Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 25/7/24

While media are focused on child abuse, the Govt signals legislation to clip judges’ wings and restore Customary Marine Title rules

The news media and political commentariat have feasted on the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care – tabled in Parliament yesterday – and the Government’s immediate response to its findings and recommendations.

Bryce Edwards listed a raft of the resultant media headlines on the Democracy Project website this morning.

Among them:

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 12/6/24

News of visit by Chinese Premier is belatedly posted on Beehive website – now we await official post of banking inquiry

Let the record show that the PM’s news about China’s Premier visiting New Zealand this week was posted on the government’s website yesterday, after Point of Order had published its June 11 Buzz report.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: On principle, it's hard to argue with Labour's paternity leave policy

Labour’s paternity leave policy is a good one. Finally.

They’ll be relieved commentators like it- they’re clearly trying to change the subject from the GST off fruit and veges policy only two days ago, because it's gone very badly for them.

But I'll happily play the game and change the subject for a bit.

Lindsay Mitchell: Paid Parental Leave extension unwarranted

The government is reportedly reconsidering its opposition to extending Paid Parental Leave from 14  to 26 weeks. This comes despite Treasury advice that there would be "minimal benefit from increasing the length of parental leave."

Last year Treasury analysed who was using paid parental leave, labour market outcomes, and child health outcomes. It found that, "...there is not a strong evidence-based argument to support extending the length of paid parent leave."

Treasury's report states, "...the majority of mothers return to work when the baby is six months old...". Marginal benefits to labour market participation and child health and well-being would therefore be small. Additionally, it notes, "...the most vulnerable children are likely born into families where parents are not eligible for paid parental leave...".

Karl du Fresne: Confessions of a dinosaur

My wife reckons that if I had been alive in 1893, I probably would have opposed women getting the vote. Ouch. That’s a bit harsh. I would, of course, prefer to think it’s not true – but how can I be sure? It’s unknowable. I have never thought of myself as sexist; quite the reverse. The people I most admire and respect have been strong women. I have never identified with the Kiwi bloke culture that thinks women should be kept in their place, whether it be the kitchen or the bedroom.

Karl du Fresne: Nanny State in the bedroom

DEBATE on Labour MP Sue Moroney’s paid parental leave legislation has largely focused on whether it’s affordable, but surely there’s a much bigger issue here. The notion that parents should be paid to carry out the role nature programmed them for – namely, looking after their children – represents a huge intrusion by the state into what has historically been deemed a private matter.

That this aspect of the debate has been virtually ignored demonstrates how thoroughly we have been conditioned to Big Government involving itself in people’s lives.