Beehive briefing: Have you achieved your second quarter goals?
Monday, 1 July 2024
Have you achieved your goals for the second quarter? Prime Minister Christopher Luxon believes he has, and to prove it he has published the results of his second quarter action plan today.
Five quick takeaways from today:
1. It’s the first of three recess weeks and Luxon opened his weekly press conference not with his quarterly checklist, but with the Government making good on its campaign promise to axe the Auckland regional fuel tax – reducing petrol, in theory, 11.5 cents a litre – and the beginning of rebates for early childhood care for parents that was part of Budget 2024. The much-promised tax cuts will begin at the end of the month.
2. Luxon has proclaimed success (with one caveat) at ticking off the 36 objectives of the second quarter plan. Achieved under the prior plan were big ticket items, such as passing a Budget, and smaller efforts or usual business, such as launching a review of the firearms registry and passing the laws that enact the tax cuts and other decisions in the Budget. The Government fell short on launching consultation for a new model to replace Te Pūkenga, a national vocational education provider National promised to disestablish. “It just genuinely has been really complex,” Luxon said.
3. There’s a new quarterly plan for the Government totalling 40 goals for the coming three months, continuing with the themes of “rebuilding” the economy, “restoring” law and order, and “delivering” better public services. The plan promises progress on water infrastructure reform, city and regional deals with councils, consult on Holidays Act changes, launch military-style academies for youth offenders, legislate for roadside testing for drugs, open applications for charter schools, and start legislating to tighten controls on youth vaping.
4. The latest iteration of Regional Development Minister Shane Jone’s billion-dollar regional funds – this time called the Regional Infrastructure Fund – has opened for applications. Unlike the prior Provincial Growth Fund that NZ First produced during the 2017 Labour-coalition Government, the focus of the new $1.2 billion fund would primarily be providing loans to projects and grants would be provided in “only very limited cases”. The funding will be focused on resilience infrastructure and infrastructure which connects regions to make them more productive.
5. Kāinga Ora chief executive Andrew McKenzie will be leaving the state housing corporation, with what looks to be a $365,500 payout, before his contract was due to end. The coalition Government has put significant scrutiny on Kāinga Ora and promised to overhaul the organisation but Luxon declined to comment on McKenzie’s departure on Monday, saying it was for the organisation’s board to speak to.
Points of order
The Government continues to face questions about its plans to start a military-style academy for serious youth offenders, after advice from government officials emerged which showed the challenges such a scheme faces if it is to succeed. Notably, the military won’t directly be involved in delivering the programme to the 10 youth that go through the pilot scheme, and the Defence Force had – behind the scenes – pushed back at the suggestion it would be comparable to the Limited Service Volunteer programme it runs.
Luxon on Monday continued to insist the Government would proceed regardless of the “intellectual” conversation about the issue, and denied the National Party had ever called the policy a “boot camp” for young offenders – calling this a media invention. This might be a case of semantics, as Luxon also happily refers to the programme as military-style and involving physical activity. Also, here’s a quote from National MP Paul Goldsmith, now justice minister, from a year ago: “Instead of boot camps as National has proposed, it’s playtime for ram raiders.”