The Insider
Seeing red
Chinese diplomats are unhappy about the continuing travel ban on people from China, and are making known their view that this is unfair, as they are on top of the outbreak compared to some countries that aren’t banned. They have also been asking questions about the joint communique issued by Jacinda Ardern and her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison after their annual bilateral meeting in Sydney, where they expressed serious concern over events in the South China Sea. It is the first time in almost two years that NZ has uttered such criticism of China’s militarisation of the area.
Slow road to Europe
Trade talks with the European Union continue to meander along, with the initial end-of-2019 deadline having come and gone. The seventh round is set for next month, but the EU still does not share New Zealand’s view that the EU, as well as the United Kingdom, owes it a series of tariff rate quotas — which set how much we can export at lower tariff rates — which were negotiated in 1995. The European negotiators were also bemused that New Zealand put on the table a chapter on trade and indigenous cooperation, as well as seeking the reform of fossil fuel subsidies and agreement on climate change, trade and sustainability. As NZ negotiators diplomatically say, not all EU member states are interested in negotiating these issues.
Brewing up a plan
National’s launch of part one of its economic plan was all about a “bonfire of regulations”. It’s one of those things parties say in opposition, and once in Government quietly give the job to a working group, only to find 90 per cent of the regulations they complained about were put in place when they were last in Government. More intriguing was the choice of venue: the Lion Brewery site at East Tamaki. Was National trying to disprove the old saying about not being able to organise a drinking session in a brewery, or just making a naked attempt to attract media attention?
Keep it seemly
Despite the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, some MPs can’t help but descend into sexual innuendo. National’s Michael Woodhouse was challenging Health Minister David Clark over border control health checks and asked Clark if he would “like to see some [evidence] of mine”. Channelling her inner Benny Hill, Labour’s Marja Lubeck yelled: “Oh, nobody wants to see yours”.
That was then
Parliament this week debated the finance select committee’s report on the Budget Policy Statement, and showed how quickly events can overtake the best-laid plans. The report talks about GDP growth rising from 2.2 per cent over 2019/20 and included officials’ and ministers’ first thoughts on the coronavirus outbreak. “As things stood shortly before our hearing on 12 February, the impacts were projected to reduce China’s GDP by 0.3 per cent. We heard from the minister that a 0.3 per cent reduction in China’s GDP could result in a
0.1 per cent reduction in New Zealand’s GDP. However, the minister explained to us that this estimate is somewhat speculative ... [and] the economic impact could be much more severe.” It was only four weeks ago that the Reserve Bank was thinking the virus’ impact would be so minimal that it was expecting a tightening of monetary policy.
Try, try again
National list MP Jo Hayes (left) has been selected as the party’s candidate for the Mana seat this year. She first stood for National in Dunedin South in 2011, and Christchurch East since 2014. While Hayes is continuing her migration north, she appears unlikely to break her losing streak, given Labour’s 11,000-vote majority in Mana.
Holding the line
Inland Revenue staff must be wondering how they are going to cope if the Government tells them to take a kinder, gentler approach to businesses and individuals hit by the coronavirus outbreak. They are already having trouble coping with phone calls: many callers are having to wait so long, they just give up, says a report from the finance and expenditure committee. Staff will get a break when all systems are closed down for seven days to implement the next stage of IT changes — this includes the Easter holidays — but when they get back the backlog will have grown. As part of its transformation programme, the IRD has spent $27 million in redundancies to get rid of staff, then faced a 26 per cent increase in calls.