ACTing all surprised about it

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, May 13th, 2015 - 129 comments
Categories: act, housing, human rights - Tags: , ,

It’s like ACT’s David Seymour is seeing the world for the first time:

Home ownership now for privileged few – ACT

For the first time in New Zealand’s history, home ownership has become the privilege of the wealthy, says ACT leader David Seymour. Seymour said house prices in Auckland, and to a lesser extent other parts of the country, had risen so high, so fast that owning one was increasingly a function of the wealth of a young person’s parents. “For the first time we have a situation in New Zealand where property ownership is heritable,” Seymour said.

He pointed to the way his circle of friends had made it into their own homes. “I look at most of my friends, lawyers, doctors or engineers. All of them went to Auckland Grammar, or St Cuthberts. All of them have done it with parental help.” With house prices rising up to a reported $1000 a day “houses in Auckland are earning more than people”, he said.

Seymour admitted that for young people to be able to save that amount New Zealand needs affordable housing. Buying a house can mean so much debt that saving for retirement looks a forlorn hope, he said.

“There are a lot of people of my age group saying you want us to pay twice as much for our houses, you want us to save twice the money to retire, and I have to pay off my student loan,” Seymour said.

Well duh. This is all a direct and predicable consequence of the policies that you are propping up, David. Entrenching privilege is what your government is all about. Hiding behind the bullshit of “personal responsibility” and “equality of opportunity” while the playing field is massively slanted towards the rich, like you and your friends. Oh – that and the refusal to consider alternatives such as a capital gains tax which would help.

You right-wingers own this mess. There’s no point in acting all surprised about it now.

129 comments on “ACTing all surprised about it ”

  1. Paul 1

    This is faux concern.
    Designed to attract attention to his dreadful political party.

    • Lanthanide 1.1

      Yip. He fails to realise that lawyers, engineers, doctors and those that went to Grammar schools are privileged. His concern seems to be that these upper-crust types can’t buy houses on their own.

      If it weren’t for them having trouble, this concept of privilege wouldn’t have even entered his head.

      • RedLogix 1.1.1

        Yes I am one of that privileged bunch who went to Grammar schools. And I’ve always been conscious that it was a privilege not to be abused …

        My father spent the first five years of his life living with his single mother in a tent. Yes a tent – in a well known Epsom street where properties are now worth millions. When Mum and Dad married they barely had ten quid to their names, but were able in their lifetimes to see their kids get well educated, and make decent professional careers for themselves. For this I am grateful – although like all children it’s only later in life you probably get to that realisation.

        It did of course take a lot of hard work and discipline. Working two jobs, paying off big mortgages, modest holidays, no smoking, drinking, gambling – but crucially there was a ladder in place, and it didn’t have a big gaping hole at the bottom. The social mobility ladder was there if you wanted to climb it.

        Here is the thing that has changed. Fifteen years ago when we first started out as landlords, we had a number of tenants move on to owning their first home. We brought them a bottle or two, some flowers and celebrated with them. That hasn’t happened recently. And if you stay with us, the rent doesn’t go up. Seymour does have a point; if the children of middle-class professionals are dependent on their parents to get into a first home – what chance the rest?

        All around us we could see that ‘left behind’ New Zealand getting even more lost and left out – and knowing where we came from – that makes me despair.

        • Chooky 1.1.1.1

          +100 …well said…for our generation and our parents’ generation and those generations of New Zealanders before them….there was always the chance with hard work to make a good standard of living and own your own house, property and business (and quality education was free)….and there was a safety net for those who could not or would not make it, hence safeguarding the egalitarian rights of their children….(Jonkey, of new immigrant parents, was a recipient of this state housing and education)

          ….now there is no chance and no dreams for many young New Zealanders…it is a CRYING SHAME!

          …and Jonkey Nact is responsible…New Zealand’s wealth has been plundered and is being plundered…our children are the losers

          weird that the leader of Act is only just realising this….or are these crocodile tears?…or does he know Nact is on the way out… for some reason we do not know?

        • Once was Tim 1.1.1.2

          Similar situation @ Red….. at least in terms of elder siblings ability to access the Cathedral Grammar’s and Christ’s College’s – hob nobbing with the now ‘pillars’ of the Natzi Party and their ilk – the one time “I like ’em fat and cuddly”; partakers (whilst boarding) of the nightly escapes to attend heroin parties; etc;.

          …… oh, and btw, the oft times proponents of “left” thinking – until the benefits of the American Express card droppped into their pockets. (I have one of those btw)
          They’re fucking full of it – has to be said. It’s the kind of thing a Natzi/CT spin doctor would love to have on his contemporaries – to be used against them later in life. Bastions of the (now) elite – most of whom followed in their fathers’ footsteps ….. the old money …. picking up one or two “Class of ’87” on the way, then in the absence of them, some wealthy overseas Entra-prin-ooooers, vestas et al.
          On that basis tho’ its no surprise that Everidge Men JK is so worshipped and adored (forgetting of course the reality that he never ever really did it that tuff.

