Mike's Minute: The end of an era for TV3 news

It feels like it's been coming forever, and in an odd way, it just might have been.

When the news division of Warner Bros. turns out the lights tonight, it’s the end of an era.

Or, an era. The simple truth is TV3 news never quite cut it and the history of fiscal dysfunction is the major reason why.

David Farrar: Hopefully less slushy

The Herald reports:

The Government’s $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) opens to applicants today, though officials are still finalising the assessment process.

The pot will be divided into two parts. There’s $720 million for “resilience infrastructure” – helping to provide for regional resilience in the face of flooding and extraordinary storms, for example, and for the likes of energy security.

Cam Slater: A Forlorn Hope

Via Stuff we find out that Chris Hipkins wants to mend Labour’s relationship with Auckland, after treating Auckland so harshly during the lockdowns and derisively trying to tell us what to do from Wellington.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: We're finally giving in to the shoebox apartments

It looks like we are finally giving in and allowing shoebox apartments in New Zealand.

This morning, Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced a whole raft of changes designed to make houses more affordable, and one of those changes is that he will remove any requirements for how big an apartment must be and how big the balcony must be.

He reckons that back in 2015 when Auckland Council changed balcony size restrictions, it pushed the price of apartments up by $40,000- $70,000 each.

Barry Soper: What's the point of the David Seymour Snapchat story?

It's not often that you would feel the need to jump to the defence of a politician, they're usually more than capable of looking after themselves, with a few exceptions.

One politician who isn't an exception, in terms of looking after himself that is, is the straight as a die David Seymour, ACT's leader. What you see is what you get.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.6.24

Friday July 5, 2024 

News:
Tama Potaka must stand up for Māori and stop the government cuts to Māori television: Te Pati Māori
Te Pāti Māori wants Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka to continue to support the growth of Whakaata Māori and not look to pull the plug on Māori television.

The call comes after Whakaata Māori on Monday announced a budget shortfall of $9.5m in the upcoming two years.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Wellington's winter of discontent

Dissatisfaction with the Wellington City Council has hit new highs. The Council has just released the results of its annual survey of residents, which shows just how much discontent there is in the city. Overall, Wellingtonians seem to feel that the city is broken and its political leaders are dysfunctional or not interested in making the right decisions for the city.

David Farrar: Great speech by Simon Upton

An excellent speech by Parliamentary Commissioner Simon Upton for the Environment to Environment Defence Society conference. He focuses on the real substance and challenge of improving the environment, as opposed to just making noise. His key points:

Kerre Woodham: We need more homes but we need to do it properly

The Government will officially announce this morning a plan “to flood the market” with land for development in a bid to end New Zealand's housing crisis. Chris Bishop will use a speech to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand later this morning, to announce a slew of changes to New Zealand's planning laws. He wants to flood the market with affordable land to develop and to make it easier and cheaper to develop that land into housing as he told Mike Hosking this morning.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Has ANZ Bank Become NZ's Very Own Colonial-Style East India Company?

Who owns ANZ Bank? It may surprise you. Despite having "NZ" in its name, it has next to nothing to do with New Zealand. Geographically, most of the ownership is concentrated in the US, Bloomberg data shows, with 42.4% of owners living there, distantly followed by Australia at 24.8%. Kiwis don't figure in the equation. Yet its impossible for NZ'ers to escape from the clutches of ANZ Bank. Its former Chair was Sir John Key, the former PM, of course.

Peter Dunne: Opposition Parties

There are likely to be slim pickings for Opposition parties over most of the next three months for reasons that have little to do with politics. And there may not be all that much they can do about it because the reasons are beyond their control.

Thursday July 4, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 4/7/24

And when food-producing land makes way for housing, don’t fret – there’s plenty of kina to be harvested

More regulations are being shredded or rewritten as the government steps up development and eases back on environmental concerns.

Paving the way for more houses is likely to be the big headline-grabber among the latest announcements.

Shane Jones: Are There Iwi Provisions in the Fast-Track Bill?

Sean Plunket talks to Shane Jones on the Platform – Are there iwi provisions in the fast-track bill?

Click to view

Cam Slater: Roy Morgan Poll: Steady as She Goes

The latest Roy Morgan Poll is out and it is a ‘steady as she goes’ poll, with a slight gain for National and a slight drop for Labour.

Mike's Minute: This is what leadership should be about

The uplifting story of the week for me is the 30% drop in parents taking kids out of school for holidays.

It's a single metric and it's one travel agency, albeit a big one, so it's hardly scientific and about to be published in the Lancet. But it's an insight into what might be happening and, even if it is remotely accurate, it’s a sign of several things.

Firstly, the power and necessity of Government.

