Newshub reports:

The Māori King is set to publicly endorse a Waikato-Tainui tribal leader who is expected to be the Māori Party’s candidate in the Hauraki-Waikato electorate.

Rahui Papa has for many years been a key figure within King Tuheitia’s inner circle. He is currently the chairman of Te Arataura the tribal executive of Waikato-Tainui.

The King will make the announcement on Thursday afternoon at Parawera Marae, south of Hamilton, where local celebrations are being held in honour of the Māori King. 

Mr Papa is set to challenge incumbent Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta for the seat. It will be the closest race the electorate has seen in decades.

Mahuta has a large majority but that is partly because she has had the backing of Tainui. If Tainui voters follow the endorsement of their King, then the seat could come into play.

NewstalkZB reports:

National, Labour, and New Zealand First have been the winners in Parliament’s latest Members’ Bill ballot with all three parties getting Bills drawn to go before Parliament.

Labour MP Ruth Dyson’s Bill, putting more emphasis on a code of ethics for teachers is now up for debate.

National MP Paul Foster-Bell’s Arbitration Amendment Bill proposes changing the Arbitration Act in line with Law Commission recommendations on the way trust deeds are dealt with.

So too is New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s Bill on youth employment training which would see the Defence Force involved in vocational training.

It proposes a partnership between the Ministry of Social Development and the Defence Force, setting up a “new pathway” into paid work for 15 to 17-year-olds.

“It aims to help 90,000 school drop outs who are languishing on the unemployment benefit,” Mr Ball said after his bill had been drawn.

“They will be in the Army to work, train and learn trade skills so they are work ready by the time they turn 18.”

Mr Ball said the Army has an existing youth development unit, and under his bill it would be expanded and fully resourced.

None of the three bills seems very major. Dyson’s seems silly – renaming the Education Council the Teaching Council and changing the code of conduct to a code of ethics.

Christopher Snowden quotes the Guardian:

Selling high calorie foods in plain packaging could help in the battle against obesity according to a leading researcher who has won a share of the most lucrative prize in neuroscience for his work on the brain’s reward system.

The colourful wrapping and attractive advertising of calorie-rich foods encourage people to buy items that put them at risk of overeating and becoming obese in the future, said Wolfram Schultz, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.

Stuff reports:

A nationwide system for broadcasting public text alerts about emergencies, earthquakes, and hazards to mobile phones is expected to be live by the end of the year, the Government says.

Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said the new channel for sending alerts was on track and messages would appear similar to texts.

Broadcasting emergency alerts on cellphones will be added to a range of channels currently used to transmit information about emergencies, such as radio, social media, and television.

Mobile phones in a set area can receive emergency alerts without downloading any apps or subscribing to any services.

Basically the messages are sent through cell phone towers in a particular area. A very smart use of technology.

Eric Crampton blogs on a recent working paper by Stefan Boes and Steve Stillman:

Overall, we find no evidence that changing the drinking age from 20 to 18 led to more vehicular accidents or alcohol-related accidents among teens. This is true both in the short-run following the law change and when examining cumulative accidents for the affected cohorts. We find that accidents do increase after one’s 18th birthday, but this appears to be a short-run phenomenon. Finally, our parametric regression models suggest that reducing the drinking age led to a decline in risky driving by youth who were already 15 at the time of the law change but had no longer-run impacts on youth risky driving among younger cohorts. We speculate that this occurred because of the extensive public discussion about the drinking age change that took place and because teens are likely to be particularly focused on the near future. We also present supportive evidence from infrequent health surveys showing a similar pattern for alcohol consumption among different youth cohorts. Our results support the argument that the legal drinking age can be lowered without leading to increases in detrimental outcomes for youth and call into question previous studies that have made policy recommendations by extrapolating from results identified using age-based RDDs.

Of interest is that youth drink driving rates continue to drop. A 2012 Stuff article shows a drop from 6,414 offences to 3,091.

Stuff reports:

He’s too young to drink, drive or cast a vote but youth is no barrier for beef farmer Simeon Cook.

