NZ Politics Daily - 15 January 2024
Top 15 “NZ Politics Daily” stories today
Below are some of the more interesting and insightful New Zealand politics items from the weekend and this morning.
1) The big political issue of the week will be the nationwide hui called for Saturday in Ngāruawāhia at the headquarters of Te Kiingitanga, the Māori King. This is being called apparently due to concerns about the National-led Government’s so-called “de-Māorification of Aotearoa”. It occurs in the lead-up to the Rātana celebrations and then into Waitangi Day, where today an editorial in the Herald today says “a massive Māori mobilisation on February 6 could be ignited” – see: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s leadership to be put to the test
The newspaper editorial calls on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to “find a middle ground with Māori soon, because if not, the next few weeks will bear witness to protests and provocation”, and he “must now show leadership for all New Zealanders.” The editorial also argues that Luxon should’ve tried to bring Te Pati Māori into his coalition, perhaps instead of the NZ First or Act parties: “National’s apparent unwillingness to work with others apart from New Zealand First and Act will be viewed by some as a strategic political misstep. National perhaps should have opened the coalition to invite in Te Pāti Māori, because if this coalition doesn’t last, it could be Te Pāti Māori which benefits most. Who knows if Te Pāti Māori would even have entertained a discussion with Luxon anyway? But if you don’t ask, you don’t know.”
2) The Government hasn’t been specifically invited to this week’s hui, but they are being criticised for not planning to attend as there is “an open invitation to all”. It’s not clear how many iwi leaders will attend – some haven’t decided yet – see Stuff’s Glenn McConnell and Karanama Ruru’s The Kiingitanga will hold a rare hui to hold Government accountable, but will ministers show up?
The leaders of Labour, Greens and Te Pati Māori will be there, with this news report saying “Chris Hipkins planned to deliver a speech”. It’s also reported that NZ First MP and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones told Stuff he was worried the hui would be a ‘moan session’, and due to another commitment, he would not be attending.” Jones also warned that the event didn’t appear to be in keeping with the movement’s kaupapa: “The Kiingitanga would be well advised to remain above political stunts. That belongs in the bearpit of parliamentary opposition”.
Separately, however, political journalist Richard Harman writes in his daily Politik email today that he “understands that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will have a private meeting with the King this week.”
3) The must-read column from the weekend is Janet Wilson’s The immigration mess: despair and dysfunction all around (paywalled). In this, Wilson explains the impact of adding a record net immigration of 128,900 (“the equivalent of a city the size of Dunedin”) into the country in one year. She argues that governments are promoting increasing immigration as a way to give a sugar hit to the economy without sorting out the necessary infrastructure required for the growing population: “It’s been the modus operandi of successive governments and an effective smokescreen across the reality of our falling total net wealth. Stack the country with new immigrants, creating the illusion of a booming economy with a tight job market and rising house prices, when all the country really gets is traffic jams and rising homelessness.”
4) The country’s ongoing infrastructure deficit is intelligently discussed today in Stuff by economist Gareth Kiernan – see: What’s going wrong with our infrastructure Kiernan claims that politicians have been directing investments towards vanity projects instead of much-needed but boring public assets: “Civic leaders will need to make tough calls, but the decisions shouldn’t really be that difficult. Do you put money into critical infrastructure that is failing around us? Or invest in vanity projects or propping up private business? It’s hard to fathom why anyone would invest in a new home movie setup if their shower was flooding the bathroom – the same principle applies at a civic level.”
