Govt highlights benefits for Tauranga in funding deal – but (in smaller type) beneficiaries learn they must repay the debt

Buzz from the Beehive

Geography, ethnicity and your occupation will determine the extent to which you might benefit from the latest hamper of goodies to be distributed by the Beehive.

But be warned. Being a beneficiary may result in levies being imposed.

Roughly interpreting the latest announcements, the beneficiaries are (or appear to be)- 

• Tauranga people (but there’s a taxing sting in the tail); 
• Homeless families in Tauranga’s suburbs (but not many and they must be Maori);   
• Rural people living in just some parts of the country and engaged in the right work;
• A few favoured food and fibre producers;
• An even more select group – some Maori businesses in the primary sector;  
• People needing mental health services (but they must live in the Gisborne area).

The press statements don’t put it quite that  way, of course: 

National and ACT remind us that they would pull the chain on the govt’s Three Waters legislation

Buzz from the Beehive

Readers of Point of Order will be familiar with the raft of issues that bedevil legislation to  implement the government’s Three Waters reforms.

They extend far beyond co-governance to financing and debt arrangements and have been revealed in a comprehensive series of articles by Thomas Cranmer.

The government is charging on with the reforms regardless, after Parliament’s Labour-dominated Finance and Expenditure Committee reported back comparatively minor changes to the Water Services Entities Bill that will establish  four publicly owned water entities to deliver water services around the country.

In statements yesterday, National’s Simon Watts said the Government has failed to use the opportunity to listen and make material changes to the Bill.

“National would work with communities to develop solutions that work for them, instead of going from the top down. We will repeal Labour’s Three Waters disaster.”

O’Connor goes to Paris (will they make a movie of it?) while his colleagues spend millions back home and crimp liquor sales

Buzz from the Beehive

Damien O’Connor has been busy with international duties. At the weekend he met with Aussie ministerial counterparts in Queenstown to discuss the advancement of trans-Tasman cooperation under the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement before packing his bags to head for Paris where he will co-chair an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ministerial meeting.

The Beehive website has recorded the thrust of his weekend talks on the bilateral relationship between New Zealand and Australia and his plans to fly to Paris along with posts which tell us how he and his colleagues have been earning their keep.

The website tells us they have been (or, in his case, will be) …

• Travelling to Paris to co-chair some OECD huffing and puffing about agriculture

 The latest post on the website when we checked in mid-afternoon tells us Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor will travel to Paris tomorrow to co-chair the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Committee on Agriculture Ministerial meeting on 3-4 November.

Review team which favours privileges for mana whenua is doing what local govt wants, says Mahuta (who lauds democracy)

Buzz from the Beehive

Hurrah.  Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta did get around to recognising the draft report on the future of local government from a review team whose membership and mission she announced in April last year.  

The team’s proposals include the creation of a Kiwi version of Animal Farm in which all citizens are equal, but some (depending on genealogy) are more equal than others.

Point of Order had been keen to learn what Mahuta thought of the draft report, but Opposition reactions reached us first.

ACT’s press statement  from local government spokesman Simon Court said the Government’s review team proposes ‘differentiated liberal citizenships’, where people get different rights based on their cultural and ethnic background.

“Is this what Willie Jackson meant when he said, ‘democracy has changed’?

“The suggestion that people should get different rights because of who their grandparents are is anti-democratic. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta needs to front up and tell ratepayers if she believes in this concept and if so, how is it consistent with the Bill of Rights?”

Then we received a statement from National’s Paul Goldsmith and Simon Watts headlined National rejects anti-democratic council proposals. This makes their position plain.

Mahuta’s statement on the Beehive website makes no mention of this highly contentious  element of the review team’s recommendations.

It is one of five recent posts on the website which tell us she and her ministerial colleagues have been ….

Buzz from the Beehive – or what are they up to now? (besides bruising local body democracy)

We had only just posted our Buzz from the Beehive report yesterday when Nanaia Mahuta banged out an announcement which buttressed her track record as a minister strong on democracy (with her rhetoric as Minister of Foreign Affairs) but lukewarm if not disdainful of it (with her actions as Minister of Local Government).

She said the Tauranga City Council will be run by commissioners until July 2024. This means the citizens and ratepayers of that city won’t get to elect a mayor and councillors to govern them at the next local government elections. 

Two other announcements over the past 24 hours or so deal with issues at the border, deciding who can come into this country as critical or skilled workers to work in manufacturing or tourism. 

Outward travel was the subject of an announcement that New Zealand and Australian public Anzac Day services will return to Gallipoli next month.

Tourism will further benefit from one of three spending announcements.  The other beneficiaries are a seaweed programme and Maori housing. 

And Finance Minister Grant Robertson told us he had hosted a call with his counterparts from Australia and the United States.   Canada and the United Kingdom were represented by deputies.  Did he tell them about this country’s robust economic performance, thanks to his stewardship as Minister of Finance?

Latest from the Beehive

12 MARCH 2022

Workforce pressures eased for manufacturing

Workforce pressures in the advanced manufacturing sector are to be eased with the approval of spaces for 100 critical workers to enter under a special immigration arrangement.

Return of working holidaymakers a boost to economic recovery

The return of working holidaymakers and more skilled workers from this coming Monday will accelerate New Zealand’s economic recovery from COVID-19 by helping to fill workforce shortages and support tourism.

11 MARCH 2022

Anzac Day Services to Return to Gallipoli in 2022

Minister for Veterans’ Meka Whaitiri has confirmed today that New Zealand and Australian public Anzac Day services will return to Gallipoli next month.

Land-based seaweed trial a nationwide first

A land-based seaweed trial aiming to help restore our waterways is about to kick-off with Government investment beside the Firth of Thames wetland, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said.

10 March Joint Meeting of Finance Ministers

Finance Minister Hon Grant Robertson yesterday hosted a call with his counterparts from Australia and the United States. Canada and the United Kingdom were represented by deputies.

Delivering on our commitment to Māori housing

Today the Associate Minister of Housing (Māori Housing) Peeni Henare released the Implementation Plan for the National Māori Housing Strategy – MAIHI Ka Ora.

Support for new winter festivals in lower South Island Te Waipounamu

Two new winter festivals in the lower South Island are getting government backing through an annual fund that supports start-up events to become internationally significant.

Commission to be appointed to Tauranga City Council beyond October 2022

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has today announced her intention to appoint a Commission to the Tauranga City Council until July 2024.

 

A story of jubilation (as millions are poured into Maori housing in Reporoa) and of isolation (as the PM abides by Covid rules

While the PM was staying away from the wider community in self-isolation, Willie Jackson was announcing news for a small community that – we imagine – brought jubilation.   The Treaty of Waitangi is a common factor in both bits of news.

The community in Jackson’s case is Reporoa, near Rotorua.  It has a population of fewer than 500 people.

Jackson is pumping $12.35 million into housing projects there – Maori housing projects to be more precise – in the expectation more Maori families will be lured there.

And what will they do to earn their livings and pay their rent?

Jackson’s ministry is sure to have a plan.

But first, the PM.  Today she is reported to have returned a negative test for Covid-19, but she has been deemed a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case and is in self-isolation in line with Ministry of Health advice.

The Beehive website posted news on Saturday of her going into isolation.

The exposure event took place on Saturday 22 January during flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland. Flight NZ8273 has been added to the Ministry of Health website as a location of interest this evening.

The Governor-General and members of her staff were also on board and are following the same isolation instructions.

A shakeup for civil defence; more funding for sporting organisations and for projects to improve wetlands

Monitoring the Ministers

We had expected to hear braying from Sports Minister Grant Robertson about funding announced for New Zealand’s high-performance athletes over the next three years.

He must have been busy with balancing the books or some such because High Performance Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle did the announcing.

High Performance Sport New Zealand will fund 44 of the country’s National Sporting Organisations (NSO’s) to the tune of $131 million over the next three years.

In addition to the $131m, HPSNZ is investing $19m in performance support services such as psychology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, medical, physiotherapy, massage therapy, and athlete life coaching, which support athlete well-being.

Turning our attention back to the Beehive, we did hear – twice – from KiriAllan.

She announced new legislation will ensure the country’s emergency management system

“… is inclusive, modern and fit-for-purpose”.

Inclusiveness – we note  – comes before fitness for purpose in the Minister’s considerations.

And here comes a $266m Budget fillip for sport (but you will have to pass the eligibility test before receiving any lolly)

Government announcements of more money for this, that and the other – all part of the Budget’s Covid-19 response –  continued to flow from the Beehive over the weekend.

The “sport and recreation sector” ($266 million extra) was among the beneficiaries, although “recreation” (we might argue) is the beneficiary of announcements from the Minister of Conservation  –

• Money to rebuild conservation and visitor infrastructure destroyed by a severe flood in Fiordland earlier this year ($13.7 million), to have “iconic Great Walks such as the Routeburn track and the full length of the Milford Track” ready to re-open in time for the summer season.

And from the Minister for the Community and Voluntary sector –

• A funding boost ($63 million over four years) for lifeguards and coastguards – $60.5m is for Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand for rescue services, and $2m to Water Safety NZ to promote good water safety.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who happens to be Minister of Sport and Recreation, separately announced that, over the next four years, the Government will invest in three areas: