Local Government New Zealand Hits New Low
"LGNZ are gaslighting ratepayers. So desperate to defend rates having gone up by more than 34 percent over the last three years – two and a half times the level of inflation – they now plan to spend ratepayer money to fight ratepayers."
"This is a middle finger from LGNZ, not just toward ratepayers, but towards Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for trying to get the cost of living under control."
"LGNZ is nothing but a left-wing Labour Party political campaign. Any pretence of political neutrality or moral authority has vanished with this vote."
Tens of thousands of NZ have signed the petiontion at Cap Rates
"At 11am this morning local ratepayers will be protesting LGNZ's decisions outside the Christchurch Convention Centre. Minister Local Government Simon Watts will be invited to address the crowd."
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NZ Herald
10 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Proposed Working for Families changes may leave some worse off, FinCap warns
There is almost $300 million owed in Working for Families debt. A discussion document, on which submissions were sought, said the Government's current thinking was that a quarterly assessment of Working for Families eligibility could strike the right balance between responsiveness, certainty and recipient effort. This would adjust what people were paid much more frequently. But Fleur Howard, chief executive of FinCap, said in a submission in response that she was worried that some families could be left without enough money. A shorter quarterly assessment period would be an improvement, Howard said, but it needed to be refined. 'Aspects of the proposed design appear to suit some whānau situations better than others. We are concerned that in its current state, this design would have a disproportionally negative impact on those who are already experiencing financial instability due to more fluctuations in payment amount.' Howard said FinCap's internal data showed most financial mentor clients had a weekly budget deficit even after they had received help. 'More often than not, this deficit is due to whānau trying to pay for essentials, and commonly going into debt to do so. 'This, among other markers, points to the fact that government support is not currently adequate to cover living expenses. We have concerns that some of the proposed changes would exacerbate income inadequacy in certain scenarios, particularly for whānau who need that money week to week.' Howard said an example used in the discussion document, outlining a situation where a woman on the sole parent benefit went into additional work for a short period of time, highlighted a potentially unacceptable outcome. In that case, the woman's Working for Families credits would be reduced by $130 a week for the quarter after her temporary work, even though she was no longer in work, because the calculation was based on the higher income from the previous quarter. 'We can see that the 'lagged income' mechanism makes sense from the perspective of achieving accuracy, however the potential for a decreased payment below what a whānau is entitled to poses real risk for wellbeing and social participation. 'There is also a real concern over the dynamic whereby a quarterly period of higher income followed by a quarterly period of low income would see increased hardship within the low-income period, due to those payments reflecting the past higher income. 'While this could be squared up during the end of year process, our data tells us that most whānau living week to week need that money as part of their weekly payments.' Howard said mentors were also concerned something similar could happen if someone lost a job and went on the benefit, because their reduced income would not show up in the Working for Families calculation for another quarter. 'Whānau need every cent they are entitled to in a timely manner when events such as job loss occur.' A solution could be for the quarterly assessment period to look forward, rather than backwards, she said. – RNZ
Scoop
13 hours ago
- Scoop
Mediawatch: Ministers' 'Helpful' Handouts Go Multimedia
, Mediawatch Presenter "Dear Prime Minister: the rise in crime and antisocial behaviour since COVID 19 struck is stark and confronting. We ask that you please take urgent action to support recovery and retain our reputation as a safe city and country." That was the message of a full-page ad in the Weekend Herald placed by groups representing Auckland businesses, accusing the government of failing to act on past promises. It was almost identical to a similar plea to a previous PM four years ago. The following day the current PM was the target of another open letter advert in the Sunday papers. This one - placed by electricity retailers, users and Consumer NZ - called on him to fix "a broken energy sector". That campaign also featured on TVNZ's Q+A show the same day, and in a front-page New Zealand Herald story the next day, the Minister of Energy - the aptly named Simon Watts - acknowledged our electricity market was "not functioning as well as it should". But it's not the first time that he's been singled out by a lobbying campaign in public. In June, pro-electrification group Rewiring NZ deployed AI animation to turn him into a superhero in ads that urged the public to make it an election issue - and it used a billboard near the Beehive to make sure that he didn't miss it. TVNZ's Q+A said lobby groups like Federated Farmers and the Sensible Sentencing Trust had used the same spot for the same reason in other campaigns. But do ministers targeted by these ads even notice them? "Yes, I do. On the way to the airport, out of Parliament and down onto the quays there - it's pretty hard to not to," National's Chris Bishop told TVNZ's Whena Owen. But are campaigns singling out individual politicians in public really effective? Most ministers are also lobbied behind the scenes by the same special interest groups. Being hectored publicly as well could make them more inclined to dig in rather than give in. "Lobby groups have always taken out ads in newspapers. Now they're moving it to digital billboards which can be up longer and can be cheaper," said Dr Claire Robinson, the author of Promises, Promises: 80 years of Wooing New Zealand Voters. "They can be located at traffic lights where ministerial cars have to stop. It's probably a really good way of getting something under the nose of a cabinet minister who may not open the newspaper anymore in the morning to see it there." "If you want to lobby a minister now you've got not only print, radio and TV - and you've got your own channels, social media and even LinkedIn posts. There's a complete industry in being able to disseminate your messages, hoping that one of them is going to get through," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. Politicians going multimedia Politicians aren't shy about getting their own messages out to the media either - and have specialised staff to do it. Journalists' email inboxes are clogged with media statements from ministers and MPs hoping that their comments will make it into the media's coverage. And now they are going multimedia too. Last weekend reporters got video