Nats order ACC to cut claimants

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, June 25th, 2012 - 54 comments
Categories: ACC, privatisation - Tags:

There is a sociopathic policy of the leadership at ACC, which sees staff financially incentivised to push long-term claimants off ACC leading to many of them going on the benefit rather than getting rehabilitation. Now, we have proof that this policy came right from the top. National ministers set arbitrary targets for the number of long-term claimants to be booted.

The financial incentives worked even better than expected with the ‘quotas’ being exceeded by hundreds.

It’s clear that this is all part of National’s privatisation agenda. General manager of claims management Denise Cosgrove described this policy to a conference of Australian private insurance providers in the language of a private insurer:

“an absolute strategy … and we’re not reporting it as a public measure yet”. Its focus was now on high-cost claims because the “actuarial release”

“Actuarial release” means that, in the fully-funded model where an insurer has to have reserves adequate to cover the future costs of all its existing claims, the insurer doesn’t have to have such large reserves (it can ‘release’ them) because its got the claimants off its books.

That’s obviously attractive in a privatisation agenda because, by getting rid of the people who have the most serious and long-term injuries that will have the largest future costs, ACC can reduce the amount of reserves it needs to hold, which means it can achieve full-funding at an earlier.

Once fully-funded, ACC is in the same financial situation as a private insurer is required to be and, so, ready for privatisation.

If, heaven forbid, National gets a third term, ACC will be one of the last big government operations that has the potential to become a large source of private profit. You can bet the Nats would sell it – and that’s why they’re denying coverage to New Zealanders with costly injuries.

54 comments on “Nats order ACC to cut claimants ”

  1. Carol 1

    And while the article says this:

    ACC had not yet signed an agreement with current ACC Minister Judith Collins, which would give her an opportunity to show her stated intent to “drive a culture change in ACC to restore public trust and confidence” in it.

    I’m not convinced. When I’ve seen/heard Collins talk about culture change in ACC, she immediately follows that by saying people are better off working.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10814678

    Cabinet minister Judith Collins has admitted that ACC staff get higher pay for kicking long-term claimants off the ACC’s books but defends the strategy as “a good thing” because it gets the clients back to work.
    […]
    She said measures that helped ACC encourage people back into work where appropriate were “a good thing”.

    “I don’t see any problem with that, but where I do see a problem is if anyone’s being forced off ACC when they’re simply not able to work, and I think that’s a different thing all together,” Ms Collins said.

    Her comments don’t reassure me.

    The message I got from ACC when I first came out of hospital, was couched in language that sounded like it was in my interests, but, actually just seemed like a pressure to be working as soon as.

    In phone interview and a letter from ACC, there was a line, apropos of nothing, saying that people are better (in health & well-being) when they are working. My immediate thought was, “Yeah right! It’s not about what’s best for me, it’s all about them money.” This was when I had just come out of hospital after a serious shock to my body, and was feeling weak, somewhat disabled, and not up to work at all.

    And the general attitude amongst the managers (as well as the rank-and-file) where I work is that ACC makes people go back to work before they are ready.

    Rabbiting on about it being better for people to be working just sounds like more of the same , callous, NAct dis-entitlement culture, and won’t do much to restore confidence in ACC.

    • Lanthanide 1.1

      “saying that people are better (in health & well-being) when they are working”

      My brother-in-law, who is a psychologist and deals with ACC claims (including people faking psychological problems they don’t have) says that this is true. People who are working do generally have better health and well-being than those who aren’t.

      The problem is that ACC are applying this as a blanket rule without due consideration of the individual involved or their specific needs.

      • Carol 1.1.1

        Undoubtedly people generally are better off if they are working, but not if they are not up to doing the job.

        I’ve never been a shirker, have rarely taken sick leave, but when I came out of hospital I was just not up to it. It was not helpful to my well-being to have the pressure about getting back to work as soon as…. When I was ready, I asked to go back to work, but, even, then, I think my manager thought it was too soon.

        And it must be far worse for people with far more debilitating injuries than mine and/or who work in quite physical jobs.

        • Lanthanide 1.1.1.1

          As usual, these sorts of things come down to what is measurable. It’s very easy to work out much someone staying out of work is costing ACC. It is very difficult (if not impossible) to work out how much it ‘costs’ someone to return to work prematurely, not only because those costs can’t be measured in monetary amounts: stress, health of the person, the impact of their employment on their employer, etc.

          So our terribly wise culture simply measures the things it can measure easily and tends to down-play or ignore the other factors.

