Defying expectations, China posted its first trade deficit in March since February 2012 on surging imports, completely out of whack with market forecasts.
It suits National just fine. Property owners in Auckland gleefully await their annual property valuation, and year upon year up the price goes. many increases are stratospheric. In return Auckland is as blue as the ocean, so what do you think would happen if the incumbent National led Government took measures like limiting foreign ownership, or introducing a capital gain tax, or even a death duty tax.
What would happen is they would lose the Auckland vote and be booted out of office.
Yes that right. But it shows the lack of thinking that goes on today……
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Which is a direct reflection of our poor political system. Major issues such as the Auckland Housing problem should be subjected to a cross party consensus to resolve the issue. Party lines is the huge hinder and so yesteryear.
first, the bright shiny allure of seeing a supposedly real pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in the form of a housing valuation. (anyone ever caught up with that rainbow gold?)
second, the political thing. The short term nature of decision-making that our system fosters. Something like this which would reduce prices would take some time to bed in.
………………………………………….
test:
If every house in NZ went up by 50% tomorrow what would be achieved?
@Skinny Sorry but this IS a political/philosophical issue. National are cynically happy with the exorbitant valuations of Akl houses as it benefits their voters. Labour, on the other hand, sees supply of sufficient housing, especially affordable housing, as fundamental plank in a fair society.
It is developers who are dragging their feet with developments (land banking) or who are developing the wrong type of houses (4/5 bedrooms on large lots spreading ever outwards) that are causing the problems in Akl.
It is nothing at all to do with the RMA. So really this is an issue the Super City should be able to sort out itself, with central government weighing in with major state house construction. We need a change of government for his to happen.
Well No it would not. If house value falls then all those with recent mortgages would find that they owned houses with less than the security put up to purchase the house. The banks would then ask you to cough up with more security or payback your mortgage immediately. How would you go if you had a house valued at 800,000 with a 700,000 mortgage. The house value drops to 500,000 and you no longer have sufficient cover so the bank would want more money from you to reduce the mortgage to below 500,000.
This is the main reason that no political party will ever seriously try and solve the escalating house costs.
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Of course. I didn’t mention the instant-term / short-term pain in adjusting as figured it was self-explanatory. There would be some short term pain for those in such a situation but that short term pain must be put aside in the interests of the mid and long term benefit for all New Zealanders.
The point raised doesn’t make the grade as a reason not to aim for lowering house prices.
Lower house prices are an exceptionally good thing for the country.
Short term pain. Obviously you either dont have a recent mortgage or maybe no mortgage. It would not be a short term pain it would be devastating. People affected would possibly lose their homes and their deposits. Yes their next home might be cheaper if they ever manage to get around to purchasing one again. They would have entered the market in good faith and then suddenly their house is devalued and they can be out on the street. Not going to happen. There are better ways to cope with the housing problem.
But not as painful as the situation we have now (which those with high mortgages refuse to consider).
edit: perhaps a solution is to require banks, who are equally responsible for the situation and have long profited from the situation, to share in the pain. After all, mortgages are just ledger entries and not real money so there is neglible effect on them.
Or maybe encourage people to look further afield I was out Pukekohe recently and there are a number of houses in the 400-500 thousand range three bedroom good section etc but Aucklanders will not commute.
For those of us that used to work in Wellington and had to purchase out in Akatarawa which meant a 30 minute bus trip to Railhead and then an hour on train into city every day but there was little choice.
vto – a lot of people would agree with you: lower house prices are better – and stopping people treating housing like a speculative asset would also be damn good.
The mechanisms HOW are important though. Ron raises some good points: but they are all manageable by the government.
Eg.
1) The government institutes a moratorium on mortgagee sales, repossessions and ‘margin calls’ by the bank: this will apply to all mortgages for which payments are no more than 30 days over due.
2) If a retail bank wants out of the mortgage that is ‘underwater’, fine. Government will facilitate that: the government will pay out the face value of the mortgage and the mortgage asset and administration will be taken over by Kiwibank.
3) The government will limit the loss of value anyone suffers on their primary home to a maximum of 5% of the original purchase value.
My bet is that with these, and other steps, an orderly reduction in house values of a few percentage points per year is very possible. And by also ensuring income inflation of a couple of percent a year, housing affordibility will rocket upwards over a 5 to 10 year period.
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo. In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it. Government is struggling to afford Christchurch.
All stakeholders in property would need to share the burden. Banks are certainly stakeholders and share responsibility for the problem. They also unendingly profit from being a property stakeholder. Perhaps, put simply, the LVR on each property is maintained pre and post-value adjustment. Done.
….. but still the distortions would fly
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo.
WTF is complex about it?
In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
No, that was an overly complex system designed, as far as I can make out, to save both the government and the insurance industry money. What the government should have done is declared the Red Zones, paid everyone in them the full market value and then turned round to the insurance companies and told them to pay up.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it.
This is incorrect. The government can, quite literally, afford everything in NZ.
There’s an answer to that to. When the government passes legislation that drops the process of houses you have it so that they also offer to buy the house at previous market rates. The current owners get a lease at normal social housing rents.
Limit the ability for banks to raise bank debt.
If there are greater controls over bank debt: equity ratios then there would be less money available for the banks to loan out.
A property that was $1m last year in Auckland is now $1.13m ( based on the increase of the medium house price in Auckland ) Wages are static so what has changed ? The availability of plenty of cheap money, and banks openness to lend.
Also why is it that a family who are the owner:occupiers paying the same interest rate as someone who has multi properties ? What other business will the banks accept debt of 50%, 60 or even 80 % and still charge the same mortgage rate as for the sole family home ? Shouldn’t the family’s rate be lower and the commercial enterprise pay more. Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ? https://www.reinz.co.nz/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=6E818C4E-73F0-48C6-A4A4-43F2D0D229B3&siteName=reinz
There are many policies that need to be enacted that will drop the price of houses in NZ. That would certainly be one of the policies that needs to be enacted.
What I was getting at there was a response from government that could alleviate peoples fear of losing.
Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ?
There’s a huge amount of such subsidies happening. You especially see it in telecommunications and power where the retail sector is massively subsidising the business sector. In both of those you see the retail sector paying massively more than the business sector which amounts to a massive subsidy.
At one point (when I was with one of the larger telcos) the management had a meeting to show us how well we were doing and in that meeting they showed us that the company was losing money on their VIP customers while still making a profit. The entire profit was coming from the residential sector after paying for the loss of the business sector. There’s no other word for that sort of transference of wealth but subsidy.
I must admit I have found dual use of names confusing. Could you please explain how one registers. I can see a log in option but not an option to register in first place.?
