The Herald reports:

Ministers are finalising a new transport strategy that will, for the first time, make climate change the top priority when it comes to deciding how transport funding gets invested.

The plan, which will go out for consultation this year, will dictate where tens of billions of dollars of transport funding will be spent in the next three years and promises a stark pivot towards public transport and away from emissions-intensive investments, like new highways.

Transport Minister Michael Wood has proposed changes to the way $2b of maintenance money is spent each year, which could mean swapping car parks for new bus lanes and cycleways – paid for with the money used to fix potholes, according to a briefing released to the Heraldunder the Official Information Act.

This is not in fact about climate change. Transport is in the Emissions Trading Scheme and any reductions in transport emissions just means that other sectors of the economy will pay less for their emissions. Under the ETS emissions are capped and declining.

This is about politicians wanting to control us, and remove choice. They want to force people out of cars (even electric cars) and have no empathy for families who need cars to get to work, to get kids to school, to pick up groceries etc.

National has announced its Family Boost policy. Basically it recognises that childcare costs are a form of work expense for many families, and will give you a 25% tax credit towards your early childhood education costs.

This will make a huge difference to an estimated 130,000 families, providing top to $75 a week more in the hand. Over time it will help around 80% of families with children.

We used to have two children under five (now six and three). This was costing us close to $30,000 a year in early childhood education. Now that is an after tax expense, so if you pay the top marginal tax rate then you need to earn $50,000 to produce that $30,000.

The policy is targeted so those with a household income under $140,000 get the most benefit, and those over $180,000 do not benefit at all. So my household won’t personally benefit from this policy, but I still support it 100% because I do believe in targeting assistance.

National will fund this by reducing the spend on public sector consultants by $400 million a year. That won’t be difficult to be honest, because Labour has had so many daft schemes which agencies have had to pay tens of millions to consultants to work on, and then eventually they drop them.

I, for one, would much rather have my taxes go on helping low and middle income families with young children, than paying $250 an hour consultants to design a billion dollar cycle bridge or merge together two state media companies that have nothing in common.

Stuff reports:

Former Wellington City councillor Fleur Fitzsimons has been confirmed as the candidate for the Rongotai electorate.

The Labour Party selected Fitzsimons – who was unopposed – at a meeting on Saturday.

This is about as surprising as winter following autumn.

Fitzsimons is a union lawyer and former student president at Victoria University and the New Zealand University Students Association, and current Public Service Association assistant secretary.

Labour is drastically short of former student presidents and union officials, so great to see them addressing this under-representation.

Steve Stannard writes:

In 2019/20 the fund was reviewed by an “independent expert panel” which proffered a number of recommendations. The minister of the time, Chris Hipkins, then released a Cabinet paper outlining the proposed changes to the next Performance Based Research Fund round based on these recommendations.

Practically, the Hipkins paper called for weighting Maori-related research to a multiple of three. That is, a portfolio describing Maori-related research activity would be three-times as valuable to the university as, for example, an equivalent education portfolio.

Further, a researcher who identifies as Māori will be given a weighting of two-and-a-half times as much as someone who does not. In other words, that Māori academic will bring in more than twice as much money as an equivalent non-Maori academic.

Finally, these weightings are multiple, such that a Māori academic researching things Māori will be “worth” to the institution seven-and-a-half times as much as a Pākehā or Asian academic of the same research level.

This is what Hipkins has implemented. If you have a great great great grandparent who was Maori, then you are worth 2.5 times as much as someone who doesn’t have such a great great great grandparent.

If an ethnicity-based value system like this had been in place 20 years ago I would certainly not have emigrated from Australia to take up an academic role in New Zealand.

Can you imagine explaining to top scientists and academics in other countries that if you come to New Zealand, your race will determine how likely you are to get research funding.

Winston Peters writes:

We left office in October with $14 billion left in the Covid fund. We argued in our letter for prudent stewardship of public money in the event of a future shock.

Minister Robertson agreed and, in his public announcement, said the remaining $14 billion in the fund was being set aside for such a purpose. To quote the Minister, “The fund is not there to be used for any old project in the never-never.” …

If that $14 billion worth of spending had been solely Covid-related then so be it, but the connection between the virus and cameras on fishing boats, prohibitively expensive free school lunches, or a billion-dollar-plus “Jobs for Nature” programme, and ongoing cost of living payments and fuel discounts into the never-never, well, is not obvious.

It turned into the biggest slush fund in the modern era.

