Without the handbrake what should this Government do?

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, January 1st, 2021 - 112 comments
Categories: climate change, labour, poverty, science, uncategorized - Tags:

Happy new year everyone.

Saionara to 2020 and welcome 2021.  May it be even better.

Today is the day MPs will start to think about the year ahead.  With a stonking mandate and a possible once in a lifetime event, a majority MMP government what should it do?

Simon Wilson has written this very prescient slightly tongue in cheek article published in today’s Herald thinking about the subject.  It is a must read.

As he says why not cancel a few motorway projects, they will become irrelevant as we head towards a post carbon post car society anyway.  Why not build light rail now, feed the circular economy by using the powers of the state to fund local projects, improve education, and reduce poverty by making sure that everyone has enough to live on.

Covid has made us all socialists, we can look overseas and see the damage that right wing governments, fixated on the economy and impervious to the human cost, have managed to achieve.

This Government did not get to the position that it is in by being cautious and working out the middle ground.  It achieved this by being brave, by listening to the science, and by bringing people along with it.

This is the year to be brave.  Let’s do this.

So what do you think the Government should set out to achieve this year?

112 comments on “Without the handbrake what should this Government do? ”

  1. Andre 1

    I want this government to make good on Ardern's “This is my generation's nuclear-free moment, and I am determined that we will tackle it head on” about climate change, from 2017. Putting a serious price on carbon emissions in all sectors including international trade and travel, and making it clear the price will rise fairly quickly to meet emissions reduction targets, will go a long way to actually making good on it.

    Along with improving other aspects of our environment – freshwater, oceans, forests …

    • mickysavage 1.1

      In part they are moving in the right direction. But they are still building damned motorways with Penlink in the north being a particularly silly idea. They should save the money and build lots and lots of walkways and cycleways instead. The cost per meter is much less and the benefit is much more long lasting.

      • Andre 1.1.1

        Meh about Penlink, as long as it actually does end up being tolled at a level that enables cost recovery fairly quickly. As for cycleways and walkways, I'm all for more options for getting around, and in particular, healthier options for getting around.

        But in the big picture, these are really a small part of the issue.

        I kinda reckon there's an attitude shift needed. Way too much of our society still seems to feel entitled to dump their hazardous waste onto the rest of us for free. For most of us, that's our transport and heating exhausts. For some, it's various kinds of run-offs and other emissions.

        I kinda feel like we need to push it home to people that all these emissions are hazardous wastes that cost us all, so they should be paid for. Just like we pay to have our household rubbish taken away, instead of just going and tossing it out the car window somewhere.

        • Sacha 1.1.1.1

          Attitude shift, yes. Firmly and permanently canning Penlink right now could be a symbolic part of that. Labour need to show confidence that the Nats can campaign against it and not win.

          It makes zero long-term sense to build a duplicate road to a small, confined, coastal suburb which did not agree to having much denser building during the region's unitary plan process. Screw em.

          Every dollar needs to take us closer to a smarter sustainable future. Most of this government's proposed transport spending is still roads made from oil for cars and trucks burning it.

          We simply do not have time for that sort of bullshit. It is stealing from our children and our planet. What kind of 'leaders' wave that past?

          • Cave Johnson 1.1.1.1.1

            Penlink will be less about benefitting Whangaparaoa and more about relieving pressure on Silverdale.

            • Sacha 1.1.1.1.1.1

              True, it will make up for the sprawl behind Orewa. Shame they did not extend the Northern busway there instead.

              Penlink will not help people from either direction when their cars just meet further down SH1 rather than at Silverdale.

        • Ed1 1.1.1.2

          It is time for a review of transport charges – I suspect the damage done by heavy trucks is lower than is being charged; roading costs do seem to have increased hugely while fuel costs have barely changed; road user charges and petrol levies need to be reviewed; and costs for emissions also need to be allowed for. It may be necessary to have a mechanism that charges trucks based on actual emissions as tested . . .

          I suspect that the relative costs of rail are moving in favour of more spending on rail lines – Auckland port problems have highlighted the value of rail for moving large amounts, but they are apparently at capacity – whether because of lines or rolling stock I don't know.

          We should not fall into the trap of always using money to influence use – the privatisation of waste disposal has meant inefficiencies due to multiple trucks collecting in many roads. If we had Council-only collections as in the past we could provide a level of waste disposal free (possibly a number of bags to each dwelling based on the number of people), thus assisting the poverty issue, and perhaps reducing the amount of illegal dumping.

          • Poission 1.1.1.2.1

            Auckland port problems have highlighted the value of rail for moving large amounts, but they are apparently at capacity

            It's a global issue brought about by poor assumptions on demand and constraints by too large ships,that slow loading and unloading.

            The land side of international logistics was scrambled as well. At the ports, it was feast or famine: Fewer vessels called, but each one moved more boxes off and on,leaving equipment and infrastructure either unused or overwhelmed. Mountains of boxes stuffed with imports and exports filled the patios at container terminals.The higher the stacks grew, the longer it took the stacker cranes to locate a particular box, remove it from the stack and place it aboard the transporter that would take it to be loaded aboard ship or to the rail yard or truck terminal for delivery to a customer.Freight railroads staggered under the heavy flow of boxes into and out of the ports. Where once an entire shipload of imports might be on its way to inland destinations within a day, now it could take two or three. Queues of diesel-belching trucks lined up at terminal gates, drivers unable to collect their loads because the ship lines had too few chassis on which to haul the arriving containers.

            https://marclevinson.net/The%20Megaships%20That%20Broke%20Global%20Trade%20WSJ102320.pdf

  2. Stephen D 2

    Climate change is critical.

    However this government will be judged on good left wing values. They need to make real progress in reducing poverty, and providing housing.

  3. mango 3

    My concern is that the action needed is more substantial and comprehensive than most people understand or are willing to accept (yet). I do see signs of that changing or at least the possibility of change though. When people talk about a mandate it raises the question of just how far that mandate goes or needs to go.

    • Sacha 3.1

      Building a mandate is what genuine leaders of change do. They do not sit around waiting for one to materialise. Might as well be tories.

