Labour defends raising c-word column in House
Labour has rejected the idea that it was a poor political judgment to reference a column using the c-word in connection to female ministers overhauling the pay equity scheme in Parliament.
The controversial legislation, passed under urgency last week, raises the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim. The law is retrospective, cancelling 33 current claims affecting 150,000 female workers which would have to be restarted.
Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden last week said the changes would save the Crown money. Opponents say it will make it harder for women in female dominated industries to make a claim.
Labour's Jan Tinetti asked van Velden a question about the column during Parliament's Question Time yesterday, to which van Velden dropped the c-word in protest over the slur being used.
Van Velden has defended the use of the word, blaming Labour for introducing the column in the first place.
"I think it's really important that I shone a light on the misogyny that Labour actually did bring into the House. They brought it here, I responded."
But Tinetti rejected that, saying there was nothing in the quote she referenced in her question that brought misogyny into the House.
"I deliberately went through that to find the quote that would mention the economic backhander."
It was pointed out to Tinetti that the column in question used the c-word, "that c-word I would never use," she said.
"That doesn't mean to say that people's emotions aren't riled by the fact there's been choices made here with the Budget, and future pay cuts have been made to women.
"This has got people very uptight and very angry, and emotions have risen."
She rejected the notion Labour had used poor political judgment by referencing the column, and said the party was having a discussion around misogyny, as well as women taking money off other women in "future pay cuts."
The coalition has criticised Labour for not calling out the column itself, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis taking aim at party leader Chris Hipkins directly for his past position of believing men should speak out against gendered abuse.
Hipkins said newspapers make editorial judgments about what they are and aren't willing to publish, "and that's a question for the editors and the people writing that material".
"Given the opportunity to make that exact statement, he did not; instead, he suddenly discovered free speech, and my view is that actually the standard you walk past is the standard you accept," Willis said.
NZ First MP Shane Jones said it had been the "most extraordinary day of language in the House" and discussion carried over into General Debate later in the afternoon.
Chris Bishop said the c-word had been "thrown around a bit" in the last week.
"I want to read out some c-words that I think apply to the Labour opposition: callous, cruel and cowardly."
He also said the "double standards" and "misleading statements" put out by the Labour Party over the last week were "cruel".
"Because this debate all started because of the actions the government took when it comes to equal pay, and we have heard all sorts of nonsense from the Opposition."
Hipkins took aim at Bishop too for "jumping on his high horse" and saying Labour needed to do better.
"I can only say I hope he didn't injure himself as he fell off his high horse when it was flying at breakneck speed in the wrong direction.
"Because at the same time he was saying we needed to do better, his own party was posting artificial intelligence-generated images of me when he was saying that we needed to 'raise the tone' of the debate."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
3 hours ago
- Scoop
New Zealand Food And Fibre Exports On Track To Break New Records
Minister of Agriculture Minister of Forestry Farmers, growers, foresters, fishers and primary processors are driving New Zealand's economic recovery with export revenue on track to surpass $60 billion for the first time, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced today at Fieldays. 'The latest Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries (SOPI) report forecasts export earnings of $59.9 billion for the year ending 30 June 2025, $3 billion higher than projected in December. This momentum is expected to continue, with exports reaching $65.7 billion by 2029,' Mr McClay says. 'These figures reflect the hard work and resilience of the hard working men and women of provincial New Zealand. 'Strong global demand and healthy prices across key markets are positioning our high-quality, safe and sustainable food and fibre exports for record growth.' Growth highlights include: dairy export revenue lifting 16 per cent to reach a record $27 billion meat and wool export revenue increasing 8 per cent to $12.3 billion horticulture export revenue growing by an impressive 19 per cent reaching $8.5 billion forestry export revenue jumping 9 per cent to $6.3 billion Seafood export revenue lifting 2 per cent to $2.2 billion. 'The numbers speak for themselves, but the Government remains laser-focused on doubling the value of exports in 10 years, driving higher farm and forest gate returns, and backing the long-term capability, resilience, and health of rural New Zealand,' Mr McClay says. 'We're investing heavily to deliver tools and technology to farmers and growers to tackle agricultural emissions with more than $400 million in continuing funding over the next four years and making targeted reforms to support farmer and grower success. 'Through the Budget, we launched the new $246 million Primary Sector Growth Fund (PSGF) to boost on-farm productivity and resilience. 'Our trade work continues at pace to open doors for Kiwi exporters, and our new Investment Boost tax incentive will encourage businesses to invest, be more competitive, grow the economy, and lift wages. 'When rural New Zealand does well, the whole country benefits,' Mr McClay says. 'That's why we're making sure our Primary Sector have the tools and support they need to deliver long-term economic growth and regional prosperity for all New Zealanders.'