Register and login to the site. Then when you post a comment it will appear in blue as mine is and nobody else will be able to use the name.
Hi Arandar. What comments are you referring to? I’ve searched the comment stream and all comments under my search are coming up with your email and avatar.
Arander I noticed yesterday when I was reading the Standard that your name and email address were already in the boxes below the comments. I did wonder why but as they were gone by the next time I looked I didn’t give it a thought. I have never commented here before – just read it all daily – so have no idea how such a thing would happen. I was on an ipad at the time.
Listening to Kim Hill interviewing the Minister about Zero Hour Contracts.
First time I have heard National say anything about them. Thank goodness Labour, Unions and the very decent John Campbell have been actively exposing these utterly dreadful practices.
I got the impression National may not have gotten around to looking at these issues at all, and without Campbell Live to let the rest of us know, Zero Hour Contracts would have become the norm, as they have in other countries.
Luckily, fear of sales dropping after exposure has empowered the slaves to a small degree.
Meanwhile in the virtual reality world of Fearfax, no such momentous events exist.
Instead consumers of their ‘news’ can read this as the main headlines.
Scrutiny on doctors
Selfie-sticks a public scourge
Trolley bus cost shock
$14,000 bike stolen
Surprising visitors came for CWC.
And the Herald pumps out the following vital information as the leaders.
Trio on the run after ram-raid burglary
Colin Slade’s $700k move to French club
Two Farro stores cop alcohol sale bans
‘I shot him’: deputy kills black suspect
Disabled man in car, carer goes fishing
As George Carlin said.
“But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. “
Hi, Arandar, I’m sure a mod with the technical abilities will have a look ASAP. But, in the meantime, have a go at logging in, as DtB suggests. The log in box is at the top right of the page.
Hmmm, that might also be related to the misuse of your identity, but I’m sure it can be sorted pretty quickly. Just as an aside, it might be worth checking your fb and email accounts just in case the hack is wider than just here at TS.
* Long enough to be hard to guess
* Not a famous quotation from literature, holy books, et cetera [or lyrics]
* Hard to guess by intuition—even by someone who knows the user well
* Easy to remember and type accurately
* For better security, any easily memorable encoding at the user’s own level can be applied.
* Not reused between sites, applications and other different sources.
A couple of times over the many years, when not logged in to TS, I have found the comment / reply fields populated with someone else’s data, apparently at random. The most recent case was within the last couple of months.
Suspect it is a cache / cookie confusion issue perhaps when two people are connected via the same ISP / subnet – but I’m just waving my hands in the air there.
I’ve searched the back end comment stream (email, avatar and comments all line up)and then yesterday’s individual pages through firefox search option. Can’t find anything unusual. Again. Can somebody point me to the comments in question?
Didn’t happen to use a public computer and leave stuff sitting?
Hi Bill,
No I use only my own laptop and my own iPad and iPhone. I comment very rarely though I read daily and haven’t commented probably for a couple of months now…
The two comments yesterday were on the Get rid of the leftwing Bastard thread and the Miranda Devine thread. Neither were from me.
I got my husband to help me check back through the previous couple of days posts and comments for anything else that might have been posted by someone using my name and picture. When he went onto The Standard website, on his iPad, there was someone else’s name and email in the Leave a Comment area. He’s never gone to The Standard before – usually gets me to read to him all the interesting stuff – lazy beggar!
I thought that was odd and I’d guess that’s what’s happened; my name and email ended up on someone else’s tablet. How that also involves my picture I don’t know but then I don’t know much anyway and SFA about any of this stuff.
Problem, my changing my passwords won’t stop this happening, will it? Since this isn’t passworded in the first place?
Okay. I’m stumped. I’m no tech head. All I can do for the time being is note on those comments that they weren’t made by you. Hopefully Lynn will be able to get to the bottom of it. Seems like an apple thing though.
You won’t see anything at all unusual, just what appears to be a regular comment from that individual. In this case only Arandar can say which comments they didn’t write. Ahh – reading back – it is the (only) two comments made by that username yesterday. Nothing obvious springs to mind looking at the IP address involved.
Was browsing from my iPad yesterday and noticed the Leave a Comment had someone elses name and email address there. Was concerned as it was a sort of “Spooks” name. Anyway, I just deleted it and carried on browsing.
Must check today when I get back to the iPad.
rOb – it happened to me yesterday while I was browsing on my iPad. The “Leave a Comment” section had Name and Mail boxes with strange names in it. I just deleted them and carried on browsing. Will check my iPad again when I can get to it.
Farmers support the free market. They sell to the highest possible buyer in the world. Farmers also support the National Party in droves, with their free market philosophy etc.
Yet here are Federated Farmers complaining about the free market not filling their free market business requirements with low-paid employees. The farmers are not willing to pay what the market requires for people to work in their businesses so they import cheaper labour from o.s.
Then to top that nerve in making such a brazen hypocritical claim, they add another with this …. “Macpherson said this ruled out most migrant workers, and the approach was short-sighted. “Even if they’re just milking the cows,” he said, “they’re still working at the starting point of New Zealand’s wealth.” ”
When will they learn that this is not the starting point of NZ’s wealth. The starting point is the mothers who gave birth, the school teachers who taught them how to read dairy shed instructions, the port workers and truck drivers without whom the goods would get nowhere, the builders who first provide them with a home to live in.
So many farmers have thinking like this which bears no relation to reality.
Thats weird I talk to farmers all the time, never hear this view expressed.
Seems you are stereotyping a little VTO.
This http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/67679361/analysts-predict-dairy-disaster-ahead
This is the main reason farmers are having trouble retaining and employing staff.
Also I wouldn’t worry too much about dairy farmers being National voters, their are only about 12000 of them in the country, only as many votes as a largish Auckland suburb.
I know of a lot of farm employees who will be out of work next season, as dairy farmers come to grips with the probability of several years of low payout.
Also lots of farms are automating to varying degrees as well.
Me too jimmy re talking to farmers. Note also that this view was expressed by Fed Farmers who represent farmers. So no generalisations – just picking up on Fed Farmers commentary. They said it.
Regarding having trouble employing and retaining staff – farmers simply need to meet the market. They need to pay more to meet the supply and demand curve. And they need to treat their workers better.
It is simple free market economics, which the farmers support and vote for. Why don’t they comply with it? Why do they stick their hands out when the going gets a little tough for them? They come across as a little soft
When Nick Smith claims there are excessive rules under the RMA and piles up all the District Plan rulebooks from around the country to show how many rules people have to comply with, is that misleading and deceptive?
Penny Bright / Lisa Prager ‘Open Letter’ to NZ Solicitor-General Michael Heron – “Please do NOT drop the John Banks retrial!”
14 April 2015
Michael Heron
NZ Solicitor-General
Dear Solicitor-General,
As two of the three original complainants to the Police about John Banks for alleged electoral fraud arising from his 2010 Auckland Mayoral campaign, we urge you, in the public interest, NOT to drop his retrial.
In our considered opinion, in order for ‘justice to be done and be seen to be done’, the issues are these:
If John Banks knew the identity of any of his substantive electoral donors, they should not have been declared as ‘anonymous’ in his candidate’s electoral returns.
As John Banks’ campaign Treasurer was not present at all times / meetings where electoral donations were discussed or solicited, in our view, he was not in a position to know whether the list he had compiled of donations which were listed as ‘anonymous’ was accurate or not.
In our view, John Banks should not have relied upon his Treasurer’s work, in compiling this list of ‘anonymous donations’, without first carefully double-checking it himself, before signing it as the 2010 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
To us, there seems to have been a significant amount of legal ‘pin head dancing’ as it were – but if the New Zealand public is to have faith in you, as ‘the highest acting lawyer in the land’; our New Zealand ‘Justice’ and electoral systems, then the retrial of John Banks needs to go ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
………………………………
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
I notice that today’s High Court daily list for Auckland HC includes an’ In Chambers’ telephone conference on the Crown v John Banks case at 9.00am – Justice Fogarty. Presumably this is about the retrial …..
As we are heading back into Iraq, you would think we might have heard about this report being released.
-I wonder if we’ll see any journalists asking the PM for his comments?
+100 freedom and r-y …and here is an admission, but of course Obama did not support the first Iraq war:
“In an interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, Obama said the rise of the Islamic State was a direct result of the disastrous invasion.
“ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
1. when the next rateable valuation on the house is out.
2. who is next on XFactor
3. what Mike Hosking thinks about the Americas cup
4. the name of the next royal baby
5. ….
For proof of this fact see the front pages of all daily newspapers and tv news shows.
when the next rateable valuation on the house is out
so ratepayers are psychologically really happy paying more and more to Council as the paper value of their houses get pumped higher and higher, thanks to greater numbers of working New Zealanders getting themselves more indebted to banks which are mostly overseas
Prime Minister John Key says Campbell Live’s primary role was to entertain rather than hold the Government to account.
Looks like the RWNJS have got their C/T lines out now that National’s apparent attempt to kill off investigative journalism is blowing up in their face.
Thought provoking maybe but in some ways I see Cullen and Clark as the cause of the problems that Labour had at last election. Not too sure we should be paying too much heed to Cullen at all.
Of course for Dr Lance O’Sullivan to have any credibility he will also need to call for financial penalties for those who are not on a benefit. For example, tax penalty if you don’t immunise your children.
+1 Or better yet, no subsidised health care (including A and E) or education. Hitting the more well off where it hurts in a proportionally similar way to beneficiaries will make the point better.
Not really. That some doctors in NZ are protofascist isn’t new. Seymour is quoted in that article, I bet you could even find some of his voters that are doctors.
Where he displays his inability to decern between a safe situation and a dangerous accident; and while the commenters give a rousing applause and hurrah; and no doubt while the “Nappy Media” Herald protects him from more exacting commenters.
Bob’s angry that he was saved from safety, and brutally stopped from expressing the courage of his convictions. Other’s in dangerous situations should be left to drown, he implies with characteristic aloof ignorance, because once apon a time something else unrelated happened. Furthermore, other people expressing personal traits opposite to his should be restricted from the inalienable human freedoms he champions.
Also, if he could use the readership of the Herald instead of creating his own readership, that’d be good too, because no nappies for him, no way.
Don’t you feel better about the world knowing nothing has changed? Everyone is still calling for self-extinction, but still too cowardly to do it themselves.
Unfortunately I read it too.
If he really believed half of what he writes he’d have refused the offers of Nanny help from the boat & would have proudly drowned much to the relief of the rest of the country.
Key’s shocking comments today about Campbell Live.
John Key is dismissing the Campbell Live current affairs programme, claiming it’s a show geared up purely for the purpose of entertainment.
John Key told NewstalkZB the show plays no role in holding the government to account.
“Well, it’s role in life is not to hold the government to account. It’s to entertain its viewers and basically follow news stories, but a great many of those don’t involve the government. Some do.”
“Look I don’t know anything about the show other than what I read in the paper, but if you look at what you read in the paper, it’s rating badly and it’s been rating poorly over the last while.”
Asked whether the programme’s work in Christchurch was worthwhile, Key said “I don’t know, I don’t see enough of it to be honest.”
“Whether it stays or goes is a matter for Mediaworks.”
Media commentator Gavin Ellis believes broadcasters have a moral obligation to hold those in power to account, through current affairs programming.
“If they won’t voluntarily meet civic responsibility then maybe we need to look at some form of regulation to require them to provide good, competent, professional news and current affairs.”
Ellis understands demand for entertainment content is on the rise in this fast-moving internet age.
“There is an equal appetite, I would say, for serious current affairs straight after the news. I really do lament the possibility of us losing that.”
Ellis describes the current set-up of two main commercial networks, with no current affairs obligations, as ‘laissez-faire’ and questions the ability of broadcasters to produce quality current affairs without any form of regulation.
The musician Sharon Van Etten, who was a surprise guest on Campbell Live and appeared to make the host cry with delight, has tweeted in support of saving the show.
According to the television ratings website Throng, Campbell Live has experienced a ratings boost since its fate was mooted by Mediaworks.
For yesterday, April 13, 2015 over 333,000 viewers tuned in for 7pm slot.
Clem’ at 20.1.1…….those comments by The-Once-Was-God-Key underline the pathology in the man. Which is to say (if the illiterate, gauche dork could manage the third word without Crosby Textor coaching)……”It is temeritous (KeySpeak – ‘temareteris’) to fancy holding ‘us’ to account……”. The hidebound arrogance is truly stunning ! It is however his undoing. Such spectacular third-termitis. Excellent ! The robber baron traitor is on his way out !
So, why does farm size matter? As the total number of farms goes down, the number of big* farms is going up — and this shift hurts rural America. According to an analysis by Food and Water Watch: “Communities with more medium- and smaller-sized farms have more shared prosperity, including higher incomes, lower unemployment, and lower income inequality, than communities with larger farms tied to often-distant agribusinesses.”
Isn’t the same thing happening in NZ as well? The Crafar’s had certainly tried to engorge their farm.
