The Government is halfway through its latest quarterly plan for the country, so you know what that means — it’s performance review time.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is famously a fan of corporate speak and keeping his Government to a quarterly plan.
He revealed a 36-point plan for the second quarter of the year, giving the coalition 36 priorities to work through from April to the end of June.
Now that we’re halfway through that quarter, it’s time to check in on its KPIs (or key performance indicators, for anyone who has been spared a performance review process at work).
What is yet to be checked off the list?
Taking decisions
A third of the Government’s quarterly plan involved “taking decisions” on various issues.
Taking decisions means choosing a course of action for a particular matter. Luxon told Breakfast back at the start of the quarter "taking decisions" could be measured by Cabinet’s decisions.
He said it means "we’re locking on our course of action, we’ve actually considered the issue, we’ve taken advice on the issue ... and we’re moving it forward".
So, how are those decisions going?
Decisions that have been taken
- Take decisions to restore Three Strikes: Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has revealed what the Government’s revised Three Strikes law would look like.
Those revisions to the revived legislation include a new requirement that it only applies to prison sentences longer than two years. A limited benefit for guilty pleas would also be in the mix.
The draft bill will go before Cabinet in June before being introduced in the House.
- Take decisions on the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act: The Government’s actions over Section 7AA has been the subject of a Waitangi Tribunal process, however legislation to repeal Section 7AA was introduced to Parliament this week.
- Take decisions on the rollout of structured literacy for Year 1-3 students: Education Minister Erica Stanford has announced structured literacy will be taught in schools from Term 1 next year.
The Government has already allocated $67 million to spend on training teachers and distributing books and resources to schools before then.
Decisions yet to be 'taken'
- Take decisions to tighten controls on youth vaping: The Government had already revealed a tough stance on youth vaping before including it in its quarterly plan.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said fines for selling cigarettes and vapes to minors would be "significantly increased", while the manufacture and sale of disposable vapes would be banned.
At that time, Costello said the Government would amend the law to enact those changes, as well as look at how to back the fines for selling vapes to minors backed by stronger enforcement.
- Take decisions on reform of the Holidays Act: Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden outlined some of her plans for changes to the Holidays Act during a speech in March, but has not revealed further details of what those changes might look like.
- Take decisions on the scope of the extension to the Covid-19 inquiry: This is another one that falls under van Velden’s remit, this time in her role as Internal Affairs Minister.
This week, she said decisions on the scope of the inquiry would be made before the end of June.
- Take decisions on establishing a Youth Serious Offender Category and making Youth Military Academies a standalone sentencing option for the Youth Court: Both Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell have talked about these policies, but further details are yet to be shared.
- Take decisions to streamline the Medsafe approval process
- Take decisions on the removal of the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
- Take decisions to disestablish Te Pūkenga and consult on a proposed replacement model.
- Take decisions on measures to increase investment in renewable electricity generation.
- Take decisions to implement the Going for Housing Growth plan while making the MDRS optional for councils.
What other KPIs can we tick off?
This quarter hasn’t been all about taking decisions, of course. The Government has also ticked a few more concrete actions off its 36-point list.
These include:
- Set targets for improving public service outcomes: The Prime Minister announced these nine targets in April, covering areas such as elective health treatments, child and youth offending, student achievement, emergency housing and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Raise the energy New Zealand brings to key relationships through international engagements, focusing on our traditional partners, the Pacific, and South East and South Asia: Foreign Minister Winston Peters has certainly been racking up the air miles this quarter, so that likely qualifies for "raising the energy".
Several of his colleagues have also made trips overseas relating to their various portfolios.
- Release draft plan to ease restrictions on building materials from overseas for public consultation: Construction Minister Chris Penk unveiled these plans in April, saying building product standards from trusted overseas jurisdictions would be recognised.
He said building consent authorities would also be required to accept the use of products that comply with overseas standards equivalent to or higher than those in New Zealand.
- Launch an Attendance Action Plan and introduce the first phase of initiatives to lift school attendance: Associate Education Minister David Seymour has outlined his plans to reverse New Zealand’s falling school attendance rates, including updated health advice for deciding if a child is too sick to go to school.
Two other education-related tasks also just scrape their way on to this list – taking action to strengthen teacher training and developing standardised assessment and regular reporting to parents.
Education Minister Erica Stanford outlined those priorities in April, but more concrete action is still to come.
What is left to do?
Well, the biggest on the list is the Budget.
The first point on Luxon’s quarterly plan was to "deliver a Budget that reduces wasteful spending while investing in frontline services like health, education and police".
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is due to reveal exactly what that looks like on May 30.
Two other tasks on the list relate to what is coming in the Budget and are therefore still on the Government’s to-do list. These include:
- Legislate for personal income tax relief
- Legislate to introduce the FamilyBoost childcare tax credit
Meanwhile, the country is still waiting for the Government to finalise certain other parts of its plan.
It has announced details about legislation to improve the rental market, including the return of 90-day "no cause" terminations for periodic tenancies, however the bill to actually make these changes is expected later this month.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Simeon Brown has also released a draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, but the final version promised in the quarterly plan is still coming.
Some other large pieces of work have been promised in this quarterly plan but are yet to be made public.
Health Minister Shane Reti has said a new Government Policy Statement on Health would be delivered after the Budget. This would set out the Government’s priorities for the health system for the next three years.
Other items still to tick off the quarterly plan include:
- Introducing legislation to amend the RMA
- Launching a review of the firearms registry
- Initiating the first regulatory sector review
- Introducing legislation to reintroduce charter schools (although David Seymour has revealed funding will be allocated for up to 50 charter schools)
- Responding to the independent review of Kāinga Ora
- Finalising policy to keep agriculture out of the ETS
- Introducing legislation to suspend the requirement on councils to identify and adopt new Significant Natural Areas
- Beginning an independent review of methane science and targets
- Establishing a Regional Infrastructure Fund
- Progressing legislation to improve rehabilitation, reintegration and safety outcomes in the corrections system
- Commissioning a study into New Zealand’s fuel security
- Reforming the CCCFA regime to improve access to credit for home buyers.
It all makes for a busy six weeks ahead for the Government.
SHARE ME