  4. weka 4

    Wilson's piece is paywalled, but the bit you report sounds great. I think it's more a matter of how are we (NZ) going to make that happen. Labour are kind of boxed in in a lot of ways and for a lot of reasons. Rather than a chunk of the left spending three years attacking Labour over that (myself included), I'd prefer to see progressives work together on solutions around shifting the overall culture. Labour will move on the issues when the support is there. It's kind of a catch 22, and I'm sure Labour activists can do much within the part ( ;-0 ), but it's also on all of us to take the actions that will make a difference. The days are past when hard man, feet to the fire approaches are sufficient.

  5. Guaranteed basic income of $350pw for people earning under $80,000

    Legalise cannabis as per campaign policy.

    Nationalise electricity generation and supply.

    Prevent the RMA from being decimated to the point of being ineffectual.

    High capital gains tax on property, excluding the family home.

    Super tax on incomes over $200,000 or joint income over $300,000

    • bwaghorn 5.1

      Hell yes then I can chuck my job in and just do 20 hours a week casual to top it up

      And there'll be heaps like me ,all that lost experience and knowledge from the work force wont be a problem, surely?

      • The Al1en 5.1.1

        That, or the more people taking the other half of a 40 hour week, also get to build knowledge and gain experience. Win/Win

      • Gabby 5.1.2

        You might find the quality of your work goes up when you're working fewer hours.

        • bwaghorn 5.1.2.1

          Farming isnt the same as hanging round the coffee machine gabby old mate . I'm lucky if I jam the week into 40 hours .

  6. alexander 6

    Prepare to be disappointed

  7. Stuart Munro 7

    Until the false economics of neoliberalism are stuffed back in the dustbin of history where they belong, they will compromise every government intervention and render most government actions epiphenomenal.

    So, now is the time for the government to do their homework on economics, instead of listening to the blithe assertions of the self-serving wankers who have put NZ in the toilet for the last four decades.

    Learn what you can from Chang Ha Joon & Picketty & Yunus, and rebuild a robust economy that serves NZ, not ANZ.

    • Adrian Thornton 7.1

      @ Stuart Munro.." and rebuild a robust economy that serves NZ, not ANZ."

      …exactly right, which is why I regularly pull up RNZ for always having bank economists (whose sole purpose is creating debt) on their shows to talk about our economy, but rarely independent economists WTF!..it’s like asking the great white sharks what the seal breeding season is going like….

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzxy3GtSzt0

  8. Reality 8

    The push for more walking and cycle ways is great for leisure but for the majority of people particularly in cities, the need to travel some distance to and from work, school, appointments, shopping, sport, holidays, or for those with a disability, the only way to get there is by car. Public transport is not always available nearby or to get there at a time to suit. Living a a mostly flat city I do not see great swathes of cyclists going about their busy lives but there are many more at weekends for leisure. So will the car always be number one choice for transport?

    • Sacha 8.1

      Most car trips in our cities are less than 5km. Safe cycleways can replace a lot of that local travel. Will never be all, and it is not just 'recreation'.

      Not too many years from now, private cars will not be affordable for most people – with carbon and other impacts properly reflected in the price of using them. Let's get ready by building the alternatives now.

      • Phillip ure 8.1.1

        the private car isn't going away..

        cheap electric city cars will become the norm..

        ..and not far away..

        a Chinese one has just outsold tesla in china..tesla was number one..I presume in electric cars..can't remember where I saw story..

        ..we should be able to import them soon enough..

        and of course india/korea etc etc are also developing cheap electric cars…

        the global market for them will be huge..

        • Sacha 8.1.1.1

          Electric cars are the same as oil-powered ones when it comes to congestion and disruption of the shape of cities, and the energy and materials used in manufacturing.

          Car-sharing will become a medium option, but economies of scale/impact will support public transit options like buses, trams, trains.

  9. Adrian Thornton 9

    Cancel student debt, and make university education free. Invest heavily in universities and education.

    Implement a capital gains tax that would make your eyes bleed.

    Bring in laws to make renting secure for tenets for at least ten to twenty years. This way a family renting can at least see their children go to just one school and start their life from one home and in just one neighbourhood with all the benefits that flows from that kind of stability.

    Increase taxes and seriously close tax loop holes for the wealthy.

    Spend and do whatever it takes to build enough state owned houses, so that no NZ citizen is without a safe secure warm home.

    Of course this is all fantasy, we all know (even the staunchest Labour supporter in their heart) Labour will do none of these things in any substantial way while they are still adherents to Roger Douglas and David Lange’s Neoliberal economic ideology.

    Turn Labour Left!

  10. Jackel 10

    What Labour should do and what will happen are two different things. The playbook for 2021 will be the same as it has been for the past 40 years. That is that for every failure of neoliberal capitalism yet more debt is created to paper over these failures. We will see if 2021 is just a continuation of this bringing of the day of reckoning a bit closer, or whether 2021 does indeed bring that day of reckoning for neoliberal capitalism.

  11. Sabine 11

    i would be very happy if they were to increase the benefits of people – all of them that are on one – to a level where it can not be called state sanctioned starvation anymore.

    Mind they could have done that some time ago.

    Other then that? I hope that they have the brains to train a successor for when Mrs. Ardern leaves the country in the footsteps of her Mentor Helen Clark. But then again not holding my breath.

    The current leader of the party seems no more inclined to look out for the best of the party then the last leader of the Labour Party who made it to PM.

    • Sacha 11.1

      seems no more inclined to look out for the best of the party than the last leader

      What do you base that on?

      • Sabine 11.1.1

        their inability to recruit anyone who is not an empty beige suit that falls in line in order to keep a generous pay check?

        also, no one was able to win a dog catchers content before they threw dear Jacinda into the mix, who literally was the only one in the whole party who was electable based on her 'likability' as she had at the time no other record of anything other then losing any election she ran for (until she was gifted Mt. Albert), never had to run for PM (gifted the job by Andre Little who was losing so badly it was not even funny anymore – and fwiw, i met the guy and i liked him actually – which funny also, i met the PM at a fundraiser in West Auckland and i did not like her despite giving her turkey for the Party), and looking at the left in England, her stint running some obscure lefty group there seems to have been of no great impact.

