NEWS ON POLICY
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IN POLITICS Private Porridge It’s the economy, stupid more... ACC motor vehicle levy to increase by $32 more... PROGRESS OF LEGISLATION Bills Introduced /Awaiting First Reading more... Bills Before Select Committees more... Bills Passed Third Reading more... Acts Assented more... Regulations more... SELECT COMMITTEE HEARINGS Commerce Committee Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee LEGISLATION IN THE WINGS more... IN OTHER NEWS There all the Honours Lie more... IN CONSULTATION more... |
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Private PorridgeIf it bears fruit, the proposition that prisons may return to private management, will bring full circle the ideological debate between Labour and National about the role of Government. When Labour took office in 1999 it did so with a manifesto that asserted, among other things, that it is the role of Government agencies to incarcerate offenders, not the commercial sector. No surprise then that in 2005 the Labour-led Government put paid to the private management of the Auckland Central Remand Prison, even in the face of tangibly better performance. The idea that depriving people of their liberty should be a source of profit will be inherently uncomfortable to many. The administration of justice ought to be untainted by motives and incentives other than the public good, and the profit motive will be seen as inconsistent with that end. But just as this assumes a lot about business, it also assumes much about the public sector. The extent to which Government agencies toil selflessly in the public interest, unmarred by competing agendas of their own, is not as clear cut as it perhaps once was. At the very least legitimate doubts will be held about the extent to which those agencies are held accountable for keeping the public interest to the fore. But this less black and white reality does not sit with the purist view about the monopoly role of the state - not just in prison management, but in the delivery of public good services generally. The idea for example that a profit should be made from the treatment of people's illnesses is equally abhorrent to the statist as is the delivery of public education and public safety. It's here that those looking for a fundamental point of difference between the National and Labour administrations can find it. Labour's remains the ideological position, suspicious of profit. National's is essentially pragmatic. The former is concerned with the maintenance of higher principle and the latter with results. Neither position is sustainable on its own, as the many stark examples of market and government failure have shown. However, the risk is that if the state sector continues down a path of self-reference and reduced accountability, the public interest will be less of a motivating force than the maintenance of its own prerogatives. This will be even more dangerous than an unchecked profit motive, because the public will continue to assume that it is their interests that continue to dominate when arguably they do not. Given the improbability of a bipartisan view developing on the fundamental role of the state - or indeed the means of holding it to account - we can expect policy to cycle between limited privatisation and nationalisation. This will only increase the inefficiencies plaguing an already creaking system. For the moment, though, it is clear that there will be a diminished - or perhaps more accurately a rebalanced - role for the state in roading, schools and healthcare. But don't expect immediate moves on ACC or the wholesale privatisation of state assets. The Government will feel that it has already provided ample political fodder to its foes, who will trumpet every job lost from the public sector as an attack on public good outcomes in the name of profit. It’s the economy, stupidKey's rolling maul approach to the economy has avoided the king hit response adopted by our trading partners, which have by and large opted for a headlong rush to Keynesian solutions. Our own response has the virtue of being more incremental and responsive to changes as they occur for better or worse, but there for the moment the distinction ends. But the niceties of Keynesianism versus classical economics will mean little for a country preoccupied with its diminished wealth and poor job prospects. Key and English will need to remember that if they are to avoid bleeding votes to Labour. As job losses grow and hard decisions are taken, the Government will need to keep the public eye focused on the realities of the global economy rather than what will be represented by the Opposition as National's unfeeling and doctrinaire approach to workers and the workplace. ACC motor vehicle levy to increase by $32An instance where Government needed to make the connection between the unpopular result and the economic cause is ACC. This week ACC Minister Nick Smith invited being burned in effigy by announcing a $32 increase in the motor vehicle levy from 1 July 2009. The petrol levy will also rise from 9.34 cents per litre to 9.90 cents per litre at the same time. The fact that this comes on top of a $50 increase last year serves only to rub salt in the public's wounds, underscoring the importance of making the case. Smith's reluctance to take this step has been evident, but does little to deal with the political time bomb with which it is faced. Of the increases, the Minister said “I am confident with the changes the new Government is making in ACC that such large increases will not be repeated again next year.” He will be held to that.
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Bills Introduced / First ReadingInsolvency Amendment Bill Bills Before Select CommitteesFranklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill Open for submissions
Submissions closed
Bills Passed Third ReadingNil Acts AssentedCorrections Amendment Act 2009 RegulationsCopyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 Commencement Amendment Order 2009 Select Committee HearingsAs with the last edition of Watching Brief, most Committees met in the last fortnight and most concentrated on Crown agency financial reviews. Other topics discussed at Committees are detailed below. Commerce Committee Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee The Committee heard from the Minister for Climate Change Issues, Nick Smith. Dr Smith explained the Government's policy process for the ETS to assist the Committee when reviewing submissions and reviewing the ETS. Dr Smith said, in summary:
The final point about leading the world in agricultural research is interesting because there is no indication as to who will pay for such research. In 2003 National vehemently opposed the idea of a producer levy to fund research into ruminant emissions, culminating in the "fart tax" protest at Parliament which saw Shane Ardern MP drive a tractor up Parliament's steps. Clearly that funding option will not be dusted off. Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee The Committee also received a report from the Ministry of Justice on the petition of Heinz Rosenberg, a man convicted in 1943 of being in possession of a United States military uniform under now-repealed emergency regulations. Legislation In The WingsCorrections Act 2004 amendments allowing for private management of prisons.
