Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

The prime minister will take part in a Coalition of the Willing meeting this evening, on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The government is providing a further $8 million in assistance to Ukraine, along with further sanctions targeting Russia’s war machine.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was taking part because he supported Ukraine’s efforts.

Luxon said Russia was the perpetrator and could stop the war now.

Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia last week ended without a breakthrough, with President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of stalling US-mediated efforts to end the four-year-old war.

Ukraine also recently made its largest battlefield gains in more than two-and-a-half-years, a new analysis suggested.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand would support the United Kingdom’s decision to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession should it move to.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed New Zealand’s stance.

“If the UK Government proposes to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the order of succession, New Zealand would support it. The UK government has said any proposals would come after the police investigation concludes,” the statement said.

It comes after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to British counterpart Keir Starmer to confirm his country’s support of removal.

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles by King Charles III last year and hasn’t worked as a member of the royal family since 2019 over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

However, he remained eighth in line to the throne.

The British government was considering passing a law to divest Mountbatten-Windsor of his succession rights after he was arrested by police last week, a UK official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said his focus was on issues Kiwis faced.

Seymour told First Up he wouldn’t be drawn into whether New Zealand would back the move, with more pressing priorities back home.

“I think we’ve got 99 problems most New Zealanders are facing right now,” he said.

“This guy’s eighth in the line of succession, and these guys all seem to live to about 100.

“So, of all of the things that you could ask me about or we could be worried about right now, that’s probably a wee way down the list.”

Seymour said Australia had “obviously solved a few more problems” when quizzed if New Zealand had considered their position on the issue.

Good on them, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Education Minister is announcing new maths, English and science resources that were due to be in schools at the start of this year will now be rolled out.

The resources include a new teacher-facilitated writing tool for Year 6 to 10 students a year or more behind and maths resources for Year 9 and 10 students.

Earlier this month, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association criticised the Minister for not delivering the resources on time and causing an extremely frustrating and stressful start to the school year.

PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said at the time well developed resources and implemented smoothly are “so crucial”, especially with the amount of new content the Minister had introduced.

Education Minister Erica Stanford made the announcement alongside the Prime Minister in Auckland on Tuesday. There will also be new science kits for primary school classrooms, an investment made in Budget 2025.

The writing tool, called Scribo, is a teacher-facilitated 12-week tutoring programme providing targeted support for each student’s learning needs, she explained.

She said it will “help close literacy gaps” and strengthen students’ writing, spelling, and grammar. It was also curriculum aligned and designed to reflect New Zealand context and culture, she said. The programme was now being extended to students in Year 10.

The curriculum-aligned digital maths resources for Years 9 and 10 would include digital textbooks and workbooks guidance for teachers.

“Over the next three years, the resources are expected to benefit around 140,000 students each year, supporting 6000 teachers,” Stanford said.

Teachers can choose the extent to which they use the resources, and there will be professional learning development provided.

She said the science kits were delivering on Budget 2025 investments to strengthen science in primary and intermediate schools.

“These will be hands-on and curriculum-aligned, supporting teachers with bringing science to life in classrooms,” Stanford said.

“Science is such a fun and interesting part of school for so many young people, full of discovery and experimentation.”

She said $40 million was allocated in Budget 2025, and the provision of those kits throughout the country will be achieved by early 2027.

Part of the initiative has an entirely new suite of science kits in development for Māori medium education.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says his focus is on New Zealand and issues facing Kiwis – not on joining the chorus to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession.

It comes after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to British counterpart Keir Starmer to confirm his country’s support of removal.

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles by King Charles III last year and hasn’t worked as a member of the royal family since 2019 over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

However, he remained eighth in line to the throne.

The British government was considering passing a law to divest Mountbatten-Windsor of his succession rights after he was arrested by police last week, a UK official said.

But Seymour wouldn’t be drawn into whether New Zealand would back the move, with more pressing priorities back home.

“I think we’ve got 99 problems most New Zealanders are facing right now,” he told First Up.

“This guy’s eighth in the line of succession, and these guys all seem to live to about 100.

“So, of all of the things that you could ask me about or we could be worried about right now, that’s probably a wee way down the list.”

Seymour said Australia had “obviously solved a few more problems” when quizzed if New Zealand had considered their position on the issue.

