Legal action and bullying allegations: Peters and Genter knock government agenda off its perch

Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education

Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, May 3.

In today’s edition: School lunches survive but may taste a bit different; another wave of public service job cuts; the unreachable dream of the kiwi bach; a goodbye from me; but first, Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter both facing pressure as intention to launch legal action confirmed and another bullying allegation surfaces.

Kids will learn to read differently

If politics and coalition government were as easy as ABC, by rights, yesterday should have been about the government’s announcement that a new way of teaching kids to read will be introduced next year. Education reform is a key plank for the government; the sweeping reforms, if pulled off, are described by Danyl McLauchlan as “more significant than the reforms of the early 2000s.” Data quoted by education minister Erica Stanford yesterday shows that just 56% of Year 8 students are at the expected level for reading and just 35% for writing. Commentary about this week’s 1News Verian poll suggests people aren’t digging the darker-toned programme of cuts and repeals and might be keen on a bit more mojo and forward momentum, something future-focused. Yesterday’s announcement impacts the future of hundreds of thousands of kids. Instead, this perfunctory headline on the homepage of the Herald yesterday became an apt signifier for what actually happened.

Bob Carr confirms intention to take legal action against Winston Peters

As covered on Wednesday and Thursday this week, foreign minister Winston Peters gave what was previewed as a major speech on foreign policy on Wednesday night. Politik’s Richard Harman has the most clear-eyed analysis of it (paywalled), saying it was “a work of two halves.” The first half was standard foreign policy stuff, but the second? As Harman reports, it was described by one senior Ambassador as aimed as much at a domestic political audience as it was the invited diplomatic heads of mission. Harmna concludes Helen Clark and her criticism of Pillar II of Aukus has gotten under Peters’ skin. Peters then went on RNZ’s Morning Report yesterday and made comments about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr’s (also a critic) relationship with China. Those comments have been removed from RNZ’s website archive of the interview and Carr confirmed last night to RNZ that his lawyers have written to Peters, informing him they intend to launch legal action against him. Carr considers the comments to be “entirely defamatory”. In response to questions about Peters’ comments, prime minister, Christopher Luxon, who is the first guest on a new news show (paywalled) on Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky Australia, where he discussed foreign policy, Australia and China, said he’s sure Carr “appreciates the rough and tumble of politics”. Labour leader Chris Hipkins has called for Peters to be stood down as foreign minister.

Genter accused of bullying and intimidation by member of the public

Meanwhile, after Julie Anne Genter’s behaviour in the House on Wednesday night, where she aggressively waved a book in the face of National minister Matt Doocey in the House, Newshub’s Jenna Lynch reported last night that another allegation of bullying has emerged from a member of the public. A Wellington florist who is upset about a cycleway outside her shop says she and Genter had a confrontation in her shop. According to the florist, Genter “was very intimidating. She pulled out her phone, she put the phone camera right in my face and I was like 'Okay, you need to leave now' and then she started yelling and screaming over me that I didn't care about her kids cycling.” Green co-leader Marama Davidson confirmed Genter has taken out her phone and started filming and said that was “completely unacceptable." 

Will the coalition implode? Former MPs weigh in

Stanford, meanwhile, was speaking glowingly on RNZ about the results kura kaupapa has had in using structured literacy and the importance of lifting literacy rates for tamariki Māori. Good stuff, but the whole announcement was knocked a bit sideways by the consequences of Peters’ comments, once again highlighting the challenges Luxon and National have in not losing airtime to things their coalition partners are saying and doing. Hard to get things back on track when things keep knocking you off it. Peters will deliver a speech to the New Zealand China Council today and front media after, ensuring it stays in the news cycle.. Tova O’Brien rounded up former National MPs Chris Finlayson and Tau Henare, and former Act MP Heather Roy for her podcast. She asked them all whether they thought the coalition would implode before 2026. She’d have fair reason to side-eye me for the spoiler here, but they all said yes.

I will leave you with Tara Ward’s suggestion that the next phone ban should be instituted in the most unruly classroom of all.

How you can stay informed the year the world votes

Two billion voters are set to go to the polls in 64 countries this year. One of the perks of being a Spinoff member is receiving The World Bulletin, a weekly newsletter rounding up global news. Edited by Catherine McGregor, it’s sent to members every Thursday. Becoming a member means you’ll not only help sustain local journalism but stay on top of consequential world news, see less advertising, comment on the Spinoff and more. Join today.

School lunches survive but may look quite different

BusinessDesk’s Dileepa Fonseka and Cécile Meier report (paywalled) that change is coming to the school lunch programme and will likely involve cheaper packaged food like tinned fruit, muesli bars, bread and canned beans. RNZ’s Jo Moir reported on Wednesday night that associate education minister David Seymour has confirmed temporary funding will be put in place for the free school lunches programme until a review is completed. As Moir notes, budgeting temporary funding for the programme is what the coalition spent months criticising the previous government for doing, describing Labour's time-limited funding for free lunches in school as a “fiscal cliff”.

Another wave of public service job cuts

Yesterday saw proposals for another 800 job cuts at Kāinga Ora, Ministry of Education, NZQA, Stats NZ and Housing and Urban Development. That brings the total of proposed or confirmed job cuts within the public service to over 3,500. Stats NZ has given all staff the option of taking voluntary redundnacy. To be clear, that’s not going to result in no staff there, but rather, they have the option to take it. Stuff’s Glenn McConnell has also taken a look into the blurry line between frontline and back office staff in the public service and whether initial government rhetoric about the frontline not being impacted has held true.

The unreachable dream of the kiwi bach

Bernard Hickey talks with property academic Deborah Levy about her research into the changes in the way bach owners feel about their holiday homes. Where once the bach was the centrepiece of 'the kiwi dream’, a place for friends and families to gather, relax and create memories, they have now become a financialised asset to be added to the portfolio of the increasingly wealthy few. What's behind this change? What insights can this research give into the rest of our dysfunctional national property market? Listen in to find out.

Click and Collect

• None of the seven groups who submitted on the fast track approvals bill yesterday, including Federated Farmers, the Law Society, Greenpeace and Forest and Bird, support it in its current form.

• Free ferries to be trialled to counteract impact of broken Wynyard Quarter bridge in Auckland

• 12 Defence Force personnel were left stranded in Antarctica for a month after bad weather and aircraft availability made flying out impossible.

  • Oliver Lewis also reports (paywalled) that staff confidence in Antarctica New Zealand has reached new lows.

• Local government hero of the week: Carterton’s deputy mayor Dale Williams. He is “disappointed” and “disgusted” at some of the responses to a proposed memorial for the town’s former mayor and the country’s first transsexual MP, the late Georgina Beyer.

• Interesting stuff unfolding for those who have no weekend plans and are interested in the dynamic between politicians, media and the public regarding a feud between Joe Biden’s team and the New York Times. Politico reports on it here. The case for Biden having no case here and a podcast from The New Republic on why it should prompt a reckoning for media here.

  Feeling clever? Click here to play 1Q, Aotearoa’s newest, shortest daily quiz.

Right now on The Spinoff

Alex Casey looks back at the best local songs that managed to weasel their way into Hollywood productions. I explain what telling a cop about my lasagne has to do with the media. Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of the new film The Moon is Upside Down. Asia Martusia King tries cooking with dog food. Hera Lindsay Bird has wise words about the limits of honest communication.

It’s not goodbye, it’s see you next week (on thespinoff.co.nz)

Right, the overly-trailered end of my tenure as Bulletin editor is here. I sign off today feeling good because, as I told a colleague yesterday, it has been the most gratifying job I’ve ever had. Pretty good outcome for someone whose terrified response to being asked about the job was to throw her phone across the room after a call from Mad Chapman and whose stated hope at the time was to “not f**k it up”. Thanks to all in the media whose expertise and good work I’ve crammed into my brain. Thanks to everyone at The Spinoff, especially the audience team, who do great work and have coped very well with my split focus. Thanks to Catherine McGregor for her invaluable contribution to The Bulletin. Special nods to those who were complicit in taking a punt on me and to Mad and Amber Easby for being endlessly supportive. Thanks to my husband, Troy. He’s the real one. To Spinoff members and Bulletin subscribers, thank you for tolerating typos, mistakes, and perspectives you disagree with, the unforgivable creep in send times as I’ve juggled two roles and for providing the reason I’ve found the job so gratifying.

If you’re thinking, “Wow, this woman is acting like she’s won an Academy Award is fairly (?) succinct,” I have good and/or bad news for you. The cop/lasagne story is a Trojan horse for my reflections on the job and the gnarly issue of trust in the media. Relaxing. I’m sticking around as head of audience and a senior writer at The Spinoff, so see you there. Peace out. It’s been grand.

— Anna

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me (until 5pm today) at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.