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There all the Honours LieOn Sunday the Prime Minister announced that New Zealand would reintroduce knighthoods and damehoods. Henceforth the top two tiers of the New Zealand Order of Merit will be Knights and Dames Grand Companion ("GNZM") and Knights and Dames Companion ("KNZM" and "DNZM") and styled "Sir" or "Dame". The GNZM and KNZM/DNZM replace the New Zealand Order of Merit's Principal Companion ("PCNZM") and Distinguished Companion ("DCNZM"), respectively. The first new knights and dames will be announced in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List. Those invested as PCNZMs and DCNZMs between 2000 and 2009 can elect to retain their non-titular honours or instead accept a knighthood or damehood. New Zealand's honours system is complicated. For a nation of four million people we have three royal honours: the exclusive 20-member Order of New Zealand ("ONZ"), the five-tier New Zealand Order of Merit and the Queen's Service Order ("QSO") with its attendant medal ("QSM"). Canada and Australia, meanwhile, both get by with single three-tier royal honours (you can be a Companion, Office or Member of the Order of Australia or Order of Canada - that's it). A defining feature of New Zealand's honours system is the ad hoc nature of its development. The QSO and QSM were introduced in 1977 to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee and the ONZ in 1987 to recognise our brightest stars. In 1996 the Bolger Government replaced all imperial honours with the New Zealand Order of Merit. The Prime Minister's advisory committee recommended the abolition of titles for the top two tiers. The Cabinet rejected the recommendation and kept titles. The Labour Government abolished knighthoods in May 2000. The pre-nominal titles and post-nominal letters are confusing. The ceremony and background to honours is ancient and arcane. But one thing is clear: affixing Sir or Dame to someone's name is a good way to recognise their achievements and community contribution. What's also clear is that the ongoing integrity of our honours system requires that it remains settled so that it is not tarnished by appearing to be a political football. The Prime Minister also announced that he would continue the practice adopted by the last Labour Government of not recommending appointments to the Privy Council, meaning there will not be any more "Right Honourables". In 1999 Simon Upton and Wyatt Creech were the last MPs appointed Privy Councillors (Rt Hon Helen Clark was appointed to the Council in 1990 when Deputy Prime Minister). Ministers of the Crown will still be styled "the Honourable". It's not quite back to the future. Foreshore and Seabed ReviewAttorney-General, Chris Finlayson, recently announced a review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. The confidence and supply agreement between the National and Māori parties provides for the review. The ministerial panel comprises Hon Justice Eddie Durie DCNZM (chairperson), Assoc Prof Richard Boast and Hana O'Regan. The catalyst for the legislation was a Court of Appeal decision in 2003 in which the Court held that the litigants could test whether they enjoyed title to the foreshore and seabed. The terms of reference requires the ministerial panel go back to first principles and assesses the validity of the legislation. The terms or reference ask the ministerial panel to provide independent advice on:
The ministerial panel will also:
The ministerial panel must submit its report to the Attorney-General by 30 June 2009. Commerce Commission releases draft carbon guidelinesThe Commerce Commission continues in its fight against "green wash": misleading and deceptive claims about the environmental merits of products or services. Following on from last year's release of Green Marketing Guidelines, the Commission last week released draft guidelines for claims about carbon. The draft carbon guidelines are intended to help businesses comply with the Fair Trading Act 1986. The draft carbon guidelines make clear that false or misleading representations about the carbon emissions (or sequestration) from a product or service can result in prosecution by the Commission. The Commission identifies the most relevant (and potentially misleading) carbon claims as:
The draft guidelines also consider specific pitfalls in carbon-related advertising. The pitfalls include false carbon offset claims, low carbon claims and carbon neutrality claims. The Commission cites, as an example, a manufacturer of motorcycles which offset the emissions for the production of each bike. When advertising the motorcycles the manufacturer could claim that the emissions from the making of the motorcycle had been offset. Conversely, a claim that the motorcycles were "carbon neutral" would likely mislead the public. The draft carbon guidelines are further evidence of the seriousness with which the Commission now treats environmental advertising claims, something shared by Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission. Consultation on the draft carbon guidelines ends on 3 April 2009. The draft guidelines are available here. Regulation ReviewsRodney Hide has taken to his newly-created position of Minister of Regulatory Reform with vigour. In the past week he released the first in a series of what he described variously as regulations "past their use-by date", "plain silly" and which were affecting jobs. Hide identified the following initial targets last week:
The initial list may grow and Hide's targeting could translate into legislation amendment in time. If legislation and regulation repeal does not eventuate then the Regulatory Reform portfolio may simply be an extension of Hide's headline grabbing while in opposition. |
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© Russell McVeagh 2005. All rights reserved.