The Spinoff reports:

A pair of sitting Labour MPs who share an office on Ponsonby Rd and are both former employment lawyers will go head to head for the party candidacy in the inner Auckland electorate of Mt Albert, a longstanding Labour safe seat. Both Camilla Belich and Helen White entered parliament in the red tide of 2020 as Labour romped to a historic MMP majority in what then leader Jacinda Ardern called “the red wave”. 

Neither was successful in their electorate runs, with Helen White pipped by the Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick in Auckland Central and Camilla Belich finishing with about half the votes of Act leader David Seymour in Epsom, but ahead of the National candidate, Paul Goldsmith. Both White and Belich assumed list seats, however, after being ranked, respectively, 48th and 30th.

Belich will win, for two reasons.

The first is that she is seen as a future senior Cabinet Minister, while White is seen as the person who failed to win Auckland Central.

The second is that Labour’s selections are not decided by rank and file members, but by unions and head office and Belich will have all the Head Office votes.

Earlier this week I did a horrible job of loading onto Kiwiblog two reports on the NZ Education system I had completed with some fantastic contributors.

I have had a good number of emails from KBers requesting the reports. Very happy to do that through [email protected]

I will also have them loaded on www.innovativeeducation.co.nz later today.

The first report:” The Appalling Condition of our State Education System … and … How to be World Leading in Just 19 Years” is multi-faceted and has significant contributions by leading experts in the field of Education.

The report ends with 13 recommendations to turn around our antiquated and failing system.

To me the key recommendation is to create a state of the art, information and communications based Crown Entity for Parenting – to assist from pregnancy through to early adulthood. This has some very good supporters including Neuro-Science Educator Nathan Wallis (who is well worth getting to comment).

The second report is an example of the data sets I am making available so that parents, taxpayers and all interested in schooling can see just how things stand. This particular set looks at the UE statistics for the LEAVERS of every High-School.

Other relevant data sets by school I have are:

– L1 for Leavers

– L2 for Leavers.

– L3 for Leavers.

– Retention Until 17 years old.

– Progress to Degree Level Study.

They are all matched to the EQI system that replaced the decile system leading into this year.

I was on the Education Panel for the NZ Economics Forum on Thursday and the reports were very well received.

This is a link to the forum: https://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/new-zealand-economics-forum-2023

Two immediate media items were:

• www.theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/alwyn-poole-on-the-state-of-education-in-new-zealand
• www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/131382564/nz-education-sector-problems-very-solvable-consultant-says

Very happy to answer questions. Education should be a huge issue this election – as I quote Cameron Bagrie: 

“I challenge anyone to pick a better indicator today where the economy is going to be in thirty years than the education outcomes of the past and next decade. Education today defines the economy in thirty years. The school kids of today are the business owners and leaders of tomorrow. We are in trouble if you look at attendance and achievement.”

As I said above – if you are interested in the reports – ask and you shall receive: [email protected]

Newshub reports:

Senior Government minister Michael Wood, appearing alongside Collins, said Cabinet was considering the voting age “in the next little while”.

“We’ll be working through that,” he said. “We’ve always had the view that if the voting age was to be lowered, it would be really significant and there would probably need to be a process of the New Zealand public having their say on that.”

The Government announced in November it would draft legislation on the matter to allow all of Parliament to consider it. 

“There’s been a legal process that means we do need to respond,” Wood said.

“I think for any big change to your voting system you generally need to talk to the people.”

If the matter did go to a referendum, however, Wood said it would be “very tough” to hold it at this year’s general election, “given the timeframes”.

A referendum on the voting age at the election is a great idea. It will massively boost turnout the 80% of the adult population who don’t think we should give children the vote.

I think the voting age should be set to be the same as the drinking age.

Newshub reports:

Officials have had to backtrack on a key roadside drug-testing strategy, as the technology required doesn’t exist. 

It’s part of the Government’s ‘Road to Zero’ campaign and was supposed to be enforced by Police from next Saturday. 

Saliva tests were a key strategy of the Government to get drugged drivers off our roads. 

However, officials have now had to make a major U-turn. 

“This is really disappointing, we thought this was going to be game-changing legislation,” Police Association President Chris Cahill told Newshub.

Testing kits were due to roll out next Saturday so Police could enforce the Government’s drug driving amendment act. 

So only one week before they were due to roll out the testing kits, does the Government admit it has no testing kits!

But in a statement provided to Newshub, Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan said Police advised they were unable to find the technology capable of providing saliva roadside testing.

“The tech doesn’t exist in the world, and Police did advise the select committee of this from the start, so it’s not Police’s fault,”  Police Association President Chris Cahill said.

While National Party Transport Spokesperson Simeon Brown said it was a failure by the Government. 

“This is an absolute failure, it passed legislation, and the Government gave officials a whole year to get this sorted,” Brown said.

