Mōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 11 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus and Pick ‘n’ Mix are:
The National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government is set to announce today it will spend $900 million on new ferries to replace the two bigger ones already being built in South Korea for $551 million, but that it cancelled a year ago in an unnecessary panic about spending. The Government is set to argue it will be cheaper for taxpayers overall because it will not include port infrastructure costs, but those costs are expected to be larger in the long run for ferry users because of higher user-pays fees from the ports. Stuff’s Jenna Lynch published the scoop last night, including that Winston Peters is expected to be named as Rail Minister later today.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has released the Government’s formal emissions reductions plan this morning. It relies on unproven and undeveloped carbon sequestration and renewable energy tools such as carbon-capture, hydrogen and biogas. It includes carbon capture, utilisation and storage in the ETS. Initial reports from RNZ’s Eloise Gibson, Newsroom’s Marc Daalder, The Post’s Tom Pullar Strecker, BusinessDesk-$$$’s Greg Hurrell
The Government’s escalating efforts to slash health spending is about to leave hospital IT systems stranded on Windows 2012 operating systems, which doctors and nurses fear will expose them and patients to cyber attacks and equipment failure during operations. The Nelson Mail’s Amy Ridout and RNZ’s Phil Pennington include details in their reports on the risks and implications of over 130 IT projects being cancelled arbitrarily.
Nearly 4,000 vulnerable children face losing wrap-around care provided by Stand Tū Māia after its $21 million contract was cancelled abruptly by Oranga Tamariki under austerity-era instructions to immediate cut spending. The Post’s Andrea Vance reports the charity is set to sue Oranga Tamariki.
A new British book based on University of Glasgow research shows Britain’s austerity programme from 2010 led to a drop in life expectancy there after decades of improvement.
New charts below show how rents rise almost exactly in step with incomes, with almost half of median renters’ incomes consumed by rents, although occasional surges in supply when the usual rules restricting development are broken can soften the link.
(Normally at this point we would have a paywall for free subscribers and only paying subscribers could both listen to the Dawn Chorus podcast above and read the analysis and detail below in the Pick ‘n’ Mix. But during our ‘Gravy Day Fortnight’ until Dec 22, we have opened everything up for all immediately to give everyone a full taste of the public interest journalism your subscription supports. And here’s our ‘Gravy Day Fortnight’ deal until Dec 22.)
The best of the rest
I’m up from 3am daily and read around all sorts of news websites1 to get a sense of what’s happening in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate, both here and overseas2.
Here’s my top six in the pick ‘n’ mix as of 7am on Wednesday, December 11 for all subscribers. The full list for paying subscribers is below the paywall fold (usually):
Top 6 links in Wednesday’s pick ‘n’ mix:
Scoop: Transport & Politics: Government sets aside $900m for smaller Cook Strait ferries than the two cancelled that were to cost $551 million. Winston Peters to be named Rail Minister. Port build cheaper for Government now, but long-run cost to be higher and passed on to port users. Stuff’s Jenna Lynch
Scoop: Health & Austerity: Children’s charity seeks injunction against Oranga Tamariki. Stand Tū Māia had a three-year, $21 million contract to help vulnerable kids and their families cancelled, which it believes is an “egregious breach of good faith”. The Press’ Andrea Vance
Deep-dive: Health & Austerity: ‘People will die’ if IT cuts go ahead. Cuts to Te Whatu Ora’s specialist IT team will put strain on an already under resourced department. The Nelson Mail’s Amy Ridout
Column or Analysis: Economy & Competition: Why the criminal charges against the supermarkets probably won’t mean cheaper prices. Stuff’s Brianna McIlwraith
