What the hell? Mahuta introduces 130 pages of changes to three waters after it passes.
“There are a significant number of amendments to that prior bill – changing the definition of stormwater which takes all road water networks out of stormwater; significant strengthening around some of the Māori elements along with expectations around the Treaty and the commitments of the CEOs [of the water entities]; the provision for charging for water services; and a significant sway of regulatory or compliance amendments,” Watts said.
Craig H you mustn't give PS insider information like that away.
Ministers do everything in their portfolios. PM does everything as well as driving trucks to restock supermarket shelves in times of shortage such as in the times of lockdown with Covid plus the actual physical shelf stocking. At least she was blamed for shortages at the time. .
Ministers are responsible for ensuring legislation passed through the house does not have '130 pages of amendments' required to a bill that 'just passed'. It's sloppy lawmaking. But heh the entire history of Mahuta's stewardship of 3 Waters has been 'sloppy', at best.
I am sure with your vast experience of working in the PCO's office etc and looking at the passage of bills through the house you will be well placed to comment on the stewardship of the Three Waters Bills through the House: not.
The Herald had to provide balance of some sort despite probably rather not having to by quoting
'A Government spokeswoman said the next bill “adds to the Waters Services Entities Act by setting out the detailed functions and powers of the entities. These amendments are largely technical and administrative in nature.
“The scale of this reform programme is significant and complex. Because of this, it requires separate Bills to deal with different matters.
“At the end of the whole parliamentary process, the legislation will be brought back together to stand up the Water Services Entities to provide drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services to New Zealand by 1 July 2024,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the Government had signalled there would be multiple bills, publicly and to the select committee.'
I think the RMA was divided into several Bills to assist passage through the house, or it was a large environmental bill that went through at the time.
The best and main point is though do we want the best legislation or not? I would be thinking the 'best' and what better time to achieve this than when the Bills are still 'live'.
On the Herald itself and its coverage Bryan Gould comments here
'With news coverage as biased as this from our leading newspaper, what chance do we have of operating an effective and working democracy?'
I class The Herald as one of the screechers like Mike Hosking.
Back in the day I used to get The Herald and it followed me on subscription to various places in NZ. It used to have a reputation as being a bit behind the eight ball, a little bit old fashioned 'Granny' being the nickname, but has changed to being strident and screechy. I got it as my 'local' to get local news/doings/real estate. At the time I got it on sub no-one really got it for the quality of its political analysis.
It is a pity that in trying to expand its national political coverage it has opted to be less than what is needed as a functioning member of the Fourth Estate.
“The scale of this reform programme is significant and complex. Because of this, it requires separate Bills to deal with different matters."
Except that this latest bill did much more than that. It was "mainly (be) a series of amendments to the second bill.". Why are such amendments due so soon after the original legislation was passed? Why could those 'amendments' not have been included in the original legislation?
The Minister has managed the 3waters program poorly, and this, more than any media coverage, has contributed to the significant public distaste for 3waters.
Watts agreed that the fact there would be multiple bills is nothing new – however, he said the Government had not been transparent about the fact this bill, the third bill in the Three Waters reform process, would mainly be a series of amendments to the second bill. [my italics]
From a cursory look at the Bill, it would seem that Watts was indeed politicking and grandstanding (aka making up shit), as suspected.
Of course he was politicking. Doesn't change a thing.
"There are a significant number of amendments to that prior bill – changing the definition of stormwater which takes all road water networks out of stormwater; significant strengthening around some of the Māori elements along with expectations around the Treaty and the commitments of the CEOs [of the water entities]; the provision for charging for water services; and a significant sway of regulatory or compliance amendments,” Watts said.
The "detailed functions and powers of the entities" should have been in the original Water Services Entities Act.
A matter of opinion. Amendments are natural part of Bills, just look at how many other amendments are in this new Bill. Three Waters reforms were always going to comprise several Bills. Watts is spinning a narrative rather than doing his job as SC member and MP, which is so typical of Nat MPs: whinge & whine but offer nothing much of substance. I can see the appeal to you because you simply are anti-Three Waters no matter what and your comments are self-serving without substance.
Interesting. Can you think of a bill that introduced amendments to an Act passed just hours before? Of course there will be plenty of examples in which a Bill was changed days before being passed into law (including a notable example recently by this same Minister). But just hours after?
Actually Td I am not sure that you are onto a point at all.
In my summation of what can happen when bills go through I think the Minister has been blessed with a good department that is following the changes made, worked out if they have implications for clauses passed or to come and they have put forward amendments on the way through. Bear in mind that this was a very complex Bill, quite confusing with amdts/counteramdts and being part of an omnibus set of legislation.
You are buying into the idea that this is
a) unusual
b) worthy of condemnation
from the statement of a new Nat MP (2 years in) who has no prior, ie in terms of previous work, legislative drafting experience, and no in house parliamentary experience in legal drafting.
He may have been on the select committee but does not seem to have kept his eyes open and absorbed what is going on. I would have thought that a member of the select cttee would have been well aware of the Dept'l workload, the huge amount of work put in by PCO & dept'l staff and of the changes that had gone though to make this workload.
(bearing in mind that select cttee members and dept'l staff usually get to be on close terms because of the work they do together.)
I actually think he would have done better to have congratulated the select cttee on the work they had done, commented that it is not done yet and work awaits if he needed to say anything at all.
Saying stuff like this just shows him to be a bit of a 'cock', dick, dork (take your pick, excuse the French). People who know how things work will be saying just that while those who don't know how things work will be saying 'shock, horror did you hear what he said….?'
He is just grandstanding or politicking as Incognito has said.
"and they have put forward amendments on the way through."
A sound legislative process would be one in which said amendments were made to the legislation as that legislation passed through the various stages of the house. Not hours after it passed into law.
Bear in mind that this was a very complex Bill, quite confusing with amdts/counteramdts and being part of an omnibus set of legislation."
Yes and I would argue that places an even greater responsibility on those responsible for the legislation to get it right.
"You are buying into the idea that this is
a) unusual
b) worthy of condemnation"
Assuming by 'this' you mean making changes to a law within hours of it passing:
a) I would expect it is highly unusual, otherwise there would be a pattern of very poor practice. But I will wait for any other examples to be provided.
b) It is certainly worthy of criticism. The entire passage of the 3Waters proposal has been tardy. Just three examples are the infantile advertising that had to be cut short, the deception around the opt out, and the potentially 'constitutionally damaging' attempt to entrench public ownership. I could give plenty more examples, and almost all will fall at the feet of the Minister. This is just the latest example.
I know that this idea of 'sloppiness' is your opinion and you are entitled to it.
Hopefully though it has not been formed by the likes of the article that Anker linked to from the Herald. The article mentioned a Nat MP that they had obviously asked to comment on the 'shock, horror' expose about the amendments.
Simon Watts came into parliament in 2020 and therefore has no experince in shepherding legislation through the house from early stages to enactment. If say the Herald has got someone on the Nats side who had experience in legislation of the size and complexity of the Three Waters legislation then perhaps there would have been a point.
But as it is we have commentary breathlessly quoted from the Herald from a person who has had no relevant experience. There is no measure to say if 130 pages is more than usual, less than usual or about average.
As you have always listene to what I have to say even though we mostly would disagree, I can only give you my experiences from the departmental side and the Ministers office advisory side of two pieces of legislation where I did have some sort of experience at the stage where Three Waters is now..
Of course in many Govt depts our whole whole work lives are spent looking at legislation, amendments, writing technical policy etc about the legislation. Mine mostly was.
Anyway back to what happens that could cause 130 pages of amendments
1 the draft legislation would have come itoot parliament via PCO/legal departmental officers often many months before
2 clause are drafted to work within each other and with other parts of the bill.
3 after it has been introduced, referred to select committees, come back into the house, changed at various stages some of these clause don't work within themselves or with each other as well as they had before. This is even with the best legislative brains in the business looking at it. PCO are the best legal drafting brains.
4 the reason for this is usually time pressures.
5 once the legislation goes back to the department then the best subject matter experts will have a look and say well even though it is well drafted it will have ramifications for this section or that section and these will need to have changes made.
6 the worst case scenario is that a section is amended somewhere and that further down the track we find that a whole part of an act cannot actually work.
7 Of course everybody is working like beavers to make sure this doesn't happen, huge long hours are worked both at PCO level and departmental level. With legislation going through it was not unusual for PCO/Minister's offices and departmental legal and subject matter experts to work all day & night with minimal breaks. Having meetings at 11.00pm etc to discuss wording being surprised at one of these meetings to suddenly have the PM appear, concerned about a clause.
8 Suggestions for amendments can come from other MPs with legal drafting experience and from members of the select committees from all sides of the house.
9 This all takes time
10 So it gets enacted, and remembering there was a giant mix-up because of the entrenchment clauses lodged by Eugenie Sage.
11 So something final comes back to the department and subject matter experts look at the final product…….there may be unexpected clashes etc with other parts of bills to come, with existing legislation etc etc.
12 they will bring these to the attention of the Minister. When we did this we usually advised if we could live with the unexpected or not. If not what was the urgency in getting it fixed? Would a fix be controversial?
13 In this case because there are still parts to come and because some are urgent and some are 'well we may as well clarify while we can' they would have all gone up.
14 In our department just days after legislation had been enacted we would be starting a file series to cover amendments to it that may arise in the future. Depending how urgent and the legislative programmes these might get in the following year or in ten years time by which case they would be joined by 50 or so other proposed amendments.
So I don't think you can say that this is sloppy, in fact it is usual
As I have said you have your opinion about Hon Mahuta's handling.
