Hipkins to hop across the ditch, Luxon makes the India pitch
The prime minister's visit to Australia will inevitably focus attention on our role in the Aukus alliance while Christopher Luxon cites Australian success in his pitch to focus on trade with India
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, April 19, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: environment minister rejected advice to stop a high-emitting factory beating a law change; beds empty in new Starship unit partially due to nursing shortage; farmers want to hit pause on regulatory changes; but first, with parliament in recess, both main parties focus on foreign affairs and trade
Chris Hipkins and Anthony Albanese first meeting in February (Photo: Samuel Rillstone / supplied)
The case for our involvement in Aukus
Prime minister Chris Hipkins will be in Australia on Saturday and Sunday. As mentioned yesterday, much of the focus will be on what progress has been made on additional pathways for New Zealanders to work and live in Australia. Hipkins has indicated he’s expecting to be able to make a “reasonably significant announcement” on that this weekend. It’s also likely that his visit will draw some attention to our potential involvement in the Aukus security alliance. Last week, Nicholas Khoo, an associate professor at the University of Otago, argued that our potential participation in Pillar II of the agreement “is a vital and necessary contribution to our security and to regional stability.” Pillar II relates to a range of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, hypersonic weaponry, information-sharing and electronic warfare. A similar case has been made by Reuben Steff, a senior lecturer at the University of Waikato.
Former prime ministers express opposition
Khoo’s piece has generated pushback, most notably from former prime minister Helen Clark. As Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva reports, Clark responded to Khoo’s piece by tweeting: “We are all acutely aware of changes in the geopolitical environment, but entanglement with [Aukus] isn't [the] response NZ needs.” Sachdeva also details growing opposition to our potential involvement in Aukus from Te Kuaka, a foreign policy think tank. Another former prime minister, Jim Bolger, denounced the Australian deal to purchase nuclear-powered submarines. Speaking at a recent event, Bolger questioned why Australia needed them and as the Herald’s Audrey Young describes (paywalled), “spoke with despair about the near-daily threats of nuclear war which had the potential to destroy the planet.”
Australia and New Zealand’s armies to work more closely together
For now, as Sachdeva reports, Hipkins remains non-committal on when the government is expected to make a decision on whether or not it would sign up to Aukus, saying: “There’s a process that we’ll need to go through in the event that we need to do that, to have those conversations. We haven’t done that.” Plans for Australia and New Zealand’s armies to work more closely together were announced yesterday. The plan supports participation in the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Armies Programme, a military standardisation pact between the powers that also operate the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Speaking to ABC’s Radio National last night, Khoo suggested it would be highly idealistic to expect that our role within Five Eyes wouldn’t be impacted if we didn't participate in Aukus.
Luxon cites Australian success on trade
Focusing on another part of the world but with reference to Australia, National party leader Christopher Luxon announced yesterday that National would make a Free Trade Agreement with India a high strategic priority if elected. Luxon cited Australia's success in getting one and criticised the government’s inability to do so to date. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Vangelis Vitalis told a parliamentary select committee earlier this year that New Zealand was in a difficult position when it came to trade agreements with India because of the significance of the dairy sector in both countries. BusinessDesk’s Dileepa Fonseka has written comprehensively about New Zealand’s relationship with India and previously described (paywalled) our approach as “transactional”. This morning Fonseka asks (paywalled) whether a focus on “free trade” should be the way we restart the conversation with India.
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Environment minister rejected advice to stop a high-emitting factory beating a law change
As Stuff’s Eloise Gibson reports this morning, environment minister David Parker rejected advice to stop a factory beating a law change. Ministry for the Environment staff told Parker to step in “as soon as possible” to prevent Auckland’s Glenbrook Steel Mill getting consent to keep making air pollution for another 35 years, without climate change being considered. Based on 2021 figures, the mill is New Zealand’s 11th-biggest greenhouse gas emitter. NZ Steel owns the mill and applied for its permits after the government announced it was changing the law so councils could consider climate change, but before the change took effect. As Gibson writes, ministry staff told Parker the mill would have a significant impact on whether New Zealand could meet its climate goals. Parker had the option to put the climate back on the table, but chose not to.
Empty beds at new Starship unit
Only half the beds in a newly-opened intensive care unit (ICU) at Starship Hospital are being used after a $40m upgrade. The unit has 30 beds. As the Herald’s Issac Davison writes (paywalled), a shortage of nurses means just 16 beds are being used until more specialist staff can be hired. Starship says the ICU was upgraded to cope with future demand and demand has reduced because of a drop in respiratory conditions during the Covid pandemic. National’s health spokeman, Shane Reti has expressed concern about understaffing at the paediatric ICU unit and said he strongly suspected it was due to health workforce shortages. Meanwhile, as BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie reports, a brand new private nurse training facility in Auckland is currently sitting empty. It’s unable to open because of regulations on nurse training that have, as Smellie details, been abolished in Australia.
Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather: the most iconic duo in journalism
Since uniting on Native Affairs during the rise of Māori Television, Mihi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather have formed one of the longest-lasting creative partnerships in Aotearoa journalism. They join Duncan Greive on the latest episode of The Fold to reflect on their trailblazing careers, taking in 3 News, RNZ, The Hui and now Aotearoa Media Collective.
Calls to slow implementation of agri-emissions pricing scheme
A Beef + Lamb New Zealand campaign wants to persuade the government to pause on regulatory changes they say are making farmers feel stressed. The body says a price on agricultural emissions shouldn’t be introduced until outstanding issues are resolved. Agri-emissions are meant to be priced from 2025 and government ministers have said the aim is to introduce legislation by the middle of the year. As Allan Barber reports for Farmers Weekly, agriculture minister Damien O’Connor thinks the campaign could hinder progress towards the final implementation of the pricing scheme and that he was assured a month ago of the sector’s commitment to progress. Beef + Lamb New Zealand CEO Sam McIvor says ongoing involvement is contingent on finding solutions to issues like fixing the emissions pricing and recognition of sequestration on farm.
Click and collect
National Party selects candidate to contest Māori seat for first time in more than 20 years
Oranga Tamariki and police working to investigate a “report of concern” relating to Wesley College — Indira Stewart’s recent investigation into Wesley College is worth revisiting on this
Researchers urge all-of-government approach on Type 2 diabetes
Gore Council to conduct independent review of leadership disagreements
Princess Chelsea wins the Taite Music Prize
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Sporting snippets
The Wellington Phoenix have replaced the most successful coach in the club's 16-year history with his right-hand man, Giancarlo Italiano
Black Caps Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell named as two of the five selections for this year's Wisden Cricketers of the Year awards
Netball NZ chief executive calls out World Netball (paywalled) over investigation and subsequent ruling on last year’s botched Jamaica tour
What was Twitter anyway?
I am often reluctant to point you to Twitter news. It’s a platform that generates a lot of news because a lot of journalists are big-time users. As a former user with no regrets about ditching it and some boringly high-minded views about its ills, I also worry that a little too much schadenfreude will slip in when I do mention it. Having said that, this is an incredible long read from Willy Staley in the New York Times Magazine that asks exactly what users (myself included for a long chunk of time) have been doing there for the last decade and a half? Why, he asks, has “a small sliver of humanity taken it upon themselves to heap their thoughts into this hopper every day?” Is it a platform of debate and discussion or a “vibes-detection machine”?
What are these regulatory changes that stressing farmers out? Are they related to possibly paying something like their fair share on climate change mitigation?