Centre for Inaccurate Studies

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, April 2nd, 2009 - 35 comments
Categories: welfare - Tags: ,

The CIS released a report [PDF link] today entitled Ending No. 8 Wire Welfare: Why New Zealand is Lagging Behind. Its author is Luke Malpass. Predictably, from the right-wing think tank, the paper is an ideologically driven argument for a more punitive welfare system. As is so often the case, it’s premised on the tired old assertion that New Zealand’s recent approach of supporting people from welfare to work hasn’t been effective. The paper claims:

New Zealand has in fact stuck itself out on a limb in order to be all carrot and no stick… [J]udging by the reduction of numbers on the [Unemployment Benefit] over the past decade, one could easily say that this approach has broadly worked… However, unemployment numbers only tell part of the story. [The sharp decrease in those on the main UB (dole)] has, however, been counterbalanced by an increase in those on the [Invalid’s Benefit] and [Sickness Benefit].

Ah, no it hasn’t Luke. Take a look at that red line – total number of people on benefits. It has fallen almost precipitously over the last few years.

If this is the kind of policy “analysis” the CIS is doing it’s no wonder they struggle to get traction for their extreme right wing ideas.

35 comments on “Centre for Inaccurate Studies ”

  1. MikeE 1

    Right Wing think tank my ass, when I went over there, one of the key speakers was the president of the Australian Labour Party (and leading Aboriginal Activist) Warren Mundine.

    I’d hardly call him a bastion of the vast right wing conspiracy.

    Oh, and his answer for aborigional poverty, private property rights.

    • Pascal's bookie 1.1

      Mike, your last line kind of ruins the act.

      • MikeE 1.1.1

        You suggesting that Aboriginal people should not be allowed to own the property they live on?

        The property that they have historically occupied for centruries. The property where even the police stations are legally speaking, squatting on due to aboriginal title laws over there?

        That was what Warren was suggesting…

        Or would you prefer the status quo, where aboriginees are not able to own their traditional lands, and they are instead held in a sort of “trust” by their state. Which means they cannot build on them, or do anything with them, instead beign forced to live many families to one house, in a state of constant dependance on government.

        What warren wants is aboriginal independance. Hardly a “right wing” idea I’d think.

        • Pascal's bookie 1.1.1.1

          You suggesting that Aboriginal people should not be allowed to own the property they live on?

          No.

          Are you suggesting that if his answer was to tell the settler government to fuck right off and allow the aboriginal peoples to have a sovereign state of their own, with whatever system of property rights they decided they wanted, that the CIS would still have him around to speak?

          Because that’s more to the point of whether or not the CIS is rightwing.

          • MikeE 1.1.1.1.1

            Would you suggest that appropriate?

            Would yousuggest the same thing appropriate in NZ?

          • Pascal's bookie 1.1.1.1.2

            Do you?

            If I did do you think the CIS would give me an invite to speak?

  2. Stephen 2

    That is a nice graph. Have seen it here plenty of times, but is there an updated version coming out soon?

    • all_your_base 2.1

      Yeah, we’ll do an updated one at some stage soon. Wanted to get up a quick reply.

  3. Bill 3

    Began scanning through that report and, well there was just too much in the way of tosh crying out to be ripped to pieces.

    So, I’ll just say this. Jobs and work are two entirely different concepts and confounding the two is at best lazy but more likely an insidious example of society coming to accept a particular and grossly disingenuous perception of our actions.

    All human meaning and worth boiled, extracted, reduced and finally squashed into an economic concept.

    To which my only response is: See Home Economus? See my arse.

  4. Stephen 4

    Oh, and his answer for aborigional poverty, private property rights.

    Don’t you think that’s why CIS invited him? To espouse right wing ideas?

    • MikeE 4.1

      Is allowing Aboriginees to own their trible lands “right wing” now…

      Is it right wing to allow the same thing for Maori?

      • Quoth the Raven 4.1.1

        I agree with MikeE it’s not right wing. Right wing would giving vast sums of money to a small elite like here in New Zealand with our settlements.

  5. Bill 5

    Began scanning through that report and, well there was just too much in the way of tosh crying out to be ripped to pieces.

    So, I’ll just say this. Jobs and work are two entirely different concepts and confounding the two is at best lazy but more likely an insidious example of society coming to accept a particular and grossly disingenuous perception of our actions.

    All human meaning and worth boiled, extracted, reduced and finally squashed into an economic concept.

    To which my only response is: See Home Economus? See my arse.

    (First attempt to comment disappeared into the ether. Apologies if this comes up double)

  6. Pixie 6

    Yes, he’s right, unemployment numbers do only tell part of the story, as do all discrete and selectively noted numbers. The real story is in trends, and in this context, the trend is firmly downwards: the number of people on benefits has dropped. Simple.

  7. BLiP 7

    This is the same Luke Malpass who reckons :

    . . SNIP . . . As in all things, it is easier to lay the blame at someone (or something) else’s doorstep than to acknowledge personal failure. The promotion of learned helplessness by more people becoming more reliant on state-provided payments and services is at the root of people’s unwillingness or inability to make healthy choices, not capitalism and underhanded marketers selling hamburgers and chocolate bars. . . SNIP . . .

    The logic goes: ill health is all about choice and that’s why its important choice be removed and people forced into work – its for their own good, you see.

    There’s not much about the incoming depression when there will simply not be enough work to go around. I guess the unemployed and solo parents will be required to report to foreign-owned multinational corporation gulags for their daily, heaping, helping of nutritious work. Yum yum.

    Whole thing looks like the thin end of the wedge for privatising both health and social welfare. Dangerous nonsense that needs to be monitored closely. The SIS could do worse than putting this outfit on the watch list.

    • Draco T Bastard 7.1

      Wonder if Luke Malpass realises that that logic applies to the assertion that we need rich people as well. From my understanding capitalism requires dependence (read as poverty) and socialism (well, communism/anarchism) doesn’t.

  8. ak 8

    Sheesh. These geeks are almost beyond parody. At a time when the direct results of their core belief system are exploding in our faces and sending the entire world down the sewer, the CIStern uses its blood-money to flush out yet another beneficiary-bashing compilation of cherry-picked data and faeces-sprinkled neolib propaganda.

    Forget it boys. You can hire another legion of these “clever” Hitler-youthesque goons to churn out this crap till the cows come home, but your sorry portrait is currently smeared large and stinking on the world’s walls.

    Take a break: build some walls around your plastic mansions and leave it to the lefties to clean up your mess. Stick to what you know and enjoy. Ferraris and masturbation springs to mind.

  9. Stephen 9

    The SIS could do worse than putting this outfit on the watch list.

    That comes close to the kiwiblogger who called for Labour and the Greens to be arrested before they flee the country with all our money.

    • George Darroch 9.1

      But the Greens are watched by the SIS. That suggestion isn’t even parody.

  10. vidiot 10

    So with the exception of the unemployment benefit numbers, are any of the numbers on the other 3 benefits (DPB, Sickness, Invalids) down from what they were in 1990 ?

    And side note: Graph Title is Benefit Numbers 1999 – 2007, but the dataset in it is 1990 – 2007.

    The Dec 08 figure of 105,000 on the UB will add a spike to that chart, total beenfit numbers would be back up to mid-90’s levels.

    Also seems that late 90’s there was exceptional growth in both the invalids & sickness benefits – perhaps that’s a market we can target for future growth ?

    /snip “Figures from the Ministry of Social Development show the number of working age people on a main benefit rose six percent last year.

    The numbers receiving the Invalid’s Benefit rose 4.3 percent from 80,082 to 83,501 and the number on the Domestic Purposes Benefit jumped 2.2 percent and is now back over 100,000.”

  11. gobsmacked 11

    It brings to mind Voltaire’s line on the Holy Roman Empire.

    Not a centre. Not independent. Doesn’t study.

    • MikeE 11.1

      Obviously someone who hasn’t been there then, having been there, they are independent, their funding is kept at arms length from the topics, and are viewed favoribly by both the left and right in Australia. That said the left in NZ tends to despise them for some reason.

      And they do study, as evidenced by the research put out, and their massive library on the topics that they covered.

      Then again, what would I know, I’ve only visited the CIS a few years ago, in person, whereas you’re just posting on a blog. Obviously you are more informed on the issue.

      • Pascal's bookie 11.1.1

        Do they use peer review?

      • Ag 11.1.2

        Nonsense.

        It’s another silly right wing think tank because conservatives can’t compete in open, peer-reviewed debate, and instead of realizing they fail because they are wrong, they blame it on a left wing conspiracy.

  12. insider 12

    The way I read this, the focus on the fall in the total number of beneficiaries obscures some concerning up ward trends in some categories, so don’t get complacent.

    Seems a reasonable message to me as unemployment can be heavily influenced by global factors beyond a government’s control, whereas other beneficiary numbers may be positively influenced by govt policy, eg childcare support could reduce DPB payments as could enforcement of obligations on non custodial parents, training could help invalid payments.

  13. Stephen 13

    Talking to anyone in particular MikeE?

    That said the left in NZ tends to despise them for some reason.

    Probably something to do with it being stuffed full of classical liberals, as many interweb sources would imply.

  14. Stephen 14

    insider,

    Growing numbers of obese and elderly people would seem to be an important factor in rising numbers of the other categories. At a guess.

  15. tommy onions 15

    Anyone on the Left who views the CIS favourably is either a nincompoop or is not really on the Left.

    Members of the CIS and its little Kiwi think bucket are right wing ideologues who provide ‘intellectual’ justifications for the operation of unfettered capital. Unabashed by the dismal failure of their Hayekian creed they claim that the unparalleled mess that the ‘free market’ has got the world in was either because the market wasn’t free enough – OR – because the market was TOO FREE.

    I love the latter. Greedheads in the big banks bemoaning the lack of regulation -. ‘well you didn’t tell me I couldn’t create trillions of dollars worth of toxic debt!”:

    Further proof, as if it was needed, of the fact that you do not need intelligence to make money – in fact true intelligence, like integrity, may well be an impediment to making money.

    The CIS and all like it are the modern secular equivalent of the religious ideologues who conjured up and perpetuated the idea of the divine right of kings – to exploit and oppress.

  16. Jum 16

    Indeed it is an old chestnut – the numbers on to sickness nowhere near the numbers coming off the unemployment. All been said before. No doubt this is a new attack strategy on the vulnerable. Next step DPBs. Ho Hum.

    Now for how independent CIS really is:

    I was watching Breakfast and guess who popped up – Gerry Brownley, following neatly on from Jenni McManus (Independent Newspaper Editor) on the Financial report before Breakfast, both playing the same violin, Jenni McManus saying all our electricity ills started 9 years ago, Jerry Brownley that it was the fault of the previous Labour Government.

    That’s bad enough, cunningly setting up an orchestrated spin coup by one extreme right activist and a government minister.

    But in 2004, the CIS’s guest list of 25 gathered for breakfast and discussion on ‘The case for a flat tax’ and ‘MMP the right decision?’ at Diane Foreman’s home, included guest speaker Richard Epstein, NZ BR guest writer, Ruth Richardson, Roger Kerr, Rodney Hide, John Banks, Business Rotundtable Chair Rob McLeod, Jenny Gibbs, right-wing donor Michael Friedlander, National minister Don Brash and guess who – Jenni McManus. That meeting was all about getting Don Brash into Government as leader of the National Party and Prime Minister in 2005.

    Righties on this thread, don’t pretend Cis is anything but an extreme rightwing think tank, dedicated to overthrowing any sense of fairness in workers’ rights.

    PS John Banks as a super mayor over Auckland would indeed be championed by NAct. Super funding will be flowing freely in his direction for this.

    Speaking of forked tongue NAct supporter journalcysts, read the Captcha:

    ‘Ralston The’

  17. Strathen 17

    Did anyone actually read the whole report?

    ‘the paper is an ideologically driven argument for a more punitive welfare system.’

    Err… No, not ideologically driven. The paper compares NZ to international best practice, from countries of either left or right ideology. It appears that we as a country are lagging behind the rest of the world in what works to get people in to work (along with Ireland and the UK).

    The paper talks about the benefits to the individual if they work (bottom of p.4 and top of p.5). It then goes on to discuss how other countries have achieved this.

    The quote in the original post has been hacked out of context from the report to support the author’s ideological view. Read in context, with the figures, it makes a bit more sense. (See pages 8 & 9 of the report)

    ‘Take a look at that red line – total number of people on benefits. It has fallen almost precipitously over the last few years.’ This is also covered on p.7-8, ‘International Lessons’. The author doesn’t dismiss this entirely, but compares it to other countries throughout the report and what happened to them. It appears all countries total numbers of welfare dropped during this same time period, lending weight (proving?) this was affected by global conditions rather than a left or right government.

    I think the point is, whilst we have experienced a drop in welfare, it is not as significant as other countries around the world over the last 30 years, irrespective of their countries ideologies. Perhaps we should follow some of their best practice.

    The report even predicted all_your_base’s response: ‘We are among the few countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland who do not attach meaningful reciprocal obligations to the receipt of benefits. Even the very generous and often held as virtuous Nordic welfare models have very strict and inflexible reciprocal obligations that would horrify many New Zealanders.’

    • Ag 17.1

      Drops in welfare rolls aren’t automatically desirable. Anyone that thinks they are does not understand why we have welfare.

  18. Jum 18

    Now let me see – the dpb is given to a solo parent to raise child(ren), Strathen is suggesting that the solo parent, usually the woman, has to be obligated to the state. Why can’t the other parent, usually the man, be obligated to the state. Better still, why can’t they both be obligated to the state. These breakups are never just about one person; the fault is 50:50.

    A millionaire I know ties up all assets into a loss accounting situation and pays just $50 per week for the state to be financially responsible for his children. Yet the ex wife gets all the agro from WINZ, from NZers, etc. Why?

    From that it also follows that if a business engineers an employee into losing their job through redundancy or fire at will bill, then both the business and the employee are obligated to the state. Again, the fault is 50:50.

  19. ripp0 20

    oops, html stuffup!

  20. Santi 21

    The study is valid. NZ has too many bludgers and people sucking off the state teat doing bugger all.

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  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    4 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    5 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    5 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    5 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    5 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    6 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    6 days ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    1 week ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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