A coalition agreement is both near and far (away) but talks will go on
David Seymour says National and Act getting close to draft agreement. Sources say a final deal is still some time away while Labour will meet today to vote on the party's leadership
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, November 7, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists questions tax cuts; Gaza's health ministry says more than 10,000 people have now been killed in Gaza; All Blacks captain Sam Cane has been suspended for two matches; but first, the coalition talks clock is ticking as the Apec leaders’ forum draws near
Near and far: close to deal, and also no deal near agreement stage
I’m going straight to Céline fan jail for today’s headline, but the Titanic earworm got lodged after reading various progress reports on how coalition talks are going. Act’s David Seymour says talks with National are progressing well, and they are getting close to having a draft agreement, but Seymour is seemingly yet to speak with NZ First leader Winston Peters. Newshub reported last night that sources say there's no document near the agreement stage but that a document put together by Act has been shared with National. Apparently, that’s more of a progress report and “a final deal is still a way away.” As always, Peters is saying nothing. Filling the void is John Campbell, who muses out loud about the virtues of the interregnum. “It occurs to me, about 90 hours after the special votes told us that Winston Peters would, indeed, be required - that the time between governments isn’t all bad,” he writes.
Unofficial, effective Apec deadline looms
We’re now 24 days on from the election, and the Apec leaders’ forum in San Francisco draws ever nearer. As Newsroom’s Jo Moir writes, Christopher Luxon would really like to be there. While he “has tried to downplay that by saying he won’t go to Apec if government talks aren’t complete, it’s effectively already put an unofficial deadline on talks.” Apec leaders are due to gather in the golden city between November 15-17. Moir reports that coalition talks are slow-going with David Seymour in Auckland and Winston Peters in Wellington, and no meetings in the diary between the two scheduled this week. The unofficial effective Apec deadline gives Seymour and Peters an advantage in talks, says Moir. While we wait, BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie (paywalled) turns his attention to the fiscal realities awaiting the incoming government, deducing that National’s tax package will have to be recut and that “the staged political approach to doing this would be to make it an outcome of the coalition negotiations.”
Labour to meet today, vote on leadership
Meanwhile, Labour will continue its post-election reflection today but may steer clear of digging too deep just yet. As Luke Malpass reports for The Post today, a leadership vote is on the agenda, but “today is highly unlikely to be a come-to-Jesus type meeting where Labour finds a hole in its soul that need plugging by some big changes or fights. Everyone is too tired and still too shell-shocked.” Malpass notes you can never say never, but there doesn’t seem to be a strong desire to see Hipkins rolled among Labour’s caucus. The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reports that while there had been rumblings of a challenge by David Parker, he does not appear to have the numbers.
Reversals and recounts
Despite having said previously that he would quit politics if he lost his seat, Labour’s deputy leader Kelvin Davis has said he will continue his career in politics as a list MP. Davis lost his Te Tai Tokerau seat to Te Pāti Māori’s Mariameno Kapa-Kīngi after special votes were counted. Question marks remain for other Labour MPs. Peeni Henare is mulling a recount in Tāmaki Makaurau where Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Moana Kemp has a 4-vote majority. National’s Melissa Lee is also likely to seek a recount in Mt Albert, where Helen White has a 20-vote lead and National are calling for one in Nelson, where Blair Cameron lost to Labour's Rachel Boyack by 29 votes. Applications for recounts must be filed by tomorrow, November 8. The election, it goes on.
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Association of Salaried Medical Specialists questions tax cuts
A decision by the Health and Disability Commission released yesterday criticised Te Whatu Ora Southern for failing to provide an MRI scan within the acceptable time frame of 31 days. A man, who waited four-and-a-half months for an urgent scan at Dunedin Hospital to check whether his cancer had returned, now has a terminal diagnosis. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton told RNZ’s Checkpoint last night that the man's horrific treatment was the result of a health system in crisis. Dalton criticised sustained underinvestment in health by successive governments and questioned whether tax cuts should be on the table. “I don't understand how we can have a government delivering tax cuts when there are people who can't ... get GP appointments, let alone specialist care,” she said. At an address at the Health Leadership Symposium last week, Sir Ashley Bloomfield said constant catastrophising about the health system is wearing down staff morale and undermining public trust. As Newsroom’s Marc Daalder reports, he was careful not to dismiss or minimise the challenges facing the system but wanted to put them in the global context and keep the focus on the future with a sense of hope.
UN Secretary-General elevates call for ceasefire in Gaza
As Reuters reports, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children” and has, once again, called for an urgent ceasefire. Palestinian health authorities said the death toll from Israeli strikes has now exceeded 10,000. Guterres says, “Ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces and continued bombardment are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and UN facilities – including shelters. No one is safe. At the same time, Hamas and other militants use civilians as human shields and continue to launch rockets indiscriminately towards Israel,” he said. Reporting from Jerusalem, the BBC’s Paul Adams says the past 24 hours have seen some of the most intense Israeli air strikes so far, and thousands of people are trying to get out via the recently re-opened Rafah crossing into Egypt.
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Click and Collect
Former prime ministers keep busy. Dame Jacinda Ardern will work alongside leaders from Conservation International to advocate for climate action, while Sir John Key is stepping in to advocate for Zespri over its concerns about unlicensed growing of golden kiwifruit in China (paywalled)
The top performing KiwiSaver funds of the last decade
University of Canterbury accused of “monetising popularity” by charging students $100 to apply for a place at halls of residence - regardless of whether they get accepted or not
Emilia Wickstead to design Air New Zealand’s next uniform
Queensgate mall in Lower Hutt has removed a sticky substance designed to deter birds from its roof after over a dozen birds died after coming into contact with it
Green candidate Francisco Hernandez argues against the idea that progressives should focus their energy on shifting Labour to the left. Jared Davidson can’t help but see Aotearoa through the lens of the forced labour that helped build some of our most iconic places. We round up everything coming to streaming services this week. Duncan Greive reviews what he’s calling “the music doco of the year”. With the clean car discount set for the scrap heap, Justin Lester presents the data on EV and hybrid uptake in New Zealand.
Sporting snippets
All Blacks captain Sam Cane has been suspended for two matches following his red card against South Africa in the World Cup final
Dylan Cleaver writes that the Black Caps are the most curious team at the Cricket World Cup. “It’s impossible to say with any authority whether they’re overachieving, underachieving, desperately unlucky, or sitting about where they deserve to be.”
It’s Cup day in Melbourne
How many close friends do you have?
While we’re drowning in content about long and short-term relationships with romantic partners, I’ve always thought the other significant relationships in our lives, those with friends, aren’t intricately examined often enough. New data from the Pew Research Center on the state of friendship in the US has found 49% of adults 65 and older say they have five or more close friends, while 32% of those younger than 30 say the same. Anne Helen Peterson delves into some of the difficulties of maintaining close friendships at different ages, observing what she calls “the friendship dip”, describing it as “a prolonged stretch of adulthood that is not conducive to forging or sustaining friendship or community.”
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Re "the friendship dip" ... one of the saddest things about increasing polarisation is the fracturing of "friendships" of both historic and future opportunities (within wider families as well). There are some people who can ignore things & concentrate on memories and/or what they still have in common, but for most there are views that cannot be reconciled so "opportunity" is lost to meet up, reminisce, be invited/attend events. So so sad & destructive for people who may need these contacts for their mental well being.