EQC legislation shake-up should be helpful for property owners after future quakes (including East Coast cabin dwellers)

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Nothing announced from the Beehive at the weekend looks likely to trigger angry marches on Parliament – or to incite strong emotions of any sort that might affect our voting behaviour, come to think of it.  But the good people of a small East Coast settlement (some of them, anyway, depending on their tribal affiliations) may well be rejoicing at a housing initiative announced in their favour today.

Something much more substantial was announced an hour or so later in the form of news that EQC’s operations and legislation will change in response to the Inquiry into the Earthquake Commission, undertaken by Dame Silvia Cartwright.

This week marks 10 years since the Darfield-centred earthquake, the first in a series of devastating Canterbury quakes.

In the aftermath of those disasters, EQC shortcomings resulted in botched repairs and years of trauma and uncertainty for the victims.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the new Act will respond to many recommendations in the Inquiry’s report, providing certainty for claimants and agencies involved in responding to natural disasters.  

Beehive bulletin briefs us on how Govt is backing businesses but is a bit barren on the borrowing

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Finance Minister Grant Robertson hadn’t finished, when he brandished a bundle of Budget documents to assure us they highlight his Government’s strong focus on keeping the balance between responding to COVID-19 and careful economic management.

After Point of Order had posted an item which recorded this assurance yesterday, he doubled up on his good news with a statement (along with two other Ministers) to say the Government’s support for businesses and jobs continues to roll out at pace:  payments of the new wage subsidy already have been made to nearly 50,000 business bank accounts.

Robertson doubled up on a figure we consider somewhat dubious, too:

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Government is standing beside businesses and households to cushion the blow of the 1-in-100 year shock caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

How has that been calculated?

Putting that aside, let the record show Robertson’s eagerness to tell us (along with Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash):

Private schools could be on to a Shaw thing – but maybe they need “Green” in their name to secure millions

Did we miss it?  Or was it posted on the Beehive website after we had recorded the Government’s August 26 announcements?

Whatever happened, we are chagrined to have missed the official posting of the declaration that Green Party co-leader James Shaw has bypassed the strictures of his party’s policy to announce:   Taranaki school construction project to create jobs.

The statement didn’t seem untoward, in the Covid-19 era of massive borrowing to pump billions into infrastructural work and employment.

More than 200 construction jobs will be secured in Taranaki through Government funding for a school expansion project, the Associate Minister of Finance, James Shaw said today.

Green School New Zealand will be supported with $11.7 million from the $3 billion set aside by the Government for infrastructure in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.

The ‘shovel-ready’ project would enable the school to expand its student roll from 120 students to 250.

But the announcement subjected Shaw and his party to widespread criticism – indeed, ridicule – because of something the press statement did not mention. Green School is a private school which charges up to $24,000 a year for New Zealand students and $43,000 a year for international students.

We are talking Green hypocrisy here, because:

Treasury throws light on the Govt’s balancing trick while Jones tries to tip the scales in his favour

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While Shane Jones, Minister of Munificence, was splashing more millions into his Northland home patch, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was preparing to release Budget documents which (he tells us)  highlight the Government’s strong focus on keeping the balance between responding to COVID-19 and careful economic management.

The documents account for  Budget 2020 and COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund decisions and COVID Fund decisions agreed at Cabinet on 6 July.

Most of the numbers in the Beehive press statement are in millions of dollars but a smaller one without any monetary value invited our curiosity.

Robertson observed:

“We have invested significant resources into supporting New Zealand businesses and workers, and cushioning the blow of this 1-in-100 year economic shock.”

Where (we wonder) does one in 100 come from?

Fair to say, one in 100 is far below the level of electoral support showing for Jones, according to the only polling we are aware of in Northland.

Hurrah! We can all bounce back stronger together (and then we can think about paying back the borrowed billions)

Finance  Minister  Grant  Robertson   told  Parliament    this  week  “this   has been a tough year for everybody”.

 He  says going back into a period of restrictions, in the Auckland area in particular, is psychologically tough.

“It is important we acknowledge that—this has been a difficult year”.

 So  is  Robertson  changing  his  tune?    After  all, for  months  he has been telling  us that  NZ  had  “gone  early, and gone  hard”,   the  government  had  “cushioned  the blow economically”  and  the  NZ  economy   has been   doing better  than   any of those  it normally compares  itself  with.

Robertson  has been  singing  from  the  same   song sheet  for   long enough  now he is  not  going to  strike  a  false note—-even  if it has  been  a “tough  year for  everybody”.

 Yes, there is a new outbreak,

“ … but we are getting it under control quicker than most, and every single day New Zealanders contribute to that”.

 Whoopee.

Govt braces to spend billions on stormwater projects – a more modest sum is found for Northland flood relief

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Alas, we have a small staff here at Point of Order and a scant travel budget.  Hence we did not plan to cover the Stormwater Conference in Tauranga.

But when the Government earlier this month announced continuing alert levels for Auckland and the rest of the country, the organisers turned Stormwater 2020 into a fully online affair.

 The keynote address was delivered yesterday by a gushing Local Government Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, who mentioned the government’s commitment to job creation and the $3 billion earmarked for ‘shovel ready’ infrastructure projects.

