Category: ACT Party

Source: ACT Party

A Field Day

ACT had a Field day at the Mystery Creek Fieldays this year, because the party is delivering for rural New Zealand. Hot on the heels of Andrew Hoggard keeping methane out of the ETS, Mark Cameron started a rural banking inquiry on the Primary Production Committee. David Seymour started a Regulatory Sector Review for Animal Compounds and Veterinary Medicines, and Brooke van Velden kicked off her Health and Safety at Work Act consultation before the Act is changed. This is real change, with ACT driving the Government to reform the policies that have alienated rural New Zealand for too long.

The Kids Aren’t Alright

“The thing that worries me about New Zealand is that people aren’t well in themselves,” a prominent New Zealander told Free Press. There’s no shortage of evidence to bear out the basic concern.

Each year the Ministry of Health asks people about their health, including whether they’ve experienced ‘mental distress.’ The number of young people reporting mental distress 15 years ago was about five per cent. It rose for a decade then exploded through the COVID period.

Today it is five times five per cent, closer to twenty-five. Now, this is self-reported mental distress. It may be that young people are more sensitive than those half a generation ago. If that’s true there’s still a problem, just a different kind of problem.

Any teacher will tell you that the kids are harder to teach. One or two students can disrupt a class and they’re restrained from, well, restraining misbehaving children. More and more students are diagnosed with neurodiversity conditions, followed by demands for more specialists and teacher aids that no Government will fund.

What could be the cause of this? Free Press has some theories, but we’re sure you’ll want to make up your own mind.

Theory one, climate catastrophism. “I am literally going to die from climate change!” So said a young child on the latest school strike for climate. The cynicism of climate activists who tell children the world will end unless they fix it (and that they probably can’t) beggars belief.

Theory two, identity politics. One of the more extraordinary developments with School Strike for Climate was when the organisation’s Auckland branch of high school students temporarily disbanded itself. They effectively apologised for being white students, public flagellating themselves for not listening to minority voices. If you are struggling to believe this paragraph, that’s understandable. It did happen, in 2021.

Radio New Zealand reported the students saying they apologise for creating a “racist, white-dominated space.” They are reported as going on to say “We apologise for the hurt, burnout, and trauma. We also apologise for the further trauma caused by our slow action to take responsibility… We recognise that this apology can never be enough to make up for our actions on top of years of systemic and systematic oppression, racism…”

So, you believe you’re going to die but you can’t do anything about it because you’re a born racist, all by the age of 16. Whether you’re a victim or a villain in this piece, the most harmful message is the same. You cannot make a difference in your own life but are instead a prisoner of actions you didn’t take. Losing your sense of agency cannot help your mental health.

Theory three, phones and the internet. Jonathan Haidt says cellphones have created a crisis in mental health since 2012. The Government’s ban on cellphones in schools may inadvertently provide an oasis for cerebral development.

Like many technologies, people need to decide how to collectively regulate them. Cars are wonderful but there are many rules for using them so people don’t kill each other, or themselves. Australian politicians have opened a debate about minimum ages for social media that we should carefully consider.

Theory four, casual neglect. It might not matter so much whether the children are on their phones and social media if their parents are anyway. Go to a park and see parents by the playground glued to their phones. Add to that early childhood education where one adult can theoretically look after fifteen two-year olds, and you begin to see a problem.

A lack of language development, ‘executive function’ (the part of the brain that regulates behaviour) and general social skills make small people ticking time bombs going into the primary and secondary education system. There may be other explanations for the worrying increase in mental distress, but we think that prominent New Zealander was on to something.

Notice we haven’t said there needs to be more money thrown at the problem, more mental health councillors or teacher aides. It hasn’t worked, we don’t have the money, and the goal should be independent people who value themselves for who they are, not more expensive pathologising of human behaviour.

If people not being well in themselves is one of New Zealand’s biggest underlying problems, then putting it right will require more thought than throwing more ‘resource’ at it. It will take an understanding of the neuroscience and psychology that got us to this point, and the pathway out. A noble task for thinking people who love our country, such as Free Press readers.

Source: ACT Party

For six years, Wellington ignored rural New Zealand. With ACT in Government, that’s now changed. And the news from this week proves it.

The ACT team has just had a fantastic few days at Fieldays, listening to farmers, growers, and innovators. And our Ministers stood up to make a series of announcements to empower rural New Zealand:

As Associate Agriculture Minister, Andrew Hoggard jointly announced He Waka Eke Noa will be disbanded and agriculture will be kept out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

As Food Safety Minister, Andrew announced a proposal to cut red tape for food exporters, and welcomed the signing of a new cooperation arrangement for infant formula between China and New Zealand.

And as Biosecurity Minister, Andrew announced the move to a national pest management plan for M. bovis to protect investment made in eradication to date.

As Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke van Velden announced a major new consultation to bring common sense back to health and safety laws.

As Minister responsible for firearms, Nicole McKee announced her overall work plan to overhaul firearms laws. This comes after she announced a review of Labour’s Firearms Registry, and consultation on regulations impacting clubs and ranges.

As Regulation Minister, David announced the new Ministry for Regulation will review red tape making it difficult for Kiwi farmers and growers to access technologies and products available overseas.

David also joined the Transport Minister to announce blanket speed limit increases will be reversed by 1 July 2025, and the Government will seek feedback on enabling speed limits of up to 120km/h on appropriate roads.

Finally, many farmers were interested in my work investigating rural bank lending practices as Chair of the Primary Production committee, now that the government has requested a select committee inquiry into banking competition. Here are my public comments.

ACT understands that when rural communities are free to flourish, we’re all better off.

The war on farmers is over. We’re winding back the red tape and restoring common sense, property rights, and efficiency to New Zealand’s rural backbone.

Thank you for your support.

Mark Cameron ACT List MP and Rural Communities spokesman

Source: ACT Party

ACT MP and Primary Production Committee Chairperson Mark Cameron is acknowledging the Government’s request that the Committee open an inquiry into rural bank lending practices.

“I’ve heard from countless farmers about the disparity between rural and urban bank lending practices, and I have been working on this issue since I became Chair last year.

“In February, the Committee opened a briefing into rural bank lending, and we heard numerous concerns from farmers and others in rural communities.

“Based on this feedback, the Committee considered this issue was worthy of further scrutiny.

“I look forward to discussing with members of the Primary Production and Finance and Expenditure Committee the terms of reference for an inquiry, holding joint meetings to hear evidence from submitters, and preparing a report on rural banking to feed into an overall inquiry report on banking competition.

“Banks play an important role in our communities and we must ensure they’re operating in the best interests of all New Zealanders. Where issues like overly burdensome regulation that pushes up costs and compliance exist, this is an opportunity to put a target on it.

“I look forward to progressing this important piece of work to ensure the best outcome for rural New Zealand.”

Source: ACT Party

The term “partnership” does not appear in the Treaty of Waitangi. The partnership concept is a recent invention of the courts.

The concept of “partnership” was given force in 1986 when Parliament, with very little debate, included undefined “principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” in the State-Owned Enterprises Act.

The Court of Appeal then interpreted this in 1987, writing that the Treaty “signified a partnership between Pākehā and Māori requiring each other to act towards the other reasonably and with the utmost good faith”. This definition of “partnership” was relatively restrained, but was a seed for later interpretations that expanded the concept without democratic input.

Despite successive governments failing to define in law what the Treaty principles really are, more references to the principles were added into new legislation. As the Minister who introduced the Resource Management Act 1991 stated later, “I am quite sure that none of us knew what we meant when we signed up to that formula”.

Meanwhile the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal have steadily pushed the boundaries of what is meant by Treaty principles and partnership.

In a 2019 decision, the Supreme Court extended a Treaty principle of “active protection” to the Government having a duty to privilege iwi in economic development, in which interests with “mana whenua” were deemed stronger than other commercial interests.

The emergent interpretation of Treaty principles as meaning separate rights for two separate peoples clearly does not align with either version of the original text, Māori or english.

Moreover, it has far-reaching implications for the life of every child born today. Small steps toward co-governance and racial quotas are a red flag for more sweeping changes in coming decades. This makes the Treaty principles a question of constitutional importance for all New Zealanders to decide.

Source: ACT Party

The saga of a Kaitaia couple run off their own land by illegal occupiers is a travesty that should never be allowed to happen again, anywhere in New Zealand.

Cecil Williams first reached out to me last year in utter frustration and exhaustion at the lack of support he’d received from Far North District Council or the under-resourced local police.

The occupiers never pursued a legitimate Waitangi Tribunal process to claim the land. In fact, their grievance was over a single pohutukawa tree, part of which Cecil had cut down in 2021. The tree was not listed on the Schedule of Notable Trees or under formal council protection.

Cecil and Marna have had their property rights trampled on, and now an isolated community risks losing a GP and a neighbour of 35 years. But the worst of it is the precedent this crime sets. It reinforces the dangerous message of the Ihumātao and Shelly Bay debacles – that a small, noisy group can illegally camp on someone else’s land and be rewarded for it.

