Top “NZ Politics Daily” stories today
Below are some of the more interesting and insightful New Zealand politics items from the last 24 hours.
1) The Electoral Commission has just published the declarations of all donations declared by electorate candidates at last year’s election, as well as the expenses of interest groups that undertook big campaigns. I’ll email out some analysis of this in the coming days. But in the meantime, an excellent report of the money given to the various candidates is by Newsroom’s Laura Walters – see: NZ First fisheries donations laid bare
The following are some of the most interesting points to arise out of Walters’ report:
Shane Jones, now the Fisheries Minister, received $5000 from Westfleet Seafoods (half-owned by the Sealord Group). Walters reports that “chief executive and shareholder Craig Boote was one of the industry leaders lobbying Jones to review policy around cameras, catch limits, bottom trawling and immigration waivers at an exclusive wine and oysters function”. Jones also received $2000 from Aimex Hydraulics, a marine engineering company, also part owned by Boote.
Other notable donations received by Jones included “$3000 from Northland Forest, $5000 from J Swap – a logistics firm dealing with construction, transport and forestry – as well as $15,000 from high-profile property developer Andrew Krukziener.” In addition, he received $10,000 from the country’s richest person, Graeme Hart, and another $10,000 from carpet salesman Paddy Harrison, “a notable contribution given the NZ First-National coalition commitment for all public sector agencies to favour woollen carpets.” But the biggest donation to Jones was “$20,000 from Vladimir Barbalich – a Wellington property developer and former financial backer and board member of fringe anti-mandate party Democracy NZ.”
Fellow Cabinet Minister Casey Costello was given $10,000 from the daughter of late businessman Douglas Myers, Jessica Kimmel, and from “Christchurch McDonald’s fastfood chain owner Alan Traill.”
Act’s “David Seymour and deputy leader Brooke van Velden both spent more than $20,000 each on Lever Communications – a US-based social media firm known for running high-profile campaigns (including attack ads) for Democrats”.
Chris Hipkins received about $24,000 in donations “from US-born entrepreneur Brian Monohan – one of the Silicon Valley millionaires who’ve settled in Upper Hutt.”
The Auckland Central race involved lots of money: Chloe Swarbrick “received more than $95,000 in donations, including $15,000 from Kiwi singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Her direct competition – the National Party’s Mahesh Muralidhar – received almost $109,500”.
2) Another very good delve into the dollars given to politicians and campaigners is provided by Luke Malpass and Thomas Manch in The candidates who scored the biggest campaign donations (paywalled)
They point out that “Eight out of 10 of the biggest recipients of donations for the 2010 election were from the National Party – with NZ First’s Shane Jones in Northland and the Green Party’s Chlöe Swarbrick in Auckland Central rounding out the top 10.”
They also explain that some National Party candidates have declared big donations coming from their headquarters, and explain: “The practice within National tends to direct most donors to HQ, which then targets specific races.”
The article also draws attention to the interest groups that registered to campaign in the election. On the political left, the Council of Trade Unions spent just under $300,000, while “The Better NZ Trust, which says it is politically agnostic and campaigns for the adoption of zero carbon technology and electric vehicle uptake, spent just over $266,000.” And on the political right: “Hobson’s Pledge, which spent more than $283,000, Groundswell NZ, which spent more than $141,000, the Taxpayers Union, which spent more than $371,000, and Vote for Better Ltd, (which critiqued government taxes and spending) spent more than $386,000.”
3) Statistics New Zealand has released the latest Child Poverty statistics, and the news is very bad – see Jemima Huston’s Child poverty: More families going without household essentials. At the Post, Thomas Manch also explains: “The latest child poverty statistics, published by Statistics NZ on Thursday, show that in the year to June 2023 there was an increase in the number of children living in poverty by two of the Government’s three official measures. There was also an increase in poverty according to a third measure, the number of children living in homes with less than half the median income, before housing costs are deducted. By this measure, 146,000 children, or 12.6%, were living in poverty, an increase of 11,700 on the year prior. But due to this shift occurring within the sampling error, and difficulties collecting data, Statistics NZ did not count this as a decrease in this poverty measure” – see: Thomas Manch: Child poverty has worsened, Stats NZ figures show (paywalled)
4) On the political right, David Farrar has published a chart of the statistics and suggests that Labour’s record on child poverty is therefore worse than National’s: “six years of Ardern, Hipkins and Robertson saw no actual progress, while four years of Key, English and Joyce saw 60,000 fewer kids living in material hardship” – see: Labour’s great success with child poverty
5) On the political left, there is also discontent with what the figures mean for Labour’s record – see, for example, political scientist Grant Duncan’s in-depth analysis: Child poverty rose in 2023. Here’s his summary of what has happened: “The stats show that there were reductions in the child poverty rates under Labour since 2018. But, in their final two years in office, things started to go wrong. Post-lockdown rises in prices and rents, and stagnant wages, could all be part of the explanation.”
