The hidden homeless and the speculators

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, May 16th, 2016 - 44 comments
Categories: class war, Ethics, housing, national - Tags: , , ,

Some excellent pieces on Auckland’s housing over the weekend. From The Nation:

Auckland’s hidden homeless

A growing numbers of families are being forced to live in cars because of unaffordable housing.

Families living in their cars. Brighter Future!

Government figures show rents for three-bedroom houses across Auckland have increased by 25 percent in five years, and that’s spawned a new type of property market — garage rental accommodation.

Social workers say some families are paying almost $400 a week to put a garage roof over their heads, and a social policy analyst says one in 10 south Auckland properties has a garage tenant.
..
Manukau East MP Jenny Salesa has a growing number of constituents who call a garage home because they can’t afford rising rent prices. “We’ve been told that some people rent out garages at $200 a week,” she says. “Some rent out at over $300 a week, but when you look at the average rent in Otara and south Auckland, $200 or $300 is affordable.” … Newshub spoke to a group of 50 social workers who said families living in garages is common. We heard of one case with a family with two young kids had been living in a garage for two years. Their weekly rent? $380. …

This is wrong. It is a moral failure, a leadership failure, a market failure – it is every kind of failure.

The squeeze on housing stocks is driving the demand for garage space. There are 4500 people on the Housing New Zealand waiting list, and emergency accommodation providers like the Monte Cecilia Housing Trust have been turning families away for years.

And the Nats are intent on selling off state housing.

Following up on The Nation, Tim Watkin at Pundit:

How Special Housing Areas are failing & the immorality of land bankers

It’s time to call out land bankers and require urgent action, because Auckland’s lack of houses is driving people in their cars

But what social service agencies are now reporting is a growing – yes, growing – group of Kiwis living in their cars or renting garages. Social workers in South Auckland to a person say they can’t remember it being this bad. Rents have risen 25 percent in five years and emergency houses are full. If you can’t afford the rent, there’s nowhere to go. Except your car, or perhaps someone’s garage.

When wages have only gone up 10 percent in the same time those rents have risen 25 percent, you can see why some can’t keep up and are forced into those cars and garages.

So it’s time for mum and dad property investors to ask themselves a few hard questions. If the cost of your borrowing is forcing people to pay rents they can’t afford, maybe you shouldn’t be in the landlord business. Even if you are only one stone in the mountain, have you borrowed too much to morally justify your investment?

But even more in the gun are the property developers, especially those who are land banking in this market. It’s time to call out those land bankers and say enough. … Because your land banking is making kids sick. It’s driving families into their cars. It’s increasingly immoral to fiddle while Auckland burns.

Auckland desperately needs houses and if you’re a developer sitting on land, then you’re putting your own finances ahead of the need of families to have a roof over their heads. …

A moral argument for people to forego easy money? I agree. But the Nats are laughing at us.

Final piece, this morning’s anonymous editorial in The Herald:

‘Supply’ excuse for housing lets govt stand idle

It is convenient for the Government to attribute the price of houses entirely to a lack of supply because it enables it to avoid taking effective action to reduce demand for investment homes. It is an argument that makes the Government popular with home owners who have already invested heavily in multiple houses, for it not only relieves them of effective taxation but promises to supply Auckland with many more potential investment properties.

The pace of house price rises cannot be slowed just by building more houses, particularly more “affordable” houses. Those are exactly the stock investors are looking for. The cheaper the house for its location, the better the likely capital gain. There is no limit to the demand for speculative property in and around Auckland, and making more land and housing available will only add more fuel to the fire. …

Exactly. Without a legislative fix like Labour’s Kiwibuild you can’t build “affordable” housing. You have to build enough housing that it becomes affordable. How long will National get away with fiddling with minor tweaks instead of confronting this fundamentally broken market?

44 comments on “The hidden homeless and the speculators ”

  1. Richardrawshark 1

    They don’t care, looks like most of NZ don’t care, I’m ok Jack stuff em.

    The question is do I want to be a part of a society that behaves like this.

    The answer is no but there is nothing I can do about it.

    If National get in again i’m leaving the country, simple stuff. Selling up and out of here.

    Perhaps that’s the plan to make housing more available, those of us who leave due to this National disgrace.

    • Paul 1.1

      New Zealand has become a greedy, cruel and selfish place.
      30 years of the poison of neo-liberalism has done its job.

      • Attiya Andrew 1.1.1

        I agree Paul!

