TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:
Decades of underfunding, a botched organisational reform, massive emigration of skilled staff to Australia, Covid and the usual winter flu cases have morphed into a systemic crisis in the health system, which is overwhelming a new Government still thinking too much is spent on health and not enough given back in tax cuts;
Our economy is a housing market with bits tacked on and now our political economy is too, with property business owners and building materials firms dominating donations to the coalition parties against capital gains taxes;
In solutions news, South Auckland’s politicians are rightly calling for some urban regeneration help from Eke Panuku after its population doubled since the creation of the ‘Super City’;
In my chart of the day, more than $2.5 million in donations to National, ACT and NZ First from property businesses and a building materials magnate dominated the explosion in political donation declarations in the last couple of years;
In my quote of the day, local pharmacists report customers picking up their prescriptions for free from Chemist Warehouse since the July 1 reintroduction of the $5 fee to pick up prescriptions, and then coming to them for advice; and,
In my climate graphic of the day, a massive heatwave is set to sweep over Antarctica in the next week.
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Top Six Things to note on Tuesday, July 30:
1. Systemic health crisis breaking all over the Government
It’s been a tough winter for everyone in the economy and for the Government, but it’s the wider health system where the pressure is increasingly intense. In some parts, the system is breaking down and the political fallout is raining down on the Government. That’s thanks to decades of under-funding relative to an ageing and fast-growing population and health costs growing faster than other costs worldwide. The previous Labour Government’s massive restructure of DHBs and staff losses to Australia over the last 18 months have been the final straws.
Just watch last night’s post-Cabinet news conference from 10 minutes onwards in this video to get a sense of the intensity of the pressure and the way a system of hospital, GP and specialist staffing shortages along with ageing facilities is cascading into a series of crises.
Both National and Labour have fought for decades to contain health spending to ensure the size of Government has stayed at or below 30%, which has pushed the system close to the brink. Covid and the Government’s latest cuts in per-capita and real terms have combined with the creation of Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ into a perfect storm.
Just in the last 48 hours, here’s a sample of the signs of crisis and collapse, dominated by yesterday’s scoop from RNZ’s Ruth Hill that from Dargaville Hospital that patients turning up to A&E at night were having to use telehealth because there were no doctors. But it’s just one symptom of the stress. Others include:
80% of GPs closed their books to new patients at some point in 2019-22: Vic Uni’s Jackie Cumming via The Conversation
Community pharmacists afraid for future of business and patient care RNZ’s Louise Ternouth
The effects of doctor shortages through the eyes of practitioners and patients RNZ Checkpoint
Man not told of suspected cancer for four months RNZ
Patients travelling hours amid doctor shortage, mayor says RNZ
GP shortage at critical level and fees are set to rise NZ Herald’s Wynsley Wrigley
2: First it was our economy. Now it’s our politics.
Donations to parties against taxing capital gains dominate politics now
I’ve half-joked for years that Aotearoa’s economy has become a housing market-with-bits-tacked on for an economy. Now it’s clear that economic domination has translated into a domination of funding for our political parties, and especially for those three coalition parties opposed to taxing capital gains on property.
This deep dive analysis by RNZ’s Farah Hancock yesterday titled: ‘Why New Zealand political donations have more than tripled’ makes for essential and startling reading. The chart of the day below tells the overall story.
The property-owning and building materials industry dominate in the last three years of donations, with property business owners and a family-owned windows business responsible for more than $2.5 million in donations to National, ACT and NZ First on their own. This chart tells that story in particular.
Meanwhile, the the housing crisis thunders on and into the rest of the economy and society, as these news items about the fallout into the Army and hotel sectors today show:
Call for independent review into Defence Force housing RNZ
Campaign launched as images show 'horrendous' state of NZDF housing. A military advocate has described the living conditions in Defence Force homes as a "national disgrace", launching a campaign calling on the Government to respond. 1News
People being kept in prison for lack of safe addresses to be bailed to RNZ’s Soumya Bhamidipati
Queenstown tourism operators 'buy hotels to house workers' as housing crisis hits hard, with homeless list rising over 1,300 NZ Herald
3. Solutions News: ‘Let’s urbanise South Auckland’
Torika Tokalau from Local Democracy Reporting has a great piece this morning via 1News on Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor Angela Dalton’s call for South Auckland sites to be included in Eke Panuku’s Urban Regeneration Future Programme.
