Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he’s gravely concerned about the conflict in the Middle East as it hits the six-week mark.

He was facing questions about Iran, fuel prices and National’s poll numbers at the weekly post-Cabinet media conference.

It follows an eventful week in politics, including the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll put National slightly up but still below 30 percent.

Fuel prices have continued to surge, with no sign yet the US, Israel and Iran will stop fighting – US President Donald Trump instead threatening to take out civilian infrastructure and send the country to “hell”.

Luxon earlier on Tuesday called Trump’s comments “unhelpful”. This afternoon he said the longer the conflict goes on, the more severe the impacts are – including for Kiwis. He said he was disappointed that Air New Zealand were having to make cuts to their flight schedule, saying he had been affected by the cuts.

He said everyone wants to see end to the conflict and was deeply concerned about further escalation.

Luxon did not want to engage in questions over the latest poll result, saying it was not a priority for New Zealanders: “The real poll that will matter will be November 7 – we’ve got plenty of time for election year, but for right here right now that’s not want Kiwis want me focussed on.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is set to face questions about Iran, fuel prices and National’s poll numbers after a meeting of the government’s top ministers.

Luxon is expected to speak about 3pm. You can watch the livestream at the top of this page.

It follows an eventful week in politics, including the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll put National slightly up but still below 30 percent.

Fuel prices have continued to surge, with no sign yet the US, Israel and Iran will stop fighting – US President Donald Trump instead threatening to take out civilian infrastructure and send the country to “hell”.

Luxon earlier on Tuesday called Trump’s comments “unhelpful”.

Also up for discussion perhaps will be Luxon’s Cabinet reshuffle, which saw an apparent demotion for a senior minister who was rumoured to have considered a leadership challenge late last year; the lifting of Easter alcohol restrictions; diplomacy with the US; and the banning of greyhound racing.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The latest Taxpayers Union-Curia poll shows National slightly up – but still below 30%, and Labour slightly down, with the coalition parties comfortably able to form a government.

Labour on 33.4% is still above National on 29.8%.

But with NZ First up about 4 points to 13.6%, and ACT up 1.5 points to 9%, the coalition would have 65 seats to the opposition’s 55.

The Greens were down nearly 3 points to about 8%, and Te Pāti Māori is down half a point to 2.6%.

The Opportunity Party was the only minor party outside Parliament to register, up half a point to 2.6%.

At the start of March, the Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll had National on 28.4 percent – down nearly three percentage points from the month before. The latest RNZ/Reid Research poll had the party on 30.8 percent, also trending downwards.

Both March polls had National behind Labour, which polled 34.4 percent in the Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll and 35.6 percent according to RNZ/Reid Research.

The latest Roy Morgan poll, released at the end of March, had National on 26.5 percent and Labour on 34 percent.

Recent polling has generally had support for the left (Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori) and right (National, ACT and NZ First) blocs finely balanced.

The general election is scheduled to be held on 7 November.

The poll was conducted by Curia Market Research Ltd for the Taxpayers’ Union. It is a random poll of 1000 adult New Zealanders (700 by phone and 300 online) and is weighted to the overall adult population.

It was conducted by phone (landlines and mobile) and online, has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

Curia is a long-running and established pollster in New Zealand, which has resigned its membership from the Research Association New Zealand (RANZ) industry body.

Polls compare to the most recent poll by the same polling company, as different polls can use different methodologies. They are intended to track trends in voting preferences, showing a snapshot in time, rather than be a completely accurate predictor of the final election result.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

This week, Members of Parliament debated a bill to protect parody and satire – the right to take the mickey under New Zealand’s copyright law, something they themselves may well be the target of.

Every second sitting, Wednesday at Parliament is Members’ Day, which is a chance for MPs outside cabinet to put their own legislation forward. It is drawn in a ballot in the form of random picks out of an old Deka biscuit tin.

Some of New Zealand’s most socially significant laws have started life in that tin, from marriage equality to end-of-life choice. This week, it was something a little lighter, but still grounded in democratic principles.

Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin way back in November 2024. It finally got its first reading on Wednesday, with Carter dusting off a speech that had likely sat in the filing cabinet for some time.

