Covid is still with us, so don’t expect gang violence and ram raids to be eradicated now that Hipkins has the Police portfolio

Buzz from the Beehive

On the Beehive website, news of Kris Faafoi resigning from Parliament preceded news of the PM reshuffling her cabinet.   Indeed, Faafoi’s resignation – along with news of Trevor Mallard stepping down as Speaker of the House – provided the rationale for the PM’ reshuffle.

The timing in our email in-tray was different.  First (at 3.14pm), we learned of the Cabinet reshuffle and then (at 3.16pm) we were advised of Faafoi’s  resignation.

No matter.  The PM’s press statement said she has made changes to her Cabinet line-up following the decision of senior Minister Kris Faafoi to resign from Parliament and Speaker Trevor Mallard’s nomination to a European diplomatic posting.

There will be no mucking about with the reshuffle (which is more substantial than generally had been expected).  The changes will take effect after a ceremony at Government House this  afternoon.   

O’Connor chuffed about NZ’s leadership on banishing fossil fuel subsidies – but the big test will be bringing the US on board

Monitoring the Ministers

The PM has been dishing out bravery awards and releasing the Government’s 2021 National Security Intelligence Priorities while Health Minister Andrew Little has been dishing out $644 million for hospital upgrades.  Or rather, he has confirmed the government will fund 36 different local hospital upgrades throughout the country and the operational costs to support them, at a total cost of $644 million  

In  one of her statements, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged the extraordinary courage of ten people recognised for acts of bravery relating to the March 15, 2019 terrorist attacks.

In the other, she said the National Security Intelligence Priorities help us to identify threats, risks, and challenges to New Zealand’s security and wellbeing, while outlining current areas of interest where intelligence can support the Government to make informed decisions.

The Priorities have been grouped into 13 overarching themes covering a range of threats and risks to New Zealand including; foreign interference and espionage, climate change and environmental issues, malicious cyber activity, terrorism and violent extremism.  

In his statement, Andrew Little announced $100 million in fast-tracked health capital projects had been confirmed, supported by $544 million operational funding

The Government will upgrade 24 local hospitals next year to support planned and routine care, to ensure non-COVID patients are safe when COVID patients are being treated.  The Programme will be rolled out alongside an international health workforce recruitment campaign.

Oh – and let’s not overlook Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s latest statement about the resilience of the economy in the face of the impact of the Delta outbreak.

Pharmac should brace for a dose of medicine to perk up its Treaty performance and (all going well) lift Maori health outcomes

Monitoring the Ministers

A raft of appointments has been  announced over the past 24 hours – an ambassador to Turkey, a consul-general to Guangzhou, a chair for KiwiRail, a deputy inspector-general of intelligence and security and an advisory panel for the same outfit. 

Oh – and remember Clare Curran? The former Labour Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has landed a job on the board of a Crown company, Network for Learning (N4L).       

In other announcements, the government joined the disabled community in marking and celebrating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall congratulated Covid testing teams around New Zealand for reaching the five million tests milestone.

Another big health-related statement came from Health Minister Andrew Little, who said care for the sickest New Zealanders is getting a major boost from the government, with plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on expanding intensive care-type services.

As the country shifts to the traffic-light system, he said (somewhat ominously)

“… we need to make sure we can cope with the unexpected.”

Cabinet has earmarked $100 million of capital funding from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to accelerate these intensive care unit projects.  Another $544 million of operational funding is available to fund ongoing costs like staffing.

But Point of Order was drawn to another of Little’s press statements, issued to accompany his release of an interim report by an independent panel reviewing the national pharmaceuticals-buying agency Pharmac.

Nothing from Nanaia on NZ’s envoy in Turkey (if she’s still there) but you can read about an APEC meeting and vaccination rules

Latest from the Beehive

Covid-related issues and health have dominated the news from the Beehive over the weekend but Point of Order is keen to highlight developments in the foreign-policy domain.

First, we have noted a press statement from Grant Robertson after he chaired an APEC meeting (a virtual meeting, of course). More of this later.

