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Welcome to the Politics Briefing. Memo to ministers and press secretaries: “If you missed it, sit down and watch yesterday’s press conference for a lesson in how not make a Budget announcement.” It is the memo Christopher Luxon should be sending to all his ministers if he has not already done so as pre-Budget announcements roll out.
After 40 minutes of questions and answers on Government spending for Corrections, everybody was more confused than when they entered the Beehive theatrette, including the PM and Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell.
It was not Luxon’s fault. As Prime Minister, he is not expected to know the detail of every portfolio. He could have got away with the tub-thumping political statements about the previous Government having been soft on crime if Mitchell had been on top of the detail about the cost of the new measures. The PM resorted to his standby deflector when things don’t quite add up - “I don’t know how I can be any clearer...”
Here’s how, PM. Make sure every press statement on the Government’s spending says whether the headline figure is the total being spent on Corrections or it is new spending, whether it is for the next financial year (July to June) or over four years, and what distinguishes it from what was planned by the previous Government.
For the record, the clarification sent out afterwards by Mark Mitchell’s office stated there are currently 455 beds at Waikeria Prison; that 600 new ones under way already will come on line in a year, including 100 mental health beds; and that yesterday’s funding announcement will mean an additional 810 beds which, once completed, will take Waikeria’s capacity to a whopping 1865 beds.
But Luxon was only saying what a lot of people thought. And in a breaking development, Arbuckle issued a statement this morning saying he would stand down as a councillor in October (a year out from the next local body election), the timing of which will avoid a byelection for the council, and that he will donate his salary to a local charity.
Meanwhile, Peters this morning announced that Rosemary Banks will return to Washington DC as New Zealand’s ambassador in June. The current ambassador, Bede Corry, has returned to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Banks is an excellent appointment. It is insurance against a possible Trump victory in November, with her having served there previously for the second part of his first term. And as MFAT’s most senior diplomat, she is a model for working seniors everywhere.
Quote unquote
“The role of a list MP is as big or small as you choose to make it” - list MP and deputy National leader Nicola Willis on Newstalk ZB.
Micro quiz
The foreign minister of which European country visited New Zealand at the weekend? (Answer below.)
Brickbat
Green MP Julie Anne Genter has returned to work ... in the Chatham Islands.
Treasury Secretary Caralee McLiesh. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Goes to girl power in the economic sphere, which cannot go unremarked after yesterday’s press conference to release the OECD report on New Zealand: it included OECD chief economist Clare Lombardelli, Treasury Secretary Caralee McLiesh and Finance Minister Nicola Willis. Plus the Labour MP commenting on it was Barbara Edmonds, and the Herald report (see below) was written by our Wellington business editor, Jenée Tibshraeny.
When Parliament resumes at 2pm today, the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, is expected to announce whether the aggressive behaviour of Green MP Julie Anne Genter last week has been referred to the Privileges Committee.
Quiz answer: Germany. The Foreign Minister was Annalena Baerbock.
Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018.