The thing with the land being accumulated buy fewer people out in sheep/beef country is that they are struggling to get staff due to less schools for kids and opportunities for spouses to have a life beyond horses and drinking.
People on here have quoted television viewer ratings down to the nearest 100 it appears.
How are these figures arrived at?
If it’s by phone polling, then we have never been asked in the 30 years of owning a landline, and as we no longer use one of those I guess we will never be asked.
So on the off chance that the pollsters are interested …
Do we watch Campbell in this household? Well yes if we bother to have the television on at 7 pm – and have a heads-up that his guest is going to have their position on something investigated.
Do we watch Hoskings – never, cannot stand him having seen him on programmes previously.
Used to watch TV1 post Holmes for a while but couldn’t put up with Sainsbury’s lack of understanding that he had a lapel mike and that we could hear him perfectly well without the shouting, rasping voice.
… and one more thing. We used to watch the news between both channels. That was when it was 45 – 50 minutes of news and 5 minutes of weather forecasts.
Now that it is progressing towards weather interrupted by an item or two of news, we are looking for and finding other sources of news on-line.
One thing I have to give Hosking is his capacity to wander, lyrically, superficially attractively, through the words……a constant purring, know-it-all patter into which one can be easily drawn……until the gratuitous sneer and the “I’m so cool…..so cool…..so cool……” gets its head. At which point……”Fuck up, Egg !”
I wonder…….the writing on the wall for TheGodKey, can Hosking get to show a little love for Little ? Wouldn’t be surprised. The narcissistic punk is all into ‘celebrity’. The staff of his life. The $3 mill’ heist father-in-law like son-in-law. “Haw haw haw haw haw……a wonderful vintage !”
And talking of beards I well remember the Old Days in Wellington with the very same on your own jutting jaw so as to affect the ‘style’ of some Italian rake…….exiting your Jensen Interceptor to enter some piss-up in solidarity with Robert Muldoon. An ostentatiously large cigar clamped in your teeth, fingers back-to-front in the air, mock-Churchillian, to give insult.
At the rate these pricks are going with the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, there’ll be noone left in the “elder care” industry by the time they’re in nappies. And in Bob’s case that day can’t be too far off.
So when you see old Bob sitting in his nappyful of untended waste, be sure to offer him a two fingered salute. 😉
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TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
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The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
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The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
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Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
China’s March exports shrink 15 percent year-on-year in shock fall
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/13/us-china-economy-trade-idUSKBN0N405D20150413
The world economy is on the brink of a worse crash than 2008.
I’d take that with a bucket of salt if I were you.
March 2013.
Make that two buckets.
Auckland’s property prices.
Who do you believe ?
The Dear Leader who says there is no crisis.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20174463/prime-minister-responds-to-calls-for-action-on-house-prices
Or a reputable economist, who says that ‘Auckland’s housing market has officially disembarked from the rest of the country.’
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/74904/bernard-hickey-argues-aucklands-housing-market-has-officially-disembarked-rest-country.
Dear Leader’s rich mates in the banking sector are making a killing in the housing debt market and so he sees no crisis there.
It suits National just fine. Property owners in Auckland gleefully await their annual property valuation, and year upon year up the price goes. many increases are stratospheric. In return Auckland is as blue as the ocean, so what do you think would happen if the incumbent National led Government took measures like limiting foreign ownership, or introducing a capital gain tax, or even a death duty tax.
What would happen is they would lose the Auckland vote and be booted out of office.
Yes that right. But it shows the lack of thinking that goes on today……
If all house prices dropped then our mortgages would be lower, the amount we had to pay for a home be lower, and we would actually have significantly more money.
Yet so many people do not see this.
Anyone know why?
Which is a direct reflection of our poor political system. Major issues such as the Auckland Housing problem should be subjected to a cross party consensus to resolve the issue. Party lines is the huge hinder and so yesteryear.
I think its a two-fold thing….
first, the bright shiny allure of seeing a supposedly real pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in the form of a housing valuation. (anyone ever caught up with that rainbow gold?)
second, the political thing. The short term nature of decision-making that our system fosters. Something like this which would reduce prices would take some time to bed in.
………………………………………….
test:
If every house in NZ went up by 50% tomorrow what would be achieved?
@Skinny Sorry but this IS a political/philosophical issue. National are cynically happy with the exorbitant valuations of Akl houses as it benefits their voters. Labour, on the other hand, sees supply of sufficient housing, especially affordable housing, as fundamental plank in a fair society.
It is developers who are dragging their feet with developments (land banking) or who are developing the wrong type of houses (4/5 bedrooms on large lots spreading ever outwards) that are causing the problems in Akl.
It is nothing at all to do with the RMA. So really this is an issue the Super City should be able to sort out itself, with central government weighing in with major state house construction. We need a change of government for his to happen.
Well No it would not. If house value falls then all those with recent mortgages would find that they owned houses with less than the security put up to purchase the house. The banks would then ask you to cough up with more security or payback your mortgage immediately. How would you go if you had a house valued at 800,000 with a 700,000 mortgage. The house value drops to 500,000 and you no longer have sufficient cover so the bank would want more money from you to reduce the mortgage to below 500,000.
This is the main reason that no political party will ever seriously try and solve the escalating house costs.
Of course. I didn’t mention the instant-term / short-term pain in adjusting as figured it was self-explanatory. There would be some short term pain for those in such a situation but that short term pain must be put aside in the interests of the mid and long term benefit for all New Zealanders.
The point raised doesn’t make the grade as a reason not to aim for lowering house prices.
Lower house prices are an exceptionally good thing for the country.
Short term pain. Obviously you either dont have a recent mortgage or maybe no mortgage. It would not be a short term pain it would be devastating. People affected would possibly lose their homes and their deposits. Yes their next home might be cheaper if they ever manage to get around to purchasing one again. They would have entered the market in good faith and then suddenly their house is devalued and they can be out on the street. Not going to happen. There are better ways to cope with the housing problem.
Yes it is painful.
But not as painful as the situation we have now (which those with high mortgages refuse to consider).
edit: perhaps a solution is to require banks, who are equally responsible for the situation and have long profited from the situation, to share in the pain. After all, mortgages are just ledger entries and not real money so there is neglible effect on them.
Or maybe encourage people to look further afield I was out Pukekohe recently and there are a number of houses in the 400-500 thousand range three bedroom good section etc but Aucklanders will not commute.
For those of us that used to work in Wellington and had to purchase out in Akatarawa which meant a 30 minute bus trip to Railhead and then an hour on train into city every day but there was little choice.
Have you got any idea as to how much commuting costs?