          (Matty is a daily source of humour tho’ eh?; as well as one or two others – like that supposed wonderboy of business now offshore who grew up on “the back of inheritance and ‘old money'”, once in the brewery business.

          Christ! – what a legacy we leave huh?
          (With the risk of offending ROB – who seems to think I’m advocating a shitty outcome by mentioning lamposts) – we don’t really learn that much from history do we? ….. “sounds like………?”
          Like … I wonder what next with the Labour Party; Like Tariq Ali has some [like] ideas …. Like the Labour Party are like evaluating what went wrong …; should we like target the like Left, or target like the centre;
          FFS! maybe just get a bit honest and go with some founding principles – or alternatively……. change your fucking name and don’t pretend to be what you’re not

      • Tracey 1.1.2

        It does seem very odd that this penny has just dropped for Seymour. Overnight, I suspect, he has been quickly pulled back into line and told to lay low… the last thing his constituency and party want is the privileged advantage racket out of the bag.

        • felix 1.1.2.1

          Seymour doesn’t tie his shoelaces without instructions from John Key’s office.

          What he said yesterday was exactly what he was supposed to say.

          • Puddleglum 1.1.2.1.1

            What he said yesterday was exactly what he was supposed to say.

            I agree.

            I remember Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble banging on about how unfair it was for the ‘son’ of a butcher to have to pay tax so that the ‘son’ of a lawyer could go to University for ‘free’. How university education was only for the privileged (which it more or less was – I seem to remember that only 3% of University students had ‘unskilled’ fathers (it was always the father who was the point of comparison, of course).

            But that seemingly ‘anti-privilege’ rhetoric was the precursor to the student loans system, the subsidisation of private tertiary providers, etc..

            • peterlepaysan 1.1.2.1.1.1

              That was Prebble bs. I went to Uni in the sixties. Most of us to were working our butts off to pay our own way. Even the well off worked the long hours at summer vacation on the Hawkes Bay Wattie croplands and the freezing works. Being a “townie” in wellington I worked building sites, fast food stores and drove trucks.

              How many fathers are unskilled these days?

              I suppose that depends on the definition of “father” and “unskilled”.

              I recall that Prebble once wrote a book with the extremely unlikely title of “I have been thinking”. Go figure.

              • Tracey

                Allan Gibbs is the real common factor. He seems to escape any scrutiny or responsibility. Yet there he is, every year on the donor register propping his party up with hundreds of thousands (over the lifetime of ACT). Hide was his puppet.

            • Tracey 1.1.2.1.1.2

              Thanks for the reminder

              Remember before the 80’s we kind of didnt have unemployment, so IF you were one of the few that went to University, you could also have a part time job.

              By the 80’s and later you needed one but there were fewer about. By the late 90’s tertiary was the repository for the otherwise unemployed (in a sense people were herded here to take pressure off the increasingly unavailable jobs).

              I re-read Seymour’s Wikipedia yesterday to see what he has been doing with his young life…

              • RedLogix

                Yeah – and those uni jobs you did to get through uni before the 80’s (while the Course Fees and expenses were much lower there were no Student Loans either and you still needed to make rent and drinking money) … served another more important purpose.

                I too worked wharves, works, painting contracts and I think I cleaned every sodding office toilet in downtown Auckland at least once. But what I got from them was a life-long respect for the working class people who had to do those jobs all their lives.

            • Gosman 1.1.2.1.1.3

              Except more lower income people access Tertiary education today than they did in the 1960’s.

        • Andrew Atkin 1.1.2.2

          Jesus you people are clueless.

          You have zero idea who the ACT party is (I am an active member of it myself), or who David Seymour is. If you did you wouldn’t make such embarrassing assertions.

          ACT…BELIEVE IT OR NOT…is the most anti-corporate capitalism party we have in New Zealand today. Always was.

          Try this to learn something worth knowing about:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay8wGdbQElU

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.2.2.1

            Claims to be anti corporate capitalism.

            Introduces Charter schools.

            We need better wingnuts.

          • Jessica Parsons 1.1.2.2.2

            Claims to be anti corporate capitalism.

            Does deals with National to form a government.

            “anti” – you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

      • SHG 1.1.3

        I on the other hand read it as “I know lawyers, doctors, and engineers who still can’t afford to buy a home without the help of their parents. If even rich fuckers like those can’t buy a house, Auckland housing is broken”.

        His acknowledgement of privilege IS THE POINT.

    • Sans Cle 1.2

      Personally, I thought the article pure satire.

  2. capn insano 2

    Goalpost-head with his finger on the pulse late I see.

  3. He may actually be failing to see the connection, and how he CAN’T see the connection while all his friends are lawyers and doctors who went to AG and St Cuths.

    At a panel discussion, he admitted that changing schools is “a terrible thing” for the kids and parents, while continuing to support charter schools as the solution to all academic problems and the amazing power we have to “vote with our feet” if we don’t like the school.

    His own childhood experience at leaving a school he didn’t like seemed to be a big factor in this.

    • vto 3.1

      It amazes me Jessica Parsons that these people who are doctors and engineers and lawyers that Seymour refers to are clearly academically intelligent, yet they fail to see so very much….

      it is confusingly common …..

      which I guess also goes to show, contrary to Act rant, that people drive their lives off far far more than supposed ‘logic’ and self-interest. There are clearly a whole bunch of interlinked and complex drivers and intelligences that form our societies and that just cannot be separated out individually.

      the countrys biggest political failure ever

      wait for the gosman pinhead dance to turn up ……

      • It’s easy to keep your illusions that people who have economic troubles are personal failures, if you don’t bother to know any. If you only know the “I worked hard for what I have, and so could they” crowd. If you don’t want to believe it could ever be you.

        I will watch Seymour with interest. He is earnest and not dumb, so it will be interesting to see if enlightenment and reality win out over the attraction of being in power with his idols. There must be a huge pull, having succeeded, to stay in the system in order to make a change, in whatever direction you dream is a better one.

        • Tracey 3.1.1.1

          and whether his party stamps on him for pointing out they are privileged

          • Jessica Parsons 3.1.1.1.1

            Do you mean his party National or his party ACT? 🙂

            Who is the rest of the ACT party, anyway? And would they even get reported if they said something?

            • Gosman 3.1.1.1.1.1

              You mean as opposed to the Mana Movement, whiich has exactly zero representatives in Parliament. I presume you think their views can be safely ignored too then.

              • Macro

                What has that comment got to do with the price of fish (or housing for that matter) Gos?
                You are aware – I’m sure – that Mana achieved twice the endorsement in Party Votes than Act. Mana in a truly representational parliament would have at least 1 seat, and Act maybe none.
                http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2014/partystatus.html

                • Gosman

                  Still didn’t get in though. As for if it is relevant, it isn’t in terms of whether Mana has a legitimate voice. It quite obviously does and one which deserves to be taken seriously. As does Act.

                  • felix

                    lol @ ACT’s “legitimate voice.”

                    ACT speaks for Alan Gibbs, Gosman, and about four other people.

                    If that deserves representation in Parliament then so does my cat.

                    • tinfoilhat

                      I’d be far happier voting for your cat in the elections than most of the other candidates and that’s without having met the delightful feline.

                    • felix

                      Be careful voting for candidates you don’t know. My “cat” is a pitbull/labrador 😉

                      She’s putting together quite an impressive party list though, mostly worms and rodents. A lot more talent than the ACT list.

                  • Mana and the Mana movement have a legitimate voice, they just don’t have one in parliament this term.

              • Tracey

                So that makes it’s ok then FOGGY?

              • Oh look! A straw-Mana argument 🙂

      • Anne 3.1.2

        It amazes me Jessica Parsons that these people who are doctors and engineers and lawyers that Seymour refers to are clearly academically intelligent, yet they fail to see so very much…

        Many of them are not all that intelligent but they have had a privileged education at top level private schools with plenty of one-on-one tuition – far more than most state schools can provide for their students. They also have “doors” opened for them that are denied most young people.

        I have two relatives who were educated at a top girls’ private school and they both became barristers. Yet they are no brighter than the rest of the family.

        Imo, that is why they fail to see so very much…

        • vto 3.1.2.1

          hmmmm, well pointed out and very true. Have seen it meself as you describe come to think of it ….

      • Tracey 3.1.3

        emotionally unintelligent. They view the world through their lens and assume everyone else has the same lens. An inability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes…

      • Draco T Bastard 3.1.4

        It amazes me Jessica Parsons that these people who are doctors and engineers and lawyers that Seymour refers to are clearly academically intelligent, yet they fail to see so very much….

        People see what they’ve been taught so when what they’ve been taught, specifically economics, is wrong they won’t see the causation even though it’s staring them in the face.

  4. vto 4

    Yep, goal post have been set since 1984 in a particular manner under Act-type policies and now 31 years later the Act Party realises what it has achieved.

    Excuse the language but that is completely fucked in the head.

    Now I wonder if Seymour can continue this practice of looking around with eyes open….. and look to what the goal posts were set at during times in our history when these problems didn’t exist….. and do some more thinking about the set of goal posts that actually work

    Act=Fail as stated by its only MP.

