Coalition clash: Winston Peters and David Seymour on opposite sides of the Cook Strait ferry debate – Audrey Young

The whole thing has been a debacle since the previous project was canceled a year ago, and makes a mockery of the slogan “putting New Zealand back on track”.

When is partial privatization not an asset sale?

Since the press conference at which Peters and Finance Minister Nicola Willis outlined the next steps, Peters and Act leader David Seymour have found themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum. Peters highlighted the mess caused by the privatization of New Zealand’s railways, and Seymour welcomed the partial privatization of up to 49% of the network as likely to bring market discipline to its management.

Seymour also suggested in a press release that indicative costs for the ferry project could be half of the $3 billion allocated to Labor’s plan. He has since returned to the point, but Peters, in interviews this morning, was clearly annoyed that Seymour had pulled the plug when so little was decided.

“You talk to the minister responsible, not the minister who is not responsible,” he said on RNZ. “He is wrong about the numbers he is using, he is wrong about the question of privatization and he is wrong about the question of its cost.”

Kiwibank is also heading towards partial privatization, Willis revealed on Monday, with the government seeking private New Zealand investors willing to pay up to $500 million for a stake in the bank. She insisted this was not an “asset sale” on the grounds that the proceeds of the sale would be invested in the bank and not government coffers. But the undeniable fact is that it would be partly private property. Equally undeniable is that there would be broad support for the partial sale, as it would enable Kiwibank to better compete with Australian banks.

But there is a lot of sensitivity around the term “asset sale” because the Prime Minister, perhaps foolishly, promised during the election campaign that there would be none.

The speaker at the center of the debate

House Speaker Gerry Brownlee rejected the advice of House Clerk David Wilson. Wilson informed Barbara Kuriger, who chaired the committee stages, that the bill’s schedule on expedited approvals listing 149 individuals and businesses eligible to request expedited consent was a private benefit and therefore should not be part of a draft of government law.

Brownlee said that because there was no guarantee that any of the 149 would actually get expedited consent, it could be argued that it was a private benefit.

Bill sponsor and House Leader Chris Bishop said the reason the people were named in the schedule is because their projects provided a public good, not a private benefit, in the form of more housing, renewable energy projects and roads.

This is a technical point. Even if the timeline wasn’t there, the government could decide to allow projects to seek expedited clearance.

Labor says it is unprecedented for a president not to follow the advice of a clerk, but that cannot be proven one way or the other. Most advice is given in private. Any President has the right to issue a new decision which annuls a previous decision. Labor has withdrawn its confidence in the President. But again, this is not unusual – National lost the lead with Trevor Mallard and Labor lost it with David Carter – and if he brings a motion of no confidence in Brownlee he will fail.

Survey on Treaty Principles Bill

Two interesting polls were released this week on the Treaty Principles Bill, which sparked probably the biggest protest the country has seen. A 1News-The Verian poll showed more people opposed the bill than supported it – 36% versus 23% – and an even larger group, 39%, said they didn’t know enough about it to express yourself.

A Hobson’s Pledge poll carried out by Curia asked a series of questions about the bill and the treaty, including which body should determine what the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are. The net agreement for each organization was as follows: by referendum +25%; Parliament +21%; Waitangi Tribunal +16%; and the judicial power +7%.

Besides …

Act list MP Laura Trask has changed her name to Laura McClure. If you are one of those people who uses the Parliament website to search for Hansard or videos of parliamentary debates, both of his names will continue to appear.

The new High Commissioner in London and former Labor leader, Phil Goff, has been a familiar face in Parliament this week on a regular visit to brief MFAT and government ministers on important issues. And during his return, former staff members known as “Goffice” gathered for a reunion dinner with him. However, former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former Labor leader David Shearer, both former aides, were missing.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently returned from Japan with a warning for those like him who are fond of sashimi (raw fish). He was at a restaurant and saw another diner eating what looked like sashimi. With limited Japanese, he pointed it out and asked the same thing. Halfway through his meal, he discovered it was raw chicken. For the sake of politeness, he continued, and there were no apparent consequences (but please don’t try this at home).

Quote without quoting

Labour’s Kieran McAnulty: “Point of order. Mr President, this is the fourth question from a government minister – the third from the Deputy Prime Minister – that you consider inadmissible. Will there be any attempt to try to reduce this or will this just be allowed to continue for the remaining two years of this term?

Speaker: “Well, I don’t know, because I don’t know how many other inadmissible questions there will be. »

Micro-quiz

How many MPs were referred to the Privileges Committee this week because of the haka at the end of the first reading debate on the Treaty Principles Bill, on what basis and who were they? (Answers below.)

piece of brick

This is down to government ministers suddenly inflating the estimated cost of the previous government’s ferry plan from $3 billion to $4 billion, presumably so that when their own costs approach $3 billion they can tell the voters that they saved money.

Bunch

Credit to Labor’s Rachel Brooking and Arena Williams for leading a spirited charge against the emergency fast-track approvals bill and honing their House skills in the process.

Latest news and political views

Ferry plan: Opposition parties have criticized the government for omitting key details in yesterday’s Cook Strait ferry announcement.

Ferry plan: Winston Peters has been tasked with answering one of the biggest questions hanging over the future of Cook Strait ferries: will they be rail?

Labor against President: Labor says it has lost confidence in Speaker Gerry Brownlee following an “unprecedented” decision on the Fast Track Approvals Bill.

NOTICE: Recruitment report card – Audrey Young evaluates the performance of the 20 new national deputies after their first year in office.

Climate plan: The government’s final emissions reduction plan shows New Zealand is on track to meet its first and second budgets, but is still behind schedule on the third.

Police promise: Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he and Police Commissioner Richard Chambers agreed on the government’s plan to train 500 extra police officers by November next year, although Chambers said to MEPs that the deadline may have to be extended.

Street racing: Police Minister Mark Mitchell has said he wants to remove restrictions from the ‘Crusher Collins’ legislation to make it easier to destroy young racers’ cars.

House haka: Speaker Gerry Brownlee referred four MPs to the Privileges Committee for their involvement in a haka during the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill.

Briefing ban: Union Council economist Craig Renney has been excluded from a key Treasury briefing on the half-yearly economic and fiscal update and fiscal policy statement.

KiwiBank change: The government has taken a step towards the partial privatization of KiwiBank by asking KiwiSaver funds and local investors to invest up to $500 million in the bank.

Surveys: Act and Te Pāti Māori made big gains in the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, while National and Labor fell.

Quiz answers: Te Pāti Māori MPs Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, and Labor MP Peeni Henare. This was because they were the MPs leaving their seats to perform the haka, not because they were Māori.

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