And if you aren’t getting the message about the need for those cost of living handouts, NZ is grappling with GLOBAL inflation

Buzz from the Beehive

The Minister of Social Development and Employment told us in our previous Buzz bulletin about a new report which shows Government support has lifted incomes for Beneficiaries by 40 percent over and above inflation since 2018.

But the government doesn’t limit its redistribution of our taxes to dishing out money to beneficiaries.  The PM and her Revenue Minister accordingly popped up yesterday to enthuse that from 1 August – today – an estimated 2.1 million New Zealanders will be eligible to receive the first targeted Cost of Living Payment.   

The recipients will receive an extra $116 per month eac for three months.

Oh, look – Sepuloni finds some money for the arts has not been spent, but it will be put to use in a trough for cultural “regeneration”

Buzz from the Beehive

News of the PM’s next overseas travel plans flowed from the Beehive along with a fanfaronade of self-congratulation for work coming along nicely, thank you, announcements of fresh projects and programmes for consuming our taxes, and advice aimed at enhancing our wellbeing.

The overseas travel is to Samoa – Jacinda Ardern will lead a Parliamentary and community delegation to Apia from the 1–2 August to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of “the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, between Aotearoa New Zealand and Samoa”

It is government policy, apparently, to  inject the word “Aotearoa” into all ministerial press statements.  The treaty signed 60 years ago was “the Treaty of Friendship between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Western Samoa”.

The latest spending initiatives include an announcement from Agriculture Minister Damien  O’Connor that the Government is co-investing in a $22 million programme aimed at significantly reducing agricultural greenhouse gases and nitrate leaching.

The Government has committed $7.3 million over seven years to the N-Vision NZ programme through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFF Futures) fund. The programme focuses on three technology streams: