We are told (but not officially) that airport shares have landed Michael Wood in a bit of bother

Buzz from the Beehive

At least one headline-grabbing ministerial announcement had not  been posted on the government’s official website, when Point of Order checked early this afternoon.

We learned from other sources that

• Michael Wood has been stood down as Transport Minister over over failing to properly disclose shares owned in Auckland Airport; and
• Rino Tirikatene, Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth, is travelling to Singapore today on a mission (unabashedly discriminatory) to “promote business investment for wāhine entrepreneurs, and explore investment opportunities for  Māori land-based aquaculture”.

Just one new announcement had been posted on the Beehive website when we  checked.  It advised that  Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will be visiting  New Zealand this week.

Latest from the Beehive

Fiji Prime Minister Rabuka to visit New Zealand

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will visit New Zealand this week, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced today.

Beehive brays about King’s Birthday gongs and a deal with Japan – but it is bashful about rebuff of a Chinese request

Buzz from the Beehive

The government’s official website – dominated today by announcements of who has been awarded King’s Birthday gongs – also carries news of a development in New Zealand’s relationship with Japan.

This sits alongside the speech which Defence Minister Andrew Little delivered to the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2023 in Singapore, in which he said New Zealand’s most recent defence assessment identified climate change and geostrategic competition as the two greatest security challenges to our place in the South Pacific.

To the first issue, partners engaging and re-engaging with Pacific Island Countries are finding that climate change is a security and existential threat in our part of the world. As defence leaders we cannot view climate change as something that only others must grapple with.

But today I want to focus on that second challenge, increasing geostrategic competition in the Pacific and Indian Oceans regions. That issue poses significant risks of miscalculation – particularly when nuclear weapons are part of the calculus.

Little proceeded to tell his audience of international big-wigs about New Zealand’s concerns without mentioning China. Nor did he mention the United States or Australia.

But it seems he did meet China’s Defence Minister.

Defence Minister doesn’t mention US or China at international summit – and Singapore newspaper doesn’t mention him

Buzz from the Beehive

Defence Minister Andrew Little, addressing big-wigs from around the world in Singapore, was oh-so-diplomatically disinclined to identify some countries as goodies or baddies in his government’s defence thinking.

In his Speech To The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2023, he did say New Zealand’s most recent defence assessment identified climate change and “geostrategic competition” as the two greatest security challenges to our place in the South Pacific.

But he did not mention China, the United States or Australia.

He did mention Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.

Code of conduct for school board members is announced by a minister whose grasp of Parliament’s rules is in question

Buzz from the Beehive

 Education Minister Jan Tinetti brings news of a book of rules for school board members at the same time as her own grasp of Parliament’s rule book has been brought into question.

Tinetti has announced a compulsory code of conduct to “ensure school board members are crystal clear on their responsibilities and expected standard of behaviour”.

How crystal clear she might be on her responsibilities as a minister and the standard of behaviour expected of her is questionable.

Her press statement was posted on the government’s official website just a day or so after the Privileges Committee advised it will consider whether a false statement by Tinetti and the delay in correcting it amounts to contempt of Parliament and a deliberate attempt to mislead the House.

The committee considers and reports on questions of privilege relating to Parliament and MPs. “Privileges” are the powers and immunities which ensure Parliament is independent of the Crown and the courts.

Verrall enthuses about the beneficial effects of tax breaks while O’Connor muses on a fertiliser tax

Buzz from the Beehive

An  email from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta had yet to be posted on the government’s official website, when Point of Order made its morning check on our ministers and what they are (officially) up to.

She was providing us with an account – a somewhat brief one – of her visit to Korea where the highlights included meetings with Korean President Yoon and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna during her recent visit to Korea.

This left just one new press statement on the website, from Ayesha Verrall in her role as Minister of Research, Science and Innovation.

Verrall was enthusing about the benefits being generated by a tax policy generated to drive research and development.

Government drives $2 billion of business research and development

The Government’s Research and Development Tax Incentive has supported more than $2 billion of New Zealand business innovation – an increase of around $1 billion in less than nine months.