She opened by making the case for art in uncertain times.

“There’s a lot going on in the world right now and so we must lean into art to help us make sense of the world,” Carter said. “Oh, what a grey world it would be without our artists.”

The bill aims to clarify that parody and satire are protected under copyright law, which would bring New Zealand’s law in this area in line with Australia and other jurisdictions.

“This bill amends the Copyright Act 1994 to clarify that a fair dealing within a work does not constitute an infringement of the copyright of the work, if it is for the use of parody or satire.”

At its heart, she argues, satire is a core democratic tool.

“Parody and satire sits at the cornerstone of any democracy. It holds power to account, encouraging discussion.”

The debate made for a rare moment of lightness in an election year – a brief reprieve from more bellicose debates.

When it comes to satire, politicians are often the punchline, so there was a touch of irony in MPs debating whether to protect the very people who mock them, something Labour’s Arena Williams said was essential to a healthy democracy.

“All of us have an interest, as politicians, to see a thriving public discourse that includes taking the mickey out of us,” she said. “It’s in our DNA.

“Part of the Kiwi approach to our politics is that we can have a bit of a laugh and enjoy a robust debate, as well as, at times, taking the mickey out of politicians as a form of legitimate discourse.”

Members’ Bills from Opposition MPs tend not to make it far, whether it is because they clash with government policy, are too politically charged or simply too ambitious. This one found broad appeal, drawing support from across the House.

National’s Vanessa Weenink welcomed the cross-party agreement.

“Having bills like this supported across the House – or at least widely supported – is a good thing. It shows that where things are important for our democracy… nobody’s really got a mortgage on good ideas here.”

Not quite everyone was convinced.

New Zealand First’s Jenny Marcroft struck a more cautious tone, raising concerns about what she called “moral rights” and whether the bill goes far enough to address them.

“It’s silent on moral rights. How will moral rights be assessed?” she asked, outlining concerns about attribution, integrity and reputational protection for creators.

For those stated reasons, New Zealand First did not support the bill, which now heads to the Social Services and Community Select Committee, where the public will get their say.

The committee will call for public submissions soon.

• The first reading debate can be watched here
• Info about the bill can be found here
• The bill itself can be read here
• Find out how to make a submission

RNZ’s The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament’s Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Te Pāti Māori MP and the youngest New Zealand politician, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, has decided against attending an International Monetary Fund event in Washington DC due to global events and the struggle for people at home to pay for fuel.

She said she was honoured to be part of the event, but “that’s not where our priorities are at the moment”.

Maipi-Clarke was invited to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Young Global Parliamentarians Initiative, bringing together 12 young legislators from around the world.

It would look at redefining the relationship between parliaments and global economic institutions.

Maipi-Clarke had planned to attend but questioned how she could travel internationally knowing communities in New Zealand “can’t even afford to get down the road” with fuel prices as they were.

“It’s exciting that we’re having these conversations around what does stabilising our economies can look like, specifically for indigenous peoples, but right now, we have to be really real with ourselves.

“It’s often that indigenous peoples are the sacrifice to global economies, whether that be their resources, their land, their whenua, and often their labour,” she said.

What was going on in Iran and around the world, and how it was impacting fuel prices made her think twice.

Instead of travelling, she hosted an event in partnership with ANZ Bank for wāhine māori who owned small businesses on how they could get better resources and grow the Māori economy.

“Before we go to that international scale, I think we need to really focus on here at home, and so that’s been a really cool kaupapa to start and ignite,” she said.

Te Pāti Māori had been calling for “urgent key necessities” to be considered by the government to intervene now.

She said the party had looked at what previous governments had done in times of crisis, suggesting things like “freezing the RUCs, reducing GST off fuel, taking tax off fuel”, and also providing free transport and subsidies for rural communities and essential workers.

“Just some short term things that we could assist with right now, rather than $50,” she said, in reference to the government’s move to provide an extra $50 a week for low-to-middle-income workers with children.

This week the government also increased mileage rates for home and community support workers.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The fuel crisis has left a feeling of anxiety among Māori communities who do not know how much fuel is in their rohe, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.

