The valedictories have begun. There’s legislation to get through and legislation that won’t make it. There’s still time for questions about the shop though as the frantic final sitting block begins, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

Sorry, not sorry

Things got pretty heated in the house yesterday as the final sitting block before the election began. Associate housing minister Willie Jackson had to apologise in parliament, while finance minister Grant Robertson refused to apologise after calling National finance spokesperson, Nicola Willis a liar. Robertson is deeply frustrated by the media reporting of Willis’ suggestion that Robertson and Chris Hipkins had disagreed over the date the GST policy would be in place and that being the reason there was an error in the material sent to media. Willis has said she won’t be pursuing the matter. Meanwhile, the Working for Families campaign pledge that accompanied the GST one on Sunday warrants further examination. As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan writes, Labour has copped criticism for delaying a lift in the abatement threshold for Working for Families credits to 2026 if re-elected. Critics say the adjustment does not account for inflation since 2018. As Coughlan writes, it means some families may still be worse off after the change triggers in 2026, because of how fast incomes have risen.

Bills, bills, bills

Beyond the theatrics of the House, the pace of legislative work is now at full throttle A bill to lower the voting age to 16 for local government elections was introduced yesterday while the House agreed to move into urgency last night in order to get through 12 bills, all at various stages. Included in that list are the bills to bring about the Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms and the bills linked to the water reforms formerly known as Three Waters. That ties off two chunky pieces of reform for Labour. National is promising to repeal all of it if they win the election, with a promise to move on the RMA reforms bills before Christmas.

Blunt realities for communities at risk

A third proposed statute that the Randerson report recommended form part of the RMA reforms, a climate change adaptation bill, will not be introduced before the election. Earlier this year climate change minister James Shaw had expressed some hope that it would be. Instead, Shaw has requested that parliament’s Environment Select Committee look into community-led retreat and adaptation funding and begin that before the election in October. As Newsroom Pro’s Jono Milne writes (paywalled), an expert working group charged with designing a managed retreat system as part of the adaptation bill also delivered its report yesterday, “with very little government fanfare”. Despite that, Milne thinks it’s unlikely that the report’s “blunt words” about the very real realities of climate adaptation will remain stifled and that the lack of fanfare reflects the report’s proximity to the election. The report states that “Where the evidence shows a community is likely to be wiped out in as few as 10 years…the only rational response, in the absence of a feasible, cost-effective alternative, will be to relocate the community to a safer place.” The report recommends that be done by persuading people to go in the first instance, but if that doesn’t work, it recommends using new legislated emergency powers, with no right of court appeal.

80-hour weeks, going to the “supermarket all the time actually” and farewells

While there were plenty of heated exchanges in the House yesterday, there was also time for chats about which MPs regularly do the supermarket shopping. It is entirely reasonable to believe this line of questioning has been prompted by Tara Ward’s masterful satire last week on the subject of Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell’s visitation habits. National MP Tama Potaka said he “goes to the supermarket all the time actually”. Coincidentally, on the same day Uffindell said he didn’t have much of a chance to shop because he works 80 hours a week, outgoing Green MP Jan Logie also described an 80-hour work week as an MP. As long-time readers know, I love a good farewell interview tour and valedictory speech. MPs of all stripes tend to reveal it’s not all heat and partisanship and speak a few truths. Logie and National MP Jacqui Dean don’t disappoint in this episode of The Front Page. Logie and Dean are two of the 17 MPs giving valedictory speeches in the next nine days. Appointment viewing schedule here. Paul Eagle, Marja Lubeck and Jmaie Strange did theirs last night. Former Green MP turned independent MP, Elizabeth Kerekere has told Stuff she won’t be holding back as she gets ready for her valedictory speech tonight saying she wants to “set the record straight” on her fallout with the Greens.