Demoralised by the occupation, Cecil abandoned plans for a dream home and offered to sell local iwi the land, but they wouldn’t cough up. The squatters figured that if they refused to budge eventually the council would step in with ratepayer money, and that’s exactly what’s happened. Cecil and Marna were forced to accept a meagre offer from the council, losing more than $130,000 because no-one else would buy an occupied section.

Political parties that fail to condemn illegal land occupations are complicit in the crime committed against Cecil and his wife. The Police need to update their resource sharing protocols to nip illegal land occupations in the bud. In the meantime, I’d like to see my fellow Northland-based MPs stand in solidarity with Cecil and Marna. I hope they choose to stay in the beautiful North.

Source: ACT Party

The director of an anti-extremism centre, appointed by Jacinda Ardern, has called the new Government a ‘death cult’ that ‘hates children’.

Dr Joanna Kidman made the comments in response to David Seymour looking for savings in the school lunch programme, and Karen Chhour seeking to rehabilitate young serious offenders with military-style academies.

Dr Kidman was appointed by Jacinda Ardern when she established the Centre ‘to fund independent New Zealand-specific research on the causes of, and measures to prevent, violent extremism and terrorism’. 

“The irony of an anti-extremism campaigner using such extreme rhetoric should be obvious,” says ACT Public Service spokesman Todd Stephenson. “The call is coming from inside the building!

“While ACT supports her right to spew deranged garbage as a private citizen, she shouldn’t be doing it on the taxpayer dollar, and certainly not with the borrowed credibility of the Prime Minister’s department.

“Dr Kidman’s salary is paid by taxpayers via the Prime Minister’s department, which means Christopher Luxon has just been delivered some potential savings on a silver platter. The board of the Centre must move immediately to sack the extremist in their midst.”

Source: ACT Party

THE HAPS

ACT was active last week. Nicole McKee launched tougher measures on criminals with Firearms Prohibition Orders. David Seymour launched faster parallel assessment of new pharmaceuticals. Todd Stephenson got his Bill for mandatory prisoner rehab through First Reading. Mark Cameron put justice for David Stewart back on the national agenda. ACT MPs were out at the Northern Field Days, helping clean up after Port Hills fires, and even running Auckland’s Round the Bays.

MEDIA QUANDRY

Newshub is closing, or at least playing dead and hoping another white knight charges in at 3 Flower St, where Newshub is based. Meanwhile, journalists have reacted with all the usual self-entitlement and lack of self-awareness we know and love them for.

They piled in on politicians who said Newshub’s closure was the market in action, media are changing, and it’s sad for the people involved but them’s the breaks and other true and reasonable things. Tone deaf! Insensitive! Not fair! Et cetera. All this from people who grin down the camera at politicians’ failures, and have competed for decades for politicians’ “scalps”.

Unfortunately that’s just what we’ve got used to over the years. Journalists (not all of them, of course) demand accountability but it’s always for thee, never for me. All the while trust has plummeted and the media is in trouble everywhere.

That’s half the media’s problem, having a product to sell. Most of what is reported you won’t remember next week. If you did you’d wonder why it was ever reported. Meanwhile major challenges for the country take a back seat to sensationalism. The other half of the problem is having a way to sell it.

Could there be a white knight to save Newshub’s network? Since TV3 was licensed thanks to Richard Prebble’s broadcasting reforms in the late 1980s, the TV and News operation at 3 Flower St has had a new owner about every five years. There’s been NBC (the American network), Canwest (a Canadian media company), Westpac, private equity, Mediaworks, and Warner Brothers Discovery.

This time feels different because the way of selling it is not looking so good either. TV was a technology that blew people’s minds, nearly a whole lifetime ago in the 1950s. Sending pictures and sound to another person was like science fiction then. Now it’s so easy we have to ban individual kids from doing it during school time.

Without a monopoly on beaming in to people’s homes, it’s difficult to sell advertising. As TVNZ’s half-year report showed last week, they’re facing similar problems with advertisers moving to online competitors.

It may be that the next white knight is only delaying the inevitable. That’s a world where there just isn’t TV news the way we’ve thought about it for the past 60 years. It’s already difficult to believe people were paid a million dollars a year to read the news in the 1990s but that’s a good reminder of how fast things are changing.

What we’re left with is a whole lot of questions that probably nobody knows the answers to right now.

Can journalists recognise the loss of trust in them is not someone else’s fault? Hope dies last but early signs are not good, it’s hard to think of a single journalist who’s come close in the week since Newshub’s news.

Will a white knight rescue Newshub and keep it going? This time does feel different, but the demise of TV has been predicted for a long time and it does still operate around the world.

Does it matter if the media market becomes more fragmented? The U.S. suggests it does. Neighbours living in different worlds with different truths from different sources can’t be a good thing. It’s the opposite of what we’ve had for the last century or so of successful democracy. But, like the demise of TV, moral decay and society falling apart have also been predicted for a long time.

Does Government have a role to play in media? At the moment it owns a radio and a TV station and hands out money from various jam jars like Creative New Zealand and NZ On Air. It may be time to ask what, if anything, the Government needs to do?

One thing’s for sure, journalists love to report on their own industry so the questions above will get a lot of airtime in the next few months.

That’s it for this week, be sure to stay tuned next Monday In the meantime, please consider sharing Free Press. Not Subscribed? Sign up >here<

Source: ACT Party

Responding to the discharge without conviction and permanent name suppression of a man who punched a 71-year-old woman in the head at a protest last year, ACT MP Laura Trask says:

“Today’s discharge without conviction is a tragedy for women.

“A 71-year-old woman attending a women’s rights event was physically attacked by a man who thought his political opinion trumped her right to safety. Using violence to suppress opinions you disagree with is a singularly ugly act, and this discharge without conviction sets a disappointing precedent for the consequences of political violence.

“ACT will continue to advocate for a country where freedom of speech is protected at all costs, and where using violence to suppress this fundamental right is punished accordingly.”

Source: ACT Party

ACT spokesman for Defence Mark Cameron has written to the Minister of Defence requesting that she consider a review of the New Zealand Bravery Medal awarded posthumously to Private David Whawhai Stewart following his heroic actions during the extreme weather event on Mount Ruapehu which claimed the lives of six New Zealand Defence Force personnel in 1990.

“It is well documented that Private Stewart took actions that night to save the lives of other servicemen while he was aware that it would put him at higher risk of casualty. He selflessly exposed himself to the elements to help others and shared what little protective supplies he had with them, leading to his own death,” says Mr Cameron.

“In 1999 Private Stewart was awarded the New Zealand Bravery Medal, the lowest rank of bravery awards in New Zealand, “for acts of bravery”. In our view, and that of many others, Private Stewart’s actions on that night warrant an upgrade to his award, such as the New Zealand Cross ‘for acts of great bravery in situations of extreme danger’.

“The previous Minister of Defence Hon Andrew Little declined to review the award as he was of the view that decisions about these awards should be made at the time when all relevant information was available. However the New Zealand Bravery Medal was awarded to Private Stewart in 1999, nine years after the tragedy, which shows a precedent for awarding medals in the years following events. There was also a military Court of Inquiry into the incident which documents exactly what occurred, providing clear evidence from which to make the decision.

“There have been concerns expressed that reviewing the award will draw attention to an avoidable national tragedy and therefore cause embarrassment to the New Zealand Defence Force. I am of the view that such potential embarrassment is not a sufficient reason to withhold recognition for a New Zealander who demonstrated great bravery in the face of terrible conditions.

“Considering an upgrade to the bravery award issued to Private Stewart is the minimum this government could do to uphold the mana of Stewart, his fellow servicemen who were on Mount Ruapehu, and the brave personnel of the New Zealand Defence Force in general.

“I look forward to the Minister’s response.”

The letter to Hon Judith Collins can be read here.

Source: ACT Party

Headline: Govt doesn’t know if emissions will fall

“Despite much fanfare over its decision to ban offshore oil and gas exploration, the Government doesn’t know whether it will lead to lower global greenhouse gas emissions”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods confirmed in response to a written parliamentary question from Mr Seymour that no “specific estimate” of the impact of the Government’s decision on global greenhouse gas emissions had been made.

“Jacinda Ardern has said climate change is her generation’s ‘nuclear-free moment’.

“Yet, when she announced her Government’s decision to end offshore oil and gas exploration, she didn’t actually know whether it would help in the fight against climate change.

“An end to exploration and production in New Zealand will just mean those activities shift to other countries, doing nothing to reduce total emissions.

“The Government has decided to gut an industry that pays $500 million a year in taxes and royalties, and employs 11,000 people at peak times, without knowing how it would affect global greenhouse gas emissions.

“That is economic vandalism of the worst kind”, says Mr Seymour.