I said a while ago National would be better off not chasing the temperamental middle demographic vote, and instead go in the opposite direction.
So I was happy to see Luxon move in that direction. After the troops did a Wim Hof at their party retreat to show voters National is now full of vim and vigour, Luxon announced National may raise the age of superannuation entitlement.
That is playing with political kryptonite, and will go down like a lead balloon with many. But perceptions will slowly change as the reality of New Zealand's economic woes becomes apparent. It will then be seen as a sane and sensible action to take.
Luxon announced National may raise the age of superannuation entitlement.
Labour should do likewise. It’s inevitable that changes will be made to Super. Bill English went into the 2017 election with that policy…and got more votes than Labour. But I suspect it’s more than just Super that will be reviewed with a new Government, it’ll be tax rates and spending on health, education and welfare.
Don't know about inflation as I haven't seen figures for either country. I am not sure that either nation produces a measure of inflation.
There is a proxy in the consumer price index – which is a completely seperate measure.
We have a annual consumer price increase of 5.9% for 2021 and Australia with a different basket for their CPI had 3.5%. But you really have look closely at the baskets because they are quite different.
Both had large increases in fuel and rental costs.
Our one includes house prices, construction material costs and the costs of vehicles, which I can't see any mention of in the aussie one. Those had very high increases here.
If you are relying on the CPI measures as a comparative measure between nz and aussie, then you have successfully identified yourself as a financial idiot. You have to look at what is in the basket.
My italics – note that the percentages in the quote are just for the final quarter of 2021.
Quarterly change
In the December 2021 quarter compared with the September 2021 quarter, the CPI rose 1.4 percent (1.5 percent with seasonal adjustment).
Housing and household utilities rose 2.0 percent, influenced by higher prices for home ownership (up 4.6 percent) and actual rentals for housing (up 1.2 percent).
Transport rose 3.9 percent, influenced by private transport supplies and services (up 5.4 percent) and purchase of vehicles (up 1.9 percent).
Recreation and culture rose 2.1 percent, influenced by other recreational equipment and supplies (up 2.4 percent) and audio-visual and computing equipment (up 4.7 percent).
Miscellaneous goods and services rose 1.7 percent, influenced by other miscellaneous services (up 3.5 percent) and personal care (up 2.1 percent).
…hate to see how high inflation would be…if it..did.
So now you know that it may do. I haven’t looked into the basket to see exactly what “higher prices for home ownership” cover. But the rise is following the house mortgage interest rises pretty closely.
I know that in my case, the only major costs of home ownership (outside of principal repayments) are interest rates, body corp fees, and rates. The latter two go up, but not in the order of 4.6%. If I was on a floating rate that percentage rise would be about right. That is why I am currently fixed for another 2.5 years, and considering selling my property to make my partners (or a new property) mortgage free.
Stats NZ includes changes in rents, the cost of maintaining houses, and changes in the price of new homes – but not the land they are built on – when it calculates the CPI.
Yeah that doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t look too far down the chain.
However I was answering someone talking about inflation (for which there are many definitions – like the effects of debasement of currency), who was then probably comparing apples with oranges with the CPI measurements of two different nations using different CPI baskets to calculate a proxy for their price inflation.
It is difficult enough for economists to do this, most of the journalism profession is usually totally bemused by it, and its isn’t something you can directly compare. It depends almost entirely on what is present or not present in the basket, and what is important to the particular nation you’re looking at and what they value. For us, clean water is almost a given – but you don’t have to look too far away to find countries where that is major living cost.
The OECD does a pretty good attempt to try to get comparable figures. But realistically, I’d say that the best measure across economies is probably a year on year comparison of The Economist’s Big Mac index. A single consumer product with all of the costs of labour, capital and various grown or manufactured food stuffs inside their particular market.
''If you are relying on the CPI measures as a comparative measure between nz and aussie, then you have successfully identified yourself as a financial idiot. You have to look at what is in the basket.''
Fair enough…let's not use Aussie as a comparative measure.
Our son in Oz says those missing items would double the CPI rate. Their home has gone from $520 000 to $820 000 in 10 months in Varsity Lakes and it is a separate 3 bed 2 bath duplex. $2*aprox per litre, petrol (not the taxes on it of course.)
That is not correct. The basket of goods used to calculate the CPI in Australia does not need to be the same as the one in New Zealand. The basket of goods is chosen to represent the goods bought by the average urban household in the country concerned. These are not likely to be the same in both countries. The CPI reflects the change in the cost of that basket from one period to another in the particular country you have chosen your sample for. Thus the CPI numbers can be compared between countries.
There are a lot of problems with using the CPI as a measure of inflation but the one you are talking about is not one of them. The real problems occur with quality changes in the goods and with substitution effects as the relative price of goods changes within a country from period to period.
Seems legitimate, if unfortunately undermining the case lprent was making. Hes apparently dehydrated at present but no doubt when he recovers he will award you a short lifetime ban for insubordination.
RNZ Morning Report reporting right now on house prices with the word "slowing" prominent in the report. And then it continued by reporting that NZ's annual house price rise is 27%.
"Already ridiculous house prices go up 27%" should have been the headline, and that headline should have been at the top of the news.
yeah nah, thats old news and is not what is happening right now. sales have gone off a cliff – watch for the corresponding effect on values over the next months. values always lag sales.
and of course now jacinda is going to have the opposite effect – with house values dropping into election year.. incumbents are always turfed out in an environment of dropping house values.
incumbents are always turfed out in an environment of dropping house values.
I wouldn't think it would be a liability with numbers like this:
Three quarters of Kiwis want house prices to fall and almost half of us want them to fall substantially, according to the latest 1News Kantar Public Poll.
The prices aren't tanking yet. Just the sales of housing, and increasingly the supply of housing to sell.
We have pretty much gotten to the point where it is increasingly difficult to find somewhere to buy because potential sellers can't find much in their price range anywhere where they want to live.
For instance we could do with a larger living area – because both of us can work from home. But we only have a 55 sq metre apartment and working on top of each other doesn't work for us. Like to sell two apartments on the CBD edge. But we can't afford to buy anywhere in Auckland – which one of us needs for other reasons. But the prices in every urban area with reasonable support systems are ridiculously expensive
So I rent a workspace and we keep our two apartments and keep killing the mortgages. We have at least a query from realtors seeking to see if we want to sell every week. That doesn't include the increasingly desperate bulletins about amazing sales prices in our area from many realtors that are just about our only snail mail these days.
And that is what people are doing – they don't sell because they can't afford to even buy what they already have.
I’d be surprised if the price of ‘normal’ housing drops much. At least not until a lot of cheaper new builds get past being consented, actually get built and wind up on the market.
Just some of the speculative prices on the high end of the market will get hit.
Word from agents is that sales are tanking because they haven't got anything to sell. Alongside that buyers, and banks, are getting cagey that prices aren't going to keep climbing.
Real Estate windows around Queenstown are filled with properties they've sold over the last 6 months with only a couple of live listings. Know of one agent who's been driving a tractor for a balage contractor most of the summer.
But no talk of contracts defaulting and construction going hard out.
Possibly fear of not being able to get back into the market if they were to sell if prices suddenly took a leap.
More likely everyone is pretty happy with where they are and enjoying life in Whakatipu. Unless you are completely dependant on tourism (which is a small subset of the local economy) things are pretty rosy around the town. Like there's more 'Hiring Now' signs than Real Estate signs.
Granted discretionary retail has been all over the place in the last six months too, can understand RE being the same.
If that turns out to be the case it will be a fundamental change in the Queenstown community. In the 90's a local politician who rose to be deputy mayor often said that the town turned over half it's resident population every two years. I would agree with that assertion.
That made the town socially stratified around when you arrived so after you've been here a while the town gets rather small. Long term residents tend to ignore the newcomers because they will be gone in a couple of years and the newcomers can't break in so get pissed of and leave after a couple of years. Explains a lot of the attitudes to the place by people who've left.
Move that residency out to 10 years and we might become a more cohesive community.
I wish John Campbell would talk less and just listen to his interviewees, and challenge what is said. He lets so much go by.
e.g. Luxon (TV1) just cited 3 examples of an extra burden on business: new public holiday (Matariki), minimum wage increase, and increased maternity leave.
So do National now oppose any of those 3? It's classic "have it both ways" … mention them for your base but then accept them for the wider public. Journalism 101: follow that up and nail down their position.
Again, the wage subsidy was supplied via Winz to the employers – who had to prove that they had a loss of 30% in order to secure this wage subsidy, and then was via the employer given to the employees.
In essence, the wage subsidy was an unemployment benefit that was paid out by Winz via employers so as to not overload Winz with requests for benefits as businesses that are shut down for long periods in time generally don't keep staff on their books.
There might have been some very large businesses that have abused that system and they should be rightly called out and be expected to refund that wage subsidy, but for the smaller businesses – and Auckland with its 3 month lockdown was a good example for that – that is not the case. The money received went to workers.
The only payments that businesses got – again if they had that magical drop in revenue of 30% – was the resurgance payment and the wage subsidy for themselves.
Just thought it was worth highlighting, and dispite your mental gymnastics, that the wage subsidy was paid via employers to maintain existing employment relationships and minimise employment disruption of the lockdowns. That even worked as designed.
"Unemployment benefits are something you are entitled to if you have worked and paid taxes for a certain time."
Not in NZ they are not….unemployment benefit is not conditional on previous tax payment or employment….you can receive unemployment benefit if you have never done either, it is not an insurance scheme….nor should it be.
Yep, that is correct they only had a loss of 27.5 % and that is why they had to pay it back.
but that too is an inconvenient truth, and because they only lost 27.5% of turnover during lockdown they now will declare bankruptcy now rather then when they initially claimed that subsidy. Win win. 🙂
Suzie did quite a good job with Luxon today on RNZ Morning Report where she picked Luxon up on his policy to open the borders and dump MIQ immediately thus allowing many more Omicron cases into many parts of NZ. She asked him something like "but if we do this won't it risk overloading the health system?".
Immediately Luxon was in trouble and went into full bluster.
We need to see more journalists taking Luxon-waffle to task-he is getting a free ride.
