Notes from Afar: Will Luxon Attend Waitangi Day? And Opposition Calls Out Nicola Willis for "Creative Accounting"

Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts!

Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.

It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.

I think of the politics around the Kiwirail i-Rex- and how most of the ~$1.5b “over-run” - was due to seismic upgrades of the ports.

Isn’t that important when it comes to what Kiwis truly face?

Isn’t it genuinely a small price for a safe 30 year life span?

Ditto with the ferries - apparently the government was advised to retire Aratere in 2026 - the same year that the new, already-partially built i-Rex ferries, would have arrived.

In response to Vanuatu, I also think of an excellent article by NZ Geographic, pointing out NZ has limited medical capabilities in the event of natural disasters.

In the article, NZ Geographic interviews an English immigrant doctor who points out that rural communities in particular aren’t geared up for medical emergencies.

“That model’s great when the weather’s fine, the roads are working, and when there’s not an emergency somewhere else. But when the system gets overwhelmed for some reason, that all falls to bits. And in many parts of New Zealand, it’s already falling to bits.”

Fast-Track

Today, the ignoble Fast-Track Bill passed into law. I can’t think of a more destructive, anti-democratic and pro-corporation and moneyed up law.

One where the Minister, Chris Bishop, answers the question:

“What happens if there is widespread environmental damage as a result of you granting consent to projects that would not have otherwise qualified?”

with

“If Kiwis don’t like it, they can vote us out in 3 years”

While admitting his government was getting lobbied hard, and “there’s nothing wrong with lobbying. People want to use the law to get things done.”

I recall Martin Luther King at this point:

“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”

No, I’m not saying that our Coalition government is Hitler’s regime, but I am suggesting that twisting and defining the laws to suit their own agenda - and that of their donors and corporate interests - is regrettable.

Yesterday, Te Pāti Māori sent out a “stern warning” to Fast-Track applicants:

“We have placed 16 Fast-Track applicants on notice that Te Pāti Māori will hold them retrospectively liable and immediately revoke their consents when we form the next Government,”

Economic Incompetence Mirrored with Smoke

Separately I was happy to see the word “Austerity budget” come to the fore in media around Nicola Willis’s disastrous economic management.

Chlöe Swarbrick called out the government for “creative accounting”, and Labour’s Chris Hipkins noted: "She's adopting a measure entirely of her own creation in order to try and make the deteriorating financial situation that she has created look less bad than it is.”

Happily, Barbara Edmonds called for Willis to change tack and said there needs to be a plan for recovery, and not a plan for austerity.

She said examples of foreign governments that have issued austerity programmes have shown GDP does not grow.

"If you have a look at the budget policy statement, it continues to say there will be more spending cuts and there will be more to come in the future," she told Morning Report.

"So, she's only left $700 million available at her next budget to pay for everything outside of health.

That track is devastating, and Willis’s incompetence is jarring. As I wrote yesterday, she also appears to share the same level of self-awareness as Liz Truss, who, to this day, maintains she had the right answer after crashing UK’s pension funds and losing tens of billions of pounds for the British in a week.

Populism’s Child

My final note today is about the government’s insistent pummeling towards Councils.

Lightweight Local Government Minister, Simeon Brown spent yesterday engaging in more populist politics, publicly proclaiming “the party is over” for Councils, as he removed provisions for social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being from Councils’ remit.

Brown said there was evidence from the Department of Internal Affairs that showed wellbeing provisions led to about two percent higher rates growth each year.

Chris Hipkins called that claim a complete “fabrication”, but Brown knows that that populism works with his voter base.

On Facebook, many Kiwis supported his message, asking why the central government didn’t step in sooner for them - lamenting Council rates and invariably blaming Councils.

It made me reflect on the 2017 National Party Cabinet Memo that said centralisation was essential and best practice for NZ to preserve and protect water: our “lifeline infrastructure”.

National back then echoed much of what Labour had said e.g. smaller communities didn’t have the expertise to adequately manager water resources, infrastructure debt was growing, the issues NZ faced required system wide solutions.

Unfortunately, something as critical as water - drinking water, firefighting water, safe water - just became another political football.

Global credit rating agencies had warned NZ that repealing 3 Waters would increase out debt.

Repealing it led to an immediate 33% rate rise across many Councils.

Roads and water infrastructure often make up the bulk of Council financial statements.

Yet most Kiwis won’t know this - and when the link between cause and effect is broken, we all suffer the consequences of that not-knowing.

PS - Crown-Māori Relations

Chris Luxon is being cagey about attending Waitangi Day, but he is being asked “Why wouldn’t the PM show up?” Te Pāti Māori's Rawiri Waititi was more direct - saying that if Luxon didn’t attend, it would show “has no balls and may be a drop-nuts”.

It’s extraordinary how far Crown-Māori relations have fallen within one year under this goverment, with NZ’s sitting Prime Minister unwilling to say whether he will attend one of the most significant days on our calendar.

Luxon, a vacuous individual, who has little apparent care for everyday Kiwis who he calls “customers”, and wants to flog NZ off for cheap to wealthy Middle Easterners, while demolishing food banks and charities around the country with little care or abandon, spent a day this week with his wife, packing food parcels at a Christian food bank.

In response, someone showed me this:

For some reason, that gave me some solace. Beats this:

Happy festive season, everyone and thanks for reading and supporting Mountain Tui.