Latest news with #StevenJoyce
Newsroom
11-06-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
Problem-plagued convention centre subject of new legal action
SkyCity Entertainment's decision to file legal proceedings seeking $330 million in compensation from Fletcher Construction for losses arising from delays to the completion of the NZ International Convention Centre was always going to be a case of when not if. And judging by the market's muted reaction to the news, there appeared to be little surprise among investors given the share prices of both companies barely reacted following the announcement. Fletcher Building shares closed on Friday down 2.5 percent at $3.07, while SkyCity shares ended the week down 1 percent at 94c. It's a far cry from May 2013 when SkyCity and the government announced with great fanfare that a heads of agreement had finally been reached to build the long-talked-about international convention centre at a cost of what was then estimated at $400m, with an expected completion date of 2017. At the time, Fletcher Building shares were trading at around the $8 mark and SkyCity Entertainment at $4.50. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce confidently projected the convention centre would provide a $90m annual injection into the economy as well as creating an estimated 800 jobs on completion. Fast forward to today and it is difficult to think of any building project in the nation's history that would come close to rivalling the convention centre for the litany of problems that have plagued its completion from beginning to end. From significant cost blowouts, legal disputes, protracted delays, construction defects as well as a disastrous fire that took a week to extinguish and required almost a complete rebuild of the buildings inner core, it's difficult to consider what more could have possibly gone wrong for a building project that has seemed cursed from the outset. With a newly revised completion date that will finally see the building open in February next year – nine years later than originally planned and with a final cost estimated at around $900m, more than twice the original estimate – Fletchers must be rueing the day it decided to bid for the contract. Not only has it cost the company dearly in both financial and reputational terms, but it has also contributed to the resignation of former chairs Sir Ralph Norris in 2018 and Bruce Hassall last year. And added to the above final completion cost, if you take Joyce's 2013 estimate of economic benefit at face value and deduct a couple of years for the Covid pandemic when the conference market was effectively mothballed, the earnings forgone from the delayed opening amounts to a further $500m cost to the economy, and SkyCity earnings in particular. It's not hard to see why the company feels aggrieved by the totality of the impact all of this has had on its business which is reflected in its share price now trading at a 25-year low. For its part Fletcher Building argued in its statement to the NZX on Friday that it had already paid significant liquidated damages to SkyCity in relation to the delays in delivering the NZICC in accordance with the building contract. 'Accordingly, Fletchers will vigorously defend itself against the SkyCity claim for further liquidated damages beyond the capped amount provided for in the building works contract.' Though Fletchers acknowledged that the delivery of the convention centre had 'suffered from a number of challenges' it 'absolutely rejected' the claim by SkyCity that it was in breach of its contract in the manner alleged. Attempting to put a positive spin on the matter, Fletchers concluded its statement by adding it was confident that 'once the NZICC is available to be seen and used by the public and international guests they will be delighted with the quality of the asset that will make a meaningful contribution to the NZ economy'. For SkyCity Entertainment shareholders that will come as cold comfort for a business that has paid dearly for a project that was supposed to be open nine years ago, while for Fletcher Building shareholders the handover can't some soon enough. Though, if SkyCity proves to be successful in its legal action, it will come with a final and potentially nasty financial sting. As always, the only winners out of all of this will be the lawyers who must surely be buoyed at the prospect of two of NZ's largest companies going head to head in the courts given the substantial billings that will result. It promises to be a closely followed case with significant implications for both sides and will no doubt expose further details of a project that, for all its supposed aesthetic value, will forever be seen as a national embarrassment of incompetence, mismanagement, and neglect. Markets push higher as investors remain optimistic Equity markets in the US and Australia are now within striking distance of eclipsing their all-time highs, while locally the NZX50 remains 5 percent below its December 2024 high and 8 percent below its all-time high from January 2021. In the US, the benchmark S&P 500 index closed on Friday at exactly 6,000 needing just 147 points to take out its previous all-time high set in February. In Australia it's a similar story with