Quai D’Orsay and Lambton Quay share a nightmare

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade must now begin the difficult and counter-ideological process of accepting that Marine Le Pen’s National Front Party might win the pending Presidential Election in France.

The reason is that Miss Le Pen has pledged to extricate France from both the EU and also the eurocurrency.

Miss Le Pen (pictured) and her party according to the polls is now the front runner to take over the Presidency and thus the government of France.

The former Prime Minister Francois Fillon has dropped in the polls following revelations that the leader of the Republican (i.e. Conservative) Party had while serving President Sarkozy put most of his family on the parliamentary payroll for performing duties that still remain unclear.

The second-line Republican Party candidate Alain Juppe has ruled himself out from succeeding the beleaguered Mr Fillon, partly because Mr Juppe, also a former premier, had also been mixed up in what the French describe as “fictitious employees.”

This leaves Miss Le Pen, followed by Emmanuel Macron the youthful former economics minister under President Francois Hollande.

Mr Macron in exiting the government of President Hollande did not wait to become adopted by an existing party. He simply formed his own France En Marche—France on the Move.

The Socialist Party led by Mr Hollande is simply not in the running, and does not feature in any of the polls as a realistic winner.

All this is bad news of course on Quay D’ Orsay and equally on Lambton Quay. On the quays the fervent hope was that while Miss Le Pen’s National Front might win the first round in the election, the once solid-seeming Mr Fillon would wash her away in the second round.

If the current polls hold water also washed away will be two years worth of negotiations in formal support of the EU-New Zealand trade liberalisation agreement.

Also swept aside will be the European Commission’s mandate to put the trade deal into action.

The reason is that France’s departure from the EU, and it is likely to be abrupt if Miss Le Pen takes charge, will invalidate the central axis of the union which is the German-French one.

France is the link between the Nordic/ Teutonic zone and the Mediterranean member countries.

It is uncertain if New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has charted a contingency plan in the now likely chance that Miss Le Pen and her party will emerge victorious from the imminent general election in France.

But given last year’s upsets in the US and the UK a suitable such contingency scheme would be to have ready a shrink-wrapped substitute deal with the EU’s northern nations.

The victory of President Donald Trump in the United States indicated that the New Zealand apparatus did not lay any groundwork, notably alternatives, for an event that it most ardently hoped would not in fact happen.

To an only slightly less extent the Brexit development is a similar indicator in an antipodean belief in the status quo.

|  From the MSCMewsWire reporters' desk  |  Thursday 9 March 2017  ||

Trade Minister Todd McClay and European Union Trade Commissioner Cecelia Malmström have agreed the completion of joint scoping discussions towards an EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement (FTA) following a meeting in Brussels today.

After almost 2 years of discussion, reaching this significant milestone means the FTA process now enters a new phase, where the Commission and New Zealand will seek respective mandates to commence negotiations.

"Today’s meeting was an important demonstration of our commitment to launch negotiations as soon as possible in 2017," Mr McClay says.

“New Zealand and the EU both recognise there are substantial benefits to be gained from free trade, and we are now one step closer to a high-quality, comprehensive FTA that can deliver great outcomes for our citizens.”

Mr McClay and Commissioner Malmström also agreed that officials should look at ways to engage the public on trade issues. Mr McClay said the EU undertakes a number of trade events during negotiations which might suit New Zealand.

"With this in mind, I have invited Commissioner Malmström to visit New Zealand later this year. The Commissioner has accepted this invitation," Mr McClay says.

|  A Beehive release  |  March 08, 2017  ||

The Government’s books are better than expected, with a $1.1 billion OBEGAL surplus for the seven months to January, Finance Minister Steven Joyce says.

“Stronger tax revenues as a result of a healthier economy are flowing through to the Government’s financial performance,” Mr Joyce says.

Tax revenues year-to-date are 3.8 per cent more than they were predicted to be in Budget 2016.

“Company tax in particular is higher than expected, and that reflects the good performance of New Zealand companies in what is still an uncertain world,” Mr Joyce says.

The $1.1 billion OBEGAL surplus compares to Treasury’s forecast of a $517 million surplus at the start of the fiscal year.

Core Crown expenses for the seven months to January were $234 million lower than the Budget forecast, reflecting the Government’s ongoing commitment to prudent spending.

Mr Joyce says that a number of variables made the final out-turn for the full financial year hard to predict.

