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NZNE Newsletter #17 for Sunday, March 12th, 2023

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National proposes more childcare funding

Chris Luxon announced a tax rebate for early childhood education, on top of Labour’s increased support. Luxon says he will save the full cost and more of the new program by reducing Government spend on consultants.

Bias in the public service

Head of Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) Rob Campbell spoke out strongly and is gone, but there are many others with similar thinking in the public service. Elected officials coming up against an ideologically mismatched public service makes it difficult to get things done. Dr Oliver Hartwich of the NZ Initiative is calling for a ‘reboot’ of the public service.

Labour backtracks on idealistic transport funding plans

An OIA request revealed Labour was set to pour billions into transport with “emissions reductions” as top priority. However, the Government backtracked after the Opposition pointed out the priority in the plan was for bus lanes and cycleways over fixing potholes. The Government said Cyclone Gabrielle had forced a rethink and reducing emissions is no longer the priority.

Why is separate cyclone relief money given to Māori?

The Government divvies out cyclone relief money according to race. Willie Jackson justifies the separate pay outs because he says a history of racism has left Māori amongst the poorest. Jackson’s own portfolio gets the lion’s share. Is this a wise, fair, or efficient way to distribute relief?

The curious case of global excess deaths: Part 2

There are fierce debates overseas on excess deaths, which are occurring in many countries, but mum’s the word in New Zealand. Many countries with high excess deaths also had high rates of both COVID and the vaccine. New Zealand is different than much of the world as it was largely vaccinated before COVID took hold.

Local government is yet another long standing institution that Labour feels needs a Treaty-based reboot

This is another grandiose ideological change proposed by Labour, very akin to 3 Waters. The draft review has a lot of nice words, like “wellness”, but these are hard to convert into practical steps that local governments can action. Is co-governance really the driving force?

Don't trust everything you see. Salt looks like sugar.
-Anonymous

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