Robertson is comforted by the state of Govt accounts – but the cost of Gabrielle’s sweep through NZ can only be guessed

Buzz  from the Beehive

At least for now, while significant chunks of the North Island are recovering from the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, overseas tourists may be disinclined to visit this country.

The latest bunch of Iranians to be put on the Government’s sanctions list therefore won’t be unduly disadvantaged when they read –

New sanctions and travel bans on Iran

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced new sanctions on Iranians supplying drones to Russia and expanded travel bans on those responsible for the violent response to protests.

Two other announcements have been posted on the Beehive website since Point of Order checked yesterday.

Both deal with the economic costs of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Clark has a new Bill to back up his threats to supermarkets – let’s see if Mahuta can similarly bring Putin to heel

Buzz from the Beehive

Who will blink first – Russian oligarchs or Kiwi duopolists?

We ask because our government has further tightened the thumbscrews on both.

It has introduced a bill to crimp the powers of the supermarkets in this country and it  has imposed further sanctions to express this country’s disapproval of Russian and Belarusian military action  in Ukraine.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark said the supermarket duopoly has been given plenty of warning.

“If they fail to adequately open up their wholesale market voluntarily, government will make it happen,” he said.

If Putin fails to pull out of Ukraine voluntarily, it is unlikely the Ardern government can pass a bill to make it happen.

NZ was somewhat slow in imposing sanctions on Russia – but we’ve been tightening the screws bit by bit during the year

We don’t know what impact is being made, but by Point of Order’s rough reckoning, the Ardern Government this week fired off the 13^th barrage of sanctions and trade bans on Russia and Belarus in response to Vladimir Putin’s attempts to illegally annex parts of Ukraine.

The latest measures comprise

• Sanctions which target 51 oligarchs including New Zealand-linked Alexander Abramov and 24 Russian-backed office holders in annexed areas of Ukraine
• New bans on exports and imports of luxury goods like NZ wine and seafood and Russian vodka and caviar, as well as strategically important products like oil, gas and related production equipment
• An extension of the 35% tariff on Russian imports till March 2025

New Zealand has now imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 individuals and entities and has imposed unprecedented trade measures which have resulted in New Zealand exports to Russia and Russian imports to New Zealand falling drastically, the Government says.

Russia triggered our responses on February 24 when Putin’s forces launched a full invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II.

RNZ next day reported that sanctions announced overnight by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta included a ban on export of goods to the Russian military and security services.

More Russians on the sanctions list – that will punish Putin’s cronies, but what might he do next to express his displeasure?

Buzz from the Beehive

Wow.  The long weekend seems to have been a powerful pick-me-up for our politicians, who have pumped out a raft of statements over the past two days.

Most of their press releases were to alert us to decisions to improve our wellbeing, although we wonder if that’s the case when we retaliate against President Putin for his antics in Ukraine.  He is threatening to up the ante by unleashing some of his nuclear weapons, after all.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta nevertheless has announced the imposition of further sanctions on members of Putin’s inner circle and other representatives of the Russian political elite, as part of the Government’s ongoing response to the war in Ukraine.

Since the passing of the Russia Sanctions Act in March, New Zealand has imposed sanctions on over 1000 individuals and entities,

“… a key part of our efforts to hold Russia accountable and support Ukraine,” Nanaia Mahuta said.

The newshounds pounced on the expulsion of Sharma but ministers did have other news (eg about new Pacific migrant programmes)

Buzz from the Beehive

The news that was keenly awaited by a slavering pack of parliamentary press gallery newshounds  – the Labour caucus expulsion of  the MP they had labelled “rogue” – is not recorded on the Beehive website.  That’s because it is a party matter, not a matter for the executive wing of the Ardern government (and therefore not subject to Official Information Act procedures).

Gaurav Sharma was expelled after events described by Stuff as

“… a spectacular break up with the party that concluded with him accusing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of orchestrating a ‘cover up’.”

This means Sharma will now sit in Parliament as an independent MP.

But the PM said caucus had also referred the matter to Labour’s New Zealand Council, which could take further action – such as expelling him from the party entirely.

Govt again hammers Russia with sanctions while on the home front it is building more state houses – and enriching some motel owners

Buzz from the Beehive

 New Zealand has struck further blows at Russia, one of them by imposing further sanctions on the armed forces and military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation.

