New Zealand’s relationships with other countries have been a feature of an outpouring of press statements and speeches from the Beehive over the past 24 hours.
The PM checked in from overseas, the Minister of Trade is headed overseas, the Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed a bunch of diplomats from overseas, the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety brayed about a ruling from overseas, and (a second statement from him) the Minister of Trade brandished a report from overseas.
The most important of those was the press release after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held their first bilateral meeting in Sydney.
Now that it has set about implementing a de-colonialising curriculum on subjects such as science and history, the government is determined to get more kids into classes to lap up the new doctrine.
It has declared a commitment to improving student attendance at school and “kura” (which is a school) in a pre-Budget announcement from Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti.
The declaration was among several ministerial statements posted on the Beehive website over the past few days, including a speech by the PM to a business audience.
Hipkins said a regional response fund of $40 million over four years is being established to meet local education needs, with a strong initial focus on ensuring students are going to school and are engaged in their learning.
Perhaps parents should go back to school, too, to grapple with the jargon of the Ardern government ideologues in their promotion of separatism or partnership, depending on your doctrinal inclinations.
Funds will be provided through “Te Mahau”, which (said Hipkins)
“… works closely with the sector and communities, as well as hapū and iwi to ensure frontline support is getting where it needs to in the way it needs to.”
Thus hapū and iwi are separated from the school sector and communities.
Te Mahau is a comparatively recent addition to the English-Te Reo hybrid language that has become the Ardern government’s argot. A ministry explanation says:
Te Mahau is the new name for what has previously been referred to as an Education Service Agency (ESA).
And what’s the problem with Education Service Agency? A teeny minority of the population might not know what it means or what it might do.
It may be that parents also have to go back to school to learn the American spelling that Hipkins and Tinetti have adopted in their press statement. It says Budget 2022 also will provide $18.9 million
“.. to fund a refresh and enhancement of Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) delivery to ensure the programis incorporating the most up to date research and is tailored to the New Zealand context.”
Mind you, “program” does become “programme” in five other uses of the word. Perhaps Hipkins and Tinetti each contributed their own spellings.
Oh – and it seems the modern learning of Mangled English will teach us to abandon the hyphens that once were required in compound adjectives such as up-to-date research.
The Government is committed to improving student attendance at school and kura, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti said in a pre-Budget announcement today.
Essential workers sent a clear message today that they no longer want to see their pay and conditions set through a race to the bottom, and that they support fair, good faith bargaining with employers through Fair Pay Agreements.
The Government is partnering with Air New Zealand to trial an innovative new COVID-19 testing solution that uses Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) technology.
A warmer winter is on the horizon for over 1 million New Zealanders receiving either a main benefit or New Zealand Superannuation as the Winter Energy Payment begins today.
While Finance Minister Grant Robertson was having his monthly brag about the resilience of the economy and the state of the government’s finances, Michael Wood (Workplace Relations and Safety) was bragging about legislation that may well affect the tax drain from private-sector companies and their staffs and Carmel Sepuloni (Arts, Culture and Heritage) was bragging about a mass of money being doled out to artists, craftspeople and what-have-you.
Point of Order 