          • Puddleglum 1.1.1.1.1

            There’s a lot in that point, Lanthanide.

            Despite what its more radical proponents might claim, quantification is not a very good way of grasping reality – quite the opposite. It is primarily a means of reducing your relationship to the measured object to attributes that relate not to a comprehensive account of reality but to your own goals in relation to the object.

            If I measure a piece of wood I am, in effect, reducing the piece of wood (in all its multifaceted properties) to ‘length’ and, therefore, to the uses to which something of that length might be put (similarly with ‘hardness’, flexibility or anything else I might care to measure). 

            In the same way, if I measure some attribute of a person that measurement process says much more about my purposes in relation to the person than it does about the person. 

            By (my) definition, quantification and measurement have their uses but, too often, they are used as a cover for claiming ‘disinterest’ and objectivity when the reality is that the process of measurement is highly ‘interested’. 

      • Vicky32 1.1.2

        People who are working do generally have better health and well-being than those who aren’t.

        No kidding! I know that, any unemployed person knows that – that’s why I have applied for (to judge by my ‘job seekers diary’, more than 1000 jobs since 2009. But are the jobs there? Are they heck as like!
        Unlike Carol, I haven’t got any injury or disability – but I can’t find a job!
        (Sadly, I’ve just learned today that my younger sister probably has Freidreich’s Ataxia (ask Dr Google!) and she’s going to be in for a world of hurt, as ACC/WINZ try to prove that she’s only pretending to not be able to walk, and make her go back to bar work (and as her daughter has just got a caring-for benefit as her carer, they’ll try to make R., job seek.. My sister is only just 53… 🙁 )

        • Lanthanide 1.1.2.1

          Faking generally applies to people who claim to have suffered an accident or injury, or who may have suffered from one in the past but are faking the extent of their rehabilitation. Or people faking psychological disorders that can be proven to be fake with the appropriate testing.

          A genetic disease is pretty easy to prove: just do a DNA analysis.

  2. If ACC is doing it’s job properly a key aim should be to get claimants off their books. Especially long term claimants.

    Incentives for staff to do this shouldn’t be a problem it’s being done with the best intent (and rehabilitation). Of course there are valid questions being asked if ACC are doing a reasonable and fair job.

    There will always be ecxeptions and there will always be some people unhappy with the treatment ACC gives them, so it’s a matter of overally effectiveness and fairness rather than focussing on individual cases.

    You can bet the Nats would sell it – that’s why they’re denying coverage to New Zealanders with costly injuries.

    Is that just an opinion, or is it based on any facts? I didn’t think politicians were usually in any way involved in clinical decisions.

    • Petey you are in troll mode.

      The claimants were already assessed and their entitlement had to be justified.

      Then the Government decided that this was not good enough and that  1,150 of these people who had already been assessed as eligible and had to be culled.  And then we had this appalling abuse of process outlined by Bronwyn Pullar whereby tame “independent” assessors in cohorts with ACC officers culled people off the list.

      Now we have Petey the brave with his head firmly placed in the sand and his eyes sealed shut suggesting there are no facts justifying what is being claimed.

      Take the red pill Petey.  You will not be the same.

    • Lanthanide 2.2

      Broadly I agree with you, it is likely there are/were people who genuinely should have been removed from the ACC system.

      My brother-in-law says this is called “malingering”, where people purposefully obstruct rehabilitation because it’s easier to sit at home ‘injured’ being paid 80% of your former salary than it is to go out and get a new job that may not be what you’re used to doing and in most cases won’t pay nearly as well.

      I have concerns that it appears the minister / heads of ACC simply came up with a goal in a top-down approach, rather than taking a bottom-up approach that actually identified specific cases that needed to be dealt to.

      • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.2.1

        “Needed to be dealt to”

        Yes, because the right to sue would never result in a huge payout which would allow anyone to live off the interest for life without the government telling them how to live it. No, wait…

        • Lanthanide 2.2.1.1

          For some individuals, it might. But I believe that the ACC system is better for most than the alternative you are suggesting.

          • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.2.1.1.1

            I believe the ACC system as originally designed was better, but that it is slowly being gutted, that slowly the requirement to treat people is being replaced by the language of bene bashing. People with long-term rehabilitation requirements are the new bludgers, apparently.

        • higherstandard 2.2.1.2

          Well of course it would, but it would also result in a very large proportion of those currently receiving ACC to receive nothing.

          The ACC system as originally deigned was very good what I see as one of the major problems is that ACC has grown out of all proportion to its creator intentions.

          • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.2.1.2.1

            It’s not like ACC has insufficient funds to meet its duties.

            Can you cite some examples?

            • higherstandard 2.2.1.2.1.1

              Examples of what ?

              • Kotahi Tane Huna

                Examples of the ACC growing out of all proportion to what was originally designed.

                The changes that were made in 1992, for example, had the effect of removing previous entitlements, so what has “grown out of all proportion”?

                • higherstandard

                  OK well for a start I’ll think you’ll find it was being looked at within the Woodhouse report which you quote as an employment related no faults insurance scheme.

                  If you’ve ever been down to a clinic on a saturday or Sunday you’ll find them overflowing with kids who’ve turned an ankle or the like – these are all captured under the medical bureaucracy we have to suffer as ACC claims and have over the years created a great industry for medical and governmental bureaucrats and allied health professionals.

                  • Kotahi Tane Huna

                    Riiight, so no actual figures to support your opinion then.

                    The personal anecdote you describe sounds like ACC doing precisely what it was intended to do – cover all injuries under a “no fault” compensation system, while promoting injury avoidance and prevention.

                    As you may know, I’m not fond of the notion that policy should be determined by unsupported anecdotes, especially when it comes to a system that is hated by right-whingers and admired by the rest of the world.

                    • higherstandard

                      Have look at a brief history of ACC here

                      http://www.acc.co.nz/about-acc/overview-of-acc/introduction-to-acc/ABA00003

                      As I stated it was designed primarily as a non-faults insurance scheme in relation to employment originally and has morphed into a catch all scheme which has seen some extreme growth in certain areas such as physiotherapy.

                      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10560082

                      It’s no secret that this has occurred – ACC is an excellent scheme but it has been abused over the years both by the users and providers.

                    • Kotahi Tane Huna

                      “…As I stated it was designed primarily as a non-faults insurance scheme in relation to employment originally…”

                      Yes, I know that’s what you believe, but the article you quote says nothing of the sort:

                      The report recommended a scheme that covered:

                      all injuries to earners whether occurring at work or not, funded by a flat-rate levy on employers for the cost of all injuries to their employees. A levy on the self-employed to pay for injuries occurring at work or outside of work was also proposed
                      all motor vehicle injuries, funded by a levy on owners of motor vehicles and drivers.

                      What part of “all injuries to earners whether occurring at work or not” are you having trouble with?

                      Insurance companies do not operate on a “no-fault” principle; your analogy fails.

                    • higherstandard

                      “If you’ve ever been down to a clinic on a saturday or Sunday you’ll find them overflowing with kids who’ve turned an ankle or the like – these are all captured under the medical bureaucracy we have to suffer as ACC claims and have over the years created a great industry for medical and governmental bureaucrats and allied health professionals.”

                      kids……… earners ……. see the difference ?

                      I note you have ignored the physio article as well which was an easily found example of wastage in the system.

                    • Kotahi Tane Huna

                      The second article is an example of the system being improved to eliminate wastage, hardly abnormal behaviour, but again, not evidence that wastage is a significant problem. I return you to the point already made; that ACC is well able to fund its own liabilities.

                      The “kids” are being paid 80% of their previous wages are they? Can you see the difference?

                    • Kotahi Tane Huna

                      Remember – you have claimed that ACC has “grown out of all proportions” – if you wanted to convince me you could try using the figures for it’s turn-over since the start of the scheme, for example. Has it “grown out of all proportion” as a percentage of GDP, say?

                      Or by comparison to other systems? The USA for example?

                      Of course it hasn’t. You’re just repeating fact-free dogma.

        • David C 2.2.1.3

          Who are you going to sue when you have wrecked your knee playing rugby?

          • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.2.1.3.1

            Give the man a prize!

            You’ve correctly identified one of the reasons ACC was established in the first place: so that all injuries can be covered rather than the lottery that existed previously.

            cf: The Woodhouse Report, 1967.

          • tracey 2.2.1.3.2

            it also catesrs for those who wouldnt be able to afford insurance premiums. So its about removing right to sue in return for wage direct deductions instead of premiums. Acc is not broken so stop perpetuating the idea it is. Its a social contract not a profit centred businness model and it works and pays its way

            • Vicky32 2.2.1.3.2.1

              Acc is not broken so stop perpetuating the idea it is. Its a social contract not a profit centred businness model and it works and pays its way

              Absolutely right, Tracey!

      • tracey 2.2.2

        i agree with your last sentence. Has anyone here actually tried to appeal an acc case? I have appealled dbh refusals under the oia and in one case its been on the ombudsmen desk for two years. Bureaucrats know how to slow people down in the system.

        I recall when ruth dyson decided all invalid beneficiaries had to be reviewed to see if they could work. My mother in law worried for months abot her cerebal palsy son being reclassified. Apparently some politicians know of a cure for cp.

    • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.3

      “I didn’t think politicians were usually in any way involved in clinical decisions.”

      Then you need to start thinking, Pete. Setting arbitrary targets for people to be taken off the books is political involvement in clinical decisions. Full stop.

      Not to mention that you seem to be ignoring ACC’s raison d’etre. The right to sue and all that…

      • Carol 2.3.1

        “I didn’t think politicians were usually in any way involved in clinical decisions.

        Hah! Unless you happen to be a political candidate and also a clinical assessor…. as mine was/is…. checked the name online… was a candidate in last year’s election (and not a NAct one). Although, I guess if this person had got elected they would have given up their ACC day job.

    • KJT 2.4

      So. WINZ and ACC getting much more arbitrary and unfair whenever National gets in is just my imagination. Not the experience of ALL the teenagers I know.

      • Treetop 2.4.1

        Under National’s first term after the 1990 election they abolished the 1992 & 1998 Acts for lump sum compensation and introduced work capacity assessments.

        Under Labour’s first term after the 1999 election lump sum compensation was reintroduced for injuries occurring after 1 April 2002 but not to the same extent as the 1972 & 1982 Acts.

        1992 – 2002 there are no lump sum payments, probably people only got the independence allowance.

        When it comes to Work and Income being the recepient of people being booted off ACC the shit is going to hit the fan. In July 2013 there will be new legislation covering sickness and invalid benefit review and the current legislation will be repealed or have amendments.

        I predict that there is going to be an increase of review for sickness and invalid benefit and that your GP may lose the right to do a medical for invalid benefit (Work and Income already use designated doctors and have the power to check all GP medicals for sickness and invalid benefit).

        The current review process for sickness and invalid benefit is:

        Social security Act 1964
        2 Section 53A. Right of appeal on medical grounds
        (b) any claim for an invalids benefit is declined on medical grounds or any such benefit is cancelled on medical grounds; or

        (ba) any claim for sickness benefit is declined on medical grounds or on grounds relating to a person’s capacity for work, or a person’s sickness benefit is cancelled on medical grounds relating to the person’s capacity to work.

        With both ACC and Work and Income it has got to the stage where GP’s medicals are not being honoured by ACC or work and Income. ACC and Work and Income have employed too many gravy train medical assessors to do a witch hunt on their clients.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.5

      Is that just an opinion, or is it based on any facts?

      It’s based on the fact that this government is selling off as many assets as possibly can ram through.

    • jack 2.6

      I don’t think you can be so nieve Pete. I still remember on the John Campbell show when he interviewed a gentleman with a paralysis problem as a result of an accident. His doctor said he could not work and he had worked all his life. If he wasn’t acting, I can sure as hell tell you he couldn’t work. But ACC sent him a letter to get him back to work. It’s pretty obvious something in the background was smelling pretty bad. Now we all know what it is…GREED.

    • Murray Olsen 2.7

      Pete George, go back to posting on WhaleSpew’s vile blog if you’re just here to support asset sales. Of course politicians are involved in clinical decisions, and in the most cowardly way, if they insist that the numbers have to be cut. Their demands make bad clinical decisions necessary in the first place.

  3. Glg 3

    Is this a full-time job for you Peter George? Defending the Nats I mean.

  4. just saying 4

    It’s worth mentioning that people with partners in work seldom qualify for WINZ support. Others dont qualify because have significant assets or some other form of income. The true numbers of injured people who are disentitled, but are unable to work is hidden by this statistic. The number of dumped long -term claimants who have been genuinely rehabilitated and are actually able to return to their previous occupation for thirty hours a week, or to something similar is perishingly small.

    The Greens asked a question in Parliament last week to the effect of ‘how many claimants had their injury diagnoses changed in the last year’? What was interesting was the answer – about 85,000 from memory (and I don’t have time now to go get the link, shouldn’t be writing this). Any hoo, I’m hoping the GP join the dots between this question, and ACC’s tactic of having injuries reassessed as a pre-existing condition, by hand-picked “company” doctors.

    Of course the pre-existing strategy also serves to prevent many thousands of legitimate claims being accepted in the first place. And the corporation knows full well that most people in this situation wouldn’t even consider challenging the decision by legal processes.

    That profit Collins and the Nats crow about, the financial miracle that ‘turned the corporation around’ has been extracted from the injured in their hours of need.

  5. BillODrees 5

    Noisy scandals, Pullar, Privacy, who said what when, etc and blah blah are distractions.  The ACC became under attach when Nick Smith appointed the new Board after National won the 2008 election.

    http://www.acc.co.nz/about-acc/overview-of-acc/key-people/ABA00006

    The ACC is a Treasure! A Taonga. Some idiots from National are dicking around with it.  The Nats want to sell it or wreck it. Labour should be very very carful not to undermine the unique value proposition of a properly funded ACC.  Other countries are copying the historic Labour model.  Hague and the Greens have no maturity of policy development in this space. Andrew Little needs to very clear on what Labour policy is in this area. 

  6. The Plan 6

    Who needs alien conspiracy theories when you Tories actually conspiring against us.

  7. Carol 7

    Ah, what was that about pushing long term ACC onto WINZ?

    *sigh* And,yet again, the government is targeting bennies – this time those on unemployment benefit.
    So, like the policy to cut the number of long term ACC claimants, Key & Bennett are aiming to push the long term unemployed off benefits. Nevertheless, the main aim isn’t to provide more jobs that are suitable and pay a living wage, just pull the life-support system out from under those who can’t get jobs, for whatever reason. The focus is on getting people “looking for work”.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7167235/Govt-targets-unemployed

    The goal of reducing the number of working age people receiving a benefit for more than 12 months by 30 per cent, would see the number of jobseekers drop from 78,000 to 55,000 by 2017.

    Currently 12 per cent of New Zealand’s working age population is on a main benefit and more than 230,000 children live in benefit-dependent homes.

    The annual cost of working age benefit payments is more than $8 billion.

    They also want to reduce assaults on children and reduce crime rates, and to reduce costs of businesses dealing with government.

    And crime and dysfunctional behaviour has nothing to do with poverty (either due to unemployment or low wages), and being excluded from the economy when people who need them are refused benefits?

    And these provisions have nothing to do with making employers more responsible and safe in their practices, while providing a living wage.

    • Treetop 7.1

      This is why NZ Superannuation has to be addressed NOW so that the unemployed have a reasonable chance of getting a job.

      I know that the NZ Super is not enough to live on for some people, so they need to be allowed to earn a capped amount.

    • Vicky32 7.2

      The focus is on getting people “looking for work”.

      Because Murray and Noelene Everyman assume that we are not already ‘looking for work’. I am reminded of a letter to the Herald a few weeks ago, from some man in Remmers, banging on about raising the age of Super… who said something weird (in terms of what he had been saying) to the effect that “What will we do about beneficiaries, and their claims to want to retire earlier, as they’ve never worked a day in their lives!”
      I wished unemployment on him, with extreme prejudice – but to judge by what he said and his address, I’d also have to wish for his house to fall down and for his investments to all go pear-shaped! I wish my wishes had effect! 😀

      • tracey 7.2.1

        there is a smug self righteousness about work by some who cannot place themselves for a moment in someone elses shoes. of course it never occurs to them that most beneficiaries have paid taxes from the time they did work.

  8. tracey 8

    Interesting that the govts goal is to reduce the number on benefits by 30% not to create 25,000 jobs. A subtle difference to some but a significant difference imo.

    Herald the return of “aspirational”. Its been gone for a few years but it looks like its back. Translation tell the public a whole lot of things they want to hear to sound like you are cracking down when you know you have no actual plan to bring it about… And focus on the old chestnuts so full of misinformation, welfare and crime. Sigh.

  9. xtasy 9

    Having just an hour ago listened to the news on National Radio, some new “arbitrary targets” have just been announced by the government. One of these is TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES BY 30 PER CENT!

    I did not hear whether there was a time frame mentioned, but that is apparently, besides some other new “arbitrary targets” now what NatACT have set themselves as a new GOAL (hopefully an OWN GOAL)!

  10. Phil 10

    For those of you arguing about the “origins” of ACC;
    “Blood on the Coal” by Hazel Armstrong.
    As one of the many thousands who rode to Wellington to protest the ACC hikes on motorcycle regos a few years back, I have to remind you of our slogan, “Who’s Next?”.
    Many of those thousands became politically aware during the ACC motorcycle protests, and Blood on the Coal was a fine introduction to the bigger issues.
    But then, we were just a bunch of loud mouth bikers eh?

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    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    12 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    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
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 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
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    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
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    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’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    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...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    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

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours 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
    7 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
    9 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
    10 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
    23 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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
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