NZ Politics

(some quotes from the article)

The government has framed its NZ$503 million budget spending on prisons as necessary to maintain public safety and manage a growing prison population, forecast to increase by 36 percent from the current 10,000 to 14,000 by 2035.

The appeal to public safety is tied to the goal of reducing violent crime, which most voters will understandably support.

But this broad messaging obscures two crucial facts. Most assaults in New Zealand happen inside private homes, not in public spaces. And the increase in the number of people in prison comes from an excessive remand population (people awaiting trial), not from an increase in serious offending.

From a fiscal perspective, it is a striking decision to build new prisons for the growing remand population instead of changing the law to release those who pose no risk on bail.

The remand population currently accounts for 41 percent of the prison population, up from 13 percent in 2000.

Over the past 25 years, a series of legislative changes has steadily increased the number of people on remand.

The most consequential change came when the previous National-led government amended the Bail Act in 2013 to tighten bail eligibility. Until then, most defendants were granted bail automatically.

This amendment shifted the burden of proof onto defendants. Instead of bail, remand became the new norm, because it is harder to prove something will not happen. For example, how can you prove you will not intimidate witnesses?

For the men and women held on remand, the consequences are often severe. People lose jobs, housing and family connections, all of which increase the likelihood of offending. Remand has become a costly and counterproductive system that harms both individuals and the public purse.

It is an old line, but it remains true: every dollar invested in early childhood support saves around 13 dollars in criminal justice costs later on.

A society that keeps expanding its prisons is admitting its social policies are not working. If we are serious about reducing crime, the government needs to invest earlier.

Parliament is currently considering a bill that would officially define what a man and woman are in New Zealand law.

The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill, a member's bill introduced by New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft, passed its first reading last month.

The bill is open for public submission through 2 July.

It's likely to draw a significant amount of public feedback as it works its way through the halls of Parliament.

They can be made direct to Parliament through their website.

Parliament offers a guide to making submissions, urging people to be clear, accurate and relevant. Submissions that have offensive language can be rejected or returned.

Taxpayer money is wasted on services delivered to fit the artificial boundaries of departments and their ministers, rather than centred on the people, communities and businesses they are supposed to serve. This is the fundamental problem and an arbitrary plan to reduce the number of departments to 12 does not fix it. It just makes bigger silos.

Significant investment in social and affordable housing is crucial to solving New Zealand's housing crisis and ending homelessness, a new report says.

The report by Community Housing Aotearoa warns homelessness has reached its highest level ever, with a shortage of affordable housing compounding the problem.

Chief executive Paul Gilberd said New Zealand had the "programmes and the capacity" to end homelessness if there was political will to do so.

"We can solve it as a nation here in New Zealand. It really is a political choice," he said.

More than $1 million in political donations linked to fast-tracked projects have been made since 2022.

An RNZ analysis of the latest donation data reveals $400,000 was donated to National and NZ First in 2025 from people or entities linked to fast-track projects. Labour received $8620.

The introduction of the fast-track approvals process was part of NZ First's coalition deal with National. Since 2022 almost 90 percent of donations from people or entities also linked to projects have gone to the two parties.

Labour's finance spokesperson has apologised to the Finance Minister after audio of her calling Nicola Willis a "duck-faced horse" was leaked to media.

Barbara Edmonds told RNZ she got it wrong, and feels "absolutely terrible about it."

The comment was made during a question and answer session at a Labour Party candidate list conference at the weekend, and was designed to test MPs about difficult questions that may be put to them, or questions that didn't make sense.

During the exercise, a random question was used that might be put to an MP, and the task for candidates was to respond in a way that may allow them to present Labour's political messaging instead.

The question posed in the exercise was "would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?"

When it was her turn to respond, Edmonds said "every week I have to stand up in the house and ask a duck-faced horse - did I get that right [laughs] - questions every single week."

National and Act will support a New Zealand First member's bill seeking to define the term "woman" in law.

It would define "woman" in law as "an adult human biological female", and "man" as "an adult human biological male".

New Zealand First vowed to fight "cancerous social engineering" and "woke ideology" with the Bill.

