2024 in review

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, December 31st, 2024 - 25 comments
Categories: casey costello, chris hipkins, Christopher Luxon, climate change, david seymour, health and safety, karen chhour, Maori Issues, maori party, nicola willis, politicans, science, Shane Jones, Shane Reti, simeon brown, uncategorized - Tags:

It is that time of year when during the brief hiatus of civilisation known as the holidays we get the time to reflect on what has happened over the past 12 months.

Just over a year ago National and its allies had assumed power and were engaged in a blitzkrieg of change. Essentially they wanted to stop or wind back things that Labour had achieved and which were really important. Fair Pay Agreements, a myriad of measures to deal with climate change and anything supportive of Te Ao Maori were quickly dumped.

Then this year they started work in earnest.

To be frank I did not think they would be this bad. I thought they would try and emulate John Key’s reign. Go easy on the counter culture stuff, respect diversity and race relations, and present a somewhat liberal facade to cover the core business of enriching their sponsors.

But they have been nothing like that.

Instead it has been more like the 1990 National Government. They have attacked unions and the poor, given tax cuts to their mates and laid waste to much that is good in New Zealand.

If you think early 1990s National mixed with Keystone Cops you would be close to the mark.

And the quality of this Government is really, really poor. I can’t think of a worse cabinet in recent times, perhaps back to the 1970s and early 1980s when Muldoon was at his zenith.

The rot starts from the top. It was evident on Luxon’s first day as National leader that he was entitled. After all hiring a black limo to drive him from his apartment across the road to Parliament’s forecourt shows a peculiar world view. The distance was 200 metres.  One wonders why he did not walk.

Our Prime Minister who used to run an airline, albeit badly, is obsessed with self help management books and he obviously reads a lot of them.

He has this ability to come out with complete clangers, like he is entitled to taxpayer contributions to live in a mortgage free apartment when there was a perfectly acceptable state owned alternative.

Or his description of the trade delegation that accompanied Chris Hipkins on a previous trade delegation as c listers and tag alongs even though the people that he referred to include representatives from Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Zespri and Silver Fern Farms.

He oversaw changes to the bright line test with retrospective effect which allowed him to then sell two of his properties and make tax free capital gains.

He also claimed that he was wealthy and sorted. So no need for a retrospective law change then.

In perhaps his most honest description of himself he said that he had spent his whole career faking it until he had made it.

Perhaps his biggest failure as leader has been to allow David Seymour to proceed with Act’s racist dishonest Treaty Principles Bill even though he has confirmed National will kill it at the second reading.

By his decision he has allowed the country to be subject to an utter circus for an extended period of time. A wiser leader who understood New Zealand history would realise the depth of opposition the bill would cause. They would not have agreed to its being part of the coalition agreement.

His Government has overseen atrocity after atrocity.

The frankly corrupt fast track legislation has made its way through Parliament. I still struggle to understand how the link between political donations and inclusion on the list of projects has not led to even greater condemnation.

And the reintroduction of off shore oil and gas drilling was smashed through quickly with limited ability for the public to respond.

The Government’s approach to climate change has been appalling. Luxon is quick to parrot its policies of 10,000 Electric Vehicle charging points by 2030 and Electrify New Zealand. Neither of these policies will achieve much. There were many Labour policies ditched unceremoniously which were working. And Simeon Brown’s obsession with roads, more roads and yet more roads will make things worse.

To really top off their indifference to the subject their latest Emissions Reduction Plan relied heavily on leveraging the Waste Minimisation Fund to enable resource recovery systems and infrastructure to process organic waste and to improve organic waste management and landfill gas capture to increase landfill gas recovery rates.

So what does it sneak through? Cuts to the funding of schemes that directly affect the country’s ability to achieve these goals.

The quality of Ministerial talent is exceedingly poor.

Nicola Willis, whose primary qualification is a degree in English Literature, has shown no fiscal understanding as well as a complete lack of compassion. Her interference in the Cook Straight ferry replacement process has cost the country up to a billion dollars. As pointed out by Mountain Tui Willis has purported to cancel a contract where we could procure a next generation, size appropriate, and full functionality Mercedes for a Toyota price and is now trying to buy a basic, no-frills Toyota Corolla for the price of a Mercedes.

National’s anti rail prejudices are showing. And dare I say this but I appreciate Winston Peters standing up to them on this issue.

And you get the strong feeling that there are at least two cabinet ministers who should be sacked in the near future and who would have been if they were National Party Cabinet ministers.

This is a toss up between Casey Costello and Karen Chhour.

Costello because never in the history of New Zealand has one Minister done so much to advance the interests of Philip Morris while at the same time making health worse.

Winding back the country’s smoke free reforms while at the same time as insulting senior Public Servants by doing her own research takes a great deal of nerve. And getting Cabinet to set aside $216 million for a tax cut for a multi national corporation peddling health damaging products without any empirical justification at a time where Dunedin Hospital could really use the money should be a sackable offence.

Chhour because of her insistence that she knows what is right and then throws tantrums when others point out she has no idea.

And just think of the carnage she has caused. Insisting on the repeal of section 7AA even when the rationale does not exist in reality. Or the reintroduction of Boot camps, although these were boot camps in name only and were nothing more than the existing supervision with residence sentence with some uniforms thrown in for PR purposes.

As I said before her long term campaign against section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act is completely, completely misguided. Contrary to her and her party’s assertion this section does not require Māori kids to be taken away from well intentioned Pakeha couples. It requires Oranga Tamariki to engage properly with Iwi Authorities and to have a proper plan for dealing with Māori kids in trouble. Given that most kids in care are Māori and that historical approaches have not worked and that Iwi Authorities have been doing outstanding work the Minister’s stance is retrograde.

Perhaps her most egregious and most damaging action was to attack community organisations for having reserves and then using this as a pretext to cut their funding. Community organisations need reserves so that when out of control ministers cut their funding they can adjust and handle redundancy processes civilly. And these organisations perform really important work. The attacks feel like a pretext with the Government planning to reduce spending in the sector by $100 million a year.

The most deceptive politician of the year is a hotly contested award with many potential wheels.

Anything that Shane Jones has to be taken with a grain of salt and I get an urge to fact check most Ministerial statements.

There were two standouts, Simeon Brown who raided the road maintenance fund of the National Land Transport Fund to create a new fund dedicated to fixing potholes which the old fund did as well. And Shane Reti, who with the assistance of Lester Levy did an outstanding job of cooking Health’s books to give the impression that there was a funding crisis.

The measures included Cabinet holding back a $529 million pay equity sum for health workers and Reti and Levy attempting to book this year’s anticipated redundancy costs into last year’s accounts.

Even the Auditor General balked at this.

And Reti’s office failed to release briefings to the opposition in a timely fashion so that he could be effectively questioned. That is tricky.

This has all the signs of a manufactured crisis. The goal no doubt is the further privatisation of health.

For the opposition Labour held their nerve. Hipkins performed reasonably well although his opponent was of such poor quality you would think he should have shone. Verrall, Edmonds and McAnaulty have performed strongly in their respective areas.

Some Labour MPs are still in the reflective state. There are many, many campaigns that can and should be started and continued. Now is the time to be noisy and boisterous.

This may be controversial but for me the stand out performance in Politics this year was that of Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke during the first reading of Act’s Treary Principles Bill.

Here is the video.

Her performance was perfect, spirited and memorable. And the bill deserved this response which was culturally appropriate and very symbolic. Maori are not going to go quietly into the night on this issue.

Next year will be another big year. If you have not done so already please make a submission against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill. You can guarantee that the Atlas aligned groups on the right are pushing this for all they are worth.

And get ready for an early election. Peters’ reign as Deputy Prime Minister ends part way through the term and his inclination to behave himself will lessen. Already the Ferries Replacement issue looks like it will cause intense pressure on the Government holding together.

And have a good break and recharge your batteries. Next year could be really interesting.

25 comments on “2024 in review ”

  1. Tony Veitch 1
    31 December 2024 at 11:48 am

    Oh, c'mon Micky, be fair – the CoC have done a lot of good!

    Let me see, they've . . . well, they've . . . ah yes, they banned greyhound racing!

    There, it's not all bad!

    Reply
  2. Darien Fenton 2
    31 December 2024 at 12:19 pm

    Fair summary. But you and I know Micky, that being a parliamentarian takes more than a spectacular haka on the floor of the house and my admiration and cheering on of Hana-Rawhiti. I watched backbench Labour MPs in particular and some Greens grind their way through the Committee Stages of the Fast Track Bill. Hours and hours and hours under urgency, taking call after call and then on some other bills also rushed through. There's more coming up. You are right. Get the submissions in on the Treaty Principles Bill, but there are some others there as well that deserve our urgent attention, Lurking there is the consultation on the Regulatory Standards Bill, along with Brooke van Velden's let's have another go at workers bill. And submissions on Karen Chhour’s effort to classify youth offenders close on 9th January, Ir will be a very busy month. Happy New Year.

