“After two violent dairy robberies in the past week, it is only a matter of time before someone is killed, and both Labour and National will be responsible”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“The $1.7 billion per year in tobacco tax revenue collected by the Government each year is blood money, obtained by putting people’s lives at risk.
“Just $1.8 million of that revenue, or 0.1%, is directed to protecting dairy owners at risk of being robbed, assaulted, or even murdered.
“In 2016, the National Government put in place a punitive series of four annual tobacco tax increases. These tax increases are driving violent crimes.
“The Herald reported last October that there had been about 500 robberies of tobacco retailers in a 13 month period.
“Smokers already pay for the costs they impose on society. A 2007 report commissioned by tobacco control groups found that “smokers contribute considerably more in taxes than the net ‘economic costs’ to the rest of the community caused by their smoking” and that “no further increases in tobacco excise are justified”.
“ACT is calling on the Government, as part of Budget 2018, to direct 10 per cent of the revenue collected on tobacco to protecting vulnerable business owners,” says Mr Seymour.
Headline: Working for Women’s Rights on the World Stage
It’s been a whirlwind week of women’s issues. I’ve been busy hearing inspiring stories from around the world about the gender pay gap, representation, stopping violence against women, work on climate change and the challenges facing working women.
This week I had the incredible privilege of representing Aotearoa New Zealand as the Minister for Women at the United Nations in New York. I led our delegation to the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), where over 7000 women from around the world are gathering to discuss the challenges and opportunities to achieve true gender equality, and negotiate global agreements on action. Improving conditions for all women and girls, and fostering greater representation and diversity in leadership, is critical to democracy and peace, and to reducing inequality, all of which are necessary to address our ecological crises and climate change.
The Gender Pay Gap
Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs and Equality Ásmundur Einar DaðasonNZ and Iceland Flags
My personal highlight was discussing with other countries the different approaches they have taken to address the gender pay gap. Some countries are just starting to measure it, whereas others, including the UK, Australia, and several Scandinavian countries, have already implemented mandatory reporting. It was inspiring to hear of the great progress, and how it was achieved. I had a great chat with Ásmundur Einar Daðason, about the steps that Iceland has taken for women. Iceland is leading the world, by legalising equal pay for women!
I was able to discuss with Ministers, MPs and public servants from a number of countries the political and technical challenges they faced, and how they overcame them. The UK have done some great work on data collection, particularly on the ethnic pay gap. Australia have a larger pay gap than New Zealand, yet they have already implemented pay transparency for employers of more than 100 people – this has put useful pressure on companies to take action to end discriminatory pay practices.
Australian Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer also shared some great advice on how she coped with being a Minister and a Mum.
Climate Change
I gave our National Statement (a speech to representatives from all the countries in the United Nations), where I raised climate change and the disproportionate impact that it is having on women, especially those living in rural areas. New Zealand supports the Gender Action Plan recently adopted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which seeks to promote gender-responsive climate policy. In the Pacific this means we are working to strengthen resilience and improve disaster preparedness in ways that take account of gender implications.
I had a fantastic meeting with the first woman president of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine – an incredibly impressive person that is blazing trails for wāhine Pasifika in politics, and for whom climate change is one of the most pressing issues.
Marshall Islands President, Hilda Heine
Representation of Women in Politics
Representation of Women in Politics panel
At the invitation of the UK, I participated in a panel about removing the barriers to women’s participation in politics. Also on the panel was an incredibly inspiring MP and feminist fromMalawi, Jessie Kabwila MP. We discussed the importance of proportional electoral systems for increasing the number of women in politics, and the role of political parties and their constitutions and processes for encouraging female and diverse candidates. Some African countries are leading the world in women’s representation in parliament.
I presented research from NZ’s Ministry for Women about the different impact that digital harm has on boys and girls. Countries that are still growing their internet infrastructure were very interested in this and I can see some ongoing collaboration arising from this. There was a lot of discussion about the #metoo campaign and the positive change it has brought.