Ngarewa-Packer, the party’s energy spokesperson, sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Mata host Mihingarangi Forbes and said while tikanga-led covid-19 responses proved Māori were resilient, planning a response for the fuel crisis was difficult without the most up to date information.

She said that was particularly evident in her rohe of Te Tai Hauāuru.

“We have large rural communities that don’t have public transport. We have pockets of hauora, pockets of main hospitals where whānau have to travel to for treatment to even see GPs.

“We have whānau that have to transport their tamariki to kura because there aren’t buses available. Day to day living here is extremely reliant on the ability to mobilise…. at the same time, we have a large proportion of our community, especially that have been wanting to transition away from fossils, who have been fighting seabed mining for years and have been pushing for alternative solutions in our infrastructure – they’re not seeing the alternative solutions coming.”

Ngarewa-Packer sent a letter to the government requesting a cross-party committee on energy security and cost of living mitigation – a letter she said was ignored.

“A couple of days after, MBIE reached out and the Prime Minister’s Office reached out to give us a brief on what it is that they know we’re doing, but, of course, it’s not in real time,” she said.

“Even the data that we get on the supply of fuel… Monday’s data was from Wednesday midnight [and] yesterday’s data was from Sunday so it was lip service.”

She said the committee would have been a chance for the government to put aside their political differences and come up with proactive and pre-emptive responses to the crisis.

“What’s really concerning is that this is a government that hasn’t had a great relationship with Māori, with our communities, and has created some real harm.

“What it would look like is an inclusive response and that’s what we’re really pushing for and just get over each other’s politics and actually think about our communities that are going to be hurt the most.”

Ngarewa-Packer said whānau in the region should begin their rationing fuel on their own.

“We should be applying our own manāki, our own rangatiratanga and mana motuhake in how we do this.

“I’m seeing it already, our kura and our sports are using vans to pick up everyone. I’m seeing some of our local iwi are now set up ability to work in different pods and offices within their own communities so they don’t need to travel. I’m seeing thinking and planning being done to be able to identify vulnerable people, including our kaumātua, to be able to get their groceries and things.

“That’s really easing in and understanding it and starting that community thinking. When you live collectively and you think collectively, you plan differently. I don’t think the government is doing that.”

The full interview is available on the RNZ website and on Youtube.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Racing Minister Winston Peters is welcoming the passing of legislation which will end greyhound racing in August.

The Racing Industry Amendment passed its third and final reading with “overwhelming” cross-party support, Peters said.

“This action wasn’t taken lightly, but independent reviews in 2013, 2017 and 2021 provided clear evidence of serious animal welfare concerns.

“While improvements were made, those gains plateaued and injury/death rates remained unacceptably high to the point the sport had lost its social licence. Action had to be taken,” Peters said.

A transition agency had been set up to help with transitioning the dogs once the racing ends in August.

“The passing of this Bill enables the establishment of a transition agency to oversee the wind‑down of racing and the rehoming of dogs, and we are now moving into the formal setup phase.”

The transition agency would be headed by the current members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on greyhound racing, Heather Simpson (chairperson), Murray Johnson and Dr Lindsay Burton, with a fourth member to be appointed later.

Key elements of the transition agency’s work included:

• Assistance for greyhound owners, to ensure dogs receive a high standard of care while awaiting rehoming, including housing, training and behavioural support for the dogs.
• Partnerships with existing rehoming agencies, with practical support in place to expand their rehoming capacity and the number of dogs adopted.
• Retraining and redeployment support for industry workers, delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development, to help affected workers move into new jobs.
• Mental health and wellbeing support services for people whose daily lives have been closely tied to greyhound racing.

Peters said the people involved in greyhound racing and the dogs would not be abandoned during the closure.

“This Bill underpins a structured transition, with funding, agencies, and support mechanisms in place. We are not walking away from our responsibilities; we are meeting them head on.”

The ban on greyhound racing would take effect from 1 August, allowing time for a responsible and carefully managed transition.

“This is a good day for greyhounds,” Peters said.

“It’s a rare moment when Parliament speaks with such a strong majority, principled voice. Those moments matter, and this is one of them.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis: Christopher Luxon’s Cabinet reshuffle made two things very clear on Thursday.