  5. felix 5

    So ACT is now slightly less fundamentalist than John Key, who thinks there’s nothing wrong with the Auckland property market.

    • miravox 5.1

      Nah he’s just trying to work the word ‘vouchers’ into the problem.

      • Tracey 5.1.1

        Interesting thought miravox. Watch this space aye?

        • miravox 5.1.1.1

          Yup. If he’s thinking out loud he’ll come to the realisation he’s in the wrong party. Else it’s a precursor to some libertarian housing-for-poor-people nightmare.

    • Lanthanide 5.2

      “who thinks there’s nothing wrong with the Auckland property market.”

      He’s just not admitting it to the media yet, because they haven’t found a solution the focus groups will accept, yet.

      But it seems they’re trotting out the RB this morning to put in some constraints, which they get to claim is none of their doing because the RB is wholly independent.

      • Tracey 5.2.1

        A representative of the Property Institute stated the changes won’t make a difference because many investors can easily get the extra 10%…

        On Prime they had the good grace to follow that statement with one from RBG stating that 50% of investors require 70% or more financing fr their purchases.

        TV3 didnt.

        So, again a lobby group misleads the public (“many” investors – letting people think it is a large number) and a media outlet with easy access to a contradictory statement leaves it out. I know our news desks are under resourced but….

  6. vto 6

    Mine own past comments have suggested that this government is the last throw of the dice for neoliberalism. From here (or recent past) it will peter out and morph away back to something more normal. I have suggested this will occur within the National Party policy settings over the next period – they will abandon much of neoliberalism.

    I would suggest that Seymours awakening is also a part of this. It is a sign that this swing, or ending to neoliberalism, is looming.

    Pity conservatives are always so slow to see the reality…. the rest of us have to sit around and wait for people like Seymour to come around ….. …..

    conservatives …… shouldn’t be allowed out

    edit: and further evidence of this failing of conservatives was shown on Nat Radio yesterday when Josie Pagani was recalling her protest times over Nelson Mandela etc etc…… while David Farrar sat in silence absolutely unable to proffer anything similar – because he is a conservative and likely didn’t protest or even agree with the likes of Pagani over Mandela at the time. Yet now Farrar has finally caught up with reality and would certainly agree with Pagani around Mandela.

    Poor David Farrar – so slow

    • Colonial Rawshark 6.1

      I have suggested this will occur within the National Party policy settings over the next period – they will abandon much of neoliberalism.

      Note that in the rest of the FVEY countries, neoliberalism’s next stage has been a transition towards propagandised authoritarian feudalism. That’s not necessarily an improvement.

      • vto 6.1.1

        Yes, you’re right and been wondering about that sort of change seen too….

        maybe my rose-tinted specs should be removed…

        • Colonial Rawshark 6.1.1.1

          In the US they have legalised indefinite detention without charge, the ability to confine whole classes of people by declaring them to be a national security risk (section 1021 of the NDAA), have paramilitarised their police as well as broken a two centuries old convention not to be able to deploy a standing army on US soil, and instituted a secret police state with 18,000 paid informers plus mass electronic surveillance with no legal limits.

          It’s almost like the 0.1% in the USA predict that there will be trouble ahead for them.

    • Tracey 6.2

      Farrar silent?????????

      Once a week due to an appointment I have I catch the pre-curser to the panel (before the 4pm news, as the slot for what the world is talking about plays.

      Yesterday Farrar and Pagani thought everything McCarthy said was a question to them, they just talked and talked. Usually you get the odd quip but it was all about them. I turned the radio off.

      • Rodel 6.2.1

        Tracey Metoo. RNZ presented Farrar and Pagini as right and left. Pagini does not represent anything like the left. She represents herself. Farra is certainly right Pagini is usually wrong.

        I too turned them off..waste of grey matter rNZ. I see they still promo these people as ‘opinion shapers’. What pretentious rubbish!

        • Tracey 6.2.1.1

          and why do they introduce Williams as former LP Pres. but not Hooton as former Nat Party strategist

  7. lprent 7

    ACT and their fellow travellers are directly responsible for two of the main housing issues in Auckland.

    In the 1990s they deregulated the building inspection processes at the same time as they gutted BRANZ. The effect was the introduction of some no mistakes building techniques at the same time as they dropped quality control with fly by night building inspection companies. The result was a decade of building leaky buildings. This resulted in massive litigation and a rightfully distinct reluctance by insurance companies and councils to let through shoddy work that cost them so much…

    As a result of the rights short sighted ideological stupidity, we have a building industry that now is more far more regulated than before. But largely by the free market insurance industry who cover builders. Architects. And councils. Much the same massive cost burden as the medical litigation in the US produces.

