Category: National Party

Source: National Party – Headline: Bill to improve liquor licence laws for restaurants

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop has lodged a Member’s Bill to allow restaurants that hold on-licences to sell alcohol, to also hold off-licences under the same roof.

“The Sale and Supply of Liquor Act currently prohibits ‘shops within shops’, which means that restaurants that are also speciality food stores have great difficulty in selling alcohol through an off-licence under the same roof and at the same time,” Mr Bishop says.

“For instance, Bel Mondo international food market and restaurant in Kilbirnie was recently forced to close after licencing authorities asked the owners to erect a wall separating the dining area from the food store and operate two separate companies in order to sell wine to take away.

“At La Bella Italia in Petone, customers who may wish to purchase a bottle of wine after trying it in the restaurant are required to buy the wine online on an iPad in the corner of the store and pick it up from a separate entrance out the back.

“There are other examples I know of around the country. The Sale and Supply of Liquor Act is about reducing alcohol related harm; but this section of the Act is sadly just stopping innovative restaurants from offering a broader dining and retail experience.

“My bill makes it clear that restrictions on the granting of an off-licence to a premises that is situated within a shop do not apply to a premises that is a shop sharing premises with a restaurant.

“This is a common-sense change that I hope will receive broad support across the House.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Prison costs cannot be excuse to go soft on crime

The Government needs to stop looking for excuses to go soft on crime and come up with a plan to reduce crime, National’s Justice Spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.

“No doubt the report today from the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor saying that being tough on crime is to blame for rising prison costs and inmate numbers is music to Justice Minister Andrew Little’s ears.

“He’s been looking for excuses to loosen up bail and sentencing laws so that the Government doesn’t have to go ahead with building the new Waikeria prison and can boast about reducing prison numbers.

“But the cost of prisons cannot be an excuse not to put people in prison, if that’s where they need to be. The priority must be to ensure that victims are kept safe from violent criminals.

“We know that the overall crime rate has been decreasing, but a lot of that is due to a reduction in lower-level offending.

“Violent crime has actually gone up four per cent since 2011 and this is largely the type of crime that people get sent to prison for. This is also the type of crime that has the most serious and long-lasting impact on victims’ lives.

“That’s why perpetrators of violent crime must be taken out of our communities and into a place where they can’t hurt others and where they can get rehabilitation.

“Tightening up bail laws was part of ensuring this because we know that a very large number of people go on to commit more crimes and rack up more victims while on bail.

“Part of the reason violent crime has gone up is because there’s been a stronger focus on family violence in the last few years, meaning more people are coming forward to report incidents of family violence and police and the courts are taking the issue more seriously.

“It’s worrying that the Government scrapped National’s target to reduce crime and instead introduced a target to reduce the prison population.

“Surely the measure of success must be to reduce the number of victims, not the number of prisoners, because if we can do the former we achieve the latter.

“It’s time the Government realised that and got on with developing a plan to reduce crime.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Hipkins’ approach to online learning archaic

The Government is taking New Zealand’s education system back to the dark ages with the announcement that it is scrapping Communities of Online Learning (COOL) and increasing its control over the Education Council, National’s Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“Digital technologies have rapidly evolved in the decade since Labour was last in Government and it’s important our education system reflects that.

“That’s why National established COOLs, with the intention of harnessing digital technology to provide more learning options for children and young people.

“For instance, parents who home-schooled their children could have enrolled them in a COOL which would have opened them up to subjects that the parent might not be able to teach. Or a rural school that doesn’t have the capacity to teach languages might have allowed its students to use a COOL to learn Mandarin or Te Reo Māori.

“Scrapping COOLs takes these possibilities away from children and young people, all because Labour is ideologically allergic to privately delivered services.

“At the same time as the Government is taking opportunities away from kids, Education Minister Chris Hipkins is giving himself more control over the Education Council.

“Despite the spin from Mr Hipkins that allowing teachers to elect most members to the Education Council gives the sector more control, the changes proposed in the Education Amendment Bill actually hand the power of decision-making over to the Minister.

“The Council will be required to consult with the Minister on decisions relating to teacher training and registration. Changes will also enable the Minister to issue a policy statement which will essentially tell the Council what to do and how to do it.

“What’s the point of telling teachers they can elect members to the Council when the Minister is just going to tell them what to do anyway?

“The sooner Mr Hipkins realises that the Government doesn’t have all the answers, the better.”

Source: National Party – Headline: M-Bovis compo should be fast and fair

A long-awaited decision to cull cattle infected with the Mycoplasma Bovis disease will bring some welcome relief to affected farmers but questions remain whether the Government is fully committed to eradication, National’s Primary Industries spokesperson Nathan Guy says.

“Yesterday the Minister, Damien O’Connor, told Parliament that Cabinet is still to decide if eradication is possible – or if it’s even economically viable – which is nothing but a ‘get out of jail free’ card so the Government doesn’t have to commit to any further funding.

