Auckland NIMBYs refused

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 14th, 2017 - 12 comments
Categories: Economy, housing, im/migration, Social issues - Tags: ,

This morning, Politik reported on their email feed (I can’t see it on their site) that :-

GREEN LIGHT FOR HOUSING IN AUCKLAND
A series of court challenges to the Auckland Council’s Independent Hearings’ Panel Review of the Auckland Unitary Plan were denied yesterday by High Court Judge Christian Whata. The decision opens up more of the city for intensive housing development. That will include inner city so-called “character” suburbs where older villas may be removed from new more intensive housing.

Now that is encouraging. Other reporting from Simon Collins at the NZ Herald reports on the decision and the response from those disappointed. As the judgement makes quite clear, the protagonists who did the challenges had the information and the hearing that they were seeking already (apart from two minor glitches). There is no reason to hold up the intensification of the inner city suburbs.

As one of the rarity of a native Aucklander 1 still living in Auckland I think that this is a eminently sensible decision at several levels.

Firstly while the idea of expanding the boundaries of Auckland to accommodate new suburbs clearly have been this government’s first and still frequently its only response, it is simply not feasible because of the massive infrastructure costs. New suburbs mean that new roads, sewerage, water, power, communications and public transport systems have to be paid for before residents move in.

Just as clearly, the government who are responsible for the massive net migration that has been flooding the city in recent years, were not willing to pay for it. Nor are existing ratepayers either directly or by incurring upfront debt to do so. The Auckland City Council is already sitting close to their boundaries to borrow.

In most cases, intensification of inner suburbs is a whole lot better solution. Most of the infrastructure is already there 3 and it is usually easier to enhance than to put in kilometres of connecting pipes and pumps. Putting money into public transport is easier when the areas are local and already have users.

Secondly even as a long time 2 preservationist of Auckland’s heritage – I have to say WTF? Preserving vast swathes and whole suburbs, which appears to be the intention of groups like the Character Coalition, simply makes no sense. The point of having a city is far more prosaic than trying to live in some kind of museum. The most sensible place to do that is where people would like to live. And if the price of land wasn’t so high in central Auckland, then that is where many would want to live.

If we as a city wish to retain representative samples of our past, then we should concentrate on how to preserve those rather than trying to deny the changes to our ever changing city as internal and external migration increases its population by something like 50 thousand people per year.

Thirdly, increasingly what they want to live in is apartments and townhouses. Sure if you are raising kids then a lawn is great way to get the little horrors 4 from squealing in the house. However for the increasing numbers of the childless, either by choice or by divorce or empty nest syndrome, lawns and houses are simply a pain. We’re working a lot, and don’t have time to maintain them. That is especially the case with old villas.

Besides you can put a hell of lot of low-rise apartments on quite small bits of land. And if we could move the people who would like to rent or owned smaller accommodation with fewer bedrooms, and stop them from blocking up 3 and 4 bedroom housing, then we have a massive over-supply of that type of housing stock for the horrors.

The 51 square metre inner city apartment with its 3m stud that I have had for nearly two decades now has 60 one bedroom dwellings in a three story building. It is in the ground area that used to be a demolition building parts lot.  Even though it is in the near central city, the rates are minimal because it doesn’t have a lot of land area per apartment.

When I was on my own, I used to rattle around in it. When my partner moved in, it got and has remained slightly cramped. We’d move to get a bit more room, but there really isn’t anywhere to move to because there is a shortage of good apartments in Auckland. Most appear to have been built for the vertically challenged who like living paying for lists or living next to  rail lines or motorways.

We need to build more that aren’t in old light industrial areas.

 


  1. Born at National Womans, grew up in the Ponsonby slum, and moved to Sandringham when I was 5 for the better schools.
  2. Back in 1974-5 the family project was to help restore the Alberton house on the slopes of Mt Albert. And we did quite a lot with various similar projects for the Historic Places Trust over the decades.
  3. Not to mention that the refurbishment during the separation of the waste and storm water systems in recent decades across many inner suburbs has already done much of the more heavy work.
  4. As a professional uncle and great-uncle, and being able to borrow rather than suffer, I refer to everyone under the age of about 16 as ‘horrible’. I find it is pretty accurate description as I help their parents to deal with the interesting vicissitudes of their children growing.

12 comments on “Auckland NIMBYs refused ”

  1. Carolyn_nth 1

    I often think how the campaigners for no change to the inner suburbs, seem to think their ownership of property makes them tangata whenua of the land, or maybe manu whenua.

    They are but the latest occupants of land that has seen continuing changes to the “heritage” structures going back centuries. Basically they want the whole area to continue to contain only colonial type structures.

  2. Ad 2

    LPrent you’ll take my white picket fence Out Of My Cold Dead Hand – the cold dead hand of The Market.

    • lprent 2.1

      Keep your picket fence. 😈 Just don’t expect me to maintain it.

