Rob Salmond at Polity has explained the process and the science behind yesterday’s revelation that massive numbers of Auckland houses are being sold to overseas speculators. Both blog posts are worth reading as they explain in detail how the conclusion that speculatory money from China is distorting our domestic housing market is entirely reasonable. The polity posts are covered in more detail on this TS post.
It’s not racism to point out a demonstrable fact. Conflating China with Chinese might be though. One’s a country with a new bourgeoisie who have money to burn, the other’s an ethnicity.
It doesn’t really matter where the housing parasites come from. It’s against our interests whether it’s Asia, Europe or America. We shouldn’t be a country that can be gleefully looted from a distance. We shouldn’t have adverts about us proclaiming that property investors can get New Zealanders to “go to work for you and give you hundreds of dollars a week” in rent.
The advert, played on Singaporean radio station 90.5 Gold, claims Auckland is “an investors’ dream” with no land tax, stamp duty or capital gains tax. And with the clincher that Kiwis will be paying half their week’s wages into an investor’s pocket.
Telling a foreign market that Kiwis are stupid? Maybe that’s racist, ae?
I thought it might be worth having a look at the opposition party’s positions on overseas ownership. Most of the info comes from last year’s election material and as far as I know these policies are still in place.
Labour wants to restrict foreign ownership. They say:
New Zealanders have a natural desire to control our own country for the benefit of New Zealanders.
It is the right of New Zealand citizens and permanent residents to purchase and own New Zealand land and assets. Reserving significant New Zealand land and assets for New Zealanders is in the interests of us all.
A major part of our current account deficit is already comprised of interest and dividends paid to overseas investors. New Zealand’s poor savings record means we are reliant on imported capital to fund our current account deficit. Most of this comes via increased lending to home owners, but our deficit is used by some as a misplaced justification for the sale of our productive assets to overseas buyers.
Labour will:
clamp down on the sale of rural land to foreign buyers by limiting the discretion of the Minister to approve sales,
restrict the purchase of residential property by non-residents, so that they will only be granted permission to purchase a residential property if they intend to live here permanently or that purchase adds to our existing housing stock, e.g. building a new house,
not allow infrastructure with monopoly characteristics to be sold to overseas interest.
The Greens say nothing on overseas speculation, but tackle the issue from a different angle:
Reduce speculative investment in the housing market by tightening the rules around loss attributing qualifying companies and introducing a capital gains tax on all but the family home.
Increase peoples ability to save for a deposit and service a mortgage by increasing the minimum wage to no less than 66% of the average wage.
Introduce a Universal Child Benefit that can be capitalised towards the child’s first home.
Increase provision of low interest financing for low-income households seeking home ownership
Shift the standard tenancy conditions towards more secure and predictable tenure arrangements.
NZ First’s speculation policy is similar to Labour’s:
Ensure that New Zealand’s housing stock is restricted to New Zealanders.
Non-residents who are not New Zealand citizens would be ineligible for home ownership except if a genuine need to do so can be demonstrated.
The terms and conditions upon which existing approvals by the Overseas Investment Commission for the ownership of land by non-residents would be fully monitored and enforced.
All three parties recognise that there is a significant problem. Most New Zealand residents cannot afford to buy homes. Increasingly, we are becoming tenants in our own land. Now that’s not an issue in Europe, where tenancy is normal in countries similar to our own. However, in, for example, the Netherlands, social housing is cheap, well maintained and close to public transport. Tenancies are long term and tenants have well defined rights.
That’s not the situation in NZ. Tenants have no certainty, our housing stock is run down, our landlords are mostly speculators, whether domestically or overseas based, and the next generation of urban New Zealanders will have no control over their futures. They will not have access to the many benefits of home ownership.
Something has to change.
Good on NZ Labour for pointing out the bleeding obvious. Good on them for being willing to challenge the neo-lib orthodoxy. The invisible hand of the market won’t sort this out, but the next Government just might.
Anyhoo, on a lighter note, the debate about surnames reminded me of an episode of Seinfeld. George Costanza’s mother is contemplating divorce and takes some advice over the phone from one of Jerry’s girlfriends. Mrs Costanza is convinced the advice is Confucian wisdom and decides against the divorce. Until ….
+100 …Good Post….just a pity Labour did not twig to this and concentrate on this before the last election….they would have WON in coalition with the Greens and NZF !….(and Mana/Int!)
This is something that they should have twigged to when they were last in government. It’s been a concern for that long. Hell, it’s been a concern ever since the 4th Labour government sold out to neo-liberalism.
Chinese cash is flowing like water into Western cities all over the globe and its a problem that needs dealing with. A problem that National have completely failed to handle. A problem that Labour could really get some traction on if they wanted to.