Duncan says: “This newly reported survey was done under Labour’s watch. Prime minister Ardern had set up official child poverty indicators and had asked us to hold them to account for results. So let’s do that”. And he laments that the parties of the left have been silent about the shock figures: “I see no statements on the Labour and Green Party websites about the 2023 rise in child poverty stats. Maybe they’ll say something in a while. I do understand that the tragic death of Efeso Collins has been a terrible shock for MPs over this time. My deepest condolences go to his family and community. I believe, though, that Efeso would not want us to take our eyes off this problem. Material hardship for Pacific children was estimated to be 28.9%.”
6) Will the new Government’s approach to welfare make things any better? Not according to 1News’ Jack Tame – see: New approach to benefits won't stem the tide of child poverty
7) What’s happening to the news media in New Zealand? As public trust in the media plummets, there’s increasing debate about whether this is due to journalist and broadcasters having political agendas and partisan leanings in their output. John Campbell, the TVNZ National Correspondent has been at the forefront of pushing a more activist-style journalism lately, and this has recently prompted debate about whether this is appropriate for a public broadcaster to take what his critics say is a leading role in the fightback against the new government. He’s accused of progressing a middle class social liberal agenda. This has caused former RNZ Mediawatch presenter Jeremy Rose to investigate this in a very good cover story for the latest North & South magazine – you can read a preview of it here: Objectively Speaking (preview)
Although Rose is clearly antagonistic to the case against activist journalism, he ends up reporting the views of many experts who are also troubled by how TVNZ is using Campbell. People like former RNZ chief executive Peter Cavanagh is quoted about the case, saying: “Removing objectivity from journalism is a very dangerous trend in an increasingly complex world… I have no doubt that it’s the blurring of the lines between fact and opinion that is driving the growing distrust many now have of mainstream media.” And current RNZ Mediawatch presenter Colin Peacock has said that Campbell’s recent work “does kind of cross a line for me” and says it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect from a public broadcaster. And Victoria University Wellington’s media studies professor Peter Thompson also wary of the Campbell trend, suggesting it might erode public trust and faith in the media.
John Campbell also gets a right of reply in the magazine, and here’s his key defence: “The (usually) right-wing Pakeha men railing against me, were they always able to recuse their world view from their journalism? But they thought they were. Or they didn’t realise they weren’t because they mistook their own view as universal or objective. That’s how cultural hegemony works.”
8) Rose’s feature story was provoked by a blog post that veteran journalist Karl du Fresne wrote recently that critiques Campbell. And Rose’s story is very much an attack on du Fresne as well. So du Fresne has now responded with a new blog post: The case for objectivity in journalism
9) Media industry critic, and journalist, Graham Adams writes today about the media bosses lobbying for state subsidies and help in their battles with tech firms, and suggests that they’re not putting democracy first – see: Media chiefs struggle to understand democracy. See also his recent article, Mihi Forbes and the great Atlas conspiracy
10) The latest culture war is occurring in the real estate industry, where the Real Estate Authority (REA) has decided to cancel the licence of one of its members for five years because she refused to complete a mandatory te reo Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi training course last year. Lawyer and political activist Max Harris comments on the controversy, defending the courses being mandatory: “It's quite common now for lots of bodies in the health sector and in law, where I am, to have to have some sort of minimal understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te ao Māori to function” – see the 1News story by Te Aniwa Hurihanganui: Real estate agent fights mandatory te reo Māori and tiriti training
11) The Herald reports that the real estate agent has posted on Facebook that the course was “woke madness” and “she’s seeking a judicial review of the Real Estate Authority’s power to enforce cultural training for the country’s realtors”, which could cost as much as $150,000 – see Jeremy Wilkinson’s Realtor Janet Dickson facing five-year ban for refusing Māori values course
12) 41 new MPs have been giving their maiden speeches in Parliament, and the Herald’s Audrey Young has an excellent summary and analysis of them today – see: Top 10 maiden speeches by 2023′s new MPs (paywalled)
Here’s the list of her top ten, with a brief summary:
