Mayor adds more charge to Three Waters lightning rod
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has called for a halt on all Three Waters work, appoints former New Zealand First MP as advisor
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, October 18, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: inflation picked to fall; emergency doctors sound warning following report on Middlemore hospital; government reviewing Covid Act but first, Auckland mayor moves swiftly on Three Waters
Wayne Brown calls for halt to Three Waters work (Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia)
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown “wags” mayor school, calls for halt to Three Waters work
Many of the country’s mayors have been attending “mayor school” in Wellington this week. As RNZ’s Checkpoint reports, it isn’t compulsory and mayors of metropolitan areas typically “wag”. New Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger and Wellington mayor Tory Whanau are attending. Auckland’s new mayor Wayne Brown isn’t attending this year, instead concentrating on moving swiftly to action campaign promises to stop the Three Waters reforms. Last night Brown released a letter sent to Watercare, Auckland council’s water company, advising that all work on Three Waters should stop.
Hard rock, soft rock
Brown’s letter to the chair of Watercare was released to the media but he is still reluctant to front the media, declining to be interviewed on RNZ’s Morning Report this morning. On the campaign trail, Brown repeatedly criticised the reforms, saying Watercare is a business that works well. Brown has previously criticised the modelling of the reforms on Scotland’s water reform as "just dumb", saying "Scotland has hard rock geology, we have soft rock geology, Scotland has no erosion, we have erosion, Scotland has very simple geography and about four catchments, we have thousands of catchments".
Better off funding contingent on cooperation once legislation passed
Auckland Council has included $127m in the government’s Better Off funding in its 2022/23 budget. Described by Newsroom’s Jono Milne as a sweetener to persuade councils to take part in the Three Waters reforms, the Better Off funding isn’t contingent on councils supporting the reforms. The funding agreement does include some obligations that councils must adhere to including councils collaborating and cooperating with the Department of Internal Affairs “in its undertaking of the activities required to give effect to Three Waters reform legislation, when passed."
Brown appoints former New Zealand First MP as adviser
Yesterday it was confirmed that Jenny Marcroft has been appointed as an interim advisor to Brown in the Auckland mayor’s office. Marcroft was a New Zealand First (NZF) MP between 2017 and 2020. Marcroft resigned from the party in 2021 and joined the Labour party. Politik’s Richard Harman writes about Marcroft’s return to NZF. Marcroft attended NZF’s annual general meeting over the weekend where leader Winston Peters described Three Waters as “retarded theft”. He clarified later he meant the term in the mechanical sense of "stopping progress". As Harman writes, Shane Jones has described the new Auckland mayor as “the New Zealand First friend”. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern will meet Brown on Thursday.
Dream Beds is helping New Zealand kids sleep easy
An average of 77 children are hospitalised every day in Aotearoa for preventable diseases like rheumatic fever caused by inadequate sleeping conditions. Sleeping on mattresses, chairs, couches or even on the floor can cause a raft of health problems for our tamariki. Now, AA Insurance and Variety – the Children’s Charity are teaming up to help change this. The Dream Beds campaign asked eight kids to design a bed – and the results, from a castle bed, to a submarine bed, were created and are now up for auction. The money from these will be used to provide comfortable beds for kids in need all over the country. Check out the dream bed auctions on Trade Me (sponsored).
Inflation rate picked to fall
Economists expect the latest consumer price index (CPI) data to show that inflation has peaked. The CPI update will be out this morning. The Reserve Bank has forecast that the annual rate of inflation will fall to 6.4%, from 7.3% recorded last quarter. Various banks are picking a rate between 6.5% - 6.9%. As Stuff’s Susan Edmunds reports, relief for households is still a way off though, with Kiwibank economists expecting that spikes in food prices and council rates will be a feature of today’s figures. ASB’s economists said core inflation was likely to prove difficult to dislodge and that markets were pricing in a 5% official cash rate by mid-2023.
Doctors warn entire health system suffering from problems identified in Middlemore report
Following the release of an independent report into the death of a woman at Middlemore Hospital, emergency doctors are fearful of more unnecessary deaths as hospitals struggle with patient demand. A doctor who consults at Middlemore Hospital described the hospital's current state as a "sh** storm". The report found that Middlemore Hospital's emergency department was "unsafe, dysfunctional and overcrowded". It noted that only the exceptional hard work and dedication of Middlemore's staff is keeping it from more serious incidents. Responding to the report yesterday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said there had now been two reports into the incident which were important to both understand what had occurred and ensure similar situations did not happen.
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Government reviewing Covid Act as cases slowly rise
As Newshub reported last night the government is seeking to extend the Covid-19 Act, which gives politicians the power to impose restrictions to counter the virus. A spokesman for the prime minister said the act would be amended to reduce the powers within it, since many were no longer required. Yesterday, 14,311 new Covid cases were reported covering the period between October 10 to October 16. That’s up from 11,205 the week before. It was also revealed that a coding error had resulted in underreporting the number of hospitalisations throughout the pandemic. Total hospitalisations now stand at 19,476, up from 14,043.
Click and collect
Sharp rise in weather damage insurance claims
Former Catholic Bishop of Auckland questioned at abuse in care inquiry over recommending a priest, who had three allegations of abuse made against him, for a teaching job
Former mayor asks for recount in Gore mayoralty after losing to 23-year-old Ben Bell by eight votes
Kamikaze drones deployed by Russia in Ukrainian capital
New Zealand pet shelters are being swamped with axolotls
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