NZ slaps more sanctions on Russia while welcoming Brits into the CPTPP (but the trade deal sours some UK commentators)

 Buzz from the Beehive

We haven’t exhaustively put this proposition to the test, but we suspect there’s just one thing Nanaia Mahuta has mentioned more often than “sanctions” in her press statements.  That would be “three waters”.

Mahuta has popped up in the latest batch of Beehive press statements to announce a further tightening of the thumb screws she is applying to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

The targets of her latest action include Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Alekseevna Lvova-Belova, who is being punished for her involvement in the abduction and forced relocation of thousands of Ukrainian Children.

But (we wonder) how many more Russian bigwigs must be sanctioned before Putin starts to wince?

Another announcement involving this country’s overseas relationships came from the office of Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor.

We suspect “agreement” and/or “FTA” has been mentioned in his press  statements even more times than Mahuta could get “three waters” into hers before she was replaced as Minister of Local Government.

BRIAN EASTON: Census 2023 – why I take the population census seriously

• Brian Easton writes –

The low coverage of the 2018 Population Census and Dwellings has generated all sorts of difficulties. You are told that census results are vital for allocating electoral seats and  education and health funding. That is absolutely true but social researchers use its findings for many other purposes. For instance, it has a comprehensive survey of our housing stock and of people’s internal migration while it also used to guide the disability survey. Its detailed age and gender structure is vital for national and regional population projections.

(It may be especially useful for the reconstruction arising from Cyclone Gabrielle, especially for housing on the margins and isolated. Censuses are very good for dealing with such groups.)

Govt is safeguarding Treaty grounds (for $3m) but Hipkins may be embroiled in spat about when he can talk about it

Buzz from the Beehive

Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend.  More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too.

Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website.

Just one ministerial statement was posted there yesterday, to tell of “multiple housing investments” delivering thousands of new homes for the people living in “multiple Northland communities”.

This nicely buttered bit of Beehive beneficence was brayed by Housing Minister Megan Woods.

But Carmel Sepuloni, as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, more coyly was investing in Northland too. She despatched a press statement headed Government Investment Safeguards Waitangi Treaty Grounds which said: 

Brian Easton: Christmas briefing papers — what was the PM reading in the runup to Election Year?

Dr Brian Easton writes:

It’s the summer break. Everyone settles down with family, books, the sun and some fishing. But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through.

I haven’t seen them. Here is my guess at some of the headline items – in alphabetical order. (The identified ministers are those who were responsible at Christmas.)

Co-governance is being taken out of the active political policy process – ‘kicked down the road’ – until after the election. But it won’t go away.

Everyone has different understandings of what ‘co-governance’ means. It appears to be giving Māori a privileged role in the government of the country, which seems to undermine some central tenets of liberal democracy.

Splish, splash – and Mahuta is back in the swim with a Bill to spare us from sinking in water-supply costs

Buzz from the Beehive

The government hadn’t done with legislating and regulating our water-supply systems, when we last reported on the flow of announcements from the Beehive.

Nanaia Mahuta (in tandem with Commerce and Communications Minister David Clark) had one more press statement to  issue – 

New legislation to provide affordable water services for New Zealanders

The Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill and Water Services Legislation Bill have been introduced to Parliament today, following the passage of the Water Services Entities Act.

Earlier in the day Mahuta had issued this –

 Next steps in securing affordable water services for New Zealanders

The Government has laid foundations for safe and affordable water services with the Water Services Entities Bill passing its third reading in Parliament.

This was followed by Environment Minister David Parker announcing –

Updating freshwater regulations

The Government has updated the Essential Freshwater 2020 regulations to support their effective implementation, and in response to consultation feedback.  

The changes announced by Parker have been made to the:

• NPS-FM – National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020
• NES-F – Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020
• Stock Exclusion Regulations – Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020

Parker says this means a consenting pathway is now available for quarrying activities, landfills and clean-fill areas, mineral mining (with some additional controls on coal mining) and some urban development.

