ACT already planning to compensate property owners under the RSB
ACT’s Nicole McKee is obtaining advice on how to compensate bitcoin ATM owners1, under the Regulatory Standards Bill framework, as the government plans to ban crypto ATMs.
The Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime noted these ATMs are used by organised crime to launder money, including drug money. They are already illegal in the UK and Australia is cracking down on crypto ATMs as we speak.2
The NZ government wants to target the means criminals use to "convert cash to high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies," according to an announcement by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee.
This supports the assertion from legal and constitutional experts that ACT’s RSB will result in taxpayers compensating property owners. And how it will be adopted by this government.
Labour’s regulations spokesman Duncan Webb “I’m gobsmacked that in a cost-of-living crisis, they are considering compensating crypto traders. This is a prime example of the kind of clog the Regulatory Standards Bill would cause on good lawmaking. If every time we make law changes, we have to check if we should compensate someone, good government would be paralysed.”
McKee also proposed setting an upper limit of 5,000 NZ dollar ($3,000) for international cash transfers, which appears extremely constraining even for ordinary Kiwis.
As a former, and potentially current, gun lobbyist, McKee would also understand that removing dangerous firearms would also fall under the compensation aspect.
SPCA argues that abusive animal owners should not be compensated
SPCA presented at the Regulatory Standards Select Committee last week, outlining their concern that people whose animals are removed due to abuse or neglect should be financially compensated for “taking of property”.
I could not find any external media headlines on this despite its significance.
RNZ summarised it within a longer essay as ‘critics fearing the bill could override regulations and laws protecting animal rights’ within a longer article called “Where next for Regulatory Standards Bill?”
Animal Justice Auckland and NZ Animal Law Society also made substantive submissions making the same points as SPCA, but were not called to give an oral submission.
Do we care this little for animals now? I doubt it, but I’d wager most people aren’t aware of what is happening.
Why? It’s the sound of silence of media right now under a right wing government.
Luxon’s Freudian Slip Mirrors Reality
Luxon told Newstalk ZB yesterday that he and his government “love Fast-Track. It was a National-NZ First corruption that we put together.”
When Heather du Plessis-Allan pointed out what he just said, he blamed it on his jet lag and lack of sleep after his Hawaiian holiday.
Both agreed to put it down to a “Freudian slip”.
In psychoanalysis, a Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought.
Fast-Track is one of this government’s many apparent areas of corruption -
The government was warned it broke rules and benefited private companies (most of which are donors), and should never have been allowed to be put through in the first place according to NZ’s Parliamentary rules.
The Ministers persisted in making decisions on fast-track projects from donors.
Chris Bishop, Shane Jones and Simeon Brown approved projects that build houses on flood plains in South Auckland by National Party mega-donors, they’ve bypassed nearly 10 years of court rulings to allow destructive seabed mining onto our shores by Australian companies, and their approach lacks environmental protections or care.
Corruption was an understandable slip after his Hawaiian holiday last week.
Dear readers,
I’ve kept Mountain Tūī paywall free for many months now - but will look at a different model over the coming period.
Thank you for all your support and patronage.
As a once off, here is a special for pensioners, students or those who cannot afford my regular subscription- 35% off for life. That’s $65 a year / $5.42 a month. It expires on 21 July.
There is also a 25% lifetime offer for everyone else until then too.
For anyone who doesn’t want to pay through Substack, you can also pay at Ko-Fi and I will modify your subscription directly. This is my recommended option.
Thank you for powering what I do here at Mountain Tūī - your support allows me to spend the time here.
Ngā mihi nui,
Tūī
The ATM owners are not of course necessarily part of any criminal enterprise at all in this essay. However, the Ministerial Group found the infrastructure here is commonly used by criminals and organised crime. Should the government remove this, should we compensate it? What happens if it were criminals, such as animal abusers? Another example is if I set up a dangerous playground that will harm children, and the council removes it, am I entitled to compensation, and if so, is it a good idea to test the waters?
There are around 38,505 crypto ATMS installed worldwide, according to Coin ATM Radar, of which over 30,000 are in the U.S.
This Govt are hardly a shining example of a well oiled tight team though are they? As just one example on the one hand you've got builds fast tracked on flood plains and on the other you've got an incoherent and bumbling PM stating that they don't intend continuing to compensate home owners who loose property in a major weather event. Surely this sort of distorted thinking and either hypocrisy or, if I'm being kind, logical fallacy has to seep into the consciousness of the Govt supporters despite the appalling lack of MSM coverage? A born optimist here!
There is a BitCoin ATM in my local shopping center and I notice one in pretty much every inner-city convenience store. Yes, perhaps there's money laundering going on and that's undesirable. But I'm at least as worried about the fact that gambling (the company is literally called "coin flip" ) in crypto attracts desperate people and in many place in the world, notably South Korea, it's only aggravated the huge wealth inequality. I'd like to hear something from the Government on that issue also.