Bearing mind the hugely complex bill, treading new ground I think as a Minister shepherding legislation through she is easily on a par with Minister's who have dealt with similar legislation.
In common parlance I think she 'is across' her portfolio, she would probably be able to give a commentary on some of the minutiae at the drop of a hat.
I know the two Ministers I worked for (Nat/Lab) were able to converse at length on various aspects on legislation they had got through the House. One even gave a speech on it without notes on a complicated piece of legislation from the portfolio!
Sorry for the length and again for being harsh about your opinion.
Hi S. I’ve only just seen this reply, and I really do appreciate the care you’ve taken in your response.
My view on the media is simply that editorial is the place for expressing opinion, and all other reporting should be presenting facts, without fear or favour. But I’m a dinosaur, and I have learned from personal experience that what sells is what gets printed in most cases.
Ha ha imagine how happy we would be with our media printing facts and editorials or guest comments providing the opinion.
Mind you NZ Herald has always been a bit Nat oriented per editorial stance…what seems to have changed is that the articles seem to reflect this and do not present an all sides view.
And to be simple we need all the sides so we can have good opinions, whatever they may be.
Happy New Year to you too TD……looking forward to seeing your opinions as we go forward.
Indeed, that has long been my assessment of her too Robert. She is vastly under-rated but it is to be expected since she is Maori and has a moko. Something else that is underrated is the high level of racism that exists in NZ – not that the offenders ever admit to it.
"Clearly a conscientious perfectionist". That's your best line yet. Pure gold. Passed that on to a few people here and they still haven't stopped laughing!
The folk you list are more sneerers than laughers, so I'm guessing Jester's crowd are either patients in an institution, or stoned; the sort of people who would laugh at length at a piece of string wriggling.
None were farmers that I know of. A couple of plumbers, an electrician, a builder, a lawyer, a few retail workers and some uni students. Just average people.
Yes I'm sure there were some Nat voters among them as roughly 37% of people vote Nats?
And ironically, nearly half of them were Maori (or partly). So I don't think they would be anti Maori.
But it's funny how you play the race card saying 'anti Maori people' (just like those that argue Efeso lost to Brown because of his colour, nothing to do with the fact they wanted change or thought Brown would get more done).
That Bill was introduced on 8 Dec and had its First Reading on 13 Dec. Why the whinge about it on pretty much the last day before people go on holiday? Who’s playing political games here?
Note how Granny Herald (organ of the colonial settler regime) reports every political story through a National Party lens. They could have gone to the source and asked Mahuta herself.
Tsk tsk tsk, electric car are the greenest thing for environmentally minded personz and peoplez in the parts of the world were we refuse to mine or drill because mining and drilling destroys the the environment and pollution is for poor countries, not us civilized western first world countries.. Now tell the anxious consuming masses that they should buy another battery driven gadget, replace that barely one year old communication device, get that government money for that E-car, and feel 100% green and clean and it keeps the economy going and it brings in GST and sales taxes. Woot Woot. Feel good. Feel Green. Feel Clean in your 50+ Grand vehicle. After all, what else is to life then spending money on shit no one actually needs.
Hard to find a more nauseating sight than 400 or so stupid yanks in a room all clapping like seals but there it was ….again !! just like the 'Juan Guido ' episode with Donald Trump presiding where exactly the same wierd scenes played out .
Those 400 yanks from 'both sides of the isle ' who ordinarily cant agree on anything !! yet have no trouble voting for endless war .This year its apparently more than a trillion dollars for its military not including what its spending in Ukraine .
Funniest moment is where one of the senators declares "
they're gonna track down an find out who wasnt clapping "!!!You couldnt make it up !!Ikiest moment is where zelensky kisses Nancy !! eeewww !!
Perhaps if u had half a clue of the actual subject roblogic and an appreciation of what was actually available to inform you on MSM you'd think differently but i see youre content just to go with the mob ie Zelensky is "churchilian "the Ukrainians are winning and if you dont clap its the end of the world as we know it etc etc etc …whateva ..the world will spin for a few more revolutions yet hopefully
Your reply is completely out of context to my original comment roblogic it was specifically about a room full of supposedly intelligent and very important people in AMERICA who were clapping " like seals" in other words because everybody else was clapping .The thing looked like a movie because thats exactly what it was the movie directors were 'setting the scene ' they were selling a war !
Tucker Carlson just exposed a few parts of the action afaik the only news anchor in MSM to do so and i take my hat off to him for doing so .
incidentally i could find you a hundred links detailing Ukrainian transgressions of human rights but i suggest you find them yourself war is hell on both sides of the conflict .
Now comes the claim that you can't expect to literally believe the words that come out of Carlson's mouth. And that assertion is not coming from Carlson's critics. It's being made by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York and by Fox News's own lawyers in defending Carlson against accusations of slander. It worked, by the way.
