Running down the clock on agri-emissions pricing

Time is running out to nail down an alternative pricing scheme before the election. Ministers are said to be fed up with the lack of movement and the sector is calling for a delay

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Thursday, June 1, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: decision around hundreds of jobs at Te Whatu Ora due tomorrow; prescription fees continue to be political battleground; Auckland’s 2073 population estimates; but first climate change minister says it’s “very unlikely” legislation around pricing agri-emissions will be in place before the election

Legislation around pricing agricultural emissions before election ‘very unlikely’

Time races on. It’s now June and there are 28 sitting days left in parliament before the House rises before the election, including today. That puts increasing pressure on the government to get legislation through, with 31 bills currently at the select committee stage and nine at the second reading stage. They’re all of various sizes and scales and some may languish. There’s been speculation for a while that legislation around pricing agricultural emissions may not get through before the election. Climate change minister James Shaw said yesterday that it was “very unlikely”.

Questions around health of He Waka Eke Noa partnership

The government confirmed yesterday that its intention is to have an emissions pricing plan ready before parliament wraps up but agriculture minister Damien O’Connor also told Farmer’s Weekly last week that time is running out to finalise a system to price agricultural emissions. Questions remain about the level of pricing, how to recognise the various forms of sequestration and creating a single, internationally recognised emissions calculator for farmers to use. Speculation about the health of negotiations with the sector via the He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) industry partnership ramped up yesterday with Politik’s Richard Harman reporting negotiations had broken down (paywalled) and a fertiliser tax would have to be imposed. National party agriculture spokesperson Todd McClay told the Herald yesterday that the HWEN process was “close to being over”.

Ministers said to be fed up with lack of movement 

There’s potentially a bit of playing chicken or “not budging lest ye be the first to budge” going on here but as BusinessDesk’s Riley Kennedy reports this morning (paywalled), sources have told BusinessDesk that the HWEN process stalled following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern as prime minister.  “While Ardern championed the initiative at the cabinet table, her replacement, Chris Hipkins, is said to have been far less engaged on its completion,” Kennedy writes. Ministers are said to be fed up with the lack of movement in the industry-led response to emissions reduction. Farming leaders have said rushing legislation through before the election will create issues and undermine the system’s credibility. If no agreement is reached by 2025, agriculture will enter the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Discussions on interim fertiliser tax

Talk of a fertiliser tax kicked off in the House yesterday with Act asking O’Connor whether he had had any official discussion with ministerial colleagues over a potential tax or levy. O’Connor has confirmed he had discussions with the sector about a fertiliser levy but the sector isn’t keen. Act took credit for “killing the idea” in its fifth and final press release of the day, yesterday afternoon. O’Connor’s rationale for introducing the idea is that the industry wants full analysis of the sequestration options which will require research and development resource. “The idea of a levy that would have contributed to money for research and development was my idea of a possible good investment,” O’Connor said. “We now have to sit down and work on the best way forward of following through with He Waka Eke Noa, but dealing with the dilemma that they don’t want to pay anything until they’ve worked out the full analysis of sequestration options,” he said. “The issue is who will pay for that,” he said.

Listen to oOh!media on The Fold

In partnership with oOh!media, Duncan Greive of The Spinoff's media podcast The Fold has spoken with some of New Zealand's brightest media minds over the past four months. From Nick Vile, speaking about how outdoor advertising continues to thrive, to Dr Jim Mather on the beginnings of Whakaata Māori and Prof. Paul Spoonley on New Zealand's changing demographics. You can catch all of these kōrero on The Fold, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Decision over hundreds of jobs at Te Whatu Ora due tomorrow

As RNZ’s Phil Pennington reports, the national health agency will not make any announcements about the fate of hundreds of health workers tomorrow but Friday is set down as decision day. As Pennington writes, about 1600 jobs have widely been reported as being on the line, though Te Whatu Ora told RNZ on Wednesday some jobs would merely have their "reporting lines" changed. It did not provide an estimate of potential job losses when asked by RNZ. There are reports the national health screening unit will be disbanded, with Te Whatu Ora refusing to rule that out when asked by RNZ, confirming it was under review.

Prescription fees remain a political battleground

I didn’t know this but because we have reciprocal health agreements with Australia and the United Kingdom, visitors from those countries will not have to pay for prescriptions once the $5 fee is removed here in July. Naturally that means New Zealanders enjoy reciprocity in their experience of local health systems when visiting those countries. As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reports, National have called the reciprocity on prescription fees another example of a government cost-of-living policy funds heading offshore. National have said they will reverse the policy to remove the $5 fee if elected with Newshub questioning National leader Christopher Luxon on whether that would apply to prescriptions for the contraceptive pill. Luxon told Newshub he was not looking at a carve-out for those who need regular contraception prescriptions.

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Auckland in 2073

Stuff’s Sapeer Mayron reports that new population projections from Auckland Council and Stats NZ researchers predict that based on their highest estimate, there could be over 3.3m people in the country’s largest city by 2073. Auckland’s current population stands at just over 1.7m. The lowest estimate has the population staying close to that, lifting to just over 1.8m people. Professor Paul Spoonley is looking at the middle projection, which suggests Auckland could reach 2.4m people by 2073. He notes the age profile is also important to consider with one in four Aucklanders aged over 65 by 2073. The estimates have prompted experts in climate change risk and planning to suggest Auckland can accommodate the highest estimate of growth if we build up and not out. Back to the present day, and another report suggests the housing market is probably close to bottoming out and loan-to-value rules relax today, increasing the amount of low-deposit lending that banks can do.

Click and collect

• Health Minister Ayesha Verrall is expected to reveal the government’s strategy to combat youth vaping today

• Secondary schools teachers begin rolling year level strike action —teachers will not take year 12 classes today

• The free trade deal with the UK came into force yesterday — here’s a reminder of what it entails and here’s The Guardian with the details of the jolly good celebration pack headed trade minister Damien O’Connor’s way (nine paragraphs in)

• One of New Zealand’s biggest earthquakes of year struck yesterday but no-one felt it

• Forget Cocaine Bear, cupcake bear is our new Ursidae overlord

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