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Council of Trade Unions take NZ's pay equity fight to international conference
Pay equity protestors voice their opinions outside Parliament on Budget day 2025. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi A representative from the Council of Trade Unions has taken New Zealand's pay equity fight to an international conference. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a United Nations agency, which brings together workers, employers and governments to discuss work-related issues, and whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Council of Trade Unions secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges is at its annual conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The coalition government announced in early May it would use urgency in Parliament to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim. Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden said at the time , claims had been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation, and some had been "very broad", where it was difficult to tell whether differences in pay were due to sex-based discrimination or something else. The move cancelled 33 in-progress pay equity claims, and saved the government billions of dollars . Ansell-Bridges told RNZ she spoke about the changes during her speech to the ILO plenary on Tuesday. "It was important to inform the 187 member states that despite not being signalled in the last election, reforms to severely undermine the legislation were passed under urgency without any consultation with workers or their unions." The issue had come too late to make it onto the agenda for the ILO's committee on the application of standards, which sat during the two-week conference. "But that's definitely something that we'll be considering in advance of the conference next year," she said. If a case ended up being heard by the committee - which operated on a triage system - it would then be able to make recommendations to governments on how to stay in alignment with agreed conventions. Ansell-Bridges said the response from those international representatives who heard her speech had been one of warmth, support and surprise. "Obviously we have this reputation of being quite a progressive and forward-thinking country that values equality, and so to hear that these kinds of changes are happening in New Zealand, people are very surprised." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Newsroom
4 hours ago
- Newsroom
Auckland's shiny new $5.5b underground leaves political landmines
If you thought the Government's operating deficit announced in the Budget last month sounded on the high side, it was – it included a $700 million 'impairment' that the Crown is swallowing on the Auckland underground rail project. The one-off amount took the 2025/26 projected operating balance, excluding ACC, to a deficit of $12.1 billion. It is not an extra injection of cash, but a way of accounting for the fact the Crown is getting less value back in assets than it put in to help build the City Rail Link. Either way, it blew out Finance Minister Nicola Willis' Budget 'Obegalx' figure by a further 6 percent while the Government and ministers were trying to lower that number through public spending cuts and reprioritisation. The Treasury has been matter-of-fact about the $700m impairment, saying it is 'non-cash' and an accounting necessity as the firm building the project, City Rail Link Ltd, begins to go out of existence and hands the assets to others. The Government and Auckland Council went halves on the cost of the nine-year, $5.5b project and are about to have the assets handed over to be listed on the books of KiwiRail and Auckland Transport. In broad terms, KiwiRail gets the tracks and tunnels; AT the stations, passenger facilities and precincts. Auckland Council forecast in its Long-Term Plan 2024-2034 that its Auckland Transport company would receive assets totalling $2.8b. The central government Budget suggested $1.4b in assets would come to KiwiRail, with that gnarly $700m hit from the impairment to be accounted for. In total, it appears the $5.5b spend is delivering assets tentatively valued at $4.2b to the new public owners. Passenger turnstiles at the midtown Te Waihorotui station between Victoria and Wellesley streets. It's getting close – and politicians are nervous The rail lines and stations are due to open to paying passengers in just over a year, around July 1 2026. The existing train routes will be changed to a south and city loop line, an East-West line and an Onehunga to west line, and the frequency of services in and through Britomart station will rise from 20 an hour to 30 initially, 15 each way. The Crown has had to fund extensive upgrades and rebuilds to existing rail tracks to cater for the new and increased services – with the whole network closing again over June and October long weekends, and seven weekends of partial closures until September. Next summer a further six weeks of closures will be needed. KiwiRail is already employing 55 extra drivers and train managers. AT's contractor is recruiting 56 station staff, maintenance and cleaning teams. Auckland is buying 23 new three-car trains, taking the fleet from 72 to 95, with 11 already in service or in testing; the existing fleet is being modified to be compatible with the CRL tunnels and tracks – 13 are complete, 33 are being done now and 26 are yet to be done. As the final months of CRL Ltd work take place, and train and systems testing occur underground and at the new above-ground station at Mt Eden, that date has started to focus the minds of city politicians. The asset carve-up carries financial risks for Auckland Council, and the mayor and councillors are starting to fret about political risks as well. Mayor Wayne Brown told a transport committee meeting: 'Next year's increase in rates is largely down to the fact that the opex [operating expenditure] for this thing was not included in anyone's budget. 'So it's becoming my problem,' he said. 'Half the buck, probably more than that, rests with us.' The Maungawhau station and entrance road for taxi and Uber dropoffs. Mayoral 'meddling' Brown, by his own admission, has started to 'meddle' in the late-stage planning for the Maungawhau station precinct at Mt Eden, after learning buses and cars won't go into the station area off the main roads to drop off and pick up. Land the council had transferred to the project for proposed residential development, expecting to be valued at $180m, has also not seen a project materialise, leaving the mayor looking at ways 'to get the money back'. On the asset values, an Auckland Council spokesperson told Newsroom: 'It's important to note that the value of assets relative to the value of investment by each of the two CRL funders creates a book-entry surplus or deficit, not a cash windfall or shortfall. 