You've never seen lateral thinking in local govt, right? The Swedes are proving it is actually possible:
Crows are being recruited to pick up discarded cigarette butts from the streets and squares of a Swedish city as part of a cost-cutting drive.
The wild birds carry out the task as they receive a little food for every butt that they deposit in a bespoke machine designed by a startup in Södertälje, near Stockholm. “They are wild birds taking part on a voluntary basis,” said Christian Günther-Hanssen, the founder of Corvid Cleaning, the company behind the method.
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation says that more than 1bn cigarette butts are left on Sweden’s streets each year, representing 62% of all litter. Södertälje spends 20m Swedish kronor (£1.6m) on street cleaning. Günther-Hanssen estimates his method could save at least 75% of costs involved with picking up cigarette butts in the city.
New Caledonian crows, a member of the corvid family of birds, are as good at reasoning as a human seven-year-old, research has suggested, making them the smartest birds for the job. Günther-Hanssen said: “They are easier to teach and there is also a higher chance of them learning from each other." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/01/swedish-crows-pick-up-cigarette-butts-litter
If this scheme proves effective, it'll become a classic example of inter-species symbiosis extending into urban habitat. Ecologists may even recognise a cross-cultural intelligence underlying the interaction if it embeds…
I honestly don't think that there are enough New Cal. crows, a unique species, in the whole of that territory (NZ's nearest neighbour) to be imported into Sweden to pick up a billion ciggie butts!
Good point but maybe the Swedes have been breeding an immigrant population? Insight into these cunning critters:
Taylor’s fascination with New Caledonian crows stems from when he was studying animal behaviour at Oxford in 2002. He saw a video of a crow bending a piece of wire to make it into a hook and using that hook to fish a bucket containing food out of a tube.
“As a young student, that really caught my imagination and I was just fascinated with what was going through this crow’s mind," he tells Jesse Mulligan. "It turned out that there were a couple of scientists at Auckland University, Gavin Hunt and Russell Gray, who were already working out of New Caledonia and studying the crows. That’s how I ended up coming over to Auckland to work with them.”
He says that while a bird making a tool out of wire might seem quite simple, in the animal kingdom its unprecedented. “Not even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have shown these kinds of behaviours in the wild.”
I have to admire Stuart Nash for going on Newstalk ZB with Mike Hosking and Mark Mitchell. Struggling to talk about Charlotte Bellis and the embarrassment it has caused but good on him for fronting up.
Who in the hell listens to Mike Hosking or Mark Mitchell. The former is a ignoramus who is apparently proud of his inability to read or comprehend anything more complex than a slogan, and the latter is literally a dickhead – he seems to think that being male excuses him from thinking before he speaks.
Actually that is a completely stupid and kind of an irrelevant measurement. When you have time look up how it is ESTIMATED.
It doesn’t tell you how many people are actually listening. I don’t know exactly how our measurements are made. It either measures a small sample of devices with monitoring equipment looking tuning and a device being on in a time slot – but doesn’t measure how many people were in the room or if they were listening. Or it gets a small sample of people writing down what they are listening to.
Those figures are then inflated to approximate total number of radios turned on. Personally the only place I ever hear radio is in cars, or in some industrial workspaces. If more than 5% of the people in those spaces are listening to the radio, I’d be surprised.
I think that those estimates are grossly over inflated especially if you’re looking at how many people are actually listening to the idiots blathering.
Compare that with a site like ours or any online current affairs site where you can look at how many people are reading articles, roughly how long that the page is visible, refreshing pages to read comments, and even where the page has been idle for too long – so you can regard it as stagnant. Those kinds of figures actually have some rigour in their measurement.
Broadcast media estimates are just fairy tales and only useful for looking at percentage gains or losses – and even those you have to look for bias because of the tiny sample sizes.
Hosking this morning, with Mitchell was demanding the border be open. What naturally follows from this is 'let it rip'.
31 rest home residents died from Covid in NSW a couple of days ago*. This is what would happen in New Zealand if Hosking had his way. There is no 'sort of' doing pandemic response, it's either robust, or it's not.
Britain recorded 219 Covid deaths today. Italy 479. Adjusted for NZ this is 16 and 44 respectively. Hosking and NACT consider these countries to be free, open, over Covid and out the other side. To them, this is the picture of success.
Decent Kiwis, National and ACT party voters excluded by definition, would be horrified by this.
*My wife's dad is in a dementia unit. He's still around to see his grandkids because of our government's response. If NACT were in charge he would have a much, much higher chance of either being dead, or fighting for his life without knowing what was going on.
''Decent Kiwis, National and ACT party voters excluded by definition, would be horrified by this.''
You still are making the mistake of basing a successful government Covid response on the number of people who haven't died thanks to this governments protocols.
But what about long term?
The suicides. The business closures. The people hitting the streets after losing rental accommodation. Rampant crime, Lost opportunities both socially and businesswise. The list goes on.
We should put opening up the border to a nationwide vote.
I know the result would be '' OPEN THE FUGGING BORDER.''
That would leave people like you with a chicken little approach to this pandemic to stay at home and ride it out..while the rest of us got on with life while accepting catching Covid was a near given…with the possibility of death.
I also think your comment I quoted was just plain nasty.
I just don't think you get it. Twice our Covid response has delivered world beating outcomes with regard to human life. To deny that is flat out dishonest, which is not surprising.
Given we have beaten back the thing twice, why would we do anything majorly different the third time?
In fact we are doing something different this time and that is accepting that it will enter and spread but the idea is to slow it down as much as possible. We do that with restrictions on the border, restrictions on large gatherings and continued public health measures like maintaining work bubbles and mask wearing.
I'm not sure you'll be able to point to examples of increased suicides, 'people losing rental accommodation', and rampant crime. You are just projecting there.
Sure, some businesses have closed and no doubt there are some lost opportunities but it is a 1 in 100 year pandemic. I think you are being deliberately ignorant about the realities on the ground in the more affected countries. Pretty sure people there are feeling much, much worse.
I'm just putting two and two together with the statement about National and ACT Party voters.
''I'm not sure you'll be able to point to examples of increased suicides, 'people losing rental accommodation', and rampant crime. You are just projecting there.''
By chance Kerre McIvor was talking to someone regarding youth suicides. This person said youth self harm was up over 100%. I don't know the context. But it was on this morning and should be in the archives.
Accommodation: I have previously cited personal examples of that.
Business: I have lost over 5 businesses I regularly deal with. Here is the latest. It's up for sale. I doubt it will sell. Growers like me will lose a great source of parent stock that probably can't be replaced.
"Who would win a referendum to open up the borders?"
You're in lalaland if you think people want the border opened up. The only fools to want that have been the Conservatives who have always wanted us to follow Boris, Trump and Bolsonaro into multi-deaths…
If we had done what you said we would have had in excess of 12,000 deaths.
Sometimes conservatives are so frikkin' thick
A referendum would say ‘keep the border closed’
edit: plus such a route would in fact have been worse for business… check the comparable stats with countries with huge death lists… your points fail
''You're in lalaland if you think people want the border opened up. The only fools to want that have been the Conservatives who have always wanted us to follow Boris, Trump and Bolsonaro into multi-deaths…''
Folks, in true Lefty fashion, VTO disagrees with me. He knows Kiwis would vote to keep the borders closed.
I say he's full of crap. ( VTO- vote to open). A referendum has already been held on talkback a few times. Time and again apart from the timid, the call has been: ''we are vaxxed open up.''
But, but, too many Righties on TB!
Then of course we have MSM. Again the sentiments have been similar in many of the interviews I have heard.
No doubt there is a solid core of Kiwis who want the borders to remain shut. They believe we are an Island to oneself. They will be the first to bleat when essentials and professional help isn't available because there's none.
I say he’s full of crap. ( VTO- vote to open). A referendum has already been held on talkback a few times…..
Now I know that you aren’t worth reading. Talkback is the last refuge of the unevolved gullible angry sheep of our society being led around by a conniving guru figures who can talk up a storm. It is also a teeny fraction of our society.
It is like you are recommending that paedophiles should determine our laws governing children – and probably by people with fewer morals. The haters, angry people who want to ruin everyone else seem to live on talkback.
Talkback is the opinion of the stupid man with a chip on his shoulder.
The genre revolves around some fool having the time to make a phone call so other fools can hear them whinge about something to someone who is not in a position to resolve their complaint.
'Talkback is the opinion of the stupid man with a chip on his shoulder.''
I'm afraid you are wrong.
Today I learnt about panel beating and insurance. Panel beaters do little work now because of the construction of new cars. They just replace parts. A car can even be written off because of hail damage.
But hey.. remember this. Talkback will be a major factor in taking this government out.
Today I learnt about panel beating and insurance. Panel beaters do little work now because of the construction of new cars. They just replace parts. A car can even be written off because of hail damage.
''I'm curious what the discussion was around that.''
Started to listen on the fly. Simon Barnett's daughter has a car with a dent. The dent had never been a problem for a warrant test until this year when it was. She took the car to two panel beaters. One who wouldn't sign off on work done…another panel beater did ( I don't know the context) sign off on the work done.
That lead to what I assume was an ex panel beater ringing up, and also a man from a car or Insurance agency/ firm explaining things further.
Also discussed was new rules for Jap imports. Any rust must be fix before the car can be sold.
That's the jist of the conversation from my understanding of what I heard.
So unless you have something better than a reckon from the radio I'd prefer to believe the experts thanks.
Why the impatience to open the borders…we are still working on Omicron. You surely would not seriously be suggesting opening the borders right now? I have every confidence that the borders will be opened, when it is the best time, health-wise (and health wise = economy-wise) has been the stance that has got us through so far.
While you may have more knowledge about the link it does not say the business is for sale that I can see…..more a sensible looking at selling methods for pick up. perhaps their couriers have let them down and that is why they are not selling to the rest of us. I see one of the partners is working full time on Covid issues. Anyway I have completed the contact form.
''Re suicides…this view on suicides goes against what i would call reputable sources''
The interviewee ran an organisation/ help centre for troubled youth. I didn't quite hear which because of static.