“The $85 million package – that includes $11 million from industry – will go some way toward culling the 22 herds but it’s also needed to cover ongoing operational costs, including some feed and compensation costs.

“While this gives certainty to those individual farmers, this is going to be a stressful time as they see their animals trucked off for slaughter, and I feel for them.

“Many will have spent a lifetime investing in the best animal genetics and also have a stand down period before they can purchase replacement stock and get back farming again.

“I acknowledge the work of the Rural Support Trust and banks, who will play a very important role in supporting these farmers through this soul-destroying period.

“Because of a lack of funding, the Government has been too slow to compensate farmers to date and my challenge to the Minister and his officials is be fair and fast with future compensation claims.

“I’m also calling on the Minister to release the tracing report that is currently sitting on his desk. My pick is that it will be inconclusive as to how Micoplasma Bovis got here – tracing the origins of this disease will be a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Mr Guy says. 

Source: National Party – Headline: Govt needs to provide clarity on free to air sport

The Government must be clear about its policy on free to air sport, given NZ First has promised to implement it while Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran has said it is not a priority, National’s Sport and Recreation Spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“National has always recognised that the money from selling broadcasting rights is important to the sporting codes. The minute the Government tries to force greater access to coverage, it must pay for it.

“While National did not campaign on a free to air sport policy, NZ First promised it would be a non-negotiable demand in its coalition discussions.

“But shortly after becoming Minister, Clare Curran said it was not a priority for the Government.

“This issue is further confused with today’s news that Sky TV is not the preferred bidder to broadcast the Rugby World Cup in 2019.

“It’s important to respect the tender process, however Ms Curran must be clear about whether the Government will provide additional funding to ensure greater access to either Rugby World Cup coverage or free to air sport as promised by Labour’s coalition partner.

“Labour has promised additional funds for broadcasting so they need to be clear whether any of these funds will be used for greater access to sporting matches.

“Taxpayers deserve transparency from this Government, but if recent events are anything to go by I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Source: National Party – Headline: PM’s blatant back-track from child poverty targets

The Prime Minister has announced with much fanfare that she is dialling back on her child poverty targets, National’s spokesperson for Children, Alfred Ngaro says.

“Jacinda Ardern has announced that she intends to reduce the number of children living in poverty by 70,000 over three years,” Mr Ngaro says.

“But in an interview she gave during the election campaign in September, Jacinda Ardern said that she was committed to lifting 100,000 children out of poverty by 2020.

“This is an extraordinary back-track from her pre-election promise.

“We don’t believe that a reduction of 70,000 children in poverty is anywhere near as ambitious as it could be given the previously-announced Families Package – which was a rebadge of National’s package – is likely to impact the lives of 64,000 kids.

“So essentially she’s saying her Government is only going to raise another 6,000 in this term of Parliament.

“During the campaign, National committed to lifting 100,000 children out of low income households by 2020 through the introduction of a second income package to build on the 50,000 children our first package would have helped.

“It should also be noted that it was the National Government that raised benefits for the first time in 40 years and the impact of that increase is yet to be seen in the numbers. Jacinda Ardern’s pet policy is wholly reliant on the economic management and evidence-driven initiatives of the National Government. 

“We’re continuing to fight hard for any future legislation around reducing child poverty to have some real teeth to it.

“National has lodged three Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) seeking to force the Government to be more ambitious with its targets, measures, and evidence.

“We supported the Prime Minister’s Bill to select committee but have always said that our ongoing support would depend on the Government agreeing to make changes that will ensure it measurably improves deprivation.

“I look forward to discussing these SOPs as they come in front of the Social Services and Community select committee and I hope the Government agrees to allow an increase in the report-back time and for the public to be able to give feedback on our proposed changes,” Mr Ngaro says. 

Source: National Party – Headline: Minister using taxpayer cash for political gain

Labour’s coalition partner NZ First has threatened to withhold regional development funding for an important economic development project in Rodney unless local National MP Mark Mitchell ends his advocacy for it and stops criticising NZ First ministers.

In an extraordinary request over the weekend, NZ First MP Jenny Marcroft – who said she was under instruction from a Minister – also requested that National pledge to not ask Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones questions about the project, should it go ahead.

“Ms Marcroft said she had been sent to tell me that the Mahurangi River Restoration Project would be considered for funding from the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund, but for that to happen I would have to end my involvement with it as a local MP.

“Ms Marcroft told me this was because the Government was unhappy with me revealing the illegitimate use of Defence Force aircraft by Defence Minister Ron Mark.

“She also said if I ended my involvement and the money was granted, that they did not want National’s Regional Economic Development spokesperson Paul Goldsmith asking Shane Jones questions about it in Parliament.

“Finally, she implied my work as an Opposition MP would be a factor in funding any projects in my electorate I was involved in.