Last year New Zealand First quietly withdrew its proposed legislation to fine those who use public bathrooms not for their designated sex.

But Peters suggested his member's bill defining a "woman" would prevent men using women's toilets.

Labour and the Green Party confirmed they would vote against the bill.

Green Party Chlöe Swarbrick said it was "despicable, but unfortunately not surprising" that the government was painting a target on the back of a minority.

"Trans people are not the reason that New Zealanders can't afford their groceries. Trans people are not the reason that New Zealanders cannot afford their power bills. Trans people are not the reason that New Zealanders are experiencing record high unemployment."

What a colossal dumbass.

I do like how RNZ mercilessly call him out on his bullshit though.

The Finance Minister has confirmed claims by Winston Peters that the fees-free university scheme, which covers the final year of tertiary education study for students, will be scrapped in the upcoming Budget.

The New Zealand First Leader made the comments to Newstalk ZB Friday evening.

In a statement this evening Nicola Willis confirmed the comments.

"Ongoing coalition negotiations have led to good Budget policy decisions that further the immediate and long-term interests of New Zealanders."

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) will be scrapped in favour of having the media self-regulate, the media and communications minister has confirmed.

"The suggestion is that the Media Council would become a sort of a self-regulatory body for journalism and holding standards, and so people can go through that process," he told Midday Report.

"Alternatively, they can just turn it off and listen to somebody else. And then any entity, if they find that they're offending everybody and nobody listens to them, will soon be out of business."

I bet Hipkins is in a good mood today.

Mark my words, Winston has seen which way the wind is blowing, and is preparing for the possibility of a coalition government with Labour.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing, NZF vs Maori as a coalition partner is an easy choice to make.

Maybe Luxon could get some ideas here

This feels like oddly malicious reporting by RNZ, it sounds like he was unaware he had been invited, and attended other services instead.

It sounds like the RSA dropped the ball.

... this government has not been doing this reluctantly, narrowly, or transparently....It has treated the courts, the Waitangi Tribunal, and the Bill of Rights Act as obstacles to be circumnavigated rather than as structural elements of the constitutional order it is supposed to uphold. The cumulative record is damning.

So far their response has been tax cuts and getting rid of regulations. Two things they love doing. In Australia they're giving subsidies to the oil industry.

None of those will do anything to slow our consumption of oil or help people change their lifestyles to match the circumstances. By clinging desperately to business as usual they will make the eventual change more wrenching than it could have been.

Instead, what if:

Short term:

Free public transport.

Free bikes for everyone.

Begin emergency repairs on any old busses that can be pressed into service.

Implement a priority system for who gets fuel:

Tier 1: healthcare, emergency services

Tier 2: food production & distribution

Tier 3: essential infrastructure (power, water, telecoms)

Everything else: on yer bike, son (or heavily rationed)

Ration fertilizer. A lot of it is wasted, currently.

Daily govt briefings - what’s happening, what is being prioritised, what people should do. Maintain clear communication and transparency.

Medium term (but start NOW):

Electrify all busses.

Repair neglected railways.

Move freight by rail and ship as much as possible.

Build cycling infrastructure. Secure places to park many many bikes next to train stations - big sheds.

Remove regulatory barriers for local food production, farmers markets. Encourage urban gardening, local trade networks.

Plant corn everywhere for ethanol.

Strategic reserves of critical medicines, etc.

Diversify food production - for local needs, not for export market needs.

(everyone knows roading budgets usually blow out - the total final cost of Transmission Gully appears to be $2.5bn – double the projected cost of $1.25bn).

Married, two kids, divorced, and remarried, in the space of three years.

What a ride that must have been.

Back in February 2025, MBIE got a report on NZ’s fuel security. It basically outlined that NZ is extremely dependent on imported fossil fuels, therefore vulnerable to international fossil fuel supply line disruptions. They specifically talked about events like war, estimating a major incident would cost us about 1% of our GDP. (That’ll pour petrol on all those promised ‘green shoots,’ like an over enthusiastic arsonist.)

