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.
OPINION
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Welcome to the Politics Briefing. It has been quite a week for Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister-in-waiting David Seymour. He refused to attend the Kīngitanga’s annual coronation celebrations on Monday, he took a flick at Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and coalition partner NZ First for their speeches there, he replied enigmatically to the question of whether he would be willing to bring down the coalition over the Treaty principles bill, and he was questioned about high pay rates for the bureaucrats in his new Ministry of Regulation, seeing as he promotes vigilance over costs in the rest of the public service.
In a prepared tweet, as opposed to a throw-away line on his way to the House, he criticised Luxon and NZ First for again spelling out their positions at the Kīngitanga hui on his yet-to-be-seen Treaty principles bill. They won’t be supporting it beyond the first reading, Luxon and Shane Jones said. It is not a new position. If Seymour had any sense of the anxiety over the bill, he would accept it was imperative in that setting that National and NZ First respond to the challenge by Tukoroirangi Morgan to spell out their positions. They repeated their commitments that, after select committee, it will not be supported at second reading.
Seymour tweeted that National and NZ First should have waited to see the bill and find out what people thought about it before deciding. “That would be the respectful and democratic thing to do,” he said. Asked by ThreeNews if he would rule out leaving the coalition over the Treaty principles bill, he replied: “You never play poker with your cards on the table.”
It is hard to know what Seymour is up to. Perhaps he is just pushing the boundaries to create a headline, which he is very good at. But he may also be showing it could be difficult for him to be a conventional Deputy PM - one who does not diss his boss. If he cannot give a guarantee that he will avoid such criticisms as Luxon’s deputy, he ought not to accept the position.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters had a bit of fun in the House yesterday answering questions on behalf of Luxon from Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Hipkins: Does he agree with his soon-to-be Deputy Prime Minister’s [Seymour’s] refusal to rule out leaving the coalition over the so-called Treaty principles bill, and, if so, what measures will he take to avoid the coalition collapsing?
Peters: It would be not respectful or democratic of me to seek to answer on behalf of the person, the minister, he’s talking about.
Meanwhile, figures obtained by the Green Party show that staff at Seymour’s new Ministry for Regulation are earning an average salary of $152,034, compared to $97,200 across the wider public service. Seymour told RNZ it was sensationalist reporting, but the Taxpayers’ Union says he should be leading by example.
Tuku Morgan’s speech at Tūrangawaewae was unlike anything a Government has been met with in a long time. Delivered in a downpour, it was a ka-boom speech that dispensed with niceties and just let rip.
He let the Government know exactly how targeted Māori felt about a series of moves: marginalising te reo Māori, abolishing section 7AA of the Ōranga Tamariki Act, making it hard to establish Māori wards on councils, getting rid of the Māori Health Authority and Three Waters, the foreshore and seabed legislation, not to mention the Treaty principles bill. There was a little Dylan Thomas flourish too.
“Since January this year, we have watched the Government wrecking ball demolish Māori policy, Māori achievement, and have rolled back 50 years of iwi relations with the Crown,” he said. “All of those achievements were wrapped up in partnership with our people. And your Government has turned its back on Māori who believed there was honour in the Crown.
“We are here to send a clear message to you and your Government: We will not go quietly into the night.”
If you tuned into Parliament’s general debate on Wednesday, you would be forgiven for thinking Finance Minister Nicola Willis was a fiery socialist of the type that damns the capitalist running dogs in the foreign-owned banks who don’t care about working people. Well, she was definitely damning the foreign-owned banks, but because of the failures of competition between them, as highlighted in a Commerce Commission report.
“I have a message for the banks: we’re putting an end to your cosy pillow fight too, because we won’t stand by while New Zealanders have to pay fees that are higher than they should be,” Willis said.
“We won’t stand by while New Zealanders watch their interest rates not being passed on as quickly when they are paying the debt as when they’ve got the deposit. We won’t stand by while our Australian cousins get innovative services, new technology, and us here in New Zealand get left behind even while the banks extract their profits.”
It was a Government, she said, for working people.
“Competition between them resembles a cosy pillow fight with profit margins coming first and everyday Kiwis coming second” - Nicola Willis on the big banks in New Zealand following a Commerce Commission report.
The Prime Minister of which country visited New Zealand this week and held talks with Christopher Luxon yesterday? (Answer below.)
Goes to Leader of the House Chris Bishop for his insolence towards Speaker Gerry Brownlee yesterday. After objections by Labour that a question directed to Tama Pōtaka had been transferred to Bishop, Brownlee allowed Labour’s Kieran McAnulty to drop the question altogether and get another one today - in the interests of harmony, he said. He got a tanty instead.
Goes to the Prime Minister for a good week: he fronted up to Tūrangawaewae and weathered typhoon Tuku, then yesterday, with ratepayers all over the country being stung with crippling rates rises, he told Local Government NZ conference delegates to stick to rubbish, pipes and potholes.
Analysis - council spending: A huge water leak in Wellington delivered the perfect backdrop for PM Christopher Luxon’s stern speech on council spending, writes Georgina Campbell.
Council spending: Christopher Luxon’s criticism of council spending at yesterday’s Local Government NZ conference received a frosty reception.
Bank competition: The Government says it is committing to acting on the Commerce Commission’s recommendations for improving competition in the retail banking sector.
Tobacco lobbying: A leaked document from tobacco giant Philip Morris says the company should target political parties, including NZ First, to get more favourable regulation.
Number fumble: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has again botched his numbers by mistakenly conflating Year 8 mathematics and reading achievement rates.
Gas shortage: There isn’t enough gas in New Zealand for both households and industry, the Government has been warned.
Quiz answer: The Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
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Expectations tempered around return to surplus in 2027/28.