Category: Labour Party

The National Government’s decisions have hindered, not helped the economy.

“GDP figures released today show our economy has shrunk by 0.2 percent, or 0.5 percent per capita in the second quarter of this year,” said Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds.

“The data confirms the New Zealand economy has failed to grow since the coalition government took office. 

“The results speak for themselves. Nicola Willis’ hit list is now higher unemployment, low GDP, and record high migration as Kiwis look to escape the effects of her poor financial decisions. 

“Factories are closing across the country because the government is not taking meaningful action. Nicola Willis’ cuts to the public sector and pausing of infrastructure projects is driving our economy deeper in to a recession.

“Businesses are fighting against low consumer confidence and spending, and facing increased costs everywhere they look.

“Given this government’s failings, it’s no wonder Kiwis are leaving our shores in droves.

“The Government has no plan to grow the economy. The continued cuts are doing nothing to help improve the worsening economic conditions or drive productive growth.

“Almost a year into her tenure as finance minister it’s time Nicola Willis took some responsibility, invested in growing the economy and stopped the cuts,” Barbara Edmonds said.

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The Government is failing the manufacturing sector with no plan for its future.

“Today we have learnt another 75 jobs are to go at the Oji Fibre Solutions plant, which follows the devastating news that hundreds of workers are losing their jobs following the closure of Winstone Pulp mills,” Labour’s small business and manufacturing spokesperson Helen White said.

“I am devastated for the workers who will lose their jobs, and for the future of manufacturing in New Zealand.

“We had earlier called on the Government to help find a solution to keep the Winstone Pulp mills operating in New Zealand. They haven’t succeeded, today’s announcement from Oji Fibre Solutions is another blow and means more than 300 people are losing their jobs.

“Where is the Government’s plans for the future of manufacturing in New Zealand? We must invest in onshore manufacturing and creating value from our primary products which is good for our economy and people in our regions.

“This is a huge blow to the New Zealand economy, in 2021 wood product manufacturing plus pulp and paper contributed around $3.8 billion to New Zealand’s GDP and wood processing manufacturing alone makes up around 40 percent of this figure.

“Alongside freight and labour costs, Oji has cited high energy prices as a reason for its closure. Making it another victim of New Zealand’s broken electricity market, where electricity companies have made significant profits over the last 12 months.

“I am disappointed National hasn’t worked harder to save these jobs. Labour worked with unions and business leaders to build an industry transformation plan, but the National Government cancelled it to pay for tax cuts,” Helen White said.

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Sentencing policy announced by Minister Paul Goldsmith today is anything but new, merely window dressing to make up for backwards violent crime statistics under the National Government.

“After announcing the Government’s target of 20,000 fewer people ending up victim of a violent crime has instead recorded 30,000 more victims as of June, Paul Goldsmith has brought nothing new to the table with his sentencing ideas,” said Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb.

“The 25% maximum discount for an early guilty plea is already the approach explicitly taken in the courts, and victim impact statements are already an important way for victims to have their say in sentencing.

“Similarly very large sentencing discounts are used with caution – essentially where it would be unjust to take another approach. This legislation will essentially repeat the law as it stands.

“The courts already take the fact that offences are committed by someone in custody, on bail or parole into account. Cumulative sentencing will add little to this approach.

“All of the aggravating sentencing factors (for example if a retail crime is committed against a sole charge retail premise) are also already established in New Zealand’s court decision making process.

“Even encouraging youth offending, and publication on social media aren’t new – they were taken from Labour initiatives established while we were in Government.

“What Paul Goldsmith hasn’t announced is how this sentencing package will be resourced.  For example how will the records of prior discounts for youth or remorse be kept centrally and how will this new system be paid for?

“We need to prevent crime happening in the first place. Pretending to tinker with sentencing and locking everyone up, rather than just those who should be, results in even bigger problems down the track.

“There absolutely needs to be penalties for those who commit violent crimes, and we need good sentencing laws so that judges have the right tools to make the right decisions. The government needs to put its thinking hat back on,” said Duncan Webb.

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David Seymour doesn’t stick to his own standards of good regulation despite having a multimillion-dollar vanity ministry set up to do so. 

“David Seymour has been busy throwing stones at other Cabinet ministers, such as Andrew Bayly, who seeks to bolster regulation of the supermarket sector. But he has failed to act on the advice his own Regulatory Impact Statement on the Treaty Principles Bill does not meet the very quality assurance criteria that he has oversight of,” Labour regulation spokesperson Duncan Webb said.

Good Regulatory Practice requires both that the nature of the problem is identified and that affected and interested parties are provided with appropriate opportunities to comment throughout the process.

“But his own Ministry of Regulation criticised the Treaty Principles Bill approach saying that full consultation is needed given the constitutional significance of this proposal and the impacts on the Crown-Māori relationship.

“David Seymour has also short circuited good regulation in his responsibilities for early childhood education (ECE), when he removed the need for ECEs to prove they had tried to find qualified teachers without obtaining stakeholder views beyond those offered proactively by some stakeholders.

“Consulting with ECE centre owners on teaching qualifications and failing to speak to parents, teachers, Māori/iwi is not putting children first and is a bad way to make law.

“In a similar vein, David Seymour’s ACT Party colleague Nicole McKee also fell afoul of the Ministry of Regulation when she loosened the rules for gun ranges. The Regulatory Impact Statement  noted that no consultation was possible with parties other than the gun ranges themselves. Once again, it is bad law making and bad for public safety.

“The Ministry for Regulation is a joke if its own minister won’t stick to its rules, and his gun lobbyist colleague only talks to the very gun ranges that are regulated when loosening gun laws,” Duncan Webb said.

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Labour Leader Chris Hipkins will travel to the United Kingdom this week to attend the annual UK Labour Party conference in Liverpool and meet with members of the new Labour Government.

While at the conference he will also take part in panel discussions and speaking events.

“The UK Labour conference presents a great opportunity to meet with my British counterparts while also attending some of the hundreds of events and discussions that take place on the sidelines of the conference,” Chris Hipkins said.

“I will also be meeting with think-tanks, economists and writers both in Liverpool and London.

“As the New Zealand Labour Party undertakes its policy-making process, this the perfect time to take stock of what is happening internationally and discuss our direction with other policymakers,” Chris Hipkins said.

After the conference Chris Hipkins will travel to London for meetings, before returning to New Zealand on October 1.

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Scrapping the Progressive Procurement programme designed to support and grow Māori businesses is a missed opportunity.

“The Government’s announcement today is short sighted. This programme allowed Māori businesses to compete for the delivery of important services in our communities,” Labour Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said.

Before the introduction of Progressive Procurement, Māori businesses had to traverse an environment that, for the most part, did not look beyond a small number of large, established and well-resourced businesses.

“We changed that to give Māori businesses an opportunity – when before they didn’t even get a foot in the door,” Willie Jackson said.

“I am proud to have been part of a government that supported businesses like Tairāwhiti Contracting owned and operated by Kat Kaiwai who saw the need and was provided with an opportunity through progressive procurement to start a business, employ locals and support the clean-up in the after math of Cyclone Gabrielle.”

Initially, the target was five percent of contracts for Māori business which due to the demand, hit six percent in 2022. This meant more than 3,200 contracts went to Māori Businesses.

Due to the demand that was increased to eight percent – meaning 92 percent of contracts awarded were non-Māori. 

“Māori businesses were still expected to deliver against the same standards as all other businesses. The Progressive Procurement programme was a market-access opportunity only and didn’t guarantee Māori businesses a contract or change the requirements or settings for delivering against contracts,” Willie Jackson said.

“The Māori economy is a huge opportunity for New Zealand. It grew from $16 billion to $70 billion in 20 years, and in 2022 had a projected growth of five percent per annum, which was expected to reach $100 billion in assets by 2030.”

In Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa, changes in government and corporate procurement have seen a significant rise in the number of indigenous or minority-owned businesses, resulting in improved socio-economic conditions for targeted groups.

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Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has cut grants helping overseas family of victims to attend the next phase of the Coronial Inquiry into the 15 March 2019 Christchurch Masjidain Attack.

“The Government claims to have a focus on victims but has excluded the victims of the March 15 attack,” said Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb.

“The Minister has talked a big game about a victim-first approach, and has said victims are prioritised but is betraying the victims and families of our biggest mass casualty event.

“This is more hypocrisy from a government that specialises in it.

“This phase of the inquest is incredibly important, focusing on crucial matters such as how the terrorist came to be granted a firearms licence.

“With last week’s controversial loosening of rules for gun ranges, hearing from the real-life victims of firearms laws is more important than ever.

“Open justice is critical, and the rights of victims and their families to be present at hearings is an essential part of that. This Government says one thing to victims and does another.

“This is another affront for the mosques, the families of the shuhada and the survivors, as well as the wider Christchurch community after the Government ended the coordinated response, rejected recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry and won’t rule out bringing back military-style weapons like the one used in the shootings,” said Duncan Webb.

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Labour’s Mangere MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will shortly take medical leave.

Lemauga will take leave from Parliament from Tuesday 17 September 2024.

She will undergo surgery, and then remain on leave to recover. She wishes for privacy for her family during this time.

Jan Tinetti will act as spokesperson for Internal Affairs and Carmel Sepuloni will cover her associate portfolios of Pacific Peoples and Social Development and Employment.

“I wish Lemauga all the very best for her surgery and recovery,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“Receiving a diagnosis like this is never easy and is particularly hard on whānau. We in Labour are right behind Lemauga and will support her in any way she needs during this tough next period.

“Lemauga and I discussed what she would like me to say on her behalf, and it is to encourage women of all cultures to get checked. You never think it will be you, or someone close to you – but cancer can affect so many people quietly.

“On behalf of Lemauga’s family, thank you for your best wishes and prayers. Fa’afetai lava.”

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The Government is taking a wrecking ball to our public education system by reinstating charter schools.

The select committee process of the Education and Training Amendment Bill has shown charter schools will:

• Cost more per student, but not improve results
• Go against international trade obligations and labour laws
• Not have to employ registered teachers
• Not have to teach the New Zealand Curriculum
• Take away the ability for teachers to collectively bargain for better pay and conditions
• Not be transparent with no requirement like other schools to be subject to the Official Information Act.

“This Bill makes it clear charter schools promote a privatised, competitive education system that puts profits before kids,” Labour’s education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said.

“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. Our public education system should serve every child and converting 35 state schools to be charter schools will take desperately needed resources from the state system.

“Under the last National-ACT model, charter schools received preferential funding and cost up to $48,421 per student annually – six times the average funding spent on students in state schools for no better educational outcomes.

“No reason has been offered as to why charter schools should be given a free ride and made exempt from the OIA. Being subject to the OIA ensures these schools are accountable to tax-payers for how that money is being used and for how well they are performing.

“David Seymour’s charter schools are driven by ideology rather than evidence and are a danger to our education system,” Jan Tinetti said.

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The National Party is wasting millions of dollars allowing David Seymour’s Treaty Principals Bill to be drafted and go to Select Committee.

“CTU calculations showing the Government is likely to waste over $4 million on a bill it doesn’t even plan to pass is farcical, given they’ve spent the best part of a year telling everyone else to tighten their belts,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“The CTU points out this money could pay for 40 nurses, except the government’s put a hiring pause in place, while trainee nurses struggle to find hospital placements.

“It could buy a lot of lunches for school kids, yet the government and David Seymour in particular made a big song and a dance about cutting that programme back to save money.

“The $4 million estimate for the cost to the taxpayer is conservative and doesn’t take into account a lot of the work likely to have to be done by various agencies. It also doesn’t count any of the time, money and energy the submitters themselves will have to put in to be heard on a bill that Christopher Luxon says is divisive and won’t get his party’s support later anyway.

“The National Party can stop this wasteful spending and kill the bill now. If they don’t, they’re not only allowing a divisive debate that doesn’t need to happen, they’re also being hypocritical with spending taxpayers’ money,” Chris Hipkins said.

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