Key is standing with one hand in his pocket again. It’s something I really associate with him; jacket undone, one hand in his pocket, shirt collar cut so that it looks like his tie’s a little loose.
What is it that his handlers are trying to construct? or combat?
Why is casual and expensively subtly rumpled working for Key?
Is it a conscious construction to make him more familiar, more like one-of-us?
I’d rather ask for a source to back that statement. You could also try explaining what would have happened if Labour hadn’t kept up funding in a health system that swallows 7% of its budget in inflation every year.
Anita – it’s a big step up from the ‘Don Brash Ensemble’ – Charcoal suit, white shirt, yellow tie.
It says a lot about political observation that you immediately jump to “it must be part of a plan” rather than “it’s just his ‘thing’ “. We all have little manerisms and physical ‘default settings’.
‘Ensemble’ was a personal choice of Brash – this was before his time as leader of the Opp.
It would be fair to speculate on Key being ‘managed’ in this respect if the attire has changed significantly (as Brash’s did). But from what I’ve seen, Key looks just like he did before.
Phil. health sector inflation is a lot higher than the general economy, I seem to remember hearing 7% too. So, merely to tread water, the health budget needs to increase 7% in nominal terms.. but wait, there’s population growth of 1% a year too, plus the population is aging, so the health demand per person is increasing. So, you’re pretty large increases each year just to keep up.
The flipside is that if health spending hadn’t doubled over the last 9 years, we would have much less healthcare capacity per person even as health demand per person is rising. we would have an even more underpaid medical workforce and serious shortages of staff, we would have far less money for medicine and medical equipment.
Do you have some old images of Key? It’d be interesting to see whether Key-the-moneytrader, Key-the-MP, and Key-the-leader really do all look the same.
My feeling was that there had been a change, but it’s gut feel not research đ
There’s an easy argument to be made that health costs increase at a steeper rate than inflation because they’re catching up for the cuts of the 90s. Have you tried plotting per capita health spend over the last 25 years? It might show a pretty red/blue trend, particularly if you could segment out the health costs and look at primary separately.
A lot of the recent increases in costs have been trying to sort out woefully low health sector wages.
health sector inflation is a lot higher than the general economy, I seem to remember hearing 7% too. So, merely to tread water, the health budget needs to increase 7% in nominal terms.. but wait, there’s population growth of 1% a year too, plus the population is aging, so the health demand per person is increasing. So, you’re pretty large increases each year just to keep up.
Isn’t it lucky then that during the 1990s the dismal National government intoduced funding streams for exactly these purposes .
Steve nice red herring… Politics suits you; its all about spin.
Read what I said. Do some real research and you will understand that it ain’t all black n’ white. But feel free to remain ignorant if you so wish. It gives me a good laugh.
Isn’t it lucky then that during the 1990s the dismal National government intoduced funding streams for exactly these purposes .
Huh? What? Where?
Seriously but, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m fascinated because targetted funding streams and guaranteed increases to meet demand would be an awesome thing.
Do you have more detail so I can go and read to my geeky little heart’s content?
Anita have a look on the Ministry of Health’s website. There should be something there
Yeah, I already did that and I couldn’t. I also looked through the 2008-2009 estimates and nada. Nor could I find anything in the 1999 and 1998 National budget speeches and fiscal reports (the estimates aren’t on the Treasury site any more, but what is left is pretty thorough).
Presumably you had a source in mind when you said it, where should I be looking?
From Budget 2008 p. 10
A significant proportion of the new allocations are used to maintain existing services by enabling the
sector to manage the impact of price pressures as well as demographic and technological change. This
funding, known as the forecast funding track (FFT) and demographics, amounts to some $496 million of
the $750 million allocation in Budget 2008, with the balance of the funding used for various new
initiatives.
