Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 31/5/24

There WAS something in the Budget for Maori – it’s the farm sector and rural communities that Willis overlooked

Agriculture – the backbone of the economy – was not mentioned in Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ first Budget speech. Nor was there any mention of “farming” or “horticulture” or “rural”.

Hmm.

Maybe there’s something for the farm sector in the deluge of press statements from Ministers eager to lay claim to having secured something for the sectors in their domains of responsibility…

Ele Ludemann: Taking less not giving more

Ever since National talked about helping us by allowing us to keep some of our own money, critics have been vociferous in opposition.

There are so many urgent needs in core public services – education, health, infrastructure, police . . . it’s not hard to understand why they think the government needs every cent it can get.

NZCPR Newsletter: Time for Reform

When Treasury prepared its four-yearly Long-Term Fiscal Position report in 2021, the forecasts showed that the rising cost of funding the healthcare and pensions of retirees would bankrupt New Zealand by 2061 if policies remained the same.

The problem is demography. While retirees currently number around 800,000, between 2060 and 2070 they are expected to approach 2 million. At that time, the number of workers per pensioner, will fall from around four to one today, to just two to one.

Paul Brennan chats to Dr Muriel Newman about Budget 2024

Muriel Newman from NZCPR joins RCR to talk about the challenges the Government faces with balancing the books in Budget 2024.

Click to listen

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 28/5/24

Nicola Willis brings us up to date with state service job cuts – while Tamatha Paul (is this overkill?) rails against a blood bath

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has estimated the loss of around 2500 jobs from the public sector during the cost-saving since the general election last October.

Another 1150 vacancies in Government departments have been removed from the books and 500 are expected to go, she said during the post-Cabinet press conference yesterday (the last Cabinet meeting before the release of the Budget on Thursday).

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 23/5/24

Forget about its name and focus on its objective – this RMA reform bill aims to cut red tape (and green tape, too)

A triumvirate of ministers – holding the Agriculture, Environment and RMA Reform portfolios – has announced the introduction of legislation “to slash the tangle of red and green tape throttling development in key sectors”, such as farming, mining and other primary industries.

The exact name of the bill? Point of Order confesses to being puzzled.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 9/5/24

What’s new? A social agency with an emphasis on “investment” instead of “wellbeing” – but (psst!) we have had one of these before

A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency.

As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what works for those people and how to measure progress.

But wait.