of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greeting Winston Peters, along with a media statement, after an ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Malaysia, which was attended by Peters. NZ First posted that footage on Facebook on the day of the meeting - and then there was another version last Tuesday featuring Peters looking statesmanlike, with a TikTok-type soundtrack added. The same day the streaming show Herald Now ran the Rubio footage during an interview with Peters. Should media be wary of airing images hand-picked by ministers' staff? "Yes, because by using it they're essentially using party generated pictures and feeding the beast - and exacerbating the rule-breaking of political parties," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. "Anything that is generated through party social media channels really needs to be stopped at the door. "But at the same time the media loses all perspective when a PM or foreign minister meets a US president or Secretary of State. In 2014, photos of John Key playing golf with Obama were splashed across the newspapers . . . and nobody asked who took the photos back then." MPs offering mp3s Recently reporters have also received sound bites from ministers along with standard media statements. Last week, Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee announced anti-money laundering law changes to make managing property easier through family trusts. The release included a minute-long MP3 clip of her reading out some of the key points - and 'video on request'. In June her office also sent three separate sound bites about the 'Three Strikes' law coming into force. Why send selected comments rather than allow reporters to record their own in a media conference in the usual way? "Quite often we'll put out a media release, then we get all the phone calls looking for a grab. Why not give a grab ourselves?" McKee told Mediawatch. RNZ's reporters in the press gallery in Parliament told Mediawatch they wouldn't use audio supplied under those circumstances. "I believe it has been picked up by a couple of radio stations but I haven't actually tracked it myself." ACT leader David Seymour has spoken about bypassing the media because they "abuse their power to edit" and refused to allow ACT's ministers to appear on RNZ's Morning Report. He's even appealed for funds from ACT supporters to fund his own online media channels. Is McKee supplying audio comments as a substitute for interviews or media conferences at which she could be challenged or questioned by reporters? "That's not the reason. It's actually realising that our media are quite stretched - for time and for people," McKee told Mediawatch. On that issue of the family trusts and anti-money laundering laws, McKee was interviewed by RNZ news after sending out the statement and audio. "I've always made myself available to the media. Should they want a sound grab directly, I'm happy to give it. We just thought that this would help the media, especially if they do have those tight deadlines. And of course some have less staff now." "It doesn't take me long to add a couple of 10-second sound bites to the media releases we put out. And of course if it is being picked up then it is useful to some. So we'll continue to do it." McKee says she hasn't tracked which media outlets have used the supplied audio. Another minister handing out sound bites with media statements lately is Associate Minister of Transport James Meager. "Now is the perfect time to look ahead toward building a resilient maritime economy for future generations," he said in mid-June, announcing pumped-up investment in navigation services for shipping. One week later, Meager sent out three more sound bites, about a funding boost for lifesaving. Meager credits his press secretary, former Newstalk ZB journalist Blake Benny. "He came to me with the idea that if we include some audio grabs with our press releases, it makes the job of producers and radio reporters so much easier," Meager told Mediawatch. If so, it might mean not having to answer questions about contestable claims made in statements - or confront contradictions? "There's always the option for journalists who want to ring up and press on some of the details in those press releases. I'm always happy to take interviews. The only time I decline would be if it's outside my portfolio or if I literally can't do them." Few ministers ever issue statements on matters outside their portfolio - and Meager declined to say which outlets had broadcast his recorded statements. More to come? Before he became an MP, he set up an online archive of political ads - - with partner Dr Ashley Murchison, an expert who wrote a PhD about responses to political ads. Some of Nicole McKee's recent media statements said video was available on request as well. Meager doesn't offer that - yet. "But if we had the resources and that made people's lives easier then it might be something that we look into. I used to work as a press secretary and I think I wish I'd been smart enough to think of this six years ago," he told Mediawatch. But he says he and other ministers will be offering the media more multimedia stuff in future. "I'm doing a couple (of soundbites) this weekend for a couple of announcements we're making in the top of the South so hopefully they'll be picked up. In the weekend when staffing levels are lower, that might be a little bit helpful too." Exploiting a week spot "Political parties have always used new technology to try and get their messages across - even going back to Michael Joseph Savage in 1938 when he used film, which was a new technology back then," Dr Claire Robinson told Mediawatch. "I think that the politicians hope that the time-poor media will just insert (the content) into coverage. But there's something deeper going on here because they're exploiting the whopping decline in journalism employment," said Dr Robinson, who is also the current chief of Toi Mai / the Workforce Development Council, which published a development plan for journalism in 2024. "That decline is because of government-enabled inaction or policies that have seen that advertising money that used to sustain news media organisations go offshore. In the old days (they) would have more scrutiny and political parties are now exploiting that gap and creating their own media." Bending the rules for funding the ads In a recent piece for The Post, Dr Robinson said the public pays for political parties' digital media messaging - but shouldn't be paying for some of it. "The rules are really clear. You can only electioneer using public funds in the three months prior to an election campaign. The rest of the time parties are enabled to create information, but not to electioneer with social media," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. She says the NZ First party publishing footage of Winston Peters in Malaysia as foreign minister on social media is an example of the problem. "It has their party logo and is using Peters' role in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs for party purposes. It doesn't say 'Vote for NZ First' but the boundaries are blurred. It is really saying our leader is a great leader because he can create amazing relationships with people."