'Whatever the final figures, there are no implications for Aucklanders in terms of the delivery of rail services on the new lines.' And at this point, there are no rumblings from any party that the $5.5b total construction cost could rise, with one final demand to the two partners as the project rolls towards completion. The council Long-Term Plan issued last year says the asset values would be reflected on the council group's balance sheet in the year they are vested from CRL Ltd to Auckland Transport, with lower investment costs into CRL Ltd but a substantial increase in the value of council Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE). Test trains have reached the 70 km/h maximum in the new tunnels. The ongoing cost The plan says there will be an annual net operating cost once the trains and passengers start moving of about $235m. How that is funded – and what the Beehive might kick in – is not determined. The $235m includes the cost of interest the city will pay on the billions it borrowed to get the CRL built, maintenance, station running costs, depreciation, charges to KiwiRail and the cost of the extra rail services. The asset transfers, valuations, effect on balance sheets and then the annual cost of the new trains are one area of challenge. Another is the cost to Auckland ratepayers of developing smart precincts around new stations at Wellesley St in the city, Karangahape Rd and at Mt Eden/Maungawhau. The Maungawhau precinct from the air, with undeveloped land towards Mt Eden Rd Here, it is Maungwhau that is the flashpoint, causing Brown political anxiety and prompting other councillors to question how some aspects of the CRL have been run in the transition period, citing too many agencies and not enough accountability. As mayor, Brown is one of two co-sponsors of the overall project with the Minister of Transport, Chris Bishop. He says 'both myself and the other co-sponsor are pretty worried about that $180m'. A separate agreement was announced Thursday between the Government and Auckland Council on special legal measures to help the city plan and consent high-rise, dense housing around Maungawhau and the Kingsland and Morningside zones along the western rail line. Resource Management Act reform minister Chris Bishop said: 'Auckland Council must enable, within a walkable distance from these stations, heights and densities reflective of the higher demand for housing and business in these areas.' The new rules would go further than national planning rules for urban development had to this point. It is possible the greater planning flexibility might now help Brown to realise back the value in the land Auckland Council had contributed to the Maungawhau CRL development – but any development is unlikely to be quick. On current plans, the station would risk opening with 'a Gaza-like piece of land in front of the station' that rail users could not be driven through by bus or car. Adding to the late, unfinished state of the station precinct, a multi-level residential development earmarked for the site by Kāinga Ora was also now off the table. The mayor says: 'KO, which is a major player, is now a sunken ship.' The Government basically wants the council to now sort out the Kāinga Ora failure as well, he argues. Mayor Wayne Brown at the Maungawhau station construction site just after being elected in late 2022. Photo: Our Auckland Brown says he is a backer of the City Rail Link. 'I've always said it is a good project but it was not set up particularly well.' He believes the council decision two years ago to turn the task of precinct development for the stations to its property arm Eke Panuku (which is about to be merged with the council operations) had not worked out. 'We canned Eke Panuku because they were not as successful as they thought they were. Their efforts here have been access reducing and value reducing. 'I have the 100 percent support of the other sponsor just to make sure we get the maximum valuation out of the area.' Artists' impressions shown to councillors confirm taxis and Ubers would be able to drive to the station entrance, and a review of possible bus routes at or through the station had begun with Auckland Transport. Though Brown claims 'we are going to have a drive-through' at the station, any realignment of Mt Eden Rd and New North Rd bus services presents AT with a major late headache. Council expert Barry Potter, the director of resilience and infrastructure, has now been put in overall charge of the final stage transition plans for the CRL. Passengers exiting at Te Waihorotiu station will see this kauri carving on the ceiling, representing Horotiu – the 'kaitiaki' or guardian looking after the people and supporting the abundance of life-giving energy in the area 'We will hang' The Maungawhau problems have prompted wider concerns from some councillors, keen to work out who made decisions, by what authority and when over the course of the CRL development. Maurice Williamson, of the Howick ward, is concerned how Auckland Transport and KiwiRail plan to launch the new route and services to the public. 'We will hang if this turns out to be a disaster. I really hope we do a soft launch not a hard one. The disasters that could come back to bite us could be dreadful. 'If we start with two or three routes, and bring some trains on board over a two or three month period so that finally when it is all running we had ironed out any bugs. If we do a hard launch and it fails then, holy hell, I'm going to be on the first plane out of here.' Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said she and Brown had met Sydney Metro to learn from its launch of a new line and services. 'And also talk about how we don't go out all guns blazing on day one.' Some councillors encouraged colleagues not to start focusing on blame over past decisions or potential problems ahead. Chris Darby: 'I think we need to check ourselves on the finger-pointing … I'm optimistic that the project will open and be stunningly beautiful, impactful and deliver beyond what was promised.' Shane Henderson: 'Whenever we talk about the CRL around this table the tone is extremely negative. I'm not getting it. It's a city-shaping project. We should be positive champions.'
