Authenticity

Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, September 13th, 2014 - 34 comments
Categories: david cunliffe, john key, Media - Tags: , ,

For my sins I watched the Paul Henry analysis of the TV3 leaders debate.

It was unsurprising to see the pundits question Cunliffe’s authenticity and whether he really means what he says again.  It’s a meme repeated often enough that it is now ‘a thing’ with the public.  But I doubt anyone truly believes he doesn’t care about child poverty and our housing crisis – if he didn’t he could be making a lot more for a lot less stress as a Business Consultant as he used to – or be doing profitably in the National Party.

So why is it inauthentic to sound like he does?  My guess is that it’s because Cunliffe is – like most of our pundits – a wealthier than average, middle-class white male.  But he doesn’t act like them, he speaks Maori and he talks in an ‘evangelical’ way – so they assume that that is put on.

But Cunliffe doesn’t come from comfortable roots.  He comes from a family that was struggling to make ends meet, with a sick father.  A Reverend father that was full of proselytising zeal for God and Socialism.  One doesn’t need to look too far to see where Cunliffe would have got his manner from.

And it was interesting to see that the pundits hated him going on with his sermon on child poverty – but their panel of 100 undecided voters (who they surprisingly didn’t poll afterwards) saw that as by far the most positive moment of the night.

So his ‘evangelism’ connects – not with the hardened cynical pundits or those on the right – but no doubt with a lot more than 25% of voters.  It can be an asset, no matter what the pundits may think.

I thought Josie Pagani did well within her constraints.  Weirdly, post-Dirty Politics, they didn’t mention her affiliations – but then I guess she was there to ‘balance’ Paul Henry (inasmuch as a guest can balance a host!), and they didn’t want to mention his former National candidacy to balance mentioning hers.

Near the end Josie tried to analyse Key like they’d been analysing Cunliffe, but Paul Henry rapidly shut that down.  At the level of micro-analysis of the ‘fight’ that our pundits do, it always ends up being critical, so keeping from examining every breath for fault saves Key’s skin.  There was not the poring over each statement, and in doing so I think they missed analysing the biggest gaffe of the night.

Key claimed that only 11% of children in poverty were in working households rather than Cunliffe’s 40% – and continued to insist even when John Campbell pulled out the document showing the government’s own advice from the Ministry of Social Development said it was 2 in 5 children.  Now Cunliffe probably should have hit with a blow of:

You get to have your own opinions John, but you don’t get to have your own facts

– because without that, it wasn’t worth mentioning by Henry, Edwards or Garner.

Because that is how our analysis goes these days.  Josie tried a couple of times (and you could see she was working out how much she could get away with), but other than her 2 interventions we don’t get any analysis of the actual policy statements mentioned – in any of the punditry, Paul Henry Show or elsewhere.  Hell, we don’t even get any analysis of whether they’re telling the truth.  No, it’s entirely a Prize Fight, and it’s who landed the best rhetorical blow (and according to John Armstrong, it’s not even the balance of the fight, it’s only the best blow…).

So after being told how Dirty Politics distracted from policy, when we had the leaders talking policy, we had the pundits saying how that will have all gone over the heads of the viewers.  And being patronisingly surprised that their ‘ordinary people’ they’d rounded up were actually interested in that.  Before getting back to their Prize Fight commentary.

Of course now we’re back onto polls and Horse Races rather than the Prize Fight, but when will our pundits give us the actual analysis we need, rather than just game commentary?  I optimistically presume it’s because they aren’t given the resources to study to that depth (in which case the editors need to give that to them), and hope it’s not because they’re scared of being declared partisan because of their results (reality having a left-wing bias and all).

Because without that policy analysis our democracy is more poorly informed, and the worse for it.

34 comments on “Authenticity ”

  1. dv 1

    I am still stunned that there has been no comment about about the cost of the pretend tax cuts

    1.3 mill households x $1500 = 1.95 billion NOT 500m

    More attention that Cunilife got his nos wrong rather that Key – whose policy it is.

    • lprent 1.1

      That is probably because people rather expect that John Key will screw up on his own details?

      He has been notable for it in the past.

      But the post’s point is quite important. The rather stupid way that the commentators and TV jonolists manage to drop everything down to some kind of silly game really pisses me off. You get the impression that talking about policy would cause their own deficiencies in knowledge to be shown up.

      Superficial and shallow. Mind you that really does describe Paul Henry from what I have seen of him.

      However I rather suspect that voters aren’t nearly as shallow as the commertariat.

      • meconism 1.1.1

        I agree, the television media want a political version of X Factor, Idol or god forbid, The Block.

    • dv 1.2

      ‘That is probably because people rather expect that John Key will screw up on his own details?

      But by a factor of 4 times!!!

      AND i dont understand how Key can screw up these money details. He is a money man and very used to dealing with numbers.

  2. sockpuppet 2

    Is Cunliffe inauthentic?
    Yes

    Does Key get to have his own facts?
    No

    When will we get proper (ie not game) analysis from our pundits?
    Once in a blue moon

    • lprent 2.1

      I don’t think that cunliffe is inauthentic. I know quite a lot of people like him amongst the pretty affluent.

      They are a generation or two out of abject poverty. But unlike a klutz like key, they listened to their grandparents and parents and thought that it was in a large part pure luck that they got to where they are.

      My maternal grandfather had a gimpy leg and was pretty damn sick throughout the depression in the 1930 and 40s. Consequently the whole family scraped a bare living and they did really manage to make any headway until they got a state house and penicillin. My paternal grandparents were better off, but not that much better off.

      My parents were a lot more affluent. But as kids, the making of us was that my mother was determined to get the education that she’d missed because she was poor and female. The university degree she got after taking night classes caused all of us kids (including most of our cousins) to get education higher than the school cert my parents left school with.

      But we remember where we came from and how damn lucky we were. So does David Cunliffe. We aren’t interested in pulling the ladder of opportunities that were provided by our society up behind us.

      John Key of course is a bit more selfishly self-centered.

    • Tom Gould 2.2

      Sadly, because I think he is a good man who genuinely cares about his country, Cunliffe is indeed inauthentic. Tracy Watkins posed the blunt question a few months back, way before the Herald launched the Donghua Liu smear campaign, and the truth is that the question resonated with people. There is something intangible about him that grates with people.

      Some will recall the analysis of the famous Kennedy versus Nixon campaign debate in 1960, which found that those who listened on the radio gave it to Nixon, whereas those who watched it on TV gave it to Kennedy. That was about style over substance. And so it is with Key versus Cunliffe. It’s not about personal looks. It’s just that Cunliffe just hasn’t got “it” and much as the political elite of the left might hate the fact, Key does.

      Anyone who has seen Key work a crowd, like the gallery media pack has many times, for example, know it.

      • Lanthanide 2.2.1

        Except “it” doesn’t actually help the country unless “it” is used for good, not evil.

      • meconism 2.2.2

        Bullshit, Nixon lost the TV debate because everybody could finally see he was a deeply corrupt, venal arsehole. It had nothing to do with Kennedy, that is all PR spin and the argument you continue to espouse tells me that it worked. HST describes the shock of realisation of what a hideous creature Nixon really was.

        • Tom Gould 2.2.2.1

          Not so. Nixon very nearly won in 1960. He did win in 1968 and again in 1972. I accept it is difficult for some people to see past the prejudice.

  3. karol 3

    I agree with you, Bunji, on the way the MSM journalists and commentators dominantly focus on The Game.

    That does not serve democracy at all.

    I am also frustrated that they put so much focus on Cunliffe’s (alleged) inauthenticity, while failing to provide a critique of John Key’s barrow boy salesman pitch. It is at least worthy of some consideration because of the exposure in Dirty Politics of The Nat-Lusk-Slater two-track strategy: smiley front man Key; covert dirty, disgusting, sleazy attack politics.

    John Key is not the front he tries to present.

    • Paul 3.1

      Read this brilliant article about the media’s role in manufacturing consent in NZ and share with your friends and family who believe the story about John Key.

      http://boonman.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/a-manufactured-consent/

    • Coffee Connoisseur 3.2

      cunliffe has no passion or lacks the ability to deliver passion when he talks. he seems very staged and yes inauthentic in my view, but I think it has more to do with his delivery than anything else. I don’t see him as being able to capture the imagination and the passion of the voting public.

      • karol 3.2.1

        Actually, I think the Reactor was run during the debate – latest version of the worm, – and most viewers responded very positively to Cunliffe, especially when he was talking on poverty.

  4. Ant 4

    People like to believe that because if Cunliffe doesn’t “really” care and is inauthentic they feel less like hypocrites for ignoring poverty.

    When faced with the actual choice to erase poverty, they question the motives of the person offering them that choice, so that they can defer making a decision and preserve the idealistic vision of themselves.

  5. Scott1 5

    Right from the start the media has labelled him a certain way and John Key another way and it is pretty hard change it.

  6. tc 6

    My hope is that this is a cescendo of media inadequacy and bias that a new govt will address and monitor via a complaints mechanism that dishes out hefty fines and bans. Nothing hurts those righteous over inflated egos quite like soapbox removal.

    its a great time to kick start a public broadcaster by handpicking talent from oz as tony and mal take theirs apart piece by piece. Mal just announced the end of community tv, no consultation or warning just dropped it in a speech as is their style.

