Tunnels and teeth the focus of weekend's campaign announcements
Labour reveals second harbour crossing plan and Greens promise a national free dental service, while Act pledges 'day one' cuts to multiple government projects.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, August 7, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Anti “co-governance” campaign runs afoul of electoral law; Film Commission reveals tax rebate criteria for international productions; questions raised about judges’ perks. But first, the government has released its ambitious plan for road and rail tunnels across Auckland harbour.
Labour goes all-in on harbour tunnels
In late March then transport minister Michael Wood unveiled five options for an additional Auckland harbour connection. On Sunday, his successor David Parker joined prime minister Chris Hipkins to announce the winner: two tunnels for cars and trucks between central Auckland and Akoranga on the North Shore, plus a separate light rail tunnel between Wynyard Quarter and Albany. Lanes on the harbour bridge will be altered to allow for pedestrians and cyclists. This is the most ambitious of the plans on the table, costing between $35 billion and $44.5b; Waka Kotahi says it will improve travel times to downtown from Albany and Takapuna by about 20%. Greens co-leader James Shaw says it’s “a bit bonkers to be building more roads” during a climate crisis, while National is supporting the plan but expressing doubt that Labour will be able to meet its scheduled start date of 2029. Mayor Wayne Brown thinks the proposal is about “politics, not transport” and wants the government to work with the council “on some better, faster and cheaper plans”.
Greens unveil plan for free dental
The Green Party announced a plan for establishing a national dental service providing free dental care for all. The service would provide all the standard non-cosmetic care currently accessible through a private dentist, from cleanings and fillings to oral surgery and complex treatment plans, and would include “mobile dental vans, portable clinics, and funding for community dental clinics, including on marae”, reports Stuff’s Bridie Witton. The service would be funded by the Greens’ wealth tax: 2.5% on net assets above $2 million held by an individual and above $4m for a couple. Announcing the policy, James Shaw noted that dental care in Aotearoa is now among the most expensive in the world, with a “higher rate of unmet dental care… because of cost” than even the US.
Act pledges to halve MBIE’s staff numbers
Act is promising to cut the 6000-strong workforce at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) by half, and take an axe to a plethora of government projects which leader David Seymour says will be cancelled on “day one”. The projects on the chopping block include (deep breath) Three Waters, the He Waka Eke Noa climate action partnership with farmers, Auckland light rail, fees-free tertiary education, the Provincial Growth Fund, the Resource Management Act reforms, Callaghan Innovation, the Ministry of Education’s curriculum refresh and Let’s Get Wellington Moving, reports Stuff’s Warren Gamble. It’s all part of Act’s previously announced plan to slash government spending by $9.5b a year. Seymour announced the policy to a Nelson audience of over 350 people, which he says is more than three times bigger than the one during his 2020 election campaign stop.
Robertson talks GST and ‘fiscal holes’
Finance minister Grant Robertson has again refuted claims of a $20 - $30b “hole” in the government accounts. Speaking to Jack Tame on Q&A, he expressed frustration that “people can just make a claim with any old thing attached to it. And then I have to respond to that.” He said he’d recently met with public service bosses but refused to say whether he set them specific spending reduction targets – NZ First’s Winston Peters claims they’ve been instructed to cut their budgets by 10%. In what seems to be further confirmation that cuts to GST on fruit and vegetables are on the table, Robertson softened his previously staunchly oppositional stance. Last year he said the idea was an “absolute boondoggle”; now he thinks that “boondoggles can be worked through”.
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Batchelor pamphlets run afoul of election law
Anti “co-governance” activist Julian Batchelor is being investigated over the nationwide distribution of 350,000 pamphlets that may be in breach of electoral law, 1 News’ Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports. “The pamphlets make a number of unfounded claims, including that a group of Māori elites are conspiring to take over the country,” says Hurihanganui, but the Electoral Commission is particularly concerned about a section telling people not to vote for parties that support co-governance. Telling people how to vote makes it an election advertisement, thinks law expert Graeme Edgeler, and any such communication must include a promoter statement – which Batchelor’s pamphlets do not have. Batchelor says he’s not worried: "The infringement is extremely minor, and it would be hard to prove it in court.”
Biggest film and TV tax break will require focus on sustainability
International productions will now only get the highest tax rebate if they create a sustainability plan, André Chumko reports for The Post (paywalled). Under the new requirements, released by the Film Commission last week, productions can amass enough points to qualify for the extra 5% rebate through sustainbility initiatives as well as by “employing more than 10% Māori staff, employing New Zealanders in key roles, or employing Māori in lead roles”, Chumko writes. The additional rebate has previously been awarded to major productions like Avatar in recognition of their significant economic benefit to New Zealand, but the Film Commission says the new criteria will also ensure sustainability, climate awareness and indigenous staffing are prioritised.
Click and Collect
Judges enjoy some of the most valuable perks of any profession – but the public isn’t allowed to know exactly what they are. In the Sunday Star-Times (paywalled), Andrea Vance asks why.
Around 50 eucalypts have been poisoned in Kerikeri, apparently by a man who “believed he was doing the right thing”.
Rialto cinemas celebrate their 30th birthday this year. The Herald’s Shayne Currie has a lovely profile of the two founders (paywalled), who still run the Rialto film distribution business to this day.
What’s with the lack of great South Island pies in the annual Pie Awards?
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Editor Mad Chapman explains why we’re talking about death all week on The Spinoff. Claire Breen says Labour’s vote against the shared leave bill is bad news for new parents. Isa Pearl Ritchie shares how she turned her writing hobby into a full time professional job as a fantasy novelist. Anna Rawhiti-Connell celebrates the de-stressing magic of the post-work “car sit”. Hana Pera Aoake considers the dark side of Ōtepoti’s music and arts scene, and what brought her back to the city. Alex Casey meets the women behind a baking project bringing a sprinkle of sweetness into our prisons. And 25 years on from Sex and the City’s debut, Amber Older remembers what living in NYC was really like in 1999.
Sporting Snippets
The Silver Ferns leave the Netball World Cup empty handed after losing again to Jamaica in the playoff for bronze. It’s the NZ team’s worst-ever performance in the tournament.
USA were knocked out of the Fifa World Cup after a heartbreakingly close penalty round. Their opponents Sweden are going through.
The fitness of All Blacks Brodie Retallick and Braydon Ennor is in doubt as coach Ian Foster gets ready to name his Rugby World Cup squad later today.
Is it really a valuable contribution of public discourse to repeat the unfounded rumours made up by Peters and ACT?