What on earth is going on with the government?
A popular TikTok meme and a column featuring a wobbly dessert capture a run of unforced errors and a government “staggering to Christmas”
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, December 7, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: 24% payrise on the table for firefighters; judge’s decision on guardianship of child in vaccinated blood case expected today; tourism spending bounces back to pre-Covid levels; but first, a government in need of a regroup
Government “staggering to Christmas”
There’s a meme on TikTok that uses an old sound clip from a news broadcast in 2009. It starts with a Big Ben bong and is followed by the question “What on earth is going on in the House of Commons?” from ITV anchor Tom Bradby. The clip bounced around in my head all day yesterday after reading Pattrick Smellie’s very good column (paywalled) about the government “staggering to Christmas”. Smellie writes: “Bill English used to talk a lot about the importance of a government ‘holding its shape’. Unless the intended shape is a blancmange, the current government is failing to do so.” A blancmange, for the unfamiliar, is a gelatinous, cold dessert that’s prone to wobbling. If you found the right mould, it could look like the Beehive.
Ministers still at odds over entrenchment issue
There’s a human reaction I have to this stuff at the moment which is that everyone is very tired. Smellie himself notes that “if there was ever a government that looked as if it really needed a Christmas break to regroup, it’s this one.” But there’s also an election next year and a lot at stake. I wrote last week about the public health case for the Three Waters reform. Six public health experts were so concerned about the very real issue of safe drinking water being subsumed by political debate, they wrote a whole paper about it. Yesterday, we still couldn’t quite get to the bottom of the entrenchment issue, with the prime minister and the minister for local government at odds about who knew what, when.
Media reforms are an overdue response to decaying infrastructure
This morning, Duncan Greive reiterates the need for the TVNZ/RNZ merger. The case for those reforms was not helped by broadcasting minister Willie Jackson’s Q&A interview on Sunday. Yesterday, Jackson apologised for the way he came across. Greive writes that, like Three Waters, “the government’s media reforms are an overdue response to decaying infrastructure. And much like Three Waters, arguments over relatively arcane details now threaten to derail the whole programme.” The thing about the current run of blunders is they don’t create much need for the opposition to mount its own policy in response to big issues. National’s approach to the merger is a promise to reverse it. National’s approach to Three Waters is “repeal”.
“Rinse and repeat” on crime
When was the last time we heard anything about social investment as a potential approach to intervention that might assist in crime prevention? By my estimation, the last mention by the National party of what could be a fairly major policy plank, and therefore should be scrutinised, was in a speech given by Nicola Willis in October. Instead we have a repetition of “soft on crime” and bootcamps. Lianne Dalziel has a very good column on Newsroom this morning (paywalled) lamenting the rinse and repeat cycle of political rhetoric on crime. Social investment was introduced by Bill English in a speech in 2011 that described prisons as a moral and fiscal failure. At the time English was praised for bursting “the hot-air cloud of rhetoric and emotion that so often envelops discussions of crime and punishment in this country.” Perhaps, as Stuff’s Luke Malpass writes, the tying together of cause and consequence on crime by Christopher Luxon will arrive in the new year. Also arriving in the new year will be a cabinet reshuffle from Jacinda Ardern. Stuff’s Thomas Manch writes this morning that Nanaia Mahuta is expected to be moved off the local government portfolio.
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24% pay increase on the table for firefighters
After months of strikes and negotiations, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) have agreed to settlement terms, subject to a vote. The terms include wage increases of 24%, blood screening for early detection of cancer and medical response recognition for firefighters and dispatchers. It’s estimated the package will cost $145m. The wage rise will be backdated to 2021. NZPFU secretary Wattie Watson is optimistic the union's members will accept the terms for a new collective agreement and cited Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti’s assistance and advocacy.
Judge’s decision on guardianship of child expected today
The Herald’s George Block has a detailed report from yesterday’s court proceedings in the guardianship case involving a baby whose parents have refused the use of vaccinated blood in a life-saving operation the child needs to have. The parent’s lawyer and anti-vaccination campaigner Sue Grey, opposed the application for guardianship from health authorities and sought an order for the NZ Blood Service to provide a “direct donor service” to provide unvaccinated blood for the family. Adam Ross KC, acting for the Blood Service, said the order was exceptional, without precedent and would jeopardise the integrity of the donor service. The judge reserved his decision and is expected to deliver it today.
Tourist spending bounces back
As Stuff’s Melanie Carroll reports this morning, overseas visitors are spending more time and money in New Zealand, with tourist spending now at pre-Covid levels in Auckland, Wellington and Waikato, and Canterbury not too far behind. Growth in spending between July and October illustrates how quickly tourists are returning, with spending up 43% for Auckland and Canterbury, up 35% for Wellington, and up 44% for Waikato. Otago saw a 31% fall. Crux’s Lauren Pattemore reports that Queenstown airport is expecting 175,000 passengers through during the Christmas peak. That’s just a few thousand visitors below the 2019 Christmas season.
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A small ask for Gone by Lunchtime fans
Last week when I mentioned my Spotify Wrapped, what I didn’t say is that the podcast I listened to the most was The Spinoff’s politics podcast, Gone by Lunchtime. That was also true last year when I didn’t work for The Spinoff. By laws of my own making, it behoves me to mention that:
a) it’s up for best current affairs podcast at the New Zealand podcast awards, and b) if you’re also a super fan, or just a normal fan, can also vote for it in the award’s Listeners’ Choice category.