Of course attempted suicide and self harm probably won't show up in the stats?
That said, fair point. I will accept your link.
''Why the impatience to open the borders…we are still working on Omicron. You surely would not seriously be suggesting opening the borders right now? I have every confidence that the borders will be opened, when it is the best time, health-wise (and health wise = economy-wise) has been the stance that has got us through so far.''
That will depend on a government decision The problem is, by the day, more and more people are losing faith in this government. I know this is a Lefty blog, but the ability of posters to gloss over obvious government blunders time and again is staggering.
''While you may have more knowledge about the link it does not say the business is for sale that I can see.''
That is correct. All customers received a private email announcing the business is for sale.
Of course attempted suicide and self harm probably won't show up in the stats?
Definitely a consideration, when actually verified. But then of course even conflating self-harm with a suicide attempt (big fucking "whoa nellie" there), any increase in attempt would be contrasted by the nominal (if not statistically significant) decrease in completion.
''Definitely a consideration, when actually verified. But then of course even conflating self-harm with a suicide attempt (big fucking "whoa nellie" there), ''
You need to be careful there – the two can be inter changeable. Somethings the experts have to sort which is which. Generally self harm is considered a category by itself.
''Any increase in attempt would be contrasted by the nominal (if not statistically significant) decrease in completion.''
You need to be careful there – the two can be inter changeable. Somethings the experts have to sort which is which. Generally self harm is considered a category by itself.
You talked about "attempted suicide and self harm" together. That's a problem, as you state. They can be different things, and are often difficult to distinguish between. Heck even intentional vs unintentional self harm can have a lot of problems – was risky behaviour a fall, or a jump? Was a jump an attempt at suicide, or self harm?.
''Any increase in attempt would be contrasted by the nominal (if not statistically significant) decrease in completion.''
?
If attempted suicide is up, but completed suicides are down, maybe an inadvertent byproduct of lockdowns is that people are left alone less often and get discovered before the outcome becomes permanent. And are the mental health issues associated with lockdowns, or living in a pandemic?
Sure, there are research projects going on into this area right now, but at the moment it's all reckons. The melieu of outcomes sure as shit won't get resolved here, and probably not for years after we start loosening up on tourism visas again.
Good. Because if I see you running lines like this again without an actual reference I'll probably step into moderation mode.
We're in a global crisis, I take a dim view of people politicising suicide.
We want robust debate here, which means a bit of work for commenters. We all put out our reckons, and that's ok, but when it comes to claims of fact on important issues, please check your facts first. It's not hard to google suicide stats, and this is an issue that's been talked about a lot.
''Which number matters more – the rate or the total number?
''Both are important. The total number represents each individual who is suspected to have died by suicide (or, in the official data, the number of people who have been found to have died by suicide). Each one of these people was important and deserves to be acknowledged.
However, the rate is more helpful in comparing suicide data over time because it helps to adjust for population size. It is also more meaningful in helping us to understand how suicide impacts different populations such as Māori and non-Māori. Because the number of Māori is smaller than the number of non-Māori, we need to know their rate per hundred thousand to see that the Māori suicide rate is much higher than the non-Māori suicide rate and know Maori need targeted suicide prevention initiatives.
Does New Zealand have the highest suicide rate in the world?
''No, but we do have one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD.''
In hindsight, I ceded the point because I didn't explain myself in a clear enough manner.
In hindsight, I ceded the point because I didn't explain myself in a clear enough manner.
Yes, this is what I am pointing to. Nothing wrong with saying that you heard something on the radio, but you could easily have googled suicide stats since the pandemic began before using what you thought you heard in your argument.
And yes, made your point more clearly. But still getting something to back it up.
Blade made a categorical statement about youth self harm and linked it to suicide. St John is talking about mental health callouts up to and including suicide, while mentioning self harm callouts in children (patients under 14). There is often a distinction in the literature between "children (0-14)" and "young people (15-24)", as these groups have very different needs.
Look, nobody is saying lockdowns aren't tough or don't likely exacerbate a number of problems such as mental health problems, self harm, or family violence. That's one reason the government stopped using them (although I personally regard that policy with trepidation).
But have lockdowns saved thousands of lives? Definitely. Have they increased suicides? Nope.
Really? Blade was talking about suicide and intentional self harm.
What about episodes where someone has run out of meds and not been able to restock, for whatever reason? How did the pandemic affect regular mental health consultations – did it lead to poorer-quality care in people for whom self-harm was not a significant risk? Were co-occupants usually calling about the behaviour of people who were stuck at home and more able to be monitored than if they'd just disappeared for a few days? Similarly, were self-harm events noticed by co-occupants when they would have been literally covered up by the time people normally got home? Are people getting ambos called to home when they would otherwise have had cops called on them in the main street? Heck, are the cop pickups for similar cases up or down?
Sure, the surface water is swirling around suspiciously. Is it a giant drain? Is it a fish for dinner? Is it a maelstrom that'll suck a person down 800ft? All we know is that it's swirling suspiciously.
This is about as good as evidence you can get for what Blade was talking about.
Nah. It's a hint. Much better evidence would be more precise analyses of ambo case notes. Even better evidence than that would be a combo of the NMDS admissions dataset, the outpatients dataset, and of course the primhd mental health database. Throw in some case studies and qualitative interviews, you've got the bulk of a solid thesis.
But that takes more effort than going for broke on the basis of a very large-grained statistic from a single referral organisation.
''Ohs said there had been a concerning rise in the number of mental health and suicide attempt incidents.''
That from Maui's link.
You give a lot of reasons why and why not that could be true or otherwise.
What you are really doing is doing my work for me. Does it matter what the cause is, and what category a problem comes under?
From my orginal post:
''But what about long term?
The suicides. The business closures. The people hitting the streets after losing rental accommodation. Rampant crime, Lost opportunities both socially and businesswise. The list goes on.''
''Increase homelessness is due to amateur landlordism, absentee landlords, and Airbnb'ers.''
Have you ever asked yourself what the government is doing regulating private landlords?
If a tenant doesn't like their accommodation, they should bugger off. It should be called democracy.
This is how screwed our country is.
In another post I said the hallmark of this government is about being fair. But being fair in socialism means people have to suffer because socialists have no idea about business.
In this case, both the landlord and tenant are victims.
By chance Kerre McIvor was talking to someone regarding youth suicides. This person said youth self harm was up over 100%. I don’t know the context. But it was on this morning and should be in the archives.
There is no way I'm spending one nano-second looking up Kerre McIvor's archives.
It's up to you to provide the proof that 'youth self harm is up over 100%' and not by linking to a lunatic caller who rang into 1ZB.
I'm also (sort of) interested in the demise of the tropical plant wholesaler which you claimed was proof of the evils of Jacinda's totalitarian over-response to Covid.
They couldn't operate under the conditions this dopey hapless government has foisted on this country.
From their site:
''We are currently only taking orders for pick ups from Waipu and deliveries to Northland. Sadly, we will not be selling plants to the rest of NZ until further notice.''
Notice the word Sadly?
And now they have done the numbers and realised that under Jacinda they have no chance of recovery, so the business is for sale.
That is one of the problems with talkback – transient, hard to find, and when you do get it, you have to spend ages finding whatever you’re looking for – if it existed at all.
Not to mention that you have little idea of any validity of the veracity of the person making the claims because they will state as fact without having to provide links.
In other words – talkback is mostly interesting bullshit, with about as much validity as talking to another idiot in bar.
Perhaps they should take lessons from RadioNZ who seem to have theirs up shortly (ie within minutes) after the program finishes for any of the talk-talk sessions.
From the times I have looked at commercial radio archives or seen judgements on their sins, there always seems to be missing material. I suspect that somewhere in the backend there is a lawyer censoring what is defamatory or unlawful.
But even then to find that something is missing. it is tortuous having to slowly work your way through long recording finding the bit that you wanted to re-listen to. It’d be nice if they just got a machine to transcribe it with timestamps. That would make the pearls of wisdom searchable.
Oh I hear his pathetic borderline tantrums via Media Watch when they highlight his flip-flop goldfish brained reckons. His credibility is shot and he should've been given away years ago.
I was listening to the Hosking/Mitchell double team against Nash this morning. An embarrassment to broadcasting. Nash should withdraw from this slot like the Prime Minister did. This type of fuckwittery from Hosking does nothing at all for the well being of decent New Zealanders.
Should do, but then you're accused of running away from the "tough questions". It's a hit job they play, probably rehearsed, that is easily soaked up by the gullible. I would think some decent people have been manipulated by this form of propaganda.
So when is this government going to bring in a government loan scheme for people wanting to buy their first home? It is easily the best possible solution to several ills and is long overdue. And would secure many many votes. Isn't it a no-brainer?
vto-that might put further pressure on house prices….though as we discussed above house sales are now starting to plummet so it might be a good time to do this.
Yes, it would increase the number of buyers, which does put pressure on the market. But that is no reason to not do it. Perhaps how it worked in the olden days should be checked.
The pressure on our 'market' today comes from investors. It is all investors who have caused this great massive increase. They should be turfed out. Imagne a 'market' in which only owner-occupiers could buy and sell – it would all be much more realistic and reflect the true need for housing, rather than reflecting central bank monetary policy, govt investment settings and tax rates, or anything else to do with money rather than a bed at night. It is all shitted up imo ('scuse language)
"Australia had approved 60 suppliers and had enough tests to offer them up to schools, Luxon told Morning Report.
"If Australia has approved 60 providers that have met their standards we should just adopt those same [companies]."
"I would also use the private sector, the big businesses like Mainfreight and Air New Zealand and Foodstuffs and Zuru Toys, who have big procurement agencies and divisions – get them out here procuring supplies for us."
Obviously Luxon hasn't been paying attention to the RAT shambles across the ditch.
Private suppliers, with slack federal government oversight, importing unapproved, dodgy RAT tests and charging exorbitant prices in a tight market to those who can least afford it.
'National announced on Tuesday it wants rapid antigen tests in schools – students and staff tested twice weekly, like they do in Australia.
"Why in New Zealand, do we accept that, 'Oh sorry, we just didn't get the rapid antigen tests last year'," Luxon told reporters.
There are 800,000 schoolkids in New Zealand. Our current supply of 5 million rapid antigen tests wouldn't even last three weeks, and that doesn't even take into account teacher tests. There would need to be millions and millions of tests available. '-Newshub
"And up to last week that meant that the only immediate source the government could find was what businesses had already ordered themselves and, no matter what language you choose to use, those supplies were requisitioned by the MOH. The irony of all of this was that for more than two months there was an offer on their table from a company called Kudu Spectrum to deliver 1 million tests every 10 days with offers of up to 30 million delivered in six weeks. The offer also sat between 50 and 60 per cent below what the Government, and businesses who were lucky enough to find a source, were being charged at the time."
"Today I heard that the Government has placed an order for a further 20 million. If they had moved eight weeks ago when the offer was first made, those supplies would be here already."
And then along came the private sector:
"A week ago, working alongside the lawyer representing Kudu Spectrum and business leaders like Don Braid at Mainfreight, I finally got through to the MOH and within a day the first order for 5 million was placed."
Looks like I fixed the comments gong to trash problem.
As a result of a problem getting a automatic update of a LetsEncrypt SSL certificate yesterday, I turned Cloudflare on.
There has been a change in caching strategy.
So let me know if you have problems with caching. In particular if you aren't logging in:
getting pages where the comment fields are filled out for someone else.
finding that replies sidebar is set for someone else.
I got a booster shot yesterday. I feel tired, stiff and somewhat sore this morning. Definitely not up to my usual focus of writing code at a going to market level. So I took the day off to prevent making costly errors.
Lucky for this site as I had time to drop down a few levels – not so good for my employer.
Luxon on breakfast tv – thinks a Matariki holiday, minimum wage increase and increased maternity leave are all unnecessary because of the cost to "business". Is that all Nats think about. Well-being and decent working conditions for the majority are an extravagance in his wealthy view. For one with so much to want to deny so little to so many, is a "let them eat cake" Marie Antoinette would be proud.
"Yes, we are truly blessed to have the love child of David Cameron and John Key as our next prospective leader. Since we know God is on his advisory team, I’d keep an eye on Luxon making greater use of those “faith based organisations” for his welfare policy delivery. (It worked in the 19th century after all.) Otherwise if elected, a Luxon-led National government appears to be readying itself to deliver another same old package of tax cuts, public service cutbacks, punitive law and order policies and all the other budget-balancing, austerity measures that failed New Zealand previously."
Looks like the honey moon was unexpectedly brief. The media is already poking the holes is what he announces even as he puts the policy to the media. Even with no internal dissent Luxons leadership appears immediately on brittle foundations.
It's a positive change from the sub-morons that typify National – but you know they'll punish her for that.
There is little chance of them breaking through the decades of brute stupidity and incontinent greed to operate in the public interest as they are paid to.
It feels uneasily like we’re watching a hologram of a political leader, one pre-programmed to play only the Solid Gold National Party hits of yesteryear.
Luxflakes has nothing to offer NZ that hasn't been offered by Key and English, Bolger and Shipley!
Remember last year when we opened the border to visiting Aussies…and nobody came.
Albeit, shortly after we had to go into lockdown. Opening a border is not a panacea, sensible people are reluctant to even go to a cafe let alone holiday in another country and it will be like that for quite a while yet.
'In initial deals with the US government, Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine costs $19.50 per dose, compared with $15 for Moderna's shot, $16 for Novavax's, $10 for Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and $4 for AstraZeneca's.'the Sun.
However 433 of the 2177 houses will have the KiwiBuild brand removed from them and will be sold on the open market, further to the KiwiBuild reset announced in September 2019.
It should be a condition of every Kiwibuild sale that any rent charged for these government built homes must not exceed 25% of a tenants income.
So one in five houses that were meant to be “KiwiBuild houses”, ring-fenced for first-home-buyers, will be sold on the open market.
You havent checked your dates . Those figures are from Feb 2020.
Every kiwibuild ballot is over subscribed for some time now……
I was aware of the date contained in the linked news article. 2020 is not that long ago.
ghostwhowalksnz I have read your link, nowhere is it stated that Kiwibuild homes are no longer being sold on the open market.
Houses that are built for Kiwibuild, but are then sold on the open market have their Kiwibuild designation removed.
Why is that?
Does this mean that houses built under the Kiwibuild scheme, but sold to speculators and landlords wouldn't show up on any subscribed or over subscribed list of Kiwibuild houses?
Maybe I should have written; Houses built for Kiwibuild, but removed from the total, and sold on the open market to private speculators and landlords should have their rents fixed at 25% of a tenants income
29/09/2021 · "Only those homes bought by or available to purchase by KiwiBuild eligible buyers are included. If any KiwiBuild homes are offered for sale on the open market they will be removed from the Kiwibuild total."
……If any KiwiBuild homes are offered for sale on the open market they will be removed from the KiwiBuild total.
Market and affordable housing built or enabled by Kāinga Ora (including Hobsonville Point) and homes built through the KiwiBuild programme, which are available or have been sold on the open market.
ghostwhowalks if, (as you seem to be claiming); houses being built for Kiwibuild are no longer having their designation changed to be sold on the open market, then you shouldn't have any problem with the government putting in a stipulation that these houses rents should be fixed at 25% of tenants income as a condition of sale.
So, far as MIQ is concerned and 501s from Australia, I find it really galling that we have have a dedicated MIQ facility effectively giving priority to crims from Australia:
I can understand why they have a dedicated facility given that a lot of them probably have issues that require specialised attention.
However, wouldn't it be better if the government used our limited MIQ spaces as an excuse for delaying the return of these people who are likely to cause trouble here in NZ so that we can let more deserving kiwis back in.
The National Party will allow its MPs to vote with their conscience on the Government’s proposed conversion therapy ban, after controversially forcing its MPs to collectively vote against the bill at the first reading.
“National Party members hold a range of views on this bill, and intend to vote as a matter of conscience during the remaining stages of the bill,” the party’s contribution to the select committee report stated.
The Justice Select Committee received 107,000 submissions on the bill, and more than 800 oral submissions were heard on the bill. The bill remained largely unchanged by the committee, which made recommendations that clarified the bill’s wording, including the type of actions that constitute conversion therapy.
The proposed ban has divided the National Party’s caucus, with a faction of liberal MPs wanting to support the ban, and a faction of socially conservative MPs being opposed. The party’s youth wing, the Young Nats, has also decried the party’s opposition to the bill.
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
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The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
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Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
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Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
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The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
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It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
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Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
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The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
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Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
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The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
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New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
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The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
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Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
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Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
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ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
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Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
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I said a while ago National would be better off not chasing the temperamental middle demographic vote, and instead go in the opposite direction.
So I was happy to see Luxon move in that direction. After the troops did a Wim Hof at their party retreat to show voters National is now full of vim and vigour, Luxon announced National may raise the age of superannuation entitlement.
That is playing with political kryptonite, and will go down like a lead balloon with many. But perceptions will slowly change as the reality of New Zealand's economic woes becomes apparent. It will then be seen as a sane and sensible action to take.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/02/national-backs-raising-superannuation-but-labour-continues-to-rule-out-lift.html
Talking of the economy, the Aussies are a little bit worried about their inflation rate reaching 3.5%. I forget what ours is?
Luxon announced National may raise the age of superannuation entitlement.
Labour should do likewise. It’s inevitable that changes will be made to Super. Bill English went into the 2017 election with that policy…and got more votes than Labour. But I suspect it’s more than just Super that will be reviewed with a new Government, it’ll be tax rates and spending on health, education and welfare.
So you attended Osbournes presentation to the National party? And he explained its good politics to plunge your economy into recession as treasurer?
Yes Osborne was their 2nd choice…they wanted….former Tory P.M
'David Cameron made about $10m (£7m) from Greensill Capital before the finance firm he lobbied on behalf of collapsed, according to the BBC.'
Well hopefully the whole National economic strategy isn't determined by the whim of who bothered to show up to talk.
No one from UK could turn up anyway.
They would have been zoom speeches. Sounds more like Osbourne is another 'old mate' like Key
English went into election with 'kick the can down the road' policy to raise super age in 2037-40
20 years from the date of promise
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/325965/govt-to-raise-nz-super-age-to-67-in-2040
Today the Cullen Fund to support future Super payments is worth $58 billion.
By the time they start to draw on the money its projected to be over $150 bill
Sir Michael was a parsimonious minister of finance. But he got somethings right. It's a pity Sir Rob scrapped the other superfund back in the day.
Estimated worth according to the link: 278 billion.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/9916584/Compulsory-super-would-be-worth-278b
Why doesn't parliament just get the RBNZ to write them $278 billion into an account in honour of Rob Muldoons huge mistake?
I mean surely there is a bipartisan consensus that a mistake was made and NZ could make good use of $278 billion right now.
Don't know about inflation as I haven't seen figures for either country. I am not sure that either nation produces a measure of inflation.
There is a proxy in the consumer price index – which is a completely seperate measure.
We have a annual consumer price increase of 5.9% for 2021 and Australia with a different basket for their CPI had 3.5%. But you really have look closely at the baskets because they are quite different.
Both had large increases in fuel and rental costs.
Our one includes house prices, construction material costs and the costs of vehicles, which I can't see any mention of in the aussie one. Those had very high increases here.
If you are relying on the CPI measures as a comparative measure between nz and aussie, then you have successfully identified yourself as a financial idiot. You have to look at what is in the basket.
'Our one includes house prices,'….you sure about that?
My understanding is it doesn't,hate to see how high inflation would be…if it..did.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/consumers-price-index-december-2021-quarter
My italics – note that the percentages in the quote are just for the final quarter of 2021.
So now you know that it may do. I haven’t looked into the basket to see exactly what “higher prices for home ownership” cover. But the rise is following the house mortgage interest rises pretty closely.
I know that in my case, the only major costs of home ownership (outside of principal repayments) are interest rates, body corp fees, and rates. The latter two go up, but not in the order of 4.6%. If I was on a floating rate that percentage rise would be about right. That is why I am currently fixed for another 2.5 years, and considering selling my property to make my partners (or a new property) mortgage free.