Not as much as driving that’s for sure, Buy a monhly pass and it’s not too bad
The word commuting isn’t specifically about using public transport and thus also involves cars and driving.
You’re missing the point ron.
Lower house prices right across the board are good for every single part of the population, not just those at the bottom.
vto – a lot of people would agree with you: lower house prices are better – and stopping people treating housing like a speculative asset would also be damn good.
The mechanisms HOW are important though. Ron raises some good points: but they are all manageable by the government.
Eg.
1) The government institutes a moratorium on mortgagee sales, repossessions and ‘margin calls’ by the bank: this will apply to all mortgages for which payments are no more than 30 days over due.
2) If a retail bank wants out of the mortgage that is ‘underwater’, fine. Government will facilitate that: the government will pay out the face value of the mortgage and the mortgage asset and administration will be taken over by Kiwibank.
3) The government will limit the loss of value anyone suffers on their primary home to a maximum of 5% of the original purchase value.
My bet is that with these, and other steps, an orderly reduction in house values of a few percentage points per year is very possible. And by also ensuring income inflation of a couple of percent a year, housing affordibility will rocket upwards over a 5 to 10 year period.
Sure the ‘how’ needs to be done as easily as possible, but the schemes suggested there, and dracos below, are so complex as to be unachievable imo. In Chch post-earthquakes we have seen the myriad variances and circumstances that have inadvertently arisen in the wake of the red-zone government offers, and that is a simple scheme.
There is also the issue of affordability. Government could not afford it. Government is struggling to afford Christchurch.
All stakeholders in property would need to share the burden. Banks are certainly stakeholders and share responsibility for the problem. They also unendingly profit from being a property stakeholder. Perhaps, put simply, the LVR on each property is maintained pre and post-value adjustment. Done.
….. but still the distortions would fly
WTF is complex about it?
No, that was an overly complex system designed, as far as I can make out, to save both the government and the insurance industry money. What the government should have done is declared the Red Zones, paid everyone in them the full market value and then turned round to the insurance companies and told them to pay up.
This is incorrect. The government can, quite literally, afford everything in NZ.
There’s an answer to that to. When the government passes legislation that drops the process of houses you have it so that they also offer to buy the house at previous market rates. The current owners get a lease at normal social housing rents.
Limit the ability for banks to raise bank debt.
If there are greater controls over bank debt: equity ratios then there would be less money available for the banks to loan out.
A property that was $1m last year in Auckland is now $1.13m ( based on the increase of the medium house price in Auckland ) Wages are static so what has changed ? The availability of plenty of cheap money, and banks openness to lend.
Also why is it that a family who are the owner:occupiers paying the same interest rate as someone who has multi properties ? What other business will the banks accept debt of 50%, 60 or even 80 % and still charge the same mortgage rate as for the sole family home ? Shouldn’t the family’s rate be lower and the commercial enterprise pay more. Isn’t it under the current scenario a family subsidising the commercial multi property owner by both paying the same rate ?
https://www.reinz.co.nz/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=6E818C4E-73F0-48C6-A4A4-43F2D0D229B3&siteName=reinz
There are many policies that need to be enacted that will drop the price of houses in NZ. That would certainly be one of the policies that needs to be enacted.
What I was getting at there was a response from government that could alleviate peoples fear of losing.
There’s a huge amount of such subsidies happening. You especially see it in telecommunications and power where the retail sector is massively subsidising the business sector. In both of those you see the retail sector paying massively more than the business sector which amounts to a massive subsidy.
At one point (when I was with one of the larger telcos) the management had a meeting to show us how well we were doing and in that meeting they showed us that the company was losing money on their VIP customers while still making a profit. The entire profit was coming from the residential sector after paying for the loss of the business sector. There’s no other word for that sort of transference of wealth but subsidy.
Worrying about how someone posted twice yesterday in my name.
It was not me.
How does that happen?
And what do I do about it?
Without a login anyone can use the name. The moderators discourage it but they can’t actually stop it.
Register and login to the site. Then when you post a comment it will appear in blue as mine is and nobody else will be able to use the name.
I must admit I have found dual use of names confusing. Could you please explain how one registers. I can see a log in option but not an option to register in first place.?
I think you need a wordpress account to register. Or a gravatar account. Or both?
Was it just your name, Arandar?
Or did your picture appear as well?
Hi Arandar. What comments are you referring to? I’ve searched the comment stream and all comments under my search are coming up with your email and avatar.
Arander I noticed yesterday when I was reading the Standard that your name and email address were already in the boxes below the comments. I did wonder why but as they were gone by the next time I looked I didn’t give it a thought. I have never commented here before – just read it all daily – so have no idea how such a thing would happen. I was on an ipad at the time.
Thanks Prickles, I have seen exactly this anomaly too.
that makes sense, there’s been some odd things happening lately. Lynn’s still working on the mobile version right?
Yup, I believe so.
Listening to Kim Hill interviewing the Minister about Zero Hour Contracts.
First time I have heard National say anything about them. Thank goodness Labour, Unions and the very decent John Campbell have been actively exposing these utterly dreadful practices.
I got the impression National may not have gotten around to looking at these issues at all, and without Campbell Live to let the rest of us know, Zero Hour Contracts would have become the norm, as they have in other countries.
Luckily, fear of sales dropping after exposure has empowered the slaves to a small degree.
maybe we could start a campaign to get Kim back on Morning Report. Suzi could get a job in a ministers office surely?
Meanwhile in the virtual reality world of Fearfax, no such momentous events exist.
Instead consumers of their ‘news’ can read this as the main headlines.
Scrutiny on doctors
Selfie-sticks a public scourge
Trolley bus cost shock
$14,000 bike stolen
Surprising visitors came for CWC.
And the Herald pumps out the following vital information as the leaders.
Trio on the run after ram-raid burglary
Colin Slade’s $700k move to French club
Two Farro stores cop alcohol sale bans
‘I shot him’: deputy kills black suspect
Disabled man in car, carer goes fishing
As George Carlin said.
“But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. “
Draco. Thank you. I’ve tried to follow your advice and cannot work out how to register and log in. I’m a techno fool I know.
Felix. Yes, picture as well.
The picture is tied to your email address, so it’s a bit concerning if someone else can use that.
Perhaps if we yell HITLER NAZI TROLL HELENGRAD we can attract a mod to have a look.
😆
Felix. That’s what I thought. I sent a couple of emails to thestandardnz last night when I found the two comments.
Ps. Am on an iPad and don’t have the reply facility. Sorry about that too – spreading my woe all over this thread.
