Beehive briefing: Everything you need to know from today
Friday, 21 June 2024
Cancer drug funding and power cuts in Northland rounded out the week in politics. We also take a look back at photos of a whirlwind of a week.
Five key things that happened today:
1. The Government is expected to announce a record-breaking medicines boost of at least $600 million as a way of keeping National’s promise on cancer drugs, The Post understands.
The move would allow Pharmac to buy dozens of medications for other illnesses too, allowing the Government to expand access to cancer medicines while maintaining Pharmac’s independence.
It’s expected Pharmac will be handed the money and will work down its drug funding wish list of 147 treatments until it reaches cancer drugs that are either the same or equivalent treatments to those that were on the list National announced during the election campaign.
2. Former Green MP Keith Locke has died. Locke’s family said in a statement he “died peacefully in the early hours of this morning after a long illness”.
“He touched many lives in the course of his work in politics and activism.”
Locke was born in 1944, and was in Parliament between 1999 and 2011. Prior to Parliament he was a sociology lecturer at Victoria University.
3. Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana told a migrant worker he was able to work in her husband’s bike shop on a seasonal work visa — despite that visa clearly stating he could only work in horticulture and viticulture jobs, a worker claims. The worker also claims Tana advised him to keep working in the shop during lockdown as it was essential work.
Tana declined to comment, saying: “These matters are currently under consideration in the investigation and form part of ERA proceedings also. It would be completely inappropriate for me to comment at this time.”
Tana’s husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen had not responded to requests for comment before deadline but previously told Stuff the worker’s ERA claim was without merit.
4. An internal investigation is under way to get answers as to why a Transpower pylon collapsed, cutting power to Northland.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown said from Whangārei on Friday he would be considering whether to have an independent government review, after Transpower started an internal investigation.
Brown said he would also be asking electricity regulator the Electricity Authority to review the incident.
5. The Commerce Commission has postponed a decision on whether to allow the Foodstuffs North and South Island supermarket co-operatives to merge until October 1.
A decision on the controversial proposal was due on Friday, but the commission said it had decided to issue a “statement of unresolved issues” on the two co-operatives’ application seeking clearance to merge.
Points of order:
A week is a long time in politics, and nothing makes you realise what a whirlwind week it was than by looking back at the scores of stories and pictures captured.
Our senior political photo journalist Robert Kitchin takes hundreds of photos every day. Many incredible shots don’t make it into the newspaper or onto our websites.
But to give a glimpse of a week in this place, here is a handful of shots from the vault this week:
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