Housing?
Stats NZ includes changes in rents, the cost of maintaining houses, and changes in the price of new homes – but not the land they are built on – when it calculates the CPI.
'Can we trust our inflation figures? | Stuff.co.nz
Yeah that doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t look too far down the chain.
However I was answering someone talking about inflation (for which there are many definitions – like the effects of debasement of currency), who was then probably comparing apples with oranges with the CPI measurements of two different nations using different CPI baskets to calculate a proxy for their price inflation.
It is difficult enough for economists to do this, most of the journalism profession is usually totally bemused by it, and its isn’t something you can directly compare. It depends almost entirely on what is present or not present in the basket, and what is important to the particular nation you’re looking at and what they value. For us, clean water is almost a given – but you don’t have to look too far away to find countries where that is major living cost.
The OECD does a pretty good attempt to try to get comparable figures. But realistically, I’d say that the best measure across economies is probably a year on year comparison of The Economist’s Big Mac index. A single consumer product with all of the costs of labour, capital and various grown or manufactured food stuffs inside their particular market.
''If you are relying on the CPI measures as a comparative measure between nz and aussie, then you have successfully identified yourself as a financial idiot. You have to look at what is in the basket.''
Fair enough…let's not use Aussie as a comparative measure.
Nope – just don't use the CPI figures to compare. It is fraught with comparison problems.
Instead look at comparable measures.
I think I will stick with New Zealand's economic data ( TWI etc).
Australias CPI for December quarter was also affected by their lockdowns where they could acess data so they used estimates
They also have an interesting figure
'Trimmed mean annual inflation, which excludes large price rises and falls, increased to 2.6 per cent, the highest since June 2014.'
Our son in Oz says those missing items would double the CPI rate. Their home has gone from $520 000 to $820 000 in 10 months in Varsity Lakes and it is a separate 3 bed 2 bath duplex. $2*aprox per litre, petrol (not the taxes on it of course.)
That is not correct. The basket of goods used to calculate the CPI in Australia does not need to be the same as the one in New Zealand. The basket of goods is chosen to represent the goods bought by the average urban household in the country concerned. These are not likely to be the same in both countries. The CPI reflects the change in the cost of that basket from one period to another in the particular country you have chosen your sample for. Thus the CPI numbers can be compared between countries.
There are a lot of problems with using the CPI as a measure of inflation but the one you are talking about is not one of them. The real problems occur with quality changes in the goods and with substitution effects as the relative price of goods changes within a country from period to period.
The average urban household in Australia doesn't pay for rents or housing then?
Yes they do. And it is included in the calculation of the CPI, just as it is here.
Here is a simple explanation of the subject by the RBA.
https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/inflation-and-its-measurement.html
Seems legitimate, if unfortunately undermining the case lprent was making. Hes apparently dehydrated at present but no doubt when he recovers he will award you a short lifetime ban for insubordination.
Don't tempt him. At my age of course one must accept that one's remaining lifetime is probably short.
RNZ Morning Report reporting right now on house prices with the word "slowing" prominent in the report. And then it continued by reporting that NZ's annual house price rise is 27%.
"Already ridiculous house prices go up 27%" should have been the headline, and that headline should have been at the top of the news.
yeah nah, thats old news and is not what is happening right now. sales have gone off a cliff – watch for the corresponding effect on values over the next months. values always lag sales.
and of course now jacinda is going to have the opposite effect – with house values dropping into election year.. incumbents are always turfed out in an environment of dropping house values.
doom, we're all doomed
I wouldn't think it would be a liability with numbers like this:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/01/31/three-quarters-of-kiwis-want-house-prices-to-fall/
good point vto-I had heard that house sales are tanking.
Perhaps this should have been mentioned by RNZ in its report.
The prices aren't tanking yet. Just the sales of housing, and increasingly the supply of housing to sell.
We have pretty much gotten to the point where it is increasingly difficult to find somewhere to buy because potential sellers can't find much in their price range anywhere where they want to live.
For instance we could do with a larger living area – because both of us can work from home. But we only have a 55 sq metre apartment and working on top of each other doesn't work for us. Like to sell two apartments on the CBD edge. But we can't afford to buy anywhere in Auckland – which one of us needs for other reasons. But the prices in every urban area with reasonable support systems are ridiculously expensive
So I rent a workspace and we keep our two apartments and keep killing the mortgages. We have at least a query from realtors seeking to see if we want to sell every week. That doesn't include the increasingly desperate bulletins about amazing sales prices in our area from many realtors that are just about our only snail mail these days.
And that is what people are doing – they don't sell because they can't afford to even buy what they already have.
I’d be surprised if the price of ‘normal’ housing drops much. At least not until a lot of cheaper new builds get past being consented, actually get built and wind up on the market.
Just some of the speculative prices on the high end of the market will get hit.
Word from agents is that sales are tanking because they haven't got anything to sell. Alongside that buyers, and banks, are getting cagey that prices aren't going to keep climbing.
Real Estate windows around Queenstown are filled with properties they've sold over the last 6 months with only a couple of live listings. Know of one agent who's been driving a tractor for a balage contractor most of the summer.
But no talk of contracts defaulting and construction going hard out.
why have people stopped selling?
No one's got an answer for that yet.
Possibly fear of not being able to get back into the market if they were to sell if prices suddenly took a leap.
More likely everyone is pretty happy with where they are and enjoying life in Whakatipu. Unless you are completely dependant on tourism (which is a small subset of the local economy) things are pretty rosy around the town. Like there's more 'Hiring Now' signs than Real Estate signs.
Granted discretionary retail has been all over the place in the last six months too, can understand RE being the same.
Possible, and I hope so too.
If that turns out to be the case it will be a fundamental change in the Queenstown community. In the 90's a local politician who rose to be deputy mayor often said that the town turned over half it's resident population every two years. I would agree with that assertion.
That made the town socially stratified around when you arrived so after you've been here a while the town gets rather small. Long term residents tend to ignore the newcomers because they will be gone in a couple of years and the newcomers can't break in so get pissed of and leave after a couple of years. Explains a lot of the attitudes to the place by people who've left.
Move that residency out to 10 years and we might become a more cohesive community.
I wish John Campbell would talk less and just listen to his interviewees, and challenge what is said. He lets so much go by.
e.g. Luxon (TV1) just cited 3 examples of an extra burden on business: new public holiday (Matariki), minimum wage increase, and increased maternity leave.
So do National now oppose any of those 3? It's classic "have it both ways" … mention them for your base but then accept them for the wider public. Journalism 101: follow that up and nail down their position.
Didn't mention the billion $ wage subsidy?
Again, the wage subsidy was supplied via Winz to the employers – who had to prove that they had a loss of 30% in order to secure this wage subsidy, and then was via the employer given to the employees.
In essence, the wage subsidy was an unemployment benefit that was paid out by Winz via employers so as to not overload Winz with requests for benefits as businesses that are shut down for long periods in time generally don't keep staff on their books.
There might have been some very large businesses that have abused that system and they should be rightly called out and be expected to refund that wage subsidy, but for the smaller businesses – and Auckland with its 3 month lockdown was a good example for that – that is not the case. The money received went to workers.
The only payments that businesses got – again if they had that magical drop in revenue of 30% – was the resurgance payment and the wage subsidy for themselves.
I do hope you highlight that your wages are merely, in essence an unemployment benefit, with each pay day.
My wages are my income that i raise/earn for myself via the work i do for either myself, or for someone else.
Unemployment benefits are something you are entitled to if you have worked and paid taxes for a certain time.
But then you were just trying to be smart, right, and the money that YOU earn is just your unemployment benefit. Right?
Just thought it was worth highlighting, and dispite your mental gymnastics, that the wage subsidy was paid via employers to maintain existing employment relationships and minimise employment disruption of the lockdowns. That even worked as designed.
"Unemployment benefits are something you are entitled to if you have worked and paid taxes for a certain time."
Not in NZ they are not….unemployment benefit is not conditional on previous tax payment or employment….you can receive unemployment benefit if you have never done either, it is not an insurance scheme….nor should it be.
And the wage subsidy of $600 a week only equated to $15 an hour for a 40 hour week. Many businesses had to top up.
And some businesses just went along for the ride and had a whoopsie when MSD said they had to pay it back…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/hawkes-bay-company-collapses-after-government-recalls-106k-in-wage-subsidies/NO77A3CASVZZ6GJA4JTCEJ2NCE/
A stock transport company having a 30% drop in turnover because of lockdown, come on.
Yep, that is correct they only had a loss of 27.5 % and that is why they had to pay it back.
but that too is an inconvenient truth, and because they only lost 27.5% of turnover during lockdown they now will declare bankruptcy now rather then when they initially claimed that subsidy. Win win. 🙂
Journalism 101 <> tvnz/rnz.
Campbell's playing the game of morning tv for his paymasters.
Suzie did quite a good job with Luxon today on RNZ Morning Report where she picked Luxon up on his policy to open the borders and dump MIQ immediately thus allowing many more Omicron cases into many parts of NZ. She asked him something like "but if we do this won't it risk overloading the health system?".
Immediately Luxon was in trouble and went into full bluster.
We need to see more journalists taking Luxon-waffle to task-he is getting a free ride.
You've never seen lateral thinking in local govt, right? The Swedes are proving it is actually possible:
If this scheme proves effective, it'll become a classic example of inter-species symbiosis extending into urban habitat. Ecologists may even recognise a cross-cultural intelligence underlying the interaction if it embeds…
Hope those crows don't get beak-cancer!
I honestly don't think that there are enough New Cal. crows, a unique species, in the whole of that territory (NZ's nearest neighbour) to be imported into Sweden to pick up a billion ciggie butts!
Good point but maybe the Swedes have been breeding an immigrant population? Insight into these cunning critters:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018682155/the-new-caledonian-crow-is-way-smarter-than-we-thought
Better still, support people never to smoke, so no butts.
I have to admire Stuart Nash for going on Newstalk ZB with Mike Hosking and Mark Mitchell. Struggling to talk about Charlotte Bellis and the embarrassment it has caused but good on him for fronting up.