the ASX200 now just 100 points below its all-time high. Locally, listed property stocks received a small boost despite Stats NZ's March quarter data on the value of building activity revealing a mixed picture. Residential building work increased by 2.6 percent, while non-residential work decreased by 3.9 percent, resulting in a flat total building volume on a seasonally adjusted basis. Elsewhere, Ebos Group recouped most of its earlier losses after its free float increased following a sell-down by longtime major shareholder Sybos exiting its stake and selling nearly 27m shares for $949m. NZME shares closed out the week unchanged at $1.19 despite a significant board shake-up in which former radio entrepreneur and Cabinet minister Steven Joyce assumed the chair of the listed media company while activist shareholder Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon, now a New Zealand resident, and whose actions sparked the whole saga, was also elected as a director. Meridian Energy shares gained almost 5 percent for the week to close at $5.86 after announcing New Zealand Aluminium Smelters' plant at Tiwai Pt in Southland will ramp up production sooner than expected, thanks to improved hydro lake storage levels. The smelter has an agreement with Meridian that enables the power generator to request Tiwai, the country's biggest power user, to reduce production when the system is stretched. Meanwhile, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued its latest report on the global economy saying that it expected growth to slow from 3.3 percent in 2024 to 2.9 percent in 2025 and 2026. The slowdown is expected to be most concentrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China, with smaller downward adjustments in other economies. In its report on New Zealand, the OECD acknowledged that though an economic recovery was under way, the country would need to battle increasing trade headwinds. It expected the expansion to continue with growth projected to rise to 0.8 percent in 2025 and 1.7 percent in 2026 supported by lower interest rates. 'However, increased trade restrictions and high uncertainty about trade policy globally will temper external demand, confidence and the pace of the recovery,' it said. It forecast inflation would ease because of lower oil prices and higher spare capacity including in the labour market with unemployment expected to peak in late 2025 at about 5.4 percent. The OECD said the pace of fiscal consolidation was appropriate but may need to be slowed if the expansion stalls. In the US bond yields rose after monthly jobs data for May allayed concerns of an imminent economic slowdown, while equities also gained amid hopes US-China trade tensions are easing after US President Donald Trump confirmed that much-anticipated negotiations will begin tomorrow (US time). Though US job growth moderated in May (139,000 new jobs verses 125,000 forecast) and the prior months were revised lower, the news bolstered investor sentiment that had been primed for disappointment after data last week raised doubts about the buoyancy of American hiring. Trump and Musk urged to repair their acrimonious break up It all started off so well. The ambitious and unconventional US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk the world's most successful and wealthiest tech entrepreneur teaming up to Make America Great Again. But it was always going to be a 50/50 bet that their relationship would survive with several commentators giving the 'bromance' less than six months before their respective egos got the better of them. And so they have been proven correct after an acrimonious tweet storm erupted on Friday (NZ time) that has left the relationship in tatters and the two sides refusing to speak to one another. At the centre of the break-up are plans by Trump to implement further tax cuts and fiscal spending that will significantly ramp up the national debt by as much as 10 percent at a time Musk has been focused on eliminating wasteful government expenditure and reducing the deficit. Allies have urged the two sides to repair their now badly damaged relationship, seeking to limit the political and commercial fallout from last week's spectacular break-up. The fracturing of the relationship between the powerful pair threatens to derail the White House's legislative agenda and wreck a hard-won alliance between Silicon Valley and Washington. 'It is unfortunate … I hope they will come back together,' Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who was in the Oval Office when Trump slammed Musk, the Financial Times reported over the weekend. 'A lot of conservatives are feeling like this is not good, let's hug and make up.' The Tesla chief, who had spent last Thursday launching more explosive attacks on Trump, seemed to be open to a détente. However, Trump on Friday claimed he was 'not even thinking about Elon', before adding on CNN: 'The poor guy's got a problem … I won't be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well.' He repeated that line on Saturday, telling television network NBC he had no intention of mending their relationship. Further, Trump warned of 'serious consequences' if Musk funded candidates to run against Republicans after a poll of his 220 million X followers musing about forming a new political party in the US. Tech figures who backed the administration hoping it would usher in an era of tax cuts and deregulation have been racing to contain the quarrel, with limited success. 