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With fast rising prices and slow wage growth, many are falling behind. (Getty Images)
With fast rising prices and slow wage growth, many are falling behind. (Getty Images)

The BulletinMarch 23, 2022

Doing it tough

With fast rising prices and slow wage growth, many are falling behind. (Getty Images)
With fast rising prices and slow wage growth, many are falling behind. (Getty Images)

The country’s attention is shifting from the pandemic to New Zealanders who are falling behind,  Justin Giovannetti writes in The Bulletin.

Preparing for life after Covid in New Zealand.

The prime minister will announce a major loosening of Covid restrictions later today, with the use of vaccine mandates and passes expected to end in the coming weeks. Mask use is likely to continue. Along with most Covid rules falling away, two years of border restrictions are nearly over. The first planeload of tourists will arrive in three weeks. Replacing the pandemic in the minds of New Zealanders is the economy. The oil shock caused by the war in Ukraine and ongoing global disruptions have pushed economic worries off the business pages to the top of the pile. Inflation was the country’s top concern last month, followed by housing, according to Ipsos.

Dealing with the crisis of crises in Aotearoa.

It seems unlikely voters will give Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government a third mandate next year based solely on its successful Covid response. Instead, National and Act have capitalised as parliament has shifted away from the pandemic to concerns around the economy. Despite a surge in the polls for the right-leaning parties, their preferred solution of tax cuts might not entice centrist New Zealanders come voting day. New Zealand has one of the lowest tax regimes in the developed world, according to the OECD. Instead, success post-Covid could depend on how the country’s leaders propose to deal with an ongoing crisis of crises. The word crisis is mentioned nearly daily in this newsletter, for the cost of living, housing, climate, mental health, literacy and more.

Nearly all those issues have worsened considerably in the past two years.

Consumer confidence in Aotearoa has now fallen to its lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis. Stuff reports that households are reporting that their finances have deteriorated over the past year and worries are mounting over the coming months. The price of food and petrol has climbed far more quickly than incomes. For those on fixed incomes, the prospects could be dire in the coming months. Global supply chains haven’t been restored after two years of disruptions and China is now battling its worst outbreak of Covid-19. According to Reuters, the queues of ships outside major Chinese ports are growing longer and analysts warn of a shock to the price of goods in the coming months.

The government’s budget in May will have to deal with all of this.

Writing in the NZ Herald (paywalled), Simon Wilson has laid out the seven things he’d like to see in Grant Robertson’s budget. This is a time for big solutions to big problems that have been growing for a generation, he argues. “The effect of 30 years of underspending on core services and infrastructure. The deep damage to health services, transport, housing, education, water, crime, and they’re just the things that hog the headlines, has been laid bare,” Wilson explains. Robertson’s budget could be the opening shot in Labour’s re-election campaign.

Looking for another idea to deal with the cost of living?

Bryce Edwards asks whether this is the time for the government to introduce public dental care. It would be an expensive undertaking, but free dental care would have an immediate impact on the wellbeing of struggling New Zealanders and their families. They generally don’t get much back from tax cuts. It would also be a memorable project for a government struggling to find a transformational purpose.

The prime minister’s “beyond omicron” speech is at 11am today.

Keep going!
A basic military training session on February 28, 2022 in Ukraine. (RNZ/Getty Images)
A basic military training session on February 28, 2022 in Ukraine. (RNZ/Getty Images)

The BulletinMarch 22, 2022

New Zealand sends military aid to Ukraine

A basic military training session on February 28, 2022 in Ukraine. (RNZ/Getty Images)
A basic military training session on February 28, 2022 in Ukraine. (RNZ/Getty Images)

Defence Force to provide non-lethal military equipment, government to fund Nato purchases, Justin Giovannetti writes in The Bulletin.

In a significant shift, the Defence Force is now sending non-lethal aid to Ukraine.

For the first three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine the New Zealand government’s approach to the conflict had been solely humanitarian. Along with limited sanctions and travel bans, the Beehive had written cheques worth $6 million to help the millions of refugees fleeing their homes. As Stuff reports, there’s been a big change in the last 24 hours. The Defence Force is now shipping body armour, helmets and camouflage vests from its stockpile to Ukraine’s military. Aotearoa is also sending $5 million to the Nato military alliance, to help it purchase war fighting gear, including fuel, communications equipment and medical supplies.

The decision follows a call on the weekend between Jacinda Ardern and Ukraine’s prime minister.

Ardern said that Denys Shmyhal, her Ukrainian counterpart, was “astounding” when the two spoke about the worsening situation in his country. While he hasn’t had as much international exposure as president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ardern said that Shmyhal thanked New Zealand for its help and was “absolutely focused” on the challenge he now faces. As RNZ reports, the Ukrainians did request weapons and Ardern did not rule out the request in the future.

The bigger challenge is that New Zealand doesn’t have many of the weapons Ukraine needs. 

The chief of defence told reporters at parliament that he’d briefed the Ukrainian military on the weapons available in New Zealand’s inventory. The Ukrainians concluded that Aotearoa’s stock of modern missiles is so small that it wasn’t worth the bother of shipping them around the world. “We need a lot more than that,” air marshal Kevin Short recalled the Ukrainians responding. The backlog on orders of new anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles is now three years long, so purchasing them isn’t an option either.

Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s cities has intensified as its military struggles.

Thursday will mark a month since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and while the Russian army is still slowly advancing, the costs have been enormous. Casualties on both sides have been in the thousands, while Ukraine’s largest cities have faced growing bombardment. Global economic sanctions have strangled Russia’s economy, but the country’s leaders have shown little interest in calling off the invasion. Reuters reports that a call for Ukraine to surrender the port city of Mariupol, or face an attack on its civilian population, has been rejected. Russia now warns of a coming human “catastrophe” from its planned attack. Much of this war revolves around Russian president Vladimir Putin. His actions have stumped many Kremlinologists. The Guardian spoke with five leading thinkers on Russia to better understand the president.