Govt says workplace safety looms large in its considerations and health workers are given PPE assurances

Oh, look.  David Clark is still Minister of Health and he is drawing our attention to his continued involvement in matters related to Covid-19.

He is displaying an admirable concern for health workers, too, many of whom would be among the exhausted group of people found to be under-resourced and over-stressed. 

Clark yesterday announced the government is prioritising its latest investment in personal protective equipment (or PPE) for frontline health workers, including staff at managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

A ministerial colleague, Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway, had something to say about worker safety, too.

He has announced that protections for workers who are employees of one employer but are working under the direction of another business or organisation have come into force. This closes a gap in legislation that made the personal grievance process inaccessible for some workers.

Britain’s dash for good government (or the difficulty of reversing bad government)

When three former prime ministers condemn a policy, you suspect it might be worth a closer look.

So it is with the announcement by Boris Johnson of a seemingly-innocuous machinery of government tweak – the merging of Britain’s Department for International Development into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

F&P Healthcare’s increased profit shows Covid-19 has a bright side (for some) but big spending on R&D pays off, too

Covid-19  is  a  disaster   for the US, and  for many other countries — but  it has sent revenues  for Auckland-based F&P Healthcare soaring.  Investors in the  company  were  ecstatic  this  week   when the    company  posted  a  boomer  profit of   $287m  and  forecast  an even better  one  in the current year.  The share price has soared 102%  in the  past 12  months.

It’s  a  performance  the  country as  a  whole  should  celebrate,  for  more than  80% of the  revenue  is  in  US  dollars.

Operating revenue was $1.26bn, up 18% over last year.  Net profit rose 37% over the previous year.

The increase in revenue was largely driven by growth in the use of the company’s OptiflowTM nasal high flow therapy, demand for products to treat Covid-19 patients, and strong hospital hardware sales throughout the year.

Polls show Biden well ahead of Trump – but don’t forget the role of the Electoral College in presidential elections

When the Wall Street Journal, once the house-magazine for the old Republican Party, chides President Donald Trump for not having an agenda for his second term, the GOP should be ringing alarm bells.

The polls aren’t any more promising – a weekend New York Times poll has Joe Biden ahead of Trump 50% to 35%. Other polls are showing the over-65s, who tend to vote for the Republicans, are swinging to Biden.

Trump is unfazed – or so he says.  He has a “good team” around him and his next term would see more of the same, rebuilding the economy.

But Trump is not a strategic thinker and his  ratings have fallen to 40% or below the levels recorded by presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, the last two Presidents who failed to win a second term.

The Journal says with the November 4 election only four months away, voters know Trump well and he has reverted to his worst form.

Review finds quarantine system is under stress, under-staffed and ill-co-ordinated – but don’t count on finding a minister to accept responsibility

Latest from the Beehive –

Other than highlighting a further flow of public fundings to the beneficiaries of selected  government handouts and “investments”,  the Beehive Bugle Brigade had but one item of news to share with us at the weekend.

It came from Megan Wood in her Housing portfolio, although its purpose (according to the headline) was to assure us the Government has strengthened the managed isolation system. 

The press statement told of the completion of a review of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system, commissioned just over a week ago to identify and understand current and emerging risks to ensure the end-to-end Managed Isolation and Quarantine process is robust.

But don’t believe what you read in the headlines.

The strengthening (according to the text beneath the headline) has not been completed.  Rather,

• The report on the MIQ review tells how the government can strengthen the managed isolation system, reduce the room for error and continue to keep COVID-19 at the border and out of our communities; and
• The government is responding with measures to address all the issues identified by the review.

Europe (or the UK) changing tune in trade negotiations?

Something interesting at last in the negotiations between Britain and the EU on post-Brexit trade arrangements.

Without anyone claiming responsibility, a proposal is being floated that British exporters might retain tariff-free access to Europe’s markets, but with Europe retaining the right to re-impose tariffs if the UK changes its internal market rules.

The fact this idea has emerged suggests there is some movement.

