Prime Minister Luxon makes infrastructure announcement
The voting age in the UK will be lowered to 16 years old by the next general election - Herald NOW asks should NZ do the same?
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Scoop
20 minutes ago
- Scoop
Government Faith Initiative Misaligned, Say Groups Who Declined To Join
Joint statement by Islamic Council of New Zealand (ICONZ) and Alternative Jewish Voices (AJV): On Tuesday July 22, a government-sponsored 'harmony initiative' will be signed by some Muslim and Jewish groups. The initiative originated with government recognition that the consequences of Israel's actions in Gaza are impacting Jewish and Muslim communities in Aotearoa, as well as the wider community. While agreeing with that statement of purpose, other Muslim and Jewish groups have chosen to decline the invitation. They believe that the council, as formulated, is misaligned with its aims. 'Gaza is not a religious issue, and this has never been a conflict between our faiths,' Dr. Abdul Monem, a co-founder of ICONZ explains. 'In Gaza we see a massive violation of international law with horrifying humanitarian consequences. We place Israel's annihilating campaign against Gaza, the complicity of states and economies at the centre of our understanding—not religion. The first action to address the suffering in Gaza and ameliorate its effects here in Aotearoa must be government action. Our government needs to comply with international courts and act on this humanitarian calamity. That does not require a new council.' The impetus for this initiative clearly linked international events with their local impacts, but the document does not mention Gaza among the council's priorities. Signatories are not required to acknowledge universal human rights, nor the courts which have ruled so decisively and created obligations for the New Zealand government. Social distress is disconnected from its immediate cause. The council is therefore open to parties who do not recognise the role of international humanitarian law in Palestine, nor the full human and political rights of their fellow New Zealanders. Marilyn Garson, co-founder of Alternative Jewish Voices elaborates, 'It has broad implications to overlook our rights and international humanitarian law. As currently formulated, the council includes no direct Palestinian representation. That's not good enough. How can there be credible discussion of Aotearoa's ethnic safety—let alone advocacy for international action— without Palestinians? 'Law, human rights and the dignity of every person's life are not opinions. They are human entitlements and global agreements to which Aotearoa has bound itself. No person in Aotearoa should have to enter a room—especially a council created under government auspices—knowing that their fundamental rights will not be upheld. No one should have to begin by asking for that which is theirs.' The groups outside this new council wholeheartedly wish to live in a harmonious society, but for them it is unclear why a new council of Jews and Muslims should represent the path to harmony. 'Advocacy that comes from faith can be a powerful force. We already work with numerous interfaith community initiatives, some formed at government initiative and waiting to really find their purpose,' says Dr Muhammad Sajjad Naqvi, President of ICONZ. 'Those existing channels include more of the parties needed to address local threats, including Christian nationalism like that of Destiny Church. Perhaps government should resource those rather than starting something new.' The groups who declined to join the council have warm and enduring relationships with FIANZ and Dayenu, who will take seats at this council table. All of the groups share common goals, but not this path. More information about the organisations: ICONZ is a National Umbrella Organization for Kiwi Shia Muslims for their unified voice. It is an organisation that unites all Muslims who are living in New Zealand and follow the school of the Ahlulbayt (PBUT) under ONE umbrella. ICONZ was established by Kiwi Muslims who have been born in New Zealand or born to migrants who chose New Zealand to be their home. For more, see Alternative Jewish Voices is a collective of Aotearoa Jews. It works for Jewish pluralism and anti-racism, and supports the work of Palestinians who seek liberation grounded in law and our equal human rights. For more, see
NZ Herald
20 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Watch: Christopher Luxon mouths off at ‘frickin' Chris Hipkins over lack of policy
But that has not stopped inflation becoming a political problem, with Hipkins and Edmonds rounding on the Government for high prices this week. Luxon said the Government cared about people on low and middle incomes and helped those people through tax relief using fiscal policy to help the Reserve Bank fight inflation. Annual inflation in the past full quarter before the change of government was 5.6%. Luxon said Labour's outrage over high prices was 'crocodile tears'. 'This is the party that didn't support tax relief - moving tax thresholds. That's not deeply ideological, it helps low and middle income New Zealanders.' Luxon listed his Government's cost of living measures. 'They didn't support FamilyBoost, they didn't support Working for Families credits, they don't talk about helping construction workers by getting on board and u-turning on Fast Track [which Labour opposed, although not for supermarkets], they've got a gazillion positions on PPPs [Public-Private Partnerships], they're all over the place. 'They have no idea what to do - they put us in this mess, we are cleaning up the mess,' Luxon said. Labour leader Chris Hipkins hit back. Photo / Mark Mitchell While Labour opposed these changes in Parliament, it took to the election its own early childhood education policy, extending 20 hours free care to children under 2 years old. It also proposed a more generous Working for Families policy. National copied that policy on the campaign trial, but watered it down during coalition negotiations, costing some families $38 a week. Changes made in the 2025 Budget reduced some of this loss. Hipkins hit back at Luxon, noting that figures obtained by Labour and published on Tuesday showed the full $75 FamilyBoost tax credit was only claimed by a tiny number of households. This means few, if any, households are getting the $252 a fortnight National promised some would get from its tax plan. The Government subsequently changed settings of the policy, meaning more people will start getting more money from it. Willis said about 16,000 more families will get the tax credit. Hipkins defends lack of policy Hipkins defended Labour's light policy slate saying 'we're not even close to an election at the moment'. 