Calls for leadership and delivery: kickstarting the political year ahead
A national hui on Saturday will make early demands of the prime minister’s leadership and at least 64 countries around the world go to the polls this year
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, January 16, written by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
In today’s edition: Covid cases rise as government mulls ending free tests; what happens now that light rail has been axed; Green party aware of third allegation of shoplifting against MP Golriz Ghahraman; but first, the political year starts in earnest next week, but a national hui on Saturday will set the stage on race relations
Prime minister meets with Kiingi Tuuheitia ahead of hui
If last year taught us anything, attempting to cast too far ahead on the likely lay of the political landscape is foolish. We can look at the first part of this year and the likely pressure the new government will face once it gets beyond the reversals in the 100-day plan and into delivery. Prime minister Christopher Luxon and Māori development minister Tama Potaka met with Kiingi Tuuheitia yesterday, which provided an earlier-than-usual scene-setter for the first part of the political year. Yesterday’s Herald editorial posited that Luxon’s leadership is set to be tested in the next month in the way he handles relationships with Māori. Thousands are expected to gather at Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday at a national hui. Opposition leader Chris Hipkins, along with other Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs confirmed last year they would attend the hui. That will be followed by the annual Ratana celebrations and then Waitangi. Waikato-Tainui filed legal proceedings against the government last week at the Wellington High Court, claiming it is in breach of the 1995 Raupatu treaty settlement.
A year of tax relief, but what lies beyond?
Luxon himself laid out a key delivery expectation for 2024 on January 11, tweeting, “2024 will be a year of tax relief to help hardworking Kiwi families deal with the cost of living crisis”. Finance minister Nicola Willis confirmed late last year that tax cuts would be announced in this year’s Budget, and $7.4b of spending will be reprioritised from different government initiatives and programmes. Politik’s Richard Harman lays out a longer-range challenge for Luxon (paywalled) and the new coalition government. In his last article before Christmas, Harman draws a comparison between the new government and the Muldoon government of 1975 in the rush “to remove as many traces as possible of the previous government as Muldoon removed the legacy of what had really been the Kirk government.” Harman argues Luxon has yet to set out a real vision for the future and needs to do so, citing the fate of Muldoon and his goal “to leave New Zealand no worse than when he found it.”
Cabinet to meet next week
Cabinet is said to be meeting for the first time this year on January 23, which, as BusinessDesk’s Dileepa Fonseka reports (paywalled), Labour has no wasted no time pointing out is no earlier than previous years. The Post’s Anna Whyte reports that National will hold its annual caucus retreat this week. We are now 48 days into the government’s 100-day plan. Some of the promised repeal was dealt with before Christmas, but there’s still a fair bit to get through. The commitment in the plan to fund more security in emergency departments has received some early but tentative credit, with the number of violent incidents at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital halved.
‘2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year’
Globally, as Time’s guide to elections around the world this year summarises, “2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year.” As Bloomberg’s Enda Curran writes, “Representation for nearly half the world’s population and GDP will be on the line in polls”, with elections taking place in at least 64 countries (plus the European Union) this year. Guardian writers have pooled their thinking to highlight what they think we can expect in Gaza, Ukraine, the US elections, China, Europe and the rest of the world. Back home again, at, as the Herald’s David Fisher writes (paywalled), “a time when it is expected our military is going to be called on more often than in the past and into more dangerous situations”, recently released documents reveal a defence force in crisis. In 21 months to April last year, the NZDF lost almost a third of its uniformed service personnel.
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Covid rates high as free mask and RAT policy under review
As the Herald's Jamie Morton reports, national rates of Covid are at their highest levels since New Zealand’s fifth wave began. Wastewater data shows levels of the virus are three times the levels observed “in mid-spring, and higher than the largest values reported over December.” The Ministry of Health reported that 324 people were receiving hospital care as of midnight Sunday. The government is currently reviewing whether face masks and rapid antigen tests (RATs) will be offered free beyond the end of February when the funded policy is due to end.
Light rail has been scrapped; now what?
Following Sunday’s confirmation that Auckland’s light rail project has been scrapped, the Herald’s Simon Wilson writes (paywalled) that transport minister Simeon Brown (also the Minister for Auckland) was right to stop the project. “It was an election promise and a 100-day commitment, so no surprise, and the tunnelled option was stupidly expensive and slow”. Wilson, like many in Auckland, is rightly wondering what comes next. With Auckland council facing the same cost and revenue pressures as many councils and congestion going nowhere, Wilson argues these are the three critical projects that the government should move on: fast-tracking the construction of rapid transit routes, creating a citywide safe-streets project and doing what it takes to get as much freight on to rail as possible.
Click and Collect
Police investigating another shoplifting allegation involving Green MP Golriz Ghahraman. The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan looks at what could happen next.
Thames Coromandel District Mayor has no regrets about signing off an email, “Go f... yourself, kind regards, Len”, in response to a request for personal details and addresses of staff
One for curious and possibly aggrieved road trippers - why do petrol prices differ around the country?
Nauru will sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognise China
Feeling clever? Click here to play 1Q, Aotearoa’s newest, shortest daily quiz.
Gabi Lardies reflects on a time when people’s homes weren’t a sea of grey and beige but had character in spades. Alex Casey catalogues the evolution of New Zealand’s 7pm current affairs shows. Joris De Bres pens a guide to making te reo Pākehā an official language of Aotearoa. We round up everything coming to streaming services this week.
Sporting snippets
Kane Williamson is set to miss the rest of the T20 series against Pakistan after injury. In other cricket news that I read over the break, how climate change is impacting the summer game.
New Zealand SailGP Team win second event in a row
ASB Classic winner Coco Gauff had a strong start at the Australian Open, winning her first match 6-3 6-0. Returning to Grand Slam play after 15 months out, Naomi Osaka didn’t have the same luck, losing to Caroline Garcia.
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