Op-Ed: Health & Inequality: How the UK’s austerity policies caused life expectancy to fall Gerry McCartney & David Walsh, University of Glasgow
Solutions & good news: Community & Urbanism: South Auckland market celebrates entrepreneurs, ‘Southside pride’ and karaoke RNZ’s Mary Afemata
The full pick ‘n’ mix for for paying subscribers (usually)
Scoops this morning
Abuse in care & Poverty: Furious minister calls ‘please explain’ meeting over Lake Alice payments Newsroom’s David Williams
Health & Justice: Calls for health inquiry into billion dollar Kiwi dietary supplement Newsroom’s Jonathan Milne & Mike Wesley-Smith
Health & Austerity: Govt told Dunedin Hospital redesign too risky — HNZ - ODT’s Matthew Littlewood
Environment & Economy: Second audit finds more consent breaches by Macraes gold mine RNZ’s Farah Hancock
Economy & Politics: Cabinet approves $5m loan to support private buyer of NZ’s biggest ski field Newsroom Pro-$$$’s Andrew Bevin
Housing & Austerity: Progress called for on stalled Dunedin state house build at Port Chalmers ODT-$$$’s Matthew Littlewood
Politics & Wellington: Beehive lobbying ‘deeply problematic’: Wellington mayor. The Post’s Julie Jacobson
Politics & Austerity: Public servants offered support to retire or move to Australia amid job cuts NZ Herald-$$$’s Azaria Howell
News breaking here and overseas this morning
Health & Austerity: Nurses begin rolling strikes RNZ’s Mary Argue
Environment & Politics: Fast-Track projects: Speaker rules no private benefit in list RNZ’s Russell Palmer
Jobs & Politics: 'The government can't step in and save every business': Local MP Louise Upston on Tokoroa’s Save Our Mill RNZ
Te Tiriti & Politics: Poll: More NZers oppose than support Treaty Principles Bill 1News
Economy & Recession: Why Kiwis are staying home for the summer holidays RNZ’s Mahvash Ikram
Transport & Infrastructure: KiwiRail to shut pedestrian access to popular Hutt River bridge RNZ
Deep-dives, features, interviews & explainers
Economy & Politics: Conspiracy theories overwhelm Reserve Bank submissions Newsroom-Pro-$$$’s Andrew Bevin
Geopolitics & Security: ‘We don’t want to live under fear’: Chinese dissidents call for inquiry into foreign interference Stuff’s Bridie Witton
Op-Eds, columns & analysis
Science & Politics: Anne Salmond: Research cuts an own goal Op-Ed by Anne Salmond via Newsroom
Health & Politics: NZ is consulting the public on regulations for puberty blockers – this should be a medical decision not a political one. Rona Carroll, University of Otago
Solutions & good news
Transport & Urbanism: Auckland's Wynyard crossing bridge expected to re-open this week RNZ’s Jessica Hopkins
Economy & Technology: Google says it has cracked a quantum computing challenge with new chip Reuters
Charts du Jour: When wages rises, rents take almost half
As Musical Chairs points out via BlueSky, just under 50% of median earnings of renters in New Zealand are consumed by rent and the relationship is remarkably correlated. But there is hope, because the link was softened in Auckland after the Unitary Plan allowed (some) more densification and in Christchurch from 2013 after the Government broke its own rules about local infrastructure funding by borrowing to pay for it, and by effectively suspending the RMA in the years after the earthquake.
Cartoon du Jour: An inventive mother…
Timeline-cleansing nature pic
Mā te wā
Bernard
Links with -$$$ are to paywalled websites. Some sites have both paywalled and non paywalled articels (The Post/Press currently, the NZ Herald, Newsroom & ODT)
I subscribe to and check FT-$$$,Wall Street Journal−$$$, Bloomberg-$$$,WashingtonPost−$$$, New York Times-$, TheEconomist−$$$, RNZ, 1News, Stuff, The Post-$$$,ThePress−$$$, BusinessDesk-$$$,Politik−$$$, NZ Herald-$$$ & NZ Herald; Interest.co.nz, Newsroom, Newsroom Pro-$$$,AFR−$$$, NBR-$$$ and The Spinoff. The Press is currently not paywalled. I will include gift links where I can (some from the likes of FT-$$$ only work a few times) and if I have any left (Bloomberg-$$$ & NZ Herald-$$$ have limits)
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