Second, we can’t find  a statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta on developments in Turkey where our Ambassador (according to the news media) has been declared persona non grata.    

Maybe the Minister is busy with Three Waters stuff – or maybe reports of our Ambassador  being one of several envoys declared persona non  grata are the mischievous products of anti-Turkish propaganda.   

If our Ambassador is given a diplomatic eviction notice  – of course – we wonder what arrangements will be made by officials who run our Managed Isolation and Quarantine system.  Will she have to wait until she wins one of those lottery spots?

Get used to FPAs, if you are employing staff – and brace yourself to losing control over shaping what is a fair deal

We are tempted on occasion to cry: come back, Winston, all is forgiven. Big chunks of our society would benefit from a tempering influence of the sort exercised by New Zealand First – through its coalition agreement – on Labour-Green policy development and implementation from 2017-20.

Yes, they got in the way of some policies we would have welcomed.  But the Peters party frustrated policies to give effect to curiously separatist interpretations of the Crown’s Treaty obligations.  And it is credited (or discredited, depending on your perspective) with frustrating the introduction of Fair Pay Agreements (or FPAs, as the alphabet soup aficionados prefer).

But nowadays the Ardern government has a majority in the House, there’s no need for compromises, and she and her team are full steam ahead with Maori wards, a Maori Health Authority and – on the labour market front – a bill to introduce Fair Trade Agreements next year.

FPAs are a set of terms and conditions – including wages and working hours – which employers in a particular sector will be forced to abide by, with the overall aim of raising workplace standards.

We get a whiff of what’s up (a pong, if you are an employer) from a Newshub report which foresees a return to National Awards, a long-abandoned system of wage negotiation based on the principle that basic terms and conditions were best established by the collective workforce.

Yes, there will be a cull – it will be aimed at cutting group that launched the “dirty dairying” campaign down to size

Players in the country’s biggest exporter earner, the dairy and meat industries, would have shown more than a passing interest in two statements from the Beehive yesterday.

Agriculture Minister announced the roll-out of extra monitoring and a range of practical support to help farmers achieve immediate improvements in intensive winter grazing practices.

Acting Conservation Minister Ayesha Verrall  released a report outlining recommendations to strengthen the governance and good management practices within NZ Fish & Game, the outfit charged with managing sport fishing and game bird hunting across NZ that persistently harries farmers on environmental issues.

Verrall didn’t say so in her statement (no doubt with the wellbeing of Fish and Game governors in mind), but the review found:

“It is an extraordinary and unnecessary level of governance to have 144 governors (councilors of the regional FGCs and the NZFGC) for an organisation with a turnover of around $11 million., approximately $40 million in assets and 70 or so staff.  It was pointed out by several parties that this means there are more Fish and Game councillors in New Zealand than there are Members of Parliament.  The governor-to-staff ratio of 2-1 is not in line with best practice about governance ratios and effective teams.”

A culling – inevitably – is among the recommendations from the review team. 

It calls for fewer regions by amalgamating some of the existing ones and trimming the numbers on the NZFGC.  

Two further Beehive statements alert us to government decisions which will entail the spending of our money. 

• A $110 million Spinal Unit and Adult Rehabilitation Unit in Auckland has been given the initial funding go-ahead from the Government. The new, purpose-built facility will replace the existing Auckland Spinal Rehabilitation Unit at Ōtara and the General Rehabilitation Service in the Colvin Complex at Middlemore Hospital, and will form part of the $229.4 million Manukau Health Park super-clinic redevelopment.
• Phase one of the Franz Josef flood protection project has been approved after West Coast councils sought COVID recovery support from the government. The northern stopbanks to protect Franz Josef township from the Waiho River will be upgraded  followed by work on the southern stopbanks.  This phase involves investment of up to $12.3 million by the government and local councils. The co-funding arrangement involves $9.23 million from government, through the Provincial Development Unit.