John McLean: Whistleblowers in the gun

The sad state of whistleblowing in New Zealand

New Zealand whistleblower Melissa Bowen has at long last been vindicated. Her vindication, and Bank of New Zealand’s excoriation, come courtesy of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

David Farrar: Greens believe in sensitivity for everyone but Jews

It is amazing that Chloe Swarbrick still leads this chant [below], despite having been told that many Jews see it as calling for Israel to be destroyed (per the Hamas charter) and hence Jews living there to be wiped out (as Hamas did on October 7).

Professor Robert MacCulloch: 1st Year Performance Review - Luxon is a good team leader & people manager...

1st Year Performance Review: Luxon is a good team leader & people manager, but not a "PM" who's designing rules & incentives to improve the nation's efficiency and fairness, which is his KPI.

A political leader is a person who has the power to change the rules & laws that govern our lives. A person who sets the rules of the game. That is what defines good government - it sets up the institutional framework of a nation that allows private individuals to prosper.

Rodney Hide: Sex education - Wakatipu High School 2024

My 13-year-old daughter is a year 9 student at Wakatipu High School.

The School’s Head of Health and Physical Education emailed me explaining an upcoming course on Relationship and Sexuality Education.

The email read as follows:

Michael Reddell: Reading Reserve Bank plans and budgets

It isn’t something I’d usually recommend (or even do myself) but the useful new Twitter account @Charteddaily (basically one interesting New Zealand chart a day) posted a couple of charts drawn from the suite of Reserve Bank documents that were released last Thursday, and they piqued my interest (and, for reasons you will see below, concern).

Dr Guy Hatchard: Biotechnology Deregulation is Coming to New Zealand very soon....

Government Announces Biotechnology Deregulation is Coming to New Zealand very soon. What Will It Mean for Us?

The Government has announced that during the next three months, it will take Cabinet decisions on new regulations to remove the ban on genetic engineering and enable the safe (???) use of gene technology in agriculture, health science, and other sectors (???). Following the Covid pandemic, the word ‘safe’ has a very hollow ring to it. So what exactly will deregulated biotechnology look like, what projects will get the green light in New Zealand, who is involved, and is it safe?

Dr Bryce Edwards: Why NZ needs to invest properly in rail and ferry infrastructure, for the public good

Fixing New Zealand’s rail and ferry infrastructure is becoming the most significant political issue of this year. Having cancelled KiwiRail’s Cook Strait ferry and portside upgrade programme in December without first establishing a Plan B, Finance Minister Nicola Willis has since been grappling, alongside her colleagues and officials, to find a cheaper way forward.

Brendan O'Neill: The Green Party’s bigotry problem is far worse than Reform’s

There are candidates in this week’s General Election who praised 7 October. We need to talk about that.

There’s a political party in the UK that is fielding candidates who seem to have ‘praised’ the slaughter of hundreds of members of an ethnic group. This party has put forward candidates for the 4 July General Election who appear to have favourably compared racist murderers to the French Resistance. It’s a party with candidates who allegedly accused victims of racist violence of bringing the violence on themselves in a bid to win some pity. What awful party is this? What dreadful organisation might have such bigotry coursing through its ranks? It must be Reform, right? No. It’s the Greens.

Kerre Woodham: Where does the media go from here?

First up today, a suite of announcements around the media. Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Broadcasting, thank heavens, has agreed to progress the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. This was a bill initially proposed by Labour and rejected by National. Now, however, the coalition government, minus one of its partners, is progressing with amendments to support our local media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce and in effect, throw them a lifeline, help them survive. Paul Goldsmith says the key change, the reason why they are now supporting the bill, is adopting a ministerial designation framework. This will enable the Minister to decide which digital platforms are captured by the bill, allowing the government to manage unintended consequences.

Wednesday July 3, 2024 

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Chris Lynch: Paul Goldsmith’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill will decimate local news

I question whether Paul Goldsmith is fully informed about his media portfolio or genuinely believes the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill will benefit the local media industry in New Zealand.

The reality is, this bill has the potential to devastate local news.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/7/24

Perhaps Tinetti knows how to lift Kiwi kids’ progress in schools – but don’t forget what happened when she was Education Minister

Responding to news that children in their first year of school will undergo phonics checks to help teachers understand their reading progress, former Education Minister Jan Tinetti bleated something about the government taking “another backwards step for education”.

Caleb Anderson: New School Assessment Intentions Released Today

The following is a condensed version of the government's plans for student assessments ...  released to schools today.

The Minister should be commended.

Intention

We want all children in New Zealand to get a world-leading education that sets them up for success – with study, work and life. Our goal is to have 80% of Year 8 students at or above the expected curriculum level for their age in reading, writing, and maths by December 2030.

