Questions on Key’s housing sell-off

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, January 30th, 2015 - 71 comments
Categories: housing, john key, national - Tags: , , ,

When is an asset sale not an asset sale? Why – when Key says so, of course. But it’s not all going smoothly for Key’s planned state housing sell-off. It simply doesn’t make sense to sell our houses at a time of urgent need. Why is he breaking his word (yet again)? Why didn’t he put it to the electorate last September?

These are not the only inconvenient questions being asked. Here’s Armstrong in The Herald:

‘Market’ swept under social housing rug

One particular word was noticeable by its absence from the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday detailing his Government’s complex and contentious plan for the future of what National now calls “social” housing rather than state housing.

That word is “market”. That officials from the Treasury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment talk endlessly in papers prepared for Cabinet ministers of the need to construct a “market” for social housing obviously gives John Key the heebie-jeebies – and, quite possibly, his new Minister of Social Housing, Paula Bennett, as well.

Like Key, she realises “market” is now a very dirty word in politics. It carries highly negative connotations. It jogs people’s memories of National’s asset sales. It suggests National is putting profit first and the needs of the poorest members of society a long way second.

“Market” is a dirty word – ouch. And as for “National is putting profit first and the needs of the poorest members of society a long way second” – well yes, that is self-evidently what they do, as a certain famous author recently observed.

As no one has yet come up with any hard evidence that community-based providers will necessarily do a better job than Housing New Zealand, it is difficult to erase the suspicion that the policy is motivated by ideology as much as anything else.

They won’t do a better job. “Community providers” can’t afford the houses, they have to partner with banks and developers. Banks and developers want profits. In what way is that consistent with better or more affordable housing?

In particular, Key is promising more people will be accommodated in social housing over the next three years regardless of whether that accommodation is supplied by the state or private providers.

On what possible basis can Key make such a promise?

See also 3 News last night:

John Key defends housing sell-off

The Prime Minister’s been forced to defend his social housing reforms, giving an assurance state houses will not be flogged off to line the pockets of developers.

Why would developers get involved if it didn’t line their pockets?

Proceeds from the sale are supposed to used, in part, for further rent subsidies. What happens when the money is spent (and the asset is gone)? (Aren’t Nats opposed to distorting a market with subsidies?).

Community providers thinking of buying into the scheme have raised concerns too, questioning whether there’s enough support from the Government or if the reforms will help at all.

Excellent questions indeed.

“Mr Little says community housing groups are “free to sell properties if they decide they no longer need it, can’t use it or can’t manage it”. However Mr Key disagrees. “In principle that can’t happen because we wouldn’t allow it to happen.”

How is Key going to prevent it? How will this be monitored and enforced? At what cost?

Monte Cecilia Housing Trust executive David Zussman says he doesn’t think the reforms will address their desire for an overall increase in housing.

How could it? – there’s nothing in the proposals that relate to building (it isn’t in National’s DNA to build things – they only sell things built by others). Final question I guess – are they going to get away with it?

71 comments on “Questions on Key’s housing sell-off ”

  1. Foreign waka 1

    This is a sell off of assets and this time its taking the roof over the head of the most needy – literally. I so hope (cross my fingers, pray, have faith in the kiwi sense of justice) that this is seen for what it is. This is an exercise to get a surplus on the books, at all costs with the poor will have to give their last shirt, literally – no matter what.
    If someone can explain how this will help housing the ones that need it most, the disabled, elderly, very young coming from circumstances not of their making, unemployed due to health issues, the list is endless and yet – the accommodation is being reduced. If this is not a clear outward sign of the famous statement: Let them eat cake – I don’t know what is.
    By the way, I don’t want to see any more of that smug grin of this awful women Bennett. She is the lowest of the lowest, getting up the letter crawling on the warm bodies of the ones suffering.

  2. fisiani 2

    “It simply doesn’t make sense to sell our houses at a time of urgent need.”
    Interesting use of “our”. Does that also make them “mine”
    Selling empty houses to the Salvation Army to house poor families simply doesn’t make sense? Puts a different perspective on the sky is falling Chicken Little hysterics.

    • Sacha 2.1

      They won’t be selling currently-empty houses (supposedly wrong place and size to meet need) to community orgs. They will go to private developers, especially if they are in clusters that can be redeveloped.

    • scotty 2.2

      Thats right fizzer “yours’

      While most of us are happy for ‘our houses ‘ to be used by the less fortunate.
      Some like yourself – seem envious of the poor and resent them sheltering in’ our houses’.
      Why is that ?

    • Ch-ch Chiquita 2.3

      If there are empty houses and people in need why can’t the government house those people?
      If the houses are in the wrong size and wrong place how will the Salvation Army be able to house people in them? After all JK have just said they are in the wrong size and the wrong place so standing empty.

      • Treetop 2.3.1

        I suppose if a state house is not offered as a rental it will stay empty. Good enough to be sold, but not good enough for a person who applies to rent a state house to live in it.

        The market rent could be too low for the government in some small towns (like everything else the government does, unless it pays they try to get rid of it).

        As well the government know that there is not much chance of getting work in a small town and to offer a decent stable home to a family is being far to generous.

        • Sacha 2.3.1.1

          Such houses would be redeveloped if they are sited near others, or sold to private owners if not. Some of the proceeds will go back into housing, and Blinglish will pocket the rest to prop up his budget.

    • Foreign waka 2.4

      Fisiani, yes, they are – yours and mine and every other NZlander. Since they have been paid for via taxpayer money, they are essentially assets. Can you not see this? Is your blind loyalty to a doctrine really that strong?
      Any civilization has recognized that society and its social cohesion is strongly dependent on having a place that is a home, individually or collectively. That binds to the country, the community. BTW, it is also the strongest emotional pull by the military to “defend”.
      As for the people who need social housing homes, a roof over their head, consistency and security if not safety of all things, these are the groups no one is talking about. The forgotten ones, you know the mentally disabled, the poor and recovering from dependance or sickness, the solo mothers, the victims of circumstance and pensioners whose partner has died and the money is not enough to life on but too much to die with. I am sure there are more examples.
      Open your eyes, dare to be human in this sea of greed and glee on other people suffering.

    • tricledrown 2.5

      And selling some to Banks John Key said in his statement but had not mentioned it since.
      U turn I suspect!

    • Murray Rawshark 2.6

      They belong to all Kiwis, fishy. You’re African though, aren’t you?

    • DoublePlusGood 2.7

      The Salvation Army shouldn’t be entrusted with state social services, given they’re horribly bigoted.

  3. wyndham 3

    Key is claiming to have an even stronger mandate than ever but I can’t recall any pre-election mention of selling off state (oops sorry “social”) housing.

  4. vto 4

    The policy is simple empty-headed..

    Betcha even Key doesn’t even know how it could benefit “social” housing, let alone explain it.

    How does it benefit people who are at he bottom of the housing heap? Anyone know? Gosman? Fisiani (hopeful I know as have never seen anything of value from said chump)? David Farrar? Biscuitbarrel?

    Has anybody headr an explanation of how this will, in practical and commonsense ways, help those at the bottom of the housing heap?

    I just see emptiness

    • Gosman 4.1

      The proposed policy around selling some housing stock to non-governmental social service providers will have little impact overall it is true.

      There may well be an argument that the social service providers would be more responsive to tennants needs given they are closer to them and less bureaucratic than Housing Corp. That has yet to be shown obviously.

      What the government would argue is providing additional support in terms of accommodation supplements (which was also announced) would provide far more help to those at the bottom of the heap.

      • vto 4.1.1

        Is that it?

        Still a retreating zero fulla

        • Gosman 4.1.1.1

          That is how it will likely be sold to the general electorate. National doesn’t need to convince the likes of you as you would never vote for them.

      • framu 4.1.2

        shame they are saying it will increase the number of houses then isnt it

        • Gosman 4.1.2.1

          Where did they state that the number of social houses will increase as a result?

          • framu 4.1.2.1.1

            oh come now – are you saying that this message hasnt been in public and the nats have made attempts to correct such an incorrect claim?

            theres more that gets said than whats in the policy and you bloddy well know it

            • Gosman 4.1.2.1.1.1

              If you can refer me to somewhere that it has been stated in public then you have a case. Do you have a link to someone making this claim?