Hi, Arandar, I’m sure a mod with the technical abilities will have a look ASAP. But, in the meantime, have a go at logging in, as DtB suggests. The log in box is at the top right of the page.
TRP, thanks for that.
I’ve moved to laptop so can reply now.
I’ve tried logging in several times but it says I’m locked out.
Hmmm, that might also be related to the misuse of your identity, but I’m sure it can be sorted pretty quickly. Just as an aside, it might be worth checking your fb and email accounts just in case the hack is wider than just here at TS.
and change all passwords.
and shift one’s thinking from password to passphrase …… advice from Snowden himself:
http://rt.com/usa/248401-snowden-oliver-password-protection-advice/
and more tips such as:
* Long enough to be hard to guess
* Not a famous quotation from literature, holy books, et cetera [or lyrics]
* Hard to guess by intuition—even by someone who knows the user well
* Easy to remember and type accurately
* For better security, any easily memorable encoding at the user’s own level can be applied.
* Not reused between sites, applications and other different sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase
I notice they don’t give any useful examples 😉 (that list is pretty hard to achieve).
Snowden’s suggestion was “MargaretThatcheris110%sexy” – perhaps something similarly unlikely could be worked up for our current PM.
eeeww (but good example from Snowden thanks).
How about “JohnKeyi$110%truthful”?
One up on Snowden’s suggestion, with an additional symbol.
Yes Arander I picked up on those two comments and didn’t think they sounded as having come from you.
Lynn disabled log-ins for the average user literally years ago. Only the few people who had signed up before then can still log-in. And authors.
I wasn’t aware of that, Lanth, thanks. I only got a log in organised when I became an author, never really thought about it prior to that.
Hadn’t realised that.
A couple of times over the many years, when not logged in to TS, I have found the comment / reply fields populated with someone else’s data, apparently at random. The most recent case was within the last couple of months.
Suspect it is a cache / cookie confusion issue perhaps when two people are connected via the same ISP / subnet – but I’m just waving my hands in the air there.
I’ve searched the back end comment stream (email, avatar and comments all line up)and then yesterday’s individual pages through firefox search option. Can’t find anything unusual. Again. Can somebody point me to the comments in question?
Didn’t happen to use a public computer and leave stuff sitting?
Hi Bill,
No I use only my own laptop and my own iPad and iPhone. I comment very rarely though I read daily and haven’t commented probably for a couple of months now…
The two comments yesterday were on the Get rid of the leftwing Bastard thread and the Miranda Devine thread. Neither were from me.
I got my husband to help me check back through the previous couple of days posts and comments for anything else that might have been posted by someone using my name and picture. When he went onto The Standard website, on his iPad, there was someone else’s name and email in the Leave a Comment area. He’s never gone to The Standard before – usually gets me to read to him all the interesting stuff – lazy beggar!
I thought that was odd and I’d guess that’s what’s happened; my name and email ended up on someone else’s tablet. How that also involves my picture I don’t know but then I don’t know much anyway and SFA about any of this stuff.
Problem, my changing my passwords won’t stop this happening, will it? Since this isn’t passworded in the first place?
Okay. I’m stumped. I’m no tech head. All I can do for the time being is note on those comments that they weren’t made by you. Hopefully Lynn will be able to get to the bottom of it. Seems like an apple thing though.
You won’t see anything at all unusual, just what appears to be a regular comment from that individual. In this case only Arandar can say which comments they didn’t write. Ahh – reading back – it is the (only) two comments made by that username yesterday. Nothing obvious springs to mind looking at the IP address involved.
Was browsing from my iPad yesterday and noticed the Leave a Comment had someone elses name and email address there. Was concerned as it was a sort of “Spooks” name. Anyway, I just deleted it and carried on browsing.
Must check today when I get back to the iPad.
rOb – it happened to me yesterday while I was browsing on my iPad. The “Leave a Comment” section had Name and Mail boxes with strange names in it. I just deleted them and carried on browsing. Will check my iPad again when I can get to it.
Have never seen that. I know that one other person from my work has posted a comment on TS, although only once and several years ago now.
Farmers support the free market. They sell to the highest possible buyer in the world. Farmers also support the National Party in droves, with their free market philosophy etc.
Yet here are Federated Farmers complaining about the free market not filling their free market business requirements with low-paid employees. The farmers are not willing to pay what the market requires for people to work in their businesses so they import cheaper labour from o.s.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/67648025/criteria-too-tough-on-migrant-workers–federated-farmers
Complete hypocrisy and lack of credibility.
Then to top that nerve in making such a brazen hypocritical claim, they add another with this …. “Macpherson said this ruled out most migrant workers, and the approach was short-sighted. “Even if they’re just milking the cows,” he said, “they’re still working at the starting point of New Zealand’s wealth.” ”
When will they learn that this is not the starting point of NZ’s wealth. The starting point is the mothers who gave birth, the school teachers who taught them how to read dairy shed instructions, the port workers and truck drivers without whom the goods would get nowhere, the builders who first provide them with a home to live in.
So many farmers have thinking like this which bears no relation to reality.
Thats weird I talk to farmers all the time, never hear this view expressed.
Seems you are stereotyping a little VTO.
This http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/67679361/analysts-predict-dairy-disaster-ahead
This is the main reason farmers are having trouble retaining and employing staff.
Also I wouldn’t worry too much about dairy farmers being National voters, their are only about 12000 of them in the country, only as many votes as a largish Auckland suburb.
I know of a lot of farm employees who will be out of work next season, as dairy farmers come to grips with the probability of several years of low payout.
Also lots of farms are automating to varying degrees as well.
Me too jimmy re talking to farmers. Note also that this view was expressed by Fed Farmers who represent farmers. So no generalisations – just picking up on Fed Farmers commentary. They said it.
Regarding having trouble employing and retaining staff – farmers simply need to meet the market. They need to pay more to meet the supply and demand curve. And they need to treat their workers better.
It is simple free market economics, which the farmers support and vote for. Why don’t they comply with it? Why do they stick their hands out when the going gets a little tough for them? They come across as a little soft
I see Tony Abbott has today announced tax penalties for those citizens who don’t vaccinate their children.
………
tories, National Party supporters and conservatives ……..
they
just
don’t
think
Any reason why TS is not showing the most recent posts in my Feedly? Hasn’t for a few days now.
When Nick Smith claims there are excessive rules under the RMA and piles up all the District Plan rulebooks from around the country to show how many rules people have to comply with, is that misleading and deceptive?
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/overhauling-resource-management-act
Because of course, those 80,000 pages are to cover all of the country’s councils. It is not 80,000 pages for every Council. Yet Smith claims it is.