“The biggest variable at this stage is the cost of the Kaikoura earthquake and how those are allocated between this year and next year,” Mr Joyce says.

“The good news is that this Government’s strong economic management means we can afford to step in to help these communities and support them when they are most in need.

|  A Beehive release  |  March 07, 2017  ||

Trade Minister Todd McClay will travel to Brussels for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union (EU) this weekend and will then go on to London for a meeting of Commonwealth Trade Ministers.

'The simple aim of my visit to Brussels is to meaningfully advance efforts to commence our FTA negotiations with the EU,' Mr McClay says.

'The EU is our third largest trading partner with annual two-trade closing in on $21 billion. It is immensely important that we continue to fight on behalf of our exporters for improved access and reduced tariffs.'

In London, Mr McClay will look to progress discussion on ways the Commonwealth can expand trade between members. He will also chair a roundtable discussion with his ministerial counterparts before meeting bilaterally with British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox.

'This is an excellent chance to discuss the direct trade opportunities that arise for New Zealand in a post-Brexit environment,' Mr McClay says.

'New Zealand is a trading nation, trade liberalisation and fair access to markets are essential for the continued growth and stability of our economy.'

| A Public release  |  March 05, 2017  ||

Foreign Minister Murray McCully travels to the Gulf region this weekend for meetings in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.

“Our relationships with this important region are growing at a great pace and my visit will be an opportunity to continue discussions about priority areas, including the NZ-GCC FTA, regional security issues and cooperation in areas such as renewable energy,” Mr McCully says.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, is New Zealand’s eighth largest trading partner, with annual two-way trade exceeding $3.2 billion NZ dollars.

“The relationship with the GCC has grown remarkably in a very short space of time, underpinned by forty two air services per week between the Gulf and New Zealand, an increase of 50% since 2013,” Mr McCully says.

"Our economies are highly complementary, and there is huge potential for greater cooperation. The NZ-GCC FTA will help deliver on that potential and I look forward to discussing this opportunity on my visit.”

| A Beehive release  |  March 06, 2017  ||

Five Questions for Dr Don Brash..............................

Nobody today in so many different roles and for quite so long has stood at the centre of public life so enduringly as Don Brash. Economist, businessman, banker, politician, the former Governor of the Reserve Bank and leader of the National Party has defied typecasting. At one and the same time severe yet extravagant, austere yet colourful, scholarly yet populist, he has contrived always to reconfigure himself around the times. Now he has stridently intervened in institutionally-fuelled separatism. Shrouded in a protective veneer of high-minded fashionable purpose that makes ordinary people fearful to question it, Dr Brash vehemently, unequivocally declares the voguish syndrome as ultimately destined to tear the nation apart......

You are often considered to be at heart primarily concerned with matters economic and their corresponding data. Yet here you are now immersing yourself in what many might consider a socio-ethical issue?

Yes, most of my career has been about monetary policy, banking, and economic issues more generally. But my interest in economics has always been because of my interest in the well-being of society more generally. I have long felt, for example, that it will be difficult or impossible to maintain a broadly egalitarian society in New Zealand – the kind of society in which I was brought up – if average living standards fall too far below those in Australia because of the ease with which skilled New Zealanders can cross the Tasman for very much higher incomes in Sydney or Melbourne.

If we want the kind of healthcare which those in advanced developed countries take for granted, we have to have the living standards to support that healthcare. A few years ago, there was a big debate about whether Pharmac should subsidize the provision of Herceptin for the treatment of certain kinds of breast cancer, and it was noted that Australia did so. The fact of the matter was that at that time virtually all the countries which subsidized access to Herceptin had higher living standards than New Zealand did; those which did not provide a subsidy, had lower living standards – we were right on the cusp. For me, interest in economics has always been about the implications of economic policy for the well-being of society.

Hence, I was strongly opposed to inflation in part at least because of the totally capricious effects which inflation has on wealth distribution – those who save in fixed interest instruments being thoroughly gutted by inflation, while those who borrow heavily to invest in, say, property, make huge and totally untaxed gains with little or no effort. That has always seemed to me to be grossly unjust.

Will the Hobson’s Pledge Movement become a force in the pending general election?I certainly hope so. I find it very depressing that the National Party has moved such a long way from its roots in this policy area. In 2002, Bill English gave a lengthy and very thoughtful speech, demonstrating clearly that Maori chiefs had ceded sovereignty in signing the Treaty and arguing that the only way for a peaceful future for New Zealand was a “single standard of citizenship for all”.

In May 2003, he pledged that a future National Government would scrap separate Maori electorates, as the Royal Commission on the Electoral System had recommended in the late eighties if MMP were adopted. I made similar commitments when I was Leader of the National Party, as did John Key in the election campaign of 2008. And yet we’ve seen the National-led Government retreat a very long way from that position.

I applaud the fact that the current Government has accelerated the resolution of historical grievances, but utterly deplore the fact that too often resolution has involved not just financial redress but also “co-governance”.

We see the proposed amendment to the RMA requiring all local councils to invite their local tribes into so-called “iwi participation agreements”, involving co-governance on a grand scale. We saw the legislation establishing the Auckland super-city requiring an Independent Maori Statutory Board, with the Auckland Council giving members of that unelected Board voting rights on most Auckland Council committees.

We see the Government negotiating behind closed doors with the so-called Iwi Leaders Group to give tribes some form of special influence over the allocation of water, despite pretending to believe that “nobody owns water”. We see a proposal to make half the members of the Hauraki Gulf Forum tribal appointees.

The myth that the Treaty of Waitangi created some kind of “partnership” between Maori on the one hand (or more accurately, those who can claim at least one Maori ancestor, always now along with ancestors of other ethnicities) and the rest of us on the other is increasingly accepted as Holy Writ, subscribing to which is becoming essential for many positions in the public sector.

So I’m very much hoping that Hobson’s Pledge can help to substantially reverse this highly undemocratic drift after the next election.

You say that the National government is “pandering” to “separatist demands.” Which of these demands do you consider the most dangerous?

Where do I start? I’ve just listed some of the specific policies which are totally inconsistent with any reasonable definition of democracy. Most of those specific policies stem from the underlying myth that the Treaty established some kind of “partnership” between those with a Maori ancestor and those of us without, as I’ve just mentioned. But as David Lange said in the Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture in 2000, “the Court of Appeal once, absurdly, described [the Treaty] as a partnership between races, but it obviously is not. The Treaty itself contains no principles which can usefully guide government or courts.... To go further than that is to acknowledge the existence of undemocratic forms of rights, entitlements, or sovereignty.”

All the specific examples I gave in answer to the previous question stem from the underlying nonsense that there are two (and only two!) distinct groups of New Zealanders, those with preferential constitutional rights and those without them. This is leading New Zealand to disaster with a whole generation of part-Maori believing that they really do have superior constitutional rights to the rest of us.

To what degree would you ascribe this separatist development agitation as being primarily a project of the political class from whatever background?

Certainly, I think what you call the “political class” is the main driver of this separatist agitation, together with arguably most of the educational establishment, where adherence to so-called “Treaty principles” seems to be an absolute prerequisite for appointment to any teaching or leadership position.

The same is true in the public healthcare sector. But there is plenty of evidence that large numbers of the “general public” do not support the separatist agenda but are literally cowed into silence on the issue.

I regularly get people sidle up to me in the street and, after looking furtively up and down the street lest they are recognized by friends or acquaintances, tell me that they strongly agree with me. One university professor did this recently, but swore me not to mention his name or university department. And some of these people are Maori.

Of course, Hobson’s Pledge has two official spokespeople, one of whom is me and the other is Casey Costello, a woman of Ngapuhi and Anglo-Irish ancestry. But two of our very strongest supporters (though not members of our council) are Maori – one a prominent member of the Ngapuhi tribe and the other Ngati Porou.

The latter was a member of our council when we first established Hobson’s Pledge but, because he is closely associated with a political party, withdrew lest his membership of Hobson’s Pledge raise a question about whether we are a front for the political party he is closely associated with.

He resents the separatist agenda because he believes strongly that it is patronizing, implying that Maori aren’t quite good enough to make it successfully without these constitutional preferences.

Bearing in mind your underpinning career in banking, economics and looking now at the broader picture: where is the country now in your view in terms of nuts and bolts things such as balance of payments and foreign debt?

Compared with some other countries, we are in a good spot, with the economy growing, unemployment fairly low and government debt modest relative to GDP. Our banking sector is in reasonable shape. Even the extent of the country’s (public and private sector) total net external indebtedness is somewhat better than it was a decade ago, though still high by developed country standards.

But there are significant problems just below the surface of that apparently rosy picture. Yes, the economy is growing, but that is largely because the number of people in the workforce is growing strongly because of a high level of net immigration: productivity, and thus per capita income, is growing very slowly indeed, and the Government’s initial objective of closing the income gap with Australia by 2025 is not only not going to be achieved, the gap hasn’t reduced materially over the last eight years.

