John MacDonald: The Government should be cringing

The Government should be cringing.

Not wincing, not shifting uncomfortably in its chair, not trying to avoid eye contact with us. It should be cringing.

Because after all the talk about apologising for the dawn raids on suspected overstayers - which began in Auckland in the 1970s - and all the sorrow and all the tears, they just kept on going.

Barry Soper: No-one wants to see a repeat of the dawn raids 50 years on

If someone overstays their visa then the authorities have a right to talk to the offenders to at least establish why.  Every country in the world does it but it's the way it's done that's the issue.

No-one in this country wants to see a repeat of what went on in this country 50 years ago, cops bashing down doors and dragging the offenders away from their screaming children.

Point of Order: Govt’s plan for lifting productivity and wages entails a $30m investment and a role for the state as a partner

One economic measure which Ministers of Finance can’t brag about is productivity growth. It has been an issue of concern for decades.

In the 2022 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, New Zealand suffered the biggest drop in rankings among 63 nations compared on measures which include business productivity.

New Zealand dropped in all competitiveness rankings. We ranked 46th for technological infrastructure and 27th for scientific infrastructure, while our track record on productivity and efficiency landed us in 48th place.

Barry Soper: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's policeman father carried out Dawn Raids as junior officer

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's father, Ross Ardern, was one of the police officers who carried out the Dawn Raids on Pacific Island families in the 1970s - something the Prime Minister said he was uncomfortable with.

Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper reported Ross Ardern's part in the raids as a young police officer, saying the Prime Minister had told him her father was a junior police officer who had to follow orders but had not believed it should be part of the job.

It follows the Prime Minister's sincere apology at the weekend on behalf of the Government to the Pacific community – and that community's emotional acceptance of the long-awaited apology - for the discriminatory raids targeting Pacific Islanders in the mid 1970s.