Senior Business Leaders Call Out To Government. Again

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, March 3rd, 2021 - 41 comments
Categories: business, capitalism, covid-19, Economy, grant robertson, jacinda ardern - Tags:

At risk of Anglo-Saxon adverbs leaping out, it was still great to see our Great and Good business titans putting out an invitation to the government to “set a clear path out of Covid-19“.

What they sought was, and I quote:

  • The status of New Zealand’s near to long-term COVID-19 strategy to be made available beyond government circles. In particular, the group would welcome a clear explanation of the key metrics, thresholds and milestones officials are tracking to judge the ongoing performance against this strategy over time.
  • The detail of New Zealand’s contracted access to vaccines, including the timing and size of each tranche of vaccines through the ongoing vaccine purchase programme, similar to government responses overseas, and the principles which will drive roll-out.
  • The publication of New Zealand’s testing capacity and strategy, including any plans for enhanced community, workplace and surge testing options, the inclusion of additional testing technology such as saliva PCR tests and any other changes to the testing regime as recommended by the Roche Simpson report.
  • An understanding of any future plans for a more automated approach to tracking and tracing, health passports and other technology to manage future community outbreaks and manage the vaccine roll out.
  • The status of the government’s plan to develop the ‘world’s smartest border’ to enable New Zealand business to reconnect with critical overseas customers, international students to return and to allow friends and family to reconnect in Australia and the Pacific Islands through safe travel zones.

What they could have done is thanked the government for the tens of billions of dollars in direct untagged subsidy by which this government has propped up their businesses and their share prices.

But they didn’t

They could then move on from that to note that New Zealand remains the best-Covid-19 managed country in the developed world.

But they didn’t.

They could have shown how their shrewd and hungry entrepreneurial drive will turn New Zealand’s COVID-19 competitive advantage into bold business strategy.

But they didn’t.

They could have demonstrated how they have formed initiatives between them that could have assisted the government to achieve any of the specific points they sought. Hell if you could only see the identification and tracking systems that SkyCity has. Or the international marketing capacity of the entire university system. But they didn’t.

They could have shown that they were willing to contribute to any kind of collective plan for business for New Zealand in a world where international travel is diminished for years, low-skill international labour isn’t coming back much, and the profitable focus is going to stay hard on high productivity products and services and low mass exports. They didn’t.

It would not be difficult for a Prime Minister to simply ask: do our titans of industry have any leadership capacity at all?

Each of their bullet points seeks operational detail that is designed to simply second guess criteria that are already well set and underway and for which the public sector is best placed to make policy decisions. Nor did they say that upon receiving any of this information they would actually help.

The entire statement they have put out seeks not to show any initiative, but simply to plead on behalf of their investments.

These then are not the commercial representatives of our much-vaunted Team of Five Million. It was the Team of 500 people Who Own 60% Of Our Wealth speaking.

It may well be that, like Labour governments past, this government prefers to make massive interventions and expect our main industry markets to adjust in their own way. That would make March 2021 as the time that the business community acts like a community of interest and organises itself to do more than whine about public health operational details.

It’s pretty evident this group of capitalist multimillionaires haven’t engaged with DPMC’s cross-government COVID-19 group.

Nor with Treasury’s own massive responses.

Before they hire another PR firm to opine on their behalf, they need to demonstrate they have a functioning brain.

41 comments on “Senior Business Leaders Call Out To Government. Again ”

  1. Sanctuary 1

    +1000%

    I couldn’t believe how pompous that statement was. I notice – yet again – the prominence of Auckland university in this statement.

    Auckland University has become an outlier in it’s extreme behaviour even for neoliberals. In a just world, the government would be planning a most unpleasant reckoning for that institutions senior management post covid.

    • Incognito 1.1

      laugh

      Did somebody push your button, again?

      What/where is “the prominence of Auckland university in this statement”?

      It was mentioned only once, as was Auckland University of Technology, because their respective Chancellors were part of the leaders group and listed their affiliations.

      You don’t seem to know that a university Chancellor is a figurehead only with a limited and prescribed ceremonial role.

      The head of the University is the Chancellor, currently Scott St John,[2] however this position is only titular.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Auckland#Administration

  2. Reality 2

    Between the lines they are saying we are the de facto government, so do our bidding. It seems every person with an inflated ego, like Richard Prebble, is wanting a headline or to pass on their opinion. Too many cooks spoiling the broth.

    Give me Ashley Bloomfield's quiet, considered, polite persona any day than these "know all's".

