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Welcome to Inside Politics. The coalition has been grappling with two huge issues this week, the future of Kiwibank and KiwiRail, and they will need to be carefully managed to avoid disunity within the Government.
Differences are more apparent over KiwiRail and what type of ferries are ordered for Cook Strait, and the issue is definitely more of a threat to coalition relationships between New Zealand First and Act than Kiwibank.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who is now Minister for Rail, was asked directly yesterday whether his party’s preferred option of rail-enabled ferries would be a coalition-breaker if he did not get them. Peters threw down the gauntlet: “We don’t go into these arrangements taking these responsibilities intending to lose.”
The whole thing has been a debacle since the cancellation of the earlier project a year ago, and makes a mockery of the slogan “getting New Zealand back on track”.
Ever since the press conference at which Peters and Finance Minister Nicola Willis outlined the next steps, Peters and Act leader David Seymour have been at opposite ends of the spectrum. Peters has been stressing the mess that privatisation of New Zealand rail led to, and Seymour has been hailing partial privatisation of up to 49% of it as likely to bring market discipline to its management.
Seymour also suggested in a press statement that the indicative costs of the ferries project could be half of the $3 billion that was attributed to Labour’s plan. He has since walked that back, but Peters in interviews this morning was clearly annoyed that Seymour has been putting his oar in when so little is decided.
“You’re talking to the minister in charge, not the minister who is not in charge,” he snapped on RNZ. “He’s wrong on the figures that he’s used, he’s wrong on the question of privatisation and he’s wrong on the question of what it’s going to cost.”
Kiwibank is also headed for partial privatisation, Willis revealed on Monday, with the Government looking for private New Zealand investors who would be willing to pay up to $500 million for a part-share in the bank. She was emphatic it was not an “asset sale” on the basis that the proceeds would be invested in the bank and not into the Government’s coffers. But the undeniable fact is that it would be partially privately owned. The equally undeniable fact is there would be widespread support for the partial sale because it would enable Kiwibank to compete better with the Aussie banks.
But there is a great deal of sensitivity around the term “asset sale” because the Prime Minister, perhaps foolishly, promised during the election campaign there would be none.
The Speaker of the House, Gerry Brownlee, overruled advice from the Clerk of the House, David Wilson. Wilson advised Barbara Kuriger, who was chairing the committee stages, that the schedule to the Fast-track Approvals Bill listing 149 individuals and companies that could apply for fast-track consent was a private benefit and therefore should not be part of a Government bill.
Brownlee said that because there was no guarantee that any of the 149 would actually get fast-track consent, it was arguable that it was a private benefit.
The bill’s sponsor and Leader of the House Chris Bishop said the reason the people were named in the schedule is because their projects provided a public good, not a private benefit, in the way of more housing, renewable energy projects and roads.
It is a technical point. Even if the schedule were not there, the Government could decide to allow the projects to apply for fast-track consent.
Labour is saying it is unprecedented for a Speaker not to follow the advice of a Clerk, but that cannot be proven one way or the other. Most advice is privately given. It is within the rights of any Speaker to issue a new ruling that overturns a previous ruling. Labour has withdrawn its confidence in the Speaker. But again, that is not unusual – National lost it in Trevor Mallard and Labour lost it in David Carter – and if it moves a motion of no-confidence in Brownlee, it will fail.
Two interesting polls were published this week on the Treaty Principles Bill, which attracted possibly the largest protest the country has seen. A 1News-Verian poll showed that more people opposed the bill than supported it – 36% to 23% – and an even larger group, 39%, said they did not know enough about it to say.
A Hobson’s Pledge poll by Curia asked a series of questions about the bill and the Treaty, including which body should determine what the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are. The net agreement for each body was as follows: by referendum +25%; Parliament +21%; Waitangi Tribunal +16%; and the judiciary +7%.
Act list MP Laura Trask has changed her name to Laura McClure. If you are one of those people who use Parliament’s website to search for Hansard or video of parliamentary debates, both her names will continue to appear.
New High Commissioner to London and former Labour leader Phil Goff has been a familiar face around Parliament this week on a regular visit to brief MFAT and Government ministers on issues of note. And while he was back, former staff members known as “the Goffice” got together for a reunion dinner with him. Missing, however, were former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former Labour leader David Shearer, both former staffers of his.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith returned from Japan recently with a cautionary tale for those, like him, who are fond of sashimi (raw fish). He was in a restaurant and saw a fellow diner tucking into what looked like sashimi. With limited Japanese, he pointed to it and asked for the same. Halfway through his meal, he discovered it was raw chicken. In the interests of politeness, he continued, and there were no apparent consequences (but please don’t try it at home).
Labour’s Kieran McAnulty: “Point of order. Mr Speaker, that is the fourth question from a Government minister – the third from the Deputy Prime Minister – that you have ruled to be out of order. Is there going to be any attempt to try and curtail this or is it just going to be allowed to continue all through the remaining two years of this term?”
Speaker: “Well, I don’t know, because I don’t know how many further out-of-order questions there’ll be.”
How many MPs were referred to the Privileges Committee this week over the haka at the end of the Treaty Principles Bill first reading debate, on what basis and who were they? (Answers below.)
Goes to Government ministers who have suddenly inflated the estimated cost of the previous Government’s ferries plan from $3b to $4b, no doubt so that when their own costings come in close to $3b, they can tell voters they saved money.
Goes to Labour’s Rachel Brooking and Arena Williams for leading a highly spirited charge against the Fast-track Approvals Bill under urgency and honing their House skills in the process.
Ferry plan: Opposition parties have slammed the Government for omitting key details in yesterday’s Cook Strait ferry announcement.
Labour v Speaker: Labour says it has lost confidence in Speaker Gerry Brownlee following an “unprecedented” decision over the Fast-Track Approvals Bill.
KiwiBank shift: The Government has taken a step towards part-privatising KiwiBank by asking KiwiSaver funds and local investors to invest up to $500 million in the bank.
Quiz answers: Te Pāti Māori MPs Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, and Labour MP Peeni Henare. It was on the basis they were the MPs who left their seats to perform the haka, not because they were Māori.
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The Finance Minister backs a call to look at targeting some currently universal benefits.