Budget 2000 – p. 12
ĂąâŹÂą $159 million to maintain existing services overall and implementing service
improvements to increase health gain
ĂąâŹÂą $99.691 million to reflect demographic pressures
Way back up there you said that the National Government of the 1990s
intoduced funding streams for exactly these purposes
What you have shown evidence of is a completely normal practice for every government I’m aware of of increasing budgets to take into account demographic (and other) shifts in service requirements, and of identifying those clearly in the budget documents (although obviously the budget documents were different before the PFA).
So nothing you have shown demonstrates either “introduced” or “funding streams”.
It also doesn’t show whether the increases were, in fact, adequate to keep up with those demographic shifts.
Oh, and I forgot to say, everything you’ve given us is from a Labour led government. If you’re sure about your claim that National in the 1990s introduced funding streams, you probably need to look at what National did in the 1990s đ
In 1996-97, automatic adjustments to funding were introduced for Vote: Health, initially only for demographic changes. In 1997, Cabinet agreed to a health funding package to maintain the existing level of health and disability services. Included in this package was the “sustainable funding path’, which was an adjustment to the Vote to allow for the effects of inflation, technology, and improvements in efficiency, and to allow for some new initiatives. In 1999, funding was agreed for 2000-01. Subsequently, a funding increase was also announced for 2001-02. In December 2001, the
Thanks for that, I’ll enjoy having a proper look through it tomorrow.
The pieces I’m most interested in (Disability and Mental Health funding) seem to have some interesting characteristics (for example the Mason funding doesn’t seem to even increase with inflation), but it’ll take a bit of going through to get there.
It is interesting to see the origins of the Population-based Funding Formula in there, and the use of socioeconomic deprivation data, although at first glance I can’t see the weightings. Not to mention the idea that they considered some of the DHBs initially overfunded according to the model (?!). That model seems to be a 2001 introduction, and the report doesn’t seem to show the initial (1997) model for demographic funding, now I have a year and a name I’ll be able to have a proper dig around.
So that’ll keep me entertained for a while đ
As for partisan hackery, would it make you happy if I said that, in my opinion, both Labour and National led governments have been piss poor at addressing the health needs of the disabled and mentally ill? The fact that the demographic calculations take into account socio-economic factors (at least from 2001) which are both a cause and a consequence helps a little, but throwing money at the DHBs is not the same at actually working out a strategy and following through.
Both disability and mental illness are challenging political issues, because they require an honest evaluation of our social structures, our social norms, our service provision models, and the roles of families and communities. That makes them a much tougher issue than either hip operations or cancer treatment.
“Just as we are still paying under our current Labour led government.”
A large number of us are actually getting it for free, now. What are the present charges for GP visits by age? I think last time i went I was still in the “That’ll be $50 please” bracket, but I know that the clock is ticking for essentially free visits across the board, and already for most age brackets.
I think last time i went I was still in the “That’ll be $50 please’ bracket
I’ve escaped for less than that recently (short consult, no drugs dispensed) and I’m paying unsubsidized ‘market’ rates (because I’d rather not wait in a subsidised clinic).
It’s a curious situation at present in NZ. You pay market rates for an electrician, plumber, or builder – but a doctor with years of experience and paying off a loan for medical school fees has their fee regulated by the government. It is no wonder that GP’s are in short supply.
But you don’t choose to see a doctor I hear you say?
I don’t choose to need a plumber or electrician either. It’s almost always when something is broken and needs immediate attention.
If I recall correctly from my last call to a plumber/sparky in central Auckland: they wouldn’t pick up the phone for $50. $90 might get them out of their ute.
I think most people listening to the soundbites in the video have been led handheld to focus on the negative aspect of uncapped GP fees.
As far as I can tell the policy is primarily about the income of doctors. Nothing else. You would need to look at it alongside the rest of the policy to see whether or not it was a crap idea. As it stand though, it’s a dogwhistle video: Increased fees! user pays! Shock!
If the govt announced that they were going to ‘meet or exceed the market rates’ in order to get more doctors into hospital emergency wards then I suspect you would all be cheering.
