political parties

The Unitary Plan will not solve the Housing Crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:30 am, August 1st, 2016 - 9 comments

The Unitary Plan has been described as a panacea for the housing crisis by the Government. But will it actually address this most acute of issues?

Who will be to blame if a bridge collapses?

Written By: Natwatch - Date published: 10:15 am, August 1st, 2016 - 93 comments

Who will be to blame if untested, undetected, weak steel causes the collapse of a structure?

The future of work

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:41 am, July 29th, 2016 - 25 comments

The Herald (Liam Dann) had a Terminator themed piece on the future of work yesterday. If only there was a party that was thinking about these long term issues!

Unitary Plan – affordability requirements removed

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:12 am, July 28th, 2016 - 63 comments

What are the Nats doing removing a proposed requirement for affordable housing – exactly the housing that Auckland desperately needs!?

The Greens take a stand on the housing bubble

Written By: weka - Date published: 3:04 pm, July 27th, 2016 - 264 comments

“I want to be very clear that we are talking about a responsible, carefully managed reduction in house prices over a period of time like 10 to 15 years.”

Metiria Turei

Metiria speaks the unspeakable – house prices should fall

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:10 am, July 27th, 2016 - 135 comments

Not often you’ll catch Metiria Turei and Don Brash in agreement!

CYF massively underfunded

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:30 am, July 26th, 2016 - 28 comments

National pays electoral homage to our vulnerable children. They talk a big game about putting “the needs of our most vulnerable children and families at the centre of decisions”. Their actions tell a different story – of under-funding at CYF and falling numbers of social workers.

Todd McClay gets thrown under a bus

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:22 am, July 26th, 2016 - 56 comments

John Key has thrown Todd McClay under a bus and blamed him for dancing on the head of a pin and for no one telling Key that our second major trading nation wanted to dump sub standard steel on the local market.

Predator free a fantastic goal – but…

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:02 am, July 26th, 2016 - 231 comments

Feel-good promises for 2050 are easy. Add this one to the list with a cycleway the length of NZ, a secret plan to end Japanese whaling, the War on P, our emissions reduction (hah!) targets, plans to be a “financial hub”, the promise of pandas, and so on and so on.

NRT: Charter schools are corrupt

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:08 pm, July 25th, 2016 - 318 comments

I/S at No Right Turn: “ACT appears to be using charter schools to channel public money to government donors and cronies”…

The phantom phantom hospital waiting lists

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:46 pm, July 25th, 2016 - 28 comments

According to Health Minister Jonathan Coleman he is right, everyone else is wrong and there is no elective surgery hidden list in New Zealand.

Who could build social housing?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 6:47 am, July 25th, 2016 - 226 comments

The plan to have the private sector build social housing appears to be a flop. We need a large, well resourced organisation to take on the task of building these desperately needed houses. Wherever will we find one?

Oram – seven warning signs for the economy

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:07 am, July 24th, 2016 - 23 comments

Rod Oram’s Sunday Star-Times, reprinted on Facebook here, adds yet another voice to the chorous of economic warnings: “Our Road Runner economy is zooming towards the cliff-edge”…

NZ wins nuclear war

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 12:45 pm, July 21st, 2016 - 19 comments

Nothing like a good clickbait headline eh!

WINZ sends families to live in garages

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:05 am, July 21st, 2016 - 204 comments

The government is demolishing and selling state house while WINZ sends families to live in garages. This is New Zealand in the Eighth Year of the Brighter Future.

Submit to the Cross-Party Homelessness Inquiry

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:41 pm, July 20th, 2016 - 1 comment

homeless-enquiry

How to wreck a busway

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 19th, 2016 - 20 comments

The Government’s proposal to allow hybrid vehicles to use bus lanes is not only crazy but they did not talk to local authorities before doing so.

Auckland without workers

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:53 am, July 19th, 2016 - 73 comments

The unaffordability of Auckland housing is now seriously impacting even moderately well paid professions. As these trends continue, how is Auckland going to cope without without workers?

O’Sullivan and Watkins – warnings to the Nats

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:08 am, July 18th, 2016 - 196 comments

Even National’s fans are worried for them these days. The “third termitis” meme is becoming well established.

More bold intervention needed

Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:00 am, July 17th, 2016 - 71 comments

National Labour and the Greens are all proposing to intervene in the market to do something about the housing crisis. What other policy areas are there where the parties can agree on active state intervention?

A target we can celebrate missing

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:38 am, July 16th, 2016 - 72 comments

Anne Tolley has conceeded that the Nats will not meet their objective of getting 65,000 people off the benefit in the next two years. Good. It is the wrong goal.

The times they are a changing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:51 pm, July 15th, 2016 - 84 comments

Dedicated to the latest UMR poll that Bomber reports has Labour on 33%, the Greens on 12% and National on 41% …

National’s Rodeo.

Written By: KJT - Date published: 12:21 pm, July 15th, 2016 - 23 comments

The fiction that National is doing a competent job of managing the economy is entirely due, now that the boom from Dairy and Christchurch rebuilding is ending, to immigration and rising house prices.

They are now riding a bolting horse that they cannot dismount, caused by their own inaction.

Nats abandon social housing target

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 7:03 am, July 15th, 2016 - 22 comments

As part of their “comprehensive” response to the housing crisis, the Nats are backing off their promise to increase the number of social housing places. Great news for those families sleeping in cars tonight.

Labour’s housing crisis interactive

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:53 pm, July 14th, 2016 - 49 comments

Go to Labour’s Housing Map interactive and enter your address to get information on housing trends in your area.

Public invited to have say on homelessness

Written By: weka - Date published: 5:40 pm, July 14th, 2016 - 16 comments

The Māori Party have joined Labour and the Greens’ Cross-party Homelessness Inquiry, which is now asking for public input into the crisis including from people directly affected.

Democracy vs efficiency

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:15 am, July 14th, 2016 - 116 comments

Events in England really highlight the different processes of the two main parties. The Conservatives have completed their leadership transition, Labour’s contest has barely begun. Which model is best?

Do you pray to take on crushing debt for the rest of your life?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:58 am, July 13th, 2016 - 89 comments

housing-crisis-silly-question Pathetic tinkering with loan limits does nothing realistic for first home buyers, but it does add more fuel to the debt fire. We need to actually build some affordable houses. If only there was a party that would do that…