Unitary Plan – affordability requirements removed

Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, July 28th, 2016 - 63 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, housing, local government, national - Tags: , , , ,

Lots of reaction to the Unitary Plan this morning. Much of it positive: Proposals will let Auckland thrive, industry expert says. Some of it focusing on the NIMBY reaction: ‘My wife is in tears, it’s pretty awful’ (expect more of this as the NIMBYs get organised).

One angle which should particularly concern lefties: Maori significance reference deleted from Auckland plan. The link is to RNZ audio but the summary is:

Treaty of Waitangi principles and cultural impact assessments for Maori sites of significance have been removed from the Auckland Unitary Plan. Mihingarangi Forbes reports on how mana whenua fare in the new scheme.

The main problem with the plan, however, has been highlighted by Labour:

Government scuppers affordability requirements

The Government must explain why the panel considering Auckland’s unitary plan removed affordability requirements at the behest of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Housing NZ, Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little says.

“Labour welcomes the Independent Hearing Panel’s recommendations to substantially free up restrictive controls that are stopping Auckland growing up and out. The pressure is now on Auckland Council to do the right thing, and back the recommendations.

“However, it recommended removing the requirement for developments over 15 dwellings to contain 10 per cent affordable houses (report section 6.2.6). It beggars belief the Government asked the panel to scrap affordability requirements when Auckland is desperately short of affordable housing. …

WTF? What are the Nats doing removing a proposed requirement for affordable housing – exactly the housing that Auckland desperately needs!? The only people who benefit from this move are big property developers. Oh – wait…

63 comments on “Unitary Plan – affordability requirements removed ”

  1. Draco T Bastard 1

    Why the hell is the government telling a city what it can and can’t put in it’s plan for development?

    The only thing that a government should be doing is setting general rules that the cities and regions need to stick to. It should have no say in how the cities and regions achieve that.

  2. save nz 2

    Hope the penny is starting to drop for the Greens and Labour. National does not want poor people in Auckland. Unitary plan and RMA reform are not about creating affordable houses, it is about the opposite, creating more profit opportunities for them and their cronies and influencing the demographics of Auckland.

    So the opposition mocking MIMBYS (who are often National voters and potential swingers to Labour and Greens), getting involved in the housing debate and largely backing National on the unity plan being forced through, talking about falling house prices, forced land sales and so forth are really confusing the issues and giving the Natz cover for their long term plans and adding to their ability to influence the election….

    Housing is a poisoned chalice. If the opposition had stayed out of it, National would get enough rope and hang themselves. Now Greens and Labour are grabbing as many ropes as they can, to hang themselves at the same time.

    Labour does it too. If only it wasn’t so.

    And Metiria has really screwed up.

  3. save nz 3

    And as for the unity plan, it was full of barristers and planners and paid ‘experts’ influencing the results to ensure their rich clients got what they paid for.

    Not a shred of social good or real debate throughout the whole process. Just like the Super city, a charade of democracy.

  4. Pat 4

    “WTF? What are the Nats doing removing a proposed requirement for affordable housing – exactly the housing that Auckland desperately needs!? The only people who benefit from this move are big property developers. Oh – wait…”

    if you’re building for an international market then local affordability is irrelevant…….until that market collapses, then the locals may get a bargain or two

    • Ch_Ch Chiquita 4.1

      How will the market collapse if no restrictions are being put in place? There are so many rich off shore buyers out there that they could turn Auckland to a ghost town while buying and selling amongst themselves.

      • Pat 4.1.1

        won’t happen ..rich offshore investors can’t vote….the political pressure will force restrictions at some point, the only question is when and at what point will it cause an exit

  5. Sabine 5

    affordable housing is for suckers.

    the poor of AKL and other Cities in NZ can just rent beds and sleep in shifts.

    or maybe the rich can house and feed them in exchange for a 60 hour + work week.

    • AmaKiwi 5.1

      Sabine

      That was a tv show: Upstairs Downstairs.

      Nostalgia for the good old days when you could get good help.