Two further statements tell us –

• New Zealand has lifted the travel pause with Western Australia, effective from midday today when Quarantine Free Travel recommenced for travellers who have not been identified as contacts. Travellers identified as close contacts will need to complete 14 days of self-isolation and provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test before departure for New Zealand.
• Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta expressed her sadness at hearing of the death of former Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.  He  had also provided leadership to Local Government New Zealand as it  grapples with climate change, infrastructure deficits, and the impacts of Covid-19.

 Damien O’Connor’s statement draws attention to intensive winter grazing (IWG), a farming practice where cattle, sheep and other livestock progressively graze areas planted with fodder crops. If done poorly or too extensively, this can have serious negative effects on both animal welfare and the environment, particularly freshwater and estuary health.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Ministry for the Environment (MfE), councils and industry representatives, have developed an online tool to help improve practices to benefit freshwater quality and animal welfare.

In March, the government deferred the introduction of IWG practice regulations until May next year.

O’Connor said: 

“We want people to engage with this module so they will be ready for the upcoming changes.”

The 2021/2022 Intensive Winter Grazing Module can be accessed by clicking here

At Point of Order, we expect Fish and Game to keep a close eye on farmers’ compliance.  It’s the outfit which started the “Dirty Dairying Campaign” in 2002 as a way to voice their growing concern and mobilise public opinion in the fight against the declining ecological health of freshwater in New Zealand.

 But Fish and Game has its own issues.

The report released by Verrall outlines recommendations to strengthen the governance and good management practices within the organisation.

Fish & Game has had the same structure since it was set up in 1990.

The report is the result of a ministerial review initiated last year by former Minister Eugenie Sage to ensure its governance and structure were “fit for purpose” today.

The independent review, undertaken by Belinda Clark and John Mills, found Fish & Game plays an important role in environmental advocacy and stewardship.

It also identified “significant opportunities to strengthen governance and management good practices”, which somewhat suggestes they are not now good practices..

Verrall says she is now looking forward to Fish & Game adopting changes which will make it a much more fit-for-purpose organisation in terms of serving its core stakeholders, enabling Māori expression of rangatiratanga and in protecting the freshwater and other values so precious to all New Zealanders.

• FINAL Report – Review of Fish and Game New Zealand 2020.pdf83 MB

Latest from the Beehive

28 APRIL 2021

Franz Josef infrastructure gets green light

New integrated Spinal and Adult Rehabilitation Unit at Manukau Health Park

27 APRIL 2021

Take the heat off Megan Woods, folks – we must all pitch in and help nail (or fund) a resolution to the housing crisis

Housing Minister Megan Woods perhaps hopes to take the political heat off herself and the government on the matter of the shortage of houses, rampant real estate prices and soaring rents.

She acknowledges there is a crisis.   And – in a speech to the Palmerston North Housing Forum 2021 -she said it’s up to all of us to fix it.

The speech was among several items posted on the Beehive website since Point of Order last monitored what Ministers of the Crown are doing and how they are spending our money.

Further north, Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson was demonstrating that the housing crisis has been resolved for six families in Pāpāmoa, in the Bay of Plenty.

And his press statement reminds us that, if we are paying taxes, we already are doing our bit.

We are funding a raft of government programmes, several of them tailored to help people based on their ethnicity.

Let’s see what Andrew Little prescribes to remedy structural weaknesses in NZ’s health system

One  of the biggest  challenges  facing the  Ardern  government  is in  public health.   New Zealand  may have  escaped the  pressures heaped on other  health  systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but  its  health service has had  its problems, not  least those  exposed  in the  first  report from Heather Simpson and her team   and subsequently in  the Simpson-Roche report revealing deficiencies in  handling  aspects of the response to Covid-19

Both  of  those reports underlined  structural weaknesses  within  the system,  not  only in the  district  health  boards,  but in the  Ministry of  Health.  To  repair  them  would be  a  singular challenge  for any minister. It is  notable  the Prime  Minister  nominated Andrew Little  as the  one  with  the  know-how  to get to grips  with  those particular headaches.

But even with the skills he has, reforming  district  health boards will be a severe test for Little. Some of  them are under enormous financial stress  while others  are  failing to provide  the  full range  of  services  in a  timely manner.  And  let’s not forget the  government  has  yet  to make  significant  progress  in overcoming  the deficiencies  it has  acknowledged in the country’s mental  health services.

Beyond  that  there  are  other pressing  challenges  in health, for example  with diabetes.

Once known as “mother’s ruin”, it is made all over NZ – including Reefton (where there’s govt funding in the financial mix)

The West  Coast has been the focus of two lots of good news from the Beehive in the past 24 hours or so.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare officially opened Te Nikau Hospital and Health Centre in Greymouth and then turned the first sod at the Buller Health Centre site in Westport.

Meanwhile we learned the Reefton Distilling Company had been granted a loan of almost $1 million from the Provincial Growth Fund.

The loan was one of three newly announced spending and/or lending decisions:

• Climate Change Minister James Shaw has allocated $50 million from the Clean Powered Public Service Fund to replace, or convert, coal boilers in schools with clean energy alternatives. He has named 18 schools in the latest batch to benefit from this funding.
• The Reefton Distilling Co will receive a $928,000 Provincial Growth Fund loan to help move its distillery to bigger premises and buy the equipment it needs to expand operations.
• Te Komanga Marae Trust has received more than $1.54 million to restore and enhance the native flora on the Kōwhairoa Peninsula Historic Reserve at the entrance of Whangaroa Harbour.

Being fond of a good gin, the team at Point of Order has kept on eye on the West Coast distillery since late in 2017 when we read:

A new business is looking to turn pure West Coast rainwater into gin, liqueurs and eventually whisky.

Reefton Distilling Co. will open its doors next year in the West Coast town that shares its name, co-founders Patsy Bass and Sean Whitaker said.

Six people would be employed, including the co-founders, in the first 12 months of operations.

In February 2018 the news was that Reefton Distilling Co had passed the minimum target for its current capital raising and co-founder Patsy Bass hoped it would  hit $1.5m by the time it closed later that month.

An update earlier this year was headed Reefton Distilling Co reaches $2m investment target

A West Coast distillery has raised more than $2 million to expand its Little Biddy Gin operation. 

Reefton Distilling Co reached its first target of $2m within two weeks of releasing its public investment offer. 

The company opened in October 2018 and scooped six awards in its first six months. 

Founder and managing director Patsy Bass said securing the minimum $2m of equity investment now provided the company with access to several debt financing options to expand the business and build new premises. 

 At that time the company had applied to Development West Coast for $1.85m of commercial finance to fund land, buildings and fit out costs.

The business had quickly outgrown its current space and had new premises under contract, with due diligence nearing completion.

According to the report which advised us of these developments:

Bass said the new site would allow Reefton Distilling Co to employ up to 50 people and expand its range of products, including its much-awaited Moonlight Creek Whisky.

And now the government is in for a dram or two of the action.

Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced the company will receive a $928,000 Provincial Growth Fund loan to help move its distillery to larger premises and buy the equipment it needs to expand operations.

Shane Jones said the craft distillery was growing rapidly.

“The distilling company began operating only two years ago but it is already proving hugely successful, so much so that it has outgrown its existing premises.

“Demand for the distillery’s international award-winning products is increasing and the $1.86 million expansion project will allow it to keep up with that demand, grow production and host more tourists,” Shane Jones said.

O’Connor said the relocation and fitout of the distillery would provide local construction jobs and significant spending in the region. Construction work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.

“The expansion has created another seven to eight fulltime jobs, with more expected to be created in early 2021, in addition to existing fulltime permanent staff and casual workers.”

The new development will also provide education and training opportunities for youth through part-time employment, work experience and internship programmes.

Oh – and let’s not forget the environmental benefits.

Shane Jones said the Reefton Distilling Co was also increasing its environmental sustainability.

“The distillery is already working with the Department of Conservation to grow its sustainable use of native botanicals to flavour spirits, as well as collecting rainwater, considering solar energy and using a bio-mass boiler to power its stills.”