    • Sanctuary 2.1

      Prebble would have us in a corrupt chumocracy like the UK, throwing money at government favourites like Sam Morgan for dubious technology and outsourcing track and trace to private sector cronies and party donors like Serco in the UK.

      Never, ever forget Prebble was part of the government which basically allowed the criminal gang of Alan Gibbs, David Richwhite, Peter Shirtcliffe, Bob Matthew, Roderick Deane, Trevor Farmer, Sir Ronald Trotter and Ralph Norris and others to asset strip and plunder huge sections of our economy including Air New Zealand, Telecom and Tranz Rail.

      • Anne 2.1.1

        You forgot Michael Fay.

      • Foreign Waka 2.1.2

        Enron?

      • georgecom 2.1.3

        the self entitled old boys club* who expected and wanted the state to facilitate the transfer of significant wealth into their pockets, the 1%ers lobby group.

        * one of the regular national party supporting contributors on this blog didn't like the term "old boys club" and suggested the term "think tank". So in placeof "old boys club" I would use the term "1%ers lobby group"

        • georgecom 2.1.3.1

          which I guess renders Prebble and others like Douglas and Brash as 1%er socket puppets

  3. DukeEll 3

    Given covid is the biggest struggle we face at the moment, as child poverty and house prices don't seem that important, the information being asked for doesn't seem like beyond what any competent government would have ready to make it's own decisions on. releasing it doesn't seem that bad either.

    Does this government have a detailed plan about fixing or working the way out of any problem?

    • Sanctuary 3.1

      Because as Advantage points out, they'll then use it to a) second guess every decision the government makes and b) as a stick to beat the government with "you promised the vaccine on Tuesday now its Wednesday wah wah wah wah dad won't give me the car keys". ad infinitum.

      They seem very entitled to me, demanding to know operational details simply because they are very important people. What do they plan to do with it? They've offered nothing constructive.

      • DukeEll 3.1.1

        But if there is a detailed and comprehensive plan, it will stand up to criticisms of that nature. badly thought through plans and no plans will be affected by such criticism. Is that why the government won't release it?

        Or can we not be trusted to have the knowledge?

        • shanreagh 3.1.1.1

          There is no 'we' in their approach DukeEll.

          They are solely focused on themselves.

          From the time the NP opposition stood 'so-called silly staunch' last year and did not cross the floor to stand by the Govt in its approach to the virus when we were facing the unknown, followed by the ongoing sniping and ridiculous posing/journeying of Simon Bridges during the lockdown there has been some notable anti govt rhetoric and a holding back from those who should know better. I class this as part of that.

          However we/government must engage as this group has the potential to disrupt any move to a better world with Covid in our midst with a focus on going backwards.

          How many of the group have been employers who did not return the wage subsidy and/or have laid off workers? If there are any of these it diminishes case for inclusion really.

          The best thing they can do is to be part of the groups outlined above and perhaps one way would be for the Govt to publicly invite them to be so.

          Or perhaps rather than posing questions they should work together to put some suggestions up. I don't think anyone wants or needs or has time for a mass of empty posturing from any group. If they've have got ideas then put them forward……to people and groups that can assess/discuss etc.

          • DukeEll 3.1.1.1.1

            So don't ask questions about seeing a plan, because the plan will be criticised.

            Instead present their own plan. Which would be a form of critcism of the government who haven't presented a plan.

            Some fucking woolly headed thinking from you and sanctuary on this.

            Maybe people who aren't business owners are wondering what the plan is too? Are those people to be dismissed as they are deemed to be "oppositional"

            • shanreagh 3.1.1.1.1.1

              Why demand details when they can work together with one of the committees set up by the Govt through DPMC or the Treasury, you know work constructively, instead of grandstanding. Then they can be in at the start working with peers in govt, other industries etc. Putting their suggestions forward, having them assessed etc.

              As long as there are businesses that have not acted ethically in returning any Covid advances or firing staff after receiving such, I am afraid their credibility to me, and I suspect to some in higher echelons, would be shot.

              But if they are sincere in working with Govt it is always better, reputation-wise, to get in at the ground floor and not expect some sort of public dialogue on a govt to lobby group basis. Despite the groups' views they are not the equals of the Govt and should not demand anything because of a misplaced view of their own importance.

              I am not so woolly headed that I am expecting ‘ta dah’ A PLAN….I am expecting many plans, climate change, roll out of vaccines, housing, health, trade …where Covid has/will have an impact on these then it will be addressed. Covid is not the sum total of the work that the Govt is doing.

