Dawn Chorus for Monday, January 22

We already work at much higher rates than other developed economies and the focus on ‘more, faster, longer’ drags on our productivity and ignores the positive results from unpaid and volunteer work and the need for rest and leisure. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

TL;DR: The business of Government for 2024 resumes in earnest today with the first Cabinet meeting of the year for the new National-ACT-NZ First coalition, in which it will vow to ‘hustle’ through the rest of its 100-day plan.

In my view, the rhetoric of ‘hustle’ and simply pushing to have more people working harder for longer hours is redolent of what is wrong with New Zealand Inc and the approaches of both flavours of Governments in recent decades.

The priority on more and faster is distracting us all from the much more important task of investing to lift meaningful output per hour worked, and therefore real wages, to allow more time and space for leisure and creating stronger communities.

Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy and beyond at 6 am:

• More than 12,000 people gathered at Turangawaewae Marae near Ngaruawahia over the weekend to protest the new Government’s moves to re-examine Te Tiriti principles and downgrade Te Reo in official communications. A draft of ACT’s Treaty Principals Bill leaked on Friday night and fueled calls for political and legal action. 1News Te Aniwa Hurihanganui

• An official briefing on Auckland’s maternity services told ministers last year that “by 2024 there will be insufficient maternity beds to meet demand, which created “an increased risk that women will give birth in an unsuitable and unsafe environment.” NZ Herald-$$$ Nicholas Jones

• Officials calculated the new Government’s removal of the Clean Car Discount scheme on January 1 would create costs for taxpayers double that of the savings over the long run. RNZ Eloise Gibson.

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The problem with NZ Inc’s work-driven ‘hustle’ approach