Firstly, that the Prime Minister doesn’t trust one of his most competent ministers enough to leave him in charge of his party’s election campaign.

And secondly, he’s become aware New Zealand First and Act are doing a better job of winning over the rural vote.

Those two realisations resulted in Chris Bishop being unceremoniously dumped as campaign chair just seven months out from the election, and first-term MP – the relatively unknown Wairarapa farmer Mike Butterick – being thrust into a ministerial role.

Luxon seemed surprised that his ditching Bishop for Simeon Brown as campaign chair would be a talking point.

Asked for the rationale he pointed to the “workload” Bishop was under.

While Bishop is one of the busiest ministers in Cabinet, that was also the case when he was given the role of campaign chair in the first place.

When RNZ asked Luxon who was busier, Bishop or Brown, the prime minister’s workload rationale crumbled when he declared they were both busy.

He’s right, while Bishop is in charge of housing, transport, RMA reform and infrastructure, Brown has the thankless job of being Health Minister and now has energy – one of the biggest issues in town – on his plate.

It’s a nonsense to say Brown has more time for campaign chair, but Luxon is hardly going to say he’s moving Bishop aside because he’s sceptical of how supportive the Hutt South MP is of his leadership.

Bishop has had a demotion target on his back ever since rumours swirled at the end of last year that he was considering making a move for the leadership.

It was his former staffer, friend, and ministerial colleague James Meager speculated to have been doing the numbers for him, and as a result has suffered a similar fate to Bishop and been overlooked for a move into Cabinet.

Brown is a political animal and is a good alternative pick for campaign chair, especially when you pair it with his energy portfolio that is bound to be a big election issue.

National was able to form a government in 2023 under Bishop, so the pressure is on Brown to pull off the same result.

That’s no easy ask when the party is polling around 29-31 percent and with a leader who has favourability wallowing in the negatives.

As for the meteoric rise of Butterick, that was the ministerial promotion nobody saw coming.

Butterick is a farmer through and through, he calls a spade a spade, and talks to everyday New Zealanders in a way many ministers could only dream of.

New Zealand First and Act have been steadily working away on the rural vote in recent years and National has clearly clocked it needs to up its presence in that regard.

Luxon will be hoping by giving an MP like Butterick a public profile as a minister outside of Cabinet it will show the farming community he’s taking their vote seriously.

One of the other surprising Luxon calls on Thursday was the decision to promote Penny Simmonds into Cabinet.

This is the same minister who was stripped of the Disability Issues portfolio in January 2024 after bungling funding changes in the first five months in the job.

Simmonds does hail from the South Island and with Cabinet short on representation from that part of the country it’s possible it went a long way toward her promotion.

Any reshuffle leaves MPs a mixture of disappointed, surprised, and elated – and don’t forget the ministerial staffers waiting to find out if they still have a job.

The long Easter weekend will provide time for wounds to be licked and celebrations to be had – the last minute passing of public holiday alcohol laws couldn’t have come at a better time.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds have been promoted to Cabinet, as the prime minister reshuffles his ministerial lineup.

The reshuffle also sees first-term MPs Cameron Brewer and Mike Butterick made ministers outside Cabinet.

The changes were necessitated by the upcoming retirement of Judith Collins, as well as Dr Shane Reti’s decision to stand down at the election.

Collins’ defence, space, and GCSB and NZSIS portfolios have been given to Penk, Paul Goldsmith takes on responsibility for the public service and digitising government, and Chris Bishop picks up the attorney-general role.

Bishop’s position as Leader of the House has been given to Louise Upston.

Bishop, who was also National’s campaign chair, was widely tipped to lose some ministerial portfolios to ease his workload to free him up for the campaign. Instead, it is the role of campaign chair that he has had to relinquish, to Simeon Brown.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Bishop had a “massive workload” with housing, transport, infrastructure, RMA reform, and his new attorney-general role, and losing the campaign chair was a consequence of that.

Luxon said the two had a “very positive conversation” and he “absolutely” trusted Bishop.

“He’s key to our team, he’s a critical part of our senior leadership group,” he said.

Luxon denied it was anything to do with rumours Bishop was running the numbers against him last year.