Why the beef with GPs? I think they are worth a lot more than spanner monkeys. It saddens me to think that my own doc (whom I have seen for 20 years – and is a genuine thoughtful, caring person) has to plead to a govt panel to lift his fee.
Anyone who thinks that GPs are in the job for the money is mistaken.
jbc – agree with pretty much all of what you’ve written.
It is tricky. I think fully subsidized healthcare is a good idea, because it helps to reduce the false economy of being sick and not getting treated to save money – long run saving to society at large because the person doesn’t go on to impose a much greater cost on the health system at a level which IS fully subsidised.
But, as you reasonably point out, you can apply the same argument to electricians/plumbers/builders. A poorly insulated home is grossly uneconomic, including the likely health cost burden to society (hence my wholehearted support for the recent green party won initiative).
I guess eventually it’s all a matter of shifting standards – “universal human rights” are weird like that. What was an unattainable luxury becomes a basic right 20 years later, especially in medicine.
Hmmmmmmm.
For what it’s worth, I think the way the DHB’s in NZ have treated doctors, particularly junior doctors, is abysmal. The result is hugely expensive and unsustainable.
There’s a huge amount of “envy politics” aimed at the medical profession I think, by both sides of the political spectrum and by the non-medical elements of the healthcare profession. Why should doctors earn so much? Well, how about because they went to med school for 6 years (and that’s just for the basic level) which, in addition to costing them around $100k, created an opportunity cost of probably around $200k. That’s $25k/annum just to service the cost of capital.
Cheap answer (without the “poor people don’t get healthcare” approach National appears to advocate) – stop people getting sick. Vote Green.
Anyone know green party policy on stem cell research?
NOT EVEN! IT’S TRUE! Jeanette’s tears cure cancer.
You’re right. Sadly. Some of their efforts will HELP stop people getting sick I think. Shifting 10% of the healthcare budget into prevention seems like relatively sensible allocation, in principle at least.
Why they have to call it an “annual wellness check” though… argh. ‘Wellness’.
And: “ensure a health impact assessment is completed on all government policies and projects.” – On ALL? That sounds like exactly the same kind of suggestion that leads to health impacts being IGNORED, because they become so pervasive and generic and meaningless people stop taking them seriously.
“Support improvements in the pay and working conditions of health professionals, including mandatory staff to patient ratios in order to ease nationwide recruitment and retention problems. ”
Mandatory staff to patient ratios eh?
That’ll be fun to arrange. So do you kick out patients, or do you force people to become doctors?
—
Sigh. At least they’re going in the right sort of direction. Would love to see their funding model. Don’t mistake me for a Green fanatic HS – I’m just busy lately so gross over simplification is attractive. I’m voting for them because they’ve got the right idea on energy and transport. And they actually act like mature, responsible adults (mostly). Doesn’t mean I don’t think some of them aree flaky hippies, and I definitely think some of their policy is idealistic unrealisable bullshit (at least as far as the meaningful short term is concerned).
Aside from the lousy treatment of staff by the DHB’s I actually think our health system is pretty good. I just don’t think it’s going to stay pretty good, because the staff are going to leave.
” 4. Take a precautionary approach to electromagnetic radiation regarding its possible effects on human health, and set up an independent committee to review the limits set by the National Radiation Laboratory for EMF, in particular for dwellings and schools located near high voltage transmission lines.
5. Minimise exposure to electromagnetic radiation especially for children and pregnant women.
6. No new unshielded high voltage power lines or towers to be built within 300 metres of any residential homes and schools.
7. Investigate how to deal with existing high voltage transmission lines located within 300 metres of any residential homes and schools.”
Right.
Green Party – Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t.
I’d love to know where that 300m figure came from. Has anyone seen sue kedgley rolling a die lately?
A large number of us are actually getting it for free, now. What are the present charges for GP visits by age? I think last time i went I was still in the “That’ll be $50 please’ bracket, but I know that the clock is ticking for essentially free visits across the board, and already for most age brackets.
