The government's nine big goals for 2030
Prime minister Christopher Luxon acknowledged the public service targets were ambitious and made no apologies for leaning into his background as a CEO
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, April 9, written by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
In today’s edition: Winston Peters speaks at UN criticising Israel and UN Security Council; Daily school attendance snapshots planned; vaping regulation team shrinks; but first, the government announces its nine big targets as Luxon once again differentiates himself from ‘career politicians’
No apologies for CEO approach as public service targets announced
Yesterday, prime minister Christopher Luxon announced nine public service targets to be met by 2030. Ministers and lead public service heads will have the responsibility for ensuring they are met. The former government’s implementation unit will be refashioned as a delivery unit, which, as The Post’s Thomas Manch reported in March, stems from an idea that rose to popularity under Tony Blair’s government in the UK in 2001. This morning, Manch reports that Luxon is making no apologies for his CEO background nor the ambition embedded within the targets, saying that having career politicians for the last six years hasn’t worked. The Herald’s Liam Dann thinks Luxon should lean into his business background (paywalled), writing that Luxon is essentially saying that the management of this country could benefit from more discipline around delivery and accountability. Dann writes that “Business is quite good at that stuff” but also argues Luxon needs to adhere more closely to the positive characteristics of business leaders rather than getting dragged into negative political gameplay. The last National government also had public service targets, and Stuff’s Tova O’Brien writes that if “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Sir John Key will be blushing.”
Ambitious emergency housing target set
The Herald’s Derek Cheng has the complete list of targets here. The five health targets were announced in early March and include faster cancer treatment, improved immunisation rates, and shorter stays in emergency departments. Law and order targets include a 15% reduction in the total number of children and young people with serious and persistent offending behaviour and 20,000 fewer people who are victims of an assault, robbery, or sexual assault. There is also an ambitious emergency housing target with a 75% reduction in the number of households using emergency housing and a repetition of being on track to meet New Zealand’s existing 2050 net-zero emissions goal.
Jobseeker target sets out reduction of 50,000
The jobseeker target sets out to reduce the number of people on the jobseeker benefit by 50,000. Social development minister Lousie Upston spoke with RNZ’s Lisa Owen on Checkpoint last night. Owen pressed Upston on a couple of matters. She asked where the jobs would come from, referencing recent public service cuts. Various bank economists and the Reserve Bank are predicting the unemployment rate will rise to between 5% - 5.5% by the end of December. Owen also referenced 2014 MSD figures from the last time National introduced public service targets, including a reduction in the number of people on the benefit, which showed 25% of people had returned to the benefit within a year.
Jobseeker target includes those on health or disability jobseekers benefit
The jobseeker target includes those on the health or disability jobseekers benefit. MSD data published in February revealed there were 378,711 people in New Zealand receiving a “main benefit”. Of those, 189,798 people were on a Jobseeker benefit — that includes a group of 80,100 people receiving a health and disability benefit who were considered work-ready. In response to the announcement, Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds shared a story about her father having to go on a benefit to look after her mother after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Edmonds questioned the “unintended consequences” of the targets, saying her father’s decision helped keep her mum out of the hospital.
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This morning you can:
Contribute your tips on surviving redundancy alongside Asher Wilson-Goldman’s, who shares his after being made redundant from a public service job
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Winston Peters speaks at UN, says ‘Palestinian civilians must not be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas’
Foreign minister Winston Peters spoke to the United Nations General assembly early this morning, our time. Peters said an immediate ceasefire is needed in Gaza, calling what was happening an “utter catastrophe”. “Gaza”, he said, “which was already facing huge challenges before this conflict, is now a wasteland.” Drone footage published by Reuters this morning shows the extent of the devastation caused over six months. Peters criticised Israel for expanding its illegal settlement into the occupied territories, saying, “this misguided notion must end”. He also condemned the October 7 Hamas attack but said, “Palestinian civilians must not be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas”. He criticised the UN Security Council, saying it had “failed in its responsibility to maintain international peace and security” with regard to the repeated use of veto by permanent members. After 186 days of war, with the Palestinian death toll estimated to be over 33,000, the Council passed its first-ever ceasefire resolution two weeks ago, with the US abstaining rather than using its veto.
Peters has been in Egypt and Europe over the last week. He met with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels and confirmed that the process of renewing New Zealand and NATO’s partnership will be concluded in the coming months. Peters extended his overseas trip to head to the US, with the plan to include this morning’s speech at the UN and a meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York, followed by a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Daily school attendance snapshots planned
This morning, RNZ’s Jo Moir reports that Luxon and associate education minister David Seymour will make an announcement today relating to the school attendance target announced yesterday. Moir writes that the Ministry of Education will begin publishing weekly snapshots of school attendance from the second week of term two, which will move into daily reporting at the start of next year. Attendance data is currently collected on a term basis, with a month-long lag between the end of term and publication. Under the public service targets set yesterday, the government wants to see 80% of students present at school for more than 90% of the term by 2030.
ICYMI: Weekend reads on The Spinoff
I want to recommend a couple of reads published over the weekend on The Spinoff. The first is a beautiful essay from Gabi Lardies about the health of the Hauraki Gulf and her quest to find promised signs of marine life while sailing over the summer.
The second is an excellent feature on one of my favourite foods, fry bread. Vanessa Ellingham has written a comprehensive history of the Māori staple that has cuisine cousins all over the world. It’s the 15th piece we’ve published as part of this year’s What’s Eating Aotearoa project.
Click and Collect
A former senior Health ministry staff member says the team charged with ensuring vaping retailers comply with the law has shrunk from 22 to seven. Associate health minister Casey Costello told The Spinoff last week that she had asked the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand for a “greater focus” on compliance.
Prime minister Christopher Luxon will travel to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines this week on a trade and diplomatic trip with climate change and revenue minister Simon Watts and National MP Paulo Garcia, New Zealand's first Filipino MP.
A brand new 150-bed surgical building on the grounds of North Shore Hospital can not open due to a lack of staff — a doctor describes it as “madness”
NZ Post to end rural parcel and newspaper deliveries on weekends
“The sun looks like Pac-Man” - by the time The Bulletin arrives this morning, the solar eclipse’s path across the US will be plunging Buffalo and then Montreal into darkness. Early birds can follow the NASA Livestream and NYT live blog here.
Related: good satire from the Washington Post of the congresswoman choosing to use the eclipse and last week’s earthquake in New Jersey as “strong signs from God that we must repent”
Feeling clever? Click here to play 1Q, Aotearoa’s newest, shortest daily quiz.
Asher Wilson-Goldman was made redundant from a public service job at the end of March and shares his tips for getting through. In Part 2 of Duncan Greive’s ‘20 Media CEOs, Two Big Questions’ series, we hear from the leaders of our publicly-funded media and the funders themselves. Henrietta Bollinger and Warren Forster aren’t celebrating ACC’s 50th birthday; they’re where the coverage thousands of disabled people were promised is. Esme Stark meets the ‘health sensation scouting Wellington’s best cheap CBD lunches. We round up everything coming to streaming services this week.
Sporting snippets
Former NZ gymnasts reveal toxic demands of competitive gymnastics
Significant progress, exciting new concepts and innovations, and a reset and reframing of the Games - something resembling news on the future of Commonwealth Games.
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You may wish to amend ‘Lousie’ to ‘Louise’