She also mentioned the Infrastructure Reference Group’s work with local councils and businesses in identifying “a pipeline” of projects to support the economy during the COVID-19 rebuild.  Good one, Nanaia.

Then she waded into the matter of water policy and the great Kiwi urge to be able to swim in our rivers, lakes, beaches and gather kaimoana “without worrying about raw sewage seeping into those waters and making us sick”.

But cleaning up our waterways will cost us a bundle:

• Up to $575 million is needed to upgrade drinking water plants to meet standards;
• About $3-$4 billion for wastewater plants to meet environmental standards; and
• Several billion dollars to fix aging storm water pipes and networks.

In addition to the financial hurdles matters are compounded by an ineffective regulatory framework:

• A framework which is not strong enough to ensure the safety and quality of our drinking water.
• A framework which does not provide assurances that wastewater and stormwater systems are delivering outcomes that are acceptable for communities, tangata whenua and the environment.

Mahuta had plenty more to say about the Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme and the progress so far achieved.  You can wade through her speech  here.

Another water issue was being tackled by Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin, who announced a $500,000 fund has been allocated to support flood relief activities in Northland.

Not from the Provincial Growth Fund which – unlike Northland – is almost dry.  Last time we wrote to its administrators we received an automatic response headed:

PGF applications almost allocated

Thank you for your email. If your query is related to submitting an application for PGF funding, please note that most of the Government’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has almost been fully allocated.

No, Martin can tap into another source of good spending stuff.

“The Lottery Grants Board recognised the considerable impact that the flooding has had on the communities of Northland and so funding will be available to support impacted community facilities, marae and community organisations that are providing welfare support in the region,” says Minister Martin, who is Presiding Member of the Lottery Grants Board.

Here are the government’s latest Beehive announcements:  

26 AUGUST 2020

Continued focus on Women needed as Gender Pay Gap holds steady

“As we rebuild after COVID-19, our commitment to paying women fairly remains firm,” says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter, after today’s release of the national gender pay gap from Stats NZ.

Order in Council approved to fast track reinstatement of Christ Church Cathedral

A proposed Order in Council to support the rebuild of the Christ Church Cathedral has been given the go ahead.

Speech to the Stormwater Conference

Thank you for the invitation to deliver the keynote address to this year’s Stormwater conference.

COVID-19 Testing oversight group and terms of reference

The full membership of the COVID-19 Surveillance and Testing Strategy Group and its terms of reference have been announced today by Minister of Health Chris Hipkins.

Lotteries funding for Northland flood relief

A $500,000 fund has been allocated to support flood relief activities in Northland, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today.

O’Connor falls foul of farm folk over border rules – maybe he will find favour with new pugging rules

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Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, the subject of critical headlines in the rural press after saying no special accommodation will be made for overseas agriculture contractor workers to help fill critical jobs, perhaps will be regarded kindlier today.  Perhaps.

He has announced that Cabinet this week agreed to make some adjustments to regulations within the new National Environmental Standards for Freshwater to make them clearer.

“It became apparent that some of the regulations within the Freshwater standards – including ones around winter grazing – need to be adjusted, so we’ve done that,” Damien O’Connor said.

The regulations in question – governing pugging depths around fixed water troughs and gateways – weren’t practical, he acknowledges.

“So we have made some adjustments to make them more realistic”.

The amendments to be gazetted today will

Yes, Minister, we are finding it difficult – but the race to produce a vaccine helps cheer us

The  doomsters  are in  full cry  again.  A  rolling  maul  of  lockdowns  looms, businesses  will be  closing down,  jobless  numbers  will rise  exponentially.  We’re   becoming tetchy  under the  stresses  of the  Covid-19  pandemic,  and those  who have been working round  the clock  on  testing  are  becoming  exhausted.  It feels as if  2020  has been  going  on  too long   already.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins  in a  classic  bit of  understatement says:

“People  have found it  very  difficult these past few weeks”.

News  from  Hong Kong  of  the  first  reinfection  deepens  anxiety.  Nations  are  queuing  up for    a vaccine against the virus  but  authorities  like WHO  warn it  could  be two  years  before  a fully  tested  vaccine becomes  available globally.

In  the  prevailing  atmosphere  where  the doomsters  dominate  the headlines,  Point of  Order  has been searching for something  positive.

A moment of truth for the EU in the post-Brexit trade talks

Covid, summer holidays and the usual foreign policy rows have overshadowed the EU/UK post-Brexit trade talks.  A pity because this looks like a – perhaps the – key moment, as the ever astute Wolfgang Munchau points out in the Financial Times.

The issue is the EU’s insistence that the UK conform with the EU’s state aid and competition policy – in broad terms, the regime whereby the authorities arbitrate and ensure consistency between the member states’ freedom of action in industry regulation, promotion and subsidy.

Beehive breaks its silence with news about old tyres

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What have the pollies been up to over the past few days?

Good question.  

Our morning check with the Beehive website drew a blank.  Nothing had been posted since  August 21.

This website boasts being the best place to find Government initiatives, policies and Ministerial information.

This afternoon we struck gold – a smidgen, at least.