Why Rawiri Waititi is facing possible censure
The Te Pāti Māori co-leader asked a question referencing something suppressed by a court. If any MP complains about it, it will be referred to parliament's privileges committee
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Thursday, August 24, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Auckland Council and government to unveil $1b package to buy out hundreds of homes; Christchurch women pen open letter to the survivors of Mama Hooch sexual assaults as brothers face sentencing today; officials say Wagner chief was on a jet that crashed killing all 10 people onboard; but first, explaining the events of yesterday as Rawiri Waititi faces possible censure
What happened yesterday at parliament?
During oral questions in the House yesterday, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Waititi asked a supplementary question following a question to prime minister Chris Hipkins from Act leader David Seymour relating to Seymour’s “joke” about Guy Fawkes and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. The question referenced something which Waititi himself said was suppressed by a court. If like some people, you were across this development and slightly lost on the what (!) and how (?) or you are just catching up this morning, Otago University’s Andrew Geddis has you covered on The Spinoff. Geddis succinctly explains the protections extended to MPs in the House as they relate to breaching a court suppression order. While Waititi gets “absolute privilege” and evidence of what he said cannot be used in court proceedings to establish any legal liability, he may face consequences via parliament’s privileges committee.
Seymour extends the ‘bit’
As Stuff’s Glenn McConnell writes this morning, Seymour is pressing on with the joke bit, telling Stuff he thinks it could be funny if people started joking about blowing up an Act Party conference. The Herald’s Vaimoana Mase writes that words matter and that a week on from Seymour’s Guy Fawkes comment, she’s still “looking for the punchline”. As McConnell notes, Seymour has previously complained about the language others have used. He demanded an apology from Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi when he joked about poisoning Seymour with karaka berries and launched a public campaign against the work of Christchurch poet Tusiata Avia earlier this year.
Two Act candidates resign over inflammatory posts on social media
1News reported yesterday that Act party candidate Elaine Naidu Franz had resigned after online comments where she likened vaccine mandates to Nazi concentration camps came to light. Naidu Franz was ranked 29th on Act’s list. It was also revealed that another Act candidate, Anto Coates, stepped down more than a month ago after comments about Covid and a parody song about former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern “throwing people in a gulag”, came to light. A third Act candidate, Darren Gilchrist has apologised and withdrawn comments where he suggested drowning victims had died from the Covid vaccine.
Hundreds of Te Pāti Māori billboards vandalised
Speaker Adrian Rurawhe wrapped things up yesterday by asking everyone to calm down. The House will go quiet once we get through the last of the sitting days and the 53rd New Zealand parliament is dissolved ahead of the election. It’s probably wishful thinking to hope that calm will be the tenor of the next couple of months as parties hit the hustings. RNZ reported yesterday that hundreds of Te Pāti Māori billboards have been vandalised, with a driver mowing through a fence to flatten a billboard featuring co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. There will be a few people ending this term with a sense of peace, however. Among others, National MP Todd Muller delivered his valedictory speech yesterday. It’s worth a watch or summary read.
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Buy out deal coming for residents in Auckland
As Bernard Orsman reports for the Herald this morning, Auckland Council has reached a deal with government and will approve a buy out package for hundreds of uninhabitable properties after the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. The package is understood to be in excess of $1b, will cover other storm-related costs and will be paid for by borrowing and future rates rises. Councillors were briefed on the details yesterday. Orsman reports that the deal uses the same cost-sharing approach used in the agreement reached between Hawke’s Bay councils and the government earlier this month.
Open letter penned to survivors as Jaz brothers face sentencing
Danny and Roberto Jaz will appear for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court today after being convicted of dozens of crimes, including rape, sexual violation, indecent assault and spiking drinks. The prosecution of the brothers was one of the biggest of its kind. Eight women are expected to read victim impact statements during the hearing. A group of Christchurch women have also penned an open letter to the survivors of the sexual predators in The Press this morning. They thanked them for giving courage to other victims of sexual offending and making Christchurch a safer city. “Know that your voices have made a profound difference. You stopped future hurt at the hands of these offenders,” it reads.
Man bites underdog
A new poll lays bare National's ascendancy and the scale of Chris Hipkins' challenge. Is it about Labour's strategy, the state of the economy, or Christopher Luxon polishing his act? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the state of play in the latest episode of Gone by Lunchtime. Plus: David Seymour's Guy Fawkes fantasy and Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who is on course to become the youngest MP since James Frederick Stuart-Wortley in 1853.
Click and Collect
Officials say Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief behind the June mutiny in Russia, was on a jet that crashed near Moscow killing all 10 people onboard
Michael Wood apologises
Michael Woodhouse described the “Being male cost me my position: Woodhouse” headline used yesterday in the ODT as a mischaracterisation of his words and accused them of portraying him “as some kind of toy throwing misogynist”
Final Three Waters bills pass through parliament
Half of New Zealanders “deeply anxious” about savings
Toby Manhire charts the potholes National needs to dodge in the next 50 days on its way to the election. Our new Wellington editor Joel MacManus recaps MP Jamie Strange's very strange valedictory speech. Shanti Mathias and Tommy de Silva check out the ferries of Auckland’s future. Te Papa CEO Courtney Johnston offers a glimpse of her “book conveyer belt” in the latest dispatch from The Spinoff Books Confessional. Gabi Lardies reviews the inspiring array of merch being sold by our political parties.
Sporting snippets
With the NRL looking into using Eden Park for a likely playoff game for the Warriors, members of the team have made their position clear on where they want to play
The men’s Basketball World Cup starts tomorrow and the Tall Blacks are in one of the toughest groups of the tournament
The tightrope of hope
I wholeheartedly recommend reading the latest edition of
Editor Ellen Rykers tackles the subject of the need for hope amid the climate crisis, outlining her own approach to writing our weekly climate change newsletter. She shares a range of recent writing on the subject and quotes Rebecca Solnit who asks whether “doom and gloom” is the default sometimes because “people assume you can’t be hopeful and heartbroken at the same time, and of course you can. In times when everything is fine, hope is unnecessary. Hope is not happiness or confidence or inner peace; it’s a commitment to search for possibilities.”
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Excellent summary of topical issues, with great links. Thank you.
“The package is understood to be in excess of $1b, will cover other storm-related costs and will be paid for by borrowing and future rates rises”. What nonsense. As New Zealand is a sovereign country it can issue its own currency and a government can pay for it all. Auckland Council cannot because it cannot issue its own currency.