Scoop
13 hours ago
- Scoop
BRIEFING NOTES: (1) Afghanistan, (2) Syria, (3) Bangladesh
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani Location: Geneva Date: 18 July 2025 Subject: Afghanistan Syria Bangladesh (1) Afghanistan The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community. Many have been either directly forced to return by States where they have been residing, and others have felt compelled to do so because of threats, harassment and intimidation. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calls for an immediate halt to the forcible return of all Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers, particularly those at risk of persecution, arbitrary detention, or torture upon their return. Countries in the region must ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, dignified, and consistent with international law. In just over seven months, over 1.9 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan to Afghanistan. From Iran alone, over 1.5 million have arrived since the start of the year. Of these, 938,000 or 60 per cent were deported – including 500,000 since 13 June. More than 300,000 Afghans have been returned from Pakistan since 1 January this year, on top of the many hundreds of thousands more who have returned since the Taliban takeover and the Government's adoption in 2023 of an 'Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan'. In Tajikistan too, a group of Afghan nationals, including refugees and asylum-seekers, were reportedly summoned in Vahdat on 8 July by security officials and informed that all Afghan nationals must leave the country within 15 days. The scale and frequency of deportations from the country had already sharply increased in recent months. From October 2024 to July 2025, at least 485 Afghan nationals have been deported, among them 334 refugees or asylum-seekers. Many Afghans have also been forced to leave or issued ultimatums from several other countries. A number of countries are also considering reversing their asylum policies granting protection for Afghan refugees. Sending people back to a country in which they are at risk of persecution, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or other irreparable harm, violates the core international law principle of non-refoulement. People also have a right to make such a claim and have it fairly considered by State authorities before any action to forcibly expel an individual. Deportations in violation of these basic rules must stop immediately. At the same time, given the particularly severe situation on the ground – especially for women and girls - we call on all States to increase the availability of legal pathways for Afghans to find a safe place to live. People returning to Afghanistan, whether by compulsion or of their own volition, find a country facing an acute humanitarian and human rights crisis. The first priority must be to ensure their immediate needs are met, including the provision of food, water, shelter and access to healthcare. They also face structural and systemic discrimination, gender persecution, issues related to ethnicity, obstacles to full reintegration into society, and a dearth of work and livelihoods as a result of a struggling economy. Women and girls, who are systematically deprived of their rights in Afghanistan, are particularly at risk upon their return. The UN Human Rights Office has spoken out strongly against the extreme institutional discrimination and undue restrictions imposed on women and girls, the cumulative effect of which has been to almost erase women and girls from public life and prevent them from accessing basic services. Others among those deported are journalists, and former civil servants or employees of the previous Afghan government who are particularly vulnerable to reprisals and torture by the de facto authorities upon their return. The UN Human Rights Chief implores States to do everything in their power to help those who have already endured decades of warfare, poverty and hardship, as well as extreme discrimination and threats. We must not turn our backs on them now. The UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan will be publishing a report next week on the risks faced by those forcibly returned to Afghanistan. (2) Syria Syria's interim authorities must ensure accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said today, repeating his call for a new Syria that works for all its people, equal in dignity and without discrimination. Credible reports received by the UN Human Rights Office indicate widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction of private property and looting of homes. Among the reported perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim authorities, as well as other armed elements from the area, including Druze and Bedouins. This has led to a mass displacement of the population in the predominantly Druze governorate. See more: (3) Bangladesh The UN Human Rights Office and the Government of Bangladesh this week signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to open a mission in the country to support the promotion and protection of human rights. Since last August, the UN Human Rights Office's engagement with Bangladesh has significantly increased. The Office has been working with various stakeholders in advancing human rights reforms and conducting a comprehensive fact-finding inquiry into last year's deadly repression of broad protests.