Simeon, 15, owns a herd of santa gertrudis cattle which he runs on a seven-hectare lease block at Cardiff in Taranaki. …

Without a drivers license, Simeon has to take the bus from school to the farm, where he spends every afternoon during the week feeding, shifting and preparing his stock for shows.

“I try to get them set up for the weekend on Friday afternoon so I can have a couple of days to do other things.”

The regular competitor at A&P shows across the lower North Island has racked up multiple medals and placings. He also claimed the title of supreme champion at last year’s Stratford show with Stirling Betty.

A year 11 student and chairman of the TeenAg club at Stratford High School, Simeon said juggling school and farming could be difficult but his animals would always be his top priority.

“I have to knuckle down a bit more at school this year but in my eyes it’s animals first,” he said.

“Mum and Dad want me to do well at school and having the farm is going to mean there are a few late nights but that’s how it is.”

Beyond school, Simeon hopes to get a place at Smedley Station and Cadet Training Farm in Hawke’s Bay but competition for the trainee positions was fierce, he said.

“They take on 11 cadets a year and there are hundreds of applicants.  But that’s where I want to be and that’s what I’m working towards.” 

While he is often alone on the farm, Simeon never felt like he was missing out on his friends’ after school activities.

“I actually feel like I’ve got the better end of the deal,” he said.

“I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”

Not many 15 year olds with that sort of maturity and work ethic. Very impressive young man.

Stuff reports:

A Wellington City councillor will be campaigning in Christchurch because he’s standing for Parliament. 

Southern ward councillor David Lee will be the Green Party candidate for Ilam, the seat currently held by National’s Gerry Brownlee.

Lee is not standing on the party list, meaning he will only become an MP in the unlikely event he defeats Brownlee, the politician he calls his mentor.

So why isn’t he standing in a Wellington seat?

He said he could still do his councillor job from Christchurch via phone and email.

“I do very little face-to face interaction, so I can still do my job as long as I have technology.”

Reminds me of the guy elected to Capital and Coast DHB who lived in Auckland!

“This is my opportunity to give back to the Greens and push up the party vote up in an electorate that requires an alternative voice for voters and not just a soundpiece for National.”

Was there not a single other Green Party member in Christchurch willing to stand in Ilam?

Despite being a Green Party member for four years, blue blood runs in his veins.

The former Young Nat and election campaigner for Murray McCully describes himself as a born-again green who was “very blue with a green halo”.

“Gerry Brownlee is my mentor.”

Lee wanted to get his name out there for the 2020 election, when he planned to go “hard out” to win the Ilam electorate.

So in fact his long term commitment is to Ilam, not Wellington.

Although he was looking at buying a residential property in Ilam, he  did not intend to move there.

If successful at winning the seat, he would still live in Wellington, he said.

“MPs are expected to live in Wellington.”

Really?

Tim Watkin at Pundit wrote:

It’s almost become a truism within political circles, but the cry around Ardern is always, “but what has she done?”. She’s had almost a decade in the House and a string of high profile portfolio responsibilities – from police to vulnerable children and more – and it’s a struggle to point to any impact she’s had either on policy or public opinion in any.

Several other journalists have also pointed to the lack of tangible achievements, so I thought it was worth expanding on this.

Jacinda does have many political skills. She is warm and funny. She is a good communicator. She is smart. She has been a political staffer and knows Parliament. She is comfortable in her own skin, and she is genuine. She is a bit of a policy wonk. She attracts and motivates supporters. And she is the queen of soft media. She is definitely one of the better performing Labour MPs. She is a genuinely nice person.

But after eight years in Parliament, to quote Tim Watkin, “what has she done?”

To answer why so many ask this question, I want to look at three areas – electorate, political and legislative.

Electorate

Jacinda stood twice in Auckland Central and lost both times. I had to laugh at one media article which said she had always stood in unwinnable seats. Auckland Central was held by Labour for 90 years or so, and the combined left party vote of 46% is greater than seats Labour did win such as Christchurch East, Te Atatu, Rimutaka, Wigram, Palmerston North, Port Hills, Hutt South, West Coast Tasman and Napier.