'Elon isn't taking calls from anyone,' one Silicon Valley financier and big donor to Republican candidates told the FT. 'Not from people who have billions invested in his companies … The Valley is losing their shit.' Attempts to get Trump to reconcile with his former 'first buddy' received a further set-back on Friday morning after news the president planned to sell or give away the Tesla he had bought in March as a show of support for Musk. The White House also dismissed reports of a conciliatory phone call between the two men. Cracks in Silicon Valley and Washington's marriage of convenience had been appearing for weeks, particularly over Trump's tax bill which irked Musk. Deficit hawks have balked at the legislation adding trillions to the US debt pile, while more socially progressive tech figures have bridled at proposed cuts to entitlement programmes such as Medicaid. Musk's allies aligned with Trump fear several Silicon Valley figures who followed him into government could find their roles are in peril. The sudden deselection of Jared Isaacman, a tech founder and friend of Musk's who had been nominated to lead Nasa, was the start of an expected 'purge', said one person close to the administration. It was also another expensive week financially for Musk with Tesla shares falling almost 15 percent in the wake of the breakup with Trump and the expected loss of valuable tax rebates for buyers of EVs. As a result, Tesla shares recorded their worst week so far this year wiping a further US$152 billion from the company's market capitalisation with the shares now down 22 percent year-to-date. Coming up this week Monday Business Employment and Financial Data (Mar qtr) – Stats NZ Tuesday Scales Corp AGM Wednesday Migration & International Travel (April) – Stats NZ NZ King Salmon AGM Thursday Electronic Card Transactions (May) – Stats NZ Local Authority Stats (March qtr) – Stats NZ Friday
NZ Herald
04-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Media Insider podcast: Stuff's Trade Me deal - will staff share in chief executive Sinead Boucher's lucrative payday?; New NZME chair Steven Joyce opens up in first major interview
Steven Joyce sits down for his first major interview since becoming the chair of NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB owner NZME, and we ask Stuff owner Sinead Boucher whether her staff will also share in the rewards of this week's Trade Me deal, as previously promised. Stuff boss Sinead Boucher
The Spinoff
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
Why is Trade Me buying into Stuff? Explaining the stakes of an era-defining media deal
Two decades ago, when news organisations were global business titans able to buy fast-growing tech businesses, Stuff acquired Trade Me. This week's transaction flips the script. Yesterday was a landmark day in the history of New Zealand's news media, with each of our largest news publishers undergoing major shakeups in ownership, governance or both. Stuff Digital, the most popular free-to-access news site in the country, has a new co-owner, with auction marketplace Trade Me taking a 50% stake in the business. The timing of the announcement served to cast a lengthy shadow over a set piece that occurred a few hours later, at the headquarters of NZME, owners of the largest print newspaper and paywalled news audience in the NZ Herald. The company's annual shareholder meeting saw its chair resign, having adroitly dealt with an attempted coup and graciously fallen on her sword. She has been replaced by a former senior minister in the National Party, Steven Joyce, after a lengthy campaign from Jim Grenon, a wealthy Canadian now resident in New Zealand. The latter is now a major shareholder, who decried the business's performance, but also what he perceived as the quality and balance of its journalism. Stuff and Trade Me – star-crossed lovers and a tale of tech and news It's the deal between Stuff and Trade Me that has rightly attracted the most attention. Stuff has a tortured ownership history, resulting from the steady accumulation of dozens of newspaper titles, and the early and prescient launch of a unified national news brand under the name Stuff more than 20 years ago. At the time, it was owned by Fairfax Media, later Nine, out of Australia. It has intimate history with Trade Me, having itself bought the auctions platform in 2006 for a reported $750m. It was an adroit move from the news publisher, as news was still a vast and extremely profitable business at the time, but the challenge the internet would present to its business model was already becoming clear. In particular, classified advertisements, the small individual ads at the end of the paper known as 'rivers of gold' in the business due to the profits they delivered, were under brutal attack from the likes of Trade Me, which had successfully replicated what Ebay had accomplished in the US and Australia. By purchasing the business it had reaggregated what the internet had disaggregated. Unfortunately Fairfax was struggling