        So yes, i hope that they can finally find someone who is more then just nice and soothing rethoric that comes sadly not even with a pair of economy priced dentures.

        Also, the poor are getting poorer, more and more people are paying rent to live in ditches (or the government pays a good coin to slum landlords and motel owners to house the poor unfortunate Kiwis in hovels or places without ammenities), dental care is unaffordable for pretty much most that have not got a company paid dental plan, doctor visits are still out of bounds for many either due to financial issues or simply because there aren't any where they live, and so on and so forth.

        So you might live for nice rethoric, but believe me empty words have never housed anyone, never fed anyone, never closed anyone, and have certainly never stopped a riot in a prison that starts due to lack of phone access and toilet paper.

        The labour party by all means and intends is useless. (The only point i give her is on Covid, and that in my books only shows that she and her merry band of useless courtiers have some sense of self preservation). Also it helped that before her, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and even to some extend Germany showed how it needed to be done, and that Spain, Italy, the US and UK showed the shit show that would come if they would do nothing or get over run with sick people. . And again, i still think that making employers and businesses the gate way for the Covid support was rafuckery beyond believe, it should have been the IRD that should have sent the 1600 NZD check irrespective of hours worked.

        but that is just me.

  12. alwyn 12

    I think that most of the proposals put forward here are simply dreams. The following is simply my opinion and I am quite unable to put firm numbers on any of it. However I think the storm is going to hit us and that we have to date made little provision for the scale of the problem that is going to arise.

    All the money that the Government has left over after paying the cost of Covid 19 is going to have to go into one thing that we are making little provision for.

    The oncoming Tsunami of the elderly population with dementia and the facilities to care for them is going to take all the money that people dream of spending on things like cycleways, or train sets or whatever.

    The people to supply the care will almost certainly require immigration from poorer countries in ever increasing numbers. If you go to a care facility now you will discover that most of the staff come form SE Asia. They are not native born New Zealand citizens. As the population gets ever older I suspect we are going to require more and more of these immigrants and are going to have to pay them and provide homes for them.

    Are we willing to do so?

    • Nic the NZer 12.1

      In this ridiculus scenario, at what stage will the New Zealand public come to recognise that, avoiding the Covid-19 demographic cull was a mistake, which left the country somehow unable to look after its own?

    • Gabby 12.2

      I thought David Seemore had put in place a solution for that.

      • alwyn 12.2.1

        I assume that it is merely your ignorance that is on display and you are simply too stupid to spell David Seymour's name correctly.

        What was the solution he was offering and what part of the problem was he addressing?

        I doubt if the current Government would adopt it of course. The "not invented here" syndrome is very strong in the current Government.

    • RedBaronCV 12.3

      The so called tsunami of the old is going to be the new normal. MSD has some useful stats on this.Yes we need to plan for it and stop any scaremongering tactics. Getting more of the care into the not for profit sector and paying workers better will do us more good that the current market model which farms the elderly for their assets to distribute to shareholders whilst paying the minimum for their actual care in a labour market that supports the undermining of wages by perpetual immigration.

      We also need to concentrate on the really elderly say over 85 who will need the bulk of the care. From the MSD figures the over 95's are going too be maybe 42000 which is a tiny portion of our population.

      https://www.superseniors.msd.govt.nz/about-superseniors/media/key-statistics.html

    • Brigid 12.4

      'most of the staff come form SE Asia' because they're cheap.

      • alwyn 12.4.1

        Well yes, but where else are we going to get people who will do the job? After all the Government doesn't seem to be willing to put up the money to pay them any more than a pittance and most elderly people don't have the assets to pay for it directly.

        I am incredibly impressed with the care and attention the staff seem to provide. I have a number of friends who are now in care and they always seem to be in really devoted care when I visit them. I only hope that I can get such care if, or more likely when, I may need it. With more and more people getting to the very elderly age bracket, and with the increasing percentage who succumb to dementia as they get older I think the Government is simply going to have to cut the "nice to haves" to get the money to pay for the essentials.

        • Sacha 12.4.1.1

          As Redbaron says above, removing profits from the equation allows higher pay.

          Prioritising home-based care would also reduce public capital needed for land and residential centres. Private sector loves those tasty tax-free capital gains.

          • alwyn 12.4.1.1.1

            Home-based care doesn't really work when dementia hits. Their partners are typically also elderly and can't handle the work involved in providing care.

            Also a problem is that there simply aren't enough homes available and I believe that financial support for the charitable ones doesn't go up to reflect their real costs when the costs are raised to provide for State designated costs. You often end up with having to take whatever you can get if you have to find a place.

            I'm not that knowledgeable enough about the subject to really discuss the details. I guess I really don't want to think about it.

            • Sacha 12.4.1.1.1.1

              We will still need residential beds for things like dementia, yes. But most older people receiving support do not need that level of care.

              There are 'enough homes available' when the whole aged care industry genuinely shifts towards keeping people in their own homes. They have been talking about it for years. Probably needs a Minister to push it hard and use funding mechanisms to make it stick.

        • millsy 12.4.1.2

          And what 'nice to haves' are those? Schools, hopsitals, welfare.

          Impose a US style health care, so that going to the ED bankrupts someone?

          • alwyn 12.4.1.2.1

            I find it very hard to see much point in things like that cycleway attached to the Auckland Harbour Bridge. From the City across to Northcote is proposed to cost $360 million at the moment I believe. They also plan to add another $300 million to get to Albany.

            https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119423707/auckland-harbour-bridge-cycleway-will-extend-to-albany

            There is also a $130 million stupidity for cyclists from Ngauronga to Petone in Wellington. There is already a cycleway along the route but there isn't a nice view of the sea so they want a new one.

            https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington-top-stories/123015434/work-on-wellington-to-hutt-pathway-could-begin-next-year

            Then we could stop putting hundreds of millions into things like the America's Cup. The cost is already up to $370 million according to this article. That is $250 million for the event, $100 million to make the waterfront look pretty and another $20 million that they aren't defining in detail

            https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-council-still-looking-to-spend-another-20m-on-americas-cup/MPWZFHMSXIC6KJ42N2HGLMFJXA/

            There's a quick $1,160 million of rubbish spending to get started. And no it isn't Schools, Hospitals and welfare.

            • Sacha 12.4.1.2.1.1

              For anyone interested in what Auckland's Skypath and Seapath project actually includes: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2020/02/26/skypath-and-seapath-moving-ahead/

            • Incognito 12.4.1.2.1.2

              You would say that if you view these things only from a strictly economic PoV, wouldn’t you? Just as well, Government considers other things too, balances these against competing interests, and looks at the whole picture, as it did and is still doing with the pandemic response. In any case, when needed, Government can borrow and try lift income rather than skimping on ‘frivolous pet projects’ that are a waste of time & money in the eyes of B & W purists.

              https://www.business.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-and-media/nz-herald-brand-insights/2018/americas-cup-overblown.html

              • alwyn

                Right. Who really gives a stuff about the America's Cup being held in New Zealand?

                Who watched any of the races they have held to date?

                Who can even tell us who the challengers are?

                Apart from Helen Clark I suppose. And Mallard. She seemed to have a real thing the the Cup, and for texting Grant Dalton back in whenever it was and whoever it was won it. Mallard took off for, I think San Diego, to watch it. I stand to be corrected if it was somewhere else. Frankly I didn't care then and I don't care now.

                I sailed when I was young. P class, Cherub and Javelins. That was fun, even if I wasn't very good. Todays America's Cup is a way for Billionaires to play "Mine is bigger than yours" with taxpayers' money.

                • Incognito

                  So myopic, so self-centred, and so predictable 🙁

                  It is not all about you, Alwyn, and not about what you do and don’t care about. Maybe you should join the Taxpayers’ Onion because they also seem to think that way.

                  Objecting because you don’t care is not a strong argument and similarly, using words such “stupidly” and “rubbish” only lend weight to your objections but don’t, in themselves, constitute an argument.

                  So many ‘billionaires’:

                  https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/americas-cup/123799903/tv-viewership-figures-show-15-million-people-watched-americas-cup-world-series.

                  https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/americas-cup/123767006/americas-cup-spectator-fleet-throws-racing-into-disarray

                  Of course, the AC is an elite sport, but so is Sailing at the Olympic Games. Do you object to that as well? You must be thrilled about Skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics because that’s a sport for ordinary people, an honest street sport.

                  https://www.olympic.org/skateboarding

                  • alwyn

                    Your link says 15 million. The story of course says 1.5 million. So what?

                    Do you realise that more than 2,000 times that number of people watched the 2018 Football World Cup? Now that is an audience isn't it?

                    https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/more-than-half-the-world-watched-record-breaking-2018-world-cup

                    If you really want a heart warming yachting story I much prefer the story of Peter Mander and Jack Cropp. I don't suppose you have ever heard of them have you? They were New Zealand's first Olympic Gold winners in the sport. They won the Sharpie class in the 1956 Olympics. They did it in a boat they built themselves from reclaimed native timber.

                    Now that is a victory I applaud. Not one by hired mercenaries who will swap their country for a bigger paycheck.

                    • Incognito

                      Never thought you cared about 2018 Football World Cup but people never cease to amaze me.

                      There is a very good reason and easy explanation for the link showing “15” instead of “1.5”. Anyway, you’re meant to click on the link, read past the headline, take in the whole article, and then use your intelligence to say something intelligent for a home run. I believe you made it to second base.

                      Of course, if you had read the two links, you’d have realised that many people, in fact, do care about the AC. Unfortunately, that doesn’t suit your narrative. How inconvenient 🙁

                      Are you saying that unless elite sports people stay in NZ they are just “hired mercenaries who will swap their country for a bigger paycheck”? Sounds like you don’t like and care about professional sports much. Does the same apply to artists and scientists, for example? Let me also ask you this, if the pay check is not necessarily bigger but the opportunities are better, do you still consider them “hired mercenaries” or just cheap opportunists?

                      I guess you never studied and/or worked outside of New Zealand, which might explain why your comments come across as small-minded and somewhat narrow, although I do seem to recall some overseas experience on your behalf; maybe it was a long time ago, e.g. in the 50s – those were the days.

                    • alwyn

                      " I believe you made it to second base.".

                      That's all right. I believe that using your analogy one can only say that you struck out.

                      And you clearly have no idea of my background or experience of the world with your other comments.

                      Now off to the local "Royal" yacht club. It's Sunday morning and time for your drinkies on the poop deck with the Admiral or whatever you call the senior member. Do you have to salute him?

                    • Incognito []

                      You might want to read and then discuss this with the Commodore over drinkies: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/life-stages/health-older-people

                      Come back when you have something sensible to say and a positive contribution to make here to the debate, any debate, for that matter. As it is, you just clutter the site with stupid rubbish comments.

              • Nic the NZer

                This isn't an economic point of view, its a very short sighted point of view. New Zealand is self sufficient in money the country can not run short of it. The government is also self sufficient in the money it spends (as the Reserve Bank states its the monopoly issuer).

                What the country is not self sufficient in is the real resources including care workers.

                The stupid result of this debate (and its about privatising retirement savings and reducing public funding) is that it generally shrinks the real resources which the country commands over time and slows down the growth of productivity in NZ.

                In other words the country is made less ready to deal with this demographic retirement shift by the measures proposed to be dealing with it.

                Maybe Alwyn wants to rephrase his proposal as maybe the New Zealand team as aged care workers because that is the only way cutting Americas Cup funding is going to help here.

                • alwyn

                  "that is the only way cutting Americas Cup funding is going to help here.".

                  I don't see why this follows. The resources that have gone into the facilities used by the boats could have instead gone into the building of residential homes for dementia sufferers.

                  The concrete and steel that is going into the skyway could have instead been used in the same manner. The people building these things would have been far better used in building such homes.

