National's pledging cash for councils - instead of a bed tax - to deal with growing tourism and related infrastructure issues.
The party's promised it'll hand over a share of revenue from the newly announced International Visitor Levy, divvied up according to a council's visitor nights.
Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has voiced disapproval with this idea, and says Auckland will be short-changed as a result of this.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry Soper, senior political correspondence with us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey, Barry.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
Good afternoon, Heather, from a beautifully fine Wellington day.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
No, you're not in Wellington, mate.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Oh, Auckland, I mean.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
No, you were bragging about Wellington. Now you're on.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
No, once again, you've gone back to your halcyon days,
which were all in Wellington. And I recall your mate
Rob Muldoon was still alive at the time. Listen, so
the IVL, entirely predictable, right, that this has happened?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Well, yes, it is. You know, no new taxes. This
is a levy. It's the international visitor levy. And, of course,
that'll be doled out to councils rather than a bed levy.
And the argument that the government always used was that
that bed levy was a tax on Kiwis. So what
they'll do is they'll use visitor data for the year
(00:48):
ending June this year, and it calculates that the Auckland
Council would receive... about 22.5% share of the $ 86 million
which will be spent over the next year. That'll be
about $ 19 million. And the other big levy area will
be the Queenstown Lakes District Council. They'll receive the second
(01:12):
highest at about 20% or $ 17 million. And already our
old mate Wayne Brown, who loved the bed tax, said
that Auckland will be shortchanged to the tune of about
$ 8 million. So he's not happy with it, but he
should be happy that at least he's getting something.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, because, of course, that was always an option. What
do you make of Shane Jones spending this gas money
on perfectly wealthy corporations?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's quite provocative, isn't it, really, when you think about it,
that this is the gas security fund that was established
in last year's budget, and it addresses essentially declining domestic
revenues and to shore up the energy infrastructure. Well, you know,
it's quite a lot of money, $ 200 million he's got
(02:02):
to dole out. He says that he'll be doing it
before the election. And like you said, Todd Energy, they'll
get almost, well, they'll get $ 23. 5 million basically for drilling projects,
and converting wells in Taranaki. And others will get money
(02:23):
in the area as well. He's named a few others.
The existing McKee Tariki well, they'll have access to gas
in the deeper reservoir in the Taranaki. So Todd itself
will be spending money, $ 10 million. But the man who
covets the country's prime ministership, Chris Hipkins, he says he's
(02:43):
not happy with his old colleagues, Jones, being so gung-ho
about fossil fuel spending this close to an election.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The current government signing up the New Zealand government for
contracts with the fossil fuel industry. in the final couple
of months before a general election, when this is clearly
an election issue, is recklessly irresponsible. The National Party in
government said that they were going to have new oil
and gas exploration. Instead, they're now subsidising gas fields to
eke out the last little bits of gas that they've
(03:13):
got left. This is an election campaign. He should respect
the will of the voters and not try and tie
the hands of a future government.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, you know, Labour's firmly committed, they say, to reinstating
the ban on new offshore oil and gas explorations if
they're re-elected or if they're elected. Labour has indicated, though,
that it won't proactively cancel or revoke any existing exploration permits.
(03:40):
So the permits that Jones is signing up to at
the moment, they will presumably stay in place if there
is a change of government.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
OK, what do you make of the public servants walking
off the job tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, look, it's pretty unusual that you have a nationwide
strike this close to an election, but clearly they're fired up.
They believe that there'll be almost 10,000 public servants across
the country. They'll be striking for what they say is
their respective collective agreements. That'll be tomorrow, of course. Those
(04:14):
working at the Ministry of Social Development, MBIE, the Department of, well,
there's so many departments, the Department of Internal Affairs, the NEMA,
the Ministry of Ethnic Communities, they'll all go out, walk
off the job. So, you know, it's going to cause
(04:34):
a lot of disruption. But they say, look, they want
the government to listen to them. And no doubt they
will be listening. But whether they achieve their means with
this government is another matter.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Barry, thank you very much. Really appreciate your time. Enjoy Wellington.
