NZ Politics Daily - 16 January 2024
Top 15 “NZ Politics Daily” stories today
Below are some of the more interesting and insightful New Zealand politics items from the last 24 hours.
1) With the school year about to start, the Listener has published a cover story by Danyl McLauchlan about what’s going wrong with the New Zealand education system. It’s a must-read article, raising some strong critiques of the curriculum and pedagogy in what some call an “education crisis” – see: School daze: Sweeping changes planned for NZ’s education system (paywalled)
The gist of the piece is to show how the New Zealand education system appeared to be functioning very well two decades ago, especially with students achieving results that were near the top of the world, but since then a number of education reforms have helped push schools into a serious decline.
Here’s an excerpt: “In 2022, the ministry ran a pilot of its new NCEA reading and literacy standards: only a third of students passed the writing component. In decile 1 schools – those with students from the lowest socio-economic areas – the pass rate was just 2%. Something has gone wrong, and some experts are scrutinising the changes made in the early 2000s and suggesting the educational approach they embedded is failing students, turning a once-successful system into a wasteland.”
In working out what has gone wrong some critics point to the trend towards “student-centric learning”. The analysis of Nina Hood of the University of Auckland is reported: “It can incentivise teachers and schools to provide short-term enjoyment rather than a longer-term focus on what it means to be educated. The basic problem, she believes, is that there’s now very little knowledge content in the curriculum. This is by design: teachers are empowered to determine lesson content for themselves. But the result is that students across different schools and different classrooms are learning very different things – and in some cases, not learning much at all – leading to wildly divergent outcomes.”
Hood also says that schools and teachers are now having to deal with huge socio-economic factors, but aren’t being properly equipped for this role: “Schools are being put in the position where they are responsible for dealing with the majority of society’s problems… There’s an argument that schools are the best places for that to happen because they’re one of the few community institutions we have left. But at the moment they are not resourced to play that role.”
One thing is clear from the article – the new Government under Minister of Education Erica Stanford is going to push hard for big changes in schools. And there will be a big political fight on her hands.
2) The Government is re-introducing the Act Party’s charter schools. And the Herald’s Audrey Young has provided a very good profile on what Associate Education Minister David Seymour has planned for the revived “charter schools”, or “kura hourua” – see: Charter schools returning – Act leader David Seymour sets out differences second time around (paywalled)
Young explains the basics of the charter schools: “sponsors of each school were contracted by the Government through fixed-term contracts to meet agreed specified performance outcomes in return for bulk funding and flexibility over how the schools were run. The school had the freedom to choose the curriculum, who should teach, pay and conditions of staff, hours of operation, and governance model. They could be non-profit or for-profit, faith-based or secular.”
She reports that Seymour plans to make the new version, which he liked to call “kura hourua”, an attractive model in which existing state schools will want to convert too.
3) Big questions will arise about how the new charter schools will be monitored for their performance. This morning Ministry of Education reports have emerged about the lack of appropriate monitoring of the schools when they were last in existence between 2013-18 – see John Gerritsen’s Seymour pledges better monitoring, funding of new charter schools
4) The Greens have promised to front the public on the allegations against their MP Golriz Ghahraman once she’s returned and they’ve spoken to her. However, at this stage all that’s happened since she got back to the country yesterday is that a third allegation of shoplifting has occurred – see Glenn McConnell’s Police investigating Golriz Ghahraman allegation – this time in Wellington
5) Surely a resignation is imminent. As to what happens next, the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan has some good analysis – see: Green MP shoplifting allegations: Expulsion? Resignation? Exoneration? What next for Golriz Ghahraman
6) Electoral law expert Andrew Geddis has given his view of the controversy today on RNZ Morning Report, especially in terms of the legalities of what could occur. But he also says the public speculation will naturally keep increasing for as long as Ghahraman refuses to give her side of the story: “When you only hear one side of a story of course you tend to believe that side that you've heard. We need to hear the other side ... but the longer it's allowed to linger, the harder it's going to be for that other side to get traction” – see: Public speculation will continue to grow until Golriz Ghahraman speaks out about shoplifting allegations – legal expert
7) With race relations heating up fast, and the upcoming Kīngitanga meeting on Saturday, Chris Trotter has written about what happens if things continue to escalate. What does the Government and State do if civil unrest and protest on a large scale occurs? He argues that the Government might be best to tactically withdraw their ““de-Maorification” agenda to avoid a violent confrontation that the state is currently ill-equipped to satisfactorily resolve – see: When Push Comes To Shove
Trotter paints a picture of the New Zealand state having to deal with the growing aspirations of Māori over recent decades – especially since the 1980s – by compromising to keep the peace, but that this tactic is becoming less effective: “Back then, however, there were still plenty of concessions in the state’s briefcase: action on Te Reo, forests and fisheries, Māori health and education, cultural production of all kinds and – most important of all – the Treaty Settlement Process. Taken together, these concessions bought the state three more decades of peace between Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti. When ‘indigenisation’ and ‘decolonisation’ became the order of the day, however, all bets were off.”
