The week in two minutes and 10 stories
Toby Manhire takes a whistlestop tour through a big week in news
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, December 13. Written by Toby Manhire and Anna Rawhiti-Connell
In today’s edition: Deputy Police Commissioner under investigation; Wellington’s City Missioner on the scale of the housing crisis in our capital city; another of the year’s great reads; but first, Toby Manhire with an awful lot of news
That sound you can hear is logs, logs upon logs upon logs, jamming furiously up into the few days remaining until New Zealand powers down for the summer. This week, an awful lot of news has happened, and most of us have got far too much going on to absorb it all. In that light, we have thrown the normal Bulletin format down the chimney today and present in its place a whistlestop review of 10 New Zealand news stories worth knowing.
A capital raise for Kiwibank, IPO teased
As part of a response to the Commerce Commission probe of competition in the banking sector, finance minister Nicola Willis announced on Monday that they’d seek to raise half a billion sweet New Zealand dollars to power up the state-owned bank as a disruptive force in a sector dominated by the big four Australian-owned outfits. The capital would come from New Zealand-based funds. A public offering was also a strong prospect, though not before 2028.
As for the other ComCom recommendations, Willis said the big banks were “on notice” over a series of steps to improve competition. “This means moving quickly on open banking, improving switching services, and allowing greater home loan comparison,” explained Dan Brunskill for Interest.co.nz. “The finance minister wouldn’t be drawn on what potential punishments could be deployed against the banks, but National Party MPs have raised the spectre of an excess profit tax during the parliamentary inquiry.”
The ferry long wait continues
The saga continues, like a ship going around in circles, its crew having forgotten how to disable the autopilot. The big plan revealed a year after the last big plan was kyboshed by Nicola Willis a year ago seems to be: We’re working on a plan.
We talked about all this – including the appointment of Winston Peters as minister for rail and his divergence of view with David Seymour – at length on the Gone By Lunchtime podcast yesterday.
What had been an embarrassing blowout for the last government is turning into a nasty ingrown toenail for the coalition. “The whole thing has been a debacle since the cancellation of the earlier project a year ago,” wrote Audrey Young in the Herald (paywalled), “and makes a mockery of the slogan ‘getting New Zealand back on track’.”
Emissions reduction plan the second
The second emissions reduction plan – mandated under the Zero Carbon Act – was released by climate change minister Simon Watts. Some of the news was good, some not so good. “The final version of the plan shows that New Zealand’s net emissions are projected to be 84 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent above the ‘nationally determined contribution’ specified in the Paris Agreement”, wrote Shanti Mathias in an explainer for the Spinoff. Read it here.
Greyhound racing banned
The government has rushed through legislation banning greyhound racing. It comes after three reviews over recent years cited serious welfare concerns. “This is not a decision that is taken lightly but is ultimately driven by protecting the welfare of racing dogs,” said racing minister Winston Peters in a statement. “Despite significant progress made by the greyhound racing industry in recent years, the percentage of dogs being injured remains persistently high and the time has come to make a call in the best interest of the animals.”
According to Herald racing reporter Michael Guerin, the decision took the sector by surprise. He urges those who celebrated the end of the sport to consider also: “there are people just like you, animal lovers, who got told they are losing their jobs today and will be caring for those dogs tomorrow.”
Polls, polls, polls
The latest Verian/1News poll was unleashed from a Christmas stocking on Monday, and the numbers were uncannily close to the election result. With one exception: Te Pati Māori, who appear to be the one clear winner – numbers wise, at least – from the treaty principles bill.
This was the latest in a burst of polls – we’ve rounded them up here.
An update on the response to our open letter
It’s been a fortnight since we published our open letter outlining our current reality.
We revealed that only 2% of our audience support us financially and shared the real need to double the number of members who support us with monthly or annual payments. As of today, we are over one third of the way towards that target.
The response to our letter has been encouraging. Thank you to all our existing members who responded by donating or increasing their contributions. We’re grateful to all who also decided to sign up again. Welcome to our new members. We’re delighted to have you.
We still have a way to go, but the support has made us as determined as ever to get there. Please continue to spread the word and share the letter. You can also gift someone a membership for Christmas or donate as an organisation or company.
If you haven't yet, please become a member or donate today.
Sex education rewrite ordered
Erica Stanford has signalled an overhaul of the relationships and sexuality education curriculum following a highly critical study by the Education Review Office. It pointed to inconsistency in approach and susceptibility to misinformation and prejudice. The education minister noted it was 20 years since the last time the curriculum was refreshed, and “in that time society has shifted significantly”.
John Gerritsen has the best rundown of the ERO report – which “shows misinformation, bigotry and threats of violence have derailed some schools' attempts at consultation and prompted some to reduce or avoid teaching the topic” – for RNZ here.
