Adherence to historical political form by the prime minister and via the adjournment debate capped off the last day of parliament following a sober set of half year economic and fiscal forecasts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday morning, sign up here.
New Zealand has political form on a particular insult
It’s here, the penultimate Bulletin. Pending any very big news, tomorrow’s Bulletin will be a bit of a wrap of the year and a casting forward to 2023. The usual full-throated sign off for the political year is the adjournment debate, but I’d argue that was superseded by the quieter but nonetheless heard-round-the-world hot mic, mic drop moment from the prime minister on Tuesday. Toby Manhire provides a salve for news weary souls this morning with a brief history of New Zealand politicians calling people pricks, arrogant or otherwise.
Adjournment debate still delivers
There was a time when I would have hesitated dropping that word into the Bulletin, but as it’s been splashed across the homepages of every major outlet this week, it seems to have moved into the territory of acceptability. For those in doubt, the Broadcasting Standards Authority was helpfully engaged to rule on it. The adjournment debate yesterday did still deliver the laughs. It’s a bit of a pat line but it does provide a necessary puncturing of tension at the end of each year. The Herald’s Michael Neilson summarises the funnies. For those wondering, immigration minister Michael Wood confirmed Santa has been cleared for entry into New Zealand.
Finance minister prepares ministers to “murder their darlings”
Returning to more serious news, Treasury delivered its half year economic and fiscal update (HYEFU) yesterday and finance minister Grant Robertson delivered the government’s budget policy statement. In short: the government’s books are in rude health, the outlook for the economy is not so good, Treasury is predicting a shallow recession and government spending will be kept conservative next year. Newsroom’s Marc Daalder has a more fulsome summary of all that. Politik’s Richard Harman counted 30 instances of the word “balance” (paywalled) in Robertson’s statement, as the finance minister prepared ministers to “murder their darlings” next year and prioritise spending. BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie writes (paywalled), “If it weren’t for the fact that a bigger spend or tax cuts now would fuel inflation, this could be a set of forecasts prepared by a conservative government.”
Fuel tax cut to be phased out
As predicted, an announcement was made about the fuel tax cut and half price public transport subsidies yesterday. The petrol tax cut has been extended from its January deadline until the end of March, but the subsidy will halve from the end of February. Half price public transport fares will come to end on March 31, with an ongoing, but targeted subsidy for community service and mobility card holders. A three-month survey by Waka Kotahi found half-price fares moved 7% of journeys onto public transport, and about 3% of those journeys would otherwise have been made in cars. Free Fares spokesperson Kate Day says terminating the scheme would throw away the gains already made and the group would like to see public transport costs reduced to zero across the board.