Dawn chorus: Pacific jobs probe

Equal Opportunities Commissioner launches her own inquiry into pay and conditions of Pacific people; Auckland Council, with AA credit rating, may shut public toilets and libraries to save money

TLDR: Morena. Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Saunoamaali'i Dr Karanina Sumeo, announced this morning she had launched its own inquiry into the pay and conditions of Pacific people.

The inquiry will look at discrimination against Pacific workers and why it happens. The last time the office launched such an inquiry was when it exposed exploitation in the aged care industry in 2012.

Elsewhere, the global economy is slowing again, with much-weaker-than-expected American jobs growth reported on Saturday. Also, make-or-break talks between Britain and the EU over Brexit on December 31 remain stalled this morning.

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News in our political economy since Friday morning

Stuff @NZStuff

'This is urgent': Fed up employment commissioner launches inquiry in low pay for Pacific workers dlvr.it/Rn5z13

Stuff.co.nz Politics @NZStuffPolitics

Tauranga City Council to be replaced by commissioner

dlvr.itTauranga City Council to be replaced by commissioner​The dysfunctional Tauranga City Council will have a commissioner appointed to run its affairs, the Government has announced.

Stuff.co.nz Politics @NZStuffPolitics

Auckland congestion charge: Parliamentary inquiry to explore what happens next

dlvr.itAuckland congestion charge: Parliamentary inquiry to explore what happens nextPlans to charge drivers $3.50 for entering the CBD in peak hours will be examined in a select committe inquiry.

Thomas Coughlan @coughlthom

The Super Fund is keen to use its public-public model to invest in infrastructure around NZ. They've already approached councils about three waters infra and there's a distant possibility they might get involved in the Waitematā crossing and Tiwai Pt.

stuff.co.nzNZ Super Fund wants to own more infrastructure, from pipes to Tiwai Pt.The NZ Super Fund says its talking to councils about helping them upgrade their water infrastructure - for a fee.

In the global political economy

Reuters Business @ReutersBiz

Explainer: The potential impact of Brexit without a trade deal reut.rs/36OLox4

Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey

Here’s Britain’s Transport Minister announcing that ‘high value business travellers’ won’t have to quarantine when returning to England. Wonder where the cut off is for ‘high value’. Hope the virus knows where the limit is and cooperates with the Minister.

Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP @grantshapps

New Business Traveller exemption: From 4am on Sat 5th Dec high-value business travellers💼will no longer need to self-isolate when returning to ENGLAND from a country NOT in a travel corridor, allowing more travel to support the economy and jobs. Conditions apply.

Josh Chin @joshchin

WSJ SCOOP: The US Department of Justice is negotiating with Huawei on a deal to let Meng Wanzhou go back to China in exchange for a mea culpa

wsj.comWSJ News Exclusive | U.S. in Talks With Huawei Finance Chief Meng Wanzhou About Resolving Criminal ChargesJustice Department is discussing an arrangement that would allow her to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing

Reuters @Reuters

Five worrying takeaways from Friday's U.S. jobs report reut.rs/2Ik8NNC

Sign o’ the times news

The Sydney Morning Herald @smh

Beijing controls Chinese-language media agencies in Australia, says intel agency

smh.com.auBeijing controls Chinese-language media agencies in Australia, says intel agencyThe Office of National Intelligence has confidentially briefed the government that many of Australia’s most popular Chinese-language news outlets have been co-opted by Beijing.

nzherald @nzherald

#REVEALED A five-star hotel in Marlborough has opposed plans to redevelop four state homes into 10 one-bed units — saying they fear for the future of the chateau should it go ahead. nzherald.co.nz/nz/chateau-mar…

The Press Newsroom @PressNewsroom

Plans to regulate Airbnb-style accommodation 'overly complex and onerous', Christchurch Airport says. dlvr.it/Rn5z15

Ben Ross @BenRoss_AKL

Auckland Council could be forced to close playgrounds and public toilets, via @nzherald

nzherald.co.nzAuckland Council could be forced to close playgrounds and public toilets - NZ HeraldThe council has already closed service centres in Birkenhead and Glenfield

Other notable views

BERL @BERLEconomics

The Government’s better-than-expected finances provide the opportunity to go hard and go fast on the most pressing challenges facing 21st century Aotearoa. Or, will they choose the traditional conservative route of “paying down the debt”? berl.co.nz/economic-insig…

Charts of the day

NZ ChiefSciAdvisor @ChiefSciAdvisor

😷 Not your average flu season 😷

Sharon Zollner @sharon_zollner

NZD to push higher, another headwind to recovery in 2021. See our @ANZ_NZ Data Wrap bit.ly/ANZ-DataWrap-2…

My weekend reading and listening

Ruth Graham @publicroad

New from me: When pastor Carl Lentz was fired from the global megachurch Hillsong's New York branch last month, the church cited "moral failures" and he quickly confessed to infidelity. But there's so much more to this story.

nytimes.comThe Rise and Fall of Carl Lentz, the Celebrity Pastor of Hillsong ChurchA charismatic pastor helped build a megachurch favored by star athletes and entertainers — until some temptations became too much to resist.

Saturday Morning @SaturdayRNZ

What Australia can learn from New Zealand @latingle @abc730 on her latest @quarterly_essay

rnz.co.nzWhat Australia can learn from New Zealand: Laura Tingle<p>Australia is not well known for casting envious glances across the Tasman. But what can ‘the lucky country’ learn from us? Laura Tingle is a senior political journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the author of Chasing the Future: Recession, Recovery and the New Politics in A…

Coming up

Mon - Dec 7 - Cabinet meets and post-cabinet news conference due at 4pm

Tues, Dec 8 - Maiden speeches in Parliament
4pm Chris Baillie (Act list)
4.15pm Nicole McKee (Act list)
4.30pm Ricardo Menendez-March (Green Party list)
4.45pm Teanau Tuiono (Green Party list)
5pm Tracey McLellan (Labour, Port Hills)
5.15pm Anna Lorck (Labour, Tukituki)
5.30pm Ayesha Verrall (Labour list)

Dec 8 - Stats NZ releases national population projections: 2020(base)–2073

Dec 9 - Parliament rises for 2020, followed by Press Gallery Party (woohoo!).

Dec 16 - Treasury releases its Half Yearly Fiscal and Economic Update (a full week to recover)

Dec 17 - Stats NZ publishes Sept qtr GDP

Dec 22 - Final cabinet meeting of 2020

Feb 1 - The Climate Change Commission will release its first draft of the national carbon budget under the Zero Carbon Act.

Ngā Mihi

Bernard

PS Thanks to Clara Josephine for her pic today.

Some fun things

Shaun Micallef @shaunmicallef

Thanks to the helpful crew of the HMAS Parramatta for helping me load myself into a torpedo tube and launching me at the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong which the brave men and women of the #ADF detected off the coast of Western Australia. How good is proportionate response!

Ben Golub @ben_golub

h/t @paulgp