You pass a law without checking in advance that the technology the law enables even exists!

I have blogged a couple of times on how Labour has managed the almost impossible and come up with a replacement for the RMA which is even worse than the RMA. And this is not just my view.

At a recent business meeting, I asked David Seymour what score would he give to Labour’s RMA replacement laws, if we generously scored the RMA a 3/10. This was after around 45 minutes of discussion on all the problems with the current law.

David responded immediately with a -1/10, yes minus one, and said that he never ever thought he would say this but if Labour passed their RMA replacement laws this year, then on Day 1 of a National/ACT Government, their first move should be to reinstate the RMA until a better replacement can be found (such as ACT’s policy)

Chris Bishop has pointed out:

The Government’s RMA reforms are so bad they are putting at risk the ability for New Zealand to meet its climate change ambitions, National’s RMA Reform and Urban Development spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“Contact Energy yesterday told the Environment Committee that the RMA reforms were the ‘single biggest threat’ to new renewables and that without ‘urgent change’ New Zealand could ‘kiss goodbye’ decarbonisation of the energy sector.

And further:

Contact’s submission follows a negative submission by the Wind Energy Association two weeks ago, which said that new wind farms would be harder to consent under the reforms rather than easier, and the Electricity Sector Environment Group which said the proposed new laws were currently ‘unworkable’.

Labour’s RMA replacement laws would achieve the difficult twin feat of being terrible for the economy and terrible for the environment.

Imagine a NZ artist created this poem:

These days
we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or brown men like you
who might be thieves

Lani, Danielle
and a car full of white girls
we find you
on the corner
of the Justice Precinct.
You’ve got another woman
in a headlock
and I’ve got my father’s
pig-hunting knife
in my fist

If an artist published the poem above about white girls looking to kill brown men, then they would be subject to 5,000+ complaints to the Police and the Human Rights Commission and be unpublishable.

But when you swap it around so it is brown girls looking to kill white men, then you get $100,000 of taxpayer money for your hate speech.

I have no issue with the artist writing whatever makes her happy. But I object to being forced to fund it as a taxpayer.

Ipsos has released their latest research on the most important issues for New Zealanders. The top issues are:

1. Inflation 65% (+12% from a year ago)
2. Housing 33% (-17%)
3. Crime 33% (+14%)
4. Health 27% (nc)
5. Climate Change 27% (+11%)

In terms of who is best on each issue, it is:

1. Inflation: National +3% (over Labour)
2. Housing: Labour +1%
3. Crime: National +5%
4. Health: Labour +11%
5. Climate Change: Greens +15% (over Labour)

So National has slight leads on inflation and crime, Labour a larger lead on health, housing almost tied and Greens ahead on Climate Change. Looks to be a competitive environment.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has failed to even make a run-off election, getting just 17% of the vote. In 2019 she won with 74% of the vote.

She is the only Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose a re-election, and there is little doubt it was because she is so wet and soft on crime. 

Violent offending in Chicago has doubled since 2021. Throughout her term, she has been criticized for her soft-on-crime approach, which has led to massive increases in violence in the city, which is up 52 percent from last year and more than 100 percent from 2021.

Chicago has half the population of NZ, and in 2021 had over 800 homicides. Over 4,000 people were shot.

WCC released:

Wellington City Council has approved its draft budget for 2023/24, which includes a proposed 12.3% rates rise.
This works out to an average of $8 per household per week and would apply from 1 July 2023.

$400 more a year in rates is a lot of money. I doubt any Wellington families have had their household income increase by 12%.

I reckon a good policy for Central Government would be requiring any rates increase above inflation to go out to local referendum.

One of my favourite podcasts at the moment is British Scandal. I got into them with their series on the Traitor King, Edward VIII, and have now listened to a dozen or so of their series.

What I have found interesting is how they have changed my views of some of the people involved.

I always thought poorly of Edward VIII, but the podcast really brought to life how he would have been a terrible King regardless of Wallis Simpson, and how he actively courted Nazis and would have been happy to be their puppet king. I came out it feeling more sorry for Wallis Simpson.

With John and Yoko, I had always (like many) blamed Yoko for the breakup of the Beatles. But after listening to the podcast, I came away concluding that Lennon was in a fact a pretty terrible person (very talented though) who treated almost everyone in his life badly (wives, children, bandmates) and developed respect for Ono’s creative skills and how she let Lennon take all the credit for Imagine etc.