  7. Cunliffe is OK, but the damage of a year long campaign to portray him negatively has been successful, and will probably decide the election. Even before the publication of Dirty Politics, it’s been obvious what has been going on and the extent of media collusion with it. An endless array of hit pieces orchestrated out of the PM’s office with the collusion of bloggers and the news media.

    Nevertheless, I’ll be ticking Labour for the first time ever this time.

    • Ant 7.1

      Yeah no one said dirty politics didn’t work.

      I’ve got a number of relatives who are staunch Labour, politically engaged, but their conduit of information is the NZ Herald and broadcast TV news and political programmes. All had considered Cunliffe in a negative light because that was what they were constantly fed. They reconsidered with Dirty Politics but it takes a certain level of engagement to even reflect upon your beliefs. A lot of voters will never get to that point.

  8. Rodel 8

    Inauthentic Never!
    At the risk of repeating myself, consider and disseminate these David Cunliffe facts.
    As a teenager his intellect was recognized by a scholarship to study the International Baccalaureate in Wales. He then went on to gain a BA with first class honours at Otago University.Then he worked as a diplomat for some seven years gaining a diploma in Social Sciences with distinction.

    As a Fulbright Scholar he attended Harvard University (John. F. Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School) gaining a Master of Public Administration.
    In his younger days he played rugby and while in Wales he helped build a sea rescue boat in which he with others patrolled the coast.

    He has worked various jobs: in a chip shop after school to help his family, later as a student planting bushes, and then in a shearing gang, and after graduating from Harvard he worked for 4-5 years as a business consultant with Boston Consulting group in Boston and Auckland.In 2008 he was conferred as an Honorary Fellow of New Zealand Computer Society for his significant contribution to the ICT sector.

    David Cunliffe has been an Associate minister of Finance, Minister of Immigration, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, and Minister of Health.
    I suggest that with Cunliffe’s range of experiences in occupations, qualifications and academic achievements,he is far more authentic than a Merrill Lynch money trader and as a family person and genuine New Zealander he is a lot more authentic.

    • ianmac 8.1

      Well said Rodel. The difference between Key and David are so profound but barely hinted at in the public forum. Must send your summary at least to a nephew who has been tainted by the smears against David.

  9. Jo 9

    No one doubts he cares, but he always seems to be trying to say what he thinks people want to hear, eg I don’t think he is sorry for being a man, but he thought it would sound good.

    Even when he should be relaxed he comes across as trying to impress, that or he is just like this all the time!!!!

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10491356/Key-and-Cunliffe-pop-quiz

  10. Blue 10

    I was totally disgusted that after an hour’s debate chock full of policy, that the panel afterwards weren’t even the slightest bit interested in it.

    They were all about trivial and superficial bullshit, and I had to laugh when the ordinary people they had collected to give opinions thought totally differently to them on pretty much everything.

    All the panel showed was that they are idiots in a media bubble who don’t have a clue what ordinary people think or want. Ordinary people don’t give a shit about The Game. They are interested in policy. They like to see a politician displaying passion and emotion.

    The media’s steady diet of opinion polls, over-hyped trivia and cynicism is probably responsible for their industry’s steady decline.

  11. saarbo 11

    Part of Nationals Attack Politics is to attack the strengths of an opponent. Ask DC’s constituents whether he is authentic. .. Authenticity is his strength hence why the Nats attack it.

  12. ghostwhowalksnz 12

    Ive just recollected that Paul Henry had a ‘speed reader’ on Hagers book the night it was launched.

    Didnt know the guy, but remember well his comments that it was ‘nothing new’ and wasnt worth reading.

    It was of course Charles Finny from Wellington PR outfit Saunders Unsworth. No context given that he is Beltway with a capital B, and as such is party to or aware of all the high jinks that Slater is up to.

    http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenryshow/dirty-politics-wont-take-down-the-government–charles-finney-2014081322

    • Draco T Bastard 12.1

      It was of course Charles Finny from Wellington PR outfit Saunders Unsworth.

      And is so biased in favour of Key his opinion isn’t worth anything even if he had read the book which I doubt.

  13. Sable 13

    Its a shame the Australian media didn’t keep Henry because I for one sure don’t want him here in NZ.

  14. infused 14

    Because we’ve seen for the last, god knows how many years in parliament. If you have been watching him then, and seeing him now, you’d say the same thing.

    It’s a facade.

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    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
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    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
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    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
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    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
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    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
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    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
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    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
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    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
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    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
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    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
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    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
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    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
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    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
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    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
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    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
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    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
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    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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