Mana | Movement of the People

Government Bills

Parliament sat for three weeks this month – 5-7 November, 12-14 November, and 19-21 November. The key bills up for debate were:

• New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill: The government passed this Bill into law over the first two sitting weeks and MANA opposed it all the way. The Bill allows Sky City to expand their casino operations to the tune of 230 new pokie machines and 52 new gambling tables for the next 35 years, in return for building a convention centre. An independent analysis by KordaMentha concluded that on a worst-case basis the deal would work out to be fiscally neutral for Sky City – which other independent experts pointed out actually means Sky City will do very, very well out of it. And it’s going ahead despite the government’s own Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment pointing out to them that a new convention centre would not be worth the increase in relationship breakdowns, depression, suicide, family violence, money laundering, job losses, problem gambling, and financial problems. See the MANA website, www.mana.org.nz, for Hone’s media statement against the Bill where he said that the only winners out of the deal will be Sky City and the National and Labour MPs they’ve showered with gifts over the years to keep them on-side. MANA will actively campaign to repeal the legislation after the election.
• Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill: This Bill, profiled in the last MANA in Parliament October summary, also passed its third and final reading this month. MANA continued to oppose it and is continuing to push the GCSB to release the names of those New Zealanders it has illegally spied on … watch this space!
• Social Housing Reform (Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Amendment) Bill: This was another highly controversial and problematic Bill the government pushed through this month – and which MANA continued to oppose at all stages. Research shows that one of the worst things for state housing tenants, in terms of their health and wellbeing and future prospects, is for governments to introduce ‘reviewable tenancies’ so that they don’t have a secure home to live in. It clearly signals the government’s intention to walk away from providing housing by reviewing more and more people out of state homes and into the private rental market (with ever-increasing rents and haphazard quality) or into the social housing sector … and this despite a severe housing shortage crisis where more and more families are ending up homeless. While the Bill’s provisions may seem to enable the growth of social housing by extending the income-related rents subsidy to community housing providers, it does so in a way which will reduce the overall availability of low-income housing by using a model of competition and compliance that will be inflexible and unworkable – again leaving the costly private rental market as ‘the answer’. These changes will further entrench poverty and disadvantage in a greater number of low-income families. MANA continues to push for a reinvigoration of state housing and a commitment to the building of 20,000 new state homes each year until the housing crisis is over to ensure that all New Zealanders can live in a secure, affordable and decent quality home.

Members Bills

Two members bills had their first readings this month:

• Winston Peter’s Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill (No 2): The Bill sought to broaden the function of the Reserve Bank to include other critical macro-economic factors like the exchange rate and employment and not just price stability to combat inflation and keep the economy balanced. MANA supported the Bill but it didn’t receive enough votes to move to the next stage of the law-making process.
• Jami-Lee Ross’ Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill: The purpose of this Bill was to get rid of the section in the Employment Relations Act which prevents employers using volunteers, contractors or other casual employees during a strike or lockout. If passed, it would have meant that workers would have very little bargaining power and very little chance of successfully negotiating with employers when in dispute, especially when unemployment is soaring like it currently is. Luckily the Bill was voted down by all but the National Party MPs and John Banks … but if there’s another National government next year, it’ll be back on the agenda for sure.

Question Time: Children’s Commissioner seeks charitable funding to monitor poverty in NZ

In response to the government refusing to fund core business like monitoring poverty, Hone asked the Minister of Finance, Hon Bill English, if it will now become normal practice for them to dump their good governance obligations onto charitable organisations who should be left to fund hard-up community groups. He also asked what his plans were for the surplus funds he’s indicated will be available in next year’s budget, and if there’ll be anything to help the 150,000 people who are unemployed and the near 4000 people who’d lost their jobs in the last month to get back into work, the 48% who earn less than $25,000 a year, or to feed the 270,000 children living in poverty – or if the government will instead continue to subsidise the likes of Rio Tinto and other mining magnates, banks and failed finance companies, Sky City Casino, Warner Brothers Pictures, wealthy property developers, and the Americas Cup yacht race which tax payers have funded to the tune of $120million? The government’s response was to again deny there is any problem with unemployment and to again push unsustainable, unnecessary, and totally ineffective mining and roading projects as their only solutions to job creation. See the MANA website for our livelihoods, economic justice, and social wellbeing policies which prioritise investment into sustainable and community-centred job creation and family wellbeing.

General Debate: Honouring an international human rights icon

As in the past, Hone used his general debate slot to honour a notable New Zealander – this time former mayor and MP Georgina Beyer, the first transsexual to be elected into both offices, ahead of a fundraising tribute dinner held for her as she battles chronic kidney failure. He told Parliament that he was honouring her because she “teaches us all to be strong in our beliefs, to be true to our history, to never back down from a challenge, and to respect all those who want to be positive contributors to our society regardless of sex, race, creed, and gender.”

Feed the Kids Bill

As advised last month, it was expected that MANA’s Feed the Kids Bill would come up mid-November and we organised a breakfast event at Parliament with the students and staff of Natone Park School in Porirua to help us promote this tino kaupapa. The students did a great job in reminding MPs that there are real kids with real needs and real potential behind MANA’s push to make sure all children in low-decile schools in Aotearoa have breakfast and lunch each school day. We were so impressed with their talent, energy, confidence, humility, and manaaki of one another – they were a real credit to their tumuaki, Kiri Smith, their teachers, their parents, and to themselves. However, time in the debating chamber ran short that day, and with other Bills now higher on the list (as per Parliament rules) the Bill is unlikely to come before Parliament until early next year. In the meantime, Hone and our MANA team in Parliament are continuing to do all we can to get it supported to select committee.

MANA Housing Bill

We are also gearing up to develop another member’s bill for MANA and Hone to promote in 2014 – this one in the area of housing, and housing for low-income families in particular. If you’d like to contribute to this kaupapa, please get in touch with me, all ideas welcomed!

Parliament is in recess this week and the December sitting dates are 3-5 and 10-12 of December.