              • freedom

                “Mr Key says that collectively the amount of social housing available to those in need will increase.”
                http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/up-8-000-state-houses-could-sold-under-john-key-s-radical-plan-6225215

                that took two seconds on google search using “number of state houses will increase”

                Why do you bother making statements you know people will prove wrong?

                • Gosman

                  In which case then more social housing will have to be built and/or bought by either the State or other social service providers, If this doesn’t happen you then you are correct that National is wrong on this matter.

                  • freedom

                    Why are you incapable of simply saying
                    ” I was wrong ”

                    it’s called being a grown up Gosman. It doesn’t belittle you or mean you are somehow less of a power in the universe, it just shows you are a rational person who admits to fallibility. Try it sometime, you may be amazed how positively people react. Shit, you may even learn something about yourself.

                    • Gosman

                      I never claimed that they didn’t state that. I asked who mentioned that. I also gave you my take on what I thought the rationale behind the policy was. Nowhere was I wrong.

                    • freedom

                      I suppose if you screw semantics down as tightly as you are inclined to do then sure, you are never wrong in what you say
                      because really, you never say anything

                • Sacha

                  “Mr Key says that collectively the amount of social housing available to those in need will increase.”

                  Watch the wriggle-room. This can also be achieved by tightening what counts as ‘need’. Hence the announcement of a broader review of current tenants and no doubt the 5000 waitlisted applicants. That’s alongside an actual reduction in funded housing, either HNZ or otherwise. How else can this govt deliver what they’ve just promised?

      • Skinny 4.1.3

        This is a strategic move by a disingenuous Key. Expect landlords to profit by higher rents. I thought National were opposed to handouts as it’s not a hand up.

        Of course it does depend who is getting the ‘handout’ from this corrupt outfit.

      • tricledrown 4.1.4

        Gooseman
        Your daily trumpeted demand and supply model.
        Shows how much of an idiot you really are.
        Paying more accomadation supplements(rent subsidies)will push rents up in a market where supply is decreasing.
        Corporate welfare goostepper for landlords and the banking Cartel.
        Yesterday you were saying that you can’t interfere in the market.
        Increasing the supply of houses is the only answer.
        Immigrants should have to build a new house or apartment to move to Auckland,The govt should be building 10,000 new houses and apartments per year to catch up with demand.
        The Market is only interested in making money,doing nothing is maximizing profits especially for the Banking Cartels!

        • Gosman 4.1.4.1

          Supply is not decreasing. That is simply not true.

          • Barfly 4.1.4.1.1

            semantics Gosman…is supply decreasing relative to demand?

            • Gosman 4.1.4.1.1.1

              Wouldn’t it be more accurate to state supply is not keeping up with demand?

              • tricledrown

                Gosman so you agree with what I have said.
                Allowing for semantics of economic’s speak.

                • Gosman

                  Not really. If supply was decreasing it would be a bigger issue. Supply not keeping up with demand does lead to increased prices but can have multiple solutions including dampening of demand. Part of the problem may also be that supply of suitable accommodation versus supply of houses generally. In short this issue is far more complex than your simplistic statement I was responding to made out.

                  • tricledrown

                    Goostepper doubling down on the Bullshit now cut and pasting Nick Smiths&John Keys spurious spin.
                    Shifty shyster.
                    You are lying again.
                    Utter Bullshit.
                    Supply not keeping up with demand.
                    Can dampen demand.
                    Utter bullshit.
                    Painting yourself into corner.
                    Again.
                    Your supply of BS is keeping up with your handlers demands.
                    Yesyerday you were claiming leave everything to the market it will fix supply.
                    It has failed just like your pathetic propaganda!

                  • freedom

                    OK You have to explain to us idiots in the cheap seats how ‘ supply not keeping up with demand can dampen demand’

                    ????????????

                    Is it to do with an increased suicide rate from the stresses of homelessness?

                    Is it the growing number of car dwelling families who have decided, now their toddler has worked out the best way to sleep in the glove-box, they won’t bother pestering HNZ for further help?

