The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 17

Seymour instructs Pharmac to stop trying to embed Te Tiriti across health sector and to consider ‘fiscal impacts’ in its decisions; Brown plans speed camera sign rollout to help drivers avoid tickets

TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Wednesday, July 17 , the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:

1. Simon Watts released the Government’s draft Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), which included proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that were projected to mean Aotearoa achieved its first two emissions reductions budgets.

2. David Seymour instructed Pharmac in his letter of expectations for 2024/25 to stop trying to help embedding Te Tiriti across the health sector and to include the "wider fiscal impact to the whole of government” in its funding decisions. See full video below.

3. Simeon Brown announced the nationwide rollout of new speed camera signs by June 2025 to “give drivers fair warning to slow down to avoid a ticket,” so they could speed up again after passing the camera. See full video below.

4. The Commerce Commission released a statement of unresolved issues for the proposed merger of Foodstuffs North Island & Foodstuff South Island and extended its decision date to October 1.

5. The Public Health Communication Centre warned in a briefing note that antibiotic resistant bacteria were more prevalent in Aotearoa than in other countries where antibiotics were more carefully prescribed, which would especially harm Pasifika and Māori, who currently have the highest overall rates of antibiotic use.

6. The Insurance Council submitted to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee’s Inquiry into Climate Adaptation, calling for the Government to provide "long-term clarity and certainty" on New Zealand’s response to climate change by developing a national climate adaptation model for policy that included decisions over who would pay the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to deal with climate change.

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Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

The Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 17: