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RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Oral Answers for 25 June 2025
Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS to the Acting Prime Minister: Does he stand by all the Government's statements and actions? DANA KIRKPATRICK to the Minister of Finance: What is the Depositor Compensation Scheme and when does it start? Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries: Does he stand by his statement, "The bottom trawling techniques that are pursued by the New Zealand fishing industry are relatively harmless"; if so, are current levels of bycatch acceptable? Hon KIERAN McANULTY to the Associate Minister of Housing: How many New Zealanders are homeless now, compared to when the Government was elected? TODD STEPHENSON to the Acting Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions? MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI to the Minister of Statistics: How will he ensure that scrapping the five-yearly Census will not magnify the problem of under-counting Maori and Pasifika populations? RIMA NAKHLE to the Minister for Infrastructure: What recent reports has he seen on New Zealand's infrastructure sector? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she stand by statements made on her behalf that high inflation and high interest rates were main factors in job losses in the construction sector? CHLÖE SWARBRICK to the Minister of Climate Change: Does he stand by his statement that "it is our expectation that we will remain an associate member" of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance; if not, why not? MILES ANDERSON to the Minister of Agriculture: Why is the Government proposing to ban full farm-to-forestry conversions on our highest quality productive land? INGRID LEARY to the Associate Minister of Housing: Does he stand by statements made on his behalf that his proposed changes to the Retirement Villages Act 2003 would "include provisions for repayments but not mandate them"? TOM RUTHERFORD to the Minister for Mental Health: What recent announcements have been made for the assessment and prescription for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
With so many parties 'ruling out' working with each other, is MMP losing its way?
Analysis - There has been a lot of "ruling out" going on in New Zealand politics lately. In the most recent outbreak, both the incoming and outgoing deputy prime ministers, ACT's David Seymour and NZ First's Winston Peters, ruled out ever working with the Labour Party . Seymour has also advised Labour to rule out working with Te Pāti Māori . Labour leader Chris Hipkins has engaged in some ruling out of his own , indicating he won't work with Winston Peters again. Before the last election, National's Christopher Luxon ruled out working with Te Pāti Māori . And while the Greens haven't yet formally ruled anyone out, co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has said they could only work with National if it was prepared to "completely U-turn on their callous, cruel cuts to climate, to science, to people's wellbeing". Much more of this and at next year's general election New Zealanders will effectively face the same scenario they confronted routinely under electoral rules the country rejected over 30 years ago. Under the old "first past the post" system, there was only ever one choice: voters could turn either left or right. Many hoped Mixed Member Proportional representation ( MMP ), used for the first time in 1996, would end this ideological forced choice. Assuming enough voters supported parties other than National and Labour, the two traditional behemoths would have to negotiate rather than impose a governing agenda. Compromise between and within parties would be necessary. By the 1990s, many had tired of doctrinaire governments happy to swing the policy pendulum from right to left and back again. In theory, MMP prised open a space for a centrist party which might be able to govern with either major player. In a constitutional context where the political executive has been described as an " elected dictatorship ", part of the appeal of MMP was that it might constrain some of its worst excesses. Right now, that is starting to look a little naive. For one thing, the current National-led coalition is behaving with the government-by-decree style associated with the radical, reforming Labour and National administrations of the 1980s and 1990s. Most notably, the coalition has made greater use of Parliamentary urgency than any other government in recent history, wielding its majority to avoid Parliamentary and public scrutiny of contentious policies such as the Pay Equity Amendment Bill . Second, in an ironic vindication of the anti-MMP campaign 's fears before the electoral system was changed - that small parties would exert outsized influence on government policy - the two smaller coalition partners appear to be doing just that. It is neither possible nor desirable to quantify the degree of sway a smaller partner in a coalition should have. That is a political question, not a technical one. But some of the administration's most unpopular or contentious policies have emerged from ACT ( the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards legislation ) and NZ First ( tax breaks for heated tobacco products ). Rightly or wrongly, this has created a perception of weakness on the part of the National Party and the prime minister. Of greater concern, perhaps, is the risk the controversial changes ACT and NZ First have managed to secure will erode - at least in some quarters - faith in the legitimacy of our electoral arrangements. Lastly, the party system seems to be settling into a two-bloc configuration: National/ACT/NZ First on the right, and Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori on the left. In both blocs, the two major parties sit closer to the centre than the smaller parties. True, NZ First has tried to brand itself as a moderate "common sense" party, and has worked with both National and Labour, but that is not its position now. In both blocs, too, the combined strength of the smaller parties is roughly half that of the major player . The Greens, Te Pāti Māori, NZ First and ACT may be small, but they are not minor. In effect, the absence of a genuinely moderate centre party has meant a return to the zero-sum politics of the pre-MMP era. It has also handed considerable leverage to smaller parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Furthermore, if the combined two-party share of the vote captured by National and Labour continues to fall (as the latest polls show ), and those parties have nowhere else to turn, small party influence will increase. For some, of course, this may be a good thing. But to those with memories of the executive-centric, winner-takes-all politics of the 1980s and 1990s, it is starting to look all too familiar. The re-emergence of a binary ideological choice might even suggest New Zealand - lacking the constitutional guardrails common in other democracies - needs to look beyond MMP for other ways to limit the power of its governments. * Richard Shaw is a Professor of Politics at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University - This story originally appeared on The Conversation.
RNZ News
03-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Support for National and Labour fall in latest 1News-Verian poll
Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ The coalition could hold on to power, while National, Labour and ACT all lose support in the latest 1News-Verian poll shows. With small increases for New Zealand First, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, the results would give the coalition a 63-seat majority, to the opposition's 58. Support for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also remains steady, while Labour's Chris Hipkins falls slightly. Four parties outside Parliament all registered 1 point of support: TOP (The Opportunities Party, down 1), New Zeal (up 1), the NZ Outdoor and Freedoms Party (steady), and Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (up 1). People saying they did not know who they would vote for, or refused to answer, accounted for 11 percent of responses. There were only minor changes on the preferred prime minister stakes, with Luxon holding his lead over Hipkins. Preferred prime minister: The poll surveyed 1002 eligible voters and was weighted for demographics, with a margin of error of 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval. It was conducted between 24 and 28 May. The sample for mobile phones is selected by random dialling using probability sampling, and the online sample is collected using an online panel. Undecided voters, non-voters and those who refused to answer are excluded from the data on party support. Polls compare to the most recent poll by the same polling company, as different polls can use different methologies. They are intended to track trends in voting preferences, showing a snapshot in time, rather than be a completely accurate predictor of the final election result.
RNZ News
01-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
David Seymour reflects on past decade to ACT supporters in first speech as Deputy Prime Minister
David Seymour speaking to media in Auckland. Photo: MARIKA KHABAZI / RNZ In his first public address since being sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, ACT leader David Seymour reflected on the past decade with supporters at a party event on Sunday. The ACT leader took over the role from Winston Peters on Saturday. The speech chronicled ACT's journey from the political low point of the 2014 election to its current position in government. Seymour recalled what he described as "the wicked old days" when ACT's support hovered near 1 percent and survival seemed uncertain. "Most of the time, it seemed bloody impossible," he said, referring to financial struggles, internal turmoil, and public scepticism that at one point left the party with just $7000 in its account. He thanked longstanding supporters, including volunteers, donors, and former party leaders, acknowledging many by name. Seymour made particular note of John Banks' role in stabilising the party during a turbulent period and the personal support of figures like the late Lindsay Ferguson and donor Dame Jenny Gibbs. His also used his first speech to take a swipe at the Opposition, and said his party is Labour's worst nightmare. Seymour likened early political hardships to the experience of being a long-shot contestant on Dancing with the Stars. He highlighted ACT's role in the current coalition government and the work they've done by MPs on policies covering firearms law, property rights, health and safety reform, and education. Seymour closed his remarks by reaffirming ACT's commitment to its founding principles, quoting Edmund Hillary saying "This today is only base camp". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
LBCI
31-05-2025
- General
- LBCI
New Zealand swears in new deputy PM
David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, was sworn in as deputy prime minister on Saturday, succeeding Winston Peters in the role, which was part of a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023. His party was behind last year's controversial move to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament. Seymour was appointed in a ceremony at Auckland's Government House, a spokesperson for the government told Reuters. ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the center-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Reuters