                    Is it the generosity of landlords allowing families to double up in the garage for only a further 50% increase in rent?

                    is it the constant re-jigging of qualifying conditions and management protocols that provide ever shifting data-sets which can no longer be used for comparative analysis, so the bosses simply declare whatever they decide the current numbers mean?

                    Yes the comments above are a tad facetious though each is based in reality and yes they have no citations, so you can ignore them (as you would anyway regardless of the presented data) but c’mon Gosman, just this once, front up and explain your rather astounding declaration “Supply not keeping up with demand does lead to increased prices but can have multiple solutions including dampening of demand.”

                    Remembering of course, we are discussing Social Housing, not cartel strategies for selling cereal.

              • McFlock

                No. The meanings are equivalent.

                Are the statements true?

            • Kiwiri - Raided of the Last Shark 4.1.4.1.1.2

              Supply of bullshit from Key is definitely not decreasing.

          • Sacha 4.1.4.1.2

            “Supply is not decreasing.”

            Dude, when you sell 8000 houses, build 3000 and add 3000 subsidies, what else would you call that? We’re talking supply of housing for those most in need, not the general housing stock, which, yes, is increasing.

      • Murray Rawshark 4.1.5

        “What the government would argue is providing additional support in terms of accommodation supplements (which was also announced) would provide far more help to those at the bottom of the heap.”

        Landlords are hardly at the bottom of the heap.

  5. aerobubble 5

    Key looks bad on housing. When Key loks bad he needs to be seen to doing something.

    Housing is not going to get solved, but something will hapen to help Key push his agenda.

    ACT said nothing about charter schools, but Key looks bad on education, so ACT sudden had a policy, pushing money into provate providers let Key fund existing private schools more.

    My guess is crime. Police can now seize assets of crime. Govt can now access data across depts. Seek and Peek gives 24 hour fishing expeditions. Now housing can be sold to private housing groups. Add it up. Gangs. Gangs with huge funds are able to
    launder money buying and selling homes, homes where the gangs always own, homes that provide say good views of other properties they own, that can be used as lookouts to signal of pending state raids. crime is terrorism, terrorism is crime. Now how does government remove gangs from communities without surveilliance, without seizure, without placing property out of the hands of gangs. Gangs should wake up, and sell, distance their activities from assets because smarter gang behavior has led to more draconian govt. Of course once the gangs are moved on and the property is in the hands of private providers, then the laws are still on the books, if they can keep the reason for the laws from us, by misappropriation of the housing crisis, then they leave us open for dictatorship.

    • vto 5.1

      Even if Key announce that they would build a bunch of houses and then sell them off… even that would help. Key could use the government’s bargaining strength and help. Key could get the government to do something… anything ….

      but instead Key gets the government to do less than nothing. He gets the government to go backwards on housing.

      Such an epic fail.

    • Gosman 5.2

      Act has had a policy around greater school choice for as long as the party has existed as far as I am aware. Certainly the Partnership school proposal is entirely consistent with the general ideology of the party.

      • framu 5.2.1

        shame they are to chicken to actually campaign on it then isnt it

        • Gosman 5.2.1.1

          I am pretty sure they campaigned on it. Why would they not? It certainly isn’t the most controversial Act policy that I am aware of.

          • framu 5.2.1.1.1

            then im pretty sure you can show they did

            and not whats on the act website or something gibbs muttered at an AGM – public announcements in main stream media or widely reported speeches please

            • English Breakfast 5.2.1.1.1.1

              ACT’s charter schools policy was widely debated last year…google “acts charter schools policy” and you’ll return plenty of public discussion. Also, if a policy is published on a party’s website, then surely that party can be said to have campaigned on that policy. Not sure what point you’re trying to make?

          • Lindsey 5.2.1.1.2

            Please give me an example of the Epsom candidate standing up and saying that ACT would get rid of the Grammar Zone!

        • aerobubble 5.2.1.2

          Key hijack education to push charter schools AND raise the amount given to private schools. Get it. Most want better general education yet key locks in a naff policy that does not deliver and that does stuff he wants that was not adverized.

