1. If MP's got paid $50,000 a year minus tax or did it for free I would believe they do their job for the country, but they don't so it's champagne, parties and stealing from the taxpayer while the country sits in a recession with increasing poverty, unemployment, poor or stagnant economic growth, and public debt (govt and private). I feel sorry for the people that voted National in believing they would help the economy (not that Labour did much better).

2. It is not an anti-smacking bill, especially considering virtually no one has been charged for it. Repealing it is a waste of time and money, much as passing it was in the first place. It is not some scary Transylvania nightmare legislation out to drink your blood, just a few word changes. Paranoia and obsession with wasting money rather than reality runs the 'anti-smacking bill' debate.

3. The UN is a failed organization, the department she is now in was riddled with corruption so she can't do much worse than the corrupt official before her.