The BulletinMay 2, 2023

Hipkins off to UK in first major overseas jaunt

Contributing writer

He’s in London for the coronation, and to put some friendly pressure on PM Rishi Sunak over our free trade agreement, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

Off to see the King, and his fellow PM

It can be hard to believe it’s already been more than seven months since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, until you remember that Jacinda Ardern – still months away from announcing her resignation as prime minister – was New Zealand’s representative at Westminster Abbey. Now it’s Chris Hipkins who is on his way to the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, accompanied by a delegation including opposition leader Christopher Luxon. Speaking to media before his departure last night, Hipkins said he would be pledging his allegiance to the King despite his personal view that New Zealand should separate itself from the monarchy. “I’m on record as being a republican… But I’ve also indicated it’s not a priority for me. It’s not something I intend to push.” While in London, Hipkins will meet with British prime minister Rishi Sunak, with a focus on speeding up the legal commencement date for the New Zealand-UK free trade agreement (FTA) signed last year. Under the FTA, the UK will eliminate all tariffs on New Zealand exports, and give duty-free quota access for NZ beef, lamb, butter and cheese.

Increased NZ support for Ukraine’s defence on the cards

As part of his UK trip, Hipkins will visit New Zealand Defence Force personnel who are giving infantry training to new members of the Ukrainian military, most of whom are civilian volunteers. Hipkins plans to make an announcement there about further support for the Ukrainian defence effort, having spoken with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky last night. Political scientist Robert Patman tells RNZ it’s “absolutely critical” that New Zealand steps up its support for Ukraine. “If you contrast New Zealand’s contribution with that of Australia and Canada… even taking into account we’re a much smaller country than either, [ours] is still much smaller than they’ve contributed.” The NZ announcement will come at a critical moment for the Ukraine war effort. “After blunting a Russian push over the winter, the Ukrainian military is on the cusp of launching a counteroffensive against occupying forces,” Time magazine reports, in a story on the race to arm Ukraine with the weapons it needs.

Will Chris meet Joe in PNG?

One international meeting Hipkins could not confirm yesterday was with Joe Biden. The US president will be in Papua New Guinea on May 22, and PNG’s Post Courier newspaper has claimed Hipkins will be one of 18 Pacific Island Forum leaders to meet with him in Port Moresby. Hipkins says that is still speculation. “That event has not yet been confirmed and therefore no invitation has been received,” he told reporters yesterday. However, should an invitation be issued, he said he’d accept it if it fitted with his schedule. Biden’s visit to PNG is a sign of the “heightened geo-strategic competition between Washington and Beijing” across the Asia-Pacific region, writes the NZ Herald. “While the US has repeatedly insisted its renewed interest is driven by a desire to help Pacific Island nations tackle serious threats such as climate change and illegal fishing, the reality is the jockeying with China is an underlying driving force.”

In the high court, another royal saga plays out

As Charles prepares for his coronation this Saturday, his son is preparing for battle. Prince Harry has launched legal proceedings against Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, publisher of the Sun and the Times, alleging “the company targeted him with widespread illegal activity for much of his life, including hacking his voicemails and illegally obtaining personal information in the name of journalism”, the Guardian reports. Many of Harry’s allegations relate to claims of illegal behaviour at the Sun, which News UK has always said was not involved in the phone hacking scandal that forced the closure of its News of the World paper in 2011. Before the trial can proceed, a judge must decide whether Harry can bring the case at all – News UK’s lawyers claim he waited too long to launch proceedings. That hearing is scheduled for later today.

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Trains at Wellington Railway Station. (Photo: Getty Images)

The BulletinMay 1, 2023

A morning of chaos on Wellington trains

Catherine McGregor

Contributing writer

Trains at Wellington Railway Station. (Photo: Getty Images)

As rail users struggle through a nightmare commute, politicians are blasting an ‘unacceptable’ situation that ‘beggars belief’, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

A bad day to be a Wellington train commuter

It was only last Wednesday that we reported on a survey showing Aucklanders have never been less satisfied with their public transport service. Two days later, Kiwirail said to Auckland Transport: hold my beer. On Friday it was announced that Wellington’s Metlink train services would be severely reduced – potentially for weeks – because Kiwirail’s track evaluation car, the only one in the country, had broken down, forcing a blanket 70 kph speed restriction on the Kāpiti line and creating flow-on effects across most of the network from today. Daran Ponter, chair of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which runs Metlink, called it a “monumental failure” by the state owned enterprise. “It’s not clear how long Kiwirail have known about this but to only give Wellington three or four days’ notice before the restrictions are in place is simply ludicrous.” On Saturday, Kiwirail said disruptions should now last less than a week, after mechanics were able to fix the evaluation car more quickly than expected. Kiwirail has also apologised to commuters for the problems.

An ‘unacceptable’ situation that ‘beggars belief’

The revised timeline is a relief, but questions are still being raised about how the go-slow was allowed to happen in the first place. Transport minister Michael Wood says the disruptions are “unacceptable” and he has expressed his displeasure to those in charge. “All options are being explored to reinstate services as quickly as possible, and assurances will be put in place to prevent this from happening again.” Wood has summoned Kiwirail executives to the Beehive this morning to explain what went wrong and how they plan to address it. National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says the situation “beggars’ belief” and is calling on the government to “move heaven and earth to do whatever it takes to fix this problem and then urgently order an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of what has happened”.

For some commuters, better days are on the horizon

It’s not all bad news for Wellington rail. Over the weekend The Post – the newly rebranded Dominion Post – reported that the government is to buy a fleet of 18 hybrid trains to run on the Kāpiti and Wairarapa lines into the capital. The government declined to reveal how much it was spending on the trains, but The Post understands it could be in the “high hundreds of millions”. A fortnight ago on the website of the campaign group Save Our Trains, Darren Davis & Malcolm McCracken wrote about the poor state of the network serving Wairarapa and the Kāpiti Coast north of Waikanae. The Capital Connection from Palmerston North to Wellington “is on life support and being patched up with refurbished rolling stock from the 1970s to keep it limping along for a few more years”, they wrote, while Wairarapa trains “are out of capacity and also in urgent need of an upgrade”. Both lines are set for major improvements when the new trains arrive.

Meanwhile, on the ferries…

For Kiwirail, the rail track breakdown is another headache in what has already been a very bad year. Interislander services are getting back to normal after its Kaitaki ferry resumed sailings in mid-April, but the passenger strandings caused by the ferry’s two-month suspension – along with a number of other issues – may have a long-lasting effect on the Interislander brand. Kiwirail does not expect to take delivery of replacement ships for its ageing fleet until 2025, and while their arrival will be welcomed by passengers and freight operators, some Picton residents are worried about the massive size of the new “mega-ferries”. “If something goes wrong here, it’s going to be carnage,” warned Tim Healey of watchdog group Guardians of the Sounds.