Category: ACT Party

Source: ACT Party

The Haps

Why did the National Party roll out John Key to attack the Treaty Principles Bill? Free Press hears it was an attempt to dampen National Party members’ support for the Bill.

‘I’m not an ACT supporter but…she is a wonderful lady’ is the tone of many emails in support of Karen Chhour. The racialised attacks on Chhour in the wake of the Royal Commission led to ‘jump-the-shark’ moments for some opposition politicians and journalists. Free Press caught up with Chhour over the weekend, she is more resolute than ever.

Healthcare

(Public) spending on healthcare is $28 billion, or $5,300 per person, but nobody’s happy. It’s nearly the only department with extra money set aside for next year when there’s really no money. Perhaps it’s time to figure out what the real problem is and take the steps needed to solve it?

Sure, it didn’t help that the previous Government spent half a billion trying to restructure the entire system in the middle of a pandemic. Maybe one day Andrew Little will write a memoir explaining what they were thinking, but we can guess.

They started reforming because there were already big problems under the DHB model. Productivity growth was low to non-existent, morale was not much better. The balance between expensive hospital care and preventative primary care wasn’t right. The mix of pharmaceutical spending, i.e. investing in technology, and workers wasn’t right. The maintenance of hospital buildings means some buildings look like they belong in a Pacific island nation.

We don’t have time for Andrew to tell us why the solution didn’t work, because the system is in trouble now. The task befalling Minister Shane Reti and his Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy is gargantuan. Both come with a track record. Reti is super bright, has spent years at Harvard, and devoted his whole life to medicine.

He maintains a practicing license to this day. Legend has it when he found out a school in his electorate had children without their MMR, he fundraised for the vaccine, went to the school, and offered free immunisations. He is also a profoundly decent human being.

We say all this partly because it’s true, but also because it sets up a titanic battle. Hopelessly sclerotic bureaucracy versus Super Minister. Can he fix it? If Shane Reti can’t do it, then probably nobody can.

What is there to fix? Constant disorganisation. We hear of pathology samples taking a month to process because of delays. Why? It turned out the lab fees hadn’t been changed for yonks. Nobody could afford to process the sample at the fees on offer.

We hear from highly paid surgeons who say that their list was cancelled because no anaesthetic technician showed up. The patients don’t like being operated on without anaesthetic. It’s not just the surgeon’s time, but the whole operating theatre that goes to waste. Time is money.

We now have the best Minister to fix these problems, but could there be too many? Health NZ, with a $28 billion budget and 65,000 staff, is by far the largest organisation in New Zealand. Air New Zealand has 10,000 and The Warehouse Group has 12,000, both businesses are arguably simpler than health. The risk is an endless game of whack-a-mole.

What other options are there, that could endure regardless of how good the Minister is? How about profit? The underlying reason health isn’t working is that nobody actually gets rewarded for making it efficient. If you were losing money every time a sample wasn’t analysed or a technician didn’t show up, you’d do something about it.

In Health, you just ask for more money, and Labour (especially) were always willing to give it. When they came to power, health spending was $16 billion, they nearly doubled it. Until there is a real incentive to invest when it will add to efficiency and cuts costs when there is waste, it will be difficult to make health work.

$5,300 is enough to buy every person private health insurance. Why shouldn’t you be able to opt out and buy a private policy? What if you could take your share out and spent it with NIB or Southern Cross?

What if they were required to accept any patient, and keep them for life if the patient chooses. What if they purchased services off an open market of private and state providers? What if certain services where competition is not possible, such as Starship’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, became regulated monopolies, required to serve patients from any insurer at the same price?

Most likely, motivated businesspeople would start solving the whack-a-mole problems that beset health. Investing in labour-saving technology, fixing bottle necks, and innovating. Healthcare would become vastly more efficient. The other way to ask the question is, what if privately managed systems like supermarkets had to wait for the right person to be elected and run them?

Radical? That is roughly the structure of healthcare in the likes of France and Switzerland. If Super Minister Reti cannot fix health the way it is structured today, perhaps it will be time to ask; how do they do it in Europe?

Source: ACT Party

“The Green Party has praised criminal gangs and decried the Government’s attempts to stop criminals from gathering”, says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“Green MP Huhana Lyndon told Parliament this evening:

‘Some of these gangs are doing quite good things in our community, and so I do worry about this section whereby it will prohibit their ability to congregate…’

“We wonder what she means. The group bashings? The meth-peddling? The raping, the robbing, or the killing?

“Where has this party been for the last six years? ACT is challenging the Greens to talk to the victims of gang violence and stop making excuses for their senseless violence.

“Back in the real world, New Zealanders know that gangs are responsible for serious harm – they peddle drugs, intimidate law-abiding citizens, and cause misery. There need to be swift and serious consequences for their offending.

“The Coalition Government is getting on with introducing dispersal notices, which are a tool that can be utilised by the Police to disrupt gatherings that may escalate into criminal behaviour.

“We’re also providing for non-consorting orders to prevent specified gang offenders from communicating and associating with each other to plan and commit crimes.

“With ACT at the Cabinet table, New Zealanders finally have a government focused on the victims of crime, not coddling criminals. Criminals aren’t going to be able to get away with committing senseless violent acts, and victims are going to be at the heart of the justice system.

“ACT believes protecting the safety and property of New Zealanders is the government’s first and most important job. That’s why we are restoring balance to a system that has become too focused on criminals instead of victims.”

Source: ACT Party

ACT Local Government spokesman Cameron Luxton is urging Wellington City councillors to reject officers’ suggestion of borrowing more money to fund ‘raised table’ pedestrian crossings.

“Ratepayers across the country right now are reeling in the face of double-digit rate hikes. When we look at our rates bills, then get in the car and find ourselves held up by over-engineered road safety initiatives, it’s hard not feel a little sick.

“In Wellington, the locals are looking at an 18.5% rates hike, with further hikes down the track. So right now, councillors should be laser-focused on getting back to basics and cutting the nice-to-haves.

“‘Raised table’ pedestrian crossings are a gold-plated option that slow down commuters and emergency services alike, and often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Back in April, I brought an inquiry to the Transport select committee that investigated a raised crossing in Grey Lynn. What could have been a paint job over the existing crossing turned into a $490,000 debacle involving community consultation, two months of construction, plus remedial works. Thirty-five percent of the spend was on temporary traffic management.

“Wellington City Council is planning for five raised crossings on Thorndon Quay alone. It’s time for the elected members to show they’re in touch with ratepayers and send the council officers back to the drawing board.

“With the change of government there’s been a change in gear on transport policy, and local councils need to get with the programme. Councils can no longer rely on taxpayer support for the kind of false improvements that proliferated under Labour’s Road to Zero fantasy, and it’s not fair to just pass the bill on to tomorrow’s ratepayers.”

Source: ACT Party

“ACT is seriously alarmed at spiking wholesale energy prices and we’re calling on all political parties to come to the table for a cross-party accord supporting the use of local natural gas deposits,” says ACT Energy and Resources spokesman Simon Court.

“With hydro lake levels low, and high seasonal demand for power, we’ve seen wholesale prices spike to almost double what they were a month ago.

“For now, households and businesses have been insulated from the full effect of spiking energy prices thanks to energy companies’ hedging or insurance schemes. But if we don’t lift our ability to generate more power at short notice, shortages will inevitably come home to roost in our power bills.

“Higher energy costs on business will flow on to higher prices for practically all goods and services – the last thing we need in the middle of a war on inflation.

“Ideally we’d deal with seasonal supply crunches by dipping into stored energy supplies like natural gas. But Labour’s ban on gas exploration shattered companies’ confidence to invest in new gas supply. Even with the Coalition’s reversal of the oil and gas ban, companies may still be wary of gambling on new energy projects that could just get scuppered by a future Labour-Greens Government.

“We’re now in the absurd situation where power companies are looking at importing natural gas from overseas to make up for declining local production. Even the Greens ought to be able to admit that’s an own goal.

