NZ Politics

The truth is, political parties probably aren't getting a whole lot more in donations than they have in the past. It's just that they're now required to tell us much more about what's coming in.

For the first time, parties have been required to report on the value of donations they received under $1500 where the donor was known. Previously, they only needed to report on the value of anonymous donations of this value. This new reporting rule has brought to light huge amounts of donation cash which had previously been hidden to the public.

Victoria University of Wellington senior lecturer Max Rashbrooke said the change to require reporting of these smaller donations closed a "baffling loophole" which left people guessing how much parties had in their bank accounts to campaign with.

Rashbrooke said it also put a misconception to bed. "There was always a view that the playing field was a bit more level than it might seem," he said. "Because it might seem that National out-fundraises Labour massively in the big donations, but the argument was always made that Labour did very well in the small donations."

In fact, it was National, not Labour, that dominated the small donation rankings in 2023. Out of National's $10.3m donation total, $4m came from 44,000 smaller donations of less than $1500. Labour raised less than $3m from smaller donations.

This is just an amazing series of events, with the greens now being forced to threaten to use the Waka Jumping legislation in order to try and make her do the right thing.

Chris Penk is kind of a dumbass, isn't he? The amount of things he's been completely wrong about is a very long list.

What do we think, will she resign? Will the greens use the Waka jumping law?

And is there anything remotely useful she can accomplish as an independent MP without an electorate?

The NZ Media Council has upheld a complaint against a RNZ story on accuracy.

The story titled Florist says Julie Anne Genter exchange was a 'massive imbalance of power' was about a Wellington florist's claim of being bullied by Green MP Julie Anne Genter over a controversial cycleway project in Newtown.

The article incorrectly claimed that car parks were removed from outside the florist's shop to make way for a cycleway.

Complainant Tom Pearce provided photographic evidence showing there have never been car parks or a cycleway directly outside the shop on Riddiford Street.

On Saturday, Tauranga City Council will have its first election since 2019. In February, 2021, a central government-appointed commission replaced a dysfunctional mayor and councillors.

The best-case scenario this weekend, local government expert Dr Andy Asquith told RNZ, is that the country's fifth most populous city ends up with a council that is "marginally functional".

RNZ spoke with others who said that's all most local authorities can hope for, these days.

Across the motu, local government representatives are making headlines for being in trouble, or causing trouble, or both. This is against a backdrop of ballooning council costs, and the fastest rates increases in decades.

An independent review of local government, commissioned by the previous government and released last year, found communities were not well-served by the relationship between central and local government.

The coalition government rejected its recommendations, saying they were a distraction from the key issues [...], such as the need to reform funding and financing, and planning for long-term economic growth, housing, and infrastructure.

I must admit, I don't fully understand the green party's objection to this piece of legislation, a party is elected with a mandate to represent the wishes of the people who voted for them. If an MP doesn't want to do that, then they should indeed resign, at least as a list MP.

Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters has alleged a cover-up at KiwiRail over the grounding of the Aratere last month.

There were allegations from coalition government partner New Zealand First earlier this week the accident last month happened after "someone put the autopilot on, went for a coffee, and then couldn't turn the autopilot off in time when that someone came back".

Party leader Peters on Thursday morning appeared to distance himself from the claim, before doubling-down on it.

"But here's the point - at the moment we heard this story, it was clear as daylight that something dramatically had gone wrong, that shouldn't have gone wrong, and we find out it was on autopilot." Peters said the party had sources on the boat itself, which relayed the 'coffee break' claim.

"I am the acting prime minister, and the reality is that we are wanting to hear the truth, but we don't want to delay any longer. And in a way, you can say I'm asking KiwiRail [to] front up - right here right now."

Labour leader Chris Hipkins was unimpressed with New Zealand First posting the claim to social media, rather than sharing whatever information it had with investigators.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop has told real estate agents that the government wants to "flood the market" with opportunities for housing development.

It has agreed to a range of changes that would free up land for housing, and, the government hopes, make housing more affordable.

My rough summary of proposal:

• Most cities will be required to have zoned enough land for 30 years of housing demand all the time
• These cities won't be allowed to determine urban/rural boundaries
• Must intensify, especially around major public transport routes. If they decide not to for character reasons, then equivalent capacity must be opened up in another area
• cafes, dairies, etc (mixed use) must be allowed in residential areas
• appartments not allowed to have minimum floor area or requirement for balcony set by council
• councils already intensifying under a previous agreement (MDRS) will keep this, but if they change it then they have to move to using new rules

Let me know if I've got something wrong!

The government has announced mandatory reading, writing and maths tests for primary schools.

From next year, schools will be required to test the ability of five year olds to link sounds and letters at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling.

From years 3-8, schools would have to test children's reading, writing and maths twice a year using either e-asTTle or Progressive Assessment Tests (PATs).