      Basically this is a living city. Don’t stop your neighbors from getting the accommodation that better suits the needs of our cities current and future demographics

  3. Draco T Bastard 3

    Sure if you are raising kids then a lawn is great way to get the little horrors 4 from squealing in the house.

    I happen to think that a local park is a better option but I think that that park needs to be more than just grass field. It needs to be large and have stuff for both adults and children.

    It needs to be a place where everyone can socialise.

    • lprent 3.1

      Within my limited view, the council has been doing a pretty good job with that recently. I was at Rocket park in Mt Albert a few weekends ago, damn near perfect multi-use.

      Just up the road from my place we have Western Park where I have been known to hang out with a coffee amongst the debris of Auckland past (cornices of old buildings trying to look like sculptures) which gets a lot of use pretty much all the way down the gully when the sun is out. It is also perfect for wearing small batteries out. Get them to walk down and then back up 🙂

      One of the things that disturbs me with the current debate is that not knocking over villas doesn’t diminish the demand. It just pushes a demand to knock over the open parks and put up housing instead. I’m unsure if that is the case on Point England. I must find some time to find out.

  4. greywarshark 4

    I find it very pleasant and good for the grandkids for them to go in and out from the house and play on the lawn with their swings, practise on their bikes, or just run around or help Daddy or Mummy or play with a ball or the dog. All enclosed in 2m fences and with some privacy from the road.

    Myself, I live with hardly any privacy though i have a grassy back yard, but having a green space near the house and just a low hum of noise from neighbours and nearby roads keeps close proximity but low-stress living in the city. I wouldn’t want to have to go to a park to look for a green space and a look at the sky and sun. Having to take children to the park so they can have a suitable surface to play should be a treat extra to having space at home. Park visits require organisation and parental observation.

    Even if I was in an apartment I would want to be able to open doors onto a balcony strong enough to have tubs of soil and vegs, flowers, strawberries, a mandarin tree. And there are so many eyes in apartment blocks all around one, if planning can reduce being overlooked in whatever piece of ground available for relaxation that would be good. I would like windows to be made in part frames, bottom in obscure glass of some sort, top ordinary. That gives plenty of light but privacy to the room, from facing and higher apartments, and those enjoying ground level space don’t have the feeling of being overlooked, like in a zoo.

  5. adam 5

    I’m glad to see the the medium density housing people have finally won. The misdirection from the Villa-brigade has dragged on for almost 20 years, it really has been disheartening.

    Personally I’d like to see more community gardens in association with this. There is a good network of community gardens across Auckland, as is. And people should be encouraged to play in the dirt. It also means good use of land for both food and housing.

    I remember reading a Massey University report on medium density housing, a type of housing which offered all sorts of befits we don’t normally think about, like security and connectedness. I’d have to say since moving into a block of connected flats, it’s been great.

    I look forward to the day when that is a the new normal.

  6. saveNZ 6

    Wish they would do this in Wellington as their ‘test city’ – I don’t think politicians policy would last long if the bureaucrats had to live through their market global ideology themselves.

    The politicians can mow their own berms, pay for their own rubbish in many places,while paying thousands in rates which go up as house prices go up, but services go down, spend hours in traffic caused by constant roadworks and “improvements” that take decades but do little as it’s filled up immediately, as well as 5000 new cars on per week by new arrivals into the country – meanwhile the rail sits empty in parts or the dimwits design people to change to buses half way through and wonder why that doesn’t seem to work.

    Clean energy or sustainability obviously never factors in the brave new Natz + LEFTIE- NIMBY-BULLY, city – not with solar or with sustainable water in houses, let alone transport. Who can plan for that!!!! We need houses and fast – but don’t blame immigration – we need more of that apparently – because identity politics and all reports out of the Natz tells us that.

    Developments being repaired for years due to poor construction and design that bankrupt the owners, take out more dwellings in the city that can’t be used for years and take out more construction staff to ‘repair’ them. Then still talk about more deregulation of the building industry, as the concrete, plumbing materials etc are constantly being recalled and redone due to faulty products.

    The dimwits selling the ‘dream’ talk about building consents as if they were houses ready to live in.

    Many of the building consents are actually to demolish existing housing while creating new ones that are more expensive and can’t be paid for out of most local wages.

    We are creating bigger houses with more parking that knock out their neighbours views and light and create large McMansion ghettos around the city with limited garden place but 4 media rooms and 5 bathrooms and saunas and gyms that will be lived in by a couple with zero to 1 child in many cases or actually not lived in and just ‘gold bricks’ investments.

    Apartments that are too expensive for many to live in, even if the banks would lend to first home buyers on them – (which they won’t in many cases) and eye watering Body Corp fees that keep going up.

    Auckland is becoming more like Los Angeles meets Bangkok in their planning vision and design.

