Protest to mark first day of parliament
A call to protest today from Te Pāti Māori aligns with the opening of the 54th term of parliament, where MPs are required to swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles III
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, December 5, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: date for ‘mini budget’ announced; cabinet paper on Fair Pay Agreements leaked; New Zealand earns ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at Cop 28; but first, parliament opens today as Te Pāti Māori promise day of protest and disruption
The opening of the 54th term of parliament
The business of government gets underway today with the opening of the 54th parliament. As always, RNZ’s The House provides a good summary of everything that will happen at parliament today and tomorrow. MPs will be sworn in today, and a speaker will be elected. National will nominate Gerry Brownlee. Tomorrow, there will be the “speech from the throne”. Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro will arrive, preceded by Black Rod, and all the traditional pomp and pageantry of the occasion will be on full display. Looking to contest that tradition is Te Pāti Māori, who have organised a “National Māori Action Day” today and are promising widespread disruption across the North Island this morning. Live updates and information from RNZ here. It’s not yet known how large the protests will be. Speaking to Te Ao Māori News, Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said there are too many policies to be introduced by the coalition government to list as specifically inciting protest action but Tamihere cites the coalition government’s proposal to remove section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act as particularly frustrating to him. Asked about the protests yesterday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said he doesn't believe protests will continue throughout the term, as he believes his government would “deliver for Māori”.
Oath of allegiance to the Crown a focal point
Te Pāti Māori’s caucus is also planning to give oaths of allegiance to Te Tiriti o Waitangi before taking the parliamentary oath, which must occur for them to become MPs and in which allegiance is pledged to the monarch, King Charles III. Hone Harawira was ejected from the House in 2011 for swearing an oath to the Treaty before eventually swearing allegiance to the Queen. In 2016, Marama Fox, the co-leader of the Māori party at the time, introduced a bill to allow members to state that, “in addition to the words of the oath”, “they will perform their duties in accordance with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.” It did not make it past the first reading. Te Pāti Māori have continued to push for the oath to be changed so it acknowledges the Treaty.
Protest action is no surprise
The call to protest should surprise no one. It has been signalled as a likely outcome of policy brought to light during the election campaign. Last Thursday, constitutional law professor Claire Charters told Waatea News that Māori may have no option but to protest against proposed policy changes. Former prime ministers and treaty ministers have all spoken about the potentially divisive nature of Act’s Treaty principles referendum policy. Historians and academics have also stated their case about the implications. Labour MP Willie Jackson summonsed the spectre of the Springbok protests when speaking to Q&A a month ago. Speaking to Stuff’s Joel Maxwell, Paula-Maree McKenzie says there have been two nation-defining marches spanning the country in her lifetime, citing the land march in 1975 and the Foreshore and Seabed march in 2004. She was at both and said, “I’ve got my boots ready to walk wherever and whenever, if necessary.”
How a debate over principles leads to a debate over sovereignty
The coalition deal between Act and National contains an agreement to support Act’s policy for a binding public referendum on the principles of the Treaty but only through to a first reading. As the Herald’s Audrey Young writes (paywalled), Act didn't get what it wanted, but “what it did get is likely to trigger intense debate and open up the country to a debate it didn’t bargain on – over Māori sovereignty.” “A debate about the principles inevitably leads to a debate about what the articles of the Treaty meant and that ultimately leads to a debate about sovereignty,” writes Young. It’s a point raised by Morgan Godfery in The Post last week in a column headlined, “When it comes to the Treaty principles, David Seymour is right about one thing”. Godfrey notes that New Zealand’s “radical left” and “libertarian right” are united and “probably agree the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are a sham”. There is an argument, as Godfrey writes, that the principles of the Treaty “were meant to disempower, not empower, Māori,” weakening commitments to allow signatories to the Māori language version of the Treaty to retain their sovereignty. Speaking at the post cabinet press conference yesterday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said he plans to go to Waitangi next year. There has been an expressed desire for “less politics” at Waitangi recently, with hosts Hoani Waititi Marae requesting politicians “dial down political talk” last year. As Young writes, it would be safe to suggest that Waitangi Day will not be a day of celebration in 2024.
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‘Mini budget’ to be released on December 20
Finance minister Nicola Willis announced yesterday that the government’s “mini budget” will be released on December 20. Willis has once again alluded to finding some nasty surprises in the government’s books. “I am concerned by the scale of the financial challenges left to us by the outgoing government,” said Willis. The challenges, said Willis, fall into two broad categories. “The first are risks that were referred to in the pre-election update but the true scale and urgency of which was not made clear for a range of reasons including commercial sensitivity.” The second challenge involved the “sheer number of government policy programmes” that had been funded on a short term basis. As RNZ reports, Willis has accused the previous government of finding “workarounds” to hide the scale of that short-term funding, a claim Labour’s finance spokesperson, Grant Robertson, says is “desperation”. Michael Ryan, a teaching fellow in economics at the University of Waikato, writes that New Zealand has long had legislation designed to prevent fiscal surprises from happening and that the mini budget will be a test of that.
Cabinet paper on Fair Pay Agreements leaked
As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan writes, the new government “was rocked on Monday evening when a highly confidential cabinet paper made its way into the public domain.” Newshub reported last night that it had obtained the leaked cabinet paper about the government's plans to repeal the Fair Pay Agreements law. The paper reveals that the official advice is that the move would disproportionately impact women, Māori and Pasifika people and young people. Newshub reports that workplace relations minister Brooke van Velden told cabinet there had been consultation with the Council of Trade Unions and Business NZ. Treasury said there had been “no consultation”. Newshub has confirmed Business NZ was consulted, but the unions weren't. There’s no surprise in the fact that the law is on the slate for repeal, nor is there any in the fact that the move will likely disproportionately impact women, Māori and Pasifika people and young people. It is the leak itself that is more likely to be jangling nerves.
Todd Niall on covering Wayne Brown and the Auckland beat
As flagged a couple of weeks ago in The Bulletin, one of New Zealand’s greatest beat reporters, Todd Niall, has retired. He joins Duncan Greive on the latest episode of The Fold to discuss his career, leaving RNZ for Stuff and the specific challenges of covering a mayor like Wayne Brown.
On the same beat this week is Adam Dudding, who wrote a fascinating and observed profile of Wayne Brown for the Sunday Star Times. It includes a note about the softening of hostility towards media from Brown, “with one notable exception – the case of Stuff’s Todd Niall.”
Click and Collect
New Zealand earns Cop 28’s first “Fossil of the Day” award over oil and gas plans
Transport minister Simeon Brown has instructed Waka Kotahi staff to begin using their agency's English name first in communications
Waikato University confident of getting a medical school despite Act’s request for new costings
New Zealand family plead for help getting relatives out of Gaza
Feeling clever? Click here to play 1Q, Aotearoa’s newest, shortest daily quiz.
In the first of a two-part series on miscarriage, Zahra Shahtahmasebi speaks to two women about carrying on after tragedy. Toby Manhire identifies the 10 oddest details in the coalition agreements. Laura Gemmell, who’s on the ground in Dubai, picks five things worth keeping tabs on at Cop 28. Madeleine Holden and Madeleine Chapman declare that After the Party is the best TV drama New Zealand has ever made. Duncan Greive questions what we lose when shows like The Project are taken off the air.
Sporting snippets
Beauden Barrett signs new long term deal with NZ Rugby
Gold Coast scraps bid to host Commonwealth Games
Dylan Cleaver on why last week wasn’t a great week for New Zealand cricket on
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