A warning against Covid-response inefficiency, business flab and cronyism – let’s see if the PM pays much heed

“Beware   the  bossy  state”,  blared the  cover  line of  “The Economist” last week.

But New Zealanders   tend  to like some  bossiness  in  their  leaders.  Look  at how  popular  Jacinda  Ardern has  been after calling  the  hard  shots during  the  Covid pandemic.

Even  now those  who  believe she has single-handedly saved  this  country  from  the  many deaths that have been recorded in countries like the  UK,  the  US and  Australia won’t  countenance  any  criticism of  her,   or  her  government.  Ardern  made  the  big calls, but did  it  with a  smile, and  a  “be  kind” message.

The  question is  whether   this  can  be  sustained  as NZ  battles   back to  something   approaching   normality.  And  if  anyone  believes  this will be  an  easy  battle  to  win,  they  have  only  to  survey the  problems  the  pandemic  is  leaving  in   its  wake.

The real impact of New Zealand’s economic response to Covid-19 was the headline in The Spinoff above an article in which Bernard Hickey argued:

“Contrary to many assumptions, New Zealand’s economic response to Covid was among the worst in the world in terms of widening wealth inequality and the wasteful use of taxpayer funds.”  

And more recently, another headline warned:

Inflationary pressures could push prices up 10% – Retail NZ

A story of jubilation (as millions are poured into Maori housing in Reporoa) and of isolation (as the PM abides by Covid rules

While the PM was staying away from the wider community in self-isolation, Willie Jackson was announcing news for a small community that – we imagine – brought jubilation.   The Treaty of Waitangi is a common factor in both bits of news.

The community in Jackson’s case is Reporoa, near Rotorua.  It has a population of fewer than 500 people.

Jackson is pumping $12.35 million into housing projects there – Maori housing projects to be more precise – in the expectation more Maori families will be lured there.

And what will they do to earn their livings and pay their rent?

Jackson’s ministry is sure to have a plan.

But first, the PM.  Today she is reported to have returned a negative test for Covid-19, but she has been deemed a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case and is in self-isolation in line with Ministry of Health advice.

The Beehive website posted news on Saturday of her going into isolation.

The exposure event took place on Saturday 22 January during flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland. Flight NZ8273 has been added to the Ministry of Health website as a location of interest this evening.

The Governor-General and members of her staff were also on board and are following the same isolation instructions.

Rising prices put political pressure on the govt – voters don’t much care about the cause of higher inflation

_{The Ardern  Government  faces  its  first major  economic test as  inflation surges, rising 5.9% in  the  last  12  months, the highest  annual increase since 1990.}

_{Price  growth outstripped the rise in wages,  which moved  up  only 2.4%.}

_{Deputy  PM Grant  Robertson  reckons  inflation  is a  global  issue:  the average inflation rate across developed economies is roughly the same  – 5.8% for the OECD.  Supply chain disruptions and rising international shipping costs are leading to higher building costs, oil prices and other imported goods prices,he said.}

_{The  problem  for the  government, however, is  whether inflationary pressures  are  deepening.}

_{Almost 50% of  those polled in  recent sampling by  TVNZ/Kantar said they expected the economy to get worse in the next year.   The poll  showed the number of people feeling optimistic about the economy fell seven points to 22%.}

We can be cheered by low unemployment rather than be vexed by rising CPI – but the data need a closer look

Taxpayers are dishing out $633,000 to help a venture described as “a long-running penguin rehab facility which has been hard hit by the tourism downturn” and $2.8 million to restore native forest habitats in the Catlins.

The Jobs for Nature funding for Otago’s Penguin Place and The Hokonui Rūnanga Catlins Biodiversity Project was announced yesterday by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan.

Some readers might wonder about the prudence of this sort of spending but Finance Minister Grant Robertson assured Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that government spending is not contributing a significant amount to inflation.

“We continue to be careful with our spending but the reality is if you were to cut health spending that doesn’t change the price of petrol. We have got to be pretty careful of not cutting our nose to spite our face.

“Obviously we are prudent with what we do but there are a lot of things we do need to be investing into in New Zealand. We have got to keep doing those.”

The penguins should be grateful their wellbeing is regarded as an essential investment.

The Treaty and ideology – the Kiwi way of thinking that is corroding our democracy and debasing our science

As ministerial announcements on the Beehive website make ominously plain, Covid is still with us.    The government’s programme of fusing science with matauranga Maori is still with us, too, although that’s not something you will learn from recent announcements.

Mind you, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Science Minister Megan Woods, Associate Science Minister Ayesha Verrall and their colleagues might be quietly back-pedalling on their concept of a Treaty-based system of science and the way it should be taught.  But this is highly unlikely.

And as long as the Great Science Experiment continues in the ethnocentric crucible of Kiwi biculturalism , the debate it fuels will keep burning brightly.

In this country in recent days, Newsroom has published an article by Professor Elizabeth Rata who writes:

No matter how intense or heated the discussion may be, NZ universities need to address the difference between ideology and science… 

In the United States, Professor Jerry Coyne has maintained a keen interest in the way science is evolving – is that the right word? – in this country.

His examination of specific claims about matauranga Maori and how it can tell us stuff that modern science can’t, or can somehow supplement modern science, has resulted in the past week in these items being published on his Evolution is True website:

We’re on top of the world for being free (more or less) of corruption – but Ministers have other things to brag about, too

A bit of bragging can be found on the Beehive website today, along with a plan for doing battle with Omricon.

But what is the government’s position as tensions mount and war is threatened on the Ukraine-Russia border?

We have recorded this in our previous blog post but we can’t find an announcement on the government’s official website.

Rather, ministers are bragging about –

• The Government’s Family Package continuing to deliver for New Zealanders.  Has there been any suggestion it might do otherwise?
• New Zealand has retained top spot in global anti-corruption rankings.  We share the top spot, actually, among the world’s least corrupt countries:  the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index released by global anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, ranks New Zealand first equal with Denmark and Finland, with a score of 88 out of 100.

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall – it’s fair to suggest – was into bragging, too, when she said “testing improvements see New Zealand well prepared for Omicron”.  This came in an announcement that New Zealand’s PCR testing capacity can be increased by nearly 20,000 tests a day to deal with a surge in cases as part of our wider COVID-19 testing strategy.

While we fret about Covid, we risk forgetting about the Ukraine – but the PM has popped up to let Russia know we are watching …

Prime  Minister Jacinda Ardern has  at  last  broken  her silence  on  the tension that  has developed  over  the imminent  invasion of  the Ukraine  by Russia.

According to RNZ, she has shared concerns with the EU about the situation and said there was a need to reinforce the sovereignty of Ukraine.

She told the President of the EU Council last night that the New Zealand Government would be watching closely and take any steps required to keep calling for de-escalation.

While there was no autonomous sanctions regime, Ardern said the government had other measures it would use if it saw any activity in breach of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

The risk of armed conflict in Eastern Europe reached a dangerous level on Tuesday, as the United States placed 8500 soldiers on “heightened preparedness” for deployment. The Pentagon said it was clear Russia had “no intention” of backing down from its aggression – an apparent plan to invade Ukraine.

That  day Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta  said New Zealand was deeply concerned about “the continuing and unprecedented build-up of Russian military forces on its border with Ukraine”.

Then Ardern called on Russia to reduce the “risk of a severe miscalculation”.  NZ could retaliate “if we see any breach of what we believe is the Ukraine’s  sovereignty”.

No protest, pipers or haggis – and the PM’s nuptials are off, too – but the govt is preparing to get kids back to school

The social upheaval caused by the pandemic and the government’s moving the nation to Covid Code Red this week is immeasurable.

Point of Order notes with dismay the grim toll, which includes the cancellations of the annual Waihopai Spy Base Protest in Marlborough (for the first time in three decades), the Burns Night Dinner at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Octagonal Day and Otago Centre pipe band contest in Dunedin

Oh – and The Team of Five Million will be denied the news and pictures we expected to adorn newspapers, magazines and our TV screens after Jacinda Ardern’s wedding to Clarke Gayford, an event which was due to take place in the next week or so at Gisborne.

The world was waiting for the news and pictures, too.

Economic boost of almost $14bn comes from lift in Fonterra milk payment

While  most   of  the  economy  is  struggling  with the  impact  of the Covid pandemic, the dairy industry  is  riding  a  prosperity  wave.

In the  wake  of  high prices recorded at  last week’s Global  Auction,  the  big  co-op Fonterra has lifted its forecast milk payment to farmers for this season to a new record level  between $8.90 and $9.50kg/MS.. That’s up from its forecast in early December of between $8.40 an d $9kg/MS..

The midpoint of the range, which farmers are paid off, increased to $9.20kg/MS from $8.70, the highest level since Fonterra was formed in 2001. The co-op paid farmers $7.54kg/MS last season, and its previous record was $8.40kg/MS in the 2013/14 season.

Global dairy prices hit an eight-year-high at auction last week, as tight milk supply has strengthened  demand for New Zealand’s most  significant export commodity. Prices have been supported this season by weaker milk production in this  country   because  of poor weather and higher feed costs.

“The increase is the result of consistent demand for dairy products at a time of constrained global milk supply,” said Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell.

“In general, demand globally remains strong – although, we are seeing this vary across our geographic spread.”

As  Point  of  Order  noted  last week, the  high payout means  Fonterra’s  farmer-suppliers  will  receive  just  under a  total $14bn  with the  payout.

Farmers   may be  encouraged to prolong  the  milking  season  as  long  as  they  can, because  of  the  strong price, although it  has been  a  difficult  year  for  many  because of labour shortages.

In  any  case   the  pressure  on global milk  supplies  may ensure high prices across the  dairy  product  range   can  be sustained  into  the  next  season.

The  rest  of the  country  has  to put  up with increased  prices in the  domestic market — but  at  least the  buoyancy in   the  dairy industry  helps  to  offset the  higher  costs  of  imported goods  as  a result  of the pandemic

Omicron threat prompts the PM to resurrect her pitch for togetherness and appeal to the Team of Five Million

An update on the government’s response to the Tongan disaster and news about its response to the spread of  Omicron have dominated the flow – or rather, the trickle – of Beehive announcements since our previous report on what our ministers are doing.

New Zealand is giving an additional $2 million in humanitarian funding for Tonga as the country recovers from a volcanic eruption and tsunami last weekend, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare said on Friday (they haven’t reported on developments since then).

That brought New Zealand’s contribution to $3 million.

But the announcement with a much more profound impact on the wellbeing of many more people – much closer to home, too – came from the PM.

The headline, New Zealand to move to Red from 11.59pm today, was not a reference to the state of the government’s finances (they look likely to go much deeper into the red).

No, the PM was saying all of New Zealand would move to the Red setting of the Covid Protection Framework (CPF) at 11:59pm last night “because Omicron is potentially now transmitting in the community”.