1. James Meager – Aspirational and inspirational. Left you wanting more.
2. Darleen Tana – An adventurous life of a global Māori told with passion and poise.
3. Tākuta Ferris – An uncompromising declaration of independence and tino rangatiratanga.
4. Cameron Luxton – A captivating tale of how the young man’s experiences shaped his values.
5. Greg Fleming – He took us on a journey that showed how te reo Māori transformed his life.
6. Tamatha Paul – Bursting with confidence and a knowingness beyond her years.
7. Tanya Unkovich – An intimate story of family, grief and a journey to recovery.
8. Steve Abel – A speech that rolled beautifully between the poetic and the vernacular.
9. Grant McCallum – The farmer from the north was full of surprises and substance.
10. Rima Nakhle – It was all about connecting an intriguing past to the present.
Young also details how the focus of the speeches have been evolving over the years: “MPs’ maiden speeches used to be about the electorate and the party and a little about the MPs and their values. But under MMP, and probably because of the influence of more Māori MPs, the speeches of non-Māori have also focused more on whakapapa and family stories, often going back centuries.”
And here’s some further detail of colourfulness of this year’s speeches: “Some MPs used references to music to illustrate points. AC/DC, Nina Simone and David Bowie were mentioned. Literary references included Shakespeare, Henley, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dickens. James Dyson, the inventor of the vacuum cleaner, got a mention too. Half of the 20 new National MPs began their speeches in Māori, with Greg Fleming demonstrating his fluency and David MacLeod outlining his extensive iwi connections (he also revealed I had been at his christening!). The Treaty of Waitangi was referenced in many speeches, He Whakaputanga in some, and the late Moana Jackson was cited in several speeches by Te Pāti Māori and Green MPs.”
13) The Listener’s Greg Dixon has a column out this week in which he parodies Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s speech this week – see: Another kind of politics - another kind of State of the Nation speech (paywalled)
Here’s an excerpt from the speech: “The reality is, we’re in big, big trouble, so we’re going to have to make some tough choices. And the first of those tough choices is to decide who we are going to blame first for finding ourselves with tough choices. Should it be, say, uncompetitive supermarket chains making massive profits, giant multinationals paying bugger-all tax, rapacious Australian-owned banks making excessive profits, or greedy locals protecting their wealth and avoiding tax through trusts and property investments? Or it should be those trying to live on as little as $274.37 a week on a Jobseeker’s benefit? The answer is obvious, my friends. So let me say to those people on the Jobseeker’s, your free ride on the taxpayer cash cow is over. I am calling this the ‘tough luck’ approach, and I will not apologise for it. All Kiwis have a right to support when times are tough. But with that right also comes responsibility, especially if you can’t afford lobbyists in Wellington. And it’s your responsibility to look for work even as the job market tightens because of record net migration in 2023, and as the unemployment rate rises again partly because the Reserve Bank is keeping interest rates high in the hope this will help ease inflationary pressures. To you bludgers I say this – and make no mistake, my party of no new ideas says this every time we’re in government – you need to get a haircut and get a job.”
14) Successive governments have given huge subsidies to multinational movie companies to film in this country. The “Screen Production Rebate” is often labelled “corporate welfare” and even “corrupt”. Lobbyists for the film sector continue to convince whatever parties are in government that the largesse should continue, and today Tova O'Brien reports that the National’s new Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith has ruled out getting rid of the subsidies this term, and says “Long-term, we're committed to the rebate and we're committed to be part of this industry” – see: After casting doubt on future of film rebates, Government finally commits
15) This week’s report from Ombudsman Peter Boshier into Oranga Tamariki is creating some big reactions. Today’s Otago Daily Times editorial begins this way: “Newspapers have a regular store of adjectives to dig into when describing a highly critical official report: damning, slamming and scathing to select just three. But a whole new adjective will have to be found to summarise the quite extraordinary report issued by Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier into Oranga Tamariki on Wednesday. Mr Boshier’s report is a simply astonishing litany of adverse comments on a government department whose staff, in some instances, appear utterly unwilling to comply with their legal obligations” – see: Extraordinary report demands action (paywalled)
16) The National-led Government’s response to the report so far has suggested that they might be open to further devolution of child services as a response. Newshub’s Amelia Wade reports that “Luxon said the Government has been very supportive of devolution” and quoted him saying “We believe in something called ‘localisation’ and devolution. As you know many iwi do as well. But Oranga Tamariki has some serious problems” – see: Latest Oranga Tamariki report further proof it needs to be torn down – Māori health leaders
The item also reports iwi health leader Tureiti Moxon calling for Oranga Tamariki to be abolished: “Dismantle it and allow Māori to do what we know best, which is to look after our own”. She also wants the Government to reverse its “promise to scrap a part of New Zealand's child protection laws called Section 7AA. That law compels the state to prioritise a child's whakapapa when deciding who should care for them. Its repeal is the subject of an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim.”