Actually very few people are getting their primary health care for free. Here’s a handy report about the level of GP fees in the Waikato.
There is a specific cost-escalation index the MOH have. It’s called the Hospital Price Index, and measures changes in the cost of staffing and other ‘consumable’ inputs… it might also include a measure of capital expense, not 100% sure.
I don’t recall this ever approaching 7%, or anything anywhere near that level. Happy to be proven wrong if anyone has the time to ask the MOH if it’s available to the general public.
If the govt announced that they were going to ĂąâŹËmeet or exceed the market rates’ in order to get more doctors into hospital emergency wards then I suspect you would all be cheering.
I certainly would be especially if it was extended to include GPs as well. The problem with the market as far as health is concerned is that it doesn’t provide enough doctors to cover the entire population and it’s more expensive. I don’t have a problem with doctors being paid well. I do have a problem when people can’t afford to go see the doctor when they need to.
Markets don’t work for everything and that’s something that National/ACT and their supporters don’t want to admit.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
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1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
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TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
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Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
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Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
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 Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
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TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. Iâm talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
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 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
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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 Americaâs un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is Americaâs Octavian, the Republicâs youthful undertaker â and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMPâS SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the âilliberalâ 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 ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
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 MÄori rallied against the Crownâs attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hÄ«koi of a generation and the birth of Te PÄti MÄori. 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 Governmentâs move to dilute child poverty targets is a reminder that it is actively choosing to preserve hardship for thousands of households. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israelâs illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinianâs 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 Palestinianâs 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 Israelâs occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Governmentâs 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 whÄnau 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 canât escape on ...
Te PÄti MÄori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. âThis announcement is just another example of the governmentâs anti-Tiriti, anti-MÄori agenda.â Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. âSeymour 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. ...
Nationalâs 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 itâs been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didnât declare and said wasnât pre-arranged. ...
Te PÄti MÄori 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. âReinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of MÄori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. âThis legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whÄnau out onto the street for no reasonâ said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. âTheir solution to the housing ...
âNationalâs campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,â Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
âThere 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,â Jan Tinetti said. ...
âThis government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this governmentâs agenda and the future of our mokopuna,â 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 ...
âTodayâs climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,â 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 theyâre 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. âThe Abuse in Care Inquiryâs report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faithâbased institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Governmentâs online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. âIt 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 ...
TÄnÄ tÄtou katoa, NgÄ mihi te rangi, ngÄ mihi te whenua, ngÄ 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 Zealandâs 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. âThe 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 â Te PokapĆ« WÄina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. âThe 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. âRegions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesiaâs Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. âIndonesia is important to New Zealandâs security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,â says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kĆrero, he kĆrero, he kĆrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of NgÄti Maniapoto, Minister for MÄori Development Tama Potaka says. âMy thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust â NgÄti Maniapoto for bringing their important kĆrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.âI have received Ms Fredricâs resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,â Mr Brown says.âOn 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 Parliamentâs test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. âSection 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 âdangerous changesâ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. âIssues 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. âThe level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations Iâve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatƫ 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 Hawkeâs 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. Itâs 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 âWhanaketia â through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,â 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 âWhanaketia â 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. âTax 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. âIt 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. âCompetitive 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. âUnder 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 WhangÄrei 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. âFor 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. âIt 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,â 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. âI 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. âASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,â Mr Peters says. âThis 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. âThis $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,â 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. âThis support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealandâs 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. âCabinet 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. âThe previous governmentâs 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. âNew 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. âAttending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,â 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 regionâs fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministersâ 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 Governmentâs plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. âOn 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.âIncreasing 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. âNew Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,â Mr Peters says. âWe 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, itâs a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealandâs 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 kÄkÄ 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 â winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 â 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 Wattsâ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Governmentâs emissions reduction plan. Now Iâve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayersâ 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. âThey didnât explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still havenât. Thereâs 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 sheâd like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. âIf the phone rings, I have to answer it,â Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of PĆneke writer Flora Feltham.In âThe Raw Materialâ, the longest essay in Flora Felthamâs dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. âPounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the bandâs perfect weekend and new release. âGood speakers, good food, good music, no distractionsâ: thatâs all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Prettiesâ 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 yearâs 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 â 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 Whatâs Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babuâs 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 â 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 âteal waveâ 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 worldâs most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman â 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 Googleâs parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the cityâs 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, itâs 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 Ă kerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether youâd 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 whatâs 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 itâs not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te RĆ«nanga Nui o NgÄ Kura Kaupapa MÄori 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 MÄori ...
