Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 7/7/23

It’s hard to tell how much will be bled from taxpayers, but midwives and Pacifika nurses are among the winners from govt news

Good governmental news has flowed for health workers over the past 24 hours – or rather, some health workers. Midwives have secured a hefty pay rise and “targeted measures” have been announced to benefit Pacific health workers.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/6/23

NZ signs oceans biodiversity treaty, but look at what kaimoana kerfuffle has done for the Kermadec sanctuary proposal

The statements which ministers have not posted are the most newsworthy aspect of the latest news on the government’s official website.

Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has not released a statement to say he welcomes (or does not welcome) a report titled He piki tūranga, he piki kōtuku – The future for local government.

Point of Order: The number of the world’s farms to halve by 2100

New University of Colorado Boulder research shows the number of farms globally will shrink in half as the size of the average existing farms doubles by the end of the 21st century, posing significant risks to the world’s food systems.

Published this week in the journal Nature Sustainability, the study is the first to track the number and size of farms year-over-year, from the 1960s and projecting through 2100.

Point of Order: Hipkins enthuses about the Fourth National Action Plan......

.....but who remembers the first three?

Just two statements had been posted on the Beehive website, when we made our daily check this morning. This suggested the PM and her ministers were easing up on their workloads as Christmas Day nears.

But two more statements have been posted since then, one of them grandly headlined:

Point of Order: Public service review finds procurement and conflict management practices at four agencies fell below standard

The statement we were looking for was not to be found on the Beehive website, when we checked early this afternoon. But the issue we hoped would be addressed in a statement from the Beehive was publicised on the Public Service Commission website.

Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes released the findings of a review into how public service agencies managed conflicts of interest while procuring the services of Ka Awatea Services Ltd (KAS) and Kawai Catalyst Ltd (KC).

Hughes’ statement, curiously, made no mention of the names of Nanaia Mahuta or her husband, Gannin Ormsby.

Point of Order: DoC doubles the dip for doing good to biodiversity and heritage sites

That means $9.2m will be distributed

Oh goody – an invitation to a trough which has been laden with twice as much largess this year because it was not available last year.

Inviting potential applicants to slurp at the $9.2 million swill, Acting Conservation Minister Meka Whaitiri described it as a fund for community-led efforts to protect threatened species and at-risk cultural heritage.

It has opened for applications today.