But wait – there’s more.

Mahuta’s Three Waters bill flows through the third reading stage – but only Labour MPs voted in support of it

Buzz from the Beehive

The most triumphal statement posted on the Beehive website today came from Nanaia Mahuta, to bray about the Water Services Entities Bill passing its third reading in Parliament.

The Bill was supported only by Labour MPs, but they have enough numbers in Parliament to turn it into law regardless of the weight of public opposition and the objections of other political parties in the House of Representatives.  

As Minister of Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta issued a statement to note that this is the first of three bills intended to ensure affordable drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services is provided to New Zealanders “now and into the future

Next steps in securing affordable water services for New Zealanders

The Government has laid foundations for safe and affordable water services with the Water Services Entities Bill passing its third reading in Parliament.

Little announces booster shot for Maori health while welcoming figures that show the benefits of a targeted approach

Latest from the Beehive

Point of Order’s Beehive monitors were treated to a double dose of Health Minister Andrew Little’s rejoicing today.

Little and Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare announced what they called a record funding boost for Māori primary and community healthcare providers as part of $71.6 million in commissioning investments by the Māori Health Authority.

Some would call this discriminatory spending.  Little prefers to call it targeted.

The bullet points in the press statement show:

• $29.3 million for interim New Zealand Health Plan priority areas
• $13 million for Māori primary and community providers
• $17.6 million for te ao Māori solutions, mātauranga Māori and population health
• $11.7 million to support innovation, workforce development, and whānau voice.

In a second press release, Little seized on fresh New Zealand Health Survey data and told  us this shows his government’s policies are improving the nation’s health and general well-being.

Two tribes get more Treaty dosh (thanks to the “relativity mechanism”) while northern kids get another M in STEM lessons

It’s the Treaty settlement that keeps on giving – or rather, which requires taxpayers to keep on giving.  This time Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu have each received $1.625 million as a negotiated resolution of a range of disputes concerning the relativity mechanism payments made in 2012 and 2017.

The relativity mechanisms were included in the tribes’ 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

The adjustment payments (we are told) have been guided by the awards of previous arbitrations, and have reduced the number of future arbitration hearings required to resolve remaining disputes.

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little’s statement has been posted on the Beehive website along with news that his colleagues have …

• Welcomed the expansion of Pūhoro STEMM into the Far North

The headline on the press statement might puzzle some readers.  What is STEMM?

They will know about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – but what’s the extra “M” all about?

It’s M for Mātauranga, perhaps the most vital component of our education – and science  – system under the Ardern Government.

High Court sits vac – it looks like we don’t qualify but (while we live off our nest eggs) our bank deposits will be better protected

Latest from the Beehive

The Government opened up a great career opportunity yesterday at much the same time as it announced an initiative to protect – within limits – our savings.

The job opportunity (which excited us here, at Point of Order, until we were alerted to the age limit likely to be applied) is to become a judge.

Attorney-General David Parker has called for nominations and expressions of interest in appointment to the High Court Bench.

On the savings front, under legislation introduced in Parliament yesterday, New Zealanders will have up to $100,000 of their deposits in any eligible institution guaranteed in the event the institution fails.

Those announcements are to be found on the Beehive websiete along with news that …

Covid research is funded and we get progress reports on housing-related policies (but don’t ask about the KiwiBuild target)

Buzz from the Beehive

Health and housing are among the issues tackled  on the Beehive website today.

Mind you, on the health front the government has focused some of its efforts on sexual and reproductive health in the Pacific, providing “new support” for access to contraceptives, family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services.  

This (involving an investment of “a further NZ$30 million”) was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs during a visit to Port Moresby.

Back home,  Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall was announcing funding for 23 research projects involving staff from universities, Māori and Pacific research organisations, health and disability providers, Crown Research Institutes and Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.

Each project is being funded for 12 months with allocations between $200,000 and $500,000. Funding comes from the COVID-19 health system response and the National Immunisation Programme.

