For the penultimate Bulletin of 2024, editor Stewart Sowman-Lund flicks back through some of the biggest headlines of the year.
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Resignation of Golriz Ghahraman kicks off a challenging year for the Greens
The news cycle kicked into gear earlier than usual back in the second week of January with bombshell reports, first by Newstalk ZB, that Green MP Golriz Ghahraman had been accused of shoplifting. Ghahraman stood aside from her portfolios initially, before resigning from parliament a few days later. “Obviously parliament is a stressful place for anybody, but Golriz herself has been subject to pretty much continuous threats of sexual violence, physical violence and death threats, and that has added a higher level of stress,” said then-Greens co-leader James Shaw in explaining Ghahraman’s behaviour. Ghahraman was convicted of four counts of shoplifting in June.
While the Greens have largely maintained their support, according to polling, across the year, the Ghahraman incident was but the first in what Chlöe Swarbrick has since admitted was a tough 12 months. Shaw resigned from parliament, Julie Anne Genter was referred to parliament’s privileges committee, Darleen Tana was ousted over migrant exploitation allegations, co-leader Marama Davidson underwent cancer treatment and, in February, the tragic loss of Fa’anānā Efeso Collins.
Public sector job cuts tick up and up and up
According to RNZ’s running tally, close to 10,000 public sector roles have been cut since the coalition government took office little over a year ago. It has been one of the running themes of this year, following on from National’s campaign while in opposition to cut “back-office expenditure” and bring the public sector workforce back to pre-Covid levels.
We learnt this week that further cuts are likely on the way in the new year.
A heart wrenching Royal Commission report
There have been two Royal Commissions of Inquiry deliver reports this year – one in response to abuse in state care and one examining the country’s Covid-19 response. The former was established back in 2018, running through until mid-2024. I recommend spending some time, if you haven’t already, with The Spinoff’s Quarter Million series – substantive reporting on the inquiry and the horrific stories behind it.
The Royal Commission’s final report, explained The Spinoff’s Lyric Waiwiri-Smith, contained 138 recommendations across its 3,000 pages. An apology was finally delivered to survivors last month while plans for redress continue. Just yesterday, as reported here by Stuff, it was announced that Lake Alice survivors will receive at least $150,000 in compensation.
A minister under fire
Another running theme this year, and something we’ve talked about on several occasions in The Bulletin, has been the aftermath of the government’s unexpected decision to wind back smokefree laws implemented by the Labour government. It’s meant that pretty much everyone who even passingly glanced at the news this year will now know the name Casey Costello, the New Zealand First minister tasked with overseeing the controversial changes. The first term MP became the subject of intense scrutiny from the media and the opposition, largely due to extensive reporting from RNZ’s Guyon Espiner. That reporting revealed that changes to the tax take on certain tobacco products would largely benefit one of the largest cigarette manufacturers, while documents from Costello’s office appeared to show the minister claiming nicotine was “as harmful” as tobacco.
The drama ramped up in October when NZ First leader Winston Peters publicly named a Ministry of Health staffer that had been working in Costello’s office, revealing she was the sister-in-law of Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall and suggesting that’s how documents were leaked. As the Herald’s Jamie Ensor reported yesterday, there remains no evidence of this and emails confirm Verrall’s relative disclosed her conflict of interest on at least four occasions.
The treaty principles bill casts a long shadow
One of the biggest news stories of this year is still making headlines and will undoubtedly draw a lot of attention in the early parts of 2025. That is, of course, Act’s treaty principles bill – the doomed piece of proposed legislation that, while endorsed by all government parties during its first reading in parliament, is set to be turfed out in a few months time. Thousands converged on parliament last month in opposition to the bill, though its architect David Seymour remains staunchly in defence.
It was a requirement of the coalition agreement that the government support the bill at first reading. As The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire wrote recently, prime minister Christopher Luxon’s language around the bill has evolved since the election – moving from passive disagreement to passionate disapproval. The bill will be subject to a standard six month select committee process, meaning it’s all but certain to overshadow Waitangi commemorations in February.