ardern pledged voters would be able to mark the administration against its “lofty goals” over time. So, three themes, 12 priorities and one big message - we (the three of us) care and the other guys didn’t. Ardern presented well, as is her way. The question and answer panel with the PM, the Finance Minister Grant Robertson, NZ First minister Tracey Martin and, yes he got a cameo, Greens leader James Shaw, was too contrived to convince anyone outside the room. Questions were sourced from known attendees in advance, and from vetted offerings via Facebook. It was almost as if the event wasn’t for the media or the public, the voters, but for the three parties themselves. It was a kind-of-tripartite party conference. Labour, NZ First and Green members in the same room being sprinkled with coalition unity. Revealing politicians However contrived such events try to be, politicians in the raw can also be revealing. To a question on what she would consider a good political legacy, Ardern was humble and hopeful. Doctor Doolittle’s famous Pushmi Pullyu two-headed llama (Picture Courtesy: Pinterest “Our time in Parliament is briefer than we often think it is. Before we know it we are not there any more. Our names might not last in the history books, they might not matter. But the things we do might. Some of the things we are doing could... we are doing it by majority government and I hope that means we can form some consensus... on climate change... on child poverty. When we go it is still there. “If we can leave politics and the things that we do are still there then I think all of us can be satisfied with our time.” When facing media questions on stage immediately after the event, Ardern blanched when Shaw’s absence from the speaking roster was raised, saying that was a “bit of a dig.” Shaw made the right noises about Peters being deputy Prime Minister and there not being a whole lot of time. Peters, perhaps forgetting he was at a political show said: “Don’t simplify it and think that it’s all about upfront and showtime. It’s not. This is not dysfunction junction like the previous administration. We know what we’re doing, okay?” He did address the allegation that his Party was the tail wagging Labour’s dog. “You say that and you’re wrong. I’m not the tail. None of us is a tail. We don’t demean people with that sort of expression.” None of them is the tail. It is not a dog. Instead it is a living organism with two ends, each with a head.... a lot like Doctor Doolittle’s famous Pushmi Pullyu two-headed llama which struggled to decide which way to move and who would take the lead. A PushMe - PullYou coalition. About to take its “Next Steps.” Tim Murphy is Co-Editor and Co-Founder of Newsroom. He writes about politics, foreign affairs, Auckland, and Media. The above article, which appeared under the column News Room on September 17, 2018, has been (slightly edited and) reproduced by Indian Newslink under a Special Arrangement.
OCTOBER 1, 2018 Businesslink 13 New Zealand has a woman in Washington, finally Sam Sachdeva With the appointment of Rosemary Banks as our next Ambassador in Washington, another piece of New Zealand’s diplomatic jigsaw has fallen into place. This article outlines Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ preferences, and the implications for the top foreign affairs job. Through 77 years of diplomatic representation in DC, and nearly 20 Heads of Mission, the Government had not appointed a female ambassador to represent our interests in the United States of America. That’s now changed, with the news that (formerly) retired diplomat Rosemary Banks will replace Tim Groser on Embassy Row at the end of the year. Ground-breaking appointment The ground-breaking nature of the appointment is interesting in and of itself, but the choice also offers some hints about Winston Peters’ thinking on the Foreign Affairs front - and who may take up MFAT’s top job. Banks has held a number of diplomatic postings, but perhaps the most helpful was her stint Rosemary Banks, New Zealand’s new Ambassador to United States of America (Picture from Wikipedia) One of Winston Peters' first major diplomatic appointments offers some hints about how some other critical jobs may be filled. Photo: Lynn Grieveson. as New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2009 - a period which coincided with the last time Peters was Foreign Affairs Minister. Those familiar with Peters’ thinking suggest his preference is to work with diplomats he already knows and who know him. Choice no surprise Given his railings against the appointment of former politicians to diplomatic jobs, it is unsurprising that he has turned to Fly to the Indian Sub-Continent a career diplomat rather than an ex-MP to fill what is acritical role. Any diplomat trying to make sense of the United States under President Donald Trump is likely to struggle, and it is easy to have some sympathy for Groser even as abeneficiary of Peters’ socalled “brorocracy.” Groser’s failures and successes The former National Minister was put on the back foot early on with Trump’s “Muslim ban,” and Murray McCully volubly declaring his displeasure with MFAT officials (although not his former Cabinet colleague) over a failure to get clarity about its impact on New Zealanders. New Zealand’s inability to secure an exemption from US steel and aluminium tariffs was also seen by some as a failure, although Groser and his team deserve credit for New Zealanders gaining access to E-1 and E-2 business visas - a longstanding goal which others had failed to achieve. Less public but also concerning have been rumblings about the environment within the Washington Embassy and complaints about the “Tim and Caroline show” - the other half of the act being Groser’s former second-in-charge Caroline Beresford, reprimanded after telling US Democrats to “get your shit together or we will all die” on Twitter, and again when emails revealed she had badmouthed her Wellington bosses to US lobbyists. Banks, described by some who know her as sharp in both demeanour and intellect, may accordingly have seemed an appropriate choice to restore some discipline to the office. The race to MFAT’s top job News of her appointment puts paid to one school of thought - that the Washington job would serve as a ‘consolation prize’ to whoever missed out in the race to replace the outgoing Brook Barrington as MFAT Chief Executive. There are widely believed to be four people on the shortlist to replace Barrington. Within MFAT, there is Deputy Chief Executive Bede Corry, Deputy Secretary Bernadette Cavanagh and High Commissioner to Australia Chris Seed; externally, although crucially with some foreign affairs experience, is New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Director Rebecca Kitteridge. As was the case with Washington, there has never been a woman in MFAT’s top job, which could help Cavanagh and Kitteridge. However, it may be that the appointment of Banks lessens the pressure to make another historic appointment (irrelevant as that may seem). Another factor is Peters’ Pacific reset and the Government’s push for greater diplomacy and aid in the region. Of the four, Seed has the greatest Pacific experience, having served as High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and on an international peace monitoring team in the Solomon Islands. That is one of the reasons why many see him as the favourite to replace Barrington - and it could be seen as avote of confidence that Peters trusted him to make the case against Australia’s ‘corrosive’ deportation policies to a political committee in Canberra this week. Sam Sachdeva is Political Editor of Newsroom covering Foreign Affairs, Trade, Defence and Security Issues based in Wellington. The above article and picture which appeared in the Web Edition of Newsroom today (September 14, 2018) have been reproduced here under a Special Arrangement. 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