Claire Trevett is the NZ Herald’s political editor, based at Parliament in Wellington. She started at the NZ Herald in 2003 and joined the Press Gallery team in 2007. She is a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
OPINION
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Welcome to the Politics Briefing, a week in which Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson announced her breast cancer diagnosis, PM Christopher Luxon went to Japan, and ministers went through their first Scrutiny Week.
Luxon’s trip to Japan might have started with a blown fuse, but it ended with a hiss and roar.
It is a shame that the RNZAF Boeing breakdown and Luxon’s own big-noting – and insulting – pre-trip comments about A-list business delegations and C-list delegations dominated so many of the headlines.
Luxon returns to New Zealand tonight (barring another unscheduled breakdown) after a trip that should be deemed a big success: business deals were done and defence and security ties with Japan strengthened – along with personal ties following his face-to-face with Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida.
Before leaving, Luxon had described Japan as a “natural strategic partner” – giving a hint that that the relationship was about to be boosted.
As the Herald’s Jenee Tibshraeny reported from the trip, Luxon left Japan soon after meeting Kishida and announcing a new intelligence-sharing arrangement with Japan. It puts New Zealand in a similar position to its Five Eyes partners in respect to the security relationship with Japan. (We note the move on the intelligence sharing arrangement was started by former PM Dame Jacinda Ardern on one of her earlier delegations in 2019).
There was also a boost in New Zealand’s defence deployment to the area to assist with the UN-backed efforts to monitor sanctions against North Korea, including sending Navy vessels for the first time.
It was not by dint of planning, but the significance of the trip was highlighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea on the same day.
It continues a bit of an energy boost in the defence deployments area – including last month’s announcement by Defence Minister Judith Collins of an increase in the size of the deployment to South Korea – from 12 to up to 53 personnel.
The added bonus is that deployments keep Defence personnel from leaving. Attrition levels had peaked above 22% after Covid-19 but are now at a more healthy 8%.
It is clearly a bid by the Government for New Zealand to be seen to be doing more – Luxon has repeatedly aired his view that it needs to do what it can to ensure it is seen as relevant and active in the increasingly complicated geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region.
In short, he wants New Zealand to be seen as an A-lister here – not a C-lister or a “tag-along”.
That old saying that getting there is half the fun rang true for Luxon this week as the RNZAF Boeing snaffled more headlines than his international efforts on his trip to Japan.
Both Luxon and Collins have made noises that sound as if they might now bring forward the planned replacements for the planes. They should do so – and not for Luxon’s own sake.
Luxon was blunt about the problem he faced: not a lack of money, but the political embarrassment of spending that money on a plane associated with flying the PM around.
Luxon noted he was suffering the consequences of the political radars of his predecessors (as with Premier House), as successive PMs simply lived with the breakdown-prone aircraft rather than stand accused of spending millions on their own transport wishes.
It is a shame that the Air Force planes have come to be seen as an airborne limo for the PM, since the same aircraft are also used to transport troops, take people to Antarctic, can be refigured to carry cargo to disaster-stricken countries, and on occasion to evacuate New Zealanders from danger spots overseas.
They are an important part of the Defence Force kit. Over the past year or so, they have been used for the NZDF 80% of the time – and for VIPs 20% of the time. That makes it far easier to justify replacing the NZDF planes than investing in a snazzy VIP jet for the PM.
Getting better aircraft for the people who use it the most is more important than getting one for the PM, yet they have to suffer it for the sake of saving the PM some political blushes.
Back at Parliament, MPs have spent the week sitting in meeting rooms interrogating ministers about their Budget spending plans in the inaugural Scrutiny Week. It hasn’t always been fruitful, but it has proved a good way to probe ministers about the various cuts and spending.
It uncovered some hitherto unknown changes, including the penny-pinching decision to scrap a move to top up the pay for disabled workers to the minimum wage, and differences of opinion in delivering on National’s unfulfilled promise to fund 13 cancer drugs.
There was, of course, a bit of the usual game-playing. For ministers, the trick to taking up the time allocated to them without facing too many hard questions is to talk at great length, even if you aren’t answering the question being asked.
The Government MPs on the committee are also charged with taking up time by asking the soft questions (“patsies”) that allow a minister to bang on at length. Those MPs are also charged with disrupting the Opposition’s question lines. That is done by raising points of order about whether they should be allowed to ask more patsy questions, and then raising more points of order about the decision on the first point of order.
“When it comes to local democracy, democracy is not free. It does have a cost. But a democracy is vitally important and I stand here not saying that of my own opinion. It’s thousands of years of history and democratic principles which have developed to enable us to live in a democratic and free society. I value that, the vast majority of New Zealanders value democracy and they’re willing to pay for the privilege and responsibility to live in a free, democratic society” - Local Government Minister Simeon Brown demonstrates the art of the long waffle to get around a question about the cost to councils of referendums on Māori wards during Scrutiny Week.
“Wāhine mā, please book in your mammogram.” This week’s bouquet goes to Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, who revealed her breast cancer diagnosis on Monday. We wish her the very best for her surgery and treatment ahead.
To PM Christopher Luxon, who spoiled an otherwise solid week in Japan by describing his predecessor’s business delegations as “C-listers and tag-alongs”. It was not only untrue, it was insulting to Dame Jacinda Ardern and a raft of small and medium businesses trying to do what the Government wants them to do: export to our trade markets. Some things don’t merit a political jab.
‘C-listers’ comment: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has described businesspeople who went on trade trips under the previous Government as “C-listers”.
Public spending: The Government’s complicated FamilyBoost tax credit scheme could cost between $9 million and $43.2m to administer over four years.
Public sector cuts: One government ministry has had to fork out more than $8 million in redundancy payments as cuts to the public sector take shape.
For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast.
The Treaty Principles Bill was introduced at Parliament today.