"Be prepared to pitch," Dalton told the Papakura Local Board.
"One of the driving criteria is that there is council-owned or central-owned land available so they can sell it and reinvest. Papakura doesn't have much land. Manurewa does, it has more council-owned assets than it can probably leverage off."
"Papakura, in the Unitary Plan, is a metropolitan centre and I think it deserves to have some sort of attention into how it can get to that stage."
She said Papakura's population had nearly doubled since the Super City, and the local board needed to start thinking of how it would care for them and what its town centre would look like.
Second that.
4. Chart of the day
Land owners just bought our democracy
5. Quote of the day
Patients pick up pills from Chemist Warehouse, but ask for help from local pharmacists
"They feel embarrassed they ask us, and they say, 'I'm so sorry I didn't come to you because, you know, it's free there but the pharmacist was too busy to explain anything to me, ' or 'I asked the shopper staff, but they had no clue'." Owner of Liddells Pharmacy in Pukekohe Bahareh Javadian via RNZ’s Louise Ternouth
6. Climate chart/graphic/pic of the day
The heatwave spreading over Antarctica this week
The best of the rest
Links to news and opinion elsewhere
Here’s my Pick ‘n’ Mix for Tuesday, July 30 of the top six news, analysis, deep-dive and opinion links elsewhere:
News: Growing mistrust in law enforcement amidst long police wait times in Northland NZ Herald’s Avneesh Vincent
Deep Dive: How the Interislander ferry business could be removed from KiwiRail NZ Herald’s Georgina Campbell
Scoop: Police investigations into family harm drop, Minister briefed ‘threat to life’ possible NZ Herald’s Sophie Trigger
Deep Dive Flood protection planned for Wairoa decades ago never got off ground. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council said stopbank proposal never progressed because the community couldn’t afford it. Stuff’s Marty Sharpe
Op-Ed in Stuff by Nelson immigration law associate Elly Fleming: ‘Right when a myriad of complex changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme are being rolled out, Immigration NZ systems have been failing.’
Deep Dive: Revealed: the impact of New Zealand’s changes to policies affecting Māori. Guardian analysis of changes in six key policy areas explains the coalition’s rationale for the shifts and provides expert views on how they will impact Māori Eva Corlett and Jamie Tahana
Our Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 30
These are the top six announcements, reports, news conferences, statistics & surveys in the last day to 9:00 am on July 30:
Economy: Stats NZ reported filled jobs fell 0.1% or 1,766 to 2.38 million in June from May, with the previous two months figures revised lower from being flat or up to being down. Jobs fell the most in June in Wellington (1,430) and rose the most in Canterbury (2,410), while filled jobs for workers under 30 fell 30,517 over the last year and filled jobs for those aged 30 to 40 rose by 25,236. Notes and reports on the data: Westpac, BNZ
Climate: US insurance ratings service AM Best reported US insurers suffered US$15.2 billion underwriting losses in 2023, more than double the losses seen in in 2022 and the worst this century (US$14.8 billion wass the next worst in 2011). Notes and news reports on the data: Artemis, FT-$$$,
Housing: The Public Health Communication Centre urged the Government to retain new Building Code insulation standards introduced in 2023, saying that MBIE advice finds buildings under the 2023 Code will need 40% less heating than older homes. Building Minister Chris Penk asked MBIE to work towards rolling the standards back. Notes and news reports on the research: RNZ
Climate: After years of calls for him to go, Hawke's Bay's Civil Defence group controller Ian Macdonald has resigned, Hawkes Bay Regional Council CEO Nic Peet said via RNZ
Housing: New campaign group Mission Homefront called for NZ Defence Force soldiers and their families to share stories about inadequate housing, pay, and working conditions. Leader Erin Speedy described family members suffering recurring illnesses because their NZDF-supplied homes were mouldy. News and reports: RNZ, 1News
Poverty: Financial Services Complaints, a Financial Ombudsman service, announced a record number of complaints in the past year, with most over personal loans. News and reports: Stuff, NZ Herald
And finally, some fun things
Cartoon of the day
Timeline-cleansing nature pic
Mā te wa
Bernard
The day our health system crumbled