Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, November 13:
The Lead: The Government and Opposition apologised yesterday for the abuse of hundreds of thousands of children in state care over decades. But PM Christopher Luxon allocated just $32 million extra for redress, for now, and he rejected calls to sack Solicitor General Una Jagose, who admitted aggressively blocking attempts by the abused to win compensation while at Crown Law.
Scoops: The ugly underbelly of migrant abuse is exposed in a blatant case of residency-selling and the Government is looking at exempting the NZ Super Fund from paying taxes.
Deep-dive: Oil and gas companies are flaring and venting much more methane than they admit, right next to where the COP29 summit is being held.
Solutions: Western Australia is moving ahead with plans to build the world’s biggest solar farm on its south coast, at the same latitude as Auckland.
Editorial Opinion: An employment lawyer says survivors of abuse should be considered for compensation of over $5 million each.
Chart: Retail spending per capita is bottoming out, but is 12% below 2019 levels.
(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 Lead: Una Jagose booed as she apologised
Victims of state abuse call on Solicitor General to resign
Just six months ago, Attorney General Judith Collins reappointed Solicitor General Una Jagose for another two-year term. Collins and PM Christopher Luxon again expressed their confidence in her yesterday, moments before apologising for decades of abuse in state care and promising to stop it happening again.
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