The gin business is booming, of course, and we are sure the 50 or so other distillers will be heartened to know where to go if they need a financial tonic.

Once upon a time the stuff they are producing was known as Mother’s Ruin,  although we are sure all of the Kiwi products are of a hugely superior quality.  We are willing to put this confidence to a taste test and are contemplating an application to the PGF for the money we would need to conduct the first Point of Order quality trial.

Latest from the Beehive

 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Tuvalu Language Week theme promotes community resilience in the face of COVID-19

The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio says the 2020 Tuvalu Language Week theme of “Fakatili Te Kiloga Fou” which means “Navigating

International sport back up and running in New Zealand

The Government is welcoming today’s announcement that the West Indies and Pakistan cricket teams will tour New Zealand

Better health care for West Coasters as Te Nikau Hospital officially opened

The Government has delivered a new hospital for Greymouth and is starting work on a much needed new health centre in Westport, ensuring local communities will benefit from better access to high quality integrated health services.

Government backing local with PGF loan

A West Coast distillery will benefit from a Provincial Growth Fund investment that will enable it to expand its operations and create jobs in the town of Reefton, Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced.

 24 SEPTEMBER 2020

Primary sector exports and jobs up again

Primary sector exports and jobs are up again, demonstrating the sector’s underlying strength amid the COVID-19 global pandemic and US-China trade war, and supporting New Zealand’s economic recovery.

 Clean energy future for more schools

Schools across Aotearoa New Zealand will be supported by the Government to upgrade to run on clean energy, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today.

We had to wait but eventually the PM announced a further extension of Covid-19 alert levels (and some travel relaxations)

The latest Government announcements reflect an urge to win votes in Dunedin (by pushing along work on a new hospital), from environmentalists (by requiring the financial sector to report on climate risks and investing $19 million in a forest restoration project) and from Maori (by giving $8 million to Te Wānanga o Raukawa “in partial recognition of its Waitangi Tribunal claim”.

The PM presumably was pitching for the Maori vote, too, when she prefaced the announcement the public was bursting to hear – the latest Cabinet decision on Covid-19 alert levels – with a Maori Language Week demonstration of her prowess in te reo and by pressing people to try to use the language.

She was in no hurry to make the big announcement.  Having apprised us she is learning te reo and told us what we already knew (that Cabinet had met virtually to review progress on stamping out Covid-19 and decide on the next steps for alert levels) Jacinda Ardern proceeded to give an update on the Auckland Cluster.

Many paragraphs on, we learned Cabinet has decided on “a short extension” to the current restrictions of Alert Level 2.5 for Auckland, and Level 2 for the rest of the country.

She also announced a change of physical distancing restrictions on planes and public transport.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson chipped in with a press statement about a bounce-back in economic activity across the Auckland region and the country bouncing back to levels experienced under Alert Level 1 following Auckland’s move out of Alert Level 3.  This was sourced to an analysis in the Treasury’s latest Weekly Economic Update.

Here at Point of Order we keenly await the latest GDP statistics, to be announced on Thursday and the Pre-election Fiscal and Economic Update.

We are putting our money on the news being grim, which will justify the huge fiscal policy effort to pump money into the economy (although readers are entitled to question the stimulatory benefits of many spending decisions).

The latest announcements show how the balm of borrowed billions is being applied:

• A $19 million investment is being made over four years in the Kaimai-Mamaku Ranges Forest Restoration Project, comprising six areas or ecological hubs covering more than 240,000 hectares from Te Aroha to Tokoroa, with specific conservation goals for each area. The funding will enable pest and predator control work to help protect rare species including the Te Aroha stag beetle, kōkako and kiwi along with long tailed bats and precious kauri trees. About 60 jobs are expected to be created.
• A payment of $8 million will be made to Te Wānanga o Raukawa in partial recognition of its Waitangi Tribunal claim. The money will be provided over the next three years “as additional support for Te Wānanga o Raukawa to deliver educational outcomes for Māori while work continued to develop a more sustainable funding solution for the wānanga”. The Crown has agreed to make a further one-off contribution of $300,000 toward the costs Te Wānanga o Raukawa has incurred in working with the Crown to resolve its claim.
• The Government has agreed on a preferred design for the new Dunedin Hospital and has provided funding for the next stages of work. Cabinet agreed the detailed business case in principle and $127 million has been provided to progress design, demolition, piling, project management and early contractor engagement. The total budget for the project will now exceed $1.4 billion.
• The Manuherekia catchment in Central Otago is the third exemplar catchment to be targeted as part of the Government’s plan to clean up waterways by supporting community-led programmes. The At-Risk Catchment programme provides $12 million over four years, including to the three exemplar catchments that have been announced (the others are Kaipara Moana and Te Hoiere/Pelorus).
• More mental health and addiction services were announced for young New Zealanders in Rotorua and Taupō, Wairarapa, South Canterbury, Dunedin and Southland from next month. The four contracts to provide the services are worth $3.2 million over two years and mark the beginning of a $16m rollout of youth specific services. The funding is part of Budget 2019’s $455 million for expanding access and choice of primary mental health and addiction services.

But while the Government has been splashing out (with increasing sums of borrowed money) to stimulate the economy, it is also imposing new environmental obligations on businesses.

Climate change Minister James Shaw announced New Zealand will be the first country in the world to require the financial sector to report on climate risks,

“The changes I am announcing today will bring climate risks and resilience into the heart of financial and business decision making. It will ensure the disclosure of climate risk is clear, comprehensive and mainstream,” James Shaw said.

Businesses covered by the requirements will have to make annual disclosures, covering governance arrangements, risk management and strategies for mitigating any climate change impacts. If businesses are unable to disclose, they must explain why.

Around 200 organisations will be required to disclose their exposure to climate risk through climate reporting requirements that will apply to:

• All registered banks, credit unions, and building societies with total assets of more than $1 billion
• All managers of registered investment schemes with greater than $1 billion in total assets under management
• All licensed insurers with greater than $1 billion in total assets under management or annual premium income greater than $250 million
• All equity and debt issuers listed on the NZX
• Crown financial institutions with greater than $1 billion in total assets under management, such as ACC and the NZ Super Fund

Latest from the Beehive

15 SEPTEMBER 2020

Supporting a thriving wānanga sector to benefit Māori learners

As part of the Government’s focus on building closer partnerships with Māori and enhancing the quality of, and access to, Māori medium education, a payment of $8 million will be made to Te Wānanga o Raukawa in partial recognition of its Waitangi Tribunal claim (WAI 2698), Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today.

Jobs for Nature boosts efforts to restore Kaimai-Mamaku

The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced a $19 million investment over four years in an important forest restoration project involving a partnership between the Department of Conservation, iwi/hapū, the Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils, community conservation groups and organisations such as Forest and Bird across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

New Zealand first in the world to require climate risk reporting

New Zealand will be the first country in the world to require the financial sector to report on climate risks, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today.

14 SEPTEMBER 2020

Economic data highlights impact of Auckland moving out of Level 3

Economic activity across the Auckland region and the country bounced back to levels experienced under Alert Level 1 following Auckland’s move out of Alert Level 3, analysis in the Treasury’s latest Weekly Economic Update shows.

PM statement on Cabinet COVID-19 Alert Level review

Cabinet met virtually today to review our progress on stamping out Covid-19 and to decide on the next steps for our alert levels in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand.

More mental wellbeing services for young people in regions

More mental health and addiction services are available for young New Zealanders in Rotorua and Taupō, Wairarapa, South Canterbury, Dunedin and Southland from next month, Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter say.

Government joins forces with Central Otago communities to clean up waterways

The Manuherekia catchment in Central Otago is the third exemplar catchment to be targeted as part of the Government’s plan to clean up waterways by supporting community-led programmes.

Government confirms new Dunedin Hospital design

The Government has agreed on a preferred design for the new Dunedin Hospital featuring two separate buildings, and has provided funding for the next stages of work.