              • DukeEll

                This government has had a year almost to the day to plan for the way out from covid. Pray for the vaccines then stick everyone with it. sort of a plan i guess.

                This government has also had several years to come up with CC, Housing, Health and trade plans. precious little evidence of those too.

                Dismissing calls to see a plan simply because it comes from business is far to simplistic. Dismissing their calls for a plan as they haven't got their own is woolly headed thinking.

                Each of those business owners will have a plan for their own company., You'd think the government would have one for it's own country

                • shanreagh

                  One is coming up……it is called the Budget. We have one most years and we had ongoing announcements during the last year.

                  The Policy statement was released on 9/2.

                  https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/budget-policy-statement/budget-policy-statement-2021

                  Climate change was discussed here only a few weeks ago….haven’t got time to find all the links for you.

                  One idea is to look at column to the right of this and read the press releases and requests for comments that are put out by Govt/Depts.

                  There is an ongoing fallacy that Govt work is akin to the way a household budget works.

                  Comparing the Govt to a large corporation goes right to the ground rock of the neo-liberal rubbish of the 1ate 80s/90s where govt depts were all enjoined to think like corporations, we sold off so-called non-performing assets as companies do. In doing this we forgot completely that many of these govt dept had an immense social capital that could not be envisaged/counted by company clones.

                  The comparison of a company with the Government is not apt.

                  • DukeEll

                    Press releases aren't a plan. They are a statement of desire, perhaps intent.

                    the budget is a plan to spend money. this government is excellent at planning for that. not much else it seems

                    • shanreagh

                      Ok so you have not read the Policy statement. That's fine, your choice.

                      It does contain much on well being as well as:

                      The Labour Government's overarching policy goals for the next three years are:

                      • Continuing to keep New Zealand safe from COVID-19
                      • Accelerating the recovery and rebuild from the impacts of COVID-19
                      • Laying the foundations for the future, including addressing key issues such as our climate change response, housing affordability and child poverty.

                      etc etc etc.

                      Three big sections that you and the business leaders could have read…..

                      The press statements also often contain invitations from Govt for comments to help formulate policy. Again responding can be a way pf participating.

                    • DukeEll

                      you do understand the difference between a plan and a policy statement right?

                    • shanreagh

                      In response to your

                      you do understand the difference between a plan and a policy statement right?

                      Of course. Spent the greater part of my working life on high level policy as opposed to plans. Latter part working on technical policy that drops out of legislation etc. and before any operational 'how to do this'. Done my fair share of working on strategic planning and business planning…..

                      You need good policy before you get down to the nitty, gritty of plans…at any one time there have some ideas being worked on at a high level and going right down to what we call technical policy, then operational plans.

                      The better the policy is the better the operational plans will be.

                      That is why to adopt the ideas from the Business Group holus bolus is to adopt something that does not appear to have any high level or philosophical work behind it.

                      The budget nowadays is much more than a process of spending money it has aspirational elements as well with the focus on meeting well being targets.

                    • DukeEll []

                      Ah, so for a the best part of your life you’ve been the problem and not the solution. Strategies and plans need policies to keep them guided and moving in the right direction. Policy comes out of the plan which comes out of the goal being set.
                      The other way is arse backwards and given your dismissal of this approach by high achieving individuals, I’m surmising you still work on policy at high level, and in government. Which would go a long way to explaining why so many of these policies and aspirations are having no impact on the well being of this country

                    • Drowsy M. Kram

                      Ah, so for a the best part of your life you’ve been the problem and not the solution.

                      Thanks DukeEll for beginning your comment with a personal attack – saved me the bother of reading the rest of it.

  4. shanreagh 4

    Here is a partial list

    The group includes Patrick Strange (Chair of Chorus NZ and Auckland Airport), Prue Flacks (Chair of Mercury Energy), Joan Withers (Chair of The Warehouse Group), Rob Campbell (Chair of SkyCity, Tourism Holdings, Summerset and Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology) and Scott St John (Chancellor of the University of Auckland and Chair of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare).

    https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2103/S00029/senior-business-leaders-call-for-new-zealand-to-set-a-clear-path-out-of-covid-19.htm

    Mmmmmmmmm.

    “We are positive about what has been achieved to date. We are all keen and committed to bringing our collective expertise to assist the Government in working for the longer-term benefit of all New Zealanders and look forward to the government’s response.” Rob Campbell.

    Well buddies to give the govt a gotcha is not the way to win friends and influence people. How much more powerful it would have been had there been a joint press release saying that they are working with the committees and have offered their own expertise to govt (ie the tracking etc). or just done this with no publicity.

    But I dream.

    • Graeme 4.1

      Yep, a lovely roll call of all the titans of commerce who didn’t have a plan for a pandemic, because ‘it’ll never happen’

      Now they are pushing the line that the Government hasn’t got a plan to divert from their own lack of planning and risk analysis.

      Could be some very tetchy board and shareholder meetings coming up.

      • Pat 4.1.1

        "Could be some very tetchy board and shareholder meetings coming up."

        Its why they command such good remuneration …so they say.

        I suspect it will be water off a ducks back however

  5. RedBaronCV 5

    Looks like they want to get back to selling work visa's to foreign students.

    If they waited about 6 months a lot of these "entitled demands" will have been sorted. And some of the others will need some form of international co-operation.

    Are they just wanting the timelines though so they can roar onto their next list of demands about the public support they will think they are entitled to when the border is a little more open?

    Or they could adjust to the new normal where they have to work for their money. Perhaps they should get on with hardening their supply chains by kickstarting local sourcing and supply with automation where possible.

    • shanreagh 5.1

      Or they could adjust to the new normal where they have to work for their money. Perhaps they should get on with hardening their supply chains by kickstarting local sourcing and supply with automation where possible.

      Far too hard.

      Much easier to rave in public instead of working at the coal face to make improvements.

    • Foreign Waka 5.2

      We are talking about that innovative, entrepreneurial, efficient and soooo much better than the average person are we? LOL.

      To have the poorest paying the major junk of tax only to have that tax taken and paid out to them – 16 billions – must qualify.

  6. Populuxe1 6

    And yet I can't see anything unreasonable in any of that – I'd like to know those things too. I'm sure many of us would. Nor do I see the point in criticising business leaders (or anyone for that matter) for not continuing to praise Labour and scatter rose petals before them a full year on – we're all grateful, we're also fatigued. The only thing I feel I can legitimately complain about is business leaders not doing more to come forward with strategies to support business developing resilience that doesn't require the government.

    • Foreign Waka 6.1

      Well said.

    • shanreagh 6.2

      The only thing I feel I can legitimately complain about is business leaders not doing more to come forward with strategies to support business developing resilience that doesn't require the government.

      Yes they are noticeably silent on this. The total focus on themselves always gets to me. The constant moaning always gets to me

      https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/no-promises-struggling-fox-and-franz-josef

      One person is quoted as saying (March 2021) that 97% of his business relies on international tourism….well they have known about Covid and the fact of no overseas tourists for as long as we have, its a year on and your business is still focused at only grabbing 3% from domestic tourists.

      They need to face facts that the cargo cult of large numbers of overseas tourists coming in and low waged overseas workers to look after them is gone. Probably forever. Time to put your thinking caps on and come up with some innovative strategies for your local tourist industry that the Govt can support, underwrite, lean on banks to support. 'We want some money' as a plan just doesn't cut it.

    • froggleblocks 6.3

      Yeah I don't really get the criticism here. I would like to know those things too. Other countries have published varrying degrees of this information.

      I'm not entirely sure what these business people think they're going to do once they have the information. Perhaps they don't know either. But having more certainty around what the likely trajectory from here is, doesn't seem like a bad thing?

      Better to treat people like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and shovel shit on them?

  7. Descendant Of Smith 7

    The last time these pillars of business were put together to come up with a strategy all they could come up with was a cycleway, a request for the government to give them money and a nine day working week.

    I don't hold much faith that they could do any better this time.

    The government had been planning for a pandemic for many years – the private sector had ignored the risk. They hadn't put reserves away for when it would happen, they hadn't looked at their supply chains, they hadn't looked at how they could pivot to do something else. The whole pandemic came as a surprise to them. Bunch of numpties.

    How many of them have been sacked by their shareholders for disregarding hat was a known risk?

    But ahh the risible jobs summit.

    "The most expensive proposal from the summit was for an equity investment fund involving the Government and private banks as partners.

    Though figures were not discussed in open sessions, the scheme would involve hundreds of millions of dollars."

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jobs-summit-throws-up-three-big-ideas/A6GA4KWXWG5N5XYXEQKCGWSZUU/

  8. infused 8

    We couldn't possibly ask the government if it has a plan… how dare they.

    [Please stick to your original user name, thanks]

  9. Stuart Munro 9

    I'm not sure that we're ready for post-Covid strategies. We are dealing with an emergent situation – or government and health are doing so on our behalf.

