Monday's pick o' the links:
Treasury's 'Wellbeing analysis' that prefers lower interest rates to lower emissions; Labour's 'Putinesque' childrens' oversight law; Scoop of the day; A pointless Wellington jobs plan; The Craic
TLDR: Here’s a few useful links I’ve spotted between 4am and 8am this morning for paid subscribers, including fresh criticism of the Government’s support for MSD over the Childrens’ commissioner, a cracking scoop on the Gambling Commissioner and a few profundities in chart form.
In Aotearoa’s political economy, business, finance and markets
Wellbeing analysis? - National has accused the Labour Government of spending half a billion more on climate change projects, than Treasury advised, Isobel Ewing reports for Newshub
So what? - Treasury talks a good game on wellbeing analysis and using an actuarial approach to assessing budget decisions, but always seems to default to spending less on the climate for short term reasons, usually related to sticking to the 30/30 rule.
Infrastructure deficits - There’s alarm in Taranaki over ambulance shortages, Catherine Groenestein reports for Stuff.
“I’ve heard from people there have sometimes only been three crews on because they didn’t have the crews available for whatever reason. They’re not telling the public there are only three ambulances serving the whole province at times,” he said.
“You imagine four ambulances for a region the size of Taranaki and, at times, only three on the road. That’s not providing a service.” Recently retired St John paramedic Brian Story via Stuff.
The bottom line? - Decades of under-investment in public health, education, transport and housing infrastructure is coming home to roost in yet more pressure on that already-stressed infrastructure. It’s the inevitable result of the adherence to the 30/30 rule come hell or high water. All for the sake of continued low interest rates and high house prices.
A captured Cabinet - The Government’s destruction of at least some of its political capital over its much-loathed childrens’ oversight bill last week is puzzling. It has alienated what should be its strongest supporters. This piece titled, ‘The 'muzzling' of the Children's Commissioner’, from Michelle Duff in the Sunday Star Times is an excellent summary. It appears from a distance MSD have captured the Government.
An analysis of this and other documents that informed a controversial bill passed last week paint a picture of a Government with a singular intent. It meant to propose a law it knew would be widely unpopular, including with survivors of abuse in state care, and then forge ahead in the face of unanimous political opposition.
At this point, whether the OT oversight bill will usher in a better, more comprehensive era of child protection system monitoring is almost a moot point. The path the legislation has taken and its passing last week was re-traumatising for many. Michelle Duff in the Sunday Star Times
This quote from Professor Jonathan Boston, the chair of Victoria University’s School of Government, is particularly apt (bolding mine).
“It’s Putinesque. It’s hard to read what’s happened in relation to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner without the sense that a powerful voice was inconvenient for the government. That clearly led to an initiative to mute it.
“If you respond negatively to criticism by a crown entity and essentially mute that entity, that’s consistent with what Vladimir Putin would do. You hear criticism of yourself, you don’t like it, and you get rid of it. It is seriously concerning.”
100,000 houses too? - The Wellington Region’s Economic Development Agency released a plan this morning (which the Dominion Post led with) to create 100,000 high paid jobs over the next 30 years. It all looks fine at first glance, but I can’t see any mention of how these 100,000 people might be housed. They won’t come or stay with the current rents and prices.
The long-term focus is on job creation and improving quality of life. According to the plan, the Wellington region needs 100,000 decent jobs over the next 30 years to match the forecast population increase.
Tourism is another focus industry. The plan aims to create “iconic” attractions by supporting three existing projects: The Porirua Adventure Park, Wairarapa Dark Skies and Wairarapa Five Towns Trail Network.
There’s also a plan to give the region a solid foundation through four key enablers: Māori economic development, skills and education, water security and resilient infrastructure.
This is all pointless without housing and Wellington’s record is awful.
Just briefly:
Summerset buys 14ha in Rotorua for new 270-home retirement village Stuff
In geo-politics, the global economy, business, finance and markets
(Car) electricity bill - This looks like a clever idea in that it solves the up-front capital cost issue using the state’s balance sheet to reduce the financing costs. France is preparing a €100/month electric-car leasing plan, Bloomberg reports.
Jarden’s trouble in Australia - The Australian-$$$ reports again on the troubles Jarden is having in Australia, with the latest chatter around whole teams looking to jump ship.
The intense focus on Jarden comes amid tension between the New Zealand head office and the Australian offshoot, which started over bonus payments earlier this year with a staff backlash after those at the top suggested senior people take large chunks of stock instead of cash to align their commitment with that of the business.
Lactose Free A2? - The Australian-$$$ also reports A2 is looking to spend $120m on a pivot to lactose-free milk products.
Scoop of the day
Andrea Vance had another cracker that buried in the Sunday Star Times and on Stuff a bit yesterday. There is a big WTF vibe with this one.
The Chief Gambling Commissioner Lisa Hansen demanded an immediate halt to the country’s vaccination programme, citing wildly inaccurate claims about nanotechnology in Covid-19 jabs.
The Commission decides on casino licensing applications, and hears appeals against regulatory and licensing decisions made by the Department of Internal Affairs.
Hansen is also a lawyer for anti-vaccination groups Voices for Freedom and New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science (NZDSOS).
In January, she wrote a letter to Cabinet Ministers and medicines regulator Medsafe, claiming to offer ‘evidence’ that vials of the Pfizer vaccine contained “nano-scale advanced technology.” The claims were emphatically debunked by leading scientists, including nanotechnologist Michelle Dickinson.
Cartoon of the day
Useful longer reads
Profundities, spookies, curiosities and feel-goods
The Craic
Ka kite ano
Bernard
Do you have a link to that Wellington economic development plan? The DomPost/Stuff article doesn't, and I haven't so far found it on the WellingtonNZ site, or with general Google searches.