      • whateva next? 1.1.2

        I still have faith that once people realise there is a choice, “the vast majority of NZers” would actually opt for a decent society where the middle income people can be supported to support those who are less fortunate. At the moment, we are indoctrinated with “competition is good” and so everyone strives to win, at the cost of others.Cooperation is much cooler than competition, and being part of something bigger than yourself is a bigger buzz than “winning” Masterchef, NZ Got Talent, The Bachelor etc ad nauseum.

        • Paul 1.1.2.1

          There is willful ignorance in this country.
          Many people are only too happy to turn a blind eye to the fellow citizens’ plight.

    • Anno1701 1.2

      “If National get in again i’m leaving the country, simple stuff. Selling up and out of here.”

      My famil and I feel the same, as EU passport holders the Netherlands is looking like a good option right now ! , maybe Finland or Slovenia so my children dont end up with huge student loans, plus 6 weeks plus paid leave sounds pretty good to me !

  2. adam 2

    I thought the market had spoken, and it did not like poor people. Why bother housing people who can’t get with the only game in town, and be winners. It’s their own fault. They were born brown, and they don’t vote national so why should we care. Look most of these people don’t even vote, so at the end of the day this national government should do the right thing and look after the people who voted for them and keeps them in power. Look at the polls, national are light years ahead and there is no opposition. And labour did it too…

    • Jono 2.1

      Terrible social conscience. But that seems to be the way of NZ these days doesn’t it…

  3. Bill 3

    Set a formulaic limit on chargeable rent tied to a houses GV. Set the limit so that it isn’t possible to have a tenant pay off a (say) 20 year mortgage…or a 30 year mortgage. Or set it so it can only ever pay the interest on a 20 or 30 year mortgage. In other words, get the cash cow out of renting.

    Bring in squatters rights.

    Bring in ‘tenancy for life’ legislation.

    Take all commercial and residential stock that sits empty for (say) five years. Just take it. retro-fit or renovate for habitation.

    And when the next housing crash comes along, scrap housing supplement and put the $1.2 Billion or whatever that goes from the public purse into the pockets of landlords – put it into hospitals or schools or mitigation/preparation measures around warming.

    • Nic the NZer 3.1

      Steve Keen suggests a simple but better idea. Limit borrowing to a multiple of the rental income estimated for the property. This turns it from a competition in who can borrow the most to one in who can provide the most equity to their purchase (everybody has the same borrowing limit for any property).

      But i think the only solution to people living in cars is govt owned social housing. I dont think this market is functional without it.

      • Anno1701 3.1.1

        “govt owned social housing”

        or as our current GOVT like to call it

        “low hanging fruit”

        • Penny Bright 3.1.1.1

          Please don’t buy into the deliberately confusing language?

          STATE housing is PUBLIC.

          SOCIAL housing is PRIVATE.

          Social housing providers taking over STATE housing is the PRIVATISATION of STATE housing.

          Those who want to stop the privatisation of STATE housing should defend State tenants who are refusing to accept 90 day eviction notices.

          Full credit to the gutsy directly-affected State tenants in the Tamaki Housing Group and their supporters who are fighting the privatisation of State housing in Glen Innes / Tamaki.

          The first step in the privatisation of these Tamaki State houses – has been the transfer of 2,800 of them to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company – this jointly-owned central / local government ‘hybrid’.

          Note who supported the transfer of State houses to the Tamaki Redevelooment Company?

          Alan Johnson from the Salvation Army’s Policy Research Unit, and Co-Convenor of Child Poverty Action Group.

          (Alan Johnson told me this to my face.)

          Facts are facts and truth is truth.

          I am on the side of the directly-affected State tenants of Tamaki and New Zealand who are fighting the privatisation of State housing and it’s transfer to private ‘social housing’ providers, whether purportedly ‘not for profit’ NGOs or ‘for profit’ commercial operators.

          Penny Bright
          2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

          • Ad 3.1.1.1.1

            As Mayor, how much more public housing in Auckland will you commit to constructing?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 3.2

      +1

      Especially squatters’ rights and tenancy for life.

      • adam 3.2.1

        Squatters rights – joke in Auckland mate, been trying to find places to squat in this city – apart from the empty house waiting for roll over profits. There is no where. I’ve looked. I had people out looking for a specific type of house, run down, property a bit rough, no power connected, and a few other criteria.

        I then when into those properties to check them out. And every one is being lived in. Every dam hovel is full. Ever piece of crap I though we could make habitual and put people in – was already habituated.