  6. mauī 6

    As far as I know it would be fairly unusual for Councils to set affordability levels of houses in their District Plan. They often have seprate documents on key areas like sustainability strategies, and maybe an affordability strategy could be done in a similar way. Then it all comes down to how closely they follow such strategies which in my experience is not really at all. For instance covering Auckland with 180,000 new houses and shitloads of new roads, concrete and building material means sustainability doesn’t exist. The affordability thing in my view has to be set by national Government,

  7. dv 7

    SO the govt expecting the council to vote on the plan without reading it all.
    As someone calculated it will take about 55 days to read and only have about 21 days.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82487719/aucklands-unitary-plan-would-take-55-days-to-read

  8. srylands 8

    “What are the Nats doing removing a proposed requirement for affordable housing ?”

    Because it doesn’t mean anything.

    • Stuart Munro 8.1

      More likely it is as odds with the essential evil the Gnats represent – betraying and fucking over New Zealand people at every opportunity is their raison d’etre.

    • framu 8.2

      you do spot that your arguing that words dont have meanings?

    • Lloyd 8.3

      Amazing. I agree with Srylands about something. So-called affordable housing in SHAs is a joke. We will only get affordable housing when the government pays builders to build it, then controls prices by renting out the housing at well below the current market rate. Once the government adds sufficient cheap rentals to the market, then ‘market forces’ will drop both rental prices AND house prices. – Because speculators use rentals to cover their mortgage expenses. Drop the rentals enough and the mortgages might just start to bite financially.
      “Build it and they will come.”

  9. srylands 9

    “Treaty of Waitangi principles and cultural impact assessments for Maori sites of significance have been removed from the Auckland Unitary Plan. Mihingarangi Forbes reports on how mana whenua fare in the new scheme.”
    ____________________

    These cultural impact assessments increased the cost of housing. Paying $1700 for a cultural impact assessment because you found some pipi shells on your section does not go down well.

    Anyway it is goneburger.

    • mauī 9.1

      At least some recognition of the culture that the land was taken from and profited from for generations would be appropriate. But no not in your world eh.

      • adam 9.1.1

        Come on mauī – maori only their for their nice singing, and to put on a show for guests – as far as the ‘nat’s are concerned.

        Opps I forgot, and rugby. Unless it’s Kees Meeuws, then they try and forget he played rugby, because he brought up concerns about overfishing…

    • mac1 9.2

      Srylands, you are unbelievably dismissive and unreasoned.

      You wrote “because you found some pipi shells”. Do you have any knowledge, I mean serious knowledge, of archaeology, of what can be discovered from what seems to the layman to be a few pipi shells, old bones, pottery shards, food remains, middens etc?

      Look at what a few pipi shells, for which you can read any archaeological site, can teach us.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/archaeological-finds-2015_us_5678360be4b0b958f6574ff4

      My daughter examined a few bones for her BSc Hons! Amazing what could be discovered by thoughtful analysis. You ought to try it, srylands.

      • adam 9.2.1

        Well said mac1.

        This end of history buzz needs to be put to bed.

        History is on going, and if we understand our past, we can better know our future.

        I’m going to accredit the above to both Malcolm X, and Dr Martin Luther King because both we brilliant men who understood the importance of history.

  10. Brutus Iscariot 10

    I don’t think this is a sinister development.

    Increased affordability will overwhelmingly be a function of increased supply and diversity in housing choice (courtesy of loosened stipulations/restrictions) – rather than needing to say “you must make your units worth X”. The latter would just have discouraged development and probably led to some unforeseeable distortions.

    Overall, i think the plan is pretty good in terms of its ability to bring a large supply of new housing to market, and has provided some clear direction to resolving home ownership issues in Auckland.

    • mikes 10.1

      “direction to resolving home ownership issues in Auckland.”

      The only thing that will solve home ownership issues in Auckland is a massive downwards correction in house prices by around 50% (Or a massive increase in wages, which isn’t going to happen) I think I read somewhere that a 40% drop in prices would only take us back to 2012 levels, which were already unaffordable.

