Over the last two weeks media have been reporting on the pending Cabinet decision as to whether to agree or not to a circa $1 billion spend on significantly extending Waikeria prison (located about 40 kilometers south of Hamilton). The proposal is to build what commentators described as a ‘mega
Day: March 9, 2018
Last week the Mental Health Commissioner, Kevin Allan, released a Monitoring and Advocacy Report, regarding mental health and addiction services. This report is well timed as a feeder into the Government’s Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry. (The inquiry is just commencing and will report back to the Minister of Health
This morning the Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, signed New Zealand up to the ‘Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership’ (CPTPP, formally known as the TPP). The ‘free’ trade deal with ten other Pacific-rim nations will remove tariffs on circa $10 trillion worth of products.
On Wednesday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, released a report to Parliament on climate change reduction initiatives. In essence, to achieve the target of the 2015 ‘Paris Accord’ of which New Zealand is a signatory – i.e. to hold the increase in global temperature to well below