The current electorate MP, Nikki Kaye, has a huge list of things she has achieved in the electorate. They include:

• Getting Aotea Conservation Park established on Great Barrier Island
• Delivered rural broadband to GBI
• Key role in re-establishing the Pride Parade
• Led a campaign on changing body corporate laws for apartment dwellers
• Helped persuade Mt Albert Grammar to include GBI students in their zone

A former staffer for Len Brown once told me that when most people met the Mayor they had just one issue to talk about. Nikki would front up regularly with 10 to 15 issues.

This is why Nikki beat Jacinda in 2011 and 2014. The electorate knew she had delivered for them.

Now you might say that it is unfair to compare Nikki to Jacinda as Nikki is already the Electorate MP and Jacinda just a List MP. Well let’s look at what Chris Bishop has done in just two years as a List MP in Hutt South:

• Established Hutt City Youth Awards scheme in 2015 to recognise young talent in Hutt
• Successfully campaigned for free parking in the Hutt CBD with local businesse
• Established monthly food truck night in Hutt CBD with local food trucks and Council
• Helped local student organise a Ted-X style Tech Talks event
• Two successful public meetings (Technology Valley and Predator Free), both with standing room only. Tech meeting led to a student tech forum in the Hutt

This is why I believe Chris Bishop will win Hutt South. He has shown that a List MP can be just as effective as an Electorate MP in achieving things. If Jacinda had done what Chris Bishop is doing, Jacinda would probably have won Auckland Central.

Another example is Labour’s Stuart Nash. He won Napier by being all over local issues – he led the fight against amalgamation, against the dam and on police staffing levels.

Now in no way am I saying that Jacinda is not active or hard working locally. She sleeps out for charity, she door knocks, she turns up to all the functions etc. But that is different from actual achievements.

Political

Jacinda has held 11 portfolios including Employment, Social Development, Police, Corrections, Children, Justice and Small Business. In all of them she has been hard working and competent and on top of the issues but she hasn’t really achieved anything, compared to some of her colleagues. For example:

• Kelvin Davis – hugely successful in his campaign on prisons, and also on Australian deportees. Both led to government policy changes.
• Shane Jones – very successful campaign against Countdown on behalf of small suppliers
• Stuart Nash – campaign on petrol prices got Government to do an inquiry. Also helped get Government inquiry into guns.
• Phil Twyford – huge cut through on housing issues

Legislative

It is in the legislative area that Jacinda has done worse. Her two members’ bills have been shockingly weak. Her first bill on adoption was a press release pretending to be a bill. It merely instructed the Law Commission to go write the real bill and have the Government introduce it. The bill was so bad even the Greens voted against it. It actually undermined the real work done cross party by Kevin Hague and Nikki Kaye who met with all the stakeholders, with law professors, adoption groups and wrote a detailed law reform bill.

Her latest bill is much the same. It is labelled the Child Poverty Reduction and Eradication Bill. It basically sets up a a Child Poverty Reduction Board! That’s it. It’s a sound bite not a serious law.

In no way do I think Jacinda doesn’t care about gay adoption and child poverty. She does. But the consistent pattern in her career has been that she prioritises empathy over effectiveness. She is not alone in this, of course.

Jacinda has said you can’t achieve much in opposition, that you get to make a difference in government. But this is not true. Many other MPs have achieved substantial things as List MPs and/or in Opposition.

Jacinda will become a Minister one day. I stand by my prediction she will become Prime Minister – possibly as early as 2020, if she becomes Leader of the Opposition after this year’s election.

As I said at the beginning Jacinda does have many skills, and she is a good MP who deserved to be on Labour’s front bench. But her record of achievements is very limited for eight years in Parliament. Her challenge is to show effectiveness as well as empathy.

She is now the MP for Mt Albert, so that’s a good place to start.