Who in the hell listens to Mike Hosking or Mark Mitchell. The former is a ignoramus who is apparently proud of his inability to read or comprehend anything more complex than a slogan, and the latter is literally a dickhead – he seems to think that being male excuses him from thinking before he speaks.
Well – I guess you listen to them 🙂
"Who in the hell listens to Mike Hosking"
Quite a few people by the looks of it. I know this is from April 2021 but I don't think too much has changed in the ratings.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/124981735/newstalk-zb-leads-commercial-radio-results
Ah, it's the pressure, Jimmy. It makes people lose touch with reality.
Actually that is a completely stupid and kind of an irrelevant measurement. When you have time look up how it is ESTIMATED.
It doesn’t tell you how many people are actually listening. I don’t know exactly how our measurements are made. It either measures a small sample of devices with monitoring equipment looking tuning and a device being on in a time slot – but doesn’t measure how many people were in the room or if they were listening. Or it gets a small sample of people writing down what they are listening to.
Those figures are then inflated to approximate total number of radios turned on. Personally the only place I ever hear radio is in cars, or in some industrial workspaces. If more than 5% of the people in those spaces are listening to the radio, I’d be surprised.
I think that those estimates are grossly over inflated especially if you’re looking at how many people are actually listening to the idiots blathering.
Compare that with a site like ours or any online current affairs site where you can look at how many people are reading articles, roughly how long that the page is visible, refreshing pages to read comments, and even where the page has been idle for too long – so you can regard it as stagnant. Those kinds of figures actually have some rigour in their measurement.
Broadcast media estimates are just fairy tales and only useful for looking at percentage gains or losses – and even those you have to look for bias because of the tiny sample sizes.
Yep.
Hosking this morning, with Mitchell was demanding the border be open. What naturally follows from this is 'let it rip'.
31 rest home residents died from Covid in NSW a couple of days ago*. This is what would happen in New Zealand if Hosking had his way. There is no 'sort of' doing pandemic response, it's either robust, or it's not.
Britain recorded 219 Covid deaths today. Italy 479. Adjusted for NZ this is 16 and 44 respectively. Hosking and NACT consider these countries to be free, open, over Covid and out the other side. To them, this is the picture of success.
Decent Kiwis, National and ACT party voters excluded by definition, would be horrified by this.
*My wife's dad is in a dementia unit. He's still around to see his grandkids because of our government's response. If NACT were in charge he would have a much, much higher chance of either being dead, or fighting for his life without knowing what was going on.
Hosking don’t care.
''Decent Kiwis, National and ACT party voters excluded by definition, would be horrified by this.''
You still are making the mistake of basing a successful government Covid response on the number of people who haven't died thanks to this governments protocols.
But what about long term?
The suicides. The business closures. The people hitting the streets after losing rental accommodation. Rampant crime, Lost opportunities both socially and businesswise. The list goes on.
We should put opening up the border to a nationwide vote.
I know the result would be '' OPEN THE FUGGING BORDER.''
That would leave people like you with a chicken little approach to this pandemic to stay at home and ride it out..while the rest of us got on with life while accepting catching Covid was a near given…with the possibility of death.
I also think your comment I quoted was just plain nasty.
I just don't think you get it. Twice our Covid response has delivered world beating outcomes with regard to human life. To deny that is flat out dishonest, which is not surprising.
Given we have beaten back the thing twice, why would we do anything majorly different the third time?
In fact we are doing something different this time and that is accepting that it will enter and spread but the idea is to slow it down as much as possible. We do that with restrictions on the border, restrictions on large gatherings and continued public health measures like maintaining work bubbles and mask wearing.
I'm not sure you'll be able to point to examples of increased suicides, 'people losing rental accommodation', and rampant crime. You are just projecting there.
Sure, some businesses have closed and no doubt there are some lost opportunities but it is a 1 in 100 year pandemic. I think you are being deliberately ignorant about the realities on the ground in the more affected countries. Pretty sure people there are feeling much, much worse.
I'm just putting two and two together with the statement about National and ACT Party voters.
''I'm not sure you'll be able to point to examples of increased suicides, 'people losing rental accommodation', and rampant crime. You are just projecting there.''
By chance Kerre McIvor was talking to someone regarding youth suicides. This person said youth self harm was up over 100%. I don't know the context. But it was on this morning and should be in the archives.
Accommodation: I have previously cited personal examples of that.
Business: I have lost over 5 businesses I regularly deal with. Here is the latest. It's up for sale. I doubt it will sell. Growers like me will lose a great source of parent stock that probably can't be replaced.
https://www.subtropica.co.nz/
Ok.. you and I are not going to agree on anything. So I will ask you one question:
Who would win a referendum to open up the borders?
"Who would win a referendum to open up the borders?"
You're in lalaland if you think people want the border opened up. The only fools to want that have been the Conservatives who have always wanted us to follow Boris, Trump and Bolsonaro into multi-deaths…
If we had done what you said we would have had in excess of 12,000 deaths.
Sometimes conservatives are so frikkin' thick
A referendum would say ‘keep the border closed’
edit: plus such a route would in fact have been worse for business… check the comparable stats with countries with huge death lists… your points fail
''You're in lalaland if you think people want the border opened up. The only fools to want that have been the Conservatives who have always wanted us to follow Boris, Trump and Bolsonaro into multi-deaths…''
Folks, in true Lefty fashion, VTO disagrees with me. He knows Kiwis would vote to keep the borders closed.
I say he's full of crap. ( VTO- vote to open). A referendum has already been held on talkback a few times. Time and again apart from the timid, the call has been: ''we are vaxxed open up.''
But, but, too many Righties on TB!
Then of course we have MSM. Again the sentiments have been similar in many of the interviews I have heard.
No doubt there is a solid core of Kiwis who want the borders to remain shut. They believe we are an Island to oneself. They will be the first to bleat when essentials and professional help isn't available because there's none.
Talkback referenda, huh?
NZ is indeed not an island. The word is "archipelago".
''NZ is indeed not an island. The word is "archipelago".''
Please allow for licentia poetica.
I'm just following everyone else
Now I know that you aren’t worth reading. Talkback is the last refuge of the unevolved gullible angry sheep of our society being led around by a conniving guru figures who can talk up a storm. It is also a teeny fraction of our society.
It is like you are recommending that paedophiles should determine our laws governing children – and probably by people with fewer morals. The haters, angry people who want to ruin everyone else seem to live on talkback.
I see talkback as the opinion of the man on the street minus the bias of MSM and blogs and newspapers.
''Unevolved gullible angry sheep.''
I don't consider myself that. But maybe I can't self reflect. This year will certainly answer that question.
Talkback is the opinion of the stupid man with a chip on his shoulder.
The genre revolves around some fool having the time to make a phone call so other fools can hear them whinge about something to someone who is not in a position to resolve their complaint.
Perhaps, Blade, we could help you see beyond your self-described blind-spot?
'Talkback is the opinion of the stupid man with a chip on his shoulder.''
I'm afraid you are wrong.
Today I learnt about panel beating and insurance. Panel beaters do little work now because of the construction of new cars. They just replace parts. A car can even be written off because of hail damage.
But hey.. remember this. Talkback will be a major factor in taking this government out.
''Perhaps, Blade, we could help you see beyond your self-described blind-spot?''
Perhaps you first need to do a 'deep check' on yourself?
I'm curious what the discussion was around that.
Blade, you said: "But maybe I can't self reflect".
I sensed you were on the brink of self-awareness, and kindly offered to give you a wee nudge.
''I'm curious what the discussion was around that.''
Started to listen on the fly. Simon Barnett's daughter has a car with a dent. The dent had never been a problem for a warrant test until this year when it was. She took the car to two panel beaters. One who wouldn't sign off on work done…another panel beater did ( I don't know the context) sign off on the work done.
That lead to what I assume was an ex panel beater ringing up, and also a man from a car or Insurance agency/ firm explaining things further.
Also discussed was new rules for Jap imports. Any rust must be fix before the car can be sold.
That's the jist of the conversation from my understanding of what I heard.
Re suicides…this view on suicides goes against what i would call reputable sources
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300468852/covid19-no-evidence-suicides-increased-during-delta-lockdown-coroner-says
So unless you have something better than a reckon from the radio I'd prefer to believe the experts thanks.
Why the impatience to open the borders…we are still working on Omicron. You surely would not seriously be suggesting opening the borders right now? I have every confidence that the borders will be opened, when it is the best time, health-wise (and health wise = economy-wise) has been the stance that has got us through so far.
While you may have more knowledge about the link it does not say the business is for sale that I can see…..more a sensible looking at selling methods for pick up. perhaps their couriers have let them down and that is why they are not selling to the rest of us. I see one of the partners is working full time on Covid issues. Anyway I have completed the contact form.
''Re suicides…this view on suicides goes against what i would call reputable sources''
The interviewee ran an organisation/ help centre for troubled youth. I didn't quite hear which because of static.
Of course attempted suicide and self harm probably won't show up in the stats?
That said, fair point. I will accept your link.
''Why the impatience to open the borders…we are still working on Omicron. You surely would not seriously be suggesting opening the borders right now? I have every confidence that the borders will be opened, when it is the best time, health-wise (and health wise = economy-wise) has been the stance that has got us through so far.''
That will depend on a government decision The problem is, by the day, more and more people are losing faith in this government. I know this is a Lefty blog, but the ability of posters to gloss over obvious government blunders time and again is staggering.
''While you may have more knowledge about the link it does not say the business is for sale that I can see.''
That is correct. All customers received a private email announcing the business is for sale.
Definitely a consideration, when actually verified. But then of course even conflating self-harm with a suicide attempt (big fucking "whoa nellie" there), any increase in attempt would be contrasted by the nominal (if not statistically significant) decrease in completion.
''Definitely a consideration, when actually verified. But then of course even conflating self-harm with a suicide attempt (big fucking "whoa nellie" there), ''
You need to be careful there – the two can be inter changeable. Somethings the experts have to sort which is which. Generally self harm is considered a category by itself.