Instead we now have the spectacle of Labour tearing itself apart over pissant and false allegations of racism while it simultaneously helps the Nats build a smokescreen over their gross incompetence.
Something so utterly absurd could only be happening in a country so totally submerged in the toxic brew of socialism.
What is more, when the Auckland property bubble inevitably bursts it will be very very bad and a lot of people are going to suffer. Not just in Auckland but right across the country.
An outcome that will be so immensely damaging it will show current pissant concerns with “racism” to be completely off target.
Where will the buck stop when the Auckland bubble bursts?
Twyford’s started it. He presented the data quite poorly and got bad publicity and a backlash against Labour. And yes, National will try to make the most of it.
But, the racist card is being played te reo putake, like it or not, and the person who played it – is Twyford himself.
He could have talk about, like you have, transnational investors. But, rather, he played the Yellow Peril card. I for one, am sick of this style of politics. How many white Australian investors are there in Auckland, quite a few if my last few land lords are anything to go by. English, American, Irish? But, no it comes back to simple blaming the Asians again. This is simply the politics of divide and rule.
The issue is housing for people. And I agree the market can’t organise a do, in a brewery, over this issue. But to use race, ethnicity or any other power differential the elites love to slam working people with to score points. It is just Tory politics with a smile, and I find it repulsive.
IMO he went out of his way to emphasise the Chinese angle, and had many opportunities to moderate it and focus on the generic ‘foreign investor’ but didn’t take them.
I don’t know how he could do it without being specific, adam. If he just said “transnational investors” and the evidence provided showed it was likely to be primarily Chinese, that would pretty much be a dog whistle. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s not racist to deal in the facts. And it’s quite literally the fact of the matter. Right now, the middle and upper classes of China are investing heavily in property world wide. We’re mugs for not having any significant regulation to moderate the downsides of such investment.
I don’t know how he could do it without being specific, adam.
Easy, are house purchases in Auckland financed by illicit cash outflow and if so, is housing affordability compromised by illicit cash looking for a home?.
But the facts, as I see them is transnational investors have been buying up property in Auckland and the rest of Aotearoa for quite some time. The facts, as I see them, is the Chinese are latest in a long list of transnational investors. The facts, as I see them, is that were not talking about those other transnational investors – we’re squarely transfixed on Asian buyers. See the problem I have?
We bemoaning Chinese capital, but not the rest of the capitalist scum. I like your post te reo putake, and agree we have a problem of Tenancy in our own land. But to point the finger at this last group of investors and go – look it’s the Asians fault – is just racism, plus it reeks of the politics of divide and rule.
‘Noble’ defense of the indefensible by some who arguably overly identify with Labour, is going to be oozing around the internet for a wee while.
In the end, I suspect those mounting a defense for Twyford and Labour will satisfy themselves that everyone who recognises and is repulsed by this latest nonsense is racist: that there was no dog-whistle: that Labour and Twyford are being both bold and brave.
I’m not a member of Labour and have never voted for them but it’s plain to see some people here are very excited at the opportunity to shout, “Racist!”.
So; as an exercise, why don’t we just assume that Phil Twyford and Labour ARE racist to the core? We can mentally stick big RACIST stickers on their foreheads and feel satisfied that justice has been done – and then we can go back and look at the issue – which is that the NZ real estate market is being distorted by foreign capital.
Based on this data is seems pretty likely that is, so, now that Phil Twyford has been called out for his devious behaviour does anyone have any ideas about what to about this housing problem?
Feel free to attack me directly Aaron, I asked for solutions – look at my posts across this day.
The only person I’m calling a racist is the twit who should have know better. Quite frankly, no I not happy about calling a so called left wing MP a racist. As a matter of fact, it sickens me – that in the 21st century a labour MP thinks its’ OK to play the race card.
As for solutions – We just take the houses – any empty house we occupy. Stop paying rent, and stop paying mortgages.
But that’s to simple – ask a policy wonk – they will come up a convoluted solution that take years to implement, and won’t work anyway.
I did not play the racism card, your mate Twyford did that already.
1. Yes you did as soon as the limited data available became known you accused someone using that data to highlight the problem of being racist
2. Twyford is not my mate
Not at all. The policy is race neutral and applies to all non residents. Currently because of the huge amounts of surplus money the Chinese banks have the vast majority of the investment is coming from one particular country. But it does not matter who is actually creating the problem the problem must be addressed. And while we are on the subject I would love to see decreased reliance on Australian banks for our mortgages. Pointing this out is no anti Australian.
I don’t have any problem with the policy mickysavage, indeed as far as policy goes labour and the greens is well thought out. And I think I’ve been quite clear I’m not having a go at labour for it’s policy.
