Category: Labour Party

Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“Christopher Luxon has taken more than a month to show any leadership for our disabled communities and take the portfolio off Penny Simmonds, and weeks to take any action on Melissa Lee’s total inaction during an obvious media crisis,” Chris Hipkins said.

“The Penny has finally dropped for Christopher Luxon. It’s taken a while but he has finally sacked his Minister for Disability Issues after she blindsided carers with changes to their funding flexibility – effectively cutting their financial support.

“The new Minister for Disability Issues must urgently reinstate funding flexibility and apologise to carers for the Government’s comments and accusations towards carers of disabled people.

“This whole debacle shows Christopher Luxon is out of his depth. He uses corporate jargon to make it seem like he’s top of things but took five weeks to make this decision.

“The Minister responsible for the media has also been booted from Cabinet today. She has shown total disregard for a sector in crisis. A sector that contributes to a strong, healthy democracy by keeping people informed.

“If these Ministers aren’t good enough for disability issues or media, it beggars belief they can be trusted with environment, economic development, tertiary education or ethnic communities.

“And what about Winston Peters, David Seymour and Casey Costello?

“Christopher Luxon’s own Ministers have been publicly interfering with the independent Waitangi Tribunal with barely a rap over the knuckles. His deputy Prime Minister has on several occasions referenced Nazi Germany and the holocaust. Casey Costello conveniently forgot who wrote a memo from her office on tax breaks for tobacco companies and has failed to protect New Zealanders’ health.

“If Penny Simmonds and Melissa Lee meet the threshold for demotion, how long will it take for those Ministers? Christopher Luxon acts tough but isn’t brave enough to discipline his coalition partners.

“This is a coalition in chaos. Not even six months into the job and Christopher Luxon doesn’t have confidence in some of his own team to do the job.

“He should take some of his tough rhetoric in Opposition and apply it to his own leadership,” Chris Hipkins said.

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It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. 

It’s been revealed that Treasury produced a report for Nicola Willis earlier this year titled ‘Discontinuation of the National Resilience Plan’. This is the $6 billion fund that was put in place to support local communities and councils after Cyclone Gabrielle, the Auckland floods and other severe weather.

“Local communities are relying on this funding to protect them from future events,” said Labour finance and infrastructure spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. 

“The Finance Minister now appears to be removing that certainty, meaning future proofing road, rail, and local infrastructure wiped out by the extreme weather, as well as telecommunications and electricity transmission infrastructure could all be at risk.

“This is the complete opposite of what a responsible Government should be doing.

“Christopher Luxon stood alongside communities in Hawkes’ Bay during the election campaign telling them the National Party was committed to rebuilding and that momentum would continue. They must explain to councils and to ratepayers where the money will come from, if not from Government.

“It’d be another blow for local councils, and mean ratepayers would have to foot the bill yet again. First it was water services thrown back onto councils that can’t afford it, now they might have to pay to prepare for severe weather, and for recovery after it hits. It shows a Government that is not serious about the big challenges and would rather pass the buck onto local councils.

“Nicola Willis should front up about the ‘range of advice’ the Government is considering. It creates huge uncertainly for New Zealand’s infrastructure pipeline and shows a worrying lack of commitment to New Zealand’s future resilience.

“On the day a report is released into failures in the system during these severe weather events, it’s revealed the Government could be sacrificing the recovery, most likely to pay for their hugely expensive and irresponsible tax cuts,” Barbara Edmonds said.

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The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today.

“These changes are being pushed through fast to avoid public scrutiny. They will water down rules that prevent our rivers from being polluted, and our native species being protected.

“This comes at the same time the Government is pushing through the Fast Track Approvals Bill, which will give projects such as coal mines a ‘get out of jail free card’ to wreak havoc on the environment and take us further from our net-zero by 2050 goal.

“Which one will the Government push through first? The one that will open the door to lobbyists and foreign mining companies? Or the one that will see our rivers more polluted?

“The public deserve to know the detail of these changes, and how far the Coalition Government is willing to go to destroy our environment and biodiversity.

“This is just another example of short-term thinking by this Government,” Rachel Brooking said.

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Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster.

“Labour commissioned the review into the severe weather events last year in Government, so that New Zealand can be better prepared,” Labour emergency management spokesperson Camilla Belich said.

“The severe weather events included Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods. We are thinking of those who lost loved ones, and those still dealing with the aftermath. Many people lost everything and still have a long recovery ahead.

“I would also like to thank all of the people who responded without question, during the events and afterwards. This report is not about them, but about the system and the changes needed to ensure they are supported better.

“We encourage the Government to implement the report’s recommendations, including making legislative change, as quickly as possible.

“The report shows that the Emergency Management system in New Zealand requires urgent reform and investment to make sure New Zealand is best placed to respond to a major natural disaster. It also makes the case for increased investment in resilient infrastructure and support for local councils.

“We support the recommendation for increased staffing and resources for NEMA, including an appropriate alternative Civil Defence Headquarters outside of Wellington.

“Iwi were a significant part of the response, but their role is not formally integrated into decision making. We support the report’s recommendation to empower iwi Māori and bring clarity to the important role they play.

“We do not consider the case is made in the report for the wholescale abandonment of the Emergency Management Bill. The report provides some suggested changes and significant amendments to the Bill, but also supports some aspects of it.

“This would’ve been the quickest way to implement some of the recommendations of the report. Labour’s plan had been to make any amendments needed to the Bill following this report at the committee stages, so they could be passed straight away. 

“We are concerned that waiting to bring a new Bill to the House this term risks too much of a delay. We don’t know when the next disaster will strike and must be prepared.

“Labour is willing to work with and assist the Government in ensuring the recommendations of this report are introduced as soon as possible,” Camilla Belich said. 

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The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region.

The case for this is set out in the attached letter sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rt Hon Winston Peters, on 12 April.

“Most countries in the world have already recognised Palestine,” said Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker. 

“It is likely that related United Nations resolutions will be discussed in the coming weeks. New Zealand should support them,” he said. 

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Note: Letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs outlining case for recognising Palestine is attached.

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The Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said.

The Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said.

“This is political posturing of the worst kind. Three strikes did not reduce serious offending, as ACT and National claimed it would,” Duncan Webb said.

“In fact there was almost no evidence to show it deters offending, and instead it resulted in severe distortions in sentencing third strike offenders.

“One example provided at the time the legislation was repealed was a person who was jailed for 10 years where the sentencing judge said they would ordinarily have imposed 18 months in prison for that kind of offending.

“Another saw a person get a sentence of seven years in prison for patting a prison guard’s bottom. That was unjust and can still occur under this new proposal.

“Repeated offending is already an aggravating factor. Judges can already impose sentences of this length, where appropriate. All this law does is continue the Government’s attack on the judiciary by removing sentencing discretion from the courts.

“Judges should be left to make decisions that take into account all of the circumstances of the offending, the offender and the impact on the victim.

“Wasting money on compulsory sentences that don’t reduce crime is political posturing, doesn’t protect victims and is a significant cost to the country’s prison system. The criminal justice system needs to protect victims by reducing reoffending and getting tough on the drivers of crime.

“This legislation has not even been to Cabinet yet – so it is an announcement about an announcement in an attempt to look tough, when the evidence all shows this doesn’t work,” Duncan Webb said.

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Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports.

“Today we’ve learned that 79 positions are on the chopping block at Customs and 41 at the Department of Internal Affairs,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“It includes staff in the child exploitation team, as well as roles combatting violent extremism and money laundering at the Department of Internal Affairs. Frontline staff at ports and airports have also been confirmed, including more than halving Auckland’s detector dog trainers.

“This shows nothing is safe from the National Government’s cuts.

“Today’s job losses are not only an appalling lack of judgement by a Government that claims its serious about cracking down on crime, it shows they also aren’t serious about tackling the tobacco black market as they claimed during the roll-back of the tobacco legislation.

“It brings the total job cuts to about 3150. That’s over 3000 households affected by a Government desperately scrambling to pay for irresponsible tax cuts with frontline jobs. This is a choice and the choice is not worth it.

“The digital child exploitation team leads important work cracking down on criminals and is New Zealand’s bridge to international law enforcement agencies. It identified more than 90,000 online accounts that traded or possessed child sexual abuse material in a single mission in 2022 and 46 people based in New Zealand were arrested as a result.

“The idea that roles of this kind should be scrapped is not only bizarre, it’s frankly appalling. National is going too far, placing huge risk back on children and young people not just on our shores but further afield.

“We have heard time and time again that frontline services will not be cut, but now we have a hiring freeze imposed on already short-staffed hospitals, children are being forgotten as Oranga Tamariki shrinks, and education outcomes will be kicked to the curb along with roles working on the school lunch programme and in the school property team.

“This National Government’s choices are taking New Zealand backwards,” Chris Hipkins said.

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The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today.

The Bill gives Ministers the final sign off on large projects, instead of an independent panel. It will allow three Ministers the power to override advice if they consider the conditions too ‘onerous’ for business.

“It’s worrying that Chris Bishop calls environmental protections ‘onerous’. Protecting land, people and native species is not onerous but in all of our interests.

“It’s also worrying that on the Government’s list of those they’re inviting to apply are companies that have donated recently to National and ACT. Directors and shareholders of Winton and Carter Group have made substantial donations in recent years, and are among those Chris Bishop has written to detailing how to apply for approval.

“Ministers shouldn’t be taking donations from business with one hand, and making decisions about their projects on the other.

“The Bill clearly enables private profit to trump our environmental protections, which will ultimately be detrimental to everyone,” Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said.

“If Ministers are making the decision to push go on a project the door is open to lobbying from companies and interests here and offshore.”

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New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today.

New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published by the Ministry for the Environment yesterday shows three consecutive years of emissions reductions, with the biggest reduction in the last year coming from the energy sector.

“National’s axing of the Clean Car Discount, which made EVs more affordable, could increase emissions by approximately 1100 to 2200 Kt CO2-e by 2050 alone,” said Megan Woods.

“The work done to help business transition away from using coal to more climate-friendly technology has been axed. Scrapping the scheme could add 3 megatonnes of climate pollution over the period 2026-2030, and another 4 megatonnes from 2030 to 2035.

“The Government is now hanging its hat on increasing renewable energy supply with zero ideas for how we are going to drive uptake of that energy on the demand side.

“National is twiddling its thumbs when we need action now. Meanwhile, Energy Minister Shane Jones has said he’s inviting coal mines to come and plunder our conservation estate again. You’d have to have had your head in the 1950s to think that’s a good idea.

“We’ve seen proposed job cuts to research-based agencies like the Ministry for the Environment, NIWA, Callaghan Innovation, and the Department of Conservation in recent weeks. The Government’s aversion to evidence and research will cost us dearly in the long-term.

“These callous cuts to jobs and climate programmes will take us backwards in our work toward a greener future,” Megan Woods said.

“The time for action is now, not years in the future. Labour’s plan was making a real difference for our emissions profile now, but National is making giant steps backwards.”

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News that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders.

Today’s announcements take the number of proposed job losses in the public sector beyond 3000.

“After promising there would be no impact on the frontline, and that health and education would be safe, Nicola Willis is overseeing changes that will hurt our children and be felt for generations,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

“This is a dark day for Kiwi kids. A third of the Government’s cuts directly affect our children.

“Education is vital for our future. Ensuring our curriculum is up to scratch and teaching young people what they need to learn today, not 50 years ago, is incredibly important – and we need our best people working on that.

“If we want to improve attendance, we need initiatives that make kids want to go to school. Free and healthy school lunches, period products and warm, dry school buildings are all part of the solution.

“The size of the cuts at Education, 565 roles, means frontline services will be affected. These are people who work directly with teachers and principals to improve education delivery in our regions. They are frontline roles and those who support frontline roles.

“Oranga Tamariki works directly with kids who by no fault of their own haven’t had the best start in life. These are the very kids we should be investing in, supporting, so they can go on to live the best, most fulfilling lives and not lives of trauma and crime.

“Those who work at Oranga Tamariki have some of the toughest jobs of any agency within the public service. They deal with children who are abused, hurt or in danger.

“It hasn’t always got it right, and there have been reviews of Oranga Tamariki to improve it – however cutting its budget and 447 staff will only make outcomes worse.

“If we fail the children in our care, we are creating a lifetime of pain for those children and for society.

“There is only one solution to this – stop the deep cuts, they are going too far,” Chris Hipkins said.

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