Speaker in the spotlight, part 1
Gerry Brownlee has referred four members of parliament to the Privileges Committee over the response to the first reading of the treaty principles bill a month ago. Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi along with the party’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke – who led the haka and tore the bill in two, in a demonstration that has been viewed well over half a billion times around the world – have been sent to the naughty room along with Labour MP Peeni Henare.
As reported by 1News, Brownlee said: “Taking an action to prevent votes being completed is completely unacceptable. The letters I've received name a number of members who participated in a haka in the house. In particular, four members who left their seats to stand on the floor of the house – three of those members advancing towards the seats of another party. That is disorderly and cannot be considered anything other than disorderly.”
Speaker in the spotlight, part 2
The Labour Party declared it had lost confidence in Brownlee after he made the unusual decision to dismiss a recommendation of the Clerk and assistant speaker over fast-track legislation. Their advice had been that the amendments being made under urgency should be listed as private legislation, given that the listing of projects appeared to benefit specific people,
The snafu was born, constitutional law expert Andrew Geddis told RNZ, of a wider problem: the convoluted and hurried pursuit of the legislation – “bad law-making”.
Dear Charles
The Iwi Chairs Forum has penned a letter to King Charles III, urging the monarch to intervene over state actions in relation to te ao Māori. “Your new coalition government … has promised to attack Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of our whānau,” they write.
The letter, co-signed by Margaret Mutu and Aperahama Edwards on behalf of the Forum, continues: “We seek your intervention to ensure that the government does not diminish the Crown's honour. Please remind them to respect their responsibility to act as an honourable partner on your behalf. We would welcome an opportunity to have regular contact with you or your office to build a closer relationship and realise the Tiriti“promise of two peoples to take the best possible care of each other.”
If you are King Charles, please leave a response in the comments.
Candance Owen gets a visa
You better watch out, you better not cry, and so forth: Candace Owens is coming to town. The far-right commentator – decried by critics for advancing antisemitic causes and promulgating conspiracy theories – had been denied entry to New Zealand after Australia banned her entry.
Associate minister for immigration Chris Penk has stepped in, however, and yesterday reversed the decision. “The minister made his decision after considering representations made to him, including the importance of free speech,” a spokesperson told Stuff.
Mad Chapman shared her thoughts yesterday on New Zealand’s latest feat: landing “face first into a vat of eggs”. It’s all playing out just (well, almost) as I predicted a few weeks ago.
Police Deputy Commissioner investigated over conduct towards young woman
All major news outlets in New Zealand began running this story last night, revealing that the country's second most senior police officer, Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, is on leave pending an investigation. Stuff’s Blair Ensor and Imogen Wells revealed that McSkimming “is believed to be under scrutiny over his conduct towards a former female non-sworn police employee many years his junior.” RNZ reports that McSkimming is under separate investigations by the police, and the Independent Police Conduct Authority
McSkimming was a contender for the Commissioner role, which went to Richard Chambers. Chambers’s appointment marked a reset following former commissioner Andrew Coster’s resignation last September. Following his appointment, Chambers said, “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have the trust and confidence of the public, and we’ve got some work to do at the moment.”
Inside Wellington’s homeless crisis
Homelessness in Aotearoa has hit an all-time high, forcing organisations like Wellington City Mission to adopt innovative new strategies. Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge joins Bernard Hickey on the latest episode of When the Facts Change to talk about the scale of the housing crisis in our capital city and how a couple of new approaches and buildings are making a difference for those worst affected.
Read more about the Wellington City Mission’s efforts in Joel’s MacManus’s recent Cover Story.
Get the best of the Spinoff this year sent to you over summer
Sign up for The Spinoff Daily to receive our twice-weekly summer digest. Sent to you at the leisurely time of 10am on Tuesdays and Fridays over the summer break, you can enjoy a handpicked selection of the best of The Spinoff this year. perfect for beach, bach, backyard or travel reading.
Best of 2024
As we race towards the end of the year, it’s time to look back at some of the biggest and best Spinoff stories from 2024.
This morning: Who killed the Johnsonville mall?
After two decades of promised redevelopment, Johnsonville Shopping Centre remains neglected and half empty. Joel MacManus searched for answers in the decaying suburban mall. First published in August, 2024.
One mall to rule them all: Hera Lindsay Bird ranks the Dunedin malls that are, in fact, one mall. Alex Casey and Tara Ward with the most memorable local television moments of 2024. Madeleine Chapman argues that Immigration NZ could have made any decision on Candace Owens's visa, and it would’ve been better than a minister intervening. Bethany Rolston writes a love letter to community newspapers. Claire Mabey reveals The Spinoff's best NZ book covers for 2024. Alex Casey compiles a brief history of celebrity cameos on Shortland Street. Hera Lindsay Bird advises a reader who is worried that Auckland traffic will make them insane.
That’s it for another day. Thanks for reading and see you back here tomorrow.
Want to get in touch? Join the conversation in the Substack comments section below or via email at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz if you have any feedback on today’s top stories (or anything else in the news).
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