Simon O'Connor: Three reasons.....

The Greens chanting terrible slogans causes at lot of offence but it also provides three reasons as to why they are wrong - and hypocritical - about so many things.

We once again have Green Party leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, proudly screaming the ‘from the river to the sea …’ slogan from the steps of Parliament. You can try and dance on the head of a pin about what this suggests, but it unambiguously means the removal of all Jews from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. She proudly screams it, repeatedly, despite being told it’s meaning and implications.

Sir Bob Jones: Crime and punishment

The Prime Minister has announced a long overdue no nonsense hard line on fighting crime.

He will certainly have public support.

But here’s one good move that I doubt has occurred to him and that’s to get more women judges.

Cam Slater: Yeah, That’ll Work… Oh Wait!

American R&B and blues musician and activist, Daryl Davis once said, “a stupid person is someone who has the facts, who has the proper information, and still makes the wrong decision.” And along comes Paul Goldsmith to prove the point.

Ele Ludemann: Pay $ or pay with delay

The previous government removed fees for people re-sitting their driving licence test without doing anything to increase the supply of testers.

The inevitable happened – people rebooked multiple times, some didn’t show up and the wait to sit a test increased by months.

The coalition government is fixing that:

Mike's Minute: The media bill won't work

The fact the Government is going ahead with Labour's Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, albeit with amendments, is not the story.

The fact ACT has played the “Agree to Disagree" card is not really the story.

The real story is the question of, does it solve the problem?

Heather du Plessis-Allan: We got away lightly with Kāinga Ora's leadership change

Now, onto the outgoing boss of Kāinga Ora and his $365,000 pay-out to leave - no surprise here, but the tone that’s been adopted on that is that it’s massive. Mega. Eye-watering.

No it’s not, that's tiny for a CEO. That's only half his annual salary, that's not a lot.

When Tony Gibson quit the Ports of Auckland, he was on $820,000 a year, which is not that much more than the boss of Kāinga Ora - he got a pay-out of about $1 million.

John MacDonald: If we were really tough on crime, we'd do this

Law and Order is going to be one of the Government’s top priorities over the next three months - as part of its latest action plan which, like the last one, is a bit of an announcement of an announcement.

Two of its action points, though, is to launch a military-style academy pilot for serious and persistent young offenders (14-to-17 years olds we’re talking about here); and introduce legislation to toughen sentencing rules to ensure what it calls “real consequences for crime”.

Dr Sarah Williams, Professor Leon Benade: School-based healthcare

If the NZ government wants to improve student outcomes, it needs to invest more in school-based healthcare

New Zealand’s school achievement is currently front and centre with the government’s plans to invest NZ$67 million into structured literacy. But what has been largely missing from the discussion on education is the impact health can have on learning and academic achievement.

David Farrar: So called science funding

The Marsden Fund used to be a prestigious fund that attracted the highest quality science research projects. But alas since Grant Robertson expanded its focus to the social sciences, we now get the following funded by taxpayers through the Royal Society:

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The Chancellor of AUT and monetary policy

I can't understand the Chancellor of AUT (and former Chair of Health NZ) Rob Campbell's explanations as to how monetary policy works

The Chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology (and former Chair of Health NZ) is becoming a prolific writer, explaining to all and sundry on platforms like Newsroom how economics works. The thing is, I can't understand many of these explanations. Take his latest comments which question the way monetary policy is being conducted in NZ.

Ele Ludemann: More should pay for prescriptions

The reinstatement of a $5 prescription charge will no doubt result in the media finding some sob stories.

It is a lot less likely there will be stories pointing out the major beneficiaries from the previous government’s removal of the fee were the big foreign-owned pharmacies that hadn’t been charging customers.

Kerre Woodham: So far, so good on the Government's quarterly plans

“A successful second quarter Action Plan shows the coalition Government has continued to build on the momentum of its first 100 days”, says the press release from the Prime Minister's office. Well, Christopher Luxon would say that wouldn’t he?

The Press release continues: “Actions the coalition government has taken this quarter include:

Tuesday July 2, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 2/7/24

Media moguls might need prodding to cough up under news law, but Melissa Lee easily found $7m for ‘choir games’

Melissa Lee – remember her? – was replaced as Minister of Media and Communications after just seven months in the role in which she promised new policy to tackle the media sector’s complex challenges.

At that time job losses were looming within the Newshub and TVNZ newsrooms and TVNZ – troubled by “commercial viability” considerations – had confirmed that the future of Shortland Street was under review.

David Farrar: Stupid Government backing Willie’s bill

Paul Goldsmith reports:

The Government is taking immediate action to support New Zealand’s media and content production sectors, while it develops a long-term reform programme, Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith says.