Suffrage125 celebration
The New Zealand Mission in New York hosted a celebration where we invited other countries to celebrate 125 years of all women in New Zealand being able to vote. It was a very proud moment for us as a country that I was glad to share with many of the NGO representatives from NZ that attended. We need to ensure that women’s rights in our country continue to be trailblazing and something to stand up on the world stage about.
With the Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute celebrating #Suffrage125
Bodies and Babies
I loved meeting Government Ministers from around the world who had birthed babies in office in just the last few years. I took on board as much information as I could in the short time frame. Sometimes it is just so useful to hear from other women who have done what I hope to do, and the ways in which they coped. The warm reception and support I received was overwhelming. Many people I spoke with had heard about Jacinda’s baby. I was delighted to share my happy news as well.
The rights that I enjoy and exercise over my body are unfortunately not universally celebrated. I ensured that New Zealand spoke up on the importance of reproductive and sexual health services and rights. Women must be trusted to make decisions over their body.
I felt honoured to represent New Zealand Aotearoa on the global stage. While we still have obvious challenges such as women being underpaid and unacceptably high domestic and sexual violence rates, we must continue to learn and work together on these challenges.
“A ban on oil and gas exploration as proposed by Greenpeace would put 11,000 jobs at risk and could harm the environment”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
The oil and gas industry creates thousands of jobs, contributes $2.5 billion to the New Zealand economy and $500 million to the Government in royalties each year.
“Not only would a ban on exploration make us poorer as a country, it would drive production of oil and gas overseas which will harm the environment.
“Natural gas has about half the emissions of coal, and New Zealand-produced oil has lower emissions than oil produced overseas
“This ban would force New Zealand households and firms to buy higher-cost and dirtier energy from foreign sources.
“Are Greenpeace going to stop consuming all products derived from oil and gas? Or do they simply want to force production of these goods offshore? The former is the principled stand, but we suspect they will take the latter, hypocritical approach.
“This is a lose-lose policy and the Government should consider very carefully how it will impact New Zealanders”, says Mr Seymour.
Source: National Party – Headline: Govt picks up National’s work on year and a day law
National Party Justice Spokesperson Mark Mitchell welcomes news that Justice Minister Andrew Little is continuing the work of his predecessor Amy Adams to repeal the one year and one day law as part of the Crimes Amendment Bill.
“Mr Little’s announcement that Cabinet will today discuss a draft bill started in 2017 by then-Justice Minister Amy Adams is good news.
“Ms Adams asked officials in July 2017 to begin work on a number of potential amendments to the Crimes Act, including the repeal of Section 162 that states no one can be held criminally responsible for a death that occurs a year and a day after the cause of death.
“It’s good to see the Government picking up where National left off. The law as it stands doesn’t make sense, as demonstrated by the inability to prosecute anyone for the CTV building collapse. We also know that victims of serious assaults, for example, are able to survive longer because of advances in technology, meaning that perpetrators can avoid liability if their victims die outside the legislated period.
“Ms Adams also sought advice on including the repeal of blasphemous libel in the Crimes Amendment Bill, as well as amending self-defence laws to ensure that a person can claim self-defence even if that person is responding to a threat that is not imminent.
“The latter is particularly relevant to cases involving family violence, where a perpetrator’s behaviour can escalate to the point where victims may feel their life is in danger and the need to take drastic action. I hope that the Government will also continue our work on this.
“Thanks to the previous Government, Mr Little has plenty of opportunities to continue our work to make the justice system work better for New Zealanders.”
Source: National Party – Headline: National urges Aucklanders to submit on fuel tax
Aucklanders should make their opposition heard on the proposal to introduce a new regional fuel tax in Auckland, National Party Transport Spokesperson Jami-Lee Ross and Auckland Local Government Spokesperson Denise Lee say.
“The Auckland regional fuel tax is not needed. The enforcement is complicated, and it will hit Aucklanders in the pocket,” Mr Ross says.
“Under a National Government, we were able to live within our means while still investing in major projects such as the Waterview tunnel, rail electrification and the Western Ring Route.