          Now he hijacks housing, failing do anything about it. As it just gets worse, low oil price fuels car use, fuels car sales, clogging auckland up which pushs up the price of homes close in. If govt is to facilate economic growth doing nothing while the problem gets worse is bad economic governance

          And where is Labour, sitting around wait for key to turn in the lock and lock himself out. Labour aint no opposition, they act like a spare govt. The true opposition are the Greens no baubles for them.

          • English Breakfast 5.2.1.2.1

            At the risk of sounding like an ACT supporter (heaven forbid), Charter Schools is a policy worth pursuing, and the early indications are that they are delivering. The hysteria around the opposition to them seems decidedly misguided thus far.

            • aerobubble 5.2.1.2.1.1

              throw more money and you will get results.
              This could have been accomplished in existing schools.
              And would have exposed the rise in support for existing private school s,
              and take away oversight that means claims of success are harder to sustain.

  6. mpledger 6

    1) The rent subsidy does not benefit the renter, it benefits the landlords. It’s effectively a govt benefit for the rich.

    All it does is create demand by landlords for property and the extra demand pushes up house prices … and then rents and the cycle begins again.

    2) You can see all sorts of trouble with this…
    Will the homosexual couple be able to get a Salvation Army rental? Will White Supremacists be the be able to get an Iwi rental?
    Whose side will the Salvation Army rental agency take if SA tenants and atheist tenants are in dispute? Especially when it gets to 50/50 calls.

    3) I don’t see any of this working well – the cost to the NGOs will be too high – firstly to buy and then to manage. All I see is that the ownership of these homes will bounce around from group to group with the stock deteriorating and losing value at each sale.

  7. Barfly 7

    I think that most people here are looking at the “squirrel” and arguing the toss about the colour of it’s imaginary coat….this asset stripping is about faking a surplus for Bill English
    ………..just like the previous asset sales
    ………..just like the running down of government services
    ………..just like the underfunding of the health system
    ………..just like ACC’s overpriced levies
    ………..just like ACC’s corrupt reducing of long term claimants
    ………..just like soo much else that I’m frankly too tired and depressed to articulate clearly

    and they need to fake a surplus because they introduced systemic cuts to the tax system by cutting the top tax rate in a deliberately unsustainable manner.

    they have borrowed an insane amount of billions to fund these tax cuts and are now continuing on in the process of asset stripping the country for the purpose of deceiving the people as to their true motivations and actions

    my apologies for my somewhat rambling post….frankly this government is really bad for my chronic depression

    • framu 7.1

      heh heh – the first words out of my mouth when this was announced was

      “So thats where they are going to magic bills surplus from then”

      • Kiwiri - Raided of the Last Shark 7.1.1

        Who and what else are they going to throw under the bus for Bill’s surplus?

    • Treetop 7.2

      Yep, nothing proactive is being done e.g. housing, health, jobs, education.

      The government are obsessed with reaching a surplus. The less they spend and the more they sell, the more they have for those who vote for them.

      No apology is required.

  8. Grim 8

    What is the real issue?
    watch this first: Nick Hanauer – Beware Fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming

    http://tinyurl.com/ks9g8lg

    Then think about it,
    – if you agree,
    -then think about how this will effect money supply
    -the knock on effect on the value of the kiwi dollar,
    -effect on trade
    -role of government

    to increase wages within a country and remain competitive in international trade, you effectively reduce the value of your countries assets and resources.

    Unless your government enforces tariffs on exports (or taxes whatever wording you would like to apply)

    This explains the push for globalization, the removal of sovereign control over trade,
    and privatization of state assets.

    Raising wages increases money supply, either your products increase in cost and become uncompetitive, or you devalue your dollar, leading to asset stripping by trans-global corporations, it’s a cunning trick, all possible once you remove a countries sovereign control over trade.

    Governments can only aid the prosperity of it’s citizens by enforcing wage values within their local economy, but to do so they need to be able to place a barrier between the local economy and the international economy.