    I'm sure we'd be interested in anything the usual suspects think they can contribute to the response, but they don't seem ready to engage constructively.

    Somewhere, some ministerial secretary is probably writing a letter that begins: "Thank you for your concern…"

  10. " t would not be difficult for a Prime Minister to simply ask: do our titans of industry have any leadership capacity at all?

    But she didn't.

    And wouldn't dare.

  11. Incognito 11

    Thank you for the Post, but I disagree with most of it as well as with most of the comments so far.

    I welcome the positive and constructive approach this group is following in their “call for more openness and clarity from the Government on its plan for getting New Zealand to “COVID normal”.”

    They did not demand but asked respectfully a number of valid and reasonable questions.

    It is notable that they addressed this to Government without politicising. Even more notable is that they bypassed National and ACT – have they even responded or just stunned silence and crickets?

    They are playing their part and wish to do more and at the same time they are doing an important job that the shambolic Opposition fails to do because they are too busy barking at passing cars and chasing cheap political points. You know the fruit is hanging low and over-ripe when Josie Pagani joins the fray.

    It is good to see that there are still some Leaders Left in Aotearoa-New Zealand!

    • Ad 11.1

      The release came out on the same day as National and Act called for the same things – and continue to do so. If you think there's no link in that then you had better read Dirty Politics again. It's politicised up to its eyeballs.

      As for "playing their part", well, horseshit to that foolish naiveity.

      Michael Barnett the Auckland Chamber of Commerce leader spells it out to the mega-corporates in his response yesterday:

      “If big business really wants to help small business bearing the brunt of the lockdown then they might consider tangible benefits to help mitigate the rising overheads and debts. If there are businesses in this group associated with the telecommunications and energy sectors, consideration could be given to pricing for instance, and every single one of them can do something today to shore up the economy by mandating buy local, pay promptly on the 20th of each month, create employment and training opportunities, and support events and the local visitor market."

      https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2103/S00077/we-all-have-a-role.htm

      The great majority of business in New Zealand is very small, and Mr Barnett is calling out the electricity and telecommunications monopolists within that group for doing nothing for them at a time of crisis. Business closures have spiked 130% in the last quarter of 2020.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300243922/covid-reality-bites-business-closures-spike-130pc

      Plenty on this site have called for landlords to ease up their rents while this crisis continues. And electricity prices. and telco prices. Help citizens and small business?

      Oh fuck no they say. What they prefer to do is seek specific quantifiable medical data so that the entire debate shifts from commercial leadership and recovery to government rollout.

      • Incognito 11.1.1

        Are you suggesting that that press release was a ploy from DP? I’d call that foolish and dangerous paranoia. Will we see an apology in Court in a few years like yesterday’s one by Carrick Graham?

        Yes, Michael Barnett, you, and a whole bunch of commenters here are singing from the same song sheet albeit slightly out of tune, which is mighty interesting. However, it does not address or negate anything in/of my comment.

        You really lost me at the end of your comment.

        The problem as I see it is that many ideologues on/of the Left rather burn and blow up bridges than to find common ground and work together with corporate business leaders, for example. It is clearly not just the Right that perpetuates the gaping political divide and alienating (AKA othering) polarisation.

        I fully expect more populist BS and propaganda; Trump will be back too in 2024 because his ‘work’ is also continuing 🙁

        • shanreagh 11.1.1.1

          I think what left/leaves me cold is the assumption that

          a) because of their assumed status what they want is worth seeking

          b) that this, life with Covid after the current crises, is a brand new idea that no-one has thought of before

          c) no track record (well none referred at least) of doing this behind the scenes without the 'ra-ra', ie getting alongside/working with the various groups that are working right now and have been since Covid started.

          To me, even if the ideas have merit, they may not get traction unless those putting forward the ideas come closer to those advising Govt, work & stand alongside them, be prepared to have a discussion and accept that some may not work, do some work themselves…..

          d) of course it goes without saying that there are ways that these groups can do work themselves to ease the hardship many face because of their actions. Called getting one's own house in order.

          Stuart Munro said earlier

          ……. We are dealing with an emergent situation – or government and health are doing so on our behalf.

          I'm sure we'd be interested in anything the usual suspects think they can contribute to the response, but they don't seem ready to engage constructively.

          Working behind the scenes is constructive.

          Knowing the high level departmental environment I am sure that Govt employees will be reaching out to this group to invite them to participate in planning etc, if they are not already doing so……let's hope the group takes up the invitation and works constructively and quietly for the good of NZ.

          That is my hopesmiley

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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
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