Vigils and protests planned outside Labour MPs' offices
Dairy owners will gather outside Labour MPs' offices today, including the prime minister’s office in Mt Albert, as cabinet meets to discuss what more can be done to address retail crime
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, November 28, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
Dairy owners will gather outside Labour MPs offices today, including the prime minister’s office in Mt Albert (Photo: RNZ / Jonty Dine)
In today’s edition: top public law academics urge government to change entrenched provision in Three Waters legislation; $200m pay parity funding for health workers; Twitter fails to detect upload of mosque shooting footage; but first, cabinet will discuss what more can be done about retail crime as dairy owners plan gatherings outside prime minister’s office
Vigils and protests planned outside MPs offices
Nationwide protests and vigils are planned for today outside Labour MPs’ offices following the death of Janak Patel, who was killed during a robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette on Wednesday. A "larger vigil" is being held in front of prime minister Jacinda Ardern's office. Organiser Sunny Kaushal said the vigil and protest were intended to be "a mark of respect to dairy and retail workers killed, injured or robbed serving their community".
Crime comes to the fore for Hamilton West byelection
A protest was held yesterday in Te Rapa, Hamilton. Opposition leader Christpher Luxon attended the protest with Hamilton West byelection candidate Tama Potaka. Small business owners called on the government to address crime, and support and protect small business owners. As Politik’s Richard Harman writes, it brings the issue of crime to fore for the upcoming Hamilton West byelection. Labour’s byelection candidate Georgie Dansey did not attend the protest but Labour’s Hamilton East MP, Jamie Strange did.
Cabinet will discuss what more can be done today
Cabinet will meet today to discuss what more can be done about retail crime. Speaking on Saturday, the prime minister said she had met with police, justice, and Oranga Tamariki on the day of the stabbing about the rise of crime. Cabinet will look at and discuss possible options regarding crime prevention and what more could be done. “It has to be a mix of prevention, intervention, and responsibility. Prosecuting and holding to account those who are responsible,” she said.
Australian deportation policy “not going anywhere”
As the Herald reported yesterday, the 34-year old man charged with murdering Janak Patel was deported from Australia this year. The grounds for his deportation from Australia cannot be reported for legal reasons. Andrew Macfarlane spoke to the Australian home affairs minister, Clare O'Neil on Q&A yesterday who said that while they were looking at the treatment of New Zealanders in Australia, the 501 deportation policy wasn’t going anywhere. "I think this is an important national security policy for our country," she said.
Government urged to change entrenchment provision in Three Waters legislation
A group of public law academics is urging the government to change an entrenching provision in the Three Waters legislation saying it could set a “dangerous precedent”. The provision in the legislation requires a 60% majority vote in parliament to repeal its protections against privatisation. One of the academics is Andrew Geddis, who as always, saves us from reading a 10,000 word academic paper on legislative entrenchment (in this case co-authored by Geddis) and breaks it down for us. You'll be most familiar with entrenchment in relation to changing the voting age. Speaking to Q&A yesterday, Christopher Luxon called it “sneaky” and “not transparent” to put the provision in under urgency and confirmed the party would not privatise water assets. The prime minister confirmed in her media rounds this morning that it will be discussed at today’s cabinet meeting.
$200m funding to address pay parity issue for healthcare workers
Health minister Andrew Little has announced ongoing funding of $200 million a year this morning to bring around 20,000 healthcare workers’ pay in line with their peers. The funding will deliver pay rises for workers in aged-care facilities, hospices and Māori and Pacific health-care organisations. It resolves an issue where nurses who worked for then-district health boards were earning more than their counterparts working for aged residential care facilities and other community health care providers, despite performing the same role. The package will not deliver significant change for those working in GP practices at this stage. Little said data provided by the Nurses Organisation and the GPs’ organisation GenPro did not show any “real evidence of pay difference at this point” in that sector.
Silly season and summer holiday recommendation
I wanted to spotlight one of our newsletters as we head towards the summer break. Whether you’re planning on being horizontal, need talking points for Christmas gatherings or travelling long distances, Rec Room will provide you with a catalogue of recommendations of films, television, reads on entertainment and culture, and podcasts for the road. Penned by our deputy editor Catherine McGregor, it’s a rich and useful read and is how I now stay on top of what to watch, listen to and read.
Twitter fails to detect upload of mosque shooting footage
As RNZ reported yesterday, footage of the Christchurch mosque shooting was uploaded last week to Twitter and the site failed to detect it or flag it as harmful. It comes as reports continue about the deterioration of Twitter’s moderation services. According to European Union data released on Thursday, Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it in 2022 compared with the previous year. Toby Manhire first flagged the likelihood of unknown territory ahead for the Christchurch Call and the plan to work with Twitter on algorithmic transparency at the beginning of the month. According to Victoria University’s Markus Luczak-Roesch, the entire Twitter team the New Zealand government was planning to work with on that has disappeared and “it’s unlikely any work outlined in September will actually eventuate”.
Click and collect
Primary and area school teachers reject pay offers made by the Ministry of Education
Public service confident of its political neutrality, less certain about giving free and frank advice
From today, women in New Zealand are effectively working for free for the rest of the year
Anti-lockdown protests spread in China as anger rises over zero-Covid strategy
Six million people still without power in Ukraine as temperatures drop below freezing
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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Duncan Greive shares 10 takeaways from the TV industry’s most dramatic week of the year; graph-maker extraordinaire Emma Vitz digs into the data on cigarette smoking and vaping; Charlotte Muru-Lanning makes a plea for masking up on the bus, even if nowhere else; Naomii Seah writes about overcoming her fear of the ocean; and Emily Writes wonders whether her cat actually loves her – or if he’s just a bit dim.
French man does not have to be “fun” at work
Something for the start of the work week. France’s highest court has ruled that a man fired by a Paris-based consulting firm for allegedly failing to be “fun” enough at work was wrongfully dismissed. To be fair to this man who has been billed as “winning the legal right to be boring at work”, his lawyers argued the “fun” culture at the company involved “humiliating and intrusive practices” including mock sexual acts, crude nicknames and obliging him to share his bed with another employee during work functions.