The Insurance Company SOGAZ, the Russian Railways and defence entities that research, produce and test military hardware for the Russian Armed Forces are included in the latest lot of sanctions.

A second blow – this one was rhetorical– was struck by Phil Twyford, our Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control.

In a Statement to the 2022 Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Twyford said the risk of nuclear weapons being used had increased dramatically along with dangerous rhetoric and exercises threatening such use.

McAnulty mentions “democracy” as he braces to meet local authority leaders – and maybe he will dive into Three Waters issues

Buzz from the Beehive

Amidst a raft of statements that crow about government achievements and/or bray about new initiatives, Point of Order found an oddity:  a statement from the newly minted Associate Minister of Local Government who intends to meet local government leaders around the country to talk about this, that and …

Well, surely he will want to talk (if not listen) about Three Waters and explain the influence that will be wielded by the sister of his colleague,  Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta,

But the press statement only hinted that  Three Waters would be on the agenda.

The crowing and braying statements, of course, were much less puzzling.

Buzz from the Beehive: While climate change assault is outlined, DoC Minister plants a kauri and Mahuta rocks Belarussia

The big news from the  Beehive in the past day has been the announcement of the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan to put the country on track to meet its first emissions budget, securing our environment and economy.

More of that in our next post.  For now, suffice to say Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared:

“This is a landmark day in our transition to a low emissions future  

“We’ve all seen the recent reports on sea level rise and its impact right here in New Zealand. We cannot leave the issue of climate change until it’s too late to fix.”

Reading for Putin

While he won’t have time at the moment, Russia’s Vladimir Putin might profit from flicking through ‘The Day Will Pass Away: The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard 1935-1936’ by Ivan Chistyakov and published by Pegasus Books.

He might pause on the passage on page 38:

“27 December 1935. Commissioner Morozov [Frost in Russian] from the Third Section: what can he actually do, what guidance is he supposed to offer, when he doesn’t have a clue about the situation or the measures we have already taken, when he doesn’t know that we have already tried everything, we’re not our own enemies, and we’re not trying to get ourselves awarded fatigue details or arrested.  All they do is swear at us, punish us: the commissioner, the political adviser, the company commander, the head of the Third Section. That’s all any of them can do. Who is there to advise, support and explain? Nobody. Just get on with your job!”

The ring is familiar to anyone who has been in a bureaucratic hierarchy under impossible pressures.

Which brings out the importance of the degree of choice in any system.

Not that there was very much of that in Chistyakov’s case.  In the summer, he was a Muscovite technician, unconscripted, catching the tram to work and going to concerts.

By Christmas time, he was working in 50 degrees of frost, sleeping in all his clothes and dreaming that the bathhouse might get fixed.  As a prison guard officer, he was well up the hierarchy.

His diary entries suggest that his incentive to do his job (or be seen to do it) was the implicit threat that he might drop down to join the zeks.  Their incentive – also effective – was a sliding scale of daily bread ration, from 2 kg to 100 grams.

You might suspect that keeping a diary was a sign that he wasn’t cut out for the job.  In any event he was ‘repressed’ a year later and presumably joined the prison population.  In 1941, he died at the front near the town of Tula, not far from his beloved Moscow.

Now Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s version of the system has come a long way in the last eighty years and we can comfortably assure ourselves that its brutality is substantially mitigated.  It is unquestionably less bad.

But strip away the material improvements and the essentials look pretty similar.

That is important for understanding what is happening in Ukraine right now.

Putin acquired power by offering Russians more attractive choices than others.  But they look less attractive now – particularly for the soldiers called upon to fight and perhaps die on Chistyakov’s battlefields of eighty years ago.

The choices for military age Ukrainian men might not seem terribly good to us, but they have better and more honourable choices than Russians.  And so far that seems to march with a greater willingness to fight.

The latest reports from well-informed observers like the Institute for the Study of War suggest that the Russian military is regrouping and using its weight of materiel to grind out a solution in the east.  Enough to avoid toppling the structure of choices which Putin has been erecting since his presidential inauguration on 7 May 2000.

An embarrassment of choices too for us in the west.  Many of them hard. Whether to give Ukrainian fighting men the equipment they need to win – or just to survive? Whether to continue to pay record prices for Russian carbon? Whether it is realistic to tell voters that the costs are all going to be carried by multinational companies? Whether it is in our interests to aim for a stalemate that minimises our own short-term financial damage?

