Daily review 04/02/2025

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 5 comments
Categories: Daily review

Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

5 comments on “Daily review 04/02/2025”

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  1. 1

    This government is unlikely to ever deliver a budget surplus.

    It is facing years of tight government spending (imagine the wage rounds), apparently it will be unable to afford to maintain infrastructure maintenance and afford its school and hospital and road build plans.

    The scene for a Treasury-coalition "TINA narrative" is set.

    Luxons plan for assets sales and ACT policy to have the private sector own buildings (new and existing?) and lease them back to government.

    But election 2026 is looming and

    It paves the way for a 2026 election campaign which is likely to involve a battle on the issue of taxation and the role higher levels of tax might play in rebuilding the balance sheet without cutting services.

    https://archive.li/YRcqr#selection-3917.0-3970.1

    1. 1.1

      Central and local governments need to weigh up the cost of insurance versus investment to offset New Zealand's high risk of natural disasters and a changing climate, the Infrastructure Commission says.

      "On an inflation-adjusted, per-person basis, public infrastructure is now worth 70 percent more that it was in 1990. So, the cost of replacing it after a natural disaster is rising at the same time as the likelihood of a disaster is rising," he said.

      "It's more important than ever to make good decisions about when and how to reduce risks and minimise costs."

      He said the last review of insurance coverage for public assets was undertaken more than 10 years ago and found less than half of public assets were insured.

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/540925/government-needs-to-weigh-cost-of-insurance-vs-investment

  4. 4

    Aaron Smale draws some lessons from the abuse in state care, to wonder about the Crown, and lack of government accountability.

    As the late legal academic and activist Moana Jackson once said to me, “Never mind tikanga. The crown can’t even follow its own laws.” I’d add that the crown can’t be held accountable when it breaks its own laws.

    So, before we get ourselves into a lather about the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi or what rights Māori have or don’t have, maybe we should first take a look at this thing called the crown

    Our parliamentary majority government acts via the Crown. And yet the Crown is supposed to ensure the accountability of governance.

    Maybe we should move to a more independent Crown framework. And secure functioning institutions.

    Not the course chosen by this government so far.

    https://archive.li/rtQXk#selection-1225.0-1229.191

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