with a debt load of its own, ultimately carving Trade Me off in a separate listing, and eventually exiting the business entirely in 2012. While it earned a healthy profit on those shares, the subsequent fates of both businesses tell an instructive story about the future of technology-driven businesses and digital news media – of classifieds, and the news they once subsidised, essentially. The values continued to diverge at pace. Trade Me was taken over and delisted by Apax, a private equity firm, in 2019 for around $2.5bn, while Nine panic-sold all its New Zealand assets to then NZ CEO Sinead Boucher for a nominal $1 in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, five years on from that fateful transaction, Boucher has completed one of the most intriguing and provocative deals in recent media history. Stuff last year split into two distinct businesses in a clear preparation for a transaction of this nature, despite their denials. One is called Mastheads, encompassing its paywalled sites and print newspapers (like The Post and The Press), the other called Stuff Digital, comprising its free-to-access digital sites (mostly Stuff). By selling 50% of Stuff Digital to Trade Me, long-rumoured and first reported by the NZ Herald's Shayne Currie in March, it completes an astonishing 20-year turnaround, from news organisations as global business titans able to buy fast-growing technology businesses, to a moment when those same news organisations are so challenged in terms of their financial value that they can be bought by those same tech businesses simply to test a theory. Why would the classifieds buy a news organisation? In many ways this runs counter to business logic. The whole idea of breaking the classifieds away from the newspaper was that the skills and capital needed to create a tech marketplace business were very different from those needed to run a print newspaper, and the expense of journalism was unnecessary and onerous when internet audiences could access what they needed to buy and sell without the expense of buying an issue of a newspaper. However, we are now operating in a different era. Trade Me is now a private company, so not required to release public data or financials. However, it has faced increasing competition in recent years, with NZME's property portal OneRoof gaining ground on Trade Me Property, while Facebook Marketplace, with its free listings, has chewed into its secondhand goods and vehicles markets. (It's instructive that Nine is currently assessing a giant bid for its property portal, Domain, while Bowen Pan, the New Zealander behind Facebook Marketplace, just yesterday joined the NZME board). Yesterday's press release contained only fairly glib statements from Boucher and Anders Skoe, Trade Me's chief executive, with the only concrete announcement being a rebrand of Stuff's fairly anaemic property section, Homed, to Trade Me Property. The potential synergies, however, are obvious and tantalising. Trade Me has what is likely the best and most powerful database of New Zealanders and their spending habits outside of Google's parent company Alphabet and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. It is also a very mature business now, with a limit to plausible growth aspirations under its own steam. If it were able to thread what it knows of its users through Stuff, Trade Me should be able to markedly increase the value of Stuff to all advertisers – including, but not limited to, its own sellers – while also diverting some of Stuff's vast audience (which represents over half of all New Zealanders in any given month) toward the myriad verticals on its platform. Will it work? It's a very challenging idea, and one that runs counter to some firmly laid assumptions of the internet. It's telling that both Nine, with its separate ASX listing for Domain, and NZME, which is testing doing the same for OneRoof, are moving in the opposite direction. And yet it is also a thesis worth testing, especially given that Trade Me likely paid very little for its share of Stuff Digital (terms have not been disclosed), particularly compared to the relative historic value of each business. That gets at the almost existential question underlying the transaction. Stuff is a journalism business, one that still employs many of the industry's best and brightest. Will its new part owners have the stomach to publish bold, challenging public interest journalism? Or will the incentives ultimately gravitationally pull it towards publishing quirky real estate stories, rave reviews of new EVs and explainers about the environmental benefits of buying used furniture? The answer to these questions will become clearer in the months and years to come. But it also promises to test a different paradox: news still commands vast attention online, yet perennially struggles to monetise that attention. This deal is testing the thesis that you can turn the vast audiences news generates into something far more valuable through a more intimate commercial relationship than display advertising. It's a provocative idea, one with many opportunities to fail, from culture to costs. But if they're right, it could open up a whole new operating model for news. One with a curious resemblance to the old one.