    I just wish those who support it, were a) forced to live in Auckland and in a further out suburb so can experience what many workers face each morning, b) were actually home owners paying rates and not whiners who know little about property and construction, thinking that trickle down will bring them a house or rental with the neoliberal fairy dust c) mortgage yourself to the hilt to get into a house and then have some one with too much money and little sense, buy next door and build a concrete 7 bedroom bunker with 5 years of construction ahead and turn your house into a damp dark blip on the new landscape while being engulfed in the shadows of the bunker while also making your house unsellable so you can’t move away. d) you also arrive home to find the council has approved your duplex to be demolished on one side but there seems to be zero contingency of how to close up the house, how odd the house now looks or even let you know they will going to do it.

    Thanks Natz and the lefties that share this lovely vision and really believe the market and deregulation and taking away people’s rights in their city and community will lead to Utopia.

    I very much doubt it, because countries that have beautiful cities and denser housing, do the opposite!

  7. Andrea 7

    Isn’t Auckland the place with dodgy electricity supply, dubious sewage systems, antiquated public transport, and degraded footpaths?

    “New suburbs mean that new roads, sewerage, water, power, communications and public transport systems have to be paid for before residents move in.”

    And infill housing in older suburbs means precisely the same thing – except there will be totally ticked neigbours enduring dirt, noise, inconvenience for weeks – plus the shadow of doubt as to when all the new stuff will fail as usual.

    The hilarious pictures of footings and foundations on new Auckland buildings – not touching the ground and with fist-size holes. The dire warnings about no-swim, don’t wade beaches.

    Celebrate in-fill all you like – and fix up the shortfalls in services, too. The rest of NZ is quite fed-up with the little Auckland ash flakes.

    For the record – I was born at Greenlane Hospital. Auckland. Meh.

    • lprent 7.1

      It sounds like you last looked at Auckland in the 1990s

      Power supply got fixed after 1997. Since 1998 I have had exactly 1 unexpected power outage and two maintenance outages.

      The problem isn’t the sewerage systems. It is with a few remaining 100+ year old storm water systems that aren’t separated from the sewerage systems. These were well underway to being fully fixed when some dickheads in the NAct government decided that Auckland needed a super shitty government. So the separation projects were stopped to allow for the supershitty project to be funded.

      The infill housing in inner suburbs has already happened. It was pretty well finished in the early 2000s. What we are talking about is putting in lots of low rise and a few high rise apartment blocks. Most of them are currently going into retail and redundant light industrial areas. But some areas around inner Auckland have had a wholesale shift to apartments and townhouses.

      Generally the council is pretty good at regulating all sites for neighbor nuisance. Frankly there is more of a nuisance from overnight road works done to minimize traffic disruption.

      Provided that we don’t have National being idiots and ‘deregulating’ the inspection systems again as they did in the 1990s then most of the buildings being done are reasonably sound. Does it ever occur to you that the pictures you are seeing come from council inspectors? And why they are publishing them. It isn’t for your obvious titillation.

      The real issue with new buildings isn’t that the building is up to standard, it is the types of accommodation apartments being orientated towards young people flatting or to people wanting mansions. In other word targeted towards investors rather than places for people to live in. That is a consequence of the housing shortages.

      Of course Auckland is still repairing the leaky and inadequately inspected houses from the 1990s and the early 2000s. It doesn’t help with ramping up housing production.

      The rest of NZ is quite fed-up with the little Auckland ash flakes.

      And Auckland is pretty pissed off with having to fight to retain even quite small proportions of the vehicle taxes we pay, so that we can build long overdue public transport and transport infrastructure.

      • greywarshark 7.1.1

        lprent
        I like your answer to that little rant. And it is something all of us outside Auckland probably feel occasionally, and even some in Auckland.

        As you say things are changing, and the explanation of them stopping while the pollies play with ideas, programs and policies because they like to strut that stuff
        and stick their chests out, men or women, is the truth.

        So all practical thinkers in awkward Auckland and every other bit of NZ, do what you to influence your local level government but also at the central government level, give them a hard spin till they fall off. Like the children’s playground do-it-yourself run and push whirligig. Hold on tight yourself and get them spinning right out of your patch.

  8. Visubversa 8

    The Auckland 1960 (sorry 2040) are not the villa brigade. They are old and white and St Heliers or Mairangi Bay. They still inhabit the 4 bedroom brick house on 700m2 of dirt that they built in 1975, or the one they inherited from their parents. They think that everybody should live they way they did, in a white bread, middle class “Leave it to Beaver” world with Dad at work and Mum at home baking cakes. They post the occasional Facebook meme about how the world has gone to pot since you stopped being able to beat your kids. It is a ‘stop the world” last ditch attempt, and I am glad it failed.

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    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
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    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
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    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
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
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    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
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    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
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    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
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    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’
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    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
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    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
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    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...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
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    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
    6 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
    8 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. ...
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    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, ...
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    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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    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 ...
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    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 ...
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    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 ...
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
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    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
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    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
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    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
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    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
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    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
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    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
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    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
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    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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