National's Carl Bates

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people rallied in Auckland calling for the government to sanction Israel for their actions and violence in Gaza. 

While politicians across the spectrum have responded to the protests with a mix of support and disapproval, the New Zealand government is not expected to announce their official decision on the recognition of a Palestinian state until a General Assembly in New York next week. 

Following the government’s announcement to get rid of NCEA in favour of a new system, Education Minister Erica Stanford has revealed numerous subjects to join the senior school curriculum, which will include the incorporation of generative AI.

Finally, the New Zealand Herald published information last week pertaining to MP Carl Bates’ failure to disclose 25 properties to Parliament, against what has been argued as a ‘breach of public trust’.

Wire Host Sara spoke with National MP Bates about all of these topics, starting with the pro-Palestine rally.

In the past week, we’ve seen several noteworthy legislative moves across sectors. 

First, the government is seeking to address New Zealand’s supermarket duopoly as the cost of groceries for kiwi remains high across the motu. 

Economic Minister Nicola Willis announced numerous legislative changes that she hopes will improve supermarket competition in New Zealand.

Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has also shared some proposed changes to the Alcohol Sale and Supply Act, including limiting barriers to the approval of liquor licenses and making it easier to provide alcohol in special circumstances.

Finally, Defence Minister Judith Collins has approved changes that make it easier for the Defence Force to cover the operations of striking workers. 

Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke to Bates about these topics.

In recent weeks, the central government has pushed through numerous amendments to the Resource Management Act, in an effort to help streamline consent processes for corporations.

However, these changes— in particular ones surrounding freshwater planning and waterway pollution requirements — have been criticised especially by environmental advocates as disregarding the negative impacts to the environment and affording too much power to financial interests in the case of natural resource management.

As well, this past week Education Minister Erica Stanford announced a proposal to ban books with “too much” reo Māori in them from early learning materials in the ‘Ready to Read phonics scheme’. 

While she justifies the changes as being of genuine literary necessity for children’s learning, many have contended the changes as an act of racism against te reo Māori which asserts white supremacy in the education system.

On Thursday last week, the coalition government passed legislation to reverse the ban on oil and gas exploration — a ban which had been initiated by the previous government in 2018.

Minister Shane Jones who drove the reversal, highlighted the impact of the ban on economic growth and energy supply in New Zealand. Opposition parties have voiced concerns about the impact of this decision for New Zealand’s climate commitments.

As well, yesterday Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announced an overhaul of the NCEA system, to be replaced with qualifications that they say will be better to understand, and more aligned with international standards.

Finally, as the United States places 15% tariffs on NZ exports, the Labour party have said the government needs to do more to strengthen our trade relationships to avoid a rise in the cost of living for kiwis.

Host Sara spoke with National MP Carl Bates about all these topics. Sara started by asking him to explain the government’s decision to reverse the ban on oil and gas exploration in New Zealand.