'Unlike [Luxon], when we go into an election next year, I will make sure the policies that we have add up and we can actually deliver on them. They didn't actually do that and now they are suffering - and New Zealanders are suffering as a result,' Hipkins said. He said one of the reasons Labour was waiting to unveil policy is the Government has one more budget to deliver. That budget will detail how much money Labour would have to spend if it took over in 2026. 'Before we come out with significant policies that are going to cost money for example, we want to see what the shape of the Government's books are,' Hipkins said. 'I want to know we can afford what we promise,' he said. Hipkins would not say whether the party would have any policy before the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election in September. He has promised a tax policy before the end of the year. Willis also attacked Labour's 'crocodile tears' on the cost of living. Finance Minister Nicola Willis attacked Labour for its lack of policy. Photo / Mark Mitchell Willis took to social media on Monday to note Edmonds was unable to list any cost of living policies. 'I thought it was the most telling thing ever when Barbara Edmonds came down here to do a stand-up lashing us for a 2.7% inflation rate... when asked what specific policy she had to address the cost of living she said 'none' - none, none, none. 'Now that is to me, the boy crying wolf,' Willis said. In the stand-up, Edmonds gave no policy suggestions, she did not literally answer 'none'. Willis said Labour was gripped by 'shallow attack politics which doesn't put bread on anyone's table'. She alleged Labour was 'bereft of ideas' and 'internally divided on what the way forward for New Zealanders is. How much policy is normal In December 2022, the Leader of the Opposition was asked about his own lack of policy and gave a very similar answer to the one Hipkins gave on Tuesday. 'Look, we are one year out from an election ... rest assured, we will have policy,' the leader said. The leader of the opposition back then was Luxon himself. As political campaigning shifts to embrace 'small target' strategies, releasing lots of policy before an election campaign has become less and less common. Assuming the current Parliament runs a roughly full term and there is an election at the end of next year, we are about halfway through the term. At this point in the last Parliament, National had released a tax policy - however, it was careful not to promise that this would be the policy it would take to the election. That policy, published just prior to the 2022 Budget - the middle-Budget in Labour's second term - called on the Government to increase tax thresholds to deliver tax cuts to people to compensate for the higher taxes they were paying because of inflation. Later that year, National confirmed that this particular policy was only a suggestion for the 2022 Budget, but the party committed that its final tax policy would deliver at least the same level of tax cuts as the earlier plan. The final tax package was not announced until the end of August 2023 - less than two months before the October election. National had a handful of policy promises by this stage in the last cycle, including lifting the super age and reintroducing boot camps. Labour has also made some promises, including repealing the Three Strikes law, the future Regulatory Standards Act and reinstating the old Pay Equity Scheme in some form. That last commitment will come with a roughly $13 billion price tag, which will need to be paid for with some kind of tax increase, spending cut, or borrowing. National is keen to pin Labour down on just what combination of those three things Labour is planning. The Simon Bridges-led National Party took a different approach. In its middle year, it released several 'discussion documents' to members and the public testing potential policy ideas and giving a sense of where the party was headed. These discussion documents were meant to form the basis of National's 2020 election policy platform, however, that changed when the party imploded. Hipkins said the party was working on policy internally, but he would not say anything more. 'We haven't released discussion documents but that is the work we have been doing,' Hipkins said. 'We've got to make sure all the pieces of our policy fit together,' he said.
Scoop
20 minutes ago
- Scoop
Nicola Willis Urged To Step In Now To Get Kiwi Food Aid To Gaza
PSNA is urging the government to step in and require Paypal to refund money it refuses to pass on starving families in Occupied Gaza. Paypal has been freezing accounts which send money to Occupied Gaza – the latest being the account of Wellington-based writer 'Emily Writes' who has posted about her sickening experiences here. 'Paypal is happy to provide backup to Israel's genocide by ensuring food is only available through the Israeli military which is using it to ethnically cleanse starving Palestinians from the north to the south of the Occupied Gaza strip' says PSNA Co-Chair John Minto. 'Using food aid like this is a war crime and we are asking Minister of Finance Nicola Willis to step in and demand Paypal allow kiwis to donate to starving families in Gaza' 'Low and middle-income New Zealanders kiwis are naturally generous but Paypal is not only freezing these accounts but are refusing to refund the money.' 'The New Zealand government has refused to condemn Israel's mass killing and mass starvation of Palestinians but they can insist money from New Zealanders wanting to help is not frozen for six months while Israel's war on humanity continues' We are waiting to hear back from the minister.