Just read U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil's opinion, leaning heavily on the arguments of Fox's lawyers: The "'general tenor' of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not 'stating actual facts' about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in 'exaggeration' and 'non-literal commentary.' "
Yeah i noticed that back when the story first came out , its a weird scene to be sure its America !! But just because Tucker appears to fuck up in this case does'nt negate his input to news for all time it just reemphasizes what we have always known ie caveat emptor .
American isolationism may have reached its zenith on 1940, when a group of Congress members and influential private citizens, headed by already-famed aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, formed the America First Committee (AFC) with the specific goal of preventing America from becoming involved in World War II then being waged in Europe and Asia.
When the AFC first convened on September 4, 1940, Lindbergh told the gathering that while isolationism did not mean walling off America from contact with the rest of the world, “it does mean that the future of America will not be tied to these eternal wars in Europe. It means that American boys will not be sent across the ocean to die so that England or Germany or France or Spain may dominate the other nations.”
“An independent American destiny means, on the one hand, that our soldiers will not have to fight everybody in the world who prefers some other system of life to ours. On the other hand, it means that we will fight anybody and everybody who attempts to interfere with our hemisphere,”
And if you follow Peter Zeihan, you will have heard his detailed argument that this same isolationist spirit has been gradually re-asserting itself in the US since the end of the Cold War. Obviously events like Iraq and Afghanistan ran counter to this narrative, but the undercurrent has been growing steadily. It perhaps had it's most recent and visible manifestation, in Biden's precipitous and disastrously handled withdrawal from Afghanistan, and quite likely played into Poots equally disastrous miscalculation that NATO would not care too much about Ukraine.
Carlson is giving modern voice to this very American sentiment – why should they pay in blood and treasure for wars being fought on the other side of the planet? But then reality came to visit:
After growing to over 800,000 members, the AFC disbanded on December 11, 1941, less than a week after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In its final press release, the Committee stated that while its efforts might have prevented it, the Pearl Harbor attack made it the duty of all Americans to support the war effort to defeat Nazism and the Axis powers.
His mind and heart changed, Lindbergh flew more than 50 combat missions in the Pacific theater as a civilian, and after the war, traveled throughout Europe helping with the U.S. military rebuild and revitalize the continent.
Both Lindbergh and Carlson are best understood in the light of this very old pattern of American thinking, born of their fight for independence from colonial empires, and fostered by a geography that literally isolates them by two oceans and grants them the option to decouple economically from much of the rest of the world if they so needed to.
But events always prove the basis of this thinking to be wrong – deluded at worst. Lindbergh to his credit changed his mind; it remains to be seen what Carlson's future holds.
There is another aspect, Tucker Carlson is in synch with the notion of a white race religion, heritage and cultural order, one that he sees Putin as part of. Even to the point of dismissing any priority to a collective defence of democratic nations. Which is only a few steps away from acceptance of doing bad things to secure domestic political victory for the GOP.
Japan attacking US homeland (50 state) territory crossed even the isolationists redline (and Hitler declared war on the USA afterwards), and of course they were in full support of a containment of Soviet communism, in defence of private ownership etc.
Well yes. Carlson is a social conservative as is much of Russian society. But it is possible to be anti-woke and yet anti-imperialist at the same time and this war is going to leave him exposed on the wrong side of history.
I think this is because Carlson represents an essentially backward looking conservatism; that lacking a positive vision for the future, clings instead to a selectively rosy view of the past. He is far from alone in this.
You reckon ? Imo the exact opposite is true , like a good deal of the information coming out of this war , casualty figures for example the line about a lie going right around the world before the truth has got its boots on has never been more apt .
Jeepers seems like not a very good fit comparing Lindbergh and Carlson red i mean Carlson just comes across to me as a salesman he's just selling fox news to the world and undoubtedly making huge money in the process i dunno how much he makes but i remember hearing that that lunatic Maddow was making 30mil annually for the four years she peddled the Russiagate hoax .
To me Tucker Carlson steps away from the 'official narrative ' just long enough for me to notice additionally he interviews people the rest of MSM considers persona non grata . I think thats a good thing .
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There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/three-waters-nanaia-mahuta-introduces-130-pages-of-changes-to-a-law-hours-after-passing-it/23EV4NZJ4RC37L3HSKOYDNH5FE/
What the hell? Mahuta introduces 130 pages of changes to three waters after it passes.
“There are a significant number of amendments to that prior bill – changing the definition of stormwater which takes all road water networks out of stormwater; significant strengthening around some of the Māori elements along with expectations around the Treaty and the commitments of the CEOs [of the water entities]; the provision for charging for water services; and a significant sway of regulatory or compliance amendments,” Watts said.
Fine-tuning. Clearly a conscientious perfectionist, intent on forging the very best bill possible.
Good on her.