News.com.au reports:

There are reportedly nine Malaysian nationals in the communist country who will be unable to return home as the investigation into Kim Jong Nam’s murder continues.

Mr Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed in Malaysia last month.

In the latest shot fired in a growing diplomatic row between the two Asian nations, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported the ban would stay in place until Pyongyang was satisfied the case was solved.

Basically they are saying we will imprison or kill your nationals, unless you cover up what we did.

Kim Jong Un appears to be a more vile dictator than his father and grandfather. I long for the day that North Korea is freed from them.

Stuff reports:

NZ First MP Barbara Stewart’s husband passing away earlier this year has prompted her decision not to stand at the election in September.

Stewart first entered Parliament in 2002 and her departure takes out one of only three women in the 12-member caucus.

A well liked MP. I wish her well. She is one of the longer serving NZ First MPs.

It will be interesting if any new female candidates are ranked in winnable list positions.

Michael Barnett writes:

There is no other way to put it – the Mayor’s proposed way to pay for Auckland’s tourism promotion is a knee-jerk, easy response that will not deliver positive benefits to the city.

Call it what you like, a visitor levy, a bed tax or a tourism tax but it is a rate increase, and calculated like other rates – on capital value.

A breakdown of the targeted rate he wants to impose on Auckland accommodation operators shows that central city hotel rates will increase on average by 150 per cent with some facing hikes of more than 250 per cent.

For example, if a hotel operator is paying $1 million in rates now – and some are – it will go up to $2.6m assuming that the hotel’s capital value doesn’t also increase.

That’s a huge increase.

Tourism generated spending of more than $7500m last year. But accommodation accounted for just 10 per cent (around $720m). Retail generated 30 per cent, cafes and restaurants 17 per cent, transport 16 per cent and tourism activities 13 per cent. Yet the accommodation sector gets just 10 per cent of the direct benefit but is being asked to pay 100 per cent of the cost. If that is not grossly unfair, I don’t know what is.

I’m in favour of user pays, but this seems to be asking 10% of the tourism sector to fund 100% of the tourism spend by Council. And even worse they get no say in where that spend goes.

It gets worse. The rate will have an immediate impact on both the underlying value of existing accommodation assets and the feasibility of new projects.

That’s anti-business and an insult in respect of the impact it will have, for example, on profit before tax, which will be reduced by some 10 per cent in a good profit year and more in quieter years – because the rate will have to be paid regardless of the number of guests.

So again far from user pays.

It is not too late for council to pause and seek a change of thinking, and keep its promises. The obvious place for council to look at other options is in-house. Council’s salary bill is more than $600m – a 10 per cent cut would easily recover the tourism promotion spend. Then there is council’s more than $60 billion of assets, including buildings it owns.

Far easier to tax more, rather than control spending.

The Herald reports:

Denise Lee has been selected by National as its Maungakiekie candidate in the 2017 general election.

Lee has lived in the central Auckland electorate for close to 20 years and currently serves on the Auckland Council representing the Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward.

She is the daughter of Graeme Lee, a former National MP.

MP Sam Lotu-Iiga, who is retiring, won the seat in 2014 with a majority of 2348.

The Labour candidate is Priyanca Radhakrishnan.

This will be an interesting seat to watch. Since it was created under MMP it has swung between National and Labour. Belinda Vernon held it from 1996 to 1999 then Mark Gosche from 1999 to 2008 and Sam since then.

The Dunedin City Council announced:

The Dunedin City Council has secured a piece of Dunedin’s history and opened up future possibilities with the purchase of the Sammy’s building on Crawford Street. …

An options paper will go to the Council before Easter, looking at what could be done with the building. The paper will look at ways to involve the arts and business communities in decisions about the building’s function, how it might look and how it fits with its surroundings. The development of the building is likely to be a partnership venture.

I recall drinking and dancing at Sammy’s.  In recent years it has been used mainly for rock concerts. If it was a commercially viable venue, it would have a commercial purchaser. Dunedin has no shortage of concert and arts venues. And the Council admits it doesn’t know what to do with it. Basically they have just spent $128,000 of ratepayers money to feel good about it.