The solution was clear. It said, “The most cost-effective strategies for enhancing fuel resilience is accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles” (And add trucking capacity and increase diesel storage.) Simply put, get more people out of petrol cars and into EVs.

What did the Government do instead?

Beneficiary numbers have soared to a 12-year high, under a government that promised a reduction.

They were the highest both by volume and percentage of the working-age population since at least the 2013 welfare reforms.

Social development minister Louise Upston said in 2024 - less than three months after taking office - that the government was taking action to "curb the surge in welfare dependency" that ocurred under the former Labour government.

But the most recent Ministry of Social Development data revealed that was yet to take hold.

As of December last year, 427,236 people - about the population of Christchurch - were receiving a main benefit.

That was 13.2 percent of the working-age population, the highest recorded since at least 2013, when reforms replaced multiple benefits with three main benefits: Jobseeker, Sole Parent Support and Supported Living Payment.

More than half of beneficiaries - 223,512 people, or 6.9 percent of the working age population - were on the Jobseeker benefit. That was also a record.

Soon after taking power the government set a target of 50,000 fewer people on the Jobseeker benefit by 2030.

So far, there had been an 18 percent jump: from 190,000 in December 2023 to 223,500 in December last year.

The 18 to 24-year-old age group on the Jobseeker benefit had grown the most in that period, rising 32 percent.

Minister blames former Labour government

Upston said the numbers were a result of the coalition inheriting "difficult economic conditions and a tough labour market" from the former Labour government.

"Unemployment has been rising since 2021 and is always one of the last things to improve after a recession," she said.

The Green Party is welcoming news that the government has backtracked on plans to reinstate live animal exports.

Animal Welfare Minister Andrew Hoggard told 1 News he could not get Cabinet agreement on overturning the ban, which formed part of coalition agreements with both ACT and NZ First.

"From the outset, there was overwhelming outrage from veterinary experts who expressed there was no way to maintain animal welfare standards and herd cattle onto ships where they spend weeks at sea wallowing in their own waste. It's fundamentally cruel and there's no way to uphold the barest animal standards while exporting at sea," Abel said.

"They couldn't get it across the line because New Zealanders didn't want to see animals suffering in that way."

A 57,000-strong petition calling for the ban to stay in place was presented to parliament in 2024.

At the time, Hoggard said he wanted the ban overturned by 2025.

The health minister says a doctor using an artificial intelligence scribe tool is able to see, on average, one additional patient per shift.

Simeon Brown has announced every emergency department in the country now has access to the tool, which records consultations and generates draft clinical notes, referral letters and follow-up summaries.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) vice-president Dr Sylvia Boys said she was concerned about how secure the artificial intelligence scribe tool was.

It could also misunderstand what was said, Boys added, especially when it came to an examination.

"You have to verbalise what you're finding at the time, and that difference between patient speak with the patient in front of you and the medical diagnosis, AI can sometimes misinterpret what is going on."

It also could not differentiate between patients when a clinician was dealing with multiple, Boys said.

"Within the ED environment, we also have multiple interruptions, and they have to step out of the room, be talked to about other patients, and so separating out what is going on with one patient and what is going on with another - with an IT system that is listening to both - can be troublesome as well."

The lack of progress happening in New Zealand to reduce child poverty is both "hugely disappointing" and "unacceptable", the Children's Commissioner says.

Data released by Stats NZ on Wednesday for the year July 2024 to June 2025 showed one in seven children are living in hardship.

About 17,900 households were interviewed for the research.

The number of children that were recorded as living in material hardship was 14.3 percent - one in seven.

There was no significant change in that from the year recorded prior or since 2018.

In the latest statistics, a child recorded as facing material hardship was recorded as being in a household going without seven or more of 18 necessities.

Those included being unable to pay for utilities on time, having to put up with feeling cold and putting off doctors visits.

That was a change to the year prior where the threshold for material hardship was six or more.

A total of 25.1 percent of Māori children were recorded in material hardship which was not statistically different to the year prior.

For Pacific children, that figure was 31 percent, which was also statistically unchanged.