INAUGURAL MV AGUSTA OWNER'S MEETING

A group of MV Agusta Enthusiasts have organised what will be the first NZ-wide MV Owners meeting. The meeting which is open to all MV owners and MV enthusiasts will be held on the weekend of the 13-15th of November 2009 at Taupo.

We have owners and their bikes coming from all over New Zealand and the weekend will include social events, group rides and track time at the Taupo track courtesy of the great team at MotoTT.

For further information, updates and contact details, please visit:
http://www.nzlocal.com/nzmv

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COPPINS VS THE RUMOURS

It was as early as the Lommel round of the Motocross MX1 World Championship back in August that the then rumors started flying through the pits about Josh Coppins future as a professional racer.

At first their were signs JC could well be on his way home down-under to compete in the New Zealand and Australian race seasons. Then the media went nuts over a possible sighting of JC arriving at a private Aprilia test track fully clothed in MX gear, jumping into a van then back out onto the track for a few laps, before hoping straight back into the same car he turned up in still in his MX gear and leaving. One final rumor clouded JC returning back to his old Honda stomping ground riding for CAS Honda in 2010 - with CAS Honda still looking to fill one position on the team, it could well be a possibility.

At this stage in his career he will no doubt be looking for the best contract that will benefit the Josh Coppin's brand. We have all heard how tight the economy is over in Europe and America, let alone in the South Pacific, which has left many international riders pondering 'do I take a pay cut or do I stand by my laurels and demand what possibly the industry seems incapable of producing at this point in time'.

Josh Coppins is pondering no more. His future in the world of professional Motocross for 2010 is cemented. Look out for Josh Coppins all-revealing column in the November issue of Kiwi Rider due in your letterbox on the 15th of October!

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Going into bat for Graham Capill

The media is reporting that former Christian Heritage leader and sex offender Graham Capill has been denied parole again because his victims - and the Parole Board - believed he would pose an undue risk to others in the community. He has four years and nine months to go to complete his sentence.

I have received a copy of the decision of the Parole Board (Update: it is here [PDF])

While I'm no fan of Capill, I have known for some time that he has been trying for some time now to get into a programme for sex offenders. He has not been able to do so, which was why he was denied parole each time. Yet, according to the decision of the Parole Board, he may not get the treatment until 2011 - in which case a parole hearing next year will be a pointless exercise and a fait accompli.

But what the media does not report is that there has been a bit of a disagreement about which sex offender programme Capill should be on. He wants to go on one- the STOP programme - a community-based programme, but his psychologists want him to go on the Kia Marama one, in prison. He is waiting to be treated on the latter programme. Yet Capill may not even get accepted onto that programme until 2011, because the 60-bed unit is always full, and he is down the waiting list behind those who have been behind bars for longer.

What that means that Capill has had no treatment at all, partly because of a scrap about treatment providers, partly because the two treatment providers have no available beds in their 60-bed units. Irrespective of what you think of criminal offending, after four years in prison, it that is not good enough. Prisoners should get treatment before reaching two-thirds of their sentence - otherwise why have parole after one-third for these people?

If the Government wants to put more people in prison, it should build more treatment units to treat them - otherwise prisoners will be denied parole because they have had no rehabilitation or treatment - only for many to be released without treatment at the end of their sentence, angry, and just as likely to reoffend.

update Since writing this post I have been advised that the reason Capill preferred the STOP programme to the Kia Marama one was because the former one aligned more to Christian principles. I pointed out that Capill is a sex offender, so his "Christian principles" probably don't count for much.

update2 The Press has a story this morning( Wednesday) covering some of the above points. It also says:

The Corrections Department said yesterday that Kia Marama was prioritised for prisoners near the end of their sentences.

"The programmes are designed to assist offenders live an offence-free life in the community," it said. "For this reason, they are best attended close to the point at which the offender will be released.

"We aim to schedule eligible offenders about one year prior to their parole date. For example, a prisoner on a nine-year sentence who needs to attend the Kia Marama programme will be at the end of his fifth year in prison.

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Student association membership

With reference to ACT's bill on student membership some students who are supporting voluntary student union membership (VSM ) are annoyed that they have to join a student association and have to pay more than $100 in student association fees for a group they object to be made to join - but will happily utilise their services such as reading student newspapers like Salient and Chaff.

I went to a debate about this last week run by the Victoria University Debating society. Two things were clear. Supporters of VSM are not actually supporters of VSM at all - they are actually opponents of compulsory membership of student associations (CSM). Furthermore the thing they most object to is the fee - which at Massey University is up to $172 depending on courses - with a recreation and building levy n top of that amount.

If CSM opponents are really serious about their right to join associations voluntary, they'd do well to frame it in matters other than the fee they have to pay - and explain how students will be able to freely join if they have to pay this fee up front out of their own pockets, rather than through a student loan initially paid for by the state. As they won't do that, they must be concerned about the fee. If they opt out of student membership they wont have to pay the fee.

All supporters of VSM should have sent applications to opt out of membership.As far as I know, none have tried to opt out. But they will cite mismanagement of student associations as an excuse not to pay the fee, which is of course a different argument to freedom of association.

I have a solution. Why not study at an institution that cuts the fee dramatically. Study extramurally at Massey. You only pay $40 to the student union. It's a pity that some of the VSMers are not as focused on some of discrepancies surrounding fees structures- for example, the student services levy is $104 at Massey this year, but next year Victoria students will be paying $510 - which, unlike student association membership under VSM, will always be able to be paid through a student loan.

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