''Any increase in attempt would be contrasted by the nominal (if not statistically significant) decrease in completion.''
?
You talked about "attempted suicide and self harm" together. That's a problem, as you state. They can be different things, and are often difficult to distinguish between. Heck even intentional vs unintentional self harm can have a lot of problems – was risky behaviour a fall, or a jump? Was a jump an attempt at suicide, or self harm?.
If attempted suicide is up, but completed suicides are down, maybe an inadvertent byproduct of lockdowns is that people are left alone less often and get discovered before the outcome becomes permanent. And are the mental health issues associated with lockdowns, or living in a pandemic?
Sure, there are research projects going on into this area right now, but at the moment it's all reckons. The melieu of outcomes sure as shit won't get resolved here, and probably not for years after we start loosening up on tourism visas again.
Good. Because if I see you running lines like this again without an actual reference I'll probably step into moderation mode.
We're in a global crisis, I take a dim view of people politicising suicide.
We want robust debate here, which means a bit of work for commenters. We all put out our reckons, and that's ok, but when it comes to claims of fact on important issues, please check your facts first. It's not hard to google suicide stats, and this is an issue that's been talked about a lot.
''Good. Because if I see you running lines like this again without an actual reference I'll probably step into moderation mode.''
The source was mentioned – ZB talkback Kerre's show. And no, I didn't look it up because I didn't know I would be quoting it.
Notice how I can accept a point… unlike many on this site?
''We're in a global crisis, I take a dim view of people politicising suicide.''
Yes, I'm well acquainted with suicide. That's why I'm not politicising.
You must remember the context when I was asked to explain the suicide numbers. It was about youth. I stated in my original post:
" But what about the long term?"
''https://mentalhealth.org.nz/suicide-prevention/suicide-statistics''
Quote:
''Which number matters more – the rate or the total number?
''Both are important. The total number represents each individual who is suspected to have died by suicide (or, in the official data, the number of people who have been found to have died by suicide). Each one of these people was important and deserves to be acknowledged.
However, the rate is more helpful in comparing suicide data over time because it helps to adjust for population size. It is also more meaningful in helping us to understand how suicide impacts different populations such as Māori and non-Māori. Because the number of Māori is smaller than the number of non-Māori, we need to know their rate per hundred thousand to see that the Māori suicide rate is much higher than the non-Māori suicide rate and know Maori need targeted suicide prevention initiatives.
Does New Zealand have the highest suicide rate in the world?
''No, but we do have one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD.''
In hindsight, I ceded the point because I didn't explain myself in a clear enough manner.
.
Yes, this is what I am pointing to. Nothing wrong with saying that you heard something on the radio, but you could easily have googled suicide stats since the pandemic began before using what you thought you heard in your argument.
And yes, made your point more clearly. But still getting something to back it up.
St John reported a 30% increase in mental health / suicide related callouts in 2021, which does backup Blade's claim.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300507841/30-increase-in-mental-healthrelated-incidents-for-st-john-ambulance
Well, kinda but not really.
Blade made a categorical statement about youth self harm and linked it to suicide. St John is talking about mental health callouts up to and including suicide, while mentioning self harm callouts in children (patients under 14). There is often a distinction in the literature between "children (0-14)" and "young people (15-24)", as these groups have very different needs.
Look, nobody is saying lockdowns aren't tough or don't likely exacerbate a number of problems such as mental health problems, self harm, or family violence. That's one reason the government stopped using them (although I personally regard that policy with trepidation).
But have lockdowns saved thousands of lives? Definitely. Have they increased suicides? Nope.
Dude, there were 2,500 more mental health related incidents that required a St John ambulance in 2021.
This is about as good as evidence you can get for what Blade was talking about.
Really? Blade was talking about suicide and intentional self harm.
What about episodes where someone has run out of meds and not been able to restock, for whatever reason? How did the pandemic affect regular mental health consultations – did it lead to poorer-quality care in people for whom self-harm was not a significant risk? Were co-occupants usually calling about the behaviour of people who were stuck at home and more able to be monitored than if they'd just disappeared for a few days? Similarly, were self-harm events noticed by co-occupants when they would have been literally covered up by the time people normally got home? Are people getting ambos called to home when they would otherwise have had cops called on them in the main street? Heck, are the cop pickups for similar cases up or down?
Sure, the surface water is swirling around suspiciously. Is it a giant drain? Is it a fish for dinner? Is it a maelstrom that'll suck a person down 800ft? All we know is that it's swirling suspiciously.
Nah. It's a hint. Much better evidence would be more precise analyses of ambo case notes. Even better evidence than that would be a combo of the NMDS admissions dataset, the outpatients dataset, and of course the primhd mental health database. Throw in some case studies and qualitative interviews, you've got the bulk of a solid thesis.
But that takes more effort than going for broke on the basis of a very large-grained statistic from a single referral organisation.
''Ohs said there had been a concerning rise in the number of mental health and suicide attempt incidents.''
That from Maui's link.
You give a lot of reasons why and why not that could be true or otherwise.
What you are really doing is doing my work for me. Does it matter what the cause is, and what category a problem comes under?
From my orginal post:
''But what about long term?
The suicides. The business closures. The people hitting the streets after losing rental accommodation. Rampant crime, Lost opportunities both socially and businesswise. The list goes on.''
I'm not doubting the figures of mental health incidents. But suicides haven't increased. And you're trying to lump them together.
With your original comment, "the suicides" don't seem to have increased at all.
Business closures, homelessness, and crime? Some might have increased due to the lockdown. Or was it due to the pandemic?
Increase homelessness is due to amateur landlordism, absentee landlords, and Airbnb'ers.
Increased crime is due to Peter Dutton.
''Increase homelessness is due to amateur landlordism, absentee landlords, and Airbnb'ers.''
Have you ever asked yourself what the government is doing regulating private landlords?
If a tenant doesn't like their accommodation, they should bugger off. It should be called democracy.
This is how screwed our country is.
In another post I said the hallmark of this government is about being fair. But being fair in socialism means people have to suffer because socialists have no idea about business.
In this case, both the landlord and tenant are victims.
There is no way I'm spending one nano-second looking up Kerre McIvor's archives.
It's up to you to provide the proof that 'youth self harm is up over 100%' and not by linking to a lunatic caller who rang into 1ZB.
The ZB archive for Kerre's show has not been logged as far as I can tell.
”Lunatic caller who rang into ZB.”
I can promise you this was no lunatic.
Some facts, any facts, would be great.
I'm also (sort of) interested in the demise of the tropical plant wholesaler which you claimed was proof of the evils of Jacinda's totalitarian over-response to Covid.
Could you please expand on this nutty theory?
Sure, this is going to sound nutty.
They couldn't operate under the conditions this dopey hapless government has foisted on this country.
From their site:
''We are currently only taking orders for pick ups from Waipu and deliveries to Northland. Sadly, we will not be selling plants to the rest of NZ until further notice.''
Notice the word Sadly?
And now they have done the numbers and realised that under Jacinda they have no chance of recovery, so the business is for sale.
That is one of the problems with talkback – transient, hard to find, and when you do get it, you have to spend ages finding whatever you’re looking for – if it existed at all.
Not to mention that you have little idea of any validity of the veracity of the person making the claims because they will state as fact without having to provide links.
In other words – talkback is mostly interesting bullshit, with about as much validity as talking to another idiot in bar.
Not my fault the session hasn't been archived. I have popped an email off to ZB. I would hate to disappoint you.
Perhaps they should take lessons from RadioNZ who seem to have theirs up shortly (ie within minutes) after the program finishes for any of the talk-talk sessions.
From the times I have looked at commercial radio archives or seen judgements on their sins, there always seems to be missing material. I suspect that somewhere in the backend there is a lawyer censoring what is defamatory or unlawful.
But even then to find that something is missing. it is tortuous having to slowly work your way through long recording finding the bit that you wanted to re-listen to. It’d be nice if they just got a machine to transcribe it with timestamps. That would make the pearls of wisdom searchable.
Blade suicides have decreased, Check the veracity of your assertions.
And do a Deep Check (please).
"Who in the hell listens to Mike Hosking or Mark Mitchell."
Jimmy & Blade.
That's two (almost quite a few).
Oh, plus Mike and Mark (double the audience, right there!).
Oh I hear his pathetic borderline tantrums via Media Watch when they highlight his flip-flop goldfish brained reckons. His credibility is shot and he should've been given away years ago.
I was listening to the Hosking/Mitchell double team against Nash this morning. An embarrassment to broadcasting. Nash should withdraw from this slot like the Prime Minister did. This type of fuckwittery from Hosking does nothing at all for the well being of decent New Zealanders.
"….withdraw from the slot….."
Should do, but then you're accused of running away from the "tough questions". It's a hit job they play, probably rehearsed, that is easily soaked up by the gullible. I would think some decent people have been manipulated by this form of propaganda.
Please provide a link so I can check this out.
Oh, and Muttonbird, don't listen to talkback. You will find NSRadio a better fit for both your health and your political views.
So when is this government going to bring in a government loan scheme for people wanting to buy their first home? It is easily the best possible solution to several ills and is long overdue. And would secure many many votes. Isn't it a no-brainer?
Election year I imagine.
I hope you're right.
Leaving matters up to the "free market" has been proved to not work… other than for the most simple things like undies and plastic buckets..
Does that apply to outsize bloomers? Asking for a friend of the ghost of Mabel Howard, bless her.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22391156
Funny how the sizes still don't really standardise between brands 68 years later.
send that suggestion to MEGAN
vto-that might put further pressure on house prices….though as we discussed above house sales are now starting to plummet so it might be a good time to do this.
Yes, it would increase the number of buyers, which does put pressure on the market. But that is no reason to not do it. Perhaps how it worked in the olden days should be checked.
The pressure on our 'market' today comes from investors. It is all investors who have caused this great massive increase. They should be turfed out. Imagne a 'market' in which only owner-occupiers could buy and sell – it would all be much more realistic and reflect the true need for housing, rather than reflecting central bank monetary policy, govt investment settings and tax rates, or anything else to do with money rather than a bed at night. It is all shitted up imo ('scuse language)
With more people able to buy, there will be more competition so houses prices will rise.