If you havenât 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. Thereâs the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my motherâs 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 governmentâs announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old MÄori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,â 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 Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkinsâ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any MÄori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among MÄori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this weekâs mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its âget tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing â the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the bodyâs immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are youâll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshullâs anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the warâs early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing itâs not is âjust a headacheâ. âMigraineâ comes from the Greek word âhemicraniaâ, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earthâs land area â particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. Youâd barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capitalâs last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the countryâs effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealandâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we donât yet know what the legacy of this yearâs games will be, letâs take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in todayâs extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
Itâs the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
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Risking an accusation of threadjacking…
Key is standing with one hand in his pocket again. It’s something I really associate with him; jacket undone, one hand in his pocket, shirt collar cut so that it looks like his tie’s a little loose.
What is it that his handlers are trying to construct? or combat?
Why is casual and expensively subtly rumpled working for Key?
Is it a conscious construction to make him more familiar, more like one-of-us?
What a strange video. Sometimes I think there should be age restrictions on the ability to make YouTube vids.
Old news. Ask why a doubling of the health budget under Labour has not improved outcomes.
I’d rather ask for a source to back that statement. You could also try explaining what would have happened if Labour hadn’t kept up funding in a health system that swallows 7% of its budget in inflation every year.
Anita – it’s a big step up from the ‘Don Brash Ensemble’ – Charcoal suit, white shirt, yellow tie.
It says a lot about political observation that you immediately jump to “it must be part of a plan” rather than “it’s just his ‘thing’ “. We all have little manerisms and physical ‘default settings’.
Phil,
Well we know that Brash’s clothes and behaviour were very heavily managed, why wouldn’t Key’s be?
swallows 7% of its budget in inflation every year.
Erm… WTF?
Anita,
‘Ensemble’ was a personal choice of Brash – this was before his time as leader of the Opp.
It would be fair to speculate on Key being ‘managed’ in this respect if the attire has changed significantly (as Brash’s did). But from what I’ve seen, Key looks just like he did before.
Phil. health sector inflation is a lot higher than the general economy, I seem to remember hearing 7% too. So, merely to tread water, the health budget needs to increase 7% in nominal terms.. but wait, there’s population growth of 1% a year too, plus the population is aging, so the health demand per person is increasing. So, you’re pretty large increases each year just to keep up.
The flipside is that if health spending hadn’t doubled over the last 9 years, we would have much less healthcare capacity per person even as health demand per person is rising. we would have an even more underpaid medical workforce and serious shortages of staff, we would have far less money for medicine and medical equipment.
Phil,
Do you have some old images of Key? It’d be interesting to see whether Key-the-moneytrader, Key-the-MP, and Key-the-leader really do all look the same.
My feeling was that there had been a change, but it’s gut feel not research đ
SP,
There’s an easy argument to be made that health costs increase at a steeper rate than inflation because they’re catching up for the cuts of the 90s. Have you tried plotting per capita health spend over the last 25 years? It might show a pretty red/blue trend, particularly if you could segment out the health costs and look at primary separately.
A lot of the recent increases in costs have been trying to sort out woefully low health sector wages.
health sector inflation is a lot higher than the general economy, I seem to remember hearing 7% too. So, merely to tread water, the health budget needs to increase 7% in nominal terms.. but wait, there’s population growth of 1% a year too, plus the population is aging, so the health demand per person is increasing. So, you’re pretty large increases each year just to keep up.
Isn’t it lucky then that during the 1990s the dismal National government intoduced funding streams for exactly these purposes .
naughtybynature.. ‘funding streams’ … you mean user-pays that put basic healthcare out of the reach of ordinary Kiwis?
Steve nice red herring… Politics suits you; its all about spin.
Read what I said. Do some real research and you will understand that it ain’t all black n’ white. But feel free to remain ignorant if you so wish. It gives me a good laugh.
naughtybynature,
Huh? What? Where?
Seriously but, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m fascinated because targetted funding streams and guaranteed increases to meet demand would be an awesome thing.
Do you have more detail so I can go and read to my geeky little heart’s content?
naughty, i did read what you read… are you not talking about user pays? maybe you would be so kind as to elucidate.
Steve you referred to funding for cost and demographic pressures. National introduced funding for these in the middle to late 1990s.
Anita have a look on the Ministry of Health’s website. There should be something there.
naughtbynature,
Yeah, I already did that and I couldn’t. I also looked through the 2008-2009 estimates and nada. Nor could I find anything in the 1999 and 1998 National budget speeches and fiscal reports (the estimates aren’t on the Treasury site any more, but what is left is pretty thorough).
Presumably you had a source in mind when you said it, where should I be looking?
Yes I had sources in mind…
From Budget 2008 p. 10
A significant proportion of the new allocations are used to maintain existing services by enabling the
sector to manage the impact of price pressures as well as demographic and technological change. This
funding, known as the forecast funding track (FFT) and demographics, amounts to some $496 million of
the $750 million allocation in Budget 2008, with the balance of the funding used for various new
initiatives.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/2008/ise/v6/ise08-v6-pia-health.pdf
Budget 2000 – p. 12
ĂąâŹÂą $159 million to maintain existing services overall and implementing service
improvements to increase health gain
ĂąâŹÂą $99.691 million to reflect demographic pressures
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/2000/estimates/est00health.pdf
Can’t obtain earlier budgets online.
Happy digging.
so, yeah, the lion’s share of the health funding increase since 1999 has been to keep up with demographic pressures and inflation
naughtybynature,
Way back up there you said that the National Government of the 1990s
What you have shown evidence of is a completely normal practice for every government I’m aware of of increasing budgets to take into account demographic (and other) shifts in service requirements, and of identifying those clearly in the budget documents (although obviously the budget documents were different before the PFA).
So nothing you have shown demonstrates either “introduced” or “funding streams”.
It also doesn’t show whether the increases were, in fact, adequate to keep up with those demographic shifts.
Care to try again?
But, NBN, where’s your source that proves what you said about what National did in the 1990s?
Oh, and I forgot to say, everything you’ve given us is from a Labour led government. If you’re sure about your claim that National in the 1990s introduced funding streams, you probably need to look at what National did in the 1990s đ
Partisan blah blah blah. National this, Labour that.
Want the references? OIA them because in the era of open government that’s what you have to do.
But by all means continue the partisan bickering it’s rather amusing.
Good luck.
Actually here you go:
In 1996-97, automatic adjustments to funding were introduced for Vote: Health, initially only for demographic changes. In 1997, Cabinet agreed to a health funding package to maintain the existing level of health and disability services. Included in this package was the “sustainable funding path’, which was an adjustment to the Vote to allow for the effects of inflation, technology, and improvements in efficiency, and to allow for some new initiatives. In 1999, funding was agreed for 2000-01. Subsequently, a funding increase was also announced for 2001-02. In December 2001, the
http://www.oag.govt.nz/2006/health/part2.htm
I love it when I’m right. Mind you it happens so frequently the thrill is becoming less and less.
There you go partisan hacks. Pick it to bits and tell me why the Right is so terrible and the Left so grand.
but, naughty, National was getting the money for that from part-charges.. you know, user pays.
naughtybutnice,
Thanks for that, I’ll enjoy having a proper look through it tomorrow.
The pieces I’m most interested in (Disability and Mental Health funding) seem to have some interesting characteristics (for example the Mason funding doesn’t seem to even increase with inflation), but it’ll take a bit of going through to get there.
It is interesting to see the origins of the Population-based Funding Formula in there, and the use of socioeconomic deprivation data, although at first glance I can’t see the weightings. Not to mention the idea that they considered some of the DHBs initially overfunded according to the model (?!). That model seems to be a 2001 introduction, and the report doesn’t seem to show the initial (1997) model for demographic funding, now I have a year and a name I’ll be able to have a proper dig around.
So that’ll keep me entertained for a while đ
As for partisan hackery, would it make you happy if I said that, in my opinion, both Labour and National led governments have been piss poor at addressing the health needs of the disabled and mentally ill? The fact that the demographic calculations take into account socio-economic factors (at least from 2001) which are both a cause and a consequence helps a little, but throwing money at the DHBs is not the same at actually working out a strategy and following through.
Both disability and mental illness are challenging political issues, because they require an honest evaluation of our social structures, our social norms, our service provision models, and the roles of families and communities. That makes them a much tougher issue than either hip operations or cancer treatment.
SP,
Just as we are still paying under our current Labour led government.
“Just as we are still paying under our current Labour led government.”
A large number of us are actually getting it for free, now. What are the present charges for GP visits by age? I think last time i went I was still in the “That’ll be $50 please” bracket, but I know that the clock is ticking for essentially free visits across the board, and already for most age brackets.
I’ve escaped for less than that recently (short consult, no drugs dispensed) and I’m paying unsubsidized ‘market’ rates (because I’d rather not wait in a subsidised clinic).
It’s a curious situation at present in NZ. You pay market rates for an electrician, plumber, or builder – but a doctor with years of experience and paying off a loan for medical school fees has their fee regulated by the government. It is no wonder that GP’s are in short supply.
But you don’t choose to see a doctor I hear you say?
I don’t choose to need a plumber or electrician either. It’s almost always when something is broken and needs immediate attention.
If I recall correctly from my last call to a plumber/sparky in central Auckland: they wouldn’t pick up the phone for $50. $90 might get them out of their ute.
I think most people listening to the soundbites in the video have been led handheld to focus on the negative aspect of uncapped GP fees.
As far as I can tell the policy is primarily about the income of doctors. Nothing else. You would need to look at it alongside the rest of the policy to see whether or not it was a crap idea. As it stand though, it’s a dogwhistle video: Increased fees! user pays! Shock!
If the govt announced that they were going to ‘meet or exceed the market rates’ in order to get more doctors into hospital emergency wards then I suspect you would all be cheering.
Why the beef with GPs? I think they are worth a lot more than spanner monkeys. It saddens me to think that my own doc (whom I have seen for 20 years – and is a genuine thoughtful, caring person) has to plead to a govt panel to lift his fee.
Anyone who thinks that GPs are in the job for the money is mistaken.
Captcha: self-denial. Plenty of that around.
jbc – agree with pretty much all of what you’ve written.
It is tricky. I think fully subsidized healthcare is a good idea, because it helps to reduce the false economy of being sick and not getting treated to save money – long run saving to society at large because the person doesn’t go on to impose a much greater cost on the health system at a level which IS fully subsidised.
But, as you reasonably point out, you can apply the same argument to electricians/plumbers/builders. A poorly insulated home is grossly uneconomic, including the likely health cost burden to society (hence my wholehearted support for the recent green party won initiative).
I guess eventually it’s all a matter of shifting standards – “universal human rights” are weird like that. What was an unattainable luxury becomes a basic right 20 years later, especially in medicine.
Hmmmmmmm.
For what it’s worth, I think the way the DHB’s in NZ have treated doctors, particularly junior doctors, is abysmal. The result is hugely expensive and unsustainable.
There’s a huge amount of “envy politics” aimed at the medical profession I think, by both sides of the political spectrum and by the non-medical elements of the healthcare profession. Why should doctors earn so much? Well, how about because they went to med school for 6 years (and that’s just for the basic level) which, in addition to costing them around $100k, created an opportunity cost of probably around $200k. That’s $25k/annum just to service the cost of capital.
Cheap answer (without the “poor people don’t get healthcare” approach National appears to advocate) – stop people getting sick. Vote Green.
Anyone know green party policy on stem cell research?
but, naughty, National was getting the money for that from part-charges.. you know, user pays.
Care to prove that Steve?
Or is assertionh enough for you?
“Cheap answer …. Stop people getting sick. Vote Green”
I think you might be over promising just a tad my friend.
NOT EVEN! IT’S TRUE! Jeanette’s tears cure cancer.
You’re right. Sadly. Some of their efforts will HELP stop people getting sick I think. Shifting 10% of the healthcare budget into prevention seems like relatively sensible allocation, in principle at least.
Why they have to call it an “annual wellness check” though… argh. ‘Wellness’.
And: “ensure a health impact assessment is completed on all government policies and projects.” – On ALL? That sounds like exactly the same kind of suggestion that leads to health impacts being IGNORED, because they become so pervasive and generic and meaningless people stop taking them seriously.
“Support improvements in the pay and working conditions of health professionals, including mandatory staff to patient ratios in order to ease nationwide recruitment and retention problems. ”
Mandatory staff to patient ratios eh?
That’ll be fun to arrange. So do you kick out patients, or do you force people to become doctors?
—
Sigh. At least they’re going in the right sort of direction. Would love to see their funding model. Don’t mistake me for a Green fanatic HS – I’m just busy lately so gross over simplification is attractive. I’m voting for them because they’ve got the right idea on energy and transport. And they actually act like mature, responsible adults (mostly). Doesn’t mean I don’t think some of them aree flaky hippies, and I definitely think some of their policy is idealistic unrealisable bullshit (at least as far as the meaningful short term is concerned).
Aside from the lousy treatment of staff by the DHB’s I actually think our health system is pretty good. I just don’t think it’s going to stay pretty good, because the staff are going to leave.
” 4. Take a precautionary approach to electromagnetic radiation regarding its possible effects on human health, and set up an independent committee to review the limits set by the National Radiation Laboratory for EMF, in particular for dwellings and schools located near high voltage transmission lines.
5. Minimise exposure to electromagnetic radiation especially for children and pregnant women.
6. No new unshielded high voltage power lines or towers to be built within 300 metres of any residential homes and schools.
7. Investigate how to deal with existing high voltage transmission lines located within 300 metres of any residential homes and schools.”
Right.
Green Party – Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t.
I’d love to know where that 300m figure came from. Has anyone seen sue kedgley rolling a die lately?
T-Rex,
Actually very few people are getting their primary health care for free. Here’s a handy report about the level of GP fees in the Waikato.
Steve,
Waaay back up the thread.
There is a specific cost-escalation index the MOH have. It’s called the Hospital Price Index, and measures changes in the cost of staffing and other ‘consumable’ inputs… it might also include a measure of capital expense, not 100% sure.
I don’t recall this ever approaching 7%, or anything anywhere near that level. Happy to be proven wrong if anyone has the time to ask the MOH if it’s available to the general public.
I certainly would be especially if it was extended to include GPs as well. The problem with the market as far as health is concerned is that it doesn’t provide enough doctors to cover the entire population and it’s more expensive. I don’t have a problem with doctors being paid well. I do have a problem when people can’t afford to go see the doctor when they need to.
Markets don’t work for everything and that’s something that National/ACT and their supporters don’t want to admit.