Good on them, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he wants to wait until nearly June to make any commitments following criticism of his State of the Nation speech from his political opponents.

On Monday, Hipkins promised a different Labour should they be elected in November, but he was offering up no new policy for now.

Criticism came in thick and fast, with ACT leader David Seymour labelling it “featherweight” and National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis desribing it as “a lot of words that amount to nothing“.

Hipkins told Morning Report, he’d set out his priorities which were around jobs, health, homes and the cost of living – but would not be announcing policy until Budget Day – May 28th.

“When I make those commitments I want to know I can deliver on them. I want to wait until after the Budget so we know what we’re dealing with. I think that’s very responsible.”

Hipkins said more minor parties were able to promise whatever they wanted and regularly did so but they didn’t have to try and balance the overall budget.

He reiterated he was “absolutely committed” to setting a responsible set of promises Labour could deliver on.

“Fixing the long term challenges the country faces is absolutely my priority.”

Hipkins did not rule out the possibility of a minority government but said he wanted a bigger share of the vote than what had been seen recently.

“I’d love to get over 40 [percent]. If you look at the minority government’s we’ve had, John Key and Helen Clark have led minority governments… I would like to see Labour doing significantly better, the stronger our hand going into the discussions the better.”

He would not comment on which parties Labour would be willing to work with at this stage, but said that would be set out before the election.

“In the event you can’t reach a coalition agreement, minority government is an option we should leave on the table.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A group of former female MPs has called changes to the pay equity law a “flagrant and significant abuse of power”.

The unofficial People’s Select Committee was formed in response to the Equal Pay Amendment Act, passed under urgency last year.

The law cancelled 33 claims from female-dominated workforces which sought to prove they were underpaid in comparison to similar male-dominated industries, and raised the threshold for future claims.

The committee, led by former National MP Marilyn Waring and made up of 10 cross-party former MPs, is releasing a report on the changes on Tuesday, after reading nearly 1400 submissions, and holding three months of hearings.

It said the government had violated the rule of law in retrospectively cancelling existing rights and remedies.

“Funded sector employers, charitable organisations and unions spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours, with other resource consequences, on the 33 cancelled claims,” the committee said.

Ministers worked on the pay equity amendment in secret until May when the changes were announced and passed under urgency – no Regulatory Impact Statement was done.

The committee described the processes of planning for and enacting the legislation as a “flagrant and significant abuse of power”.

It also found the law breached the Bill of Rights, the Human Rights Act, and the Regulatory Standard Act principles, as well as a number of international conventions that New Zealand was party to, including International Covenants on Civil and Political, and Economic and Social Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Deputy Prime Minister Nicola Willis told reporters last year that tightening the scheme amounted to about $12.8 billion in savings in total over the next four years.

The committee disputed this could be classified as budgetary savings, because it said the funds were reallocated to other government expenditure and coalition government priorities.

Committee members also said it could find no evidence in available Cabinet documents or parliamentary debates to support scrapping the scheme.

“No minister, or briefing bureaucrat, and no speaker in the parliamentary debate, demonstrated any knowledge of how comparators and factor scoring work.

“The committee found that it is a sophisticated, highly rigorous process of co-research between worker and employer negotiators. The only evidence of attempts to game the system the committee could see were in the behaviours of government agencies.”

In a statement, Minister for Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden said members of the public – including former MPs – were free to hold their own opinions and publish their own material.

“As I said at the time, equal pay is here to stay, and a pay equity system remains.

“The new system is already processing claims under the new law. The government has made the law simpler and more robust.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Hipkins’ State of the Nation speech read like a “lump of jelly” filled with sentiment, but no concrete plans, and that Chat GPT could have written it, says Nationals’ deputy leader.

Nicola Willis is calling for a contest of “actual ideas” with the Labour leader, because if the party does not come up with policy, “the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are ready to go”.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters also criticised Hipkins for one of the “most boring State of the Nation speeches in recorded history”, and ACT leader David Seymour called it “featherweight”.

Hipkins made the speech in Auckland today, taking aim at the government’s cost of living and climate policies. He did not announce any new policy, but repeated his promise that the public would see a “different” Labour to 2023.

Willis said she was more sorrowful than angry in response, hoping she would be able to debate a new policy idea from the Labour Party.

“Politics at its best is a contest of ideas about how we address the challenges our country is facing and how we move forward,” she said.

She expected an alternative set of ideas from the leader of the opposition who was “talking down New Zealand at every turn”.

“Instead, his speech read like a lump of jelly filled with platitudes and sentiment but no concrete plans.”

She referenced policy ideas from the Greens and Te Pāti Māori who had “laid out their plans”, saying “policy loves a vacuum”.

Willis said ahead of the 2023 election, National had presented the frame of an alternative tax approach, and a five-point “inflation busting plan”.

Taking a swipe at the media, she said Hipkins had not been “accountable at all” on his spending, borrowing or taxation plans, and he should be able to give New Zealanders a “broad indication”, rather than waiting for Budget 2026 to be released.

Going into the budget, he should have some clear parameters, she said, asking whether he thought debt should be higher and he wanted to collect more tax.

“Hipkins just doesn’t have any ideas. And you are all letting him get away with a really facile approach.”

Peters took to social media to criticise the speech as “boring”, calling the Labour leader Chris “softly” Hipkins, and saying he may as well have just sent out a press release.

“He couldn’t even fill a smoko room with a public meeting so had to tack on to a chamber of commerce hosted event.”

Peters said there was no new policy, no new plan and no new announcements. Similarly, he referenced the Greens and Te Pāti Māori suggesting Hipkins may be waiting for those parties to “fill the gaps.”

Hipkins talked about health, housing, and the economy Peters said, but New Zealanders don’t forget the “disaster” he delivered last time, including “debt, massive immigration, massive increases in crime.”

“Good luck to the mainstream media trying to dissect his ‘say-nothing’ speech,” finished Peters.

Seymour also weighed in, saying Hipkins’ speech was not lightweight, it was featherweight, and any politician could have read it out.

Seymour said Hipkins did not present any plan to pay for any promise, “underneath the smooth words there are no solutions, just new problems”.

“Hipkins’ examples of affordable policies included ‘free’ GP visits and a new Auckland harbour crossing without tolls on the existing bridge. But he can’t make the cost of those policies disappear. Someone has to pay, he just hopes Kiwis won’t ask who.”

He said the most glaring omission was how Labour would fund the “roughly $13bn hole created by its commitment to reverse the government’s pay equity changes”.

“We’re left wondering whether Hipkins plans to raise taxes, borrow more, or cut services elsewhere.

“Hipkins didn’t even mention crime, and not a word on Labour’s view of the Treaty and how to keep the country united.”

When Hipkins was asked why he did not announce any new policy, he told reporters he had restated Labour’s priorities, but said a lot can happen in six months and he didn’t want to make any promises he would have to change.

“I’m not saying that we won’t be making any promises before the election. We absolutely will, but it’ll be closer to the election once we know what we can deliver.”

He said it was responsible to wait and see what state the economy was in heading into the election.

“Remember, Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon said they were both going to bring down grocery prices. Now they’re saying the promises to bring down grocery prices would be irresponsible. Well, which is it? They actually promised to do that, and now they’re not delivering on it.”

He said a State of the Nation speech was about reflecting on “where we’re at now”, the challenges facing the country and the direction “we can go as a country”.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has taken aim at the government’s cost of living and climate policies in his State of the Nation speech in Auckland.

Hipkins did not announce any new policy in the speech on Monday, repeating his promise that the public would see a “different” Labour to 2023.

“Labour didn’t get everything right last time – and some of you don’t hold back in telling me,” Hipkins told the Auckland Business Chamber audience.

“We tried to do too much, too fast, and we lost our focus.”

But what New Zealanders got instead, he said, was rising costs, job losses, and a shrinking economy.

“I’m not promising perfection. Where we make mistakes, I’ll take responsibility,” he said.

“But I am promising this: a government that puts the cost of living first. A government that partners with business to create jobs and raise wages. A government that invests in our people and backs our potential.”

Wary of Labour’s previous propensity to over-promise, Hipkins said he would put affordability at the heart of all decisions he made, and would expect ministers to do the same.

Hipkins said 2000 New Zealanders were leaving every week because they did not see a future here.

“I see young New Zealanders – smart, hardworking, full of potential – making calculations that no young person should have to do. Do I stay in the country I love? Or do I leave to build the life I’ve worked for?

“It breaks my heart. Because it means we are failing them. Not because they aren’t good enough for New Zealand. But because we haven’t made New Zealand good enough for them.”