Yep, I wouldn't throw any more petrol on that fire, in terms of increasing the amount of money that can be directed to purchasing real estate.
Either increase housing supply or decrease potential to make speculative profits (e.g. CGT, empty house tax, rent caps etc).
Ah when life was simpler.
When life was simpler – YouTube
no idea who they are, but the satire is good.
Satire?
lol.
There is a great documentary on U Tube for fans of The Fast Show.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rSWCkVdXpC4
The first few minutes will be familiar to anyone who has been ignored by a group of men and had their ideas appropriated by others.
Paul Whitehouse pays tribute to Harry Enfield as the one who gave some of the comics their break.
Harry and Paul are brilliant!
'Women know your place' is another one I found raaather….amusing.
A wink and a nod.
More on the benefits of the free market, according to the would-be PM with 7 homes
"Australia had approved 60 suppliers and had enough tests to offer them up to schools, Luxon told Morning Report.
"If Australia has approved 60 providers that have met their standards we should just adopt those same [companies]."
"I would also use the private sector, the big businesses like Mainfreight and Air New Zealand and Foodstuffs and Zuru Toys, who have big procurement agencies and divisions – get them out here procuring supplies for us."
Obviously Luxon hasn't been paying attention to the RAT shambles across the ditch.
Private suppliers, with slack federal government oversight, importing unapproved, dodgy RAT tests and charging exorbitant prices in a tight market to those who can least afford it.
A brilliant idea from Christopher7…
'National announced on Tuesday it wants rapid antigen tests in schools – students and staff tested twice weekly, like they do in Australia.
"Why in New Zealand, do we accept that, 'Oh sorry, we just didn't get the rapid antigen tests last year'," Luxon told reporters.
There are 800,000 schoolkids in New Zealand. Our current supply of 5 million rapid antigen tests wouldn't even last three weeks, and that doesn't even take into account teacher tests. There would need to be millions and millions of tests available. '-Newshub
Ol' Luxxy's a nitwit!
Simple answer…the government sat on their arses.
"And up to last week that meant that the only immediate source the government could find was what businesses had already ordered themselves and, no matter what language you choose to use, those supplies were requisitioned by the MOH. The irony of all of this was that for more than two months there was an offer on their table from a company called Kudu Spectrum to deliver 1 million tests every 10 days with offers of up to 30 million delivered in six weeks. The offer also sat between 50 and 60 per cent below what the Government, and businesses who were lucky enough to find a source, were being charged at the time."
"Today I heard that the Government has placed an order for a further 20 million. If they had moved eight weeks ago when the offer was first made, those supplies would be here already."
And then along came the private sector:
"A week ago, working alongside the lawyer representing Kudu Spectrum and business leaders like Don Braid at Mainfreight, I finally got through to the MOH and within a day the first order for 5 million was placed."
Poor deluded boy. It is harder to do than say.
Looks like I fixed the comments gong to trash problem.
As a result of a problem getting a automatic update of a LetsEncrypt SSL certificate yesterday, I turned Cloudflare on.
There has been a change in caching strategy.
So let me know if you have problems with caching. In particular if you aren't logging in:
I got a booster shot yesterday. I feel tired, stiff and somewhat sore this morning. Definitely not up to my usual focus of writing code at a going to market level. So I took the day off to prevent making costly errors.
Lucky for this site as I had time to drop down a few levels – not so good for my employer.
Thanks, lprent. Comments are showing now. Can’t vouch for the quality of them but at least they are there. 🙂
But I'm not responsible for the quality of other people's comments.
It isn't my concern as a sysop. It could be my concern as a moderator. But everyone knows to read the policy about behaviour – right?
Sorry, I meant the quality of my own comments.
Rest and fluids I was told. Thanks for your work here.
Luxon on breakfast tv – thinks a Matariki holiday, minimum wage increase and increased maternity leave are all unnecessary because of the cost to "business". Is that all Nats think about. Well-being and decent working conditions for the majority are an extravagance in his wealthy view. For one with so much to want to deny so little to so many, is a "let them eat cake" Marie Antoinette would be proud.
''Cost to business". Is that all Nats think about?
Good question. If I was asked to render down the belief systems of Labour and National into one sentence, it would be:
National: How many chickens can we get in the pot?
Labour: It's ALL about being fair.
Not the best of choices.
That's 2 sentences.
Fairness?
Makes you gag, Blade?
Figures.
''That's 2 sentences.''
Depends on how you perceive things, Robert.
Given you wear a monocle over your left eye, your range of vision is of course blinkered.
Thanks for another waste of space post. Although I have to admit I liked your post yesterday.
"Yes, we are truly blessed to have the love child of David Cameron and John Key as our next prospective leader. Since we know God is on his advisory team, I’d keep an eye on Luxon making greater use of those “faith based organisations” for his welfare policy delivery. (It worked in the 19th century after all.) Otherwise if elected, a Luxon-led National government appears to be readying itself to deliver another same old package of tax cuts, public service cutbacks, punitive law and order policies and all the other budget-balancing, austerity measures that failed New Zealand previously."
Werewolf – clear-sighted.
http://werewolf.co.nz/2022/02/gordon-campbell-on-luxons-second-hand-clothes/
Looks like the honey moon was unexpectedly brief. The media is already poking the holes is what he announces even as he puts the policy to the media. Even with no internal dissent Luxons leadership appears immediately on brittle foundations.
So hence the rise of …. drum roll…. Nicola Willis.
(rumours might be right)
She's a Smarty-pants, alright!
It's a positive change from the sub-morons that typify National – but you know they'll punish her for that.
There is little chance of them breaking through the decades of brute stupidity and incontinent greed to operate in the public interest as they are paid to.
If the drum roll lasts too long, or Luxons politics are too amorphous, she will have difficulty differentiating herself.
From the Gordon Campbell link:
Luxflakes has nothing to offer NZ that hasn't been offered by Key and English, Bolger and Shipley!
NZ, beware the sugary-tongued serpent!
"Luxflakes"
Enjoying the elegance of that.
I know the answer Blade…
it depends on the size of the chickens and the size of the….pot.
You are the only true socialist on this site, Blazer. Know your enemy… and stay away from the pot, while offering the kids candyfloss.
Remember last year when we opened the border to visiting Aussies…and nobody came.
Albeit, shortly after we had to go into lockdown. Opening a border is not a panacea, sensible people are reluctant to even go to a cafe let alone holiday in another country and it will be like that for quite a while yet.
hopefully. Aussies might want a break this time though.
Pfizer cost $36.50 per dose for NZ Govt.
Government paid $36.50 per dose of Pfizer vaccine (msn.com)
'In initial deals with the US government, Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine costs $19.50 per dose, compared with $15 for Moderna's shot, $16 for Novavax's, $10 for Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and $4 for AstraZeneca's.'the Sun.
@todays ex rate-$US19.50=apx$NZ30….
100 bucks to stay well! Cheap at twice the price.
'New Zealand's COVID-19 vaccination programme will cost $1.4 billion, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed for the first time.
Budget 2021: $1.4 billion allocated to New Zealand's COVID-19 vaccination programme | Newshub
So much for providing housing low income New Zealanders and cooling the housing market.
1 in 5 Kiwibuild homes are being made available to private landlords and investors to buy.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/103493/kiwibuild-stock-take-govt-currently-26-million-out-pocket-buying-and-selling
It should be a condition of every Kiwibuild sale that any rent charged for these government built homes must not exceed 25% of a tenants income.
You havent checked your dates . Those figures are from Feb 2020.
Every kiwibuild ballot is over subscribed for some time now.
You need to be able to find the front door to comment you know.
https://universalhomes.co.nz/resources/affordable-homes-in-partnership-with-kiwibuild/
I was aware of the date contained in the linked news article. 2020 is not that long ago.
ghostwhowalksnz I have read your link, nowhere is it stated that Kiwibuild homes are no longer being sold on the open market.
Houses that are built for Kiwibuild, but are then sold on the open market have their Kiwibuild designation removed.
Why is that?
Does this mean that houses built under the Kiwibuild scheme, but sold to speculators and landlords wouldn't show up on any subscribed or over subscribed list of Kiwibuild houses?
Maybe I should have written; Houses built for Kiwibuild, but removed from the total, and sold on the open market to private speculators and landlords should have their rents fixed at 25% of a tenants income
29/09/2021 · "Only those homes bought by or available to purchase by KiwiBuild eligible buyers are included. If any KiwiBuild homes are offered for sale on the open market they will be removed from the Kiwibuild total."
https://www.hud.govt.nz/research-and-publications/statistics-and-research/the-government-housing-dashboard/definitions-government-housing-dashboard/
ghostwhowalks if, (as you seem to be claiming); houses being built for Kiwibuild are no longer having their designation changed to be sold on the open market, then you shouldn't have any problem with the government putting in a stipulation that these houses rents should be fixed at 25% of tenants income as a condition of sale.
So, far as MIQ is concerned and 501s from Australia, I find it really galling that we have have a dedicated MIQ facility effectively giving priority to crims from Australia:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300434756/covid19-501-deportee-flights-to-resume-dedicated-isolation-hotel-stood-up
I can understand why they have a dedicated facility given that a lot of them probably have issues that require specialised attention.
However, wouldn't it be better if the government used our limited MIQ spaces as an excuse for delaying the return of these people who are likely to cause trouble here in NZ so that we can let more deserving kiwis back in.
Theres a whole lot of special groups for MIQ spots.
Going to Antarctica, thats around 900 foreign nationals per year.
medical professionals relocating to NZ , thats 300 per month.
National sports groups representing the country, entertainers Maybe 10 per month ?
Surely a way to stick it to the Australian government would be to tell them they had to apply in the ballot like everyone else.
…or go into MIQ in Waiouru for 12 months?
Democracy breaks out within the National Party:
King Solomon Luxon has decided to please both factions and cut the child in two.
That's Whizz-dome, right there!
"The FDA accepts legal aid from Pfizer and delays releasing licensure pages till May"
https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2022/01/31/fda-pfizer-may220131/
Test