17) Matthew Hooton argues today that the National-led Government is heading towards a programme of devolution, as part of their attempts to deal with Wellington bureaucracy and under-delivery: “With even doyens of the centralising Key Government like Joyce and Paula Bennett now promoting localism, there’s a chance Luxon is sincere when promising to empower families, community groups, hapu and iwi over the dead hand of a soul-destroying and initiative-sapping Wellington” – see: No cash so Christopher Luxon needs new ways to generate growth (paywalled)
Hooton argues that the future of economic development under the new Government will be for the regions to be given greater autonomy, which will be discussed by Ministers visiting today’s Tairawhiti Tomorrow Together Summit in Gisborne: “it also underlines to other regions that the Luxon Government may not have any money to hand out but will back local government, business, iwi and wider communities taking initiative of their own. That’s how governments deliver productivity and economic gains, rather than the more recent practice of randomly throwing around tens of billions of dollars that have had to be borrowed”.
18) Huge political changes in Wellington as well as fights in the Wellington City Council reflect two different tribes according to the Spinoff’s Wellington correspondent Joel MacManus. He’s written about how the big two tribes of the city reflect on the one hand, property developers, Yimbys, free-marketeers, middle class creatives, and hipsters – which he labels “The New City” – Vs “The Old Town” which he characterises as “long-time homeowners, deeply rooted in their community, who are uncomfortable with the way it is changing” – see: The old town and the new city: a clash of two Wellingtons
Interestingly, the “New City” tribe is an alliance between people like Eric Crampton and the New Zealand Initiative, lobbyists for property developers, and the Greens. The new Green Party councillor Geordie Rogers, Mayor Tory Whanua, and Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul personify this shift away from traditional left or or environmental politics in the city. MacManus says: “The Greens have opened up a dominance in Wellington’s local politics not because the city has suddenly veered towards socialism, but because they’ve managed to capture and champion the New City in a way Labour (and the right) never could.”
19) New Zealand effectively is part of the US Government’s rather reactionary embargo against the country of Cuba. The 60-year-old blockade against the ostensibly “socialist” country means that New Zealanders aren’t easily able to travel there or trade with the country – this is all well explained by TVNZ’s Kaitlin Aldridge in her report, April sun in Cuba? Why it's in the too-hard basket for many Kiwis. Also, see her earlier report: Why a NZ bank blocked Denise’s payment for trip to Cuba
Dr Bryce Edwards
Political Analyst in Residence, Democracy Project, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington
Cartoons today:
NZ Politics Daily – 23 February 2024
INEQUALITY, COST OF LIVING, ECONOMY
Max Rashbrooke (Guardian): New Zealand needs a new vision for the social security system – not more flipflopping
Jack Tame (1News): New approach to benefits won't stem the tide of child poverty
Sara Salman (Newsroom): Shaming the poor doesn’t work. It’s also cruel.
Benedict Collins (1News): Top MSD official misleads politicians over benefit sanctions
Grant Duncan: Child poverty rose in 2023
David Farrar: Labour’s great success with child poverty
Adam Pearse and Julia Gabel (Herald): Cost of living and high inflation puts more children in poverty
Cushla Norman (1News): Cost of living, inflation push more children into poverty
Jemima Huston (RNZ): Government accused of lacking clear plan to address child poverty
Jemima Huston (RNZ): Child poverty: More families going without household essentials
Thomas Manch (Post): Child poverty has worsened, Stats NZ figures show (paywalled)
Merewai Durutalo (Whakaata Māori): Rising child poverty statistics horrify experts
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): Rising food insecurity felt most by Pacific, Māori and disabled children
Justin Wong (Post): Custom-made spaghetti tins mark Porirua social supermarket opening (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Govt's Budget 'just like a household,' says Willis
Donal Curtin: The New Zealand Economic Forum - Day 2
Donal Curtin: The New Zealand Economic Forum - Day 1
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Interest rate pain: How did we get here, when does it end?
David Hargreaves (Interest): A late inflation stinger for the RBNZ ahead of its next Official Cash Rate decision
Michael Gordon: Cores and effect
Paid subscribers can access the full “NZ Politics Daily” from here. The following categories of news and analysis continue: POLITICAL DONATIONS, PARLIAMENT; GOVERNMENT; EFESO COLLINS; TOBACCO, VAPING; HEALTH; FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; INFRASTRUCTURE; WATER; TRANSPORT; ORANGA TAMARIKI; BANKS; HOUSING, PROPERTY INDUSTRY; MEDIA; EMPLOYMENT, MIGRANT EXPLOITATION; EDUCATION