Nick Smith lies and deceives.
yep. Any joking references calling him on it from the msm political commentariat? lol no need to answer that one 🙂
Penny Bright / Lisa Prager ‘Open Letter’ to NZ Solicitor-General Michael Heron – “Please do NOT drop the John Banks retrial!”
14 April 2015
Michael Heron
NZ Solicitor-General
Dear Solicitor-General,
As two of the three original complainants to the Police about John Banks for alleged electoral fraud arising from his 2010 Auckland Mayoral campaign, we urge you, in the public interest, NOT to drop his retrial.
In our considered opinion, in order for ‘justice to be done and be seen to be done’, the issues are these:
If John Banks knew the identity of any of his substantive electoral donors, they should not have been declared as ‘anonymous’ in his candidate’s electoral returns.
As John Banks’ campaign Treasurer was not present at all times / meetings where electoral donations were discussed or solicited, in our view, he was not in a position to know whether the list he had compiled of donations which were listed as ‘anonymous’ was accurate or not.
In our view, John Banks should not have relied upon his Treasurer’s work, in compiling this list of ‘anonymous donations’, without first carefully double-checking it himself, before signing it as the 2010 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
To us, there seems to have been a significant amount of legal ‘pin head dancing’ as it were – but if the New Zealand public is to have faith in you, as ‘the highest acting lawyer in the land’; our New Zealand ‘Justice’ and electoral systems, then the retrial of John Banks needs to go ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
………………………………
‘Anti-Corruption / Anti-Privatisation campaigner / Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Service Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate (polled 4th with 11,723 votes)
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate
Lisa Prager
…………………….
Community activist / advocate Public Watchdog
Good on you, Penny.
I notice that today’s High Court daily list for Auckland HC includes an’ In Chambers’ telephone conference on the Crown v John Banks case at 9.00am – Justice Fogarty. Presumably this is about the retrial …..
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/business/calendar/daily-lists/2-National%20Court%20List%20-%20Tuesday%20-%2014.04.2015.pdf
As we are heading back into Iraq, you would think we might have heard about this report being released.
-I wonder if we’ll see any journalists asking the PM for his comments?
http://yournewswire.com/declassified-cia-document-reveals-iraq-war-had-zero-justification/
kudos due to one Helen Clark on our behalf … great link, thx freedom.
Those three in the picture should be up on war crimes charges with the greedy and vile Blair who still wishes to rule the whole world.
+100 freedom and r-y …and here is an admission, but of course Obama did not support the first Iraq war:
“In an interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, Obama said the rise of the Islamic State was a direct result of the disastrous invasion.
“ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
– See more at: http://yournewswire.com/declassified-cia-document-reveals-iraq-war-had-zero-justification/#sthash.iT4qCCAv.dpuf
A thought provoking speech about the Labour party by Michael Cullen.
http://polity.co.nz/content/sir-michael-cullen-labour
Also;
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/12/live-event-table-talk-making-sense-of-the-campbell-live-affair/
Might be worth tuning into…
cool, that’s tonight.
Discussion of the lack of a true media in NZ?
Why do we need one of those?
All we need to know is;
1. when the next rateable valuation on the house is out.
2. who is next on XFactor
3. what Mike Hosking thinks about the Americas cup
4. the name of the next royal baby
5. ….
For proof of this fact see the front pages of all daily newspapers and tv news shows.
when the next rateable valuation on the house is out
so ratepayers are psychologically really happy paying more and more to Council as the paper value of their houses get pumped higher and higher, thanks to greater numbers of working New Zealanders getting themselves more indebted to banks which are mostly overseas
John Key dismisses Campbell Live as entertainment
Looks like the RWNJS have got their C/T lines out now that National’s apparent attempt to kill off investigative journalism is blowing up in their face.
+100…John Key is getting very worried about the public backlash to the axing of Campbell Live…. and his part in it…as well as that of his friends
Here is the sort of investigative journalism from Campbell that John Key is really worried about…and why he wants to axe Campbell’s programme
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/keys-meeting-with-gcsb-boss-revealed-2014052019
Thought provoking maybe but in some ways I see Cullen and Clark as the cause of the problems that Labour had at last election. Not too sure we should be paying too much heed to Cullen at all.
Occasional trip- ups on hurried keyboards are no problem but a minor spelling point from a self confessed pedant.
Don’t confuse ‘their’, and ‘there’. …
‘Their’ is a possessive pronoun: I like their new car.
‘There’ is an adverb meaning ‘at that place’: park the car over there.
There, that feels better.
How to comfort a grammar nazi?
They’re, there, their.
No its not Deutsch grammar- just English spelling..and by the way …
a |ā, ə|( an before a vowel sound) [ called the indefinite article ]
ref. Open mike 01/04/2015
“Used to be an (sic) girl group many years ago. ……! ”
Bye!
And from another pedant: I do wish people would learn to distinguish between bought and brought.
Bought is the past tense for buy.
Brought is the past tense for bring.
I bought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I brought the washing in off the line.
“I bought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I brought the washing in off the line”
I brought a loaf of bread from the dairy.
I bought the washing machine on line.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/doctor-mp-back-no-jab-no-pay-scheme-2015041408#axzz3XEsnbz35
– Well that makes things more interesting
Of course for Dr Lance O’Sullivan to have any credibility he will also need to call for financial penalties for those who are not on a benefit. For example, tax penalty if you don’t immunise your children.
Easy. Done.
+1 Or better yet, no subsidised health care (including A and E) or education. Hitting the more well off where it hurts in a proportionally similar way to beneficiaries will make the point better.
“– Well that makes things more interesting”
Not really. That some doctors in NZ are protofascist isn’t new. Seymour is quoted in that article, I bet you could even find some of his voters that are doctors.
Looks like Venezuela is headed for an unholy mess later on this year.
https://www.stratfor.com/image/low-oil-prices-are-crashing-venezuelas-economy
No doubt a right wing facist dictator will eventually take over and normality will return.
Or the people will get sick of the lies and failures of the Bolivarian Revolution and vote in an economically literate government.
Is Bob Jones going nuts in his old age, or was he never really present? Just finished reading his latest offering here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11432112
Where he displays his inability to decern between a safe situation and a dangerous accident; and while the commenters give a rousing applause and hurrah; and no doubt while the “Nappy Media” Herald protects him from more exacting commenters.
Bob’s angry that he was saved from safety, and brutally stopped from expressing the courage of his convictions. Other’s in dangerous situations should be left to drown, he implies with characteristic aloof ignorance, because once apon a time something else unrelated happened. Furthermore, other people expressing personal traits opposite to his should be restricted from the inalienable human freedoms he champions.