    It also slows housing construction and makes it far more expensive.

    In Auckland this is coupled with the ACT stupidity of massively disrupting the planning and regulatory processes with their half-arsed Auckland supershitty chaos. Effectively on its own that disrupted several years of housing supply because it caused massive delays as existing approval systems were damaged through amalgamation. So were the planning processes.

    Basically rather than having an inexperienced an naive ideological fuck-wit like Rodney Hide playing political games. The government should have just implemented the carefully thought through recommendations from Aucklanders as expressed in the Royal Commission.

    And I won’t even get into the stupidity of having 70 years of National’s rural and provincial Ministers of Transport diverting transport taxes raised in Auckland away from Auckland to finance rural and provincial roads. The effect has been to wastefully use land resources here by spreading the city wide with highly congested roads. It has resulted in the super high land prices and pitiful under developed urban transport systems that are currently crippling Auckland.

    Simon Bridges is merely the latest of these short sighted fools.

    Under his and Brownlee’s watch there has not been a single major transport proposal started for Auckland. All of the ones under-way were from Labour 7 years or more ago. Instead we have a “holiday highway” proposal whose major benefits will be for Northland being lumped as a Auckland project, and a vague idea of a second harbour crossing FOR CARS that traffic volumes on the bridge don’t justify.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1

      Strong regulation makes competent professional builders. Probably by some sort of competitive market process. The irony, it burns.

    • dukeofurl 7.2

      Exactly.
      Wellingtons transmission Gully motorway project will see big queues either end as they merge in with existing 2 lane highway north and existing motorway south.

    • Tracey 7.3

      BRANZ continued to get funding from every Building Consent. However the free-market model they developed meant that manufacturers could essentially pay $50,000 for a certificate of appraisal. The number of appraisals issued in the 90’s and 2000’s which simply accepted the testing or promise of testing of product by the manufacturer rather than BRANZ actually testing for weathertightness etc is staggering.

      • lprent 7.3.1

        The gutting of BRANZ was more about their authority to say what building procedures MUST be followed. Effectively they stopped mandating what the councils had to accept as being good building practices.

        As you say, they pretty well stopped doing much testing on the materials. In particular what materials and practices went together and what the flaws were. That largely got abrogated to the building material manufacturers and importers

        The same happened in the councils. The building inspections got offloaded to external companies competing on price and carrying inadequate insurance. From what I hear, they promptly got into bed with the builders. So even what guidelines were mandated by councils weren’t followed with more than ticket clipping for a compliance certificate. The same attitudes even crept into those council inspectors who were left.

        This was all perfectly predictable and predicted when the infantile ACT dickheads and their compatriots in the right of National pushed the building industry deregulation legislation through in the early 90s. So we had a leaky building saga which involved 10s of thousands of home owners finding that they had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollar repairing their homes, and tens of thousands pulling builders, architects, councils, and insurance companies into court for a total bill of billions of dollars.

        All because ideological fuckwits in Act and their fellow travelers in National have a crazed enthusiasm for putting markets in a place where they didn’t work for religious reasons. An excess of unjustified and irrational faith that sadly none of them have suffered for. Consequently we have intellectual morons like Seymour finding out the problems with his faith long after everyone else.

        The downstream result has been that Auckland has more than a decade of housing that it didn’t build as the litigation got processed and builders left the industry. Consequently we have a massive housing shortage.

        A shortage that is not helped by cheapskate fools like John Key wanting to build houses in his electorate without building the transport links

    • Gosman 7.4

      The Supercity was never Act party policy. Rodney Hide had the dubious pleasure of shepherding the legislation around it through Parliament but it was largely the outcome of an independent commission.

      • Draco T Bastard 7.4.1

        No, the independent commission’s results were thrown out in favour of Rodney Hide’s and National’s ideology.

        • Gosman 7.4.1.1

          What were the fundamental differences as far as you are aware and how can you tie them to Act party policy pronouncements?

        • lprent 7.4.1.2

          Hide threw out or substantially modified about 2/3rds of the recommendations.

          Perhaps you should point to which ones he left in or didn’t gut. That is the shorter list.

          But a search on this site for supershitty will give you analysis of what was changed.

          • Gosman 7.4.1.2.1

            I’ve actually done as suggested and the majority of your objections seem to be about the control of CCO’s and the fact the power of the local boards were left to the transitional authority to define rather than explicitly outlined in the empowering legislation. Not entirely earth shattering differences and I don’t know where you get the 2/3rds of recommendations being ditched from.

            • Macro 7.4.1.2.1.1

              Gosman reinventing history to suit his ideology.

              There would be no super city (at least not the way it is now) had Aucklanders been given a say in it, and Hide knew that. So Hide owns the super shitty that resulted. And as he was head of Act at the time, Act owns it too.

