Palestinians line up to receive a hot meal at a distribution point in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City on May 21, 2025. Photo / AFP
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Welcome to Inside Politics. This week has seen a turning point in the Gaza catastrophe, at least in shifting sentiment, if not on the ground. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “There is no starvation in Gaza.” Not even Donald Trump believed him. “That’s real starvation stuff ... and you can’t fake that,” Trump crassly told reporters in Scotland.
Sympathy for Israel is shrinking as the horrors of what is happening to civilians in Gaza are streamed around the world, and accusations of genocide begin to look more credible. It is a term many have been reluctant to use against Israel because of its associations with the Holocaust, and many of those who have made it have been labelled anti-Semitic.
Politically, this week has seen significant international moves towards reinforcing the policy of a two-state solution – Israel and Palestine – as part of ending the current crisis.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer foreshadowed a move by the UK to recognise Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September “unless the Israeli Government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution”.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise Palestine in September.
Netanyahu and Trump described that as “rewarding Hamas”.
Today, Canada has followed suit, and news reports in Australia suggest Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is preparing the ground to do the same in September. New Zealand is beginning to look like an outlier.
New Zealand, while having a policy of recognising Palestine at some time in the future, is sending mixed messages.
On paper, New Zealand joined 14 other countries, including Australia, in a strongly worded statement to “reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognised borders”, and described themselves as countries that “have already recognised, have expressed or express the willingness or the positive consideration of our countries to recognise the state of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-state solution and invite all countries that have not done so to join this call” ahead of the UN assembly.
That suggests a renewed vigour to use the current crisis to advance a two-state solution.
But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have argued that any move towards a two-state solution is not a priority and should not be part of the resolution of the current crisis.
Peters gave no hint of changing that position yesterday in a lukewarm response to questions about recognition: “We do need to see progress on some of the fundamental issues relating to a Palestinian state’s legitimacy and viability, including representative governance, commitments to non-violence, regional support, and security guarantees for Israel.”
So far, 147 of 192 members of the UN recognise Palestine, and if France, the UK, Canada and Australia do so in September, that will include three members of the G7, three members of Five Eyes, and four of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has found out the hard way that it can be just as hard to be mocked as it is to be criticised.
She has certainly come in for some mockery this week over plans to consult the farming sector on what sort of work children who live on farms can safely do, “like collecting eggs, feeding small animals, and watering plants”, according to her press statement on Tuesday.
Not since the days of Michael Woodhouse’s plans to rate worm farms as a high-risk occupation has a Health and Safety Minister come in for such mockery, and before that, Shane Jones’ plans to regulate showerheads. And not since Tova O’Brien’s brilliant piece of television in 2020 over whether Paul Goldsmith was Māori or not (he’s not) has there been such great material for the satirical news piece Lloyd Burr presented this week on the dangers of collecting eggs.
To be fair to Van Velden, she says that the current regulations lack clarity, and the issue was raised with her by Rural Women New Zealand at Fieldays last year. Goodness knows what possessed her to persist with it, though. It is hardly a pressing problem, especially for the deputy leader of the ACT Party, which targets rural support.
If there is a genuine problem about whether kids should be steering tractors and riding quad bikes, then the press statement should have said that. If the current regulations make it illegal for kids to collect eggs, just change them. The whole of New Zealand will support that. Otherwise, the Government should mind its own business.
The economy and polling are not where the National Party would want them to be as it heads into its annual conference this weekend in Christchurch.
Delegates are also likely to be concerned at how good National’s coalition partners are at dominating the news agenda instead of National, notwithstanding the own-goal by Van Velden.
Perhaps that is why there seems to be a plethora of bite-sized popular policies being announced, such as getting rid of the hated surcharges on various electronic payments, cracking down on people who don’t pay their fines, and cracking down on boy racers.
And as I have pointed out in a comment piece, the Prime Minister is stepping up his attempts to set the political agenda at the start of each week.
Christopher Luxon was booed at the ANZ Premiership netball final in West Auckland on Sunday, but just how common is it? It was a tradition for Australian Prime Ministers to be booed, former PM John Howard said in his autobiography Lazarus Rising. It isn’t unheard of here, but it hasn’t been common either. Helen Clark had no recollection of it but couldn’t say it never happened, and if it had, she said it would have been more likely at the rugby than the netball. Sir John Key was booed once, at a Phoenix game in Wellington. And Jim Bolger says he’s sure he was booed, but couldn’t recall the details. He added: “I don’t believe that PM Luxon needs to be concerned.”
“I think we should start calling them Fisher and Paykel because they’ve got more spin than a front-load washing machine” – Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ verdict after Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis spent 10 minutes at the post-Cabinet press conference praising their Government.
Which senior US agency official is visiting New Zealand? (Answer at the bottom of this article.)
Goes to Brooke van Velden for her political radar, or lack thereof.
Goes to Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson for announcing a ban on customer surcharges on most in-store payments made using domestic credit cards and Eftpos. Finally!
Opinion: Christopher Luxon is worried. Here’s how you can tell - Audrey Young
Farm rules: Government to clarify whether farm kids are safe collecting eggs, watering plants
KiwiBank capital raise: Government moves to part-privatise KiwiBank
Health shortages: Health NZ preparing to send gynaecological cancer patients to Australia
US VIP: FBI director Kash Patel visits Beehive
Profile: Green MP Tamatha Paul says she doesn’t mean to be provocative
Fast-track consents: Labour confirms fast-track position after National accuses party of ‘flip-flopping’
Cost of living: Nicola Willis criticised for cost of living ‘sermon’ during post-Cabinet press conference
Card surcharges: Government to ban card payment surcharges
Building products: Government making thousands more building products available in NZ
New medical school: Waikato med school business case beats Auckland and Otago – but only just
Immigration: Winston Peters’ immigration comments slammed by Opposition
Quiz answer: FBI director Kash Patel.
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