Politics Central

It has been over a year since occupiers of disputed land at Ihumātao were served with eviction notices prompting thousands of people to flock there to support the occupation and halting Fletcher Building's construction plans.
Mana whenua and others have remained on site for three years to stop Fletcher Building from constructing 480 houses there.
National leader Judith Collins told The Weekend Collective the Ihumātao land dispute is a commercial and inter-family issue, and has nothing to do with the government who should've stayed out of it.
"It's important to know, even though it's a commercial discussion and contract between Fletchers and the people they brought the land from, there is no point at all for the government being involved, they have only delayed matters.
"I actually think Jacinda Ardern's job is to come forward and tell us after years of negotiations and getting involved, where is this deal?"
Collins says the situation has gone on long enough, and needs to be resolved quickly.
"This is getting crazy. People who are sitting there doing nothing, how are they getting paid? How are they living?
"New Zealanders are getting sick of this type of nonsense. This is land which can be used for housing, which is why it was sold to Fletchers in the first place. 
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The Green Party has taken a dig at its other governing parties which haven't released substantial policies by outlining its key battlefronts if returned to power.
It yesterday released a comprehensive 52-page document outlining the bedrock on which it will form its policies and hopes it will be the basis of negotiations to form part of the next Government.
The Greens also launched their campaign slogan and commercials which urge New Zealanders to "think ahead, act now" when they head into the voting booths on September 19.
Co-leader James Shaw told The Weekend Collective the event was strongly received by members and the media, and it couldn't have gone any better.
Mr Shaw says The Greens are going into the election with a set of much more detailed and costed policy priorities for their next term in Government.
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A clash within the South China Sea is now almost inevitable. The US has declared China's territorial grab "illegal". It wants its "bullied" neighbours to stand their ground.
"We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," a US statement issued earlier this week asserts.
It's not a change of opinion. But it is a loud declaration of intent to establish a "line in the sand" that Beijing should not cross.
"The United States is now explicitly declaring it illegal for China to engage in fishing, oil and gas exploration, or other economic activities in those areas, or to interfere with its neighbours' rights to do so," Asia Maritime Initiative senior fellow Gregory Poling says.
"The next time China does engage in illegal harassment of its neighbours within their EEZs [exclusive economic zones], a more forceful US response might lead China to double down out of a sense of nationalism," he added.
China's "wolf-warrior" rhetoric has given it little wiggle room to back down.
"Perhaps now Beijing feels like it's pushed up against a wall," Australian National University School of International Relations doctoral candidate Hunter Marston told news.com.au.
"All these countries are now more or less affirming the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision. Perhaps they [Beijing] say what else do they have to lose? You know, the gloves are off."
And that lays the groundwork for open confrontation.
It's a fear echoed in a report by Council on Foreign Relations assistant professor Oriana Skylar Mastro: "China could see military action as its only recourse if it loses the diplomatic option to assert its sovereignty claims. The continued downward spiral in US-China relations could also encourage Xi to adopt a now-or-never approach to the South China Sea.

US navy sailors conduct pre-flight checks on an MH-60R Sea Hawk in drills in the South China Sea.
Wounded wolves
Beijing is getting irritated. The Chinese Communist Party has called Washington a "spoiler, saboteur and disrupter".
"Although Washington doesn't want to start a real war with China, there is the possibility of the unfolding of miscalculations if it continues to try and stir up trouble in the South China Sea," declares the editor of the Communist Party's China Daily.
Beijing's diplomats are racing to re-establish dominance over the narrative.
"China's position on the South China Sea issue has been consistent and clear-cut. While firmly safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China has been committed to resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation with countries directly involved, managing differences through rules and mechanisms, and achieving win-win results through mutually beneficial co-operation," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US said.
The embassy declares the South China Sea has "remained peaceful and stable and is still improving", ignoring a recent spate of rammings of fishing vessels, high-seas stand-offs over sea exploration efforts and its arbitrary construction of military bases on artificial islands.
"Under the pretext of endorsing rules, it is using UNCLOS to attack China while refusing to ratify the Convention itself. Under the pretext of upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, it is recklessly infringing on other countries' territorial sea and airspace and throwing its weight around in every sea of the world," the spokesperson added.
Beijing is a signatory to the UN's law of the sea (UNCLOS) but has declared all rulings against its interests as being irrelevant or invalid.
Washington is not a signatory of UNCLOS but is seeking to enforce its jurisdiction over the dispute. But, Marston points out, the US has been conforming to law where Beijing has not.
"I think Washington's...

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Immigration, and law and order, are on the top of New Zealand First's priority list for this year's election.
Party leader Winston Peters unveiled part of the plan during the party's campaign launch in Auckland today.
It includes setting a target of 1,000 new police recruits over the next three years.
He also spoke of the need to change immigration policies in the wake of Covid-19.
"The end of the crisis is not yet. Our immigration policy needs a fundamental reset." 
He also took aim at Labour and the Greens. Peter says his party in government has been an accelerator for good ideas and a handbrake for bad ones.
"We have used our experience to help the Government through many crises, and avoid a number of pitfalls.
"We've used common sense to hold Labour and the Greens to account."
NZ Herald political reporter Jason Walls told The Weekend Collective that the people in attendance are passionate about the party.
"They were happy to see Winston Peters as well. He had a rockstar entrance. It's not what you would expect from a room of older New Zealanders."
Walls says that the new slogan is "Back Your Future", an ironic title as it seems more Back to the Future by retreading the same old points. 
"When seen Winston Peters and NZ First put immigration in the crosshairs since the formation of the party, and to see it come up today at a time when New Zealand has almost no immigration is unusual but made sense. 
A new bottom line for any coalition partnerships post-election would see NZ First hold the immigration portfolio. 
The tough policy stance comes after a weekend spent on "mundane remits", including one around changing the material of brakepads.