How “responsibility” is being redefined on Ardern’s watch – first at the top, and now at ministerial level

The Ardern  government, adding  a  fresh  policy  pile-up to  the heap  it  has  accumulated,  has been  busy re-defining   the  core   principle  of   ministerial  responsibility.

Health  Minister   David   Clark   has   joined   Transport  Minister  Phil  Twyford   in  the  “look, no hands”  brigade,   as he  shrugs  off   responsibility   for   failing  to  ensure  the government’s   strict border  protocols   as  agreed   by  Cabinet   were  implemented.

And  Twyford, adding the failure to deliver Labour’s  key  2017 election pledge to  build   Auckland’s  light  rail  by 2021  to  his  KiwiBuild  performance,  must still be laughing  as he   draws  his  ministerial  salary  and looks  forward to  another term,  after being  promoted  to  number four on   Labour’s list.

The  consequence  is  headlines  such as “Phil Twford, Minister of   embarrassing failures”  and  “David Clark throws  Ashley Bloomfield  under a  bus,  while Bloomfield looks on”.

Not   quite  the sort   Labour   will cherish  as  it  goes  into a general election  campaign.

Point  of  Order, in an earlier  post,  noted   what  is  emerging  in  NZ as  a redefinition  of   leadership:  Ardern  is   there to lead,  not to take  responsibility.  This defies    all  previous conventions in a  parliamentary   democracy.

This  is  now being refined  for  ministers, too.   They  are there   to  get  Cabinet sign-off  on measures,  but not to take  responsibility  when  a programme is not fulfilled.

Govt will help us find forgotten money – it will also enable the RBNZ to hire more staff to (hopefully) protect our finances

Latest from the Beehive –

Our immediate reaction was to be grateful on learning from a Beehive press statement headline that  the government is Protecting Kiwis with stronger financial supervision

Our second reaction was to wonder exactly how it intends strengthening this supervision.

The answer is that a new five-year funding agreement with the Reserve Bank will provide it with an annual average budget of $115 million, up $35 million from this financial year.

The bank expects staff levels to rise 58% to 468 during that period.  To do what?

Not only does the government intend protecting our financial wellbeing, however.  It also aims to boost the finances of some people by introducing a law change to make it easier for forgotten funds in institutional accounts to be returned to their rightful owners.

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has introduced an amendment to the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. It will update the rules controlling forgotten sums of money held by banks or other financial institutions and professional bodies.

The long list of institutions which hold money on behalf of clients includes banks and building societies, lawyers’ trust accounts, sharebrokers, real estate agents, auctioneers, insurance companies, motor vehicle dealers and company liquidators.

Might Europe’s Covid policy be converging on – er – Sweden

Excess mortality in Europe has fallen in recent weeks, to the point where fewer deaths are occurring across the continent than you would expect at this time of the year. This doesn’t mean that Covid deaths aren’t occurring or that the problem has disappeared. It does mean it’s in a different phase.

And you could say Europe’s governments are converging on an approach which is looking more and more like that of Sweden’s – that is governments targeting a more limited range of specific public health measures, modifying policy in light of outcomes, and relying more on an informed public to make a sensible trade off between economic (and social) activity and safety-related social distancing.

NZ taxpayers are kicking in up to $25m for Women’s World Cup – how much the economy can expect to score is unstated

 How many Ministers does it take to release press releases to express the government’s delight at a hosting decision in the sporting domain that should benefit New Zealand?

Three, when we last checked.

No – four, because one of the statements was issued jointly in the names of our Jacinda Ardern and Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Another statement was issued jointly by Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson and Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford.

It took just one Minister, David Parker, to whoop about the Resource Management Amendment Bill passing its third and final reading in Parliament.

The legislation reduces complexity, increase certainty in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and makes significant improvements to environmental outcomes, the Environment Minister said.

It supports the Government’s Essential Freshwater package with an accelerated process for regional freshwater plan changes that will implement the new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020.

It also introduces mandatory and enforceable farm environment plans and requires fertiliser sales to be reported on a regional basis.

Don’t expect farmers to share Parker’s delight.