        These are homes with no power, no water, and on the whole quite hellish. There are families living in them. And paying really shitty rents.

        Squatters rights, the middle class will howl.

        • Anno1701 3.2.1.1

          I know a few young people who are squatting in Auckland right now

          2 of them in Parnell in a disused commercial premises , they have re-connected the power them selves and should be nice and warm this winter for a change !

          • adam 3.2.1.1.1

            Anno 1701, rule of thumb, don’t ever mention locations, even suburbs. Say Auckland central, keep the buggers guessing.

            Good on them!

            I know a few in commercials as well, but, I’m trying to get families into houses, and the commercial properties just not good enough for that.

            Yes squatting a small movement at present, When we get another financial hit, which I’m guessing will be some time around August. We will have a few more commercial properties come up.

            • Anno1701 3.2.1.1.1.1

              I squatted for years around Europe, Met some great people, had some great parties , saw some some incredible artworks (especially in the Netherlands before the squatter laws were weakened ) , Some of the squats i stayed in had library’s, meditation/prayer rooms, restaurants/cafes

              HAZ (housing action zone ) manor in Luton even had a housing office to help people get into state flats & there own mediation team to avoid conflicts getting out of hand .

              some of the best years of my life !

              • Sabine

                squats in berlin, 1983, kept this girl of the road and got me back on track. Would not even want to guess what would have happened had I not happened on these people.
                And yes, lot’s of art. Also lot’s of drugs, hunger and fear. T’was interesting times.

  4. Peter 4

    NZ voted for a free market winner takes all approach. Morality, market failure and social concern are irrelevant to the minority who voted National in.

  5. Anne 5

    S’okay folks. All’s gonna be well. John Key’s solution to Auckland’s housing crisis… (extreme sarc)

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201800820/john-key's-solution-to-auckland's-housing-crisis

    • Paul 5.1

      Key only cares for the company he made at Merrill Lynch.
      Anyone under $25 million isn’t worth his breath.

  6. grumpystilskin 6

    Seems according to our PM, all you have to do is tell winz and it’ll be fixed. You’ll be in a cosy house in no time!

  7. esoteric pineapples 7

    It is almost inevitable that Auckland is going to become a city where large chunks of housing are empty or have very few occupants while other parts of the city have families crammed into a bedroom etc. This is simply an economic reality that is unfolding as Auckland homes simply become a vehicle for investors to profit from. They buy houses and hang on to them long enough to make a good profit out of continuing prices rises. People needing a house to live in in Auckland won’t be able to afford the rents and will have to cram together in ever larger numbers in houses to make ends meet. Unfortunately, unlike sharemarkets that eventually reach a peak as the price of shares disconnects from the real value of the asset, in the Auckland housing market there are almost unlimited international funds to continue to pump into the market for years ahead. Even if a lot of houses are built (which won’t happen) the demand from the market is going to way ahead of what is available. The only way you could slow the Auckland housing market is mass building of new homes, banning overseas investors from buying property, and introducing a proper capital gains tax, now of which this government is going to do.

  8. Mosa 8

    The up shot of this miserable sad story is that most kiwis don’t care.
    It does not effect the silent John Key majority at all,they are cushioned by wealth and credit cards and Keys soothing voice that everything is great and poverty is just an aberation ,trick of the light if you will.
    Poverty and living in cars is no longer unacceptable as it once was and it shows that neo liberal policies are working and the Brighter Future Key promised is here.
    Anyway if you are living in a car or garage its your own failure not the governments.
    The people this effects don’t have a voice that can be heard,there not important or have influence to change their predicament
    The sooner we accept that the problem is entrenched and has been for the last 30 years and won’t go away we won’t have to acknowledge the problem exisits in our country and focus on other issues like how to avoid paying tax on our hidden millions.

  9. Colonial Viper 9

    Anyone gutsy enough to end Auckland population growth and start moving people south of the Waikato.

    There are good houses going in smaller towns for under $200K.

    • Sabine 9.1

      one of the things that should be said to would be ‘business investor’ migrants.
      If their business is not viable out of Auckland than maybe its not viable, or to be more polite, create a business anywhere but in Auckland and you get yer residence permit. IF thats not happening go invest in a different country.

      And buying up rental, residential and commercial property for landbanking should not be considered a ‘business investment’.

      So any would be migrant gutsy enough to migrate from Beijing or Berlin directly to Dunedin?

      Why should the People of Auckland that have lived here for decades, have their families, their jobs, and their social networks give up their jobs and move elsewhere?