The ratio of government debt to GDP is modest by the standards of many other developed countries, but the Key Government did absolutely nothing to prepare the population for the need to adjust, for example, the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation if government debt is not to explode, relative to GDP, over the next few decades. (Mr English, to his credit, has refused to renew Mr Key’s pledge on this issue.)

And while the country’s net external indebtedness, relative to GDP, has improved somewhat in recent years, that external indebtedness remains at a high level, the consequence of New Zealand’s running a current account balance of payments deficit every year since 1974. Much of that deficit has been funded by banks borrowing on the international markets to fund the explosion of private sector housing debt, the result in turn of another serious policy failing, the failure to deal with the enormous increase in the price of housing (or more accurately, of residential land).

|  From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  | Friday 3 March 2017  |

Nominations are now open for the 2017 New Zealand Youth Awards, Youth Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

“These awards recognise and celebrate young New Zealanders who have achieved outstanding results, as well as those who have made a significant contribution towards supporting young people in their communities,” says Ms Kaye.

Up to 50 people and organisations across eight different award categories will be recognised in 2017.

“The categories this year celebrate qualities such as leadership, giving back and being a change maker, as well as young people who have supported youth activities in areas such as the arts, culture, sport or the environment,” says Ms Kaye.

“There are also awards for youth groups and individuals or organisations who have supported or championed young people in any type of activity.

“A new category this year is the Youth Enterprise Award. This will recognise demonstration of business acumen, innovation and/or social responsibility by a young person or youth-led enterprise.

“I encourage community leaders, youth workers, parents, teachers and young people themselves to nominate someone who deserves recognition for their achievements.”

In 2016, recipients of Youth Awards included a joint leader of a student-led anti-cyber bullying group, the founder of an organisation created to address issues of gender equality, the creator of a website designed to support and inform dyslexic youth and a group of 20 young people who built a youth centre for their Marae.

“There’s a huge number of talented and committed young people and supporters in New Zealand who are leading change, innovating and creating solutions,” says Ms Kaye.

“The New Zealand Youth Awards are an opportunity to shine a spotlight on their leadership and the contributions they’re making to their communities.”

Applications close at midday on Wednesday 22 March 2017. The award winners will be formally recognised at a celebratory event at Parliament on Wednesday 12 April 2017.

For more information, go to https://nzyouthawards.org.nz

Notes

2017 New Zealand Youth Awards categories

In 2017, there are ten awards across eight categories. Up to five recipients for each award will be selected by a panel including young people.

Change Maker Award (LGBTI)

For young people who have created positive change in, or for, the LGBTI community.

Change Maker Award (Cultural)

For young people who have created positive change to foster cultural understanding in their community.

Change Maker Award (Community Safety)

For young people who have created positive change, resulting in a safer environment for young people in their community.

Leadership Award

For young people who have demonstrated their leadership in a project or organisation.

Giving Back Award

For young people whose actions address a current need and have had a significant impact on their community.

Working for Youth Award

For young people whose actions specifically support other young people in areas including, but not limited to, the arts, culture, the environment or sport.

Youth with Disability Award

For young people with a disability who have made a significant contribution to the disability sector and/or their community.

Youth Group Award

For a group of young people who have made a significant contribution to their community in areas including but not limited to, the arts, culture, the environment or sport.

Youth Champion Award

For an individual or organisation who has made a significant contribution to young people in areas including but not limited to, the arts, culture, education, the environment, health, research or sport.

Youth Enterprise Award

For an individual or a youth-led enterprise which has demonstrated business acumen, innovation and/or social responsibility.

|  A Beehive release  |  February 28, 2017  ||

Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges, Associate Primary Industries Minister Louise Upston and other Ministers are in Gisborne today for the release of the Tairāwhiti Economic Action Plan, highlighting the Government’s support for the region.

The plan has been developed by Tairāwhiti people for the community and represents a shared investment in the future. The plan’s development was led by the Tairāwhiti Action Plan Governance Group and is supported through the Government’s Regional Growth Programme.

It articulates opportunities identified by the region and represents their priorities for the next five years.

“Growing Tairāwhiti tourism to attract more visitors, upgrading state highways, improving digital connection, and growing skills so that businesses are better supported by the labour force are all actions identified by the region as needed in order to grow and thrive,” says Mr Bridges.