“I think you’re really overthinking this,” Luxon said.

He said Brown was equally capable of chairing the campaign, as part of his “brains trust” which included Bishop, Upston, Goldsmith, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

Simmonds takes up Reti’s science, innovation, and technology portfolio, and his universities role has been disestablished to make Simmonds the minister for tertiary education.

She had previously been minister for vocational education, as well as environment. The latter has been given to Nicola Grigg, who remains outside Cabinet.

Goldsmith also becomes the new minister for Pacific Peoples, with Luxon admitting National did not have Pacific representation.

“I freely admit we don’t have a Pasifika person in our National Party team and in our Cabinet. That’s something that we’re working very hard on. As I’ve said to you before, we need to make sure we continue to work as we go to 2026 on the campaign on getting great candidates from the Pasifika world.”

Brewer, who has been chairing Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee (a weighty role which often leads to a ministerial promotion) has been made minister of commerce and consumer affairs and minister for small business and manufacturing, while Butterick will become minister for land information.

Luxon said he wanted to make a “super small business minister” role by giving Brewer the two roles, while Butterick was a “natural leader” of National’s rural MPs.

Brewer would also take over supermarket reforms, as the previous Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Scott Simpson had a conflict which had led to Willis taking responsibility.

Other changes include Brown picking up the energy portfolio from Simon Watts, who in turn takes over Brown’s minister for Auckland role.

Luxon said the past few weeks had underlined how important energy security was, and so was giving the role to a “senior” minister.

He said he had not lost confidence in Watts.

Luxon acknowledged Collins and Reti’s departures.

“New Zealand is better for Judith and Shane deciding to enter public service and I am grateful to count them both as friends. On behalf of the government and the National Party, I wish them all the best for their futures outside Parliament.”

Matt Doocey remains in Cabinet, and has not picked up any portfolios other than his existing mental health role.

He had been the sole South Island representative in Cabinet, but that has now doubled with Simmonds’ addition.

The changes come into effect on Tuesday, 7 April.

Luxon had not reshuffled his lineup since January 2025, other than to promote Scott Simpson to a role outside Cabinet following Andrew Bayly’s resignation.

The reshuffle applies to National Party ministers only, meaning ACT’s Brooke van Velden will continue in her portfolios despite her decision to retire from Parliament at the election.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds have been promoted to Cabinet, as the prime minister reshuffles his ministerial lineup.

The reshuffle also sees first-term MPs Cameron Brewer and Mike Butterick made ministers outside Cabinet.

The changes were necessitated by the upcoming retirement of Judith Collins, as well as Dr Shane Reti’s decision to stand down at the election.

Collins’ defence, space, and GCSB and NZSIS portfolios have been given to Penk, Paul Goldsmith takes on responsibility for the public service and digitising government, and Chris Bishop picks up the Attorney-General role.

Bishop’s position as Leader of the House has been given to Louise Upston.

Simmonds takes up Reti’s science, innovation, and technology portfolio, and his universities role has been disestablished to make Simmonds the minister for tertiary education.

She had previously been minister for vocational education, as well as environment. The latter has been given to Nicola Grigg, who remains outside Cabinet.

Brewer, who has been chairing Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee (a weighty role which often leads to a ministerial promotion) has been made minister of commerce and consumer affairs and minister for small business and manufacturing, while Butterick will become minister for Land Information.

Other changes include Simeon Brown picking up the energy portfolio from Simon Watts, who in turn takes over Brown’s minister for Auckland role.

Prime minister Christopher Luxon said the past few weeks had underline how important energy security was, and so was giving the role to a “senior” minister.

Luxon acknowledged Collins and Reti’s departures.

“New Zealand is better for Judith and Shane deciding to enter public service and I am grateful to count them both as friends. On behalf of the government and the National Party, I wish them all the best for their futures outside Parliament.”

The changes come into effect on Tuesday, 7 April.

Luxon had not reshuffled his lineup since January 2025, other than to promote Scott Simpson to a role outside Cabinet following Andrew Bayly’s resignation.

The reshuffle applies to National Party ministers only, meaning ACT’s Brooke van Velden will continue in her portfolios despite her decision to retire from Parliament at the election.

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