History repeats as PM wrangles issue with minister from afar
Chris Hipkins should have been enjoying positive feedback about his meeting with Xi yesterday. Instead he wound up fronting questions about one of his ministers. Again.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Thursday, June 29, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Christchurch restoration project to continue despite involvement of James Wallace; Corrections ‘a divided organisation with systemic issues’; NZ has reached ‘peak’ interest rate; but first, Hipkins’ China trip overshadowed
A good trip overshadowed
News of former Labour minister Meka Whatiri’s defection to Te Pāti Māori broke in May while prime minister Chris Hipkins was mid-air, on his way to London for King Charles’ coronation. He got off the plane to questions about Whatiri rather than what shoes he might be wearing to Westminster Abbey. Though he had his feet on the ground near the Forbidden City in Beijing history repeated yesterday with his media stand-up last night dominated by questions about another minister and not the news that China Southern Airlines would be significantly increasing capacity to New Zealand, reinstating routes and adding three additional flights to Auckland. Given the ongoing concern about the burgeoning current account deficit and reliance on international students and tourism to start to rebalance that, it should have been a good news day for Hipkins.
Concerns raised about staff in Kiri Allan’s office
Stuff’s Andrea Vance broke a story about senior public servants raising concerns about the treatment of staff in Kiri Allan’s office. Department of Conservation chief executive Penny Nelson took her concerns to the Department of Internal Affairs last year and other senior public servants from Emergency Management and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have also voiced concerns.
Hipkins and Allan front, Allan back at work today
Hipkins fronted the issue saying there had been no formal complaints made and that the Beehive was a high-pressure work environment where relationships can become strained. He also confirmed Allan had been on leave and did not want to comment on ministers taking time off for personal matters. Allan also released a statement last night saying she had "great working relationships with my office crew", however, as occurred in other workplaces there were sometimes challenges with working relationships and the Beehive was no different. Allan had, an or so hour before Vance’s story came out, posted on Instagram about struggling with mental health and wellbeing saying that she needed to “take some time to get some help and get back on track” and that she’d be back at work today with a little skip in her beat”. It’s a sitting day at parliament today.
Expect fresh questions about parliamentary culture
As RNZ’s Jane Patterson writes, the Stuff story “should be kept in perspective; it happened more than a year ago, there have been no formal complaints and that particular situation appears to have been resolved.” Patterson goes on to note that it will be problematic if it turns out to be a broader pattern of behaviour. It is pragmatically true to accept the unique nature of the working environment at the Beehive but it once again raises the spectre of the 2019 Francis report which found that parliament was a toxic workplace with a systemic bullying problem. Speaker Adrian Rurawhe asked report author Debbie Francis in October last year to look at how the workplace culture has changed since the report was first released. That snapshot of progress was due to be completed at the end of last year, with promises of a “Parliamentary Culture Excellence Horizon”. Suffice it to say, few were clear on exactly what that was at the time and while the Allan issue may be contained, expect a few new conversations to spark up about the culture at parliament and its proposed horizon of excellence.
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Christchurch restoration project to continue despite involvement of James Wallace
As Tina Law reports for The Press (paywalled), a significant restoration project in Christchurch will continue after it emerged yesterday that the project’s chairperson and financial backer, Sir James Wallace, is the “prominent businessman” jailed for sexually abusing three young men. Wallace’s name suppression lapsed yesterday with a final judgment from the Supreme Court. Here’s an explainer on who he is and the events leading up to yesterday. Questions about the restoration of McLean’s Mansion in Christchurch will be the first of many regarding Wallace’s philanthropic investment and significant involvement in the arts over the years. A process is now underway to strip him of his knighthood.
Corrections ‘a divided organisation with systemic issues’
A new report from Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier is urging the Department of Corrections to fix a number of workplace culture and leadership problems. Boshier says his investigation has revealed a divided organisation with systemic issues. Boshier launched his investigation after concerning issues he saw coming up at Waikeria and other prisons "again and again" despite "countless recommendations for change by both me and other oversight agencies". Boshier has cited concerns over the rights of prisoners. He told RNZ’s Checkpoint last night that he made 32 prison inspections and made numerous recommendations since his appointment in 2015, but changes have occurred at a "glacial" pace. He said Corrections was being defensive, risk-averse and believed it had made changes when there was no evidence of it on the ground, he said. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has said the department had accepted all the report's recommendations, while also defending its record.
Click and Collect
NZ has reached “peak” interest rate, and may be one of the first to start cutting
Amendments to the Three Waters reform plan have blown out establishment costs by an estimated $1 billion (paywalled)
Shoppers warned against paying more than 3% credit and debit card surcharges
A cat is the reason an estimated 25,000 homes and businesses lost power in Hawke's Bay last night (sorry, it’s not good news about the cat)
There are also power cuts across West Auckland this morning. I checked and Mercury is not in retrograde.
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Charlotte Muru-Lanning discovers the truth behind an illicit substance being traded on the playground. Thomas Giblin runs through the ten must-see films at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Toby Manhire writes that the mayor of Invercargill’s campaign against metaphors should apply to all Invercargill civic institutions, including the mayor himself. Justin Latif reports on a Māngere housing development where opposing views have arisen on whether its serving the needs of the community.
Just a note to say we are having some technical difficulties on the site this morning so I can’t bring you this morning’s new stories or a feature image today - we’re on it so check the site a bit later on today and we’ll pop the stories in tomorrow.
Couldn’t happen to a better person. Like his predecessor he will be gone