    Reply
  3. Jenny 3
    31 December 2024 at 12:20 pm

    ‘
    "This may be controversial but for me the stand out performance in Politics this year was that of Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke during the first reading of Act’s Treary Principles Bill." mickysavage

    Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke's bold reaction to the first reading of the Bill in parliament, did not occur in a vacuum.
    The huge Hikoi mobilised against the Bill provided the backdrop.

    It has been my experience, that political activism allied with parliamentary activism can achieve real change.

    Support for Te Pāti Māori has surged in the latest One News Verian poll

    6:33 pm on 9 December 2024

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/536141/support-for-te-pati-maori-has-surged-in-the-latest-one-news-verian-poll

    There is a saying in the union movement, 'Members that strike Left, vote Left'

    This dictum can be extended to, 'Those who protest Left vote Left'

    Labour and Greens need to take notice.

    All Politics is pressure

    Would National have agreed to drop their support for Act's Treaty Principles Bill if it had not been for the huge outpouring of public opposition on the streets?

    Would Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke have had the confidence to make their bold and unconventional protest on the floor of parliament without the overwhelming majority of Maori and many Pakeha behind them?

    The same sort of political pressure will be needed to be mobilised to oppose the use of the newly enacted Fast track legislation to make it unworkable.

    Labour and the Greens need to call on their members and supporters to protest any attempt by the government or private corporations to ram through ecologically or environmentally damaging projects over the public's objections. This political activism needs to be tied to parliamentary activism. Against a background of opposition activism, MPs get up in parliament to vow to repeal and retroactively cancel any projects started without proper consultation that don't consider environmental and climate harms, or harms to local communities and Iwi.

    "There are many, many campaigns that can and should be started and continued. Now is the time to be noisy and boisterous." mickysavage

    Couldn't agree more.

    This is what democracy looks like

    Reply
  4. Mike the Lefty 4
    31 December 2024 at 2:03 pm

    I think the CoC are really only just getting warmed up.

    The following are what I think they will do, or try to do:

    1. Abolish penal rates for workers working on public holidays.

    2. Increase GST.

    3. Reduce or possibly even abolish subsidies for doctors' visits.

    4. Abolish the minimum four weeks annual leave.

    5. Hospital downgrades and closures.

    6. Privatisation of Kiwibank.

    And probably a whole lot more that I haven't even thought of.

    All at the behest of Seymour and with a complicit and detached Chris Luxon seemingly uninterested in the societal damage that is occurring.

    Reply
  5. lprent 5
    1 January 2025 at 12:37 am

    It is great that 2024 has gone. It was a shit year… both personally and for our society.

    2025.. I am not so sure it will be much better for our society. National have deepened and lengthened a recession.

    It appears to be trying to quell the profital export sectors outside of land based industries – by making it appear that they know fuckall about building industries that don't involve land. At the same time that export profits from commodity exports like pastoral farming and logging look like they aren't going to increase to breakeven any time in the next decade.

    At the same time we have a demographic crisis really hitting its stride.

    Stagnation in the economy, shrinking tax base, and depressed economy. What could possibly go long..

    Reply
    • Incognito 5.1
      1 January 2025 at 10:22 am

      It is great that 2024 has gone. It was a shit year… both personally and for our society.

      QFT

      2024 was a quasi-1984 for NZ, which will become clearer when looking back. Ironically, some have been looking forward to this and actively been paving the way, removing obstacles and fixing potholes along the way. They are now significantly closer to unlocking the ‘fabulous potential’ of this country for their own benefit. What could possibly go Right …

      Reply
  6. Descendant Of Smith 6
    1 January 2025 at 6:53 am

    And what have Labour learned from this:

    Do they yet believe in an 8 hour day, 40 hour working week once again?
    Do they intend to implement the highlight of their government but the biggest failure in implementation, the WEAG report?
    Do they even comprehend the possibility that simply winding back tax cuts such as PAYE, stamp duties and death duties are still the simplest solution to reversing years of cuts for the wealthy (tried and true and well practised by other OECD countries rather than coming up with convoluted tax methods – though I personally am in favour of some sort of turnover tax which would help mitigate the advances of robotics and AI who of course do not pay tax.
    Do they understand that complex solutions such as KIWI build should just be cut down to we are going to increase the public housing stock and land?
    Do they understand that sometimes universal solutions are better eg family benefit versus the complex plethora of family assistance packages at present?
    Will they ever, ever do anything for families without children on one income?

    Reply
    • weka 6.1
      1 January 2025 at 9:39 am

      no?

      Sometimes I just despair. Both at Labour, and at the number of people that will vote for them despite your list.

      Reply
    • SPC 6.2
      1 January 2025 at 3:50 pm

      KiwiBuild was premised on build and sell to build more, cycle on cycle. Partnering with the private sector as per affordable quality build. Ultimately this is was only possible on Kainga Ora land, so it became associated with higher density rebuild on existing state housing sites.

      Kainga Ora was set up for growth, building up income related rent stock over time.

      National has ended both approaches. Its alternative is not without some merit – building on iwi land (especially good for retirement housing for those who had been renting where they worked) and financing rebuilds on land (under higher density rules) of existing social housing providers.

      However its plans to sell down Kainga Ora land holdings should be resisted strongly (as sale of state assets in land without enough state housing), maybe with a 'threat" to borrow to buy land to replace that sold.

      If this is a one term government, Labour should continue with Nationals additions, as well as resume its Kainga Ora/KiwiBuild programme.

      It should also talk with NZF over their concerns over lack of aged care housing – over 65 housing – small build villages (one for the more able bodied and one for those older and more infirm alongside each other) as well as the on-site in care.

      PS Kainga Ora also needs emergency housing capacity and also a buy up of homes suitable for transition into disability/aged infirmity residency.

      Reply
    • SPC 6.3
      1 January 2025 at 4:14 pm

      24/36 OECD nations have an estate tax/inheritance tax (we had ours till 1993). We had gift duty to 2013.

      Both should be restored. Stamp duty on houses over $2m (Oz has 5% at his level).

      Instead of a CGT, we should reintroduce the bright-line test up to 10 years and apply a wealth tax (Labour and Greens and TPM can talk about a common policy) and account payments made under it as advances on a future estate tax. This way we get a tax on wealth now, rather than waiting for boomers to die.

      Other tax changes.

      33% on large corporations (major banks) as per the progressive tax system the USA once used (pre Trump) and their subsidiaries.

      1% surcharge on rental property landlord mortgages (exemption for new builds).

      Ending NZSF contributions and end taxation on NZSF (at the moment the absurd circumstance of collecting the same amount as being paid in).

      Reply
    • SPC 6.4
      1 January 2025 at 4:52 pm

      Income Support

      Expanding ASCC to include the period of wages support while workers are sick and in treatment (cancer treatment etc – for up to one year) and long term for sickness caused in the workplace).

      IRD pays Unemployment Insurance at the MW wage rate for up to 6 months to workers who lose their (permanent FT) jobs (and this includes those with working partners).

      Job Seeker Benefit is payable to working partners.*

      Disability Payment allowed to someone with a working partner.

      SPS

      Making relationships easier.

      SPS is payable for those with both non resident partners (up to 6 months) later resident working partners (up to 6 months).

      {After a year, IS is the higher of the WFF tax credit rate or JSB rate}*

      As per WEAG, there is now the amount that can be earned via part-time work

      If you're a sole parent, you can earn up to $160 a week (before tax), before your benefit is affected. Once you earn over $160 a week (before tax): any income you get between $160 and $250 a week (before tax) will reduce your benefit by 30 cents for each $1 of income.

      But for this to work as an alternative to a benefit bump requires the jobs or government programmes in lieu of (paid to train and work internship).

      Reply
      • Descendant Of Smith 6.4.1
        1 January 2025 at 7:05 pm

        Sole parents have always been able to earn. There was previously an annual amount which helped enormously in seasonal areas esp as they could work a season (or near enough to) without their benefit being affected at all. I think it was close to $5,000 a year they could earn.

        Moving it to a weekly earning amount disadvantages them.

        Reply
      • weka 6.4.2
        2 January 2025 at 7:51 am

        If you're a sole parent, you can earn up to $160 a week (before tax), before your benefit is affected. Once you earn over $160 a week (before tax): any income you get between $160 and $250 a week (before tax) will reduce your benefit by 30 cents for each $1 of income.

        The WEAG quote out of context is a bit misleading*. That's the core benefit. The supplementary benefits have different rates eg TAS, the hardship grant, is 100% from the first dollar. Many long term beneficiaries rely on TAS because the core benefit and accommodation supplement aren't enough to live on. Once you are getting TAS, earning additional income becomes counter productive unless you can get a significant number of hours.

        *As a reminder, this is one of the reasons why we ask for links for quotes every single time. Please post one now.

        Reply
        • SPC 6.4.2.1
          2 January 2025 at 10:36 am

          I did not claim it was a WEAG quote, I was noting the rather significant increase in other income that could be earned because of policy change since that report (there was also an increase to the main benefit amount).

          Of course this is no guarantee of higher income via work thus my opine

          But for this to work as an alternative to a benefit bump requires the jobs or government programmes in lieu of (paid to train and work internship).