                  The actual crews of the boats aren't likely to be of much use. Let them bugger of and ply their trade overseas and let the money that is being spent on paying them instead be paid to people who are actually good at providing care for confused elderly patients.

  13. millsy 13

    As said in an "Open Mike" thread a few weeks ago, a fully centrally planned social market economy with a public sector which is 50-100% larger than it was on Dec 31, 2020.

    Just go the whole hog.

    • Andre 13.1

      No fucking thanks.

      Even the degree of central planning and control in the 70s and 80s New Zealand under Muldoon was way too much for my liking. Let alone what I have seen (thankfully briefly) in other countries with more central planning and control.

      • millsy 13.1.1

        At least there wasnt any homelessness and power bills were cheap. What would you have?

        • Ed 13.1.1.1

          Only the wealthy are better off thanks to neoliberalism.

          In the 1970s there was no unemployment, no homelessness, no abject poverty, clean waterways and our assets were not owned by foreign interests.

          [Happy New Year, Ed, and best wishes for 2021.

          I could not help but notice that you are fine form today and wanted you to know that you are currently in the race to receive the first ban of the year and you are, in fact, in pole position.

          You have been taking quite a few liberties with the truth, again, and failed to cite your sources, again.

          In OM, you falsely claimed that alcohol is a Class A drug, which it is not, of course. You only admitted that when challenged. The 2010 Law Commission report that you mention did not recommend that alcohol be classified as a Class A drug, as far as I can tell.

          Under the present Post, you refer to Vietnam and quote words by Sonny Liston that he never uttered and never could have. As far as I can tell, it all came from a tweet by one of your Twitterati heroes John Wight (see, I got his name right this time). However, you failed to acknowledge this, again.

          You made some assertions about the 1970s too. Given that these overlap with the Muldoon years, I had some difficulty taking them at face value. So, I did a little bit of research, as much as I can stomach on New Year’s Day and found information that might challenge your assertions.

          Developed economies worldwide reeled at the oil shocks of 1973 and 1978–9. Soaring oil prices had severe consequences for our economy, which relied heavily on imported oil. Our balance of payments worsened, and unemployment and inflation increased. By 1976 New Zealand was in recession.

          https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-1970s/overview
          https://teara.govt.nz/files/g-24362-data.txt
          https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/24362/unemployment-1896-2006

          The protected industrial economy did have some benefits. It created jobs – there was full employment until the 1970s – and it increased the stock of technical and managerial skills.

          Between 1973 and 1984, New Zealand governments were overwhelmed by a group of inter-related economic crises, including two serious supply shocks (the oil crises), rising inflation, and increasing unemployment. Robert Muldoon, the National Party (conservative) prime minister between 1975 and 1984, pursued increasingly erratic macroeconomic policies.

          https://eh.net/encyclopedia/an-economic-history-of-new-zealand-in-the-nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries/

          In 1975, the Housing Corporation referred to the ‘serious effects’ of a housing shortage with ‘many situations of overcrowding’, and a 1979 pilot survey of Auckland found that numerous people did not have access to adequate housing. [11] Surveys conducted in the early 1980s concluded there was a ‘housing crisis’ in Christchurch, and in Auckland homelessness also appeared to be a ‘significant problem’. [12]

          https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PLEcoRP14021/homelessness-in-new-zealand

          Since the late 1970s there have been many attempts to address the problem of homelessness. One of the issues related to homelessness is defining what it is. In 1979, Davey and Barrington (1979) divided the solution into two categories.

          The causes of homelessness have also been the subject of debate since the 1970s. In the conclusion to her research – Homelessness in the Auckland Region – Percy (1982) cites one of the main causes of homelessness as the high cost of private rentals in relation to income, although this is frequently compounded by other contributing factors.

          https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/creative/about/our-faculty/School%20programmes%20and%20centres/Transforming%20Cities/Housing-Vulnerable-Groups.pdf

          This year, and from now on, you must do your own fact-checking and not leave this to other commenters and/or Moderators. This is your warning – Incognito]

          • Stuart Munro 13.1.1.1.1

            no abject poverty

            I imagine some disadvantaged groups would remember that differently – but broadly speaking – the fastest growing inequality in the OECD comes with consequences.

            Labour need to face up to the horrific failure they have been to working people who relied on them – and work flat out on making things right. There is only a brief window before the next crisis hits – it must not be squandered.

          • Incognito 13.1.1.1.2

            See my Moderation note @ 4:03 PM.

            • Adrian Thornton 13.1.1.1.2.1

              " Under the present Post, you refer to Vietnam and quote words by Sonny Liston that he never uttered and never could have" why do you say that? Liston was alive until 1970, he without doubt knew what oppression meant, so could have easily related to the cause of the North Vietnamese, as many Black American boxers did, famously Ali of course, so why not Liston?

              Further John Wight wrote "This Boxing Game: A Study in Beautiful Brutality" so I guess he knows more about boxing than you or me.

              https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/boxing-game

            • Adrian Thornton 13.1.1.1.2.2

              Sorry about that, my mistake, I am always a bit defensive when it comes to Sonny Liston, he seemed to have always got the short end of the stick in life, has hardly been acknowledged for being without doubt one of the greatest Heavy Weights to enter the ring.

              Muhammad Ali was extremely lucky that their rematch was postponed for six months only days before the scheduled fight, Liston couldn't maintain his peak form (no one knows how old he actually is, but he was probably the better part of 30 at that time), some say he was in the best form he ever had, so who knows what would have happened had he fought Ali then?…..anyway who cares, I have just always felt a bit sorry for him that’s all.

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwZIOq9-Oso

          • solkta 13.1.1.1.3

            Not exactly true on the waterways thing either:

            However, as the city grew, measurements taken downstream of Hamilton city reveal contaminants increased tenfold between the 1950s and the early 1970s.

            In those days, Hamilton's wastewater was discharged to the [Waikato] river, after holding in 14 large septic tanks. The tanks themselves were also emptied into the river up to three times each year. The river also took sewage from other towns, along with effluent from the Horotiu freezing works, Kinleith paper mill, power projects and dairy farms.

            Limited monthly monitoring of water quality in the Waikato River began in 1980, with a more comprehensive programme beginning in 1987. We now sample at 10 sites along its length. See a map of our monitoring sites. Analysis of these records indicates how water quality has changed.

            https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/environment/natural-resources/water/rivers/trends-in-water-quality/

            • millsy 13.1.1.1.3.1

              Waterway pollution comes down to the fact that farmers have seen more $$$ in diary, rather than sheep and beef.

              Had our farming stayed largely sheep, like it did up to the 1990's, then we wouldnt have the issues with water way pollution than we do now.

        • Andre 13.1.1.2

          I want a mixed economy where there is a private sector that does the things private capitalism does well, a strong state sector for things a private capitalist sector does not do well, and a strong welfare safety net for those in need.

          Private capitalism does well for producing things where there is a low barrier to entry, room for innovation and product differentiation, it's easy for consumers to be informed and choose what works for them. Food, clothing, arts and entertainment and sports, transport, housing (at least when the market isn't as fucked up as NZ is right now), some kinds of insurance, communications (except for the infrastructure where there's a natural monopoly – wires and fibres in the street) etc.

          State sector provision generally works better where there's natural monopolies, consumers aren't in a position to discern differences and choose what works for them. Electricity, water, healthcare, education, insurance for major capital items, physical networks for communications and power and transport, regulatory and licensing functions.

          I reckon NZ has gone too far in letting private actors take over some functions that would be better done by the state, and in forcing what are effectively state organisations to try to act like they were private. I'd like to see that turned around. But that's really only a small change from where we are now to get to a better balanced mixed economy with a better safety net.

          Homelessness really isn't a planned economy vs private economy thing. Looking at homelessness rates around the world, there's very little correlation between homelessness rates and where a country's balance lies on the private – state continuum. NZ is generally considered to have a strong safety net, yet our homeless rate is much higher than bastions of heartless private capitalism such as the USA and UK and Switzerland. High homelessness results from an explicit government choice to have it (or not), and successive NZ governments have failed to make a decent humane choice going back decades now.

          • millsy 13.1.1.2.1

            ok.

          • Brendon Harre 13.1.1.2.2

            Good post. Agree : )

          • RedBaronCV 13.1.1.2.3

            Agree I'm for the mixed market economy with rather more than now in the government corner. Also want some mechanism that doesn't allow public assets to be sold every time we get a right wing government. I also object to the forced collection of taxes to disburse to non govt entities to provide for major society needs and saying that is a market solution.

            I'm also for a solid tidying up of the immigration policies. We seem to be re colonising ourselves and giving access to our health etc to people who sod off and never contribute to our economy, which feels pretty dumb, rather than training and developing our own workforce. None of this has increased our GDP per capita.

            And we need to empower our workforce to take advantage of all the skills and training that they do have and to share the rewards more equally.

            So in policy terms in the next little while:

            Empower the workforce in the bigger companies by enabling the workforce in them to collectivise and nominate candidates to join boards etc. Just don't call it unions and stress utilising their education and knowledge. Tax high incomes and stop up loop holes a lot harder.

            Use the Manapouri power to act as a lever to rearrange the electricity market back into government hands and point the distribution network into the direction that supports on site generation ( so we can all have solar etc).

            Sort out the housing market by using every lever we have. Every little bit counts from stopping landbanking, to taxing empty homes in Auckland, to making it difficult to own large numbers of properties. All with a view to making sure we don't need to pay the accommodation supplement but instead put that money into social ownership and first home housing support.

            Getting housing and basic services costs down also mean that low wages and benefits go further.

            Basically I’m for something like the Denmark solution where we are all middle class.

          • Craig H 13.1.1.2.4

            Nicely said. I'd be inclined to say that any market for necessities of life inherently has the potential for market failure due to not everyone having the funds to participate in said market, but housing tends to be the big issue since it costs so much more than other necessities.

            I feel that the most politically palatable solution to homelessness is to build shedloads of state houses whether directly through Kainga Ora or by funding other social housing providers, but that's still a large logistical challenge.

          • RedLogix 13.1.1.2.5

            Good comment Andre.

            Basically NZ's housing/homelessness problem boils down to decades of poor foresight by virtually everyone involved:

            1. NZ really does have a relatively limited amount of good land to build on; supply is naturally constrained. The obvious response which is to intensify has been resisted at a local political level since forever
            2. Lacking other reliable means housing became our default investment portfolio. Again this is largely due to scale, our stock and finance industries always lacked depth, diversity and a relatively small number of insiders wielded too much influence
            3. Our building industry, with some honourable exceptions, has demonstrated remarkably little initiative, innovation or competitiveness. Two thirds of our older housing stock needs urgent remodelling with a D10; and costs for new builds are absurd
            4. Other costs continue to rise with little constraint. Routine bills such as rates, insurance, water, power and maintenance can leave little change from $10k pa, and big chunk of many household incomes
            5. We lack a diversity of home occupancy modes. At present you really have only three choices, ownership, private sector renting, or social housing. If you fall between the cracks, then homelessness it is. Other nations offer more variants and paths toward occupancy and ownership
            6. And finally we need to realise that in one sense we're victims of our success; NZ is a safe and trusted nation and there really aren't all that many of them worldwide. The demand for our housing stock will always be strong and persistent, and absent other measures to control it, will always put pressure on prices

            It's a complex stew, even these six points barely touch the sides, and there are no silver bullets. It's taken decades to create this mess and no single govt stands any chance of undoing it. But we can change direction; a wholly new permanent Housing Commission tasked with a multi-year review and collaboration across all sectors involved is something well within this govt's scope.

    • Ed 13.2

      Totally with you Millsy.

      The COVID experience has shown that socialist nations and countries with centrally planned economies have managed the virus well.

      Neoliberalism has been a superspreader for the disease.

      People above profits.

      Capitalism is the disease, socialism the cure.

      • Ed 13.2.1

        To further my point.

        The UK had over 50000 COVID cases yesterday.

