Bob Edlin: Why rates are so high.....

Why rates are so high – in Ruapehu, the council pulls the plug on scheme that officials said would save almost $40m

Earlier this year, PoO noted that the Ruapehu District Council was sticking to its plans to impose an average 9% rate rise for 2025/26.

The Whanganui Chronicle reported that, at a public meeting in Ohakune, chief executive Clive Manley said 9% “sounds like a lot”, but budgets had to be stripped to get there.

The Mayor was singing from the same song book:

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 8/8/24

Govt paves the way for public service curbs on wages while facilitating the flow of funds for council water systems

Two of the latest ministerial press statements reflect an admirable governmental concern to ensure our taxes are spent efficiently. Here’s hoping they achieve what the ministers intend.

Public Service Minister Nicola Willis is the big hitter. She says the Government has issued a new Workforce Policy Statement outlining expectations and priorities for employment relations across the Public Sector, with a strong emphasis on fiscal sustainability and performance.

Kerre Woodham: If there's one thing we leave behind

If there's one thing we leave behind, it should be clean streams, pristine seas and first-world water services

Last week, I think it must have been Wednesday or Thursday, I was harrumphing and muttering away like Waldorf and Statler from The Muppets. I was doing a little bit of that while I was reading about the latest sewage spill into a waterway in Wellington Harbour. I'm like, how in this day and age, can this still be? This is an outrage - and Helen tries to tune it out until she hears her name, and I said Helen, let's see if we can get Simeon Brown on... this is unacceptable. Sure. OK, fine.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 5/4/24

NCEA and truancy issues are high on the agenda for education ministers while progress is made in replacing Three Waters

The Minister of Education today advised us the Government is to “rephase” the NCEA Change Programme.

The coalition Government is making “significant changes” to the NCEA Change Programme and will delay its implementation by two years.

Point of Order: Mahuta is back in the swim....

......with a Bill to spare us from sinking in water-supply costs

The government hadn’t done with legislating and regulating our water-supply systems, when we last reported on the flow of announcements from the Beehive.

Nanaia Mahuta (in tandem with Commerce and Communications Minister David Clark) had one more press statement to issue –