Or even whether to try to help change the choices available to today’s Ivan Chistyakovs.

Buzz from the Beehive – but you will need a translator (increasingly) to find out what ministers are saying

You can quickly tell from the headline and/or first paragraph of a press statement – sorry, most press statements – what the government is up to.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta clearly stated in the opening sentence of a statement in the past 24 hours that further sanctions are being imposed on Russian politicians and defence entities supporting Putin’s actions in Ukraine, as part of the Government’s ongoing response to the war.   You can learn more on the MFAT website: www.mfat.govt.nz/Russia-Sanctions

COVID-19 Response Minister made plain in the first few sentences of a statement today the Government is broadening the ability for residence class visa holders to re-enter New Zealand.   Residence class visa holders not vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to enter New Zealand from 6 May. New Zealand Permanent Residents, and Australian Citizens ordinarily resident in New Zealand then will be able to travel in and out of the country.

Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson posted a statement headed Strategy highlights pathway to reduce infrastructure deficit. 

So far, so good.  But he proceeded to say the Government has welcomed Te Waihanga/New Zealand Infrastructure Commission’s first infrastructure strategy as a major milestone in building a more prosperous, resilient and sustainable future for all New Zealanders.

Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa – New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy 2022–2052 set out the infrastructure challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand over the next 30 years. It draws on research, consultation and the views of more than 20,000 New Zealanders to set a path for this future.

More detail can be found in something headed Speech to Te Waihanga Symposium.

But if you didn’t know Te Waihanga and the NZ Infrastructure Commission are one and the same – well, you may well have moved on to something more readily digestible.

But the speech told us something – about the tabling of the document in Parliament – that we had missed (if it’s there) in the press statement:

Today we are tabling in Parliament and releasing Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa, the 30-year New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy from Te Waihanga, the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission. 

Then there was the joint statement from Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis and Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Kiritapu Allan headed Mānawatia a Matariki – te whakanui i a Matariki.

Matariki comes to the Manawatu, perhaps?

Maybe the first par will give us a clue.

Then again, maybe not:

I tāpaea i te rangi nei Te Tohu o Matariki ki te iwi tūmatanui e te Minita mō te Kōtuinga o Ngāi Māori me te Karauna: Te Arawhiti, Kelvin Davis rāua ko te Minita Tuarua mō te Toi, te Ahurea, me te Tukuihotanga, a Kiri Allan.

The first 428 words were in te reo, which means they could not be understood by the great majority of citizens.

Were we enlightened when the ministers eventually tried reaching out to an English-speaking audience?

Not immediately.  The first paragraph said:

Te Tohu o Matariki was presented to the public today by Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti, Kelvin Davis and Associate Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage Kiri Allan.

What exactly was presented?

The linguistically challenged team at Point of Order admits defeat.

Latest from the Beehive

3 MAY 2022

Broadened criteria for returning visa holders

The Government is broadening the ability for residence class visa holders to re-enter New Zealand, Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins has announced.

Mānawatia a Matariki – te whakanui i a Matariki

I tāpaea i te rangi nei Te Tohu o Matariki ki te iwi tūmatanui e te Minita mō te Kōtuinga o Ngāi Māori me te Karauna: Te Arawhiti, Kelvin Davis rāua ko te Minita Tuarua mō te Toi, te Ahurea, me te Tukuihotanga, a Kiri Allan.

Speech

Pre-budget speech to Rabobank breakfast

I want to thank Rabobank for hosting us this morning, and all of you for making it along for an early start.

Budget 22: New fiscal rules to be put in place

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has unveiled new fiscal rules to ensure New Zealand continues to maintain a world-leading Government financial position.

Strategy highlights pathway to reduce infrastructure deficit

The Government has welcomed Te Waihanga/New Zealand Infrastructure Commission’s first infrastructure strategy as a major milestone in building a more prosperous, resilient and sustainable future for all New Zealanders.

2 MAY 2022

More political elites and defence entities sanctioned, and prohibitions extended

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has today announced further sanctions on Russian politicians and defence entities supporting Putin’s actions in Ukraine, as part of the Government’s ongoing response to the war.

Speech to Te Waihanga Symposium

Today we are tabling in Parliament and releasing Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa, the 30-year New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy from Te Waihanga, the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission.