O’Connor goes to Paris (will they make a movie of it?) while his colleagues spend millions back home and crimp liquor sales

Buzz from the Beehive

Damien O’Connor has been busy with international duties. At the weekend he met with Aussie ministerial counterparts in Queenstown to discuss the advancement of trans-Tasman cooperation under the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement before packing his bags to head for Paris where he will co-chair an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ministerial meeting.

The Beehive website has recorded the thrust of his weekend talks on the bilateral relationship between New Zealand and Australia and his plans to fly to Paris along with posts which tell us how he and his colleagues have been earning their keep.

The website tells us they have been (or, in his case, will be) …

Travelling to Paris to co-chair some OECD huffing and puffing about agriculture

The latest post on the website when we checked in mid-afternoon tells us Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor will travel to Paris tomorrow to co-chair the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Committee on Agriculture Ministerial meeting on 3-4 November. Continue reading “O’Connor goes to Paris (will they make a movie of it?) while his colleagues spend millions back home and crimp liquor sales” →

Perhaps Peters will be a kingmaker – but let’s see what happens to the Nats’ support in future polling

After five years of Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister, a nostalgia for politicians of another era is breaking to the surface. The Dominion-Post, for example, rushed on to the front page a news item headlined “The return of the Kingmaker”, while the NZ Herald featured a learned piece by Dr Jarrod Gilbert headed “Why I’d be pleased to shout Bill English a beer”.

And there’s seldom a week when John Key or Helen Clark don’t get a mention, either to recall their deeds or tap into their political skills.

So who’s “the kingmaker” the Dom-Post thinks is on the way back?

Why, none other Winston Peters. The old lion, who has been resting in his lair in Northland, is apparently ready to re-emerge on to the political stage, judging by the newspaper’s headline. Continue reading “Perhaps Peters will be a kingmaker – but let’s see what happens to the Nats’ support in future polling” →

Review team which favours privileges for mana whenua is doing what local govt wants, says Mahuta (who lauds democracy)

Buzz from the Beehive

Hurrah. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta did get around to recognising the draft report on the future of local government from a review team whose membership and mission she announced in April last year.

The team’s proposals include the creation of a Kiwi version of Animal Farm in which all citizens are equal, but some (depending on genealogy) are more equal than others.

Point of Order had been keen to learn what Mahuta thought of the draft report, but Opposition reactions reached us first.

ACT’s press statement from local government spokesman Simon Court said the Government’s review team proposes ‘differentiated liberal citizenships’, where people get different rights based on their cultural and ethnic background.

“Is this what Willie Jackson meant when he said, ‘democracy has changed’?

“The suggestion that people should get different rights because of who their grandparents are is anti-democratic. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta needs to front up and tell ratepayers if she believes in this concept and if so, how is it consistent with the Bill of Rights?”

Then we received a statement from National’s Paul Goldsmith and Simon Watts headlined National rejects anti-democratic council proposals. This makes their position plain.

Mahuta’s statement on the Beehive website makes no mention of this highly contentious element of the review team’s recommendations.

It is one of five recent posts on the website which tell us she and her ministerial colleagues have been …. Continue reading “Review team which favours privileges for mana whenua is doing what local govt wants, says Mahuta (who lauds democracy)” →

Just don’t call it creative destruction, Rishi

The MPs of Britain’s ruling Conservative party don’t lack confidence.

Having defenestrated PM Liz Truss, the choice of the non-Parliamentary party as leader, they decided to take no more silly risks, and installed their own choice, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, without troubling to consult the membership.

Time will tell if the members thank them.

Continue reading “Just don’t call it creative destruction, Rishi” →

THOMAS CRANMER: PM’s urge to get to Antarctica reminds us of NZ’s connections with the ice (mythical and otherwise)

TV3 today reported that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stressed the importance of New Zealand maintaining its strong connection with Antarctica as other countries contest territory in the region.

Ardern, who is visiting Antarctica, spent yesterday visiting areas away from Scott Base, including the Terra Nova and Shackleton huts, and the Dry Valley

THOMAS CRANMER earlier this week said it is unclear why she wanted to skip Parliament to visit Antarctica – but he noted it does bring to mind last year’s research regarding Maori voyages and the little noticed response from Ngāi Tahu.

For reasons known only to her closest advisors, the Prime Minister seems intent on missing this week’s sitting of Parliament in order to travel to Antarctica – a place described as “the coldest, windiest, remotest place on Earth” by Antarctica NZ general communications manager Megan Nicholl. According to Grant Robertson, the man who deputizes for Ardern during her absences abroad, “it’s the kind of visit the New Zealand Prime Minister should make”.

For the rest of us, we are left to scratch our heads and speculate. The stated reason of marking the 65th anniversary of Scott Base seems, on the face of it, a tenuous excuse to make a very climate unfriendly return flight on a C130 Hercules particularly at a time when there are so many pressing issues on the domestic political agenda. Continue reading “THOMAS CRANMER: PM’s urge to get to Antarctica reminds us of NZ’s connections with the ice (mythical and otherwise)” →

Mahuta was finding a job for Goff and keeping miners off the seabed – so what does she make of further dismantling of our democracy?

Buzz from the Beehive

The news we expected to hear from Nanaia Mahuta, as Minister of Local Government, was not to be found on the Beehive website when we checked around noon.

We refer to the far-from-surprising but nevertheless deeply disturbing news that the Government-appointed review of local government is recommending the further dismantling of democratic governance in New Zealand

The draft report from the review team, in keeping with the Government’s preference for mystifying most of its citizens by sticking te reo labels on new agencies, programmes and reports, is He mata whariki, he matawhanui.

The explanation provided for the enlightenment of the great majority of New Zealanders is that those words amount to

“… a metaphor for a welcoming place for people to gather and set a broad vision.”

Don’t be misled. As Kiwiblog reports, the review team has come up with stuff which seems mainly about making local government less democratic.

Their recommendations include:

mana whenua appointments to Councils to “supplement” elected members
Pay rises for Councillors
Forcing STV on all Councils even where residents have overwhelmingly voted against it.

Continue reading “Mahuta was finding a job for Goff and keeping miners off the seabed – so what does she make of further dismantling of our democracy?” →

ANZ (while chalking up a $2bn net profit) says it is helping build future prosperity and security for Aotearoa

Australian banks aren’t popular in NZ, right?

They make huge profits, then ship the booty back to the greedy shareholders across the ditch.

That’s the refrain from many straitened Kiwis who nevertheless are disinclined to switch to using NZ-owned banks.

There are other New Zealanders who find the services of Australian banks quite satisfactory, and see the scale of their businesses as a reassuring haven for their savings.

This week ANZ New Zealand cracked the $2 billion mark in net profit for the first time.

Chief Executive Antonia Watson said the 8% increase in profit was a result of a combination of pent-up post-pandemic economic activity and a buoyant housing market. Continue reading “ANZ (while chalking up a $2bn net profit) says it is helping build future prosperity and security for Aotearoa” →

BCG report throws light on how we might avoid the power-price shocks that Aussies are facing

Retail electricity prices in Australia are expected to rise by 50% over the next two years, with Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said to be weighing up market intervention to stop those costs spiralling further.

The Australian Treasury has assumed in the federal budget presented in Canberra last night that retail power prices will increase by an average of 20% nationally in late 2022 and a further 30% in 2023/24.

These startling rises stem from Australia’s drive to decarbonise its electricity supplies. After enjoying a long run of cheap electricity, Australian consumers are now facing what will be a severe attack on household budgets.

By comparison, with 80% of our electricity already coming from renewable sources, New Zealand may escape such rises. Continue reading “BCG report throws light on how we might avoid the power-price shocks that Aussies are facing” →