New Zealand Politics

(everyone knows roading budgets usually blow out - the total final cost of Transmission Gully appears to be $2.5bn – double the projected cost of $1.25bn).

Married, two kids, divorced, and remarried, in the space of three years.

Back in February 2025, MBIE got a report on NZ’s fuel security. It basically outlined that NZ is extremely dependent on imported fossil fuels, therefore vulnerable to international fossil fuel supply line disruptions. They specifically talked about events like war, estimating a major incident would cost us about 1% of our GDP. (That’ll pour petrol on all those promised ‘green shoots,’ like an over enthusiastic arsonist.)

Beneficiary numbers have soared to a 12-year high, under a government that promised a reduction.

The Green Party is welcoming news that the government has backtracked on plans to reinstate live animal exports.

The health minister says a doctor using an artificial intelligence scribe tool is able to see, on average, one additional patient per shift.

The lack of progress happening in New Zealand to reduce child poverty is both “hugely disappointing” and “unacceptable”, the Children’s Commissioner says.

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has renewed his call for the government to sell its 51 percent stake in Air New Zealand after it reported a significant half-year loss.

The title is from the article but doesn’t really cover the breadth of changes proposed. The key parts:

Companies sending goods up and down the country’s railways could begin to favour road transport as KiwiRail manages declining assets, an expert says.

That takes balls, doesn’t it?

Govt to pay up to $180m/year or $2.7b over 15 years to lease LNG re-gasification plant, paid for by $15-$30 ‘levy’ per household per year. That $2.7b would build four Benmore Dams worth of electricity

My biased quotes:

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has rejected criticism of his claims that colonisation was positive for the country’s Indigenous Maori population.

Making the announcement in Auckland on Tuesday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the current system was “expensive, outdated and no longer works as well as it should”.

Resources Minister Shane Jones shut down the possibility of New Zealand signing up to a ‘road map’ away from fossil fuels at the annual global climate summit, documents reveal.

Similar pattern as with the ferry, health and water systems - Labour had fixes for their problems rolling out but National scrapped them and then did nothing.

Good work Newsroom.

I’m trying to figure out what the point of holding this session in a marae is, it doesn’t sound like they were consulting with the public at all?

National and Labour are joining forces to get modern slavery legislation into Parliament, using a new process to skip the biscuit tin for the first time.

Not surprised to hear a lot of this, to be honest. Both my parents are career teachers who’ve been progressively disgusted with the ministry in the last 15 years or so.

Hurrah!

I stumbled across a 2020 OIA request to NZ Treasury where someone asked:

Election year!

The advice from the AG, Judith Collins, on the new Age Verification Bill gives it a big thumbs up and includes a scenario where it would be OK to restrict access to adult websites, even though the bill is targeted at social media, and none of the debate has mentioned adult websites.

The government is cutting transport subsidies for elderly and disabled people for elderly and disabled people from 75 percent to 65 percent.

While other Auckland areas saw turnout drop, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7 percent. All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team. The result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns. None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.

The government’s plan for Parliament’s final full week of the year moved 12 different proposed laws through 32 stages of approval.

Loads of info on environment.govt.nz

A former Labour Prime Minister says Parliament is passing too many laws without proper scrutiny.

not neseserily just this artical but over the past few months I have noticed RNZ with a number of articles along the lines of “10 steps to change party leadership” with their target firmly on Luxon.

Associate health minister Casey Costello has labelled New Zealand’s recent plummet in global tobacco control as “ridiculous” and “ludicrous”.

This is probably the best idea I’ve heard in a while. The money is going to go into the KiwiSaver account anyway, if we put it in there 20 years earlier, it will accrue and compound interest from much earlier on.

The new plan from the government seems to double down on the old ways of attempting to suppress drugs in our communities and ignores the health-led approach from NZ Drug Foundation’s recent evidence-based report.

I haven’t been following the ins and out of all this but John Tamahere has a history of manipulative horrible bullshit so I’m inclined to believe Kapa-Kingi on this one.

Government ministers have confirmed they are considering measures to move homeless people out of Auckland’s city centre - but the exact details remain unclear.

Archive link: Green MP Tamatha Paul on living with lupus and arthritis while serving in Parliament

More than 100 police officers are under investigation after 30,000 alcohol breath tests were “falsely or erroneously recorded”, RNZ can reveal.

to be enforced by way of biometric scanning and ID tokens

Labour has launched its first key election policy this term, announcing a fund which would invest in New Zealand infrastructure and businesses only.

In his speech to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, he called on doctors to call off their strike and put patients before politics.

I realise we’re in a tight situation financially, but I can see no reason not to at least match inflation.

I bet Chris Hipkins is having a great day today.

Vote counting is underway, with provisional results available.

NACT blamed the greens and protesters who opposed the Israeli genocide for this. Is there going to be any consequences of their violent rhetoric towards muslims and people who believe Palestinians are human beings?

Is this what you voted for?

Tax and spend government. This government is addicted to borrowing.

Half the country thinks this is just awesome.

This should be causing alarm bells across this nation. Your healthcare is about to be privatised people.

It’s paywalled but you don’t need to read the article to guess what he has to say about himself.