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It looks as if the domain treatyofwaitangi.co.nz was already gone when the government decided to set up this site, which is unfortunate because I'm sure that the holding page at that address will see quite a bit of traffic as many people struggle with the unfamiliar concept of a .govt.nz URL.

But what about the site itself?

Well I'm certainly not qualified to comment on the accuracy of the content but I'm sure I'll be spending a percentage of my spare time trying to learn more about this important document -- on the technical side however I can voice some opinion.

To be honest, it's pretty hard to fault this site. A quick check turned up no problems and it seems to work nicely with both IE and Firebird/Mozilla.

If I were going to be really picky I'd bitch about the designer's awful choice of colours for the left-hand menu (purple on brown on beige???).

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Also, when rendered by Mozilla/Firebird, the background colour on this text becomes irregular and looks very amateurish -- but hey, only geeks use anything other than IE so who cares, right?

Full marks for the page which explains how visually impaired users can make better use of the site -- although I wonder how they'll find this information if they can't read the front page?

Perhaps the first text on the home-page ought to be a link for the visually impaired?

They've possibly gone just a little over the top with their use of "Access Keys" though. Unfortunately they didn't seem to work for me -- but then again, I'm not using IE.

Another point worth addressing is the way that the feedback form allows you to click "Submit" without entering any data. If you do so, you're thanked for your comments and presumably someone gets a blank email.

But these are all trivial issues that hardly detract from the value the site represents to the public of the country.

Good work and congratulations to all concerned -- however I'm still having a lot of trouble working out why this site has such an horrific price-tag. A website that costs over a million dollars should not just be adequate and accurate, it should be astounding in every respect.

The Police State?
If you're a frequent international traveller then get ready to open up your wallet even wider.

Word is that, in the wake of the recently publicised attempt by some Israeli people who may or may not be spies (the PM won't say), a whole revamp of our passport system is now being contemplated.

Not only is it likely that this will include a more frequent renewal period (more $ for the government) but also a selection of biometric or other hi-tech elements to reduce the risk of these documents being illegally altered.

But what's the point I ask? After all, the government looks set to give the SIS the power to unilaterally revoke the passports NZers without any need to disclose the reason.

It would also appear that if you do get your passport revoked by the SIS, you'll also be quite likely to spend months, or even years, locked away in a maximum security prison without charge or access to timely justice.

Yep, it sure looks as if the terrorists have already won this war.

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