Riffing off National’s slogan “Fixing the Basics, Building the Future”, Hipkins said New Zealanders would have a choice between two different futures.

He also called for stronger climate action.

“We can carry on treating each disaster as if it’s an isolated event, clean up and move on. Or we can recognise that the cost of inaction on climate change now far exceeds the cost of action.”

He did not give specifics on climate policy, but said New Zealand had an opportunity to be a “renewable energy superpower” but was instead being locked into a volatile global market.

“We would invest in the industries that cut emissions, build resilience, and create jobs. Because that is how you build a stronger economy. Not in spite of climate action, but because of it.”

Hipkins confirmed Labour would oppose the government’s plans to build a new liquefied natural gas terminal, and would not go through with any deal if it entered government before a deal was done.

“We won’t add new charges onto people, like increasing every household’s power bill to pay for a gas import terminal, or tolling the Auckland Harbour Bridge to pay for a new crossing.”

The Infrastructure Commission modelled that tolling the existing bridge and a new Waitemata Crossing could bring in up to $9 billion.

The government has said a toll is something under consideration, but has not confirmed whether it would go ahead with it.

While no new policy was announced, Hipkins repeated Labour’s promises to fund three free GP visits a year, funded through a capital gains tax on investment and commercial property.

Hipkins pushed on energy plans

Hipkins was quizzed on energy policy by Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges (who, as former National leader, described himself as Hipkins’ one-time sparring partner).

Bridges, a former energy minister, agreed that New Zealand should be a renewable superpower, and asked Hipkins how he would tackle the country’s gentailers.

“Like governments, business also operates on social licence,” Hipkins said.

“The energy companies were reporting massive profits, but customers were seeing their bills go up.

“Those things aren’t going to wash with the public.”

Hipkins denied the oil and gas exploration ban, brought in by the previous government, was the reason power prices were as high as they are.

He said the government was asking the right question around how to make power bills cheaper, but had landed on the wrong answer.

“The more we’re reliant on fossil fuels, the more our energy bills are going to increase.”

Labour was the highest-polling party in the most recent RNZ-Reid Research poll, but the coalition would still have the numbers to return to government.

The party has seen two high-profile departures from its Māori caucus, with former Speaker Adrian Rurawhe already bowing out, and former Tāmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare also announcing his exit.

Henare will deliver his valedictory on 4 March.

State of the Nation speeches are a chance for party leaders to set out the priorities for the year ahead.

Earlier this year, Luxon confirmed the government would continue to run a tight Budget, and observed a “rupture” in the rules-based system.

Last weekend, ACT leader David Seymour took aim at “bureaucratic” governments that aren’t balancing their books, and confirmed ACT would again campaign on a smaller ministerial executive.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is set to deliver his speech in Tauranga in March.

The Greens, which prefer to call their address State of the Planet, are yet to confirm details of a 2026 speech.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Lawyers and health professionals are urging the government to slow down a law change, making it legal to claw back welfare supports once someone has been backpaid for an ACC claim.

The coalition, with Labour’s support, is moving to quickly pass amendment legislation to align the law with long-standing policy at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

It comes after a significant High Court ruling made it clear MSD was breaking the law in clawing back payments for supplementary supports like the winter energy payment once someone had received ACC backpay.

The legislation is being considered by MPs for just one week before returning to the House to be read a second time.

Interested groups made verbal submissions to MPs during the Select Committee this morning.

‘Unfair and unjust’ – lawyers

Community Law Centres Aotearoa (CLMA) acted as an intervener in the High Court case against MSD and today argued the bill was “unfair and unjust” and should be “rejected in its entirety”.

“It’s really important to challenge any perception that this bill is about preventing double-dipping or treating beneficiaries in different categories fairly, because a person who’s fought for years to get their ACC and requires assistance in the meantime is not in the same position as somebody who received ACC when they were entitled to it.

“So, in our submission, the bill is not about ensuring fairness, it actually perpetuates unfairness,” barrister Jack Wass said.

CLMA’s law reform coordinator Rupert O’Brien said the organisation took particular issue with the retrospective nature of the law change.

“This bill really does present a genuine threat to the rule of law. It overhauls the High Court’s legislative interpreting role and we don’t think that going back in time in this retrospective way is appropriate in the circumstances.

