What's comes next after the 100 day plan is ticked off? Another one.
It might not be named as such, but the PM’s executive leadership style is bringing a new rhythm to government
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, March 1, written by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
In today’s edition: Fa’anānā Efeso Collins farewelled; Senior Newshub journalists to discuss a proposal to save news operation in some form; Adrian Orr unpacks the monetary policy statement with Bernard Hickey; but first, the end of the 100 day plan timeline will be followed by quarterly action plans as Luxon embeds an executive management style in government.
Run a ball rate required before next Friday
Next Friday will mark the deadline for the items on the first 100-day plan to be complete. Stewart Sowman-Lund went through it recently to look at what had been ticked off. As noted at the time of release, some, like “begin work on delivering better public services and strengthening democracy”, are difficult to quantify. I have no idea what KPIs might apply there. Since Sowman-Lund’s check-in, more items have been ticked off. The Māori Health Authority was disestablished, and the smokefree laws were repealed. Expect more fast-paced action in the House next week. Parliament sits for three days next week, and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, a self-professed “cricket tragic”, used a run rate analogy to describe the pace required at his post-cabinet press conference this week, saying it was “basically a run a ball that we have to hit”. This morning, Tova O’Brien reports that the government will announce details next week of the priority one category on the social housing waitlist to move families out of emergency housing into permanent homes more quickly.
Leadership versus management
The notion of a 100-day plan isn’t unique to this government; the last Labour had one and then chased it in May last year by marking “100 days of Chippy”. It’s been described as an arbitrary and artificial milestone and a political “Hallmark Holiday” in the US, and more recently here as “bad governance” by Newstalk’s Jason Walls (paywalled). Writing about Luxon’s leadership style this week, Newsroom’s Tim Murphy notes, “He was always going to be a business school kind of politician” and is “revealing a prime ministerial approach that might be suited to the times.” Columnist Damien Grant isn’t into the managerial approach. Assessing Luxon’s State of the Nation speech, he wrote, “Addressing the real problems we face we face requires leadership. What Luxon is offering in his recent speech is management. The difference matters.” Danyl McLauchlan expresses a similar sentiment (paywalled) writing that success, in the face of all that ails us, would “call for genuine political courage instead of media posturing.”
Action plans for all
With the Budget looming on May 30 and ministerial bids being assembled, Luxon himself has said we can expect more of this “action plan” approach. “We’re going to move through our 100-day plan, and we’re going to move into a quarter two action plan, quarter three action plan, quarter four action plan,” he said at the post-cabinet press conference. That has risks, both in the level of transparency required to truly execute the approach and, as Murphy notes, “Ministers for whom this is, ahem, not their first rodeo, might feel they don’t need to be managed or calendar-watched. They can tire of the spotlight from the PM’s offices in the ninth floor of the Beehive. Some ministers might be found out, unable to keep the pace or handle the heat.”
Government could struggle to meet the surplus forecast
There is also the matter of the big promises and goals, like National promising a larger surplus and lower debt in its fiscal plan in September last year. Finance minister Nicola Willis has this week warned that the government could struggle to meet the surplus forecast for the 2027 year, blaming worsening economic conditions, which will cause multiple years of lower tax income. Chris Bishop’s reference to potentially sharing the GST take with councils in his big speech this week would cast concerns about lower tax takes in a whole new light.
Fa’anānā Efeso Collins farewelled
Around 2000 people attended a memorial for Fa’anānā Efeso Collins yesterday. As the Herald’s Vaimoana Mase reports, the service was raw and emotional but also “a colourful display of island humour and banter that drew hearty laughter from those gathered.” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, the entire Green party caucus, members of Te Pāti Māori, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and members of various local boards and council workers were in attendance. Collin’s wife, Vasa Fia Collins, spoke, describing her husband as a true gentleman. “I am an ordinary woman who married an extraordinary man,” she said.
Senior Newshub journalists will meet next week to discuss saving the news operation in some form
As the Herald’s Tom Dillane reports, senior Newshub journalists will meet next week to discuss a proposal to present to Warner Bros. Discovery in an effort to save the news operation in some form. In the wake of Wednesday’s meeting where the Newshub proposal was presented to staff, one of those journalists, Michael Morrah, expressed shock at how drastic it was. “I thought that it would mean the demise of possibly a couple of shows or some cutback somewhere. I never envisaged that they would propose cancelling the entire news operation, including digital platforms. We thought there’d be some trimming, not kind of a wholesale axe to the entire operation,” he said.
More:
Duncan Greive gets answers to some of the big questions about the layoffs at Three and Newshub, and speaks to Newsroom’s Mark Jennings (and former Three head of news) about the past, present and possible future of the beleaguered channel.
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To hike, or not to hike? Unpacking the monetary policy statement with Adrian Orr
Te Pūtea Matua governor Adrian Orr joins Bernard Hickey in the latest episode of When the Facts Change to discuss the bank’s decision to hold the official cash rate at 5.5%, rather than hiking it further in an attempt to control rampant inflation (which is still roughly double where the RBNZ wants it). Listen in to hear the governor's reasoning behind the cash rate hold, his thoughts on New Zealand's record net migration and whether the government's decision to remove the bank's inflation/unemployment dual mandate earlier in the year has made any meaningful difference.
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Joel MacManus introduces the people making the controversial decisions to reduce housing capacity in Wellington. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports on the expert warning about our vaccination rates and the door that could open for a deadly measles outbreak. Claire Mabey reviews the Netflix documentary about the making of the hit single ‘We Are The World’. I joined the worldwide investigation into Kate Middleton’s so-called ‘disappearance’ and went down a rabbit hole. Hera Lindsay Bird has advice for someone who doesn’t want to marry their partner of four years.
Watch: Alice Snedden’s Bad News Saves the World Part 2
In Part 2 of Alice Snedden’s Bad News Saves the World, Alice has decided to single-handedly save the world in 20 minutes by confronting farmers. In a fight dedicated to fellow comedian Rose Matafeo, she confronts some of the industry’s top dogs and admires a juicy udder.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.
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This 100 days of action rubbish from this government is so, so anti-democratic and so, so fact free.
Passing stuff under urgency, no regulatory impact statements, ministers deliberately ignoring expert advice in favour of their bigoted reckons, no public process - all to satisfy some arbitrary deadline.
This is not remotely democracy in action.
"but I used to run an airline" management style is NOT "leadership" and is divorced from real people & consequences. Watching Efeso Collins memorial was a reminder that leadership is about how you interact with/understand real people - such genuine regard from all to someone who walked the walk with empathy & practical application to solving problems. I don't feel any of that from the leaders of the 3-headed beast who have hi-jacked my country & made it a sad place to wake up to these days.