          Anyone highlighting this below and searching

          If you're a sole parent, you can earn up to $160 a week (before tax), before your benefit is affected. Once you earn over $160 a week (before tax): any income you get between $160 and $250 a week (before tax) will reduce your benefit by 30 cents for each $1 of income

          will go to AI Overview and then below to a link at Work and Income.

          https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/on-a-benefit/tell-us/income/deduction-tables/sole-parent-support.html

          PS Sole Parent Support is the main benefit referred to in my post.

          Reply
          • weka 6.4.2.1.1
            2 January 2025 at 4:12 pm

            this is why we ask people to supply links with all quotes. I mistakenly thought you were referencing WEAG, but instead the quote was from WINZ. This matters!

            Anyone highlighting this below and searching

            but people don't. People on phones might find it too much hassle, some people are just lazy, and others don't know how to (yes, that is still true on TS. I've lost track of the number of times there's been confusion because someone didn't paste the link they just copied something else from 😉

            Reply
    • Louis 6.5
      5 January 2025 at 9:18 pm

      "KIWI build should just be cut down to we are going to increase the public housing stock and land""

      Labour did build public housing and buy land for housing developments.

      Kiwibuild was not state housing.

      Labour built 26,479 homes but National has effectively shut down Labour's massive building program after Bill English's bogus review. Large scale state housing developments have been stopped. Bill English and the National Party is not a supporter of state housing, it always aims to get rid of it.

      https://x.com/LouieTheRed1/status/1872147603288424683

      "He seems to have a particular ideological aversion to the concept of state housing alongside a wish to get the near $19 billion of housing stock managed by Housing New Zealand off the Government's books."

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/john-armstrong-taxpayer-looks-the-loser-in-englishs-pet-reform/TDBACHNZ3SDYUYTOB4AX3TZHWE/?c_id=280&objectid=11347878

      Killing Kāinga Ora

      https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=164268

      National like to bang on about debt, but what they won’t talk about is the increase in assets Kāinga Ora built up under Labour.

      Reply
  8. thinker 8
    1 January 2025 at 5:38 pm

    I agree things are warming up, but don't necessarily agree with all of the ideas proposed.

    NATNZ is working hardest for the top 1 – 5%, but it needs to keep on-side with more people than that, to achieve re-election in 2026. In my opinion, it is doing things that appear to be beneficial for the top 50%, but the greatest benefit is for the top 1 – 5%. Like promoting the tax cuts, the weight of the promotion was on what a family would get, not the benefit to those further up the food chain. So, taking away people's holiday entitlement and a few other things might be a step too far on a cost-risk basis.

    I think there'll be more cuts to public servants – and the low-hanging fruit isn't there any more to be a buffer – because it needs money to devote to its pet projects and to make it look as if it can pull rabbits out of hats that Labour couldn't pull.

    I think the idea was to do all the bad stuff in the first half of the term, then things will be so much better they can get re-elected. That's what happened in 84 – 87. The country went through so much hardship in 84-87 that when people were told they'd gone through the bad times and the rewards were about to come, they believed it. They re-elected what they knew rather than what they didn't know, because after three years of really bad times, I think people deluded themselves to thinking that the supercharged economy was the outcome of what they'd put up with.

    I'm guessing the plan will be the same this time, but I'm not sure things will turn around in time. I think they'll be forced to talk up a flattish economy and try to make it sound better, and now voters are more savvy than they were in 1987. A lot of chickens from 2024 could also come home to roost, like with the ferries (no better deal than Labour achieved, but having to wait past the end of the current ferries' economic life), the health system (imploding), police (people feeling no safer). Not to mention the impacts of the Trump presidency that could shake people's confidence all over the world.

    In comparison, the global economy was pumping in August 1987, when elections were held, despite the crash a couple of months later.

    Reply
  9. tc 9
    2 January 2025 at 8:26 am

    "Then this year they started work in earnest…" and people started leaving in record numbers.

    Sad to say but I wished all our kids lived across the ditch now as the ones here have been hit hard by the austerity in a tanked economy. Some year !

    If we were below 40 we'd probably be gone to as the flogging of the economy will continue till morale improves.

    Reply
  10. Obtrectator 10
    2 January 2025 at 12:54 pm

    What one would like to see (though it's by no means certain to happen) is a kind of re-run of the intra-government disputes of 1989-90. With ACT taking the role of the Backbone Club (its spiritual forebear), Seymour as Prebble/Douglas, and the former airline boss as hapless plum-pudding PM trying to rein them in but eventually giving up in despair.

    Reply

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