Farmers and landlords are given news intended to lift their confidence – but the media must muse on why Melissa is mute
People working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Todd McClay and his associates have been in recent days.
But if they check out the Beehive website for a list of Melissa Lee’s announcements, pronouncements, speeches and what-have-you as Minister of Media and Communications, they will find it is blank except for her name and picture along with the name and picture of her Associate Minister, Jenny Marcroft.
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In contrast, today – as Minister of Trade and of Agriculture – Todd McClay has announced he will visit China next week to strengthen NZ’s trade and agricultural relationship with the world’s most populous country and second-biggest economy.
He also announced the opening of applications for the 2024 New Zealand-Ireland Joint Research Call on Agriculture and Climate Change.
The aim is to encourage research into technologies for the mitigation of greenhouses gas emissions.
This follows a flurry of other recent announcements that – all going well – should help lift confidence among farmers and growers –
6 APRIL 2024
Rebuilding New Zealand’s economy will rely on the valuable agricultural sector working sustainably towards our climate change goals.
8 APRIL 2024
Today the Government Agriculture Ministers started their national woolshed roadshow, kicking off in the Wairarapa.
9 APRIL 2024
The Government and three further companies are together committing an additional $18 million towards AgriZeroNZ to boost New Zealand’s efforts to reduce agricultural emissions.
10 APRIL 2024
The coalition Government intends to improve freshwater farm plans so that they are more cost-effective and practical for farmers.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop has been busy too.
Today he announced changes to the Residential TenanciesAct to encourage landlords back to the rental property market.
The changes will include:
- Reintroducing 90-day ‘no cause’ terminations for periodic tenancies, meaning landlords can end a periodic tenancy without requiring a specific reason.
- Returning landlords’ notice periods for ending a periodic tenancy to 42 days where:
- they want to move themselves or a family member into the property, or
- the tenancy agreement notes the property is usually used to house employees, and they want to move an employee into the property, or
- where the property is subject to an unconditional agreement for sale requiring vacant possession.
- Returning tenants’ notice period for ending a periodic tenancy to 21 days.
- Reintroducing landlords’ ability to give notice to end a fixed-term tenancy at the end of the term without requiring a specific reason.
“These changes will make it easier for Mum & Dad landlords to be part of the rental property market, leading to an increased supply of rental properties and applying downward pressure to rents.”
The Government will introduce a Bill to Parliament making these changes in May, with the changes expected to come into effect in early 2025.
The Government’s plan to fix the housing crisis consists of five interlocking actions:
- The Going for Housing Growth policy to smash urban limits holding our cities back, fix infrastructure funding and financing, and introduce incentives to encourage cities and regions to go for growth.
- Improvements to the rental market to make it easier to be a landlord, and easier to be a tenant.
- Building and construction changes to improve competition and lower building costs.
- Better social housing to improve how we look after those who need support.
- Fundamental reform of the Resource Management Act 1991.
Well, as measured by her media statements on issues related to that portfolio, she has been doing precious little.
But the industry for which she is responsible is in serious trouble, as we can discern from a commentary in the Waikato Times by Peter Thompson, an associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington, specialising in media studies.
The confirmation by Warner Brothers Discovery that Newshub would cease operation in July with the loss of 294 jobs came as no surprise, but it still sends shockwaves across the New Zealand media ecosystem.
The decision leaves a major gap in the television news sector, not least because Newshub is also the supplier of News First for Sky Open.
TVNZ has also announced that its Midday and Tonight news programmes are being axed (along with longstanding programmes like Fair Go and Sunday), while youth-oriented Re: News faces staff cuts.
That leaves TVNZ’s 1 News 6pm bulletin, Te Karere and Whakaata Māori’s Te Ao Mārama as the free-to-air television news offerings.
These developments reflect a culmination of structural factors which have undermined the business models for free-to-air television, including intensified competition as viewers switch to on-demand streaming services and the big tech platforms’ capture of advertising spend (television’s share of which has halved over the past 25 years).
Melissa Lee’s statement on those developments has been egregiously missing from the media statements posted on the government’s official website today – and ever since she was given her job.
Latest from the Beehive
11 APRIL 2024
The New Zealand and Irish governments have today announced that applications for the 2024 New Zealand-Ireland Joint Research Call on Agriculture and Climate Change are now open.
The coalition Government has today announced changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to encourage landlords back to the rental property market, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop.
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay will visit China next week, to strengthen relationships, support Kiwi exporters and promote New Zealand businesses on the world stage.
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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