“ACT is calling on Labour and the Greens to come to the table so we can form a cross-party stance that tells the world it’s safe to invest in natural gas in New Zealand.”

Source: ACT Party

“Reports that white privilege courses are still being taught in the public service show that senior bureaucrats need to wake up, get with the programme, and start focusing on the things that matter to New Zealand taxpayers”, says ACT’s Public Service spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“From employees being encouraged to do karakia during their workday, to being taught about white privilege, the public service needs a serious cultural reset.

“In 2021, ACT revealed that public servants were being taught to calculate their ‘white privilege score’ in a course called Beyond Diversity – Courageous Conversations About Race.

“The course is still being taught. It requires participants to ask themselves, ‘What is my white privilege score?’ and ‘What is my relationship to white fragility?’

“The Courageous Conversations programme makes a number of claims about so-called ‘white privilege’:

‘“Whiteism”—not recognizing White as a dominating color nor the unearned power and privileges associated with having white skin; having a sense of (White) entitlement…is a condition that more White people must begin to recognize, understand and acknowledge.’

‘…entitled white men do not appreciate the power of their entitlement because they have never experienced the absence of power.’

‘Power, as manifested in the form of privilege, or entitlement, is part of the history, tradition and economic status of white men.’

“The programme suggests that people who aren’t overtly racist perpetuate racism:

‘We are taught that racism must be intentional and that only bad people commit it. Thus a common white reasoning in crossracial conflicts is that as long as we are good people and don’t intend to perpetuate racism, then our actions don’t count as racism.’

“This is the kind of dehumanising view we’ve been trying to get away from for centuries, but it’s now pervasive in the bureaucracy and beyond.

“We are saying, ‘we don’t care about your character or personal experiences, we’re just going to categorise you based on your colour’.

“Yes, we do need to have a courageous conversation: about how we value the common dignity of every New Zealander, and how all citizens should have equal rights. That is why we need a national conversation about ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill.”

Source: ACT Party

“Police National Headquarters needs to explain why it is requiring police officers to undertake training on identifying and responding to ‘hate speech’”, says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“As highlighted by the Free Speech Union, officers must complete a short course on identifying and responding to ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crime’.

“Some of the examples used in the training material include, ‘There are only two genders’, a placard that says ‘Free speech’, and a billboard that reads ‘Kiwi not iwi.’

“Some of the other examples are distasteful, but they come nowhere near the threshold of criminality.

“Even more concerning is the report from an anonymous police officer that:

‘…staff have been directed that any reported incidents of hate speech that are not offences must still to be recorded as “hate incidents”. The test of what is considered a hate incident, according to policy, is anything the complaints feels is hateful towards them as a member of a minority group.’

“If it is true that police officers are being directed to record incidents which are not crimes, it is deeply concerning. Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom afforded to New Zealanders and they have a right to say things that others may find offensive without having it recorded by authorities.

“All of this highlights the fundamental problem with hate speech laws: it is completely subjective.

“Parliament rejected tougher hate speech laws after a long campaign by ACT.

“The last case of a successful prosecution under New Zealand’s existing hate speech laws was in the 1970s. The threshold for prosecution is extremely high.

“ACT has a great deal of respect for the men and women of the New Zealand Police. We want to see them supported to protect New Zealanders from serious crime.

“PNHQ needs to explain what is going on here.”

Source: ACT Party

“Te Pāti Māori’s member’s bill would give an unelected tribunal supremacy over our elected Parliament,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The Tribunal has already become increasingly activist, using its ‘partnership’ interpretation of the Treaty to intervene in democratic processes. It’s no surprise Te Pāti Māori wants to give them more power.

“The Tribunal appears to regard itself as a parallel government that can intervene in the actual Government’s policymaking process, but it should always be the voters who have the final say.

“New Zealanders are sick of seeing the Treaty twisted for political gain like this. It’s exactly why ACT is drafting a Treaty Principles Bill, to define what the principles actually mean and restore the Treaty’s promise of the equal rights for all New Zealanders.