Barry Soka, senior political correspondent, eight away from five.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
For more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to News
Talk ZB from 4 p.m. weekdays or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
Barry Soper, senior political correspondence with us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey, Barry.
Speaker 3 (00:02):
Good afternoon, Heather, from a beautifully fine Wellington day.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
No, you're not in Wellington, mate.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Oh, Auckland, I mean.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
No, you were bragging about Wellington. Now you're on.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
No, once again, you've gone back to your halcyon days,
which were all in Wellington. And I recall your mate
Rob Muldoon was still alive at the time. Listen, so
the IVL, entirely predictable, right, that this has happened?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Well, yes, it is. You know, no new taxes. This
is a levy. It's the international visitor levy. And, of course,
that'll be doled out to councils rather than a bed levy.
And the argument that the government always used was that
that bed levy was a tax on Kiwis. So what
they'll do is they'll use visitor data for the year
(00:48):
ending June this year, and it calculates that the Auckland
Council would receive... about 22.5% share of the $ 86 million
which will be spent over the next year. That'll be
about $ 19 million. And the other big levy area will
be the Queenstown Lakes District Council. They'll receive the second
(01:12):
highest at about 20% or $ 17 million. And already our
old mate Wayne Brown, who loved the bed tax, said
that Auckland will be shortchanged to the tune of about
$ 8 million. So he's not happy with it, but he
should be happy that at least he's getting something.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, because, of course, that was always an option. What
do you make of Shane Jones spending this gas money
on perfectly wealthy corporations?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's quite provocative, isn't it, really, when you think about it,
that this is the gas security fund that was established
in last year's budget, and it addresses essentially declining domestic
revenues and to shore up the energy infrastructure. Well, you know,
it's quite a lot of money, $ 200 million he's got
(02:02):
to dole out. He says that he'll be doing it
before the election. And like you said, Todd Energy, they'll
get almost, well, they'll get $ 23. 5 million basically for drilling projects,
and converting wells in Taranaki. And others will get money
(02:23):
in the area as well. He's named a few others.
The existing McKee Tariki well, they'll have access to gas
in the deeper reservoir in the Taranaki. So Todd itself
will be spending money, $ 10 million. But the man who
covets the country's prime ministership, Chris Hipkins, he says he's
(02:43):
not happy with his old colleagues, Jones, being so gung-ho
about fossil fuel spending this close to an election.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The current government signing up the New Zealand government for
contracts with the fossil fuel industry. in the final couple
of months before a general election, when this is clearly
an election issue, is recklessly irresponsible. The National Party in
government said that they were going to have new oil
and gas exploration. Instead, they're now subsidising gas fields to
eke out the last little bits of gas that they've
(03:13):
got left. This is an election campaign. He should respect
the will of the voters and not try and tie
the hands of a future government.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, you know, Labour's firmly committed, they say, to reinstating
the ban on new offshore oil and gas explorations if
they're re-elected or if they're elected. Labour has indicated, though,
that it won't proactively cancel or revoke any existing exploration permits.
(03:40):
So the permits that Jones is signing up to at
the moment, they will presumably stay in place if there
is a change of government.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
OK, what do you make of the public servants walking
off the job tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, look, it's pretty unusual that you have a nationwide
strike this close to an election, but clearly they're fired up.
They believe that there'll be almost 10,000 public servants across
the country. They'll be striking for what they say is
their respective collective agreements. That'll be tomorrow, of course. Those
(04:14):
working at the Ministry of Social Development, MBIE, the Department of, well,
there's so many departments, the Department of Internal Affairs, the NEMA,
the Ministry of Ethnic Communities, they'll all go out, walk
off the job. So, you know, it's going to cause
(04:34):
a lot of disruption. But they say, look, they want
the government to listen to them. And no doubt they
will be listening. But whether they achieve their means with
this government is another matter.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Barry, thank you very much. Really appreciate your time. Enjoy Wellington.
Barry Soka, senior political correspondent, eight away from five.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
For more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to News
Talk ZB from 4 p.m. weekdays or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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