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A newsletter from the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies
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Institute for Governance and Policy Studies 2022 Upcoming Events Programme
23 May: “Hubris, nemesis and polarisation: Results from the 2022 IGPS Trust Survey”
Simon Chapple, IGPS Director. The results of the annual 2022 IGPS Trust Survey are used to explore themes of hubris and nemesis in trust in government from 2016 onwards, and issues of polarisation and non-polarisation in trust following the onset of covid-19 in 2020.
Rutherford House, RHMZ03, 12:30pm to 1:30pm, 23 May Victoria University of Wellington, Pipitea Campus.
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IGPS events in the pipeline
Events in the pipeline for 2022 (with likely coordinator/presenter in brackets) include: Waste and plastics policy (Hana Blumhardt), Open Budget Survey 2021 (Derek Gill), the situation of sole parent families (Penny Ehrhardt), The future of rail (Paul Callister), Reserve Bank independence (Chris Eichbaum), effectiveness of Government agencies’ long-term insights briefings (Jonathan Boston), imprisonment trends (Len Cook), the OECD country trust study (Santiago Gonzalez, OECD and Conal Smith), political party funding (Max Rashbrooke and Lisa Marriott), open government activities in NZ, Australia and PNG (Keitha Booth), “Individual Liability for State Aggression: Questions of policy and governance” (Kennedy Graham), Chinese living in Aotearoa (Bev Hong), Business desk’s government public sector project (Nikitin Sallee), hydrogen and global warming (Wallace Rea), Three waters
co-governance (Mike Joy), and social insurance (Michael Fletcher).
Watch this space as the events firm up!
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Successful “Tax on Tuesdays” event with Minister of Revenue David Parker
On 26 April Revenue Minister David Parker spoke at a Tax on Tuesdays seminar co-hosted by IGPS, Tax Justice Aotearoa and Child Poverty Action Group. The Minister, who was welcomed by Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Hickford, spoke on ‘The role of taxation in a thriving and fair society and the need for a principled approach to tax policy.’ He emphasised the need for tax policy debates to be based on better information on who is paying how much in tax and noted that Inland Revenue and others had ‘virtually no idea what rate of tax is paid by the very wealthy’. The Minister also announced his intention to introduce new legislation to be called the Tax Principles Act which would require officials to monitor and report on the fairness of the tax system using agreed principles set out in legislation.
The session, which was well attended both in person and via live-stream and attracted considerable media interest, is one example of IGPS’s contribution to our university’s ‘Governing for the future’ strategic objective.
For a link to a video of the Minister’s talk see: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128452925/revenue-minister-has-virtually-no-idea-what-rate-of-tax-is-paid-by-the-very-wealthy
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Bev Tso Hong on racism, community art and social change
IGPS Senior Associate Bev Tso Hong, alongside Grace Wong, public health promotion researcher, and Grace Gassin, Curator Asian New Zealand Histories at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, recently presented on the Aotearoa Poster Competition (www.aotearoaposter.com) at a webinar hosted by Community Research. Co-led by Bev, this anti-racism/pro-diversity art-based initiative spotlighted the diversity of Chinese communities in Aotearoa. The project was born during the April 2020 COVID lockdown in response to increasing displays of anti-Chinese racism on social media, as well as racist behaviour towards Chinese people living in Aotearoa New Zealand. The presenters showcase the finalist and winning social change poster artworks and reflect on the running of this evidence-based
initiative and lessons learned.
"Touched my heart and head, improved awareness and understanding alongside increased commitment to take steps to tackle racism." Webinar participant
A recording of this webinar is available here:
https://communityresearch.org.nz/webinar/racism-community-art-and-social-change/?_ga=2.254459848.1715961440.1651191950-1278851727.1650514472
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Mike Joy talks to local government, community groups in the Hawkes Bay
Mike was invited by Councillors at Hastings District Council to present in person a Workshop on the Future of food and energy. The workshop was attended by at least 8 Councillors, council staff and members from local Tai whenua, Kaitiaki Rangers, Ngati Kahungunu and a representative from the Napier Port as well as 6 people on Zoom.
Mike was also invited by the Reverend Jill McDonald (see photo) of St Andrews Presbyterian Church Hastings to be the guest at the monthly “The Common Good” event, which is a public theology conversational series at the Common Room bar in Hastings. Jill and 45 others discussed freshwater and the environment with Mike.
https://blog.standrewshastings.org.nz/dir/common-good/
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Simon Chapple briefs Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee on the Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Review
In his regular role as independent outside adviser, Simon Chapple wrote a written and delivered an oral briefing on the Reserve Bank’s 4 May Financial Stability Review to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.
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Max Rashbrooke applies his research to contemporary wealth issues
In stuff, senior associate Max Rashbrooke connects his wealth research with contemporary discussions of the “bank of mum and dad” and on wealth taxation, connecting with longer term issues that the Minister of Revenue raised in his IGPS/TJA/Oxfam address noted above. See:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/explained/128492002/you-might-not-have-heard-of-dynastic-wealth-its-hurting-a-lot-of-younger-kiwis
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300576591/how-do-we-fairly-tax-the-rich
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Three IGPS submissions on the government’s social insurance proposal out as working papers
IGPS staff – Geoff Bertram, Michael Fletcher and Simon Chapple – have completed three significant separate submissions on the government’s discussion document on social insurance and submitted them to MBIE as part of the policy process. These three submissions, all of which are highly sceptical of the proposal, are out as IGPS working papers (https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/igps/publications/working-papers). Significant IGPS work on the topic will continue through the likely select committee process.
Simon and Michael summarised their work in a VUW School of Government Brown Bag seminar on 2 May for an audience of about twenty people.
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Child Poverty Action Group Budget Event: You’re all invited
Child Poverty Action Group CPAG announce the upcoming Post Budget Breakfast event which will be online from 7:30am to 9:00am on Friday 20th May 2022
Please go to CPAG website event page for the details:
https://www.cpag.org.nz/get-involved/post-budget-breakfast-events/
and for your convenience, here is the registration link:
https://cpag.infoodle.com/form_process?g=4fecaff7-5c00-4325-aaf6-3f1a250d869e
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