      A large supply of new housing will do nothing unless it is affordable housing or unless there is a corresponding price crash which makes it affordable.

  11. Michelle 11

    Bloody thieves and they call our people thieves the biggest thieves are the state, who took most of our land by the pen. Just like our people said with the TPPA, how can you trust a government to uphold the Treaty with a trade agreement when they cant even adhere to the TOW in local body politics and other important issues like water.This is why so many Maori marched and protested against this trade agreement because we know the crown is already breaching the TOW and have been since they were elected and will continue to do so until we get rid of them.

  12. The Real Matthew 12

    So the independent panel makes a decision you don’t like.

    Despite the government having absolutely no role to play in this decision whatsoever you decide without any just cause or reason to blame this on the government.

    And you think the Mainstream Media are bad

    • framu 12.1

      “the panel considering Auckland’s unitary plan removed affordability requirements at the behest of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Housing NZ, Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little says.”

      i dont know if this is correct or not – but it seems you didnt even read that bit

  13. James 13

    Actually – the reasons are very clear – just read the appropriate section – it is clearly explained.

    ctrl-F 6.2.6

  14. Siobhan 14

    It is interesting we are all debating ‘affordability’, when here is no agreed New Zealand definition or measure of ‘affordable’ or ’unaffordable’ housing.

    “For the purposes of the Auckland Plan, we use two complementary measures: the 30% gross income benchmark, measuring whether a household pays more than 30% of its gross income on housing costs; and the Median Multiple Measure, which compares house price to income (see Priority 4)”

    “Labour’s KiwiBuild programme will build 100,000 high quality, affordable homes over 10 years, with 50% of them in Auckland. Standalone houses in Auckland will cost $500,000 to $600,000, with apartments and townhouses under $500,000”

    Affordable to whom exactly?? Certainly not families struggling to pay the rent each week.

    Dropping the affordability clause is probably the most honest thing National has done in a long time.

    • mikes 14.1

      The internationally recognized measure is the median house price to median household income ratio. If the median house price is 3 or less times the median income that is considered affordable. The Auckland median house price is 10 times the median income. That is classed as severely unaffordable.

  15. Bob 15

    I can take a guess at the affordability requirements being scrapped based on my personal experience. My wife and I couldn’t afford to continue going to auctions to buy as it was costing us around $1,000 per property in due diligence each auction, just to be beaten out by white, middle age investors (6 properties in a row ended up going on TradeMe within weeks of the auctions closing, including one property that tested positive for ‘P’), so we decided to buy land in a new subdivision. Currently, every piece of land in the subdivision has sold except for the ‘Affordable’ lots. I was told by the Real Estate agent that no-one wants to touch them as you are not aloud to sell on at a profit in future (for 5 years from memory?) and first home buyers are saying they don’t want to take the risk of a budget blowout while building.
    Before anyone automatically thinks mo-one is buying them due to greed, imagine if you built a house, in 3 years time you get made redundant and have to sell up and move on, you will be selling below the market rates and potentially further behind financially than when you started (mortgages tend to cost more than rents, and you have made no capital gain to offset the difference). It just doesn’t make sense to buy the affordable houses unless you are 100% sure you will be there for more than the 5 years.
    It is a great theory that in my experience isn’t working in practice.

    • framu 15.1

      yeah – auctions are a real problem for first home buyers – we avoided them for the exact reasons you state

      interesting to see what the reality is on affordable sections – theres been stories of late that people looking cant even find them to start with (sections and/or completed house). No one knows where they even are or how to show interest in one. The council dont know, the govt doesnt know, the developers cant be found and arent even recorded in a list at the council offices

      somethings not quite right up in AK on the affordable thingy – seems like theres a whole bunch of stuff going no with zero oversight

    • lprent 15.2

      Yeah, I thought it was pretty unworkable in practice. It introduces a high risk level because of the inability to sell if everything goes pear-shaped.