The latest series is on Jeremy Thorpe, the former Liberal Party leader who hired someone to kill his former gay lover. To my surprise I ended up slightly sympathetic to Thorpe and almost despising Norman Scott. Don’t get me wrong Thorpe should have been found guilty and gone to jail for attempted murder. The Judge’s summing up in his trial was appalling case of the establishment looking after their own. But Norman Scott spent around 15 years blackmailing and trying to destroy Scott, all supposedly because Thorpe didn’t help Scott get a National Insurance card. He wrote long letters to Thorpe’s mother, his wives, the Police etc detailing this brief relationship (when Thorpe was single). While what Thorpe did was so wrong, I can understand how he may have felt that there was no other way to get Scott to stop.

So this is why I am enjoying the series, it has me re-evaluating my views on various famous figures.

Below is the second report looking at the NZ School system as we move towards an election. They are longer than the usual Kiwiblog read but it has been a significant piece of work with great contributions from both the public and leaders in the field. To read it is best to download or – they both print well if you are inclined to read better that way.

If we want a great country, economy, future we need MASSIVE change in education NOW.

The second report is an example of the data sets I am making available so that parents, taxpayers and all interested in schooling can see just how things stand. This particular set looks at the UE statistics for the LEAVERS of every High-School.

Other relevant data sets by school I have are:

– L1 for Leavers

– L2 for Leavers.

– L3 for Leavers.

– Retention Until 17 years old.

– Progress to Degree Level Study.

They are all matched to the EQI system that replaced the decile system leading into this year.

I am on the Education Panel for the NZ Economics Forum for Thursday and Friday of this week. The reports will be available there and I will be referring to aspects of them.

This is a link to the forum: https://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/new-zealand-economics-forum-2023

Very happy to talk and/or answer questions. Education should be a huge issue this election – as I quote Cameron Bagrie: 

“I challenge anyone to pick a better indicator today where the economy is going to be in thirty years than the education outcomes of the past and next decade. Education today defines the economy in thirty years. The school kids of today are the business owners and leaders of tomorrow. We are in trouble if you look at attendance and achievement.”

Happy to talk or answer questions: [email protected]

Below is the first of two reports looking at the NZ School system as we move towards an election. They are longer than the usual Kiwiblog read but it has been a significant piece of work with great contributions from both the public and leaders in the field. Either download to read – or they both print well if you are inclined to read better that way.

If we want a great country, economy, future we need MASSIVE change in education NOW.

The first report: ” The Appalling Condition of our State Education System … and … How to be World Leading in Just 19 Years” is multi-faceted and has significant contributions by leading experts in the field of Education.

The report ends with 13 recommendations to turn around our antiquated and failing system.

To me the key recommendation is to create a state of the art, information and communications based Crown Entity for Parenting – to assist from pregnancy through to early adulthood. This has some very good supporters including Neuro-Science Educator Nathan Wallis (who is well worth getting to comment).

I am on the Education Panel for the NZ Economics Forum for Thursday and Friday of this week. The reports will be available there and I will be referring to aspects of them.

This is a link to the forum: https://events.waikato.ac.nz/events/new-zealand-economics-forum-2023

Very happy to talk and/or answer questions. Education should be a huge issue this election – as I quote Cameron Bagrie: 

“I challenge anyone to pick a better indicator today where the economy is going to be in thirty years than the education outcomes of the past and next decade. Education today defines the economy in thirty years. The school kids of today are the business owners and leaders of tomorrow. We are in trouble if you look at attendance and achievement.”

Happy to talk or answer questions: [email protected]

The Herald reports:

Some residents are prepared to arm themselves to defend their property during a post-Cyclone Gabrielle crime spree, a public meeting heard on Tuesday night.

Police Minister Stuart Nash, who is also the Napier MP, Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise, Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and Police Superintendent Jeanette Park were among 200 people at the public meeting held at Crab Farm Winery, in Bay View, Napier.

Organisers of the meeting made it clear they did not want the meeting politicised. They said the intent of the meeting was to share truthful stories and feelings relating to safety issues within the community.

“Our community needs to get factual because there’s been lots of rumours. I’m sick of people saying that it’s not really that bad when we know it is,” said organiser and Bay View resident Louise Parsons. “You’ve got people wanting to bear arms, it’s not about bearing arms – it’s just about wanting to be safe.”

Some residents also spoke about organising rostered shifts to patrol their communities. Others spoke of how they feared for their family’s safety and had considered moving.

“I feel less safe in Napier than I did in London,” said a recent expat who had moved to Hawke’s Bay with his family. …

Locals commended the first responders on the ground, saying that the local police force were “heroes”, but criticised the role of the Government response as they felt like it was “working over them and not with them”.

Locals were experiencing crime and looting, and the Government and Police were saying it was disinformation. No wonder they are hacked off.