RNZ News
03-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
NZME board shake-up: 'An opportunity to debate editorial policy'
New NZME chair Steven Joyce says the refreshed board of directors will bring "fresh eyes" to editorial operations. File photo. Photo: Screenshot / Composite RNZ The annual meeting of media company NZME has rubber stamped a compromise deal allowing an activist shareholder onto its board But a former National government minister has also been appointed as its chair, with the existing board kept largely intact. Auckland-based Canadian businessman Jim Grenon bought a stake in the company and launched a bid at the start of the year to replace the current board with himself and three associates. But he ended up accepting a truce in which he alone got a seat, and Steven Joyce took over as chair. Grenon told the meeting that his move to shake up the company was audacious. "It seemed to me that things were drifting downhill, from my perspective in any event and these are often subjective, particularly on the editorial front, and I thought maybe I can sort of jump start something here and I'm very, very delighted with the way things worked out." Grenon gained 83 percent shareholder support with about 14 percent voting no. Joyce was voted in with more than 93 percent support. Shareholders concentrated their sometimes rambling questions on Joyce and Grenon, including inquiries about a proposed editorial advisory board that would have oversight on the group's news operations, which include the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Joyce said the refreshed board of directors would bring "fresh eyes" to editorial operations, but would not interfere on individual items, and editorial boards were not uncommon overseas. "I wouldn't fear it. It's an opportunity to debate editorial policy, an opportunity to support the development of editorial policy." Grenon said an editorial board would allow them to look over the shoulders of staff and assess them against a set of guidelines. "If they aren't meeting the guidelines then we can sort of nudge in the right direction," he told the meeting. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
01-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Two former finance ministers receive King's Birthday Honours
Former National MP Ruth Richardson. Photo: Supplied Two former finance ministers have been appointed Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit at this year's King's Birthday Honours. Ruth Richardson and Steven Joyce, both former National MPs, have been honoured for their services as Members of Parliament. Three other former MPs - Ian McKelvie, Anae Arthur Anae, and Dover Samuels - have also received Honours. Richardson was well aware that an interview about her King's Birthday Honour would include questions on her time as finance minister. The economic reforms she oversaw - and the 1991 'Mother of All Budgets' - made significant changes to social welfare and public services, the effects of which are still felt by many. Richardson started by saying in 1991 New Zealand was at huge risk, and was drowning in a sea of debt and perpetual forecast deficits. "Early and decisive course correction was imperative. I didn't flinch in my duty as minister of finance," she said. Richardson said her Budgets proved to be circuit breakers, resulting in a lift in growth and employment, a reduction in public debt, and the books going back to black. Receiving the call she would be appointed a CNZM felt like a "seal of approval" for her work, she said. "I have always worn those reforms that I championed as a badge of honour, and the restoration of New Zealand's fortunes made it worth it. So I guess this award thirty years down the track is a recognition of that work." Anticipating a question that her critics may be surprised to see her receive an Honour, she told them to look at the evidence. "Look at where we were. Look at the risk that we faced, look how vulnerable we were, and then look at the result. And the reward for those reforms was on multiple fronts. "New Zealand was given a second chance, as it were, we were out of the valley of financial death, and we put ourselves on a sound footing as a result of those reforms." Most of Richardson's Cabinet colleagues have already received Honours in the intervening years. She said it was not for her to answer as to why she had not until now. The recognition was also bittersweet, with Richardson recently experiencing a bereavement. "It's been a miserable May, so this is putting June on a good footing," she said. Steven Joyce said he was "genuinely surprised" to be appointed a CNZM. "I really see it as an acknowledgement of the team that I worked with in Parliament, and in the ministries, and also my family. They gave up a lot for this period, it was 10 very intense years, so it's as much recognition for them, I think, as it is for me," he said. Steven Joyce Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Joyce, who gained a reputation as National's 'Mr Fix-It,' served as minister for transport, economic development, communications, and tertiary education during his time in government. "There's a few things that I'm proud to have been involved with. The ultra-fast broadband, setting that up was a real high point early on. The Roads of National Significance, it's still a thrill to drive on the Waikato Expressway, and through the Waterview Tunnel. I bore my children silly reminding them that Dad had a bit to do with that," he said. "And some of the economic growth programme that I led under John [Key] and Bill [English] during that time, it was a real thrill to be able to do that. I saw it as sort of an opportunity to bring the various sort of micro-economic policies together and get them working in a cohesive way. I think we managed that, and subsequent events have shown it's not as easy as it looks." When Sir Bill English replaced Sir John Key as prime minister, Joyce stepped up as finance minister. He would only get to deliver one Budget, before leaving Parliament in 2018. His replacement from the National party list, Nicola Willis, has just delivered her second Budget. Joyce said it was a hard job, and one he did not have any FOMO over. "Every challenging time is more real, the closer you are to it. We're in the middle of it right now, but the GFC and the