The 41-year-old man was initially charged with unlawfully being in a building and on 1 March, he appeared in the Nelson District Court before a community magistrate who convicted and discharged him.

Uhh, what the fuck? How did anyone think letting this person go was a reasonable thing to do?

Former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman has given her first in-depth interview after her arrest for shoplifting and subsequent resignation from Parliament, telling 1News it was an act of "self-sabotage."

so I just read this and I'm absolutely disgusted. honestly who do these pricks think they are?? how do we show them this is not to be tolerated in a welcoming safe public space, or anywhere for that matter! fucking bigots spreading fear and hate and misogynistic bullshit. just fuck these guys we need to get an exclusion order against them from being within 100m of a library. we need to stand up to these bullying cunts how? writing to Rachel Boyack hardly vents my spleen enough thanks for listening 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Paying people in cash, hiring workers not allowed to work for them on the visa they have, paying people late, there's a lot of dodgy stuff here actually.

What got me the most was:

"I am really comfortable with asking government agencies to consider, are there ways that you can innovate to deliver the same level of service while taking less taxpayer dollars to do it."

"In fact, that should be how we conduct ourselves every day, not just in the lead up to a Budget"

Honestly, we've been doing that every year for decades, now!

So two points here, first, didn't this dingus promise to take commercial flights to save money anyway?

Second, this is getting embarrassing for NZ that this keeps happening.

The infrastructure minister wants more private sector financing, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs), to pay for major projects.

In a speech to Local government New Zealand on Thursday night, Chris Bishop said he wanted government grant funding to become a last resort for councils.

"Infrastructure has to be paid for and at the moment, it's largely paid for by the Crown - which is taxpayers - or it's paid for by ratepayers. And what we're saying is that user-pays has a role to play here as well. Things like water metres, things like congestion pricing in our major cities and things like toll roads.

Analysis - "Boot camps" for young people who commit serious offending are coming back. The coalition government has promised to pilot "military-style academies" by the middle of the year - despite a wealth of international and New Zealand evidence that boot camps do not reduce reoffending.

It has been encouraging to see this evidence receive extensive media coverage and expert analysis. Less encouraging, however, has been the minister for children's reported rejection of expert advice that the boot camp model is flawed and ineffective.

So, why do we keep returning to interventions that don't work? For boot camps, there are at least three possible explanations.

First, they appeal to politicians who want to appear tough on crime, while also saying they are encouraging rehabilitation options.

Second, boot camps seem to have a strong appeal to common sense: people want to believe structure and military discipline can turn around young people's lives, and this belief outweighs contradicting evidence.

Third, boot camps can take different forms, so evidence of their ineffectiveness can be avoided by claiming, as the minister has, that improvements will be made this time.

This seems unlikely, however, when the core features that characterise boot camps - strong discipline in particular - are a main reason they don't work. To understand why, we need to look at the psychology of punishment and behaviour change.

A group of former workers at Manurewa Marae said private data from census forms was photocopied and entered into a database they believe was then used to target voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.

How did anyone think this was even remotely acceptable?

ACT leader David Seymour is playing down reported complaints from volunteers about his party's culture.

Last week, Stuff reported claims of volunteers leaving the party, expressing no confidence in the board and raising concerns about the party's treatment of women.

The reports said sources close to the party accused its campaign leadership of creating a "culture of fear".

But leader David Seymour has brushed off the reports, saying they are not representative of ACT as a whole.

Cutting part time workers' sick leave entitlements from the 10 days everyone currently gets to being pro-rated based on how much they work.

*** Also covid vaccines will apparently no longer be free for most people after this month.*** EDIT: this was circulating yesterday, but isn't true so that's good.

And this during the biggest covid wave in 18 months, where hospitals and schools are having to close or reduce capacity because so many staff are sick. What a bunch of ghouls.

A Ministry of Education official has admitted the alternative model for the government's free school lunch programme is unlikely to be as nutritious as the previous programme, RNZ understands.

The comments came in a webinar hui between the Ministry of Education and intermediate and high school principals, earlier this month.

Principal Sheree Garton, from Levin Intermediate School, asked a question about protein and carbohydrates required in the new meals - and was told the meals would not have the same nutrition standards and would be very unlikely to meet the same nutritional quality as the previous meals because of the cost - though nutrition would be a factor in looking for a new major supplier.

Budget Day 'carkoi' protests delayed traffic on Auckland and Tauranga motorways ahead of a hikoi on Parliament.

Protesters earlier took the roads to oppose government policies toward Māori, 'activating' for today's National Māori Action Day - and caused traffic delays around the country.

It's the second time Māori have mobilised on a national scale with the first hīkoi taking place last December.

The national protest coincides with today's budget announcements.