      The instabilities in the market are great. Volatile interest rates, volatile employment agreements, lack of builders, lack of legislation on things like building control quality -> leaky buildings, health, babies, and simply the risk of a value drop etc.There are simply too many to make it possible for someone buying a first home to take those levels of risk.

      The most efficient way to build affordable homes in a pure market economy is for developer to do so. However in a time of shortage caused by high nett migration across the board and especially into Auckland, a market economy will build the housing with the highest return for the land value. ie more expensive buildings. If they are accepting all of those same risks, then developers want the biggest return possible for the dollar if building affordable homes carries the same risk levels as higher priced homes and the biggest cost is the land.

      Besides the developers are locked out of those affordable pepper potted land plots. And they generally want to do large swathes of lower cost homes on greenfield sites out in the cheaper land at the periphery of the city – where there is no public transport because the government doesn’t want to pay for it, and nor do existing rate payers.

      Basically the state needs to take a role in building affordable housing. It has the ability to carry the risks that others cannot. It also means that it changes the whole housing market, and that is exactly why we started building using housing nz and ancestors back in the 1930s.

      But as we know, conservatives are usually too stupid to read actual history. 🙂

  16. Infused 16

    Rob. You clearly show over and over again you are out of your depth and pretty much click bait every post here.

    The govt had no role.

  17. Neil 17

    “However, it recommended removing the requirement for developments over 15 dwellings to contain 10 per cent affordable houses (report section 6.2.6). It beggars belief the Government asked the panel to scrap affordability requirements when Auckland is desperately short of affordable housing. …

    Even if this section of the unity plan was implemented, it would easily be got around by limiting the build of a development to 14 dwellings therefore by-passing the need to have 10% as affordable houses.

  18. Penny Bright 18

    FYI

    28 July 2016

    ‘Open Letter’ /OIA request to Auckland Council CEO Stephen Town

    “Please provide all information relating to the NZ Property Council and all/any Auckland Council staff relating to the ‘recommendations’ from the Independent Hearings Panel and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.”

    Please be reminded that I raised my concerns about this matter at the Auckland Council Governing Body meeting (today) 28 July 2016, and was ‘live-streamed’ so doing.

    (Scroll through to 8.30 minutes for the start of my presentation.)

    http://councillive.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/video/280716-governing-body-items-05-07-part-01

    BACKGROUND:

    Auckland Council (and some Auckland Council Controlled Organisations – CCOs) are members of the NZ Property Council.

    MINUTES OF THE AUCKLAND COUNCIL GOVERNING BODY MEETING 31 MARCH 2016:

    “10 Notices of Motion

    10.1 Notice of Motion – Cr Mike Lee – Auckland Council’s Corporate Membership in the Property Council New Zealand

    ……

    MOVED by Cr ME Lee, seconded by Cr C Casey:

    That the Governing Body, in recognition of the Council’s statutory planning role in the Unitary Plan process, and in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest:

    a) direct that Auckland Council’s corporate membership in the Property Council New
    Zealand be terminated as the latter is a major submitter in the Unitary Plan.

    Resolution number GB/2016/26

    MOVED by Cr AM Filipaina, seconded by Cr CM Penrose:
    That the Governing Body:

    a) agree that, pursuant to Standing Order 1.6.1, the motion under debate now be
    put to a vote.

    CARRIED

    Note: Pursuant to Standing Order 1.8.6, Cr C Darby requested that his dissenting vote against the closure motion be recorded.

    The motion under debate was put:
    A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:

    For
    Cr C Brewer
    Cr C Casey
    Cr ME Lee
    Cr D Quax
    Cr SL Stewart
    Cr WD Walker
    Cr J Watson

    Against
    Cr AJ Anae
    Mayor LCM Brown
    Cr W Cashmore
    Cr R Clow
    Cr LA Cooper
    Cr C Darby
    Cr AM Filipaina
    Deputy Mayor PA Hulse
    Cr DA Krum
    Cr CM Penrose
    Cr JG Walker
    Cr MP Webster
    Cr GS Wood
    Abstained

    The motion was declared LOST by 7 votes to 13.