      • Gangnam Style 9.1.1

        “So any would be migrant gutsy enough to migrate from Beijing or Berlin directly to Dunedin? ” Plenty of people have

        • Sabine 9.1.1.1

          good.
          Cause frankly i would like to stay in Auckland, and so would my 4th generation West Auckland Family.

      • Sabine 9.1.2

        and we should consider that the issue of homelessness is not one confined to Auckland alone.
        There are homeless people in the South Island too. Any gutsy people there that want to move up and fill up the Waikato?

        • Gangnam Style 9.1.2.1

          No it’s not, a workmate, conservative Nat voting well-to-do has just come back from a month long camper van trip around the South Island & she said she had never seen so many homeless people living in their cars before, she said not just Queenstown but West Coast, CHCH everywhere, she was quite shocked (so was I). I have had some interesting conversations with her since.

          • Sabine 9.1.2.1.1

            the worst bit about this all is that Auckanders are moving. But they are not the gutsy ones that go to breach frontiers and start business and the likes. No they are the ones that cashed up and are now coming to a residential neighbourhood near you and fucking up the real Estate prices there.

            It is not confined to one city alone, and to just simply call for ‘gutsy aucklanders’ – what a stupid comment in itself – is not going to fix the issue.

            The selling of the state houses is happening everywhere, the selling up for speculation has hit all other regions. The lack of ‘affordable housing’ build, the kicking out people that are not served by the free market, the utter failure of the free market to create anything ‘affordable’ in itself is coming home to roost everywhere now.

            I am just amazed that after – what at least the last three years of fuck all in regards to housing nationwide we still have people suggesting that ‘gutsy aucklanders’ could just move to the waikato or elsewhere where housing is ‘cheap’ and start all over. There is a reason housing is cheap there, and much has to do with lack of jobs.

            Fuck, many gutsy aucklanders don’t even have the money to move from one flat to the next.

            • whispering kate 9.1.2.1.1.1

              Sabine has it not occurred to you many Aucklanders are just sick of living in Auckland. Crowded roads, grid lock most of the time, hours to get to anywhere, there are many people who are leaving and its just unfortunate that they may be rarking up the house prices elsewhere, blame it on the Government not the poor sods who just want out of the God damn place.

              I have been on the road for a few days and you would be surprised how many people I meet who are sussing out other areas where they might live – looking at Property Guides and just wanting a bit of peace and quiet. None of us asked for huge increases in our population, streets full of strangers and feeling like an outsider. For once I know how the Maoris felt when we inundated their country and took it over. We, the people never asked for this inundation, and for our homes to be priced out of reach for our kids. Its a disgrace what is happening.

              Why couldn’t it have been a controlled intake, a better control of our housing stock, just a bit of common sense really but National and Labour before it have welcomed in far too many for our small population and lack of infrastructure and housing to cope with them. If the houses are rising in the provinces its not the fault of Aucklanders who want to get the hell out.

              This present Government are abominable in their ineptitude at dealing with this situation.

      • Anno1701 9.1.3

        ‘business investor’ migrants

        you mean pizza hutt/dominoes owners….

        HOW MANY pizzas do we really need !

        • Visubversa 9.1.3.1

          You don’t need anything as expensive as a restaurant. A couple of $2Dollar shops staffed by minimum wage workers will get you a business residency. Then you can get on with the real job, buying real estate to launder the big bucks you ripped off with sweatshops or corrupt deals. Or else you get one of your kids a student visa and once they have an IRD number you send them $2 million to buy property.

  10. Gangnam Style 10

    “So did MSD house any1 today from a car? PM said WINZ would not send them back 2 their cars tonight?” Asks Helen Kelly

  11. dave 11

    bang up the interest rates smoke these greedy bastards out we need a rescission badly i never thought i would say that we need a crash i applaud the reserve banks action turn the easy credit/money flow off it cant get any worse speculators need to be bankrupted i wouldn’t even start kiwi build until after a crash and got some relevance to incomes back in the market. speculators can jump off a bridge for all i care scrap that rental supplement its not helping at all
    build emergency camps on the golf courses and playing fields
    the misery shouldn’t be hidden fucken invade the mind set of the plastic world national and there supporters live in

  12. Jack Ramaka 12

    The Auckland market has been seriously distorted by the capital flows from Asia I worked in the real estate industry in Auckland for 3 years so I am not making up porkies!!!

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    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
    5 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
    7 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
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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