      • Macro 7.4.2

        BULLSHIT

    • Draco T Bastard 7.5

      As a result of the rights short sighted ideological stupidity, we have a building industry that now is more far more regulated than before.

      And I know of at least one builder that’s getting out of the trade because of that. That said, it’s not the regulations that’s pushing him out but the fact that he isn’t paid enough to cover the added costs of the regulations. In other words the market failed to pay for the added costs.

      In a few months I suspect that you’ll see even more builders being brought in to cover skills ‘shortages’ – the type of shortages that come about because the market isn’t paying enough to entice the people with the skills to work with them. Especially if the foreign workers continue to be seen as not employed in NZ despite working in NZ and there’ll definitely be no accountability of those firms.

      • Tracey 7.5.1

        The problem with bringing in the foreign builders is that under the new legislation all the personal liability sits on builders and designers’ shoulders… IF MBIE licences these folks as LBP, and they eventually go home, the liability is moot. Again.

        BUT no personal liability sits on Developers, who create the project, hire people to execute THEIR needs and provides a budget to execute it.

        IF they had personal liability (including going behind Trust vehicles), watch the ratbag portion find another way to earn a living, fast. We will be left for solid, decent, ethical developers.

        • Draco T Bastard 7.5.1.1

          Yep, all our laws are about taking responsibility off the developers and others in similar positions (Generally the rich) and placing it firmly on the subcontractors and the employees. In other words, it takes the risk off of the ‘investors’ and places it on the workers. The changes to welfare under this government and SFC bailout shows clearly that the rich are well protected by the government and take almost no risk while the poor keep having the limited societal support that they have knocked out from under them.

          • Tracey 7.5.1.1.1

            Yup, those who pull the most out of the project have the least liability and vice versa.

            Also, some builders are taking on the LBP role for a contractor/developer leaving them holding the legal can… A nephew of mine and I had a long discussion about this. He pointed out instances of developers telling him he would not alter the budget to do things a different way. I suggested to him that for the risk he is taking he is better to start his own company and then he can control more of the risks.

    • Tracey 7.6

      “naive ideological fuck-wit like Rodney Hide playing political games.”

      run by his puppet-master Alan Gibbs you mean

  8. Sable 8

    Time to try and shift the blame. I’ say good luck with that were it not for the creeps in the MSM who keep paving over the cracks.

  9. s y d 9

    1992 performance based building code.
    Private and self certification
    introduction of hundreds of new and untested (in NZ) products
    destruction of trades and substitution of skilled craftspeople with fragmented installer/piece/foreign workers
    Use of Commerce Commission to prevent attempts to maintain a minimum level of fee for a minimum level of service, under the guise of anti competitive behaviour

    costs and quality reduced, profits maximised. First sign of trouble, wind up the company and move on….

    • Tracey 9.1

      Not even first sign of trouble. It was and is a strategy. Open company, do the project, remove profit, close company. Repeat.

  10. repateet 10

    Seymour is a boy pretending to be an adult but past the naiveté he knows he needs to do the homework to keep his seat next time up. But even then surely this has to be a parody, even he’s not that dumb.

    (Is it his friends who regularly tell me about needing to live in the “real world”?)

  11. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11

    What are the ACT policies which have caused the tight housing supply in Auckland?

    • Tracey 11.1

      is there a housing supply problem in Auckland?

      • Stuart Munro 11.1.1

        I think the number being bandied about is a shortfall of 25 000. But this is not the only problem & TGF is being disingenuous in pretending otherwise.

      • Gosman 11.1.2

        Which doesn’t seem to be the result of Act party policy. In fact the reason David Seymour is raising this issue is to address the Supply problem.

        • felix 11.1.2.1

          ACT has been in government for over six years.

          • Gosman 11.1.2.1.1

            Not every policy of this government is Act party policy. Infact quite a few of them go against Act’s core philosophy and David Seymour has been quite vocal about that.

            • felix 11.1.2.1.1.1

              It’s not my problem ACT are propping up a government they don’t agree with, Gosman.

              Sheesh, when are you guys going to get some sense of personal responsibility?

        • Tracey 11.1.2.2

          Funny how all the supply/demand proponents of free marketing thinking keep focusing only on addressing supply…

          What about demand? The RBG has just tried, again, to address that, yet the Government (National/ACT/UF/MP) only talk about the supply side of the equation…

    • crashcart 11.2

      You do realise that there are two sides to the market model Gormy? Supply aaaaannnnd Demand. You learn that in your first year of Economics.

      National AND ACT refuse to address the demand side.

      Does that clear it up for you?

      • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11.2.1

        Sorry, wasn’t trying to be controversial. Tell me the ACT policies that have led to the problem, be they on the supply side, the demand side, or otherwise.

        • r0b 11.2.1.1

          You can ask that question sure, but the post wasn’t about ACT policies. It was about government policies that ACT is propping up, and right-wing ideology in general. ACT is just the Epsom branch of the National party.

          • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11.2.1.1.1

            I’m not trying to be tricky.

            What policies have led to the current state of the Auckland property market?

            • thatguynz 11.2.1.1.1.1

              I would have thought it was more the ABSENCE of policies that have exacerbated the current state of the Auckland housing market. You know, the free market has run wild and this is the net effect.

            • crashcart 11.2.1.1.1.2

              Being against a capital gains tax, and buying of properties by non residents. Just two positions the current government have taken that oppose trying to address demand side. Their effect is debatable but when they are willing to make changes that result in very little on the supply side and claim that is all they can do then they lose credibility as a government actually trying to address the issue.

              • Gosman

                I’m not sure if Act has come out categorical against a CGT. Certainly the issue with tax for Act is the total tax take not normally the type of tax. Admittedly the view is that taxes on Capital tend to have a greater negative impact on economic development than taxes on Labour or Consumption however if it was shown that a CGT was effective (a big if) AND the other Taxes on Capital (e.g. the Company tax rate) were reduced by a similar amount I don’t see why a CGT is not consistent with Act party principles.

                • Tracey

                  “I’m not sure …against a CGT”

                  which is odd when you consider you voted for them and had quite a few opinions about LP policy on the matter

                  • Gosman

                    My objections to CGT is not against the tax at a philisophical level but at a practical one. They don’t seem to do what the proponents of them think they should (i.e. reduce the chance of an Asset price bubble in markets).

                    • vto

                      A CGT is also about spreading the tax burden around all people.

                      Some people make money by working a wage or salary
                      Some people make money by driving capital value
                      Some people make money by luck
                      Some people make money by inheritance
                      Some people make money by business activity
                      Some people make money by welfare
                      Some people make money by ill-gotten gain

                      Everybody needs to share in the tax burden

                    • Gosman

                      Which is why I’m not against a CGT on principle as I’m in favour of a broadbased tax system. The point being though a CGT is not being proposed to broaden the tax base but to try and tackle the demand side of the housing bubble in Auckland. I don’t think this would be either effective at that or in raising revenue.

            • r0b 11.2.1.1.1.3

              The tax incentives are all wrong. Leaving the doors open to any number of overseas buyers is wrong. The refusal to maintain and develop state housing and significant amounts of new affordable housing is wrong. As thatguynz said above it is as much about the absence of policies (capital gains tax, limitations on overseas buyers, KiwiBuild) as it is about the currently wrong ones. The market has failed.

              • Gosman

                Kiwibuild will just be another Supply side issue rather than solution. Instead of Private investors being the main source of demand for new land you will have them AND the Government. This will drive up land costs even more than they are now unless more land becomes available.

                • Draco T Bastard

                  What a load of BS. The reason why land is so expensive is because National and it’s hangers on are preventing densification of cities so that the land bankers on the outskirts of cities can reap the untaxed capital gains.

                  Push medium and high density building within the limits of the present city and the demand for land on the outskirts drops – exactly the opposite of what National wants and is legislating for.

            • te reo putake 11.2.1.1.1.4

              Thatguynz is onto it. National are also in favour of urban sprawl, but don’t want to provide the transport infrastructure that facilitates that expansion. Well, they’re in favour of nice roads to their Northern beaches holiday homes, but west Ak or Manakau, not so much.

            • Tracey 11.2.1.1.1.5

              Do you believe that a government who, say, didn’t cause a problem, therefore has no responsibility/obligation to try to fix such a problem?

      • Tracey 11.2.2

        snap!

    • Sabine 11.3

      there is tight housing supply in Auckland?

    • Macro 11.4

      What are the ACT policies which have caused the tight housing supply in Auckland?

      You actually have to ask that question??
      Yes you really are a gormless fool.

      • Tracey 11.4.1

        NACT governments make working/wage conditions more difficult, allow cheap labour importation ( as does LP) and this is a policy which impacts the housing problem in Auckland. It makes the rich, richer (and able to buy more property) and the poor tread water and line the pockets of the landlord’s superann plan with what income they have.

    • Tracey 11.5

      Is there a housing affordability problem in Auckland

  12. plumington 12

    I understand and agree with the just criticism for act and nationals ideology But why would you vote for another party admittedly different ideology but the same result (past recent Labour govts)
    No wonder labour has had a sounding defeat at the polls
    Labour needs to get back it’s core values (social responsibility and the like) the voters will come back instead of being split over the more social responsible parties
    Beware of a mass population without hope and nothing to lose

    • Tracey 12.1

      That is perhaps why a few here have moved their vote in recent elections to other partys (outside of Nat/ACT/Labour). I, for example, don’t think LP has a different ideology but rather blur the edges.