Chris Lynch: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon unveils action plan for next three months

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced that the Government’s latest action plan would”focus on making Kiwis safer and restoring law and order.”

“Before the end of the Q3 Action Plan, the Government will have passed laws that will give police tough powers to go after gangs by restricting their ability to associate and banning gang patches in public, give police more power to get guns out of the hands of criminals, increase access to effective rehabilitation for prisoners on remand, and improve efficiency in the courts and increase access to justice,” Luxon said.

Chris Trotter: Harsh truths

Like the US, New Zealand is in decline, and political elites won’t stop our infrastructure, economy, and social cohesion unravelling

THERE ARE LESSONS to be learned from the Biden-Trump debate/debacle. Important lessons, which New Zealanders would be most unwise to ignore. The first and most important of these is the need to face some harsh truths.

Cam Slater: Green Light from Voters to Replace B757s

Christopher Luxon’s dreams came true after Labour’s own pollsters have found a majority of voters would green-light the purchase of replacements for the aging and decrepit B757s that have embarrassed Prime Ministers from Clark to Key, to Ardern and now Luxon.

Mike's Minute: Is this as good as it gets for America?

It is true to say that Biden got it together, somewhat, as the debate unfolded.

But it started so badly that even in his finest moments it was ordinary.

The unmistakable truth is what you saw is as good as it gets. If Americans vote for him he doesn’t improve, he doesn’t get younger and he doesn’t get sharper.

Gaynor Chapman: When are we going to have a Multiplication Times Tables Check ?

Our Ministry of Education maths curriculum states students are to recall multiplication facts. But teachers have been led to believe rote-learning facts counters deep thinking and problem solving.

Studies however, since the 1980s, show students succeed better in maths when automaticity in the basic facts is developed, leading to enhanced maths learning and problem solving. Further, neuro- and cognitive sciences explain why rote learning facts and direct instruction are essential. Cognitive load theory (CLT) adds details.

Ian Bradford: The Continued Emission of CO2 is Coming from the Oceans NOT from Human Activities

We shall start with a slightly different form of a graph I have show before.  I remind you that graphs of this type going back a long way in time are put together using proxies. Proxies are physical characteristics that give an indication of such things as temperature and amount of CO_2. For example, if tree rings are close together, it signals slow growth and therefore low temperatures. 

Martin Hanson: CO2 levels have been higher in the past, but how do we know?

We often read that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) has been much higher in the past than today – up to 2000 parts per million (ppm) by volume, or 0.2%, compared with 400 ppm (0.04%) today. 

Yes, but how do we know this? The evidence comes from fossil relatives of a plant that is familiar to many - the maidenhair tree, Ginkgo biloba. It is often called a ‘living fossil’, because its earliest remains extend to 200 million years ago (mya), and close relatives to 300 mya. What’s particularly interesting is that it’s the outer ‘skin’ (epidermis), of its fossilized leaves provide evidence about ancient climates, and in particular, atmospheric CO₂.

Viv Forbes: Battery Baloney, Hydrogen Hype and Green Fairy Tales

How low Australia has fallen - our once-great BHP now has a “Vice President for Climate”, the number of Australian students choosing physics at high school is collapsing, and our government opposes nuclear energy while pretending we can build and operate nuclear submarines. 

Our Green politicians want: “No Coal, No Gas, No Nuclear” while Our ABC, Our CSIRO and Our Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) are telling us that wind and solar energy plus a bit of standby gas, plus heaps of batteries and new power lines can power our homes, industries AND the mass electrification of our vehicle fleet. This sounds like Australia’s very own great leap backwards? 

Clive Bibby: The shake up we all need

The East Coast of New Zealand has a somewhat disastrous natural history due to its proximity to the “off shore” Hikurangi and other more localised fault lines - most notable being the 1931 Napier and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. 

While the deaths and destruction of property associated with these calamitous events will forever be ingrained in our social fabric history, on reflection, we can look back on them as a prerequisite for much needed change - albeit arguably the least attractive of choices if we had the opportunity to chose. 

There is no question that both the Napier and Christchurch cities and environs are the beneficiaries of the changes that were forced upon them. 

Heather du Plessis-Allan: That Trump-Biden debate was excruciating

Did you watch that Trump-Biden debate?

Man, that was excruciating wasn’t it? At one point, I think it was the Medicare bit, I was literally watching it through my fingers, cause I'd already covered by face with my hands, it was that bloody awkward.

The amazing thing about it is that this is day four of calls for Biden to stand down, which is an enormous amount of pressure. And there is no indication from within the top ranks of his party that they are going to make him stand down.