It is linked to, and has been launched alongside, the Tairāwhiti Māori Economic Development Report which focuses on a Māori economic perspective.

“The dual launch demonstrates the desire for a regional approach to economic development and to recognise that Māori have a critical role to play in boosting economic growth,” says Mr Bridges.

Tairāwhiti is a small economy underpinned by an export-focused agriculture sector.

“The East Coast has a comparative advantage and is internationally competitive in the primary sectors including forestry, beef and lamb, horticulture and viticulture,” Ms Upston says.

“25 per cent of regional GDP and 26 per cent of employment is in the primary sectors and through the Action Plan we will stimulate sustainable primary industry growth to create more jobs and improved environmental performance,” Ms Upston says.

Regional economic development is a key government priority and is supported by the Regional Growth Programme.

The programme is co-led by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, and the Ministry of Primary Industries, with other government agencies, to increase jobs, income and investment in regional New Zealand.

More information can be found at http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/regions-cities/regional-growth-programme/gisborne-tairawhiti

|  A Beehive release  |  February 28, 2017  ||

A major new campaign to stop people littering aims to change behaviour and to educate people, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith and Parliamentary Private Secretary Scott Simpson announced today at National’s Bluegreen Forum in Auckland.

“Litter is a risk to New Zealand’s clean green brand and the best solution is where everyone responsibly disposes of their waste. That is why the Government is investing $3 million in a behavioural change campaign, the development of education materials and a national litter survey to help ensure we keep New Zealand beautiful.”

“The environmental harm from litter is not just the aesthetics but the harm plastic, paper and cans can do our waterways, marine environment and to wildlife. There is also the risk to New Zealand’s clean green brand.”

The ‘Do the Right Thing’ initiative will be funded through a grant to Keep New Zealand Beautiful from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund. This is the most generous support the Government has ever given Keep New Zealand Beautiful. The criteria for the fund was changed in 2016 by the Government to included improved litter management. The education component will be run through the Enviroschools organisation and the information campaign aligned with the Packaging Forum.

“Keep New Zealand Beautiful is an iconic kiwi institution and it is fitting in its 50th year we back this trusted name and organisation with the job of getting Kiwis to ‘Do The Right Thing’,” Dr Smith says.

“This funding includes support for national litter survey data. This will enable areas to celebrate being New Zealand’s tidiest kiwis and for those being the worst to be shamed into lifting their game. This data will be used to recognise at the Green Ribbon Awards those groups and communities that best live up to the Keep New Zealand Beautiful ambition.”

For more information on the Waste Minimisation Fund visit http://www.mfe.govt.nz/more/funding/waste-minimisation-fund/about-waste-minimisation-fund

For more information about Keep New Zealand Beautiful visit http://www.knzb.org.nz/

|  A Beehive release  |  February 26, 2017  ||

The trans-Tasman patent attorney regime, a system for joint regulation of patent attorneys in Australia and New Zealand, is now in effect, helping to create a seamless trans-Tasman business environment.

Reforms as part of the Single Economic Market agenda, agreed to by the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand in 2009, have created a single body to regulate patent attorneys in both countries.

The trans-Tasman patent attorney regime is designed to increase business confidence in the service provided by patent attorneys, to streamline processes, to minimise the cost of regulating patent attorneys in both countries, and to facilitate competition in the market for patent attorney services.

Patent attorneys in Australia and New Zealand will be on a single register. New attorneys will be registered under a single set of requirements, and will be subject to a single code of conduct and single disciplinary process.

Existing Australian and New Zealand attorneys will be automatically transferred to the new joint register.

The Professional Standards Board will continue, but will be renamed the trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board, with an expanded membership.

Senator Arthur Sinodinos, the Australian Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, said the new regime was a logical and sensible step.

“The majority of Australian and New Zealand patent attorneys are already registered in both countries,” Senator Sinodinos said.

“Removing barriers for patent attorneys and encouraging competition are key elements that will help drive productivity, innovation and industry growth for both countries.”

The New Zealand Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Jacqui Dean said the two countries had a close relationship.

“New Zealand and Australia have a longstanding and close relationship, but this is the first time a profession will be truly regulated, in a unified way on a trans-Tasman basis”, Ms Dean said.

The necessary legislation implementing the trans-Tasman patent attorney regime will take effect in both countries on 24 February 2017.

|  A Beehive release  |  February 24, 2017  ||