TLDR or TLDL: Both the Government and Auckland Council are choosing not to borrow to spend on improving child wellbeing and addressing climate change because they’re more worried about slightly higher interest rates and keeping a good credit rating in the short term than maximising wellbeing in the long run through making those long term investments.
News in our political economy
Wellbeing Budget? The Government decided in the Budget not to fulfill its $210m election promise to increase grants for emergency dental care from $300 to $1000 and to add an extra 20 mobile dental clinics for remote areas because the money was needed to fund the DHB restructure. (Newshub)
Again, the Government chose slightly lower financial debt and slightly lower interest rates over action to reduce a long term health and financial liability. Where is the wellbeing analysis of money not spent on reducing these long term liabilities?
Climate Emergency? Auckland Council decided on a 5% rates hike this year, but also decided to spend on half the recommended amount on measures to reduce climate emissions (Stuff). Effectively, the Council decided not to borrow more and protect its AA credit rating instead of increase its climate and transport infrastructure spending by more.
National health crisis? A senior cancer doctor at the Waikato District Health Board told the NZ Herald the cyber attack that took out the DHB’s IT systems last Tuesday meant cancer patients may have to be flown to Australia to be treated. The doctor described the situation as a national crisis and much worse than the DHB was making out. Completely reforming our DHB system and pulling together a multitude of IT systems while dealing with Covid-19 and decades of under-investment will be difficult for the Government in the next two years before the election.
Mid-2022 reopening? US airlines have begun selling tickets to New Zealand for flights in early 2022. (Stuff) That tallies with our Budget’s assumption of a fuller reopening of the borders from the beginning of 2022 and the Australian Budget’s mid-2022 forecast. The Australian reopening will be the most important because we are effectively tied to their timeframes, given most travellers to New Zealand bounce on through Australia and our Trans-Tasman bubble means Australia will effectively hold a veto of our opening. Australia’s vaccination programme is in more trouble than ours, given it relies largely on the troubled AstraZeneca vaccine being produced in Melbourne. We both need to get to herd immunity of around 70% before reopening and most vaccinating countries are struggling to get much above 60%.
The end of local oil refining Refining NZ and Z Energy announced a final deal yesterday that will end oil refining at Marsden Point. This is a big deal for New Zealand’s energy independence and in strategic terms and has passed with little debate or any Government intervention. Australia’s Federal Government announced earlier this month it would pay up to A$2.3b to keep its last two oil refineries open and protect the country’s fuel security. (Reuters)
Briefly elsewhere in our political economy
News in the global political economy
Covid news The US Government warned Americans against traveling to Japan because of a widening Covid-19 outbreak. Moderna said its vaccine was safe to be given to 12-17 year olds. Bloomberg’s Resilience ranking put New Zealand back at number one after Singapore’s latest Covid outbreak.
Threads worth unravelling
Table of the day
Dawn chorus: Dental promise fail