Canterbury earthquakes coming close together were pretty big for our government. I worked very closely with Bill through that period, so I do understand the pressures and challenges that arise, and the hundreds of things you're trying to balance." Since leaving Parliament, Joyce has continued to write columns, which he described as his "post-political therapy". He said the old Kitchen Cabinet gets together from time to time, particularly the 2008-2011 team, and hoped they would get to do so again soon. Former National MPs Ian McKelvie and Anae Arthur Anae have been made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit. McKelvie has been appointed the MNZM for services to local government, governance, and as a Member of Parliament. Ian McKelvie Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver The former Manawatū mayor, who was also MP for Rangitīkei between 2011 and 2023, credited those around him for the accolade. "I think it's a reflection of a lot of people have been very good to me along the way. And I've had some amazing helpers in my life... from my MP days, my agricultural and pastoral days, right through I've had some amazing people looking after me," he said. McKelvie is currently a community advisor at the University College of Learning. He has also spent his time post-politics farming and fixing buildings. "I'm slowly finding some other things to do, because I thought I was going to do nothing but doing nothing's not an option for me. I'm finding some little jobs to do, and I keep quite busy," he said. He has also had some time to do some travelling around New Zealand. "We've got a little motorhome we pot around in, and we get around the country a bit. We've spent a bit of time in the South Island, so we've had some very nice looking at things that we wouldn't have otherwise looked at, and stayed with some friends that we would otherwise not have." He is still chair of a body corporate in Wellington and so sees his old colleagues from time to time. But he has no regrets on his decision to retire from Parliament just as National re-entered government. "I wouldn't want to be doing the work that some of them are having to do now. It looks very busy to me!" Anae Arthur Anae served two stints as a MP, from 1996 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2002, and has been appointed a MNZM for services to the Samoan community. Anae said he was surprised upon hearing the news of his honour, but was thrilled on behalf of his community. "Something like this doesn't belong to me, it belongs to them. I was just the vehicle doing a particular job." Anae Arthur Anae. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Anae suspected his work on advocating for the Citizenship Western Samoa Restoration Amendment Bill was a key factor in receiving the honour. The law change, which allows for a pathway for certain individuals whose New Zealand citizenship was removed under a 1982 Act to apply for it, passed in November last year. Anae said he had worked on getting the legislation over the line for about 27 years. "After a long battle, people saw the light of where it went." The law change was tinged with some sadness for Anae, as many of the elderly people he had marched with when protesting for recognition were no longer alive to see the outcome. Despite the King's Birthday honour, Anae said he would not stop fighting for Pacific communities, including for Pacific people to be able to travel to New Zealand without a visitor's visa. "I'm not asking here, I'm demanding the Pacific people be treated the same way. "New Zealand is our second home. This is where our families live. We've played a big role in the development of New Zealand." In regards to the honour, Anae said he had never considered receiving one. At this stage he said, he was only interested in one thing: "To fix the wrongs that have been done to the Pacific community for too long. It is time New Zealand recognises who we are. We're people who can do anything, and can prove we can do anything in this country. Don't keep treating us as third rate citizens. I won't accept it." Dover Samuels, a kaumatua from Ngāpuhi, said upon being notified he was receiving the Honour, he reflected on meeting King Charles at Waitangi. Samuels was asked by the then-Prince of Wales how he was, and responded by saying "jolly good old chap!" "I think he got a bit of a buzz out of that," Samuels laughed, adding when he got the call to tell him he would be receiving an Honour that Charles had remembered his name. Dover Samuels. Photo: Aotearoa Media Collective He admitted he initially thought he was being scammed when he first received the phone call. After the second call, he investigated by ringing Parliament, who confirmed they had been trying to talk to him. "I thought they might have been wanting to talk to Hone Harawira!" Samuels, a Labour MP from 1996 to 2008, who served a stint as Māori Affairs minister and held a number of associate minister roles, has been made a Companion of the King's Service Order for services as a Member of Parliament. He said he had to reflect on why he had been honoured. "I think that I've tried my best in Parliament to do the job on behalf of my people, and addressing the real problems." One of the fifth Labour government's Māori policy mantras was "closing the gaps," Samuels said. However, he did not think that had been achieved, and the gaps had got wider since then. Looking back at the negative statistics that continued to haunt Māori had made him want to think again, he said. "I'm convinced now, the negative statistics that have been haunting us will keep haunting us, until we recognise that the answer is in our own hands. "The answer is in the hands of your own whānau, your own matua. Yeah, that's where it must begin." Samuels also lamented the fact there was still no Treaty settlement for Ngāpuhi. He said the opportunity for a settlement was "in our own hands", and wanted Ngāpuhi to consider the "loss of opportunity from generations that are not yet born, and for our mokopuna that could have benefited from a settlement from the biggest iwi in Aotearoa." He wanted Ngāpuhi to harness its talent and ability, and said if a settlement was achieved during his lifetime, and he had contributed to it, "then I would have done my share." 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