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Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 12/12/23



Ministers set about easing up on labour laws and speed limits – but suppliers of building goods must watch what they tell consumers

Don’t get the idea the new government has declared war against all compliance costs.

Some compliance costs, no doubt, will be headed for the dustbin when ACT’s David Seymour gets down to work as Minister of Regulation.

Other ministers already are undoing Labour government legislation in line with the government’s commitments – or are declaring their intentions to do so.

This week, for example, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden issued statements to declare the government is delivering on its commitments:
  • to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation by Christmas 2023; and
  • to extend the availability of 90-day trial periods to all employers.
The minister did not explain her timetable in relation to the Fair Pay Agreement.

In her other press statement, however, she said that by adopting ACT MP Todd Stephenson’s Member’s Bill on 90-day trials, the government “is able to progress quickly and provide certainty to businesses”.

The Bill will be passed under urgency before Christmas, van Velden said.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has been quicker on the draw than that, when amending speed limit rules as part of the government commitment to stop blanket speed limit reductions.

Changes made this week remove mandatory requirements for Road Controlling Authorities to implement speed management plans and remove deadlines for local Road Controlling Authorities to submit these plans by 29 March 2024.

This will allow work to begin on a new Rule to ensure that when speed limits are set, economic impacts – including travel times – and the views of road users and local communities are taken into account, alongside safety.

Brown is writing to Road Controlling Authorities throughout the country to notify them of the changes and to advise them that work has begun on the new Rule.

But a visit to the government’s official website shows the new government is not averse to introducing new regulations.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said he welcomed the launch of Building Product Information Requirements, requiring manufacturers and suppliers in the construction industry to provide better information about their products to consumers.

Latest from the Beehive

12 DECEMBER 2023


Assaults and unlawful behaviour within Oranga Tamariki’s youth justice facilities are unacceptable and offenders should receive proper consequences for their actions, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says.


The Government is amending speed limit rules as part of its commitment to stop blanket speed limit reductions, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.

11 DECEMBER 2023


Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk is welcoming the launch of Building Product Information Requirements.

Speech

11 DECEMBER 2023


Let us begin by acknowledging His Excellency Mr Alfredo Perez Bravo, Ambassador of Mexico and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassadors, and High Commissioners.


The Government is delivering on its commitment to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation by Christmas 2023.


The Government is delivering on its commitment to extend the availability of 90-day trial periods to all employers.

While his ministerial colleagues were undoing Labour government initiatives, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was delivering a speech to the diplomatic corps in Wellington.

He discussed

“… the values that drive our foreign policy, the troubled international environment, diplomacy’s vital role, and the importance of relationships as we seek to grow our prosperity and strengthen our security”.

The values that drive the Coalition’s foreign policy are:
  • Equality and fairness.
  • Democracy – one person, one vote since 1893, and one person, two votes since 1996.
  • Freedom from fear, and want.
  • Human Rights, as set out in the 1948 Universal Declaration, and;
  • Guardianship for and protection of our environment.
The minister’s diplomatic audience would have welcomed being able to hear what underpins the country’s foreign policy without having to check out the translations.

When Nanaia Mahuta was Minister, she felt a strong urge to communicate in a bewildering mix of te reo and English. For example:

These values can help to shape an independent dimension of our foreign policy that better informs what we stand for and how we would protect or advance those interests. The values I refer to are;
  • Manaakitanga (kindness, care, the spirit of reciprocity and our common humanity)
  • Whanaungatanga (connectedness and relationship to others)
  • Mahi tahi and kotahitanga (working towards a common purpose, shared objectives and solidarity)
  • Kaitiakitanga (stewardship and intergenerational wellbeing).
Peters proceeded to talk about New Zealand’s “independent foreign policy.”

We do have an independent foreign policy, but the Coalition Government also believes you have independent foreign policies too, forged through your own national experiences and the cultural expectations that grew out of them.

Differences lie in our geographies, geologies, economies, populations, political systems, histories, and cultures. So, an independent foreign policy means different things to different countries.

You all conduct on behalf of your respective countries the pursuit of your national interests, as do we, so one hopes that there the matter can rest. We are all equals here.

And on nights like this, when the diplomatic community comes together, we affirm our common bonds and how we need to work together to advance the mutual prosperity and security our countries all seek.


Peters addressed the question of New Zealand’s strategic policy and posture in the period ahead in the months and years ahead.

The answer is more energy, more urgency, and a sharper focus across three inter-connected lines of effort in:

  • Investing in our relationships;
  • Growing our prosperity, and;
  • Strengthening our security.

We identify New Zealand’s international relationships and partnerships as an essential element of growing our prosperity and security. For a country making its way in a more complex and contested world, how we build, sustain, and harness our relationships is integral to how we advance our interests and uphold our values.

Through our relationships we seek to amplify strengths and influence, and pursue collective solutions to common challenges. Here, we feel the need to do more, and faster.


The government would work with other countries “in different like-minded coalitions”.

Small states tend to be judged by the strength, or even temperature, of their major power relationships.

But that is not how we see these relationships. We judge our relationships with the United States, or the European Union, or China, or India and Japan, or with South America, for example, by what we can achieve together.

In the Indo-Pacific, we are strongly committed to strengthening regional architecture: shared frameworks, rules and norms, both to maximise opportunities and to manage risks.

Good architecture helps to avoid false choices. New Zealand would rather invest in strengthening the institutions which help to manage conflict, than face false choices between bilateral relationships.


New Zealand continue would strengthen its Pacific partnerships, by listening, and by working with Pacific countries to bolster their security and resilience, particularly in terms of climate impacts, Peters said.

We will vigorously refresh our engagement with our traditional likeminded partners: Australia, our closest friend; the United States; Canada; and the United Kingdom, with a focus on how we advance shared interests and address strategic challenges.

We will increase our focus, too, on important relationships across North Asia, South Asia including India, and Southeast Asia.

And we will continue to support and defend an international rules-based system that reflects our values and supports our interests.

We will also target multilateral engagement on key global and transboundary issues, and pursue opportunities presented by new, emerging ‘minilateral’ groupings.


Peters then talked about trade, saying current trends in global trade were concerning.

Enthusiasm for trade liberalisation was weakening.

“Just in time” efficiency is giving way to “just-in-case” caution. We need to navigate New Zealand’s interests in this new reality as we build and bolster our economic security. We intend on doing so with greater focus, urgency and energy.

We will support our exporters, importers, investors, supply chains and overall economy to be better positioned and more resilient to headwinds and shocks.

We will continue to tackle trade barriers, and increase export value by energetically pursuing new trade initiatives and maximising current agreements through trade missions and vigorous trade diplomacy.


And we will attract to New Zealand the investment capital, global talent and expertise required to help lift our productivity, the key to unlocking our economic potential, and build our international connections.

On the issue of national security, Peters said the government will focus on being positioned to act early and prevent threats and challenges, wherever possible – and on building resilience and readiness when prevention is not possible.

We intend to re-invigorate our defence and security engagement, including with the United States and our Five Eyes partners, as well as with other key security partners in the region and beyond.

We will lift our strategic presence and engagement, particularly in the Pacific, but also the wider Indo-Pacific region.

And we will ensure we are actively engaged in shaping the rules and norms that address the challenges, and opportunities, of new and emerging technologies.

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton

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