      Many who are new to this site assume that a site related to the voice of the labour movement must be a Labour Party site. The important bit is the small “l” in labour movement.

  13. Shona 13

    What a narrow range of friends /life experience Seymour has. He really is a right twat!

    • I met him once in a Newmarket curry house, just before the election. We had a conversation about charity and the need to be self reliant and to pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps etc. To be fair to him, he seemed to realise I was taking the piss out of ACT’s reliance on National’s charity after only a few minutes. The banter came to a sudden halt about then.

  14. Macro 14

    He pointed to the way his circle of friends had made it into their own homes. “I look at most of my friends, lawyers, doctors or engineers. All of them went to Auckland Grammar, or St Cuthberts. All of them have done it with parental help.” With house prices rising up to a reported $1000 a day “houses in Auckland are earning more than people”, he said.

    That is a telling observation by Seymour. It contains realization that even though one is earnest and working hard, and even in a profession or occupation that is regarded as upper middle class, the simple fact remains that they are going backwards with respect to the fair distribution of wealth. This is a phenomenon that is not peculiar to NZ, it is World Wide, and only now evidencing itself in developed countries. It is a direct result of Globalisation, “Free Trade”, the corporatism of Government, and the liberalization of money supply. When a handful of people control almost all the world’s wealth something must be wrong.
    I hate to say it but the end game can not be far off.
    The French Revolution was not run by the poor of France, It was masterminded by the middle class when they suddenly woke up to the fact that they were being ripped of by aristocracy. The realisation of Seymour and his ilk is just that. The new aristocracy are those who are the banksters and their crony mates, the parasites of our economy living off the work of others. What the result will be in the future I have no idea – but I fear for my children and grandchildren that they will be facing a very disturbed and fraught time.

    • Gosman 14.1

      Settle down. The situation in NZ today is a long long way from that which was in place in the Ancien Regime pre 1789.

      • Macro 14.1.1

        you would know!

        • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 14.1.1.1

          I hate to say it but the end game can not be far off.

          Peak Oil will be the next sign.

          • Colonial Rawshark 14.1.1.1.1

            Peak oil was 2006. The global economic situation we have been experiencing since then is in a large part contributed to by that phenomena.

  15. RedBaronCV 15

    They could slow auckland housing down by making a % of the interest financing mortgages on rental housing within a defined geographical area non deductible for tax purposes and gradually lift the %. So for a central auckland address say 40% of any interest is non dedcutible. Then keep lifting the %.

    • Tracey 15.1

      Isnt it the case that rental yields in Auckland are not sufficient to attract an investor with a mortgage, compared to other parts of NZ? I understand cos the prices of purchase are so high, rental yields are barely above (if at all) cost of borrowing? That being the case it is the capital gain that attracts the investment?

      May have misunderstood.

      • Colonial Rawshark 15.1.1

        Absolutely it is the (tax free) capital gain that Auckland property speculators are after, not the (taxable) rental income. In that way they are just like highly leveraged dairy farmers – who are property speculators milking cows to pay the interest on their farm mortgages while waiting for farm prices to climb (a speculative strategy which isn’t working so well any more).

        • Tracey 15.1.1.1

          It was almost (only almost) funny to hear property investor/institute types seemingly worried about this new move causing rent rises on the poor old renter…

  16. Tracey 16

    Speaking of ACT

    “Matthew Hooton @MatthewHootonNZ · May 11
    .@ipredictnz launching more stocks about property prices https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=1263 …”

  17. s y d 17

    This article keeps popping into my head – Chris Hedges.

    “It is always the respectable classes, the polished Ivy League graduates, the prep school boys and girls who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., or Short Hills, N.J., who are the most susceptible to evil. To be intelligent, as many are at least in a narrow, analytical way, is morally neutral. These respectable citizens are inculcated in their elitist enclaves with “values” and “norms,” including pious acts of charity used to justify their privilege, and a belief in the innate goodness of American power. They are trained to pay deference to systems of authority. They are taught to believe in their own goodness, unable to see or comprehend—and are perhaps indifferent to—the cruelty inflicted on others by the exclusive systems they serve. And as norms mutate and change, as the world is steadily transformed by corporate forces into one of a small cabal of predators and a vast herd of human prey, these elites seamlessly replace one set of “values” with another. These elites obey the rules. They make the system work. And they are rewarded for this. In return, they do not question.”

    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/finding_freedom_in_handcuffs_20111107

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    1 hour ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    5 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    5 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    13 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    15 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T07:43:17+00:00