On Wednesday the parliamentary committee stage of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill was completed, and the bill reported back with minor amendments. (Refer to Pānui edition 7/2012 for details on Māori views regarding this matter.) The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading and Other Matters) Amendment
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Last week we advised that the Government had released its first ‘progress report’ on its Business Growth Agenda (BGA), which related to exporting. We noted three of the six goals had references to actions involving Māori. This Tuesday the next BGA report was released, and is focused on innovation (i.e.
On Thursday the Ministry of Social Development released its annual research report on standards of living in New Zealand. This is entitled Household incomes in New Zealand: Trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2011. Using data from Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry, the report presents a
On Wednesday the Government released a report entitled, Delivering better public services: supporting vulnerable children. As the name suggests, this document seeks to demonstrate how the Better Public Service Goals align with policy changes to better protect and care for vulnerable children.[1] (For details on the Better Public Service Goals
On Monday, the Education Review Office announced that it would no longer publish school decile information. This is in response to media discussion of greater social stratification in the school system (‘white flight’), and the suggestion that the information was being ‘misused’. We have outlined this matter previously, noting that
Last week we informed you that the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General had established a Māori reference group for the purpose of advising on audits relating to Māori education (refer Pānui 28/2012). We have now completed our review of the ‘context’ framework developed to guide this work programme.[1] The
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has appointed Arihia Bennett (Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Ngāti Waewae, Ngāti Porou) to the role of Chief Executive Officer. This week the Serious Fraud Office has confirmed it will investigate matters relating to the Wellington Tenths Trust, following allegations of unlawful payments and transactions. Sir Ngātata Love
This week the Ngāpuhi Treaty Settlement entity, Tūhoronuku, has indicated that mandate negotiations with Ngāti Hine have not reached a satisfactory resolution. (The Crown-appointed negotiator, Tukoroirangi Morgan, was facilitating mediation.) Therefore Tūhoronuku has indicated that it will now request the Crown to formally recognise its mandate, in order to progress
On Wednesday the Ministry of Health published information on suicides in 2010. The data (age standardised) shows Māori continue to have the highest suicide rate, 16.0 per 100,000 (104 people); compared to 10.4 per 100,000 for non-Māori. The Māori youth suicide rate was 35.3 per 100,000: more than 2.5 times
On Tuesday Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett, released a Summary of Submissions on the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. (Note the summary is actually 176 pages analysing emerging themes from submissions, but there is also a separately published 16-page executive summary, and a one-page truncated summary.) In addition, approximately 600
On Wednesday the Government released its first ‘progress report’ on its Business Growth Agenda. The report – which reads like a strategy – is focused on exporting. [By way of background, the Business Growth Agenda is the Government’s plan for improving New Zealand’s economic performance. It has six focus areas,
Dr Mere Berryman, Lorraine Kerr, Professor Angus Macfarlane, Professor Wally Penetito, and Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith have been appointed as an advisory group to the Auditor General, for the purpose of the auditor’s investigation into Māori education. Lorraine Kerr has been elected president of the New Zealand School Trustees Association.
This week a Waitangi Tribunal claim was lodged by a group of seven people seeking an urgent hearing into the Crown’s approach to settlement matters relating to Mahurangi and Tāmaki Makaurau. The group is of the view that the proposed settlement does not have regard for Ngāpuhi and other groupings
Last week we advised that the Government had requested that the Waitangi Tribunal report back on WAI 2358, the water and geothermal resources claim, by 24 August. (Our view was that the request was reasonable, given the Tribunal’s acceptance of the significance of the policy programme affected by the claim.)
This week the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Ministerial Committee on Poverty, (Bill English and Tariana Turia respectively), released a joint press statement on the work of the Committee. By way of background, this (non-Cabinet) Committee was agreed to within the Relationship Accord (i.e. the parliamentary confidence and supply