        Vietnam has had over 30 times less than this in total since the start of the pandemic. Just over 1400 cases and 35 deaths in a country of about 96 million.

        In the words of Sonny Liston

        I’d rather be a lamppost in Ho ChinMinh City than the Mayor of London.

        Amazing what you can achieve when you put people above money.

        • alwyn 13.2.1.1

          That is a great story about Sonny Liston Ed.

          However I would love to know when he said it. After all Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Min City in 1975. Sonny died in 1970.

          Do you use a Ouiga board to communicate with the dead?

          • Andre 13.2.1.1.1

            Liston’s actual words appear to be "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia."

            Having lived in Philadelphia for five years, I'm with Liston on that.

        • Red 13.2.1.2

          Hey Ed how many credible socialist vaccines are there, just asking

          • Incognito 13.2.1.2.1

            Piss off!

            The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be available at cost price across the World.

            • alwyn 13.2.1.2.1.1

              Now that is a bold claim.

              Where does it come from and who, in a position to do so, has promised that it will happen.

              You must have a link for something as momentous as this.

                • alwyn

                  Thank you. I hadn't seen this development.

                  It is a little more qualified than your first statement but it still looks pretty good, particularly if it turns out that protection provided by the vaccine is long lived.

                  The only real qualification seems to be that the availability at cost price is only while the pandemic lasts. After that they appear to be interested in making money out of it. If you have to get injections annually, like the flu jab it won't be quite so good, at least in New Zealand which won't be considered to be in the low income family of nations.

                  It is also something of a shame that the Oxford vaccine only seems to have a 62% efficacy and the Pfizer and Moderna are claiming 90+%.

                  Still if the people most at risk get the higher efficacy drugs and the bulk of the population get the Oxford one it should give good overall results. The flu vaccine, after all, is only about 50% effective I believe. The Oxford one has a really great advantage that it doesn't need super-cold storage so it will be much easier to get out into the field.

                  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/28/oxford-controversy-is-the-first-shot-in-international-battle-over-vaccine-efficiency

                  • Andre

                    Be wary of comparing the headline numbers for efficacy.

                    The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna studies relied on participants having symptoms and getting tested for the virus. The Oxford/AstraZeneca trial had some participants regularly screened for asymptomatic infection. The different study design means it is not entirely fair to compare the percentages between trials. More information is needed before we can say anything about how these vaccines affect asymptomatic infections or transmission.

                    https://theconversation.com/covid-19-vaccine-faq-6-things-to-look-for-in-clinical-trial-results-150843

                    Also, that Guardian piece mentions the 90% efficacy for the Oxford vaccine when the first dose was a half dose. Be very wary of that claim too. Apparently the actual number of trial participants that got infected was 3 out of over 2000 in that trial group. That's much too small a number for meaningful conclusions- the confidence interval for the efficacy % is something like 60% to 96%

                    • alwyn

                      Thank you.

                      I was aware of the bit about the very small numbers in the Oxford vaccine with the half-dose, full-dose scenario but not about the testing approach in the other 2 vaccines.

                      Has anyone got anything at all yet on how long the vaccination lasts?

                      If only it could be as good as measles or polio which are pretty much for life. I had polio in the 52/53 outbreak, just before the vaccines became available. I recovered completely to all appearances but over the last few years I have been discovering you never really do. That was one horrible disease.

                  • Incognito

                    This license deal between Oxford University and AstraZeneca was signed ages ago and anybody who has followed the news about Covid vaccines would have known about this, IMO.

                    I believe there are special provisions in place for developing countries beyond the pandemic but I am not 100% sure about that, although the following seems to confirm that they, through an agreement through COVAX, will make the vaccine available “…on a non-profit basis ‘in perpetuity’ to low- and middle-income countries in the developing world”. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/dec/21/inside-oxfords-coronavirus-vaccine-development

                    Anyway, you seem to like qualified and nuanced information:

                    The ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] case for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

                    Why it doesn’t pay for pharma companies to profit from the pandemic in the long run.

                    https://www.ft.com/content/0ad28950-cf97-4ae9-8b08-18fdc9ffbeb1

                    PS my first statement was to Red and clearly qualified with the first two words.

  14. arkie 14

    Set the tax-free income threshold, minimum wage and the baseline benefit to the living wage rate, to rebalance the ‘labour market’.

  15. Macro 15

    I want this government to be far more proactive wrt homelessness than they have been to date. A good start was made in March/April with the move into the lockdown – but as soon as that was over, and people were free to travel around the country, motels found that the guests who had arrived off the streets were no longer welcome. And so we are now back to square one, at least we are here in Thames. I am in the process of writing to the Associate Minister wrt to my friends here who are back on the street. Some sleep in the relative luxury of a tent hidden in the bush behind the town, others find shelter in an alcove behind a building, and others under a tree in a quiet part of town.

    It is interesting to note the priority accorded to housing the homeless by the government – is though an Associate Minister (Marama Davidson, for whom I have great respect) – but she will be outside of Cabinet! So just how much funding she will control, and just how much say she will have in budget priorities, is to be seen. In my humble opinion I believe that the best way to address this ongoing festering sore on our society is not just to throw money at the matter, but for tangata whenua with the backing of government to engage meaningfully with these people and to find out what their wishes and desires are. It is not a one solution fits all. They have their rights and independence and we must respect that and treat them with the mana and aroha they deserve.

  16. Treetop 16

    Not just the government but every MP go and live on the street for a week. I would be kind and allow them a week of job seeker payment.

    Nothing like first hand experience.

    • Sabine 16.1

      a week? lol.

      they have done that before the sleep in the streets to get some cash donations from the citizens of the country, so that the government don't have to do the job of looking after 'all the citizens' and look as to where we are.

      Nah, they should earn no more then a nurse, a teacher or a cop (if we talk about 'essential jobs') for all their tenure.

      And if they can't pay a house for their families then they can go file for an accomodation benefit.

      Maybe that would change a thing or two.

  17. mosa 17

    What should Labour do ?

    Change the party name to the Social Democrats of NZ.