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National says Kiwis have had plenty of time to get home.
The party's Covid-19 Border Response spokesperson, Gerry Brownlee, has announced that under a National Government returnees will be charged $3000 for quarantine.
Additional adults in a room if a couple had arrived would be charged an additional $1000.
Children under 3 years will have no cost and over 3 years will see an additional $500.
Brownlee says if his party wins the election, the changes will begin at 11.59pm on October 3.
He told The Weekend Collective it's cost around $81 million for the return of about 20,000 New Zealanders - and there's no end in sight.
"There are, of course, hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who live overseas. The Government's allocated a further $280-odd million for the balance of the year, and you just have to think, is that a reasonable charge on the New Zealand tax payer, people who actually live in this country and who are paying their taxes?"
He says New Zealanders have had four months to come home.
"This is just saying, rather than the choices you've made falling back on the taxpayers palm like this, there is going to be a part-payment you will have to meet."
Brownlee says the policy is similar to policies signed off across the Tasman, in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.
The Government is welcoming National's policy.  Megan Woods, the Minister in charge of managed isolation and quarantine, says the Government's working through policy options on a cost-recovery scheme, with an announcement expected soon.
She says National’s commitment to a charging regime is a good sign there'll be widespread parliamentary support

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A political commentator says National's leader lacks political instincts.
National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse told leader Todd Muller on Tuesday evening that he was also sent Covid patient data by Michelle Boag.
Woodhouse confessed this morning he was sent four unsolicited emails from Boag between June 21 and 25 which contained patient details, but it was not the same information that was sent to disgraced MP Hamish Walker.
A party spokeswoman said today Woodhouse told Muller this on Tuesday night.
But the next day, Muller was specifically asked by reporters "have you checked with Woodhouse, specifically, whether he received that same information from Boag".
"No," replied Muller and a reporter asked "why not?"
"It's very clear from our perspective there's a conversation that's occurred between Michelle Boag and Hamish Walker. We are confident from what we can see that the issue here relates to Michelle Boag and Hamish Walker."
He said it wasn't accurate to say he didn't know whether other MPs in National had access to that information.
"We are confident from what we can see that the issue here relates to Michelle Boag and Hamish Walker ...You've heard very clearly from the participants that the issue was between Michelle Boag and Hamish Walker."
At no point in yesterday's media stand-up did Muller mention that he knew Boag had sent Covid patient information to Woodhouse.
Commentator Ben Thomas says the party leader should have been more up-front.
"Unfortunately probably reflects a lack of character judgement, which are not the sorts of things you want coming into an election."
He told The Weekend Collective that National didn't capitalise on Labour's own mistakes - with David Clark's resignation as Health Minister not forgotten.

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Victoria has reported 273 new cases of coronavirus after a shocking week of record new daily numbers for the state.  
Victoria has announced changes in its schooling in response to its second spike in coronavirus cases, with students living in Greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire returning to remote learning. A man in his 70s also died overnight in Victoria, taking the national death toll to 108.
While Victoria has reported a staggering 273 new cases of coronavirus today, NSW reported five new cases of the virus, and Queensland has reported zero new cases.
It comes as a cluster of eight coronavirus cases has been recorded among staff at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
The hospital says the cluster includes five cases acquired through community transmission and three cases detected through contact tracing.
It’s the second time the hospital had reported a cluster of cases during the pandemic — the first time was at the beginning when a cluster was detected in March.
Currently no patients have contracted the virus through the hospital.

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The Greens want to subsidise the cost of installing solar power with a 50 percent government grant.
It's part of a Clean Energy Plan just released by co-leader James Shaw.
He says the Greens will use grants and low-interest loans as a way of getting businesses to transition to solar.
Shaw says the Party will also upgrade all 63,000 social and community homes, with solar panels and batteries.
"Our next Green Government will finance grants to half the costs of installing solar and batteries at home."

The party's also promising to ban new industrial coal boilers in the first 100 days in Government.
It will also create a $250 million Clean Energy Fund for local renewable energy projects and will make it easier to build wind turbines.
Shaw told The Weekend Collective that this policy will save $1,000 a year per household. 
On the matter of jobs, he says that Taranaki has moved quickly away from oil and gas after the ban was put into place, and has adopted hydrogen and biofuel.
Greenpeace spokeswoman Amanda Larsson says the closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter means there will be more hydro-energy available on the market.
"And with an injection of solar and wind and other renewables, it is possible to see out the use of outdated fuels like coal and gas."
Shaw says that the closure means that people can move in and utilise that electricity. 
Larsson says that more than half of New Zealanders want to be able to produce their own energy, but there are a lot of barriers, including the upfront cost.
"Being able to get some Government support to be able to make that a bit cheaper will be a real incentive for a lot of people who already want to make their own clean energy."

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A message of unity from Labour as campaign season kicks off.
The party held its congress in Wellington today, with a headline speech from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 
She announced a five-step plan to tackle the economic fallout from Covid-19, which includes investing in people, creating jobs,- and positioning New Zealand on the world stage.
Ardern says we shouldn't put on the brakes when it's time to speed up - with the party yesterday unveiling its election slogan 'Let's Keep Moving.'



She's also announced an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year - and a multi-million dollar package of 23 nationwide projects to clean up waterways.
Political reporter Aaron Dahmen told the Weekend Collective that this shows that the election campaign is underway. 
"Above all, I think the take-home was there is confidence. This is a party that believes it can win all out. These party faithful believe in the Labour Party, and it wants to govern alone."

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