A guest post by a reader:

Where do I start, I look back at recent events in our community and reflect on all of the years that WC knew about:

• Ageing assets in terms of infrastructure (Pipes), Water Treatment Plants (WTP) and Pumping Stations.
• A growing population in NZ largest city, with a clear indication that land in the north of AKLD was to be released.
• A WTP in Huia with surrounding land earmarked for future development.
• AKLD centralisation of local government and the collation of regional DP’s in order to form the Unitary Plan. They missed an opportunity to make a submission on WC land.

 

I could add more but I guess you can get the handle.

Recently WC have written to local residents referring to an earlier communication in November about the purchase of land at 130 Parker Road and the future selection process for the new WTP – nobody in our community got that communication.

In the last 2 weeks it has been full on as we were told of 2 sites on Parker Road and sent information that clearly displayed homes that fall in the WTP zone.

WC board minutes (sec 10) consistently talk about “Working with Local Boards” and local engagement – well in relation to our community and our local board nobody knew – our LB only found out when we told them. Well that’s what people think but I cannot believe WC failed to talk about the biggest West AKLD Project and not mention it to AKLD Council or Local Boards – I mean WC is managed by AKLD Council…

We turned out in force at the first public consult meeting, the community was not happy and WC felt our angst – to be fair those WC Managers hung in and listened. In that meeting we were told of 3 potential sites for the new WTP:

• Adjacent WC land at Woodlands Park close to the existing Huia WTP.
• On WC land at Manuka Road next to the current Huia WTP.
• 130 Parker Road – Oratia. A new WTP.

In the meeting it became clear that the 130 Parker Road site is actually much bigger and goes beyond the original plan. This wipes out over 30 homes and families from the heart of Oratia Valley. We are living under a massive black cloud and all formal reports on the WC www are clear of the intention, WC are coming to Oratia as what they are planning will not fit at any other site.

Public consultation is a box for WC to tick, Local Board engagement is words the CEO reports to the board and WC can hide behind the Public Works Act.

I’m told Watercare cancelled the second community meeting at the last minute.

Stuff reports:

A Hamilton-based farm recruitment agency is backing Prime Minister Bill English’s claims that Kiwi workers’ inability to pass drug tests are why overseas workers are needed.

Cross Country Recruitment managing director Ben De’Ath​ said that since December 4, 2016, 21 individual farm owners have contacted him seeking new staff because they have had to instantly dismiss staff due to failed drug tests for methamphetamine or cannabis.

Three-quarters of these farm owners were in Waikato and the rest were in the Central Plateau. These farmers were now short staffed purely because of illegal drugs, he said.

De’Ath said his company started to record why vacancies were arising in December because it helped make a case to Immigration New Zealand for foreign workers on behalf of farm owners.

That’s a lot of cases, just since December.

The Conservative Party has released:

After accepting an invitation to the University of Auckland Debating Society’s debate late last year, the Conservative Party has just been informed, less than a week before the debate, that it will no longer be allowed to participate as there have been some “late inclusions!” Apparently, there are now nine speakers.

At the last election, the Conservative Party polled 5th highest, higher than Act, higher than the Maori Party, higher than Mana/Internet, higher than United Future, all of whom have representatives in the debate, so it cannot be our policies. And Mana are not in parliament.

UADS have the right to decide who to invite but it does seem bizarre that they invite Mana but no not invite the Conservatives, considering the Conservatives got almost four times as many votes as them.

The unAustralian reports:

A sub editor for the Sydney Morning Herald website has been sacked after a headline on its homepage accidentally told readers what the rest of the article was going to be about.

“We apologise for allowing the headline Bank Teller Shot In Robbery On Parramatta Road to appear in our digital edition and totally confusing our five remaining subscribers,” said SMH editor Callum Ayte. “As soon as we found the error we immediately took it down and replaced it with the much more straightforward The Day Andy’s Job At The Bank Took An Unexpected Turn For The Worse, because we all know our readers have nothing better to do with their day than to spend half an hour clicking on every headline in the hope of eventually finding the story they’re interested in.”

“I was called into the office and lectured about how good headline writing isn’t about clarity and brevity but mainly about generating as many bogus clicks as possible,” said newly out of work sub editor Ariel Kurner.

This is sadly barely satire.

The Herald reports:

Police need to record the number of robberies in which tobacco is taken, the Act Party says.

The call comes after a Christchurch dairy was on the weekend robbed for the eighth time in seven months.

Three people entered the Night ‘n Day in Woolston about 2.30am on Sunday. One of two staff members was pinned down with a handgun held against her head.

No one was injured, with the offenders taking cash and cigarettes.

In October Police said the black market for tobacco was fuelling dairy robberies, and there have been similar concerns in other areas of the country.

This is a good lesson in unforeseen consequences. There is little doubt that increasing the excise tax on tobacco has been an effective way to reduce smoking rates. But there comes a level at which the tax levels become so high, that people are incentivised to buy on the black market. We saw this with alcohol prohibition.

So what we have are more and more robberies of dairies, to steal cigarettes. And more and more people buying their cigarettes through the black market, rather than legally.

Act leader David Seymour said today he had recently requested from Police information on the number of tobacco-related burglaries.

That request was declined, with police informing Seymour that crime statistics did not distinguish whether tobacco products were taken in burglaries or robberies.

“Tobacco taxes have more than doubled in the past five years and there are, sometimes violent, robberies of the now $300 bricks of cigarettes happening every other day.

“It is extraordinary that the police are not recording whether tobacco was a factor in a robbery.”

The Police database should be able to do this.

The Herald reports:

Balding murderer and sex offender Phillip John Smith has told a court prison authorities are violating his human rights because they refuse to let him don a toupee.

I would have thought a human right is the right not to have some sick fucker sodomise you when you are ten, not to have the same person stab your father to death, not to be stalked, not to be blackmailed, not to be driven to suicide etc etc.

Smith is suing Corrections in the High Court at Auckland because they have prevented him wearing a hairpiece ever since he used one as part of a disguise to flee to Rio de Janeiro in November 2014.

Sounds sensible. If he escapes again he won’t have such an easy disguise.

Representing himself at the judicial review on Monday, Smith said the days after he was returned to custody were among the lowest in his life because New Zealand newspapers ran pictures of him appearing bald on their front pages.

“I felt belittled, degraded and humiliated,” he said.

I’m bald. I don’t feel this is in anyway degrading or humiliating. He should feel degraded and humiliated that he is a pedophile and a murderer, not that he is bald.

He told the court he began balding in his early 20s and hairpieces gave him the confidence to present himself in public.

Well he is probably never going to be out in public again, so that doesn’t matter.

He said their decision was not proportionate to the risks and akin to using a sledgehammer to crush a nut, which failed to treat him with humanity and dignity.

A humanity that Mr Smith doesn’t have, and the dignity he robbed from his victims.

The Taxpayers’ Union announced:

The Former Mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District, Vanessa van Uden, and Wellington academic and businessman, Sashi Meanger, have been appointed Board Members of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Founding member and long-serving board member Gabrielle O’Brien has now stepped down.

Chairman of the Taxpayers’ Union, John Bishop says, “Sashi has had a number of senior roles in not for profit and small businesses, in addition to his roles at Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Film School where he is currently the Executive Director. He has been an active member of the Taxpayers’ Union behind the scenes for some time, so we welcome his stepping up to the role as Director.”

“Vanessa has proven that fiscal prudence is possible in the local government sector, even for regions experiencing considerable growth. Shining more light on the spending decisions in local government is a major strategic objective of the organisation. Vanessa was elected for two terms as the Queenstown Mayor on platforms of bringing Council spending under control with a focus on core services. We welcome Vanessa aboard and look forward to working with her,” says Mr Bishop.