What I have a problem with, is people who have rushed to defend an MP who used race, and peoples racism to push an agenda. Especially, when that MP had more than one opportunity to extended the debate and chose not to. It’s not about Chinese’s, Koreans, or Malaysians. It’s about a whole slue of Transnational investment, which keeps us locked down, and fighting amongst each other.
Adam, this just does not help. It was one way to attempt a measure for a long suspected issue. It can appear unsavoury, but you have to put it in context. Do we really have evidence that this MP is a bigot? And in turn those that defend him?
Indeed, look at what he said and how he said it. and what he chose not to say. And the fact is off shore speculation is spread across the globe. But, he chose to stick with Chinese as the target, rather than broaden it out.
It’s a start Adam, and it is the elephant in the room, we have to be honest with ourselves, it is not unreasonable to use Chinese surnames to base a analysis on considering New Zealand’s known demographics.
It’s bloody easy to be offended, not so to work towards telling, or attempt to tell, the truth.
But the facts, as I see them is transnational investors have been buying up property in Auckland and the rest of Aotearoa for quite some time.
Yes, and the “issues of the day” change over time, for many reasons. In the 70’s it was all “dancing cossacks”. Such a concern would be quaint these days. The current housing problem in Auckland was built up over decades of mal-investment into Auckland housing and infrastructure by both the private and public sectors. Similarly, the Auckland housing market concerns truly kicked into high gear 2-3 years ago, when the Australian economy started circling the drain and immigration inflows, largely going to Auckland, picked up.
The facts, as I see them, is that were not talking about those other transnational investors – we’re squarely transfixed on Asian buyers. See the problem I have?
If you have some evidence that shows British people are buying up 40% of houses in Auckland despite making up 9% of the resident population, please present it and we’ll talk about that.
I suspect you’ll have difficulty in getting such evidence, because the government has refused to collect it in any official capacity, and if you were to try and do an ethnicity analysis based on the information the Labour party got leaked, you wouldn’t be able to draw any conclusions, due to the fact that people of European descent with European surnames make up the largest part of the Auckland resident population.
We bemoaning Chinese capital, but not the rest of the capitalist scum. I like your post te reo putake, and agree we have a problem of Tenancy in our own land. But to point the finger at this last group of investors and go – look it’s the Asians fault – is just racism, plus it reeks of the politics of divide and rule.
I agree pointing the finger at only one group is racist. Stating facts about one group – because they’re the only facts that are available – is not in itself racist.
“I agree pointing the finger at only one group is racist. Stating facts about one group – because they’re the only facts that are available – is not in itself racist.”
But the way this has played out is. The MP chose not to widen the debate to all international investors, but chose to stay on target with one community.
“If you have some evidence that shows British people are buying up 40% of houses in Auckland despite making up 9% of the resident population, please present it and we’ll talk about that.”
Again stuck with anecdotal evidence.Most of my friends and me having asked, (very nicely may I add), the real estate agents who are running the property, who actually owns the property. It’s mainly Australians, then English, plus some Irish. This is over moving around a bit and having quite a few landlords and different rental companies.
“Guys, this is not what I meant. Thanks for listening but, to employ an ancient saying of my culture, UR DOING IT RONG. And thank you Keith Ng , for so forcefully explaining many of the reasons why it is wrong, in the manner of a genteel professor tearing your face off and shoving it down your throat in a white-hot stats rage. ”
” Since I stopped being the shouty Asian girl on Public Address, I moved to London, studied quantitative research methodologies, and became better at maths than Keith. So I have stats rage/race rage confusion on a daily basis.”
Even New Zealand First won’t go so far as promoting an end to ALL sales of land to foreigners.
If you don’t live here, there’s zero need for you to own land here. In terms of housing in NZ, New Zealand owes nothing to foreigners, we have no responsibility to look after them at all.
Our government does however have a responsibility to govern in the best interests of New Zealanders.
We need a political party to have the guts to come up with a policy of ZERO land sales to foreigners. Any loopholes will be exploited. No loopholes. No exceptions.
And it wouldn’t actually be hard to do. Simply require a NZ passport, NZ birth certificate or permanent residency stamp in a foreign passport for a sale to go through. Every time. And that would allow NZers who go overseas for however long they like to still own property to come home to.
But for industrial / farm land there could still be cases where foreign ownership, balancing up all considerations, is acceptable. So I support Labour’s policy to make it essentially at the minister’s discretion.
I think commercial investment should be allowed – that been said, farmland should be leasehold only – if at all – preferable for the land ownership to remain in NZ hands with the business usage in a commercial partnership a la China. What’s wrong with that for a useful business venture? – If a commercial potential partners didn’t like those terms you might think that they were more interested capital gains on the land.
Are you promoting a new Left policy to ban all international investment?
After all in many specialist industrial processes the industrial owner has to buy the land in order to build the building being used for the relevant process.