Nanaia Muhuta is an intelligent, hard-working, sincere person, perfectly suited to the role she has been assigned.
‘Fine tuning’? After all the time she’s had to write this legislation? I don’t think so.
I have my doubts that the Minister actually personally drafted the legislation…
Craig H you mustn't give PS insider information like that away.
Ministers do everything in their portfolios. PM does everything as well as driving trucks to restock supermarket shelves in times of shortage such as in the times of lockdown with Covid plus the actual physical shelf stocking. At least she was blamed for shortages at the time. .
Ministers are responsible for ensuring legislation passed through the house does not have '130 pages of amendments' required to a bill that 'just passed'. It's sloppy lawmaking. But heh the entire history of Mahuta's stewardship of 3 Waters has been 'sloppy', at best.
I am sure with your vast experience of working in the PCO's office etc and looking at the passage of bills through the house you will be well placed to comment on the stewardship of the Three Waters Bills through the House: not.
The Herald had to provide balance of some sort despite probably rather not having to by quoting
'A Government spokeswoman said the next bill “adds to the Waters Services Entities Act by setting out the detailed functions and powers of the entities. These amendments are largely technical and administrative in nature.
“The scale of this reform programme is significant and complex. Because of this, it requires separate Bills to deal with different matters.
“At the end of the whole parliamentary process, the legislation will be brought back together to stand up the Water Services Entities to provide drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services to New Zealand by 1 July 2024,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the Government had signalled there would be multiple bills, publicly and to the select committee.'
I think the RMA was divided into several Bills to assist passage through the house, or it was a large environmental bill that went through at the time.
The best and main point is though do we want the best legislation or not? I would be thinking the 'best' and what better time to achieve this than when the Bills are still 'live'.
On the Herald itself and its coverage Bryan Gould comments here
https://bryangould.com/theherald-a-joke/
He concludes:
'With news coverage as biased as this from our leading newspaper, what chance do we have of operating an effective and working democracy?'
I class The Herald as one of the screechers like Mike Hosking.
Back in the day I used to get The Herald and it followed me on subscription to various places in NZ. It used to have a reputation as being a bit behind the eight ball, a little bit old fashioned 'Granny' being the nickname, but has changed to being strident and screechy. I got it as my 'local' to get local news/doings/real estate. At the time I got it on sub no-one really got it for the quality of its political analysis.
It is a pity that in trying to expand its national political coverage it has opted to be less than what is needed as a functioning member of the Fourth Estate.
“The scale of this reform programme is significant and complex. Because of this, it requires separate Bills to deal with different matters."
Except that this latest bill did much more than that. It was "mainly (be) a series of amendments to the second bill.". Why are such amendments due so soon after the original legislation was passed? Why could those 'amendments' not have been included in the original legislation?
The Minister has managed the 3waters program poorly, and this, more than any media coverage, has contributed to the significant public distaste for 3waters.
From a cursory look at the Bill, it would seem that Watts was indeed politicking and grandstanding (aka making up shit), as suspected.
https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2022/0210/latest/whole.html#LMS794055
As a member of the responsible Select Committee he was probably also complaining that he’s in over his head because these Bills are hugely complex.
Of course he was politicking. Doesn't change a thing.
"There are a significant number of amendments to that prior bill – changing the definition of stormwater which takes all road water networks out of stormwater; significant strengthening around some of the Māori elements along with expectations around the Treaty and the commitments of the CEOs [of the water entities]; the provision for charging for water services; and a significant sway of regulatory or compliance amendments,” Watts said.
The "detailed functions and powers of the entities" should have been in the original Water Services Entities Act.
A matter of opinion. Amendments are natural part of Bills, just look at how many other amendments are in this new Bill. Three Waters reforms were always going to comprise several Bills. Watts is spinning a narrative rather than doing his job as SC member and MP, which is so typical of Nat MPs: whinge & whine but offer nothing much of substance. I can see the appeal to you because you simply are anti-Three Waters no matter what and your comments are self-serving without substance.
"Amendments are natural part of Bills…"
Interesting. Can you think of a bill that introduced amendments to an Act passed just hours before? Of course there will be plenty of examples in which a Bill was changed days before being passed into law (including a notable example recently by this same Minister). But just hours after?
Actually Td I am not sure that you are onto a point at all.
In my summation of what can happen when bills go through I think the Minister has been blessed with a good department that is following the changes made, worked out if they have implications for clauses passed or to come and they have put forward amendments on the way through. Bear in mind that this was a very complex Bill, quite confusing with amdts/counteramdts and being part of an omnibus set of legislation.
You are buying into the idea that this is
a) unusual
b) worthy of condemnation
from the statement of a new Nat MP (2 years in) who has no prior, ie in terms of previous work, legislative drafting experience, and no in house parliamentary experience in legal drafting.