    They haven't been " Labour " since 1972 or even come close to delivering a manifesto that lives up to the principles they were founded on.

    A non neoliberal agenda ( the real handbrake ) to tackle the problems they say they want to solve would be a good starting point.

    • Phillip ure 17.1

      but they aren't social democrats..

      they are neoliberal incrementalists..

      the 'ninc' party..?

  18. Pat 18

    Their job

    • Sabine 18.1

      +1

    • Herodotus 18.2

      How about reintroducing all those policies that we were told NZ1st blocked, and those platforms that the 2017 election Labour proposed.

      I think we can all agree the housing affordability issue will not be resolved, unless unforeseen market issues intervein, pity as most social issues are founded directly as a consequence of this 😪

  19. Grafton Gully 19

    Persuade our small obedient population to welcome cooperation with China in protecting and developing our EEZ and Antarctica.

    https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/environment/oceans/our-maritime-zones-and-boundaries/

  20. Cave Johnson 20

    I don't trust complex interventions to achieve their goals. The simple intervention of steadily increasing the minimum wage however seems likely to achieve the biggest gain for the least overhead.

  21. millsy 21

    To be honest, in all seriousness, sending a cheque to each man, woman and child in the country as a one off stimulus/relief payment payment, would be a good start.

  22. Steve Bradley 22

    There is a tale re-told about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after an audience with a group of ordinary citizens seeking relief during the Great Depression, saying:

    "I agree with you. Now go out there and make me do it."

    We can all write our own wish lists for what we'd like this new government to do; and the lists would contain many similarities.

    The trick is to mount a broad political push for the remedies we seek.

    Some push may come from groups of agitated voters seeking relief.

    Equally as useful could be the Labour Party organising itself and potential allies to 'lead' the movement calling for relief.

    While Jacinda, Grant and our whole parliamentary team hold the middle ground, it gives us – out in the provinces – the space and time to beef up our organisation.

    The space and time – looking inward — to try to further coordinate some of the disparate sections of the NZ Labour Party into a more integrated whole body; still with its several parts but more regionally coordinated so they can move together with purpose when and as required in the struggles to come.

    From the point of view of the NZ Labour party – looking outward – the main task is to build alliances between and coordinate with other sections of society who have even a smidgen of progressive potential in the endless struggle against anti-people policies.

    In the Auckland-Northland region are organising tasks for which the party can begin to plan now.

    One is for an Auckland-Northland regional regular coordinating forum bringing together into a learning and policy environment:

    • A.N.R.C. active L.E.C. regional reps
    • Active reps from affiliated & non-affiliated unions
    • Maori & Pacifika active reps
    • Other social, political, environmental reps, by invitation, from time to time

    The purpose of these meetings would be to coordinate our collective understanding and efforts into a coherent force which can influence the social democratic mass of working people in a progressive direction.

    Recent Example where we could have done better: response to the Auckland Council ‘emergency budget’.

    To use a rugby metaphor: Labour needs to tighten up the scrum, push harder, and in the same direction.

    Cheers

    <

    p style=”margin-left:30px”>

    • Sabine 22.1

      we made them 'do it' when we elected them. Or else they are of no use to us and can go home and get a job in the private industry or in PMs case write a memoir and get a job at a think tank of no importance or influence.

      They got elected, now do the job that we pay them for. how bout that?

  23. Sabine 23

    Maybe really they could just pretend to do something?

    Something about this?

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealanders-forced-to-live-in-caravans-were-not-celebrating-christmas-this-year/SMRLNF54JMAAG3HAKNDF4Z53QI/

    "You don't have any rights because you're not supposed to live permanently in a campground … but because there's nowhere else to go the reality is people are living [here] full-time."

    Maureen Ward said there was a stigma attached to people living in campgrounds, which made finding work hard, trapping them on the benefit and out of the housing market.

    "Nobody in this campground is a no-hoper. They are good people who just can't afford to rent or can't afford to buy."

    She said things did not need to be this bad. If benefits were to increase she believed it would go a long way.

    "The Government needs to see that we are not in this position because we are lazy, we're not in this position because my husband doesn't want to work – he would much rather go out to work – and that we're not going to be able to work. So why should we have to renew our medical certificate every two years?"

    As she continues to wait for a change in income, or circumstances, the emergency housing waitlist she and Geoff are on continues to grow.

    This month the housing register hit a record high – nearly 22,000 applicants – with the Government this week saying many of those waiting are unlikely to receive a house.

    So for now it's campground Christmases as the housing crisis continues.

  24. Stuart Munro 24

    A heartwarming story – on the face of it. Two US nurses move to NZ.

    It wasn't so very long ago, however, that NZ was able to train our own nurses. It was a median wage job, a path upwards, and somewhat stable before the quasi-corporate model laid waste to our public sector.

    Good luck to these two – but one of the things Labour should do, is to get kiwis into any jobs substantially above the living wage, and make the innumerable dodgy recruiters who have sprung up in response to our weak and unenforced labour laws crawl over red hot broken glass before they can get a work permit for anyone.

    Train NZ nurses – no exceptions.

    • Incognito 24.1

      It wasn't so very long ago, however, that NZ was able to train our own nurses.

      When did it cease and when did all Nursing Schools in NZ close? It is news to me, bigly news.

      Train NZ nurses – no exceptions.

      What do you mean with that? Do you mean more Māori nurses?

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/123701140/stop-treating-mori-patients-like-they-are-gangsters-mori-nurse

      • RedBaronCV 24.1.1

        Yes the immigration free for all needs to stop. Somebody else who will need a house. As well as training we need to improve our employment offerings to tempt back some of the trained who have left the industry. And make any refresher courses and up skilling free.

        • Incognito 24.1.1.1

          What improvements to training do you have in mind?

        • Pat 24.1.1.2

          One of the drivers for Kiwis to emigrate is the unaffordability of housing….you can offer all the training and employment you like but if you cant afford suitable housing you are pushing it uphill with a stick

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    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    12 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours 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
    7 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
    9 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
    10 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
    23 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
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  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
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