    Motion

    Resolution number GB/2016/27

    MOVED by Mayor LCM Brown, seconded by Cr MP Webster:
    That the Governing Body:

    a) resolve that the minutes show the reasons why the Notice of Motion to terminate the Council’s corporate membership in the Property Council did not pass include an
    acceptance of legal advice to the Council that:

    i) the Council’s corporate membership in the Property Council does not raise a
    conflict of interest, in fact or appearance; and

    ii) proper management of conflicts of interest is enhanced if decision-making
    regarding the Council’s corporate membership of external organisations remains
    with the Chief Executive.

    CARRIED

    Note: Pursuant to Standing Order 1.8.6, Crs C Brewer, C Casey, D Quax, SL Stewart, WD Walker and J Watson requested that their dissenting votes be recorded. ”
    ________________________________________________________________________

    I understand that Auckland Council staff are responsible for ‘briefing’ Auckland Council elected representatives regarding the recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

    Please provide the following information, under the ‘urgency’ provisions of the LGOIMA:

    1) All/any information (reports/briefing papers / minutes /memos/ emails /texts and the like) relating to the NZ Property Council and all/any Auckland Council staff relating to the ‘recommendations’ from the Independent Hearings Panel and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

    2) The names of all/any Auckland Council staff who attend / have attended meetings / functions / briefings of the NZ Property Council, particularly regarding the ‘recommendations’ from the Independent Hearings Panel and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

    3) The ‘conflict of interest’ provisions / requirements which cover Auckland Council staff involved with the NZ Property Council, and their providing ‘advice’ to Auckland Council elected representatives particularly regarding the ‘recommendations’ from the Independent Hearings Panel and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

    Penny Bright

    (2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate)

  19. TC 19

    Cynical and calculated.

    Stacked up against nationals beligerence on social housing with state houses being flogged and a hobbled winz this was predictable.

    Ya gotta hand it to them, they excel at comprehensive shaftings.

    • srylands 19.1

      It is not cynical. Removing this provision will have no impact on housing affordability.

      And on your second point remember that the Government is selling State houses to improve access to social housing. You make it sound like it is a bad thing.

  20. weka 20

    Some of it focusing on the NIMBY reaction: ‘My wife is in tears, it’s pretty awful’ (expect more of this as the NIMBYs get organised).

    Are we to assume then that anytime the govt or council or developer does something that affects someone’s quality of life they should suck it up and not complain because it’s for the good of the collective?

    The couple in question could probably be criticised for buying where they did knowing that this would eventually happen. Or not doing their homework. But what if they bought ten years ago? There is a line of what’s reasonable but I don’t think writing off people as NIMBY’s brings us closer to solutions that build community and wellbeing for everyone.

  21. Cricklewood 21

    What do you define as an affordable house? A price set at 3 times median income?
    I don’t think there is a hope of building an ‘affordable’ house in the current environment the industry is already stretched in terms of skilled trades. Sites overseen by builders who have nowhere near the desirable amount of experience for the role, so called certified builders signing off multiple sites without any real idea of what lies underneath mistakes are been made and we run a risk of repeating the leaky disaster already.
    Even the materials side is maxed out 3 weeks for concrete and if it rains on the day you go to the back of line . Beware any politician or beaurocrat that says we can build x 1000 more houses per year….

    • Sabine 21.1

      oh dear,

      the we can’t do it again brigade.

      Seriously there is an element within the NZ population that excells in whinging that
      We can’t do it, We are too small, We don’t have the resources, We don’t have the skills, We don’t have the people etc etc etc.

      While all they should say is We Don’t Want To as IT is not convenient for us.
      Bunch of whingers.

      • tc 21.1.1

        Yet we’ve done it before in times of less availability and global mobility of labour also we were smaller then.

        Must’ve been magic then.

      • BM 21.1.2

        Unrealistic bull shit does more harm than good.