He may have been on the select committee but does not seem to have kept his eyes open and absorbed what is going on. I would have thought that a member of the select cttee would have been well aware of the Dept'l workload, the huge amount of work put in by PCO & dept'l staff and of the changes that had gone though to make this workload.
(bearing in mind that select cttee members and dept'l staff usually get to be on close terms because of the work they do together.)
I actually think he would have done better to have congratulated the select cttee on the work they had done, commented that it is not done yet and work awaits if he needed to say anything at all.
Saying stuff like this just shows him to be a bit of a 'cock', dick, dork (take your pick, excuse the French). People who know how things work will be saying just that while those who don't know how things work will be saying 'shock, horror did you hear what he said….?'
He is just grandstanding or politicking as Incognito has said.
"and they have put forward amendments on the way through."
A sound legislative process would be one in which said amendments were made to the legislation as that legislation passed through the various stages of the house. Not hours after it passed into law.
Bear in mind that this was a very complex Bill, quite confusing with amdts/counteramdts and being part of an omnibus set of legislation."
Yes and I would argue that places an even greater responsibility on those responsible for the legislation to get it right.
"You are buying into the idea that this is
a) unusual
b) worthy of condemnation"
Assuming by 'this' you mean making changes to a law within hours of it passing:
a) I would expect it is highly unusual, otherwise there would be a pattern of very poor practice. But I will wait for any other examples to be provided.
b) It is certainly worthy of criticism. The entire passage of the 3Waters proposal has been tardy. Just three examples are the infantile advertising that had to be cut short, the deception around the opt out, and the potentially 'constitutionally damaging' attempt to entrench public ownership. I could give plenty more examples, and almost all will fall at the feet of the Minister. This is just the latest example.
TD my response at 3.40pm 25/12/22 was harsh.
I know that this idea of 'sloppiness' is your opinion and you are entitled to it.
Hopefully though it has not been formed by the likes of the article that Anker linked to from the Herald. The article mentioned a Nat MP that they had obviously asked to comment on the 'shock, horror' expose about the amendments.
Simon Watts came into parliament in 2020 and therefore has no experince in shepherding legislation through the house from early stages to enactment. If say the Herald has got someone on the Nats side who had experience in legislation of the size and complexity of the Three Waters legislation then perhaps there would have been a point.
But as it is we have commentary breathlessly quoted from the Herald from a person who has had no relevant experience. There is no measure to say if 130 pages is more than usual, less than usual or about average.
As you have always listene to what I have to say even though we mostly would disagree, I can only give you my experiences from the departmental side and the Ministers office advisory side of two pieces of legislation where I did have some sort of experience at the stage where Three Waters is now..
Of course in many Govt depts our whole whole work lives are spent looking at legislation, amendments, writing technical policy etc about the legislation. Mine mostly was.
Anyway back to what happens that could cause 130 pages of amendments
1 the draft legislation would have come itoot parliament via PCO/legal departmental officers often many months before
2 clause are drafted to work within each other and with other parts of the bill.
3 after it has been introduced, referred to select committees, come back into the house, changed at various stages some of these clause don't work within themselves or with each other as well as they had before. This is even with the best legislative brains in the business looking at it. PCO are the best legal drafting brains.
4 the reason for this is usually time pressures.
5 once the legislation goes back to the department then the best subject matter experts will have a look and say well even though it is well drafted it will have ramifications for this section or that section and these will need to have changes made.
6 the worst case scenario is that a section is amended somewhere and that further down the track we find that a whole part of an act cannot actually work.
7 Of course everybody is working like beavers to make sure this doesn't happen, huge long hours are worked both at PCO level and departmental level. With legislation going through it was not unusual for PCO/Minister's offices and departmental legal and subject matter experts to work all day & night with minimal breaks. Having meetings at 11.00pm etc to discuss wording being surprised at one of these meetings to suddenly have the PM appear, concerned about a clause.
8 Suggestions for amendments can come from other MPs with legal drafting experience and from members of the select committees from all sides of the house.
9 This all takes time
10 So it gets enacted, and remembering there was a giant mix-up because of the entrenchment clauses lodged by Eugenie Sage.
11 So something final comes back to the department and subject matter experts look at the final product…….there may be unexpected clashes etc with other parts of bills to come, with existing legislation etc etc.
12 they will bring these to the attention of the Minister. When we did this we usually advised if we could live with the unexpected or not. If not what was the urgency in getting it fixed? Would a fix be controversial?
13 In this case because there are still parts to come and because some are urgent and some are 'well we may as well clarify while we can' they would have all gone up.
14 In our department just days after legislation had been enacted we would be starting a file series to cover amendments to it that may arise in the future. Depending how urgent and the legislative programmes these might get in the following year or in ten years time by which case they would be joined by 50 or so other proposed amendments.
So I don't think you can say that this is sloppy, in fact it is usual
As I have said you have your opinion about Hon Mahuta's handling.