  9. heather 9

    The whole thing is a nonsense, community groups do not have the funding to purchase large groups of state houses, they will have to borrow money from banks and finance companies.
    I have worked in the community sector for many years, other than very big organisations like the Salvation Army community groups would not be able to contemplate such a purchase.
    It is the same with councils owning public rental housing, there are always those who see it as a quick buck to sell them and the pensioner housing off to whoever may buy it.
    Manawatu District Council set an example by forming a Community Housing Trust for their pensioner housing, works very well.
    Paula and John don’t seem to be on the same page, they almost seem to be making things up as they go along.
    In the end with the Fire Sale of these State Assetts some one will make a profit and continue to make money from them.
    The sickening thing is seeing the empty houses now which people could move into next week, but they are forced to live in their cars, camping grounds, streets and garages.
    I am ashamed of this government.

  10. Incognito 10

    Another question is what happens when a community provider folds, merges with or gets acquired by a third party? A contractual nightmare I’d say. When a community provider goes bust don’t the banks have first pick?

    Are they going to get away with it, you ask. Yes, IMO they will go ahead with selling 1,000-2,000 state houses next year if not for any other reason than to get the books into surplus. And because they can, of course, just to stick it to the nay-sayers and opposition.

    • NZJester 10.1

      National can never really get the books into surplus as they have run up such a huge debt. Any so called surplus in their books is fools gold made to look like real gold with smoke and mirrors. Labour was the only government to ever really run a true surplus by paying off our debt the majority of it run up by previous National governments.

  11. Observer (Tokoroa) 11

    Hi there

    Lets hear it for John Key and Bill English! Legends in their own life time – doing what seems to come naturally to them. Namely, wasting New Zealand away.

    There were warnings. The New Zealand Herald ran an article on May 13, 2011 flagging the horrific rise in National Debt run up by Key & English.

    “For 15 straight years until the recession of 2008-09, the New Zealand Government ran surpluses and paid down debt.”, said the Herald.

    REF: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid..

    AT the end of 2008, When John Key and Bill English took over, New Zealand’s National Debt was $!0 Billion. In January of this year 2015, Key and English have racked the Debt up to an inglorious $98 billion.

    REF: http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/newzealand

    These two flounderers show no sign of stopping their bizarre behaviour. Watch for yet another big sale of Assets and big windfalls for their wealthy friends, coupled with Tax reductions for the same wealthy acquaintances.

    The more mess the merrier. They have the mighty Sky City quagmire to give even more grants to. Utter Wastrels. The two of them. Key and English.

  12. Treetop 12

    The words market and social could have an effect like mixing electricity and water (being shocked). The market rents of the 1990’s for state housing had to be reversed. The dividend lost to the government by privatisation is nothing to crow about.

    Not hard to see why the word market is best avoided.

    I would like to see what all the other political parties would do about state housing. Perhaps the TS could ask them to do a column.

    • Murray Rawshark 12.1

      Great idea. I’d love to see columns from Seymour, Dunne, Winston First, Greens, Mana, and Labour. Maybe even the Maori Party.

  13. NZJester 13

    First they sell the houses off to various groups that will very likely include property speculators and give subsidies to them for the tenants in them while the money is available. Once most of the money for those subsidies runs out Labour is in very likely to be in power and will have to spend money buying the houses back at high market rates which National will pan them for doing.
    National is looking at this as a win/win situation for them and their supporters and a loose/loose situation for Labour and it’s supporters.
    Once the subsidies run out the subsidised tenants will end up unable to afford the rent and will be kicked out. The properties will be up on the market at full market prices and not the discounted amount National will sell them off at. If Labour can not afford to buy them back then developers and overseas absentee landlords will get them. Either way for a 3 to 4 year investment the initial buyers are likely to get a very big payday out of these houses by buying them from the government.

  14. Murray Rawshark 14

    National are sellers, not builders.

    That’s one of the best slogans I’ve seen lately. The problem is that Labour has also been tarred with the same brush since 1984. Tories use what the nation has built to enrich their mates. That’s all they are capable of.

  15. Clemgeopin 15

    I have just one word for this pro wealthy, pro corporate government, the destroyer of our values and our country :

    BUGGERS.

  16. Philip Ferguson 16

    “The existing workers’ housing shortage is critical and nothing short of mass occupation of houses by the poor will begin to turn it around.”

    Veteran activist Don Franks at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/10809/

    Phil

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  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    9 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
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