“The Auckland Council should be applying more discipline to its own finances in order to properly fund core services such as transport. Current funding shortfalls should be the responsibility of council with help from central Government, rather than a new tax on hardworking Aucklanders.”
“Aucklanders are in the odd situation where they are being asked to submit on a new tax where there is very little information available,” Ms Lee says.
“There is no current ability for Auckland Council to implement a fuel tax, no legislation before Parliament to allow it to happen and, therefore, no detail on what this means to everyday Auckland drivers.
“Aucklanders are concerned about the Council wasting money. They need to tell the Council they oppose a new tax which would just let the Council off the hook.”
Source: National Party – Headline: Bridges welcomes Green Party Questions
National Party Leader Simon Bridges has welcomed the Green Party’s decision to give the Opposition its allocated Oral Questions in Parliament to allow it to better hold the weak Ardern-Peters Government to account.
“I said when I became Leader that National would remain firmly focused on being an effective Opposition and in the past weeks we have continued to do that.
“That includes during Parliamentary Question Time when Opposition MPs get Ministers on their feet asking questions of importance to New Zealanders, and those efforts will now be bolstered by the Green Party’s decision.
“National will use the Green Party’s Questions as well its own to continue to focus on the issues that matter to New Zealanders – the economy, law and order, housing, public services and the environment.
“The Green Party’s willingness for this weak Government to be held to account is commendable and we will honour the spirit of this move by doing so strongly.”
Headline: Green Party announces significant change to Question Time
The Green Party has today announced that, from this week, most of its allocation of questions for Question Time will be handed over to the Leader of the Opposition to use, in order to limit the prevalence of “patsy questions” in Parliament and to strengthen the ability of Parliament to hold the Government of the day to account.
The only exception is if the Green Party wishes to use a question to hold the Government to account on a particular issue, consistent with the party’s Confidence and Supply agreement with Labour, which acknowledges the ability for the parties to agree to disagree on certain issues.
“The Green Party has long advocated the importance of Parliament having the powers to hold the Government of the day to account. Question Time is a key avenue for the opposition to interrogate the Government, so this move is a small step we can take to live up to the values we stated in opposition now that we are part of the Government,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“Using Question Time to ask ourselves scripted, set-piece patsy questions does nothing to advance the principles of democracy and accountability that are very important to us as a party. We expect the opposition to use our questions to hold us to account as much as any other party in Government.
“We think patsy questions are a waste of time, and New Zealanders have not put us in Parliament to do that; we’re there to make positive change for our people and our environment.
“We don’t expect any other party to follow suit – this is about us leading the kind of change we want to see in Parliament.
“The Greens are committed to doing Government differently and doing Government better and this change, along with our voluntary release of Green Ministers diaries to increase transparency, will hopefully spark more of a debate about how we can bring Parliament’s processes and systems into the modern age.
“We will also make a submission to the Standing Orders Review, which kicks off next year, to advocate for further changes to Question Time. This review is where all parties in Parliament make decisions about how future parliaments will operate and is the best place for all politicians to discuss any long term permanent changes to Question Time.
“The Canadian Government has recently trialled changes to Question Time after Justin Trudeau campaigned to do so. This shows parliament systems are not set in stone and should be open to regular review and change to ensure our democracy is healthy and well-functioning.
“We have reserved the right to use our questions when we have a point of difference with our colleagues in government. Our Confidence and Supply Agreement with Labour allows us to agree to disagree on issues, and the occasional respectful questioning of the Government from within is also an important part of democracy.
“That we can occasionally disagree with each other highlights the strength and flexibility of this Government,” said Mr Shaw.
“Sport Minister Grant Robertson needs to reveal how much taxpayer money was spent on research that shows Kiwis ‘value’ sport”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“The only remarkable thing about this report is that a group of bureaucrats and politicians believed they needed to spend money finding out that physical activity has social and health benefits.
“No New Zealander will be surprised to learn any of the following:
“…New Zealanders see value in sport and active recreation.”
“The opportunity to socialise is central to many people’s decision to participate in physical activity and sport.”