Mr Meanger says, “I have followed the progress of the Taxpayers’ Union from its infancy and seen it grow into a loud voice for taxpayers. Every dollar of public spending is a dollar that a hard-working Kiwi earned. The Taxpayers’ Union balances the debate against the hundreds of organisations and special interests arguing for more government spending on their pet causes.”

I’m delighted that Vanessa and Sashi have joined the board as we enter a growth phase. This Southland Times profile of Vanessa is enlightening:

If you look at the floor as you walk into the office of outgoing Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Vanessa van Uden you might notice the carpet is different from the rest of the building.

She was new to the office in 2010 when she was advised carpet was being laid.

“I said ‘there’s nothing wrong with this carpet’, van Uden says.

“They said ‘but we’ve got the money to do it’.  I said: ‘Use it on something else’.”

It is symbolic of the pride she takes in her frugal approach.

We need more Mayors like Vanessa.

As she prepares to hand over the mayoral chains following six years in the job she says she achieved her financial goals by working on a zero-based budgeting model – trying to achieve efficiency in services, without cutting them.

Council vehicles, phones and legal fees were targeted. Staff muffins for morning tea and council lunches at 12.30pm before a 1pm meeting disappeared from the budget.

“This is other people’s money that we are spending,” she says. “It is incumbent on us to say ‘Is it fair reasonable and what we should do with other people’s money?’ because we don’t give them any choice about taking it off them.”

A good attitude. Taxpayers and ratepayers get no choice in how much tax and rates they pay, so those who spend on their behalf should always be restrained in their spending.

The Dom Post editorial:

Bill English was right to put national superannuation back on the agenda, just as John Key was wrong to take it off.  There are serious doubts about whether NZ Super is sustainable as the population ages. Politicians can’t ignore this unpleasant fact.

The prime minister has to his credit accepted the reality, proposing a progressive lifting of the threshold from 65 to 67 in 2037.

The case is strong for extending the age by two years, as this newspaper has previously argued. Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell put it in a nutshell in her review last year. NZ Super costs $10.4 billion, or about 4.1 per cent of GDP. Treasury predicts this will rise to 7.1 per cent of GDP by 2060, or nearly $18 billion in today’s dollars.

A lift in the retirement age was inevitable and I am pleased that National is standing up for reality.

All these trends are familiar to most voters. The population knows that the problem is serious, but too many politicians still refuse to face reality. Labour leader Andrew Little is in a hopeless position. He has reversed his predecessor’s pledge to increase the age while failing to make a proper case for the u-turn.

Here’s what Little has said recently:

“If there’s one thing that scares the bejeesus out of me, it’s the looming cost of superannuation. That’s a significant chunk of the Budget,”

Interest.co.nz, 22 May 2015

And Jacinda Ardern in 2012:

In three years, superannuation will cost more than the entire education budget; preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary put together.

It will grow to be 20 times the cost of unemployment benefits. We need to ask if the universal age of super is set at the right place. But rather than tackle this big issue for the sake of future generations who want a home, a secure retirement and a country with a sound savings plan, they continue to target them and burden them with debt.

Politics can’t just be about making decisions that anger the least number of people possible, it has to be about doing the right thing. Labour’s view that superannuation should be lifted is one that we think needs to be phased in from 2020

Radio Live, 14 June 2012

Also various quotes by David Parker:

• Finance spokesman David Parker said today that unless there were massive tax increases, it couldn’t be sustained in its present form.
• Parker said he thought people largely understood raising the retirement age was a responsible policy.
• “In two years spending on superannuation will cost more than putting our kids through school and university. That’s wrong. National’s refusal to address the retirement age is hurting our next generation.
• Labour’s finance spokesperson David Parker says pension costs, which make up about half of all social spending, need to be addressed. “If you want an example of where fiscal responsibility starts that’s it – that is the biggest growing cost centre that is controllable for Government.”

So to quote David Parker, Labour is now the party of no fiscal responsibility and Labour’s refusal to address the retirement age is hurting our next generation.