Category: Politics

Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery.

“Christopher Luxon said modern slavery was an issue he would march in the streets for – well here’s his chance,” Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich said.

“A bill drafted by team of independent legal experts released today is ready for immediate introduction to Parliament – all it is waiting on is National.

“The bill would speed up progress on modern slavery laws and offer a comprehensive solution to combat human trafficking and modern slavery.

“It is hoped with support from both National and Labour MPs the bill could be introduced in the first sitting of Parliament in 2025, as bills that have support of 61 non-executive members can bypass the ballot process.

“Labour strongly supports legislation that tackles the exploitation of people in our country and abroad. The bill sets out clear steps for New Zealand to take a stand against modern slavery, it’s well overdue.

“Earlier this year Chris Hipkins wrote to the Prime Minister offering Labour’s support on legislation. It’s time National took action.

The Combatting Trafficking in Persons and Modern Day Forms of Slavery Bill was drafted by the Modern Slavery and Trafficking Expert Practitioners Group (MSTEP), which includes criminal and regulatory barrister Jacob Parry, ANZ’s ESG Lead Rebecca Kingi, and World Vision’s Head of Advocacy and Justice Rebekah Armstrong.

“Businesses have long called for a clear framework to address modern slavery, both to protect workers and to ensure that New Zealand companies remain competitive in the global market. If we do not act, we risk being left behind by other countries that are already putting in place measures to combat modern slavery,” Camilla Belich said.

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The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night.

“Speaker Gerry Brownlee overruled the advice of the Clerk and the Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives. This is unprecedented,” Labour Shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty said.

“Furthermore, he failed to reference a single previous ruling and in making his decision has potentially unilaterally changed the rules of Parliament.

“It has raised serious constitutional questions about the passing of a Government Bill that provides for private benefit.

“This amendment provides a list of 149 individuals and companies that will benefit from this change. There is a clear process for Private Bills that has not been followed in this case.

“Quite rightly, there is a process that a change that will benefit a company or individual should go through. The Private Bill process has previously been used to benefit individuals – such the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill. That Bill received unanimous support, as it identified an anomaly in the law that was seen by many across Parliament to be unjust.

“This is a far cry from that. The culmination of the Speaker’s inability to cite any previous ruling, his decision to ignore the advice of the Clerk and Presiding Officers, and the nature of the amendment to the Bill in question has caused Labour to lose confidence in his ability to oversee a functioning, democratic Parliament.

“I urge him to reconsider his ruling, and the potential consequences it will have on this Parliament,” Kieran McAnulty said.

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After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive.

“For someone who rates their own fiscal management, Nicola Willis has botched the ferries deal,” Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said.

“She has taken a whole year to come up with smaller ferries that are going to cost the country more money in the long run. The portside infrastructure will still have to be built, she’s just burdening future New Zealanders with the cost.

“Nicola Willis came into Government and immediately rolled back the ferries deal with no plan B. It was a knee-jerk reaction and Kiwi companies and taxpayers will pay the price.

“This Government is making decisions that will fail future generations. It talks about good infrastructure planning with one hand while running down our infrastructure just to make a political point with the other.

“Nicola Willis’ legacy will be New Zealanders waiting years longer for smaller and lower quality ships and hiked costs to exit the existing contract.

“We are now at the end of the queue for new ships as procurement hasn’t even started. 2026 should have been the year for the delivery of new ferries, instead this government’s deal making means we will have no ferries, just a big bill for the cancellation costs.

“Cancelling the order for two rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries has already cost KiwiRail half a billion dollars in sunk costs and it will likely be hundreds of millions more to break the contract.

“Choosing to go ahead with ferries that are not rail-enabled would mean higher costs for ports, freight companies and consumers.

“Nicola Willis botched this deal from the moment she was in the captain’s chair. It was just the beginning of the poor choices she’s made over the past year,” Barbara Edmonds said.

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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing.

“Labour fully supports this decision. The greyhound racing industry has been on notice for a long time, including three reviews in the last decade into greyhound racing practices,” Labour’s racing spokesperson Tangi Utikere said.

“The Labour Government gave the industry two options – operate under stricter conditions or face a ban. The lack of progress on straight tracks and failure to improve animal welfare systems to avoid injury and death shows that continuing under strict conditions is no longer viable.

“We also need to protect the integrity of the wider racing industry which takes animal welfare seriously and contributes significantly to the New Zealand economy.

“Labour is willing to work with the Government to ensure a timely implementation of the ban. The first step in legislation today protects greyhounds from unnecessary destruction, ensures these animals are treated with dignity as the industry transitions to closure.” Tangi Utikere said.

“We are supporting today’s Bill making its way through the house in all stages to ensure the safety and wellbeing of dogs,” Labour’s animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said.

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The Prime Minister has committed to shut down his government’s boot camps if there is evidence of harm to children – so he must do that today.   

“First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the tragic death of one of the young participants and send my sincerest aroha to their family and loved ones,” Labour’s children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.

“The latest revelations prove the Government has lost control over their boot camps.

“Today’s hearing did not instil any confidence that things are going to get better, with officials at pains to match the Minister’s positive spin of a successful programme. We were even told that there will ‘absolutely’ be future offending.

“The Prime Minister should end boot camps today. They have become a huge risk for vulnerable young people.

“We, and countless others, have time and time again warned that boot camps are a failed experiment of the past. It’s time Christopher Luxon and Karen Chhour own up to this reality and put a stop to them,” Willow-Jean Prime said.

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Housing Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed National has broken yet another election promise.

Nicola Willis promised during the election campaign National would build 1000 additional public homes in Auckland each year.

Chris Bishop has now admitted this isn’t going to happen and instead Auckland will go backwards with a net loss of 285 Kāinga Ora homes in 2026.

“The Government has broken a long list of promises it made to kiwis on housing and proved it was all talk from the get-go,” Labour’s housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said.

“This is the first time in over seven years that the number of Kāinga Ora public houses in Auckland will reduce.

“On top of this, Associate Housing Minister, Tama Potaka promised to build more social houses than the previous Government.

“What have we actually seen? Hundreds of cancelled projects, more than four thousand planned homes at risk of not being built and zero funding for Kāinga Ora to build any more.

“While these broken promises are alarming, they’re not surprising given the last National Government ended up with 1500 fewer public homes than it started with and sucked $576 million out in dividends from Housing New Zealand.

“The one promise National’s been able to keep is reducing numbers in emergency housing, but that’s only because they’re letting fewer people in – so again it’s all talk.

“We need a government focused on housing people. Not recklessly cutting costs and leaving people sleeping in cars and on the street,” Kieran McAnulty said.

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Health New Zealand has exaggerated its deficit to justify job cuts.

The agency today revealed “accounting judgement errors” that have led to a deficit that has been used to justify wide-ranging cuts to staff and services.

“The anticipated redundancies and holiday pay were used to exaggerate the deficit, which is in turn used to justify wide-ranging jobs cuts,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“Health NZ was forced to correct their accounts by the Auditor-General, their Chief Financial Officer has left, and their finance team has been tied up in non-disclosure agreements. This is all highly unusual.

“Decisions about which jobs will be cut haven’t even been made yet, so what justification can the Government have for trying to lump those costs in a year early?

“The Government has manufactured a crisis to justify cuts to the health system, and New Zealanders are feeling it on a daily basis.

“We’re hearing constantly from people who can’t get the care they need and staff tell us they’re blocked from hiring to meet patient needs.

“Just on Monday the Government showed they have made no progress on their targets to reduce wait times for emergency departments and elective surgeries.

“Today, the government-appointed Health NZ Commissioner Dr Lester Levy also told select committee there were no cuts to services.

“It’s astounding that the person appointed to steer Health New Zealand is so out of touch with what’s happening inside the health system,” Ayesha Verrall said.

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The Government’s latest round of cuts to research and innovation targets the long-established and successful Marsden Fund.

“Cutting humanities and social sciences from the Marsden Fund jeopardises academic research in public health, nursing, law, education, public policy and Māori studies,” Labour’s Research, Science and Innovation spokesperson Dr Deborah Russell said.

“We want to keep talented people here, who contribute to the growth of New Zealand’s knowledge base and economy. These cuts leave academics and researchers with fewer options, and making them more likely to join the thousands of people leaving the country to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

“Critical thinkers are essential to advancing our economy, protecting our environment, and building our cultural identity.

“They look into tricky areas in the legal system, do business research and investigate areas where harm is being caused. These cuts could leave New Zealand with gaps in important knowledge areas.

“For example, previous Marsden studies that would no longer go ahead under the new criteria includes looking into alcohol advertising on social media and how rape trials can re-traumatise complainants.

“Scrapping the Marsden Fund follows other cost cutting by the Government which has already seen more than 500 jobs lost in the public science sector.

“New Zealand only spends half the OECD average on science, research, and development. It’s time the Government saw research as a priority,” Dr Deborah Russell said.

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