5) At the local government level, Wellington is proving to be a good case study of civic leaders who prioritise the wrong things, leading to ongoing disasters for residents, such as the current water crisis, caused by a failure to repair pipes and leaks. In the weekend, Luke Pierson argued that Wellington politicians are essentially “green washing” the public in the way they are mismanaging the city’s finances while advocating asset sales – see: The inconvenient truth about capital’s finances? (paywalled)
6) The Golriz Ghahraman scandal continues to unfold, with revelations of a second incident of alleged shoplifting by the Green MP. Her party has also finally come out with a statement acknowledging when they found out about the allegations. Stuff’s Glenn McConnell has responded with: The unanswered questions in the case of Golriz Ghahraman and Scotties Boutique
7) National Party political commentator David Farrar has put together a timeline of what the public now knows about what has been said to occur, and has questioned why the Greens have been so slow in coming forward about the scandal or pushing to resolve it: “they decided to do nothing until she returned. It seems incredible that you would be notified that your Justice Spokesperson has been accused of shoplifting, and decide that her holiday takes precedence over determining what happened” – see: The sloppy serial shoplifting saga
8) Conservative website The Blue Review also challenges the Green Party’s integrity in how they’ve handled the scandal, especially after the party put out a press release: The Green statement falls short
They say that the Greens are guilty of falling short in terms of accountability and transparency on an important issue of political trust: “The party claims to have been made aware of the allegations on 27 December but made no public comment. It is further claimed that this public silence was observed out of respect for the wishes of Scotties Boutique. But the wishes of the claimed victim are not the end all and be all of the duties that the Greens have in this situation. The party also owes a duty to uphold the public trust. That entails a duty of transparent and plain dealing when it comes to matters of genuine public concern.”
9) For a more sympathetic commentary on Golriz Ghahraman’s actions, see Donna Miles’ Remembering the human within a political storm (paywalled). Miles criticizes those that have been “mean-spirited and judgmental” about the politician, suggesting the need to give “Ghahraman the benefit of the doubt”, acknowledging “the vulnerability of politicians to stressful situations and the need to avoid judgment at this stage”.
Miles points out that research overseas shows “shoplifting can be an involuntary coping mechanism for stressful situations and therefore it is not at all “impossible” for those with demanding jobs to succumb to it. There are emotional reasons for shoplifting. The top three are said to be anger, grief and sadness.”
As to whether the allegations reflect poorly on the entitlement of a well-paid politician who positions themselves as a champion of the poor, Miles argues there’s nothing wrong with having high aesthetic taste in fashion: “In fact it is the artistic sensitivity that makes so many socialists and activists sympathetic to the plight of others.”
10) Why are countries like New Zealand splitting into angry political polarisation? The University of Auckland’s Anne Salmond argues that it’s due to the growth of identity politics – see: How to split a society.
Here’s Salmond’s key point: “Societies that once had a strong sense of collective identity are being split into mutually hostile camps, based on a ‘them vs us’ mentality that denies any sense of common purpose. In a process described by scholars as ‘pernicious polarisation,’ self-interested elites generate Us and Them perceptions by deliberately activating, exploiting or distorting latent social cleavages. Identities – political, ethnic or religious – may be reduced to simple binaries: Republican vs. Democrat, Left vs Right, black vs white, Iwi vs. Kiwi, Catholic vs Protestant, Serb vs Croat.”
11) Should the Commerce Commission allow one of the supermarket duopolies to further merge their business operations? Currently Foodstuffs – which runs New World, Pak’n Save and Four Square – wants to merge its two operations that are currently based separately in the North and South islands. Foodstuffs argue that the two business operations already have an agreement not to compete, and hence a merger wouldn’t affect competition in the market. Others aren’t so convinced. But it will be a very difficult decision for the Commerce Commission – see Tom Pullar-Strecker’s Foodstuffs co-ops seem to be seeking permission to act as one, after the fact (paywalled)
12) New Zealand’s take-up of electric vehicles is being held back by the lack of public infrastructure for charging them according to Duncan Garner, writing in this week’s Listener – see: If we want an EV revolution, the government needs to put its foot on the gas (paywalled)
Here’s Garner’s key point: “In 2021, we came last in an International Energy Agency survey of 28 countries looking at the numbers of cars per EV charger available in a public place. The worldwide average is 8 to 10 electric cars per publicly available charger but we’re languishing at the bottom with a whopping 55 cars waiting at each charging station… Yes, National says it’ll build 10,000 public charging spaces during the next seven years, but that’s four a day for seven years – and something tells me it’s a target that won’t be met. If we’re in a climate emergency, then no government to date has shown any urgency or big picture plan to electrify our fleet and to keep the fleet fully charged and ready to go.”