“I immediately told Ms Marcroft this behaviour was unacceptable, and that she had been put in a very compromised position by her colleague. She refused to name them so I said she had two hours to have the Minister call me before I took the matter further.

“She sent a text message an hour later asking me to forget the conversation.

“But this is rotten politics. It goes to the core of our democratic processes and the National Party will not let such behaviour stand.

“This billion dollar Provincial Growth Fund is taxpayer money and should be used to benefit New Zealanders, not buy an easy ride for the Government nor to try and convince local MPs to stop supporting local projects, because they have annoyed the Government.

“The Prime Minister needs to find out which of her Ministers is attempting to use public money for political gain and she needs to quickly explain what she intends to do about it.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Health Minister must clean up his own mess

Health Minister David Clark needs to walk the talk and work with DHBs to ensure they can successfully negotiate a pay increase with nurses before strike action is taken, National’s Health Spokesperson Michael Woodhouse says.

“It comes as no surprise that the New Zealand Nurses Organisation has rejected the DHBs’ offer of a 2 per cent pay increase given the very high expectations created by this Government.

“Labour spent years talking about how the health sector was underfunded and as a result created the expectation that nurses were in for a big bump in their wages.

“Yet the first thing it does when it comes into Government is throw $2.8 billion at tertiary students leaving little money to invest in health and other important areas.

“Health Minister David Clark must at the very least make sure that DHBs have the confidence to make a higher offer to nurses by signalling future funding.

“And he must do it quickly, before nurses go on strike for the first time in decades. Strike action just as we’re approaching winter would cripple our health system and put lives at risk.

“This is a mess created by the Government and an example of the dangers of over promising and under delivering.

“It’s simply not good enough for the Government to sit on the sidelines and leave it to the DHBs to clean up its mess.”

Source: National Party – Headline: Petition launched to improve school reporting

A petition to improve the quality of school and parental reporting has been launched today by National’s Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye.

“Labour’s dismantling of National Standards without having a system of standardised reporting to replace it with demonstrates a complete disregard for parents and the needs of children across the country,” Ms Kaye says.

“National believes that parents should be able to see how their kids are doing at school and that schools should be accountable for lifting achievement.

“National Standards were a key part of ensuring that. Scrapping National Standards without a replacement system means that parents will be left in the dark about where their child is at in their learning and children will have at least a year’s gap in their achievement records.

“That’s not good enough and that’s why National is launching this petition today.

“In August last year, National announced a policy to develop National Standards to report across more of the curriculum beyond the core competencies. However, we recognised this would require years of investment and implementation. That would mean we’d have to retain National Standards in the meantime so parents could still track their child’s progress.

“In scrapping National Standards without having a replacement, the Government changed the National Administration Guidelines to remove the requirement for schools to report achievement information to the Ministry of Education.

“This means that schools can use any system they choose for reporting to parents and, while there are international reports to compare to, there will be no nationwide picture of achievement.

“That will make it much more difficult for parents to challenge a school if they have concerns about how the school has assessed their child, because there’s less ability to compare against other schools.

“The petition also calls for investment in online tools to ensure parents and teachers can have confidence in the data that’s being reported, but also have greater frequency of reporting in the future.

“We are confident that thousands of New Zealanders will come on board to restore the basic concept that parents have the right to frequent and reliable school reports.”

The petition can be signed here.

Source: National Party – Headline: Robertson’s RBNZ changes no compensation for poor policies

Finance Minister Grant Robertson should explain why New Zealand needs to change its monetary policy objectives when under the current settings he inherited one of the best performing economies and employment rates in the developed world, says National Party Finance Spokesperson Amy Adams.

“When our Finance Minister justifies change on the basis that this is what happens in other parts of the world, and yet we have performed better economically than many over the last few years, then questions must be asked,” Ms Adams says.

“He should be looking more at the policies he can directly control. Labour’s policies in a whole range of areas like employment relations, investment, immigration and tax will only take job creation and prosperity in New Zealand backwards.

“In fact, the new Policy Targets Agreement signed by Mr Robertson today specifically removes reference to economic growth which puts him at odds with a number of the other countries he says he is seeking to emulate.

“In relation to the maximum employment criteria in the PTA, New Zealand already has the third highest rate of employment in the OECD.

“On one level this change means nothing as the Reserve Bank has always been required to consider growth, incomes, and standard of living – and therefore employment.

“However monetary policy can’t deliver strong employment on its own. It must be applied in parallel with government microeconomic policies that boost employment, as has occurred in the last few years.

“We’ll be watching closely to ensure Grant Robertson doesn’t point the finger at the Central Bank should job creation and employment slow.

“With regards to committee decision making, National is on record as supporting formalizing the current committee structure operated by the Bank.

“However we have reservations that the move to make a significant proportion of the committee ministerial appointed external members, and enabling a senior Government official to be part of all decision making meetings (albeit not voting), creates a real risk of unwarranted political influence over Monetary Policy settings.”