“We recommend that if the bill is to pass, that the retrospective nature of it is removed. If it is going to be retrospective in some nature, we recommend that the Parliament consider the importance of the savings clause… that prevents this bill from affecting active litigants in the appeals authority and the high court.”

O’Brien also highlighted the law change would unfairly impact those who had applied for a sensitive claim as a result of suffering state abuse as children.

He suggested there be a carve-out to accommodate them.

“We recommend that the select committee and Parliament consider excusing those people from having to repay these debts. It’s double punishment for those people.”

The New Zealand Law Society’s Gareth Richards submitted any retrospective law change that had carried detrimental impacts, in this case putting people into debt, was uncommon and required a proper inquiry.

Law change will affect new mothers with birth injuries – health professional

Pelvic health specialist Dr Melissa Davidson told MPs the urgent speed at which the bill was progressing didn’t leave enough time to consider its full impact, particularly on women with maternal birth injuries.

“When the legislation moves faster than understanding the harm does not fall equally, it falls on those least able to absorb it, Dr Davidson said.

“In the maternal birth injury space, there are systematic failures occurring daily. ACC claims have been declined or taken many months to be accepted through no fault of the woman themselves and the delays are often caused by ACC processes and health system failures, not by missing eligibility.”

Dr Davidson said new, injured mothers would not seek the help they needed if they had to pay it back.

“In New Zealand, women put their families first and themselves last. When supplementary assistance is provided, it’s meant to cover essential costs, but the reality of living with a birth injury includes far more than just water rates, power, food.

“It also includes treatment co-payments for the injury to get treatment for recovery, transport to and from appointments, childcare to attend those appointments if they can’t bring the baby and basic medical resources such as continence, products and pads, scar management, supplies and equipment.

“They face higher living costs while living on reduced incomes. We’re then asking them to repay costs that they reasonably believe are covered and it places them under additional psychological, physiological, physiology, physical and financial stress, again, through no fault of their own.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Requiring police officers to shift rough sleepers from one place to another could see other crime work delayed or dropped, the Police Association’s boss says.

The government is giving officers new powers to move on rough sleepers or people displaying disorderly behaviour in town and city centres.

Breaching an order, which requires someone to leave an area for up to 24 hours, risks a fine of up to $2000 or three month jail term.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell said it will be left to police officers to decide what support a person needs, if any.

Prime Minister Luxon told Morning Report police were capable of doing that.

But Police Association boss Steve Watt told Midday Report the police have limited resources, and it was unclear how big a job it would be to get people off the street and into a social agency.

“Until we just get that detail it’s really tough to gauge, but there’s no doubt that it will have a drain on policing resources.

“It means that potentially someone won’t have a cop turn up to their burglary, or they’ll be delayed, because they’re having to deal with this issue.”

Watt said there were already laws in place to deal with disorderly behaviour.

“What we’re talking about here is individuals that have got a multitude of issues, mental health, financial, housing, and you’ve gotta ask the question, are the police the right agency … to deal with this, or should it be some other social agency?”

It was also unclear how far people had to be moved, Watt said.

“Rough sleepers have a lot of property sometimes, shopping carts full of it, so is it an expectation of our members to wheel the cart down with the beggar down the street … just to simply displace the problem?”

Emails released to RNZ show the Mitchell had expressed a reluctance towards police leading a homelessness response in central Auckland, and expected other agencies to “step up and own” social issues.

In the email, dated 5 November, a staff member said: “Feel it is important just to flag that Minister Mitchell does not believe that police has a leadership role in this and has in the past ended up picking up the work of other agencies, which stretches their resources in other areas.”

Watt agreed.

“In reality, it’s not a policing problem, it’s an all-of-society problem, and that’s the way we need to start looking at it.”

Move on orders deal with disruption and disturbance, ministers say

Goldsmith said New Zealand’s main streets and town centres had been “blighted” by disruption and disturbance, with businesses “declining” as bad behaviour went unchecked.

He said police officers currently had limited options to respond, particularly if behaviour did not reach the level of offending, leading to “disruptive, distressing and potentially harmful acts”.

Social agencies have widely condemned the move, saying shifting people around cities would do nothing to solve homelessness or mental health and addiction problems that many rough sleepers were dealing with.

But Auckland business leaders welcomed it, saying it would make the city centre safer and a more desirable place to be.

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