13) The Government has now formally cancelled the Auckland Light Rail project. The project was promised by Labour in 2017 and the initial part of the rail system was supposed to be finished by now. Instead, it has so far cost $230m, with no start to construction, and forecast final costs estimated between $15bn and $29bn. The obituaries have begun – see RNZ’s 'What a waste': Auckland residents on scrapped light rail budget blowout. One Auckland resident is quoted saying, “I support infrastructure generally... but $230 million with no development whatsoever is concerning”.
14) BusinessDesk’s Oliver Lewis reports the reaction of Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to the unsurprising news summing up the project: “It was a clear example of how to completely stuff everything up” – see: 'It didn't achieve much': Auckland light rail cancelled (paywalled). The mayor laments that Labour’s folly might now have “a chilling effect on the possibility of future light rail schemes, given the lack of delivery.” He says the expensive project “didn’t achieve much” and has “certainly set things back many, many years”.
15) Climate journalist Bernard Hickey also believes that National has made the right decision to cancel the project – for environmental reasons. He argues today that “the cancellation is a good thing, albeit for the wrong reasons. The tunneled rail line was forecast to mean Auckland’s commuters would produce 400,000 tonnes more carbon than doing nothing by 2031 and 300,000 more tonnes than a faster and cheaper over-ground light rail option” – see: Dawn Chorus for Monday, January 15 (paywalled)
Hickey explains: “If delivered on time and budget, the tunnelled CBD-to-airport route would have meant Auckland generated 400,000 tonnes more in carbon by 2031 than doing nothing. That’s because so much carbon would have been emitted to make and install the concrete and steel and drill the tunnel in the 10 years before it is completed in 2032, and because of the delay in shifting trips out of petrol and diesel vehicles. The ‘light’ rail option being pursued would not have been carbon neutral until well into the 2050s.”
Dr Bryce Edwards
Political Analyst in Residence, Democracy Project, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington
NZ Politics Daily - 15 January 2024
JACINDA ARDERN AND CLARKE GAYFORD WEDDING
Virginia Fallon (Post): Finally, Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford get their day (paywalled)
Ryan Anderson (Stuff): Cheers erupt as former PM Jacinda Ardern ties the knot with 'First Bloke' Clarke Gayford
Ryan Anderson and Ricky Wilson (Stuff): Dame Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford release first official photos as married couple
Herald: Jacinda Ardern wedding: First official photo of former PM wearing Juliette Hogan as she marries Clarke Gayford
Carolyne Meng-Yee and Neil Reid (Herald): Dame Jacinda Ardern’s wedding: Former Prime Minister to marry Clarke Gayford at Hawke’s Bay vineyard today
Carolyne Meng-Yee (Herald): Chris Hipkins on Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford’s wedding
Herald: Who are the fashionable guests at Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford’s wedding?
1News: First look: Dame Jacinda Ardern a vision in white as she marries Clarke Gayford
1News: Dame Jacinda Ardern, Clarke Gayford marry in intimate Hawke's Bay ceremony
Leighton Heikell (Newshub): Dame Jacinda Ardern marries Clarke Gayford in intimate wedding ceremony
Charlotte Graham-McLay (Guardian): Jacinda Ardern marries Clarke Gayford after five-year engagement
Herald: Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford’s wedding: International media react to former Prime Minister’s special day
Melania Watson (Newshub): World reacts to Dame Jacinda Ardern, Clarke Gayford's Hawke's Bay wedding
Paid subscribers can access the full “NZ Politics Daily” from here. The following categories of news and analysis continue: NATIONAL HUI FOR UNITY, TREATY; GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN SHOPLIFTING ALLEGATION; HEALTH; TRANSPORT; INFRASTRUCTURE, WATER; EDUCATION; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; ECONOMY, BUSINESS, COST OF LIVING; FOREIGN AFFAIRS; ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION, ANIMAL WELFARE; CORRECTIONS; HOUSING