At least even Labour is not that daft. They know a policy of compulsory leasehold is tantamount to saying to international long term investors that New Zealand is closed for business.
Globalisation and neo-liberalism has really benefited most NZers, hasn’t it, Wayne?
Or are you only aware of the nouveau riche in NZ who have gained from the looting of Aotoeroa?
It’d probably work better than private ownership which is now returning to outright plutocracy and feudalism and bringing the inevitable poverty and collapse of society that such systems always bring.
After all in many specialist industrial processes the industrial owner has to buy the land in order to build the building being used for the relevant process.
After all in many specialist industrial processes the industrial owner has to buy the land in order to build the building being used for the relevant process.
That doesn’t mean that the industrial owner needs to be foreign.
At least even Labour is not that daft.
They appear to be as daft as you and National on this one. Foreign ownership and investment is bad for NZ.
They know a policy of compulsory leasehold is tantamount to saying to international long term investors that New Zealand is closed for business.
China uses compulsory leasehold and seems to be doing quite well.
Of course, all we should be open for is trade. Selling off our land and businesses brings us no benefit.
The problem with that is it creates an exception. The simplest, cleanest way (and less bureaucratic way) to solve the problem of foreign ownership is to have NO exceptions. Otherwise the loopholes will be exploited and it won’t work.
If a foreign company must operate here they can lease land. And we don’t need to sell our farm land to foreigners, it just means that the profits flow overseas.
Farm land is about as important as homes to live in. Its land we grow food on to feed ourselves, and land from which we produce products for export.
And at a ministers discretion? I guess you have more faith in our leaders than I. Because I don’t trust them. Not one. There’s too much money in NZ politics, and it’s only getting worse.
Ok, so more regulations and bureaucracy. And for what? So some slanty-eyes can’t own property here? How about South Africans, Yanks, Poms, Indians, Hollywood movie stars and obese internet crooks? Can’t have them buying land.
Nothing in the policy suggests it would just bee targeted at people from China, Kevin. Oh, and just by the way, Kim Dot Com didn’t get permission to buy his mansion – it’s a rental. This doesn’t really matter in terms of the flow of argument, but does perhaps suggest that you should calm down and do just a little bit of research before spewing your bile down the wire.
Shut up Kevin – it’s not like you have to have a government department solely to check IRD and residency or company domicile status – it’s in place already.
I prefer the terms chingalings, yarpies, sepo’s, coonass, and curry munchers. Just personally, as a racist. Oh and fetter Mann for the lard-arse German.
What a load of tosh. On average Auckland properties are not selling for outrageous prices – on average they’re selling for a fair price. What happens is that some run down old hovel sells for a few million for whatever crazy reason and the newspapers put it on the front page as evidence that the property market is out of control. Yes, there are Chinese buyers out there but their influence is far less than what this xenophobic scare job by Labour makes out.
Yeah nah, 10 x income? It’s not New York, or London… Stuff the National History Museum… it’s happening at Motat!
Arse end of the world with these prices? I worry about when one of these buyers comes for a visit and realises Barfoot and Crooksons or Harcrooks advertising was… well, shonkey to say the least.
If this is the start of trying to get the redneck vote has no one in Labour realised that there are far more Asians living and voting in NZ than rednecks. Also no matter how much Labour tries to play the despicable race card they will always be outbid by Winston.
As a Green voter, I’d be pretty pissed off if Labour were playing the race card. All you have to do is convince me that ethnicity has something to do with it.
I’ve never commented here before but this outburst made me so mad I had to say something.
There are two things here and people are missing the point. One is the policy itself. The other is the method of delivery.
The policy of limiting property sales to foreign investors is possibly correct. I would probably vote for it under certain conditions. Not because of racism. But because it takes some pressure off the local housing market.
The method of delivery on the other hand was definitely racists. It used shoddy statistics to rise up anti-Chinese sentiment to push a political policy. Why single them out? Why just push the Chinese mantra?
Seems judging from social media plenty of people have jumped on the racist bandwagon. I’ve seen people talk about their Chinese landlords like they’re scum – but not realize with all these interactions they’re probably New Zealand residents like you or I.
The Labour Party and many on here supported civil rights in recent years. You’ve stood up for the rights of minorities and shamed those who have been bigoted, racist or homophobic. But now people are jumping to Twyford’s defense. They’re justifying the racism. This is disgusting and it makes me glad I quit the Labour Party.
Te Reo Putake, the author, is not the Labour Party.
It doesn’t really matter where the housing parasites come from. It’s against our interests whether it’s Asia, Europe or America. We shouldn’t be a country that can be gleefully looted from a distance.
thanks for your post TRP – you set out the matters correctly. Labour is NOT playing the race card on this matter. Auckland housing prices have gone thru the roof, and most Aucklanