Watkin on the Nats’ housing blame game

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, May 30th, 2016 - 57 comments
Categories: accountability, housing, national, spin - Tags: , , ,

Excellent piece on Saturday from Tim Watkin at Pundit:

Housing game-changer: Spreading the blame

Housing remains the government’s biggest weakness and so National is redoubling its efforts. No, not to build houses, but to contain the political damage

I can’t give you a precise day or hour, but some time in the past fortnight, National has admitted defeat over Auckland’s housing crisis. You can see it in the calculated attacks on Auckland Council and the lack of action in the Budget; the government’s moved into ‘managing failure’ territory.

What’s become clear is that Auckland’s problem is no longer a land supply problem, it’s a house supply problem. The Special Housing Areas have opened up over 50,000 sections according to the government, but only 1000 houses have been built. Even Auckland Council estimates six and a half years worth of land is ready to build on. What’s missing is a will (or requirement) to build, tradie capacity and, arguably, a government commitment to a mass building programme.

Instead, what we’ve got from National seems to be an admission any fix on Auckland house prices is years away and what matters to them now is spreading the blame.

What’s clear is that National, as is their well worn tactic, will do its best to ensure the blame gets shared around. Bugger the relationship between Auckland and Wellington, they will blame the Auckland Council at every opportunity so that any voter anger directed at the government becomes ‘a plague on all their houses’.

Ultimately, National may have to accept the inevitability of a government building scheme, swallow that dead rat and promise that themselves.

But for now, National’s focus is on buying time and that means spreading the blame.

As usual the Nats are all about personal responsibility, as long as the person is someone else. Go read the full piece at Pundit for plenty more.

57 comments on “Watkin on the Nats’ housing blame game ”

  1. shorts 1

    “Ultimately, National may have to accept the inevitability of a government building scheme, swallow that dead rat and promise that themselves.”

    This – I can’t see why they aren’t being proactive and announcing something along the lines of the state building some houses, even if they have no actual intention of building them… sure its a “defeat” but to not do so is strategically dumb and they continue to be on the wrong side of the media right now

    I still await Labour to really capitalise and re-announce the parties commitment to kiwi build and some more policies & promises that will be targeted at those (tens of) thousands really struggling – fuck the middle classes, stop pandering only to them

    • Colonial Viper 1.1

      National are saving it for election year, just you wait. They’ll take the guts of Labour’s Kiwi Build programme and double it.

      • Sacha 1.1.1

        Surely halving it would be more their style? And probably as a PPP with Fletchers.

      • leftie 1.1.2

        8 years and all National have shown is that they are liars
        Colonial Viper, everyone knows that. Northland, by shunning National’s obvious lies and bribes, set the example to follow.

  2. Janice 2

    The Auckland housing under supply will never be fixed so long as for every house built there is probably about three more purchased by investors and speculators and left empty.

    • aerobubble 2.1

      So, Key introduces a new class of millionarie dotcom residents stoking demand, he installs the new super city bureaucracy keeping change from happening, i.e limits on debt, control over new quangos, etc etc, he wont spend to provide for those new investors dotcoms, and he also puts the boot into those who spend their income imediately by raising gst. Its laughable that any but Key could be held accountable.

      Investors should be required to build not buy like they do in Oz. Key should then now need to pump money into new builds as investor would be, in fact, its the poorest who Key is now forcing to pay for housing infrastructure, by have to move to poorer housing, or garages,or sleeping in cars, or on couz floor. Its simple physics, increase the no of people into NZ and being over nice to them because they are rich, a fatal flaw in Key – well thats when he can get someone else to pay, the poorest.

      Keys inept govt, give to the rich, the market will pickup the slack, is just more crazy neoliberalism.

    • Keith 2.2

      Damned right there Janice!

    • Psych nurse 2.3

      So, we need squatters rights,just move into an empty foreign owned home and sit tight.

  3. Enviro Gal 3

    How good would it be for New Zealand to have a government seek to have some apartments well designed then built in Auckland City, as It is clear to thinking people that there is a house /apartment supply problem.
    How is Auckland Council to cope with 68 thousand new arrivals in NewZealand
    in the last year, with the majority coming to Auckland: the immigration problem
    is a government responsibility.
    It is also clear that a more compact city with highrise building creates a better city economically, the cost of continuing sprawl for infrastructure and transport
    simply does not make sense.

    • shorts 3.1

      well designed and well built!!!! For families and aimed to become affordable rentals or affordable to purchase – enough of the teeny tiny boxes or lavish slightly bigger boxes

      Most of the world manages to build apartment buildings that don’t leak and are comfortable to live in – not cheap builds developers to on-sell to speculators (mom and dad investors) thinking they’ll cash in on renting the places out

      • aerobubble 3.1.1

        Auckland is an isthmus on a volcanic field. Sure s.auckland is prime horocultural land. That means hilly land south of the growing areas would be the ideal place to build, with fast public transit to industrail s. auckland or north hamilton, etc. Hey why not turn huntly into the new business hub. Its called planning and nobody in auckland does that, the buteaucrats live in wellington, there isn’t the land, nobody put in proper rails, people think twice as a volcano might start up, the elites all like the high prices which they cant force higher so no incentives.
        Auckland is jus one big pile of housing pooh.

    • Colonial Viper 3.2

      Everyone seems fine squashing 1/3 of NZ’s population into the 0.3% of NZ’s land area that Auckland represents, and then squeezing in another 60K newbies a year moving into the city.

      Why there is any problem with accommodation in Auckland, I’ll never understand.

      Meanwhile the provinces have been depleting for years as small town NZ has emptied out.

      But whatever, Auckland Auckland Auckland, ra ra ra.

      • Sacha 3.2.1

        It’s a worldwide trend that people are moving to larger cities. Nothing personal, Dunedin.

        • Colonial Viper 3.2.1.1

          It’s also a world wide trend to smash trade unions and move jobs to Bangladesh. So we just go with it?

      • Sabine 3.2.2

        its only Auckland, rah rah rha?

        really?

        You know what, if that is / was your attitude to people and the life they live and are trying to live, i am thanking the voters for not having voted for you.
        I’d rather deal with a wanna be Tory like the double dipper then a faux lefty that can barely contain his contempt for about 1/3 of the population.

        • greywarshark 3.2.2.1

          Sabine
          I don’t think you understand sarcasm. If your comment at 3.2.2 is about CVs at 3.2 then I suggest you have misunderstood the point completely and need to restrain yourself from attacking lefties on this site in such an impulsive way. It increases the confusion about policies and just feeds into the fractious approach that too often occurs here.

          CV I would bet is very concerned about Auckland and the people affected by the lack of available affordable housing there. He is not a a faux lefty that can barely contain his contempt for about 1/3 of the population..

          He is taking the mickey out of the RW when he mimics their ignorant views in:
          Why there is any problem with accommodation in Auckland, I’ll never understand.
          Meanwhile the provinces have been depleting for years as small town NZ has emptied out.
          But whatever, Auckland Auckland Auckland, ra ra ra.

          First he refers to the government practice of pushing Auckland’s interests over other areas especially regions. (This has resulted in Auckland’s local governments being decimated, combined into a huge entity more like a faceless corporate.)

          Then on top of that there are thousands of new people being fed into the area:
          squeezing in another 60K newbies a year moving into the city.,
          which result in exponential growth in prices with demand exceeding supply and ratcheting up the market which we are supposed to live by.
          “Teach your children well, their parents’ hell will slowly go by,
          And feed them on your dreams,
          The ones they pick will be the ones you’ll know by” ….etc.

          We are supposed to have an avowed economic aim, an alert Treasury full of lerts, banks, with one in Reserve, which have had serious tertiary training along with planners, and other officials. Still we have this housing debacle that is being actively encouraged we hear, destroying our urban village in order to save the housing market, trading in which is one of our main activities, just a bit up on taking in each other’s washing. It seems the idea is to provide a sort of housing stock exchange thought up by economic mercenaries.

          Most of us know all that and despise the politicians and screwed-up people who like this happening and chirp on about Auckland, what they are going to do to make it an enjoyable city, a great destination in the world blah blah. Everything they say about Auckland has a hidden background of abandonment of the majority of citizens, in favour of the ashpirational who are willing to place poorer citizens on a pyre of their hopes, dreams and lives.

          All that can be expressed in a few words of sarcasm. So can you and others keep from attacking other lefties trying to keep these issues alive, in our faces and those of the politicians? We need to pull together in the left, not nitpick at each other’s comments. Try wondering what point they are trying to make before you dump on them.

          • Sabine 3.2.2.1.1

            we are currently trying to re-home two young women, two young guys and a bloke in his middle age, two dogs and three cats.

            I have run out of storage space to give to people that have lost their homes, and are afraid of loosing now all of their belongings.
            I have lost the house we rented for the young ones as it is sold. in the last two years of thirty people have lived in this house for a week to several month. Just enough time to get back up and going.
            I am taking in the cat of someone tomorrow who does not want to euthanize his cat and who is afraid that if she goes to the SPCA she will not live to tell the tale, he is moving into his van.
            I have run out of patience with sarcasm from people that don’t care.

            Auckland for all its faults and warts is home to 1/3 of the country. WE pay taxes, we have family elsewhere in NZ, we are New Zealand.

            And for what its worse this shit is happening all over the country.
            So frankly, and with all due respect, maybe its time to cut the sarcasm.

            • greywarshark 3.2.2.1.1.1

              My main point was with all due respect, to have some respect for other left commenters here Sabine. I believe that you are doing much, you have indicated that you are very extended in other posts.

              Just dont direct your scorn at others working for change please. People who have been airing problems, describing what is happening, trying to arouse public concern and political action for years arent helped when others newer to the scene, start biting them on the ankles. For best results for change direct your disappointment with the system to the appropriate people.

              • Jenny Kirk

                query to greywarshark : is CV working for change ?

                It doesn’t show in his comments, and personally I think you’re out of line to chastise Sabine for querying him as well.

                • greywarshark

                  Jenny Kirk
                  I didn’t think that comment was a helpful one.on the matter. and I am surprised at yours. I presume you have read mine completely and I explained my reasoning there. If you don’t agree that the left should stop nit-picking at each other then …

                  As for CV. He is working for change, a bit like a mosquito which bites and you slap it. But that is his object. To wake up the comfortable on the left, away in a little dream.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Hi GWS, It seems to me that people have lost all sense of physical reality, which is what I am pointing to here. 1/3 of the country’s population in 0.3% of the land area, with thousands more coming in every month.

                    There is no building programme possible which will keep up with that growth, let alone remediate the current shortage of tens of thousands of houses.

                • Colonial Viper

                  query to greywarshark : is CV working for change ?

                  Well, the Thorndon Bubble crowd get paid six figures to not work for change whereas I am a giving volunteer not working for change.

                  • greywarshark

                    Colonial Viper
                    What do you mean you are ‘not working for change’. I do not understand. Please elucidate further. Explain yourself, because your message is not getting through to me or the cognoscenti.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      It means that the Labour Thorndon Bubble crowd want to keep the current system, but they want to be the managers.

                      It means that I am applying pressure as I can where I can, but the massive inertia of the system in motion may not budge a single millimetre in time.

                    • greywarshark

                      Okay what I thought Colonial Viper. But your way of expressing yourself and your goals can confuse those who don’t know your track record.

                      Especially for those who don’t actually read through a comment, as you have stated yourself FTTT, TLDR. But we all want to put forward ideas freely considering it a right, without subjecting them to objective self scrutiny.

                      It ends up that we live in a cargo culture where someone else is going to do the hard work nutting out the way forward, hard-headedly looking at the barriers and recalcitrant opposition, rolling up their sleeves and making it happen. But no, the right way is to have the right thoughts of groupthink, by sitting in a circle and finding consensus. It’s working together in the glow of group righteousness that’s important and if the project doesn’t work then it is nobody’s fault, or a scapegoat is looked for.

                      Another approach is to be Red Hen followers, a few turn up when the ground is being prepared, start watching from the sidelines and discussing methods while the seed is being sown, the majority are busy elsewhere at the times to weed and water, but find time to help and make a joyful ritual at the harvest, which they expect for free because it is a community project isn’t it.

                      Good tool for handling ideas and projects for groups converting ideas to something solid.
                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis

  4. Keith 4

    It’s beyond National to do mass house building. After all this is the Party who are furiously trying to off load state houses to whoever will take them. This bunch of self centred, me, me, me rich pricks are incapable of formulating an effective house building response for the masses, its just not in their DNA.

    As lprent said elsewhere, there is so many building resources tied up rectifying leaky homes, the result of Nationals brain dead building deregulation in the 90’s that they are even more unlikely to achieve anything of any significance. Blame away National, you are fucked!

  5. ianmac 5

    Guyon interviewed Key on the Government V Auckland Council this morning. I could not figure out just what the state of the play is from the Key duck and dive. This is in spite of the Key rhetoric recently which threatened hell for Council if they misbehaved.
    Is it just my inability to comprehend?
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201802550

  6. It worries me a lot that state schools are facing a teacher shortage because teachers can’t afford to live in Auckland anymore – another symptom of a broken system which was until quite recently being celebrated by Keys as a triumph for homeowning aucklanders. Not quite so clever when the schools near the homes you own lack teachers.

    • Colonial Viper 6.1

      The Ministry used to regularly supply housing to school teachers. Part of the employment contract.

      • dv 6.1.1

        Country service only CV I thought?

        • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.1

          Yes that was generally the case – but any area where it was difficult to attract the required teaching staff would be included.

      • Westiechick 6.1.2

        I think that was rural. The point is that the people a city needs ie teachers, police, firepeople etc can no longer afford to be in the city. What hapens next?

        • Colonial Viper 6.1.2.1

          They travel in from an hour outside the city to work, Takanini, etc.

          • Kiwiri 6.1.2.1.1

            Eventually, some will move to Australia and get better pay and lifestyle. I say this because quite of few of my friends and relatives have left in recent years.

            • Colonial Viper 6.1.2.1.1.1

              2/3 of our key public sector has long left and for the larger part only the inexperienced, easily influenced, recent imports and right wing remain.

          • greywarshark 6.1.2.1.2

            Getting to work in Auckland! Can confirm that many have to travel from Takanini etc. Only it is beginning to take more than an hour to get to work, over roads that without gridlocked traffic would be travelled in half the time. It’s very inefficient fuel and time use. When the road lovin’ Nats wheel out their excuses for not having rail, they don’t mention this waste of precious fuel and the additon to greenhouse warming from a mass of fuming cars and drivers.

            Traffic is becoming near stationary sometimes, but especially when there is an accident, which is to be expected with such mass traffic flows, at intersections. In this country’s driving guidelines there is little emphasis on being a courteous driver and on how to make way for others to allow others to enter the main flow, to just think about others on the road, signal early when turning etc.
            edited

        • dv 6.1.2.2

          Sort of a bit like the shortage of tradies.

    • Lloyd 6.2

      Don’t worry, some entrepreneur will start a charter school!
      With the subsidy they get they will be able to house their teachers in new model Audis.

  7. aerobubble 7

    Hamilton to Auckland bus takes 2hrs, getting on and off, negotiating to get to bus stops. In any other major city globally there would be a rail line and a fast train, where people could commute in under an hour. The problem with Auckland its never considered itslef seriously.

  8. esoteric pineapples 9

    buying – add two lls and you have “bullying”

  9. Once Was Tim 10

    “what’s clear is [to paraphrase] the blame gets shared around” – Aided and abetted of course by a compliant and comfortable media.
    Housing of course is the crisis de jour, and it just frustrates me that the opposition still doesn’t seem to grasp the many other issues that cudda shudda wudda provide them an opportunity to make progress:
    – Electricity reticulation – prime fucking example! One of the most well endoured? endowered? countries for sustainable and cheap generation with unbelievable high electricity costs.
    There’s two ideologically derived words that describe that frikken fiasco: one is Max, the other is Bradford. I’d venture to suggest that we’d still have a functioning system had it remained in state and public hands with tiknollgee that existed 30 years ago (ripple controlling, state ownership whereby there was an adequate, non-partisan reinvestment in infrastructure without a profit driven imperative, whereby a ‘consumer’ (ugly word) could expect compensation AT THE SAME RATE for returning their excesses to the public grid ….. (a simple ‘fishint n fektiv’ answer to the ability to control and balance load)
    – Health …… so many fucking examples its hard to know where to begin – whether is skin or bowel cancer (screening); or that fucking little imp Simon Upton whose legacy of Hepatisus C infections seems to have gone un-noticed;
    or
    Ed Ya Kayshun (going forward)

    Never mind!. The natives are getting restless.

    Bloody shame though that Labour (at least), can’t see the writing on the wall or see the signs. Maybe it’s because they shudda cudda wudda gone to Spec Savers because the various members of their focus groups are at odds with each other.
    It’s really only a shame though because if they don’t get their shit together very soon, they’ll merely become an historical entry on Te Ara, and nothing will have been learnt from history (i.e. there will have been ‘no learnings going forward’).

    Christ! – which reminds me ….. the state of the Public Service – now there’s another tunetee! Whether its an incompetent MPI, a bugger’s muddle of a MoBIE, a CYFS, a WINZ, a Housing Corp…… let alone a TPK or an SSC!
    (ALL with highly – and obviously OVERpaid CEO’s running their little fiefdoms whilst putting their shit on the coal-face more junior public servants who work – usually IN SPITE of the, rather than because of their supposed immaculate corporate leadership qualities).

    • Once Was Tim 10.1

      Then there’s Christchurch ….. one of the Insurance (and Gummint Munster responsible) industry’s sleeziest, dishonest, utterly incompetent, bullshit risk-managed/managerial class scams ever inflicted on Chch citizens and a NZ Public!
      Fuck me!, and they actually put then back in power at the time!

      WHAT a total fuckup and a treasure for monopolistic building (trens Tesmun) suppliers; consultants of varying competency; ex NSW coppers looking for an earn in their retirement as assessors – the list goes on.

      It’s ekshully a bit funny but for the fek its also a bit seard and that there have been, AND still are so many casualties.

      If ever there was a tunetee for an opposition …. there’s another

      Can I ask a question though – if anyone knows:

      Did Nafe Goi get his warrant purely on the basis of learning his lines (getting learnings going forward), and his reward as Munster in charge MPI on the basis of pottering around on a farm – or was there ekshully some other, more formal measure of his competence.
      Jesus!!! Even Paul Henry recognises his total incompetence. I reckon it must have been all that not inhaling and finding himself a tailor that told him pin stripes on blue would see him through – because sure as shit there’s an explanation that’d be a little harder to believe. Oh – maybe it was a theme at someone’s 21st he struck up an idea or two from

  10. Treetop 11

    This is the way I see the housing crisis in Auckland and the ruining of HNZ.

    1. Too much housing supply and this will trigger the bursting of the housing bubble. (Middle income know to buy a Auckland home now could be risky). An increase in interest rates or in inflation will make the Aussie banks nervous. As well put pressure on those paying a mortgage.

    1.1 I believe there is already a farming land/loan bubble which is about to burst.

    2. 46% of Auckland home buyers are investors.

    3. The average section price in Auckland is $460,000. Building materials, tradie wages, GST and building consent costs all add up.

    4. Immigrants settling in Auckland should be required to build and not purchase an existing home, unless in the country for 10 years.

    5. Training more apprenticeship tradies, short term tradies from overseas to fast track building/alterations on every vacant HNZ home in Auckland and else where. There is a housing shortage for tradies in Auckland.

    6. State housing stock has not increased since 1991. Current stock is per capita as in 1949.

    7. More state houses would force private landlords to compete for tenants and no private landlord wants an empty rental.

    8. The government could provide tax relief and the council a rebate to anyone building a new home.

    9. Infrastructure costs need to be shared between the government and the council, in the end the council gets rates from a new build.

    10. Social housing needs to be dumped, this is a big distraction. I would have a specialist section at HNZ to look after anyone with high or special needs.

    When I hear what the disruption to a childs education and health is, due to living in a car, garage, a crowded home or due to having to leave a dwelling because the rent can no longer be afforded I am left wondering why Auckland housing is not the priority of every politician in NZ.

    The government need to find $150,000,000 today and trim this off other spends in last weeks MISSED IT on housing for those who are doing it tuff in the 2016 budget. I would halve what the spooks got for a start.

    Already Tollies innovative changes in Child, Youth and Family will be undermined and sabotaged due to the housing crisis.

    • BM 11.1

      Who’s going to train these apprentices?

      • Descendant Of Sssmith 11.1.1

        Very good question.

        Mike Moore was told in no uncertain terms that each year the public service didn’t train apprentices (most apprenticeships were in the public service) that 30-35 years down the road there would be a massive gap.

        After 5 years of not training apprentices the staff and support systems used to train them would also be gone.

        He didn’t want to hear that and proceeded, along with the rest of the traitorous Labour Party, to dismantle the blue collar jobs in the public service.

        We’re now reaping what was sowed.

        Was asked, was told, chose to ignore.

        Labour Party continues to ask, continues to be told, continues to ignore.

        • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1

          You smear the reputation of the great Labour Party and you prove that you’re a John Key right winger at heart

          PS thanks for the historical context

        • BM 11.1.1.2

          I agree, the private sector doesn’t have the interest, the time or the resources to train apprentices.

          That was one thing the government did do well and that’s train trades people.

          • Pat 11.1.1.2.1

            any business or industry that “doesn’t have the interest,the time or the resources to train” is non viable.

            • Descendant Of Sssmith 11.1.1.2.1.1

              Nah don’t agree at all.

              Law firms don’t train lawyers for instance.

              I have no problem at all having the state train up people on building and maintaining state assets such as housing and schools and rail and roads and having some of those people later move into the private sector.

              Seems perfectly sensible to me.

              I do have a problem destroying those jobs in the public sector, having the private sector do the work on a contract basis and then sell off the assets as it’s too costly to pay the private sector to do the job.

              Many, many people got their start in the public sector.

              • Pat

                “I have no problem at all having the state train up people on building and maintaining state assets such as housing and schools and rail and roads and having some of those people later move into the private sector.”

                and

                “Law firms don’t train lawyers for instance.”

                Lawyers don’t just suddenly appear fully competent and nor do tradesmen.
                they are trained (in your examples,by the state)…the question then becomes who pays or provides….if businesses wish the state to provide the training then they should foot the bill…..curiously as we reduced taxes for business we also reduced the level of state provided training….and look how well the private sector have handled that.

                the choice is simple…public assisted training and higher tax(or direct industry funding) or minimal tax and industry training.

                there are many ways industries can try to avoid the costs of training but none that retain a viable industry…..as a number have found to their(and our) cost.

                Youse gets what youse pay for

  11. Craig H 12

    Borrow money at 2.5%, build stacks of apartments, rent them at 25% of income. Sell them for 3 x annual income, with right of repurchase for 10 years.

    Do the same for houses for families.

    Build a high speed rail between Hamilton and Auckland and build more houses in and around Hamilton, same deal.

    Do the same in regional NZ, and move government services around to create decent jobs to underpin the programme.

    • Colonial Viper 12.1

      Government can issue the NZD to do this work, and do it at 0%. It does not need to borrow these NZD.

      • Treetop 12.1.1

        There are a couple of carpenters/builders in my family, they trained in the early 1970s. What worked then needs to happen now. They are still tradies.

        If there is a tradie out there who trained in the early 1970s please tell me how apprentices were trained then?

        All I know is that the pay was low and some attendance was required at a polytechnic and a builder/carpenter mentored a person. As well people trained on high rise building sites.

        There seems to be a lot of contracting out work now and a quick profit is the goal. Tax incentives could be offered to counteract the high cost in training tradies.

        I do not know what private and public sector training actually is and who pays the wages?

      • Treetop 12.1.2

        As long as NZD stay away from building bridges, recall the bee keeper who died on the dodgy bridge. Coming to think of it this sparked some changes in who is responsible for worker saftey on private property.

    • You_Fool 12.2

      High sped rail to Tauranga and Whangerei as well – expand prt services at both those places and use trains to move cargo from those ports to a inland port at Wiri before re-distributing through Auckland (difference in travel distance from port to final destination offset by trucks not being stuck in central Auckland traffic) and then we also have more land to build on – either more retail, open space or apartments (or a combination of all those) – or just a big Passenger Ship terminal + retail mall – possibly with apartments above that

    • Lloyd 12.3

      And nationalise companies and move the HQ’s from Auckland to Wellington.

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    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    5 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 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
    13 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
    15 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
    1 day 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 ...
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours 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
    9 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
    11 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
    11 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
    1 day 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
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  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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