Also, if he could use the readership of the Herald instead of creating his own readership, that’d be good too, because no nappies for him, no way.
Don’t you feel better about the world knowing nothing has changed? Everyone is still calling for self-extinction, but still too cowardly to do it themselves.
Unfortunately I read it too.
If he really believed half of what he writes he’d have refused the offers of Nanny help from the boat & would have proudly drowned much to the relief of the rest of the country.
Here we go again
What’s the bet that this government will give away a few more tens of millions of our money to a massively profitable foreign company?
Key’s shocking comments today about Campbell Live.
John Key is dismissing the Campbell Live current affairs programme, claiming it’s a show geared up purely for the purpose of entertainment.
John Key told NewstalkZB the show plays no role in holding the government to account.
“Well, it’s role in life is not to hold the government to account. It’s to entertain its viewers and basically follow news stories, but a great many of those don’t involve the government. Some do.”
“Look I don’t know anything about the show other than what I read in the paper, but if you look at what you read in the paper, it’s rating badly and it’s been rating poorly over the last while.”
Asked whether the programme’s work in Christchurch was worthwhile, Key said “I don’t know, I don’t see enough of it to be honest.”
“Whether it stays or goes is a matter for Mediaworks.”
Media commentator Gavin Ellis believes broadcasters have a moral obligation to hold those in power to account, through current affairs programming.
“If they won’t voluntarily meet civic responsibility then maybe we need to look at some form of regulation to require them to provide good, competent, professional news and current affairs.”
Ellis understands demand for entertainment content is on the rise in this fast-moving internet age.
“There is an equal appetite, I would say, for serious current affairs straight after the news. I really do lament the possibility of us losing that.”
Ellis describes the current set-up of two main commercial networks, with no current affairs obligations, as ‘laissez-faire’ and questions the ability of broadcasters to produce quality current affairs without any form of regulation.
The musician Sharon Van Etten, who was a surprise guest on Campbell Live and appeared to make the host cry with delight, has tweeted in support of saving the show.
According to the television ratings website Throng, Campbell Live has experienced a ratings boost since its fate was mooted by Mediaworks.
For yesterday, April 13, 2015 over 333,000 viewers tuned in for 7pm slot.
Here is the link for full information:
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/entertainment/john-key-dismisses-campbell-live/?fb_action_ids=10152825825013297&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.VSxFC5vSCnZ.like
Well look at who Newstalk ZB employ to impart their version of the news.
Mike Hosking!
Here is another report followed by good comments below:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/67740334/prime-minister-john-key-labels-campbell-live-entertainment
Key is a disgrace!
Clem’ at 20.1.1…….those comments by The-Once-Was-God-Key underline the pathology in the man. Which is to say (if the illiterate, gauche dork could manage the third word without Crosby Textor coaching)……”It is temeritous (KeySpeak – ‘temareteris’) to fancy holding ‘us’ to account……”. The hidebound arrogance is truly stunning ! It is however his undoing. Such spectacular third-termitis. Excellent ! The robber baron traitor is on his way out !
snap!!!
+100…why it is a political decision to axe Campbell live by John Key and his henchmen and women
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/14/why-the-axing-of-campbell-live-is-being-driven-by-dirty-politics/
The rock star economy……..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11432381
America has fewer and larger farms. Here’s why that matters
Isn’t the same thing happening in NZ as well? The Crafar’s had certainly tried to engorge their farm.
Isn’t this phenomenon just what you describe often dtb? Namely, this is where capitalism always ends up, with all the wealth in the hands of a few?
Yep and it always fails.
The thing with the land being accumulated buy fewer people out in sheep/beef country is that they are struggling to get staff due to less schools for kids and opportunities for spouses to have a life beyond horses and drinking.
People on here have quoted television viewer ratings down to the nearest 100 it appears.
How are these figures arrived at?
If it’s by phone polling, then we have never been asked in the 30 years of owning a landline, and as we no longer use one of those I guess we will never be asked.
So on the off chance that the pollsters are interested …
Do we watch Campbell in this household? Well yes if we bother to have the television on at 7 pm – and have a heads-up that his guest is going to have their position on something investigated.
Do we watch Hoskings – never, cannot stand him having seen him on programmes previously.
Used to watch TV1 post Holmes for a while but couldn’t put up with Sainsbury’s lack of understanding that he had a lapel mike and that we could hear him perfectly well without the shouting, rasping voice.
… and one more thing. We used to watch the news between both channels. That was when it was 45 – 50 minutes of news and 5 minutes of weather forecasts.
Now that it is progressing towards weather interrupted by an item or two of news, we are looking for and finding other sources of news on-line.
One thing I have to give Hosking is his capacity to wander, lyrically, superficially attractively, through the words……a constant purring, know-it-all patter into which one can be easily drawn……until the gratuitous sneer and the “I’m so cool…..so cool…..so cool……” gets its head. At which point……”Fuck up, Egg !”
I wonder…….the writing on the wall for TheGodKey, can Hosking get to show a little love for Little ? Wouldn’t be surprised. The narcissistic punk is all into ‘celebrity’. The staff of his life. The $3 mill’ heist father-in-law like son-in-law. “Haw haw haw haw haw……a wonderful vintage !”
For now……Marie Antoinette without the bouff’.
You’ll find the answers about ratings here: http://www.agbnielsen.co.nz/
‘I have been controversial’: Guenter Grass, Germany’s Nobel-winning author, dies at 87′
http://rt.com/news/249317-gunter-grass-dies-87/
Watch Campbell Live today to prevent that programme from getting the axe.
7pm.
Let us show the stupid RW head honchos of Media Works how bloody minded and wring they are.
Also read below Campbell thanking us all.
https://twitter.com/CampbellLiveNZ/status/587770033289334784/photo/1
Ummh…….I suspect your primary garment IS a nappy…….Sir Bob. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11432112
And talking of beards I well remember the Old Days in Wellington with the very same on your own jutting jaw so as to affect the ‘style’ of some Italian rake…….exiting your Jensen Interceptor to enter some piss-up in solidarity with Robert Muldoon. An ostentatiously large cigar clamped in your teeth, fingers back-to-front in the air, mock-Churchillian, to give insult.
The nappy is new…….the ‘prick’ is not !
At the rate these pricks are going with the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, there’ll be noone left in the “elder care” industry by the time they’re in nappies. And in Bob’s case that day can’t be too far off.
So when you see old Bob sitting in his nappyful of untended waste, be sure to offer him a two fingered salute. 😉