“A sense of belonging is important to New Zealanders’ feelings of wellbeing.”
“Regular participation in…team sport is associated with improved social skills.”
“Sport and physical activity can…improve health outcomes.”
“This report – commissioned by National and now proudly revealed by the Government – is an astonishing waste of New Zealanders’ money.
“It shows why New Zealand needs a strong ACT to act as a voice for taxpayers”, says Mr Seymour.
Source: National Party – Headline: Shameless Shane Jones pimps his ride
Shameless Shane Jones is not just rolling out the pork for Northland, but focusing that pork in his own close neighbourhood to help him get around, National Party Regional Development Spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.
“Today’s announcement that there will be a Government subsidy for the Kerikeri airport expansion just over the fence from Shane Jones house follows the $9 million announcement of the Waipapa roundabout which is just up the road from the same house,” Mr Goldsmith says.
“And once again, no criteria, no process by which the money is assessed, just a Minister writing out taxpayer cheques when he feels like it.
“The Kerikeri airport upgrade was listed in the previous Government’s regional action plan for Northland – but it was clear it was the responsibility of the airport owner, Far North Holdings.
“In this country airports pay for their upgrades out of their own pockets. Why is Kerikeri airport different, beyond it being the airport Shane Jones uses?
“It’s the same with the Waipapa roundabout project. Why was that chosen to be able to dip into Shane’s fund over the myriads of other roading projects around the country?
“Is there a plan now for all airport expansions to be subsidized, or all roundabouts? How do airport companies and councils apply? What are the criteria?
“This announcement comes hard on the heels of the news that Defence Minister Ron Mark was using the Air Force as his private taxi service, and the decision to use an Air Force Hercules to take eight Ministers to the Chatham Islands to open the new wharf.
“This behaviour is quite shameless,” Mr Goldsmith says. “It would be laughable if it wasn’t about the serious use of taxpayers’ money.
“The Prime Minister needs to enforce the rules around the use of public money and put some proper disciplines around the allocation of money from the Provincial Growth Fund.
“If she doesn’t, her Ministers will think they have an ongoing right to put money into whatever takes their fancy and take hardworking New Zealanders for a ride.
“The National led Government was very focused on a comprehensive action plan to grow Northland. We just took the view that Northland was bigger than an area within a 5 kilometre radius of Shane Jones’ place.”
Source: National Party – Headline: Government breaching Bill of Rights
The Government must reconsider amendments to the Electoral Act enabling party leaders to dismiss MPs from Parliament following today’s damning submission from leading political and legal academics, National’s Electoral Law Spokesperson Nick Smith says.
“This chorus of condemnation from such a large group of political and legal academics shows what a dog this Bill is. It is unprecedented for so many experts to come out so united against a Government electoral law change.
“These 19 academics, from five universities including seven professors, conclude that this Bill breaches the Bill of Rights.
“Their evidence is unequivocal that these electoral law changes are flawed, will harm our democracy and will give party leaders too much power. It rightly argues that voters, and voters alone, must reserve the right to hire and fire MPs through the ballot box.
“The Government would be wise to withdraw this Bill in the wake of such damning criticism. It is trying to fix a problem from 20 years ago when MMP was introduced and 25 MPs switched parties, but which has been resolved by voters ejecting the opportunists and re-electing those who did so on justifiable grounds.
“The Bill makes the flawed assumption that all MPs who fall out with their party are unprincipled and lack integrity. It undermines core Kiwi values of freedom of expression and tolerance of dissent.
“Governments must exercise restraint in electoral law changes and the convention has developed that significant changes require a supermajority. This Bill sets an awful and dangerous precedent where a party with only seven per cent support has used its leverage in government formation to force permanent changes to electoral law that undermine democracy.
“This is a crude power grab by Winston Peters to give him absolute power over his MPs in this fragile government, but which dangerously converts New Zealand into what the Inter Parliamentary Union calls a party dictatorship.
“Fundamentally this Bill is an attack on basic democratic values and centuries-old freedom of speech in our Parliament. National will oppose the Bill at every step and with every tool available.”