“We can no longer ignore the simple idea that the Treaty of Waitangi gives all New Zealanders Tino Rangatiratanga, the right to self-determine and live on our own terms. All New Zealanders should be valued equally, regardless of their race or the date they arrived here.

“New Zealanders have elected a government to restore the economy, get crime under control, provide effective public services, and end division through co-government. The sooner Te Pāti Māori come to terms with what New Zealand voted for and starts providing some policy solutions that will help people instead of divisive theatrics that cause more division, the better.

“This stunt legislation is par for the course from Te Pāti Māori, but it’s a real test for Labour and the Greens. If they still have an ember of belief in democracy, they need to strongly oppose this bill.”

Source: ACT Party

“With ACT at the Cabinet table, New Zealanders finally have a government focused on the victims of crime, not coddling criminals,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Todd Stephenson as Parliament passes the second reading of the Gangs Legislation Amendment Bill.

“Gangs are responsible for harm and chaos across the country – they peddle drugs, intimidate law-abiding New Zealanders, and cause misery in our communities. There need to be swift and serious consequences for their offending.

“As a result of ACT’s coalition agreement, the Government is giving Police additional tools to go after gangs.

“Police will be able to issue dispersal notices, which will require gang members to immediately leave the area and not associate with one another for seven days. Courts will also be able to issue non-consorting orders, which will stop specified gang offenders from associating or communicating for up to three years. This reflects ACT’s gang control orders policy released in July 2021.

“The law will also be changed to implement ACT’s policy to give greater weight to gang membership as an aggravating factor at sentencing, enabling courts to impose more severe punishments.

“The gangs who ruin so many lives are going to find tougher consequences for their actions because of ACT’s policies.

“Under the coalition government, criminals won’t be able to get away with committing senseless violent acts, and victims are going to be at the heart of the justice system.

“ACT believes protecting the safety and property of New Zealanders is the government’s first and most important job. That’s why we are restoring balance to a system that has become too focused on criminals instead of victims.”

Source: ACT Party

ACT Leader David Seymour is welcoming today’s passage of legislation restoring the option of local referendums for new Māori wards.

“Today is a great day for democracy, local decision-making, and equal political rights,” says Mr Seymour.

“Decisions over the structure of local democracy again will once again rest with the people who pay the rates, not the handful of councillors who spend it.

“Whenever given the chance to vote in a referendum, local voters have rejected being divided by race. Labour didn’t like that, so they scrapped the referendums. ACT however believes in local democracy, so we campaigned to restore the referendums, got it into our coalition agreement, and this week passed the legislation.

“ACT believes New Zealanders’ inherent dignity as humans and citizens is far more important than who our ancestors were. In a democracy, that means Kiwis can vote alongside their neighbours as members of a single community, not as different groups divided by race.

“We ought to trust voters to choose councillors that best their champion their values, regardless of whether those councillors are Māori, Pākehā, Chinese, Indian, or Albanian.”

The passage of the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill means councils that have established Māori wards since 2020 without a poll can disestablish them. If they don’t do this, citizens will be able to vote on them at the next local body election in 2025.

Source: ACT Party

“Kiwis trying to access credit will be treated like adults again with the delivery of an ACT coalition commitment this week,” says ACT Commerce and Consumer Affairs spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar.

“Too many Kiwis have been treated like children when trying to take out a loan. Rules introduced by Labour have led lenders to comb through borrowers’ bank statements and grill families on minor purchases.

“ACT campaigned on winding back the intrusive rules that added cost and stress to the process of getting a loan. In our coalition agreement with National, we secured a commitment to rewrite the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to protect vulnerable consumers without unnecessarily limiting access to credit.

“From tomorrow, borrowers will face eleven fewer pages of regulation under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. This means it will be easier for Kiwis to access the credit they need to purchase a home or a car, or to invest in a business and get ahead in life.

“ACT believes in treating adults like adults. It’s in no one’s interests to lend money to someone who can’t afford to pay it back, so we’re removing barriers to lenders and borrowers hashing out a mutually-beneficial loan agreement.”