Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, November 18:
The News: PM Christopher Luxon met President Xi Jinping for the first time over the weekend on the fringes of the APEC summit in Peru and said Xi had warned him against joining AUKUS, but Luxon said Xi’s view on any trade impacts ‘wasn’t a consideration’ in the decision. RNZ
In my view: Former PM Jenny Shipley speaks for many in the National party worried that David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill now before Parliament risks ‘inviting civil war.’ RNZ
Scoop: Health NZ’s abrupt cancellation of a major IT upgrade to save money meant just one of its 15 service improvements planned was completed, RNZ’s Phil Pennington reports for RNZ from official documents.
Deep-dive: Budget cuts are deepening the damage from existing injustices and poverty, The Sunday Star Times’ Sapeer Mayron reports.
Solutions: A bowel cancer screening programme in Northland picks up 89 cases. RNZ
Editorial Opinion: Helmut Modlik describes what the Treaty Principles bill would do to our constitutional arrangements.
(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing.)
1. The News: Xi warns Luxon over Aukus
PM Christopher Luxon met President Xi Jinping for the first time in Peru on the fringes of APEC over the weekend. Luxon said Xi expressed concern about New Zealand joining AUKUS, but the PM said any effects on trade with NZ’s largest trading partner ‘was not a consideration’
Trade & security: Xi tells Luxon China is a partner, not a threat during face-to-face meeting RNZ’s Jo Moir
News elsewhere:
Housing: Number of emergency housing applications denied rises RNZ’s Susan Edmunds
2. In my view: A National Party grandee speaks
In my view, there’s clearly some very concerned senior figures in the National Party ahead of the arrival of 30,000 protestors at Parliament in Tuesday’s Hikoi, including Chris Finlayson last week and Jenny Shipley in an interview on RNZ’s Saturday morning.
Here’s the gist of her comments:
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