Three announcements relate to the Government’s efforts to deliver on 2020 policy commitments, when the Labour Party said:

“We’re taking action to tackle New Zealand’s housing crisis and help more Kiwis into homes. There’s no single answer to the housing issues which were decades in the making, and it will take time to turn things around, but the policies we’re putting in place are already making a real difference.”

But the difference it is making did not satisfy the writer of an article on The Spinoff website in May

The article was headlined As Labour again fails to address the housing crisis, our most vulnerable suffer.

Guest writer Alan Johnson had been examining the Government’s 2022 Budget and complained :

“There were three notable features in budget 2022 for housing. KiwiBuild appears to have been quietly laid to rest, yet more money is to be spent on transitional housing and the provision of social housing may grow by 3-4%. Together these signal the extent of the government’s housing ambitions for the remainder of this parliamentary term and possibly for the rest of its tenure. If the government changes in 2023 then this is probably as good as it gets.”

 The government doubtless will contend that the article was unfair and today it has made three announcements.

First, as Minister of Building and Construction, Megan Woods has announced that law changes to introduce a new voluntary certification scheme for modular component, or prefab, manufacturers, and strengthen New Zealand’s building product certification scheme have come into force today.

Second, as Minister of Housing and of Building and Construction, Woods announced that work to get more people into stable housing “is continuing at pace in Christchurch”, with six additional homes delivered in partnership between the government and community housing provider Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust.

 Third, housing gets several mentions in a speech by Environment Minister David Parker on key decisions made by the Government about the new resource management system.

He explained how the new system will be more efficient and effective, and how it will enable infrastructure and development.

And he reiterated the government’s commitment to repealing the Resource Management Act and enacting the Natural and Built Environments Act and Spatial Planning Act  this parliamentary term.

Among Parker’s observations:

“To better enable development within environmental biophysical limits, including a significant improvement in housing supply, affordability and choice, and timely provision of appropriate infrastructure, including social infrastructure like hospitals or schools.”

So let’s  not be too hasty in  getting huffy about the Government’s housing policies, eh?

 Except that we were  jolted by an article posted on Kiwiblog earlier this week.  It said: 

Jacinda Ardern in 2017 promised 100,000 Kiwibuild houses in 10 years, or by 2028.

Based on their current progress, they will make their 100,000 promise in the year 2313.

She promised that by 2022 the scheme will be going so well they would be completing a massive 250 homes week or 50 every weekday.

In the last five months they have completed 21 Kiwibuild homes which is one per week.

So they promised 250 a week, and they are delivering one a week.

Latest from the Beehive

7 SEPTEMBER 2022

Support for sexual and reproductive health in the Pacific

New support for access to contraceptives, family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services in the Pacific has been announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs during a visit to Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Māori Economy prepare for Climate Action during 2021 Growth

Māori businesses are playing a key role in Aotearoa New Zealand’s, economic recovery and climate change planning according to the Tatauranga umanga Māori: 2021 report released today by Stats NZ.” Associate Minister of Statistics, Meka Whaitiri said.

Government law changes to enable faster consenting, more prefabs, comes into force

Law changes that introduce a new voluntary certification scheme for modular component, or prefab, manufacturers, and strengthen New Zealand’s building product certification scheme have come into force today.

7 SEPTEMBER 2022

More new high-quality public homes delivered in Christchurch

The work to get more people into stable housing is continuing at pace in Christchurch, with six additional homes delivered in partnership between the government and community housing provider Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust.

Speech 

6 SEPTEMBER 2022

How the future resource management system will better enable development outcomes

This speech is the fourth in a number I have given in recent months to share some of the key decisions that have been made by the Government about the new system.

Successful funding for COVID-19 research round announced

Researchers from across New Zealand have received funding to undertake research into the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and future pandemic responses.

Government invests in local infrastructure to support decarbonisation

Communities around New Zealand will benefit from upgraded, safer, and more people-friendly streets as the result of the Government’s Streets for People programme, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today.