Bearing mind the hugely complex bill, treading new ground I think as a Minister shepherding legislation through she is easily on a par with Minister's who have dealt with similar legislation.
In common parlance I think she 'is across' her portfolio, she would probably be able to give a commentary on some of the minutiae at the drop of a hat.
I know the two Ministers I worked for (Nat/Lab) were able to converse at length on various aspects on legislation they had got through the House. One even gave a speech on it without notes on a complicated piece of legislation from the portfolio!
Sorry for the length and again for being harsh about your opinion.
Hi S. I’ve only just seen this reply, and I really do appreciate the care you’ve taken in your response.
My view on the media is simply that editorial is the place for expressing opinion, and all other reporting should be presenting facts, without fear or favour. But I’m a dinosaur, and I have learned from personal experience that what sells is what gets printed in most cases.
Have a thoroughly good new year.
Well I'm joining you in dinosaur land.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Ha ha imagine how happy we would be with our media printing facts and editorials or guest comments providing the opinion.
Mind you NZ Herald has always been a bit Nat oriented per editorial stance…what seems to have changed is that the articles seem to reflect this and do not present an all sides view.
And to be simple we need all the sides so we can have good opinions, whatever they may be.
Happy New Year to you too TD……looking forward to seeing your opinions as we go forward.
Indeed, that has long been my assessment of her too Robert. She is vastly under-rated but it is to be expected since she is Maori and has a moko. Something else that is underrated is the high level of racism that exists in NZ – not that the offenders ever admit to it.
"Clearly a conscientious perfectionist". That's your best line yet. Pure gold. Passed that on to a few people here and they still haven't stopped laughing!
Why?
Is it funny to some people? What kind of people would these be?
Nat voters
Anti Maori people ie prejudiced people?
People who drive tractors with silly signs on them?
We are waiting in anticipation
The folk you list are more sneerers than laughers, so I'm guessing Jester's crowd are either patients in an institution, or stoned; the sort of people who would laugh at length at a piece of string wriggling.
Goodness what a way with words Robert, love it
None were farmers that I know of. A couple of plumbers, an electrician, a builder, a lawyer, a few retail workers and some uni students. Just average people.
So no anti Maori people and no Nat voters?
Though I prefer to think of these contacts of yours as those who wouwith strange senses of humour.
The people I know laugh at things that are really funny like the jokes in Christmas crackers.
Yes I'm sure there were some Nat voters among them as roughly 37% of people vote Nats?
And ironically, nearly half of them were Maori (or partly). So I don't think they would be anti Maori.
But it's funny how you play the race card saying 'anti Maori people' (just like those that argue Efeso lost to Brown because of his colour, nothing to do with the fact they wanted change or thought Brown would get more done).
That Bill was introduced on 8 Dec and had its First Reading on 13 Dec. Why the whinge about it on pretty much the last day before people go on holiday? Who’s playing political games here?
Note how Granny Herald (organ of the colonial settler regime) reports every political story through a National Party lens. They could have gone to the source and asked Mahuta herself.
Twats
And it has not gone unnoticed by Bryan Gould
https://bryangould.com/theherald-a-joke/
Mayor Brown is boosting staff morale.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/130848666/auckland-council-staff-report-mayor-wayne-brown-over-upsetting-comments-in-the-workplace
They make it sound like the first time he has done a job like this, so needs to be instructed.
Perhaps a reminder of his people skills would suffice?
This may be as good as they get, it seems.
It explains his rather bloated team of minders to keep him out of trouble aka don’t give interviews, dodge questions, and engage with staff in lifts.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/130719437/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-pays-four-staff-250k-a-year–as-did-his-predecessor
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-earmarks-415k-to-matthew-hooton-and-key-advisors-after-pledge-to-slash-council-salaries/B6AO72ETCVCKNKVVHK75GLBKLY/
Enjoy watching this on your cell phone or Ipad.
Tsk tsk tsk, electric car are the greenest thing for environmentally minded personz and peoplez in the parts of the world were we refuse to mine or drill because mining and drilling destroys the the environment and pollution is for poor countries, not us civilized western first world countries.. Now tell the anxious consuming masses that they should buy another battery driven gadget, replace that barely one year old communication device, get that government money for that E-car, and feel 100% green and clean and it keeps the economy going and it brings in GST and sales taxes. Woot Woot. Feel good. Feel Green. Feel Clean in your 50+ Grand vehicle. After all, what else is to life then spending money on shit no one actually needs.
Hear, hear.
Hard to find a more nauseating sight than 400 or so stupid yanks in a room all clapping like seals but there it was ….again !! just like the 'Juan Guido ' episode with Donald Trump presiding where exactly the same wierd scenes played out .
Those 400 yanks from 'both sides of the isle ' who ordinarily cant agree on anything !! yet have no trouble voting for endless war .This year its apparently more than a trillion dollars for its military not including what its spending in Ukraine .
Funniest moment is where one of the senators declares "
they're gonna track down an find out who wasnt clapping "!!!You couldnt make it up !!Ikiest moment is where zelensky kisses Nancy !! eeewww !!
Tucker nails it
Hard to find a more nauseating sight than a clip of Tucker Carlson 🤮
I couldnt watch him every night but like i said he nails it here and for MSM he quite often does imo
[Please, fix your user name – Incognito]
Mod note
Done
True ‘dat Roblogic and so consistently wrong as well.
You may as well just go baaaa baa baaa shanreagh
lol, says the Fox News viewer
Perhaps if u had half a clue of the actual subject roblogic and an appreciation of what was actually available to inform you on MSM you'd think differently but i see youre content just to go with the mob ie Zelensky is "churchilian "the Ukrainians are winning and if you dont clap its the end of the world as we know it etc etc etc …whateva ..the world will spin for a few more revolutions yet hopefully
War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine – Wikipedia
Russia accused of war crimes cover-up by razing Ukraine theatre
etc., etc.
Your reply is completely out of context to my original comment roblogic it was specifically about a room full of supposedly intelligent and very important people in AMERICA who were clapping " like seals" in other words because everybody else was clapping .The thing looked like a movie because thats exactly what it was the movie directors were 'setting the scene ' they were selling a war !
Tucker Carlson just exposed a few parts of the action afaik the only news anchor in MSM to do so and i take my hat off to him for doing so .
incidentally i could find you a hundred links detailing Ukrainian transgressions of human rights but i suggest you find them yourself war is hell on both sides of the conflict .
You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers
Not believing facts etc
Yeah i noticed that back when the story first came out , its a weird scene to be sure its America !! But just because Tucker appears to fuck up in this case does'nt negate his input to news for all time it just reemphasizes what we have always known ie caveat emptor .
Easy.
The nauseatingly sinister sight of a white nationalist proclaiming a prominent Jewish politician as having "declared war against Christianity"
A close second is you and your ilk lapping up Carlson's blood libel.
Why dont you just accuse Tucker of being " anti semetic ' joe ? or is that phrase a bit too jaded ,even for you ?
Tucker Carlson has some historic parallels with Charles Lindbergh, another very high profile figure in American history.
Lindbergh was the figurehead of American isolationism in the early 1940's:
And if you follow Peter Zeihan, you will have heard his detailed argument that this same isolationist spirit has been gradually re-asserting itself in the US since the end of the Cold War. Obviously events like Iraq and Afghanistan ran counter to this narrative, but the undercurrent has been growing steadily. It perhaps had it's most recent and visible manifestation, in Biden's precipitous and disastrously handled withdrawal from Afghanistan, and quite likely played into Poots equally disastrous miscalculation that NATO would not care too much about Ukraine.
Carlson is giving modern voice to this very American sentiment – why should they pay in blood and treasure for wars being fought on the other side of the planet? But then reality came to visit:
Both Lindbergh and Carlson are best understood in the light of this very old pattern of American thinking, born of their fight for independence from colonial empires, and fostered by a geography that literally isolates them by two oceans and grants them the option to decouple economically from much of the rest of the world if they so needed to.
But events always prove the basis of this thinking to be wrong – deluded at worst. Lindbergh to his credit changed his mind; it remains to be seen what Carlson's future holds.
There is another aspect, Tucker Carlson is in synch with the notion of a white race religion, heritage and cultural order, one that he sees Putin as part of. Even to the point of dismissing any priority to a collective defence of democratic nations. Which is only a few steps away from acceptance of doing bad things to secure domestic political victory for the GOP.
Japan attacking US homeland (50 state) territory crossed even the isolationists redline (and Hitler declared war on the USA afterwards), and of course they were in full support of a containment of Soviet communism, in defence of private ownership etc.
Well yes. Carlson is a social conservative as is much of Russian society. But it is possible to be anti-woke and yet anti-imperialist at the same time and this war is going to leave him exposed on the wrong side of history.
I think this is because Carlson represents an essentially backward looking conservatism; that lacking a positive vision for the future, clings instead to a selectively rosy view of the past. He is far from alone in this.
" the wrong side of history "
You reckon ? Imo the exact opposite is true , like a good deal of the information coming out of this war , casualty figures for example the line about a lie going right around the world before the truth has got its boots on has never been more apt .
Jeepers seems like not a very good fit comparing Lindbergh and Carlson red i mean Carlson just comes across to me as a salesman he's just selling fox news to the world and undoubtedly making huge money in the process i dunno how much he makes but i remember hearing that that lunatic Maddow was making 30mil annually for the four years she peddled the Russiagate hoax .
To me Tucker Carlson steps away from the 'official narrative ' just long enough for me to notice additionally he interviews people the rest of MSM considers persona non grata . I think thats a good thing .