Mātauranga Māori will propel Pāpāmoa school kids’ science learning (in te reo) and give lift-off to NZ’s space policy

Buzz from the Beehive

Two ministerial press statements today draw attention to the Government’s incorporation of  mātauranga Māori in its science policies and programmes.

One of these announced the launch of the national space policy, which will oblige our space boffins to bring indigenous knowledge into their considerations.

The national policy document tells us:

• As part of informing diverse space policies and sector development initiatives, the New Zealand government will engage mātauranga Māori expertise.

And

• Mātauranga Māori and space are deeply connected, with space representing whakapapa (genealogical links to the beginning of the universe), wairuatanga (the spiritual connection between Earth and the universe, derived from Māori cosmology), and tātai arorangi (Māori knowledge of astronomy). The New Zealand government encourages inclusive collaborations with individuals or groups who are currently underrepresented in the space sector (including but not limited to Māori) and for these collaborations to work toward sustainable outcomes. The New Zealand government will also strive to further understand and assess representation across the space sector, to best direct inclusive collaboration opportunities.

Another statement released today tells us a school will  be built in Pāpāmoa for kids who will be taught in te reo about science, engineering, mathematics and what-have-you.

Govt is open about NZ’s science relationship with China – but a ministerial statement on defence relationship is hard to find

Buzz from the Beehive

The Government is coy about some aspects of its relationship with China – and with the United States.

Earlier this month, the PM spent a hectic  23 hours in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, where he responded to the superpower security deal just struck between the United States and PNG by saying New Zealand did not support the “militarisation of the Pacific”.

He also said “having a military presence doesn’t necessarily signify militarisation”.

Foreign Affairs analyst Geoffrey Miller commented:

Overseas-focused ministers busy with trade and security issues

Buzz from the Beehive

Ministers who took time out from the Labour Party congress to attend to portfolio duties were focused largely on promoting the country’s interests overseas.

The statements with the widest implications dealt with:

• Trade – Damien O’Connor joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA, to announce the substantial conclusion of negotiations of a new regional supply chains agreement among 14 Indo-Pacific countries.
• Solomon Islands – The New Zealand Defence Force deployment to Solomon Islands, as part of the regionally led Solomon Islands International Assistance Force, is being extended.
• Korea -Nanaia Mahuta has left New Zealand to attend the first Korea–Pacific Leaders’ Summit in Seoul.

The announcements are among the latest posts on the government’s official website –

What do Māori get from the Budget? Not as much as last year, sorry, but $825m more than the rest of us

The question posed in a Te Karere TVNZ headline – Budget 2023: How much was given to Māori? – was partly answered on the same day by a OneNews headline – Budget delivers hundreds of millions for Māori.

The New Zealand Herald put a more precise figure on it: Budget 2023 breakdown: Māori initiatives get $825m, Te Matatini kapa haka festival receives massive boost.

Nevertheless, Newshub reported the Māori Party was miffed that Māori had been short-changed: ‘Should have done better’: Te Pāti Māori Co-leader reacts to Budget 2023.

RNZ (without a question mark) headlined a report:  Budget 2023: What’s in it for Māori.

The article was providing an answer rather than asking a question.

An obvious part of the answer is that Māori will share the same benefits that are appropriated for public services for everyone.

But on top of that – as the NZ Herald headline above attests – there’s $825 million of Māori-targeted spending.

This is not as much as was appropriated last year, as Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson acknowledged: 

Essay competition winner might opt for the money and surrender the bag – but that would be to eschew a robust chat with MPs

As the general election approaches, the Association of Former Members of the Parliament of New Zealand has organised an essay competition to to foster democracy.  Secondary school students are being challenged to identify the important elements of a successful democracy, explain their value and consider whether they can be improved – in New Zealand.

The association – chaired by former Ohariu MP and Cabinet Minister Peter Dunne – is made up of MPs who either have retired gracefully or been given the heave-ho at an election by disgruntled voters.

Holding elected representatives to account and getting rid of them at an election if they don’t do their job satisfactorily is a key component of a robust democracy.  But this right has been taken away from Canterbury region voters.

The legislative process that resulted in Canterbury’s regional democratic structure being eroded is among many issues worth examining when the shortcomings of New Zealand’s democracy – and Treaty-brandishing politicians’  disinclination to defend it  – are considered.