        • Sabine 21.1.2.1

          mate if we can import
          “Cafe Managers”
          “Cafe Supervisors”
          “Chinese Fry Cooks”
          under the skill category then we can import

          “Plumbers”
          “Builders”
          “Sparkies”
          “Tile Layers”
          “Painters”
          “Masons”

          under the skill category.

          You however seem to subscribe to the “We can’t do shit cause we have not got the skills, the knowledge, the people, the will, the stomach, the imagination, the vision, and all the other things that are needed to be successfull in business.

          maybe that is the reason the only thing the National Party and its supporters can argue for is to sell the country, sell the assetts, sell sell sell until they themselves have run out of a place to live. Fucking useless and shamefully lazy lot.

          • BM 21.1.2.1.1

            Politicians and their supporters who state that the government can build 10000 homes a year in this current economic environment are delusional fuckwits who haven’t got a clue.

          • Chuck 21.1.2.1.2

            The Government has provided extra funding re- apprenticeship training for the building trades.

            An extra 5000 apprentices over the next few years, along with an extra 2500 Maori and PI apprentices 2016/17.

            The balancing act is to have a sustainable building industry, so we don’t have a boom – bust cycle in regards to employment for chippies / plumbers etc…

            However Its clear we are going to have a very large requirement for skilled trade persons for the foreseeable future.

            • Sabine 21.1.2.1.2.1

              you can import fully trained people.

              I say it again, if we can import ‘cafe managers/supervisors” on the skills category then we can import skilled trades men / women.

              and the government could be very clear to our businesses, IF ya don’t start training our future work force you don’t get no business from the Government’

              If you want to import some several million people into this country you better start building some housing unless you are happy to have New Zealand go the way of certain places in China, India, Africa, Turkey etc etc where really it does not matter if you are born in a ditch and or die in a ditch.

              there is one thing i absolutely hate about this government, namely that it is lazy. Lazy intellectually, lazy in its working ethics, lazy in its ‘goals’, and utterly ruthless when it comes to screwing the taxpayer of this country over again and again.

              • BM

                screwing the taxpayer of this country over again and again.

                What bullshit are you babbling on about now?

            • George 21.1.2.1.2.2

              Some of the trades can now take up to (and well over in some cases) 5 years to qualify in. So even at a push that’s going to be pretty impossible. The whole situation has been left too long to fester into a massive mess.

          • srylands 21.1.2.1.3

            Have you finished that rant?

            All those categories of tradesmen are migrating here in large numbers already. Have you been to Christchurch?

            I don’t know who this “we” is. Do you mean the Government? It is not the Government’s role to build residential housing. That is why it is called a housing market. Builders are perfectly free to apply to bring in any tradesmen they need.

            On the “sell sell sell” rant, what privatisation programme are you referring to? The New Zealand Government doesn’t have one. That is a shortcoming in my view. You must be thinking of some other country.

    • BM 21.2

      Beware any politician or bureaucrat that says we can build x 1000 more houses per year….

      I agree, anyone that speaks that sort of horseshit shouldn’t be let any where near the purse strings, they obviously have no idea or they’re out and out lying.

      Waste a billion or two, who cares, it’s only taxpayer money.

  22. jcuknz 22

    Listening to John Campbell last night it stuck me that ‘affordable homes’ is a fools idea.
    None of those interviewed could even afford to save a deposit, except the guy who worked in Aussie mines.
    What is really needed is more state housing at reasonable rents so that people can save their deposit. Perhaps leave rents at current levels but allocate a proportion of the rent to be a deposit … staying with the government until it is used that way.
    I am sure there are fishhooks but there must be a way to solve the problem.

    • Sabine 22.1

      you need both.

      You need State Housing for those that can’t pay market rent.
      You need affordable Housing for those that would like to buy a house, may even have a deposit but can’t afford to pay ‘market rates’ that are inflated due to exterior demand.

      and then the ones that want to buy million dollar hovels well they can go ahead and buy a soon to be submerged property on the shores of Auckland.

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    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
    9 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
    10 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
    12 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
    24 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
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    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
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    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

  • 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
    8 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
    22 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
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