Focus Morning Bulletin: Fair pay laws, Cook Strait ferries and Israel’s isolation

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Parliament works under urgency

The existence of Fair Pay Agreement laws in New Zealand hangs by a thread.

The new coalition Government rushed under urgency to repeal the legislation last night - but had to stop at midnight in the middle of the final reading.

They’ll resume in Parliament this morning.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters took to Parliament’s lawn yesterday to appeal the move.

Backed by unions, workers chanted outside Parliament as they delivered a 15,000-strong petition urging the Government to keep the legislation in place.

It was one of two protests - the second is about the Government’s intention to repeal the smokefree legislation.

Unite union members protest. Photo / John Weekes

Harbourmaster’s concerns

Wellington’s harbourmaster is concerned about safety now two new Cook Strait mega-ferries won’t be delivered.

The government shut down a funding request from KiwiRail, for an additional 1.47 billion to build portside infrastructure for the ships.

It blew the total cost out to around $3 billion.

But Grant Nalder says the longer you maintain ships, the more expensive it gets.

Last year, the Interislander’s Kaitaki lost power, with hundreds on board, and began to drift towards Wellington’s rocky south coast.

The Interislander Cook Strait ferry Aratere. Photo / Mark Mitchelll

Driving test wait times

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi admits it’s been caught short as wait times to book driving tests soar.

It’s found wait times for practical driver tests are currently more than three months in some parts of the country.

Its data shows more than 92,000 bookings were made in October and November last year.

About 145,000 bookings were made in the same two months this year - which it puts down to pricing changes, that removed the re-sit fee.

Latest GDP figures

The state of the economy is set to be revealed.

Statistics New Zealand will this morning release Gross Domestic Product data for the September quarter.

Economists are expecting low growth of about 0.2 or 0.3 per cent.

The Prime Minister has suggested he’s inheriting a recession from the former Government - which will be revealed by these numbers.

Israel increasingly isolated

Israel is becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage.

The UN General Assembly voted to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with 153 members, including New Zealand, supporting the measure.

Former United Nations Development programme head and Prime Minister Helen Clark says horrific images coming out of Gaza are decreasing Israel’s support.

She says the UN vote is devastating for Israel.

Clark says just 10 countries voted against the measure.