8) For a very different view of race relations on the way forward, former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres has argued that new legislation is required for a bilingual future: the English Language Act/Te Ture mō te Reo Pākehā – see: A guide to making te reo Pākehā an official language of Aotearoa
9) National’s decision to cancel Auckland Light Rail gets a thumbs up today from leftwing Auckland political journalist Simon Wilson, who says Transport Minister Simeon Brown “was right to stop the project. It was an election promise and a 100-day commitment, so no surprise, and the tunnelled option was stupidly expensive and slow”. Wilson also says that Brown is right to now focus on how Auckland’s systems of “rapid transport” can be significantly improved, which “includes the existing rail network and bus services like the Northern and Eastern Busways. Expanding the network could include more rapid busways, surface light rail and even an overhead system” – see: Light rail is dead, but Auckland still needs better transport and revenue reform (paywalled)
Wilson has plenty of other suggestions on how to Get Auckland Moving. But part of it should involve reform of local government finances, including the allowing councils to retain the GST charged on rates and building consents: “Revenue reform - and reform of the responsibilities that go with it - is the single most important challenge facing the new Government in its relations with this city. If the above measures were adopted in full, Auckland Council would be about $1.5b a year better off. That would create a powerful capacity to fix some deeply rooted infrastructure problems which simply cannot be addressed through rates. $1.5b equates to a 75 per cent rates rise. Of course, fiscal reform like this could not be limited just to Auckland. Nationwide, councils could be $4-$5b better off.”
10) Commenting today on the Auckland transport infrastructure issues, BusinessDesk editor Pattrick Smellie says: “A betting person would have to think that, given the success of the Northern Motorway express busways, a swift commitment to the same solution for West Auckland must be imminent. Whatever the answer, turning earth well in advance of the 2026 election will be a key part of the plan” – see: The key to infrastructure investment: get started (paywalled)
Smellie’s bigger question is about how the Government can afford to carry out all the necessary infrastructure investment that is urgently required. He suggests that upcoming mega-projects will require private foreign capital investments. The problem, he says, is that NZ First are opposed to this direction: “When the NZ Super Fund turned up in 2018 with an alternative proposal to fund the scheme in partnership with the Canadian pension fund CPDQ, it was a red rag to a bull for NZ First… Already this year, Simeon Brown has had the likes of the NZ Super Fund in his office to discuss infrastructure financing. But whether a joint venture approach that includes foreign capital will fly with NZ First at the cabinet table remains to be seen.”
11) The decaying Cook Strait ferry infrastructure needs to be quickly dealt with according to today’s Herald editorial, which argues that the Government’s cancellation of the new ferries isn’t good enough: “It’s one thing to cancel a project that was unaffordable and had become unjustifiable, but the galling thing with the ferries is that there’s no alternative. The ships are already well past their best, limping across a challenging stretch of ocean” – see: Editorial: Cook Strait ferries need fixing, as Wellington-Picton travellers know all too well (paywalled)
The newspaper provides a review of travelling on the Interislander: “Gone are the days of “Cruising on the Interislander”, when the furnishings were modern, the experience enjoyable. Now it all feels tired and temperamental. The carpets are worn, the seats dirty, the food offerings unchanged. Butter chicken, fish and chips, or pasta? There’s an air of apprehension around whether the ferry will depart on time - or at all…. Sitting among fellow travellers - both residents and tourists coming to enjoy our country - it’s embarrassing to think this is the standard we’ve come to accept.”
12) We are now 48 days into the Government’s First 100 days of action, but there’s a feeling that ministers are away on holiday and taking a long time to get back to work properly. Today BusinessDesk’s Dileepa Fonseka reports that despite promises by the Prime Minister that his administration would set a “cracking pace at the start of the year”, the current schedule appears to be the same as usual, with the first Cabinet meeting of the year (23 January) being as late as normal, and Parliament not meeting particularly early (30 January) – see: First cabinet meeting no earlier than usual (paywalled)
13) Thames Coromandel District Mayor, Len Salt, has sent an email to a rightwing extremist in his constituency, signing off: “Go f... yourself, kind regards, Len” – see Annemarie Quill’s Mayor has 'no regrets' over signing off email 'go f... yourself'
14) With rising concerns about the oversized power of corporate lobbying in the political process, some New Zealand lobbyists have pursued a business proposition based on self-regulation – a scheme, called Openly, which corporates sign up to, having their integrity audited, which gives them a “tick” of accreditation – see Greg Hurrell’s Openly pushing for transparency in government lobbying (paywalled)
The company is founded by Australia-based New Zealander Nick Booth, who has worked as a lobbyist for decades, including for British American Tobacco, and the board includes Holly Bennett of kaupapa Māori lobbying agency Awhi. Therefore, according to Hurrell, “the scheme does have something of the poacher turned gamekeeper about it”.
To get the tick of approval, this is how the scheme is said to operate: “The Openly accreditation is based on self-disclosure from 14 questions, including whether the company has made political donations or loans and how much to whom. It asks whether staff have held political office in the past five years and for details on government lobbying, submissions to government, and other engagements. If the business belongs to an industry organisation or interest group, it needs to disclose whether that organisation lobbied government or made political donations on the business’ behalf… Openly will run the information through AI and ‘do a bit of a scrape’ on what information might be out there or in board reports and check for any conflicts or contradictions. It’s then reviewed by experts and, if it passes muster, uploaded for the public onto the Openly website.”
15) Businesses providing accreditation for corporates and government agencies can be extremely profitable. Some of the business schemes are operated by NGOs that are registered as charities and don’t have to pay tax. For some, the more fashionable NGOs that charge for accreditation are simply grifting or profiting from “social liberal” or “woke” trends in politics. And today, journalist Yvonne Van Dongen has a fascinating investigation into The Charity Industrial Complex
There are plenty of examples of NGOs selling accreditation to government agencies and corporations, but here are two that Van Dongen has investigated: “InsideOut, a national charity representing the rainbow community, runs courses at $750 an hour plus GST for government agencies or corporates: $350 an hour plus GST for NGOS. Ten years ago InsideOut had a total income of just over $7000. Their latest accounts show an income of $1.18m. Rainbow Youth (RY) has an income of $1.9m. Funding comes from services rendered to organisations, trust grants and central and local governments. Central government paid RY over $500,000 for the year ended 2022; local government’s contribution was over $200,000. Other grants total over $400,000. RY run workshops at a cost of $2000 - $2500 plus gst on gender and sexuality.”
Dr Bryce Edwards
Political Analyst in Residence, Democracy Project, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington
NZ Politics Daily - 16 January 2024
GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN SHOPLIFTING ALLEGATION
RNZ: Public speculation will continue to grow until Golriz Ghahraman speaks out about shoplifting allegations - legal expert
Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Law expert Graham Edgeler on the factors that will decide whether Golriz Ghahraman keeps her job as Green MP
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Green MP shoplifting allegations: Expulsion? Resignation? Exoneration? What next for Golriz Ghahraman
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Police investigating Golriz Ghahraman allegation - this time in Wellington
Herald: Green MP Golriz Ghahraman faces further shoplifting allegations in Wellington - report
RNZ: Green Party aware of third allegation of shoplifting against Golriz Ghahraman
Newshub: Police investigating third report of shoplifting after Wellington store makes shock Golriz Ghahraman claim
RNZ: Ghahraman back in New Zealand amid shoplifting claims
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Simon Wilson (Herald): Light rail is dead, but Auckland still needs better transport and revenue reform (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): The key to infrastructure investment: get started (paywalled)
Katie Harris (Herald): The Front Page: Auckland Light Rail: Can governments find consensus after another failed infrastructure project
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Former transport minister Michael Wood lashes out at National for scrapping Auckland light rail
1News: Auckland light rail axed: Businesses, advocate want solutions
Jordan Dunn (RNZ): Public transport advocates question Auckland Transport fare hikes
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Auckland Transport fare hikes target shorter journeys
RNZ: Auckland Transport to hike fares
Herald Editorial: Cook Strait ferries need fixing, as Wellington-Picton travellers know all too well (paywalled)
Catherine Knight (Newsroom): Cars should never take priority over people
Duncan Garner (Listener): If we want an EV revolution, the government needs to put its foot on the gas (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Why are petrol prices different around the country?
Maia Ingoe (RNZ): 'Can't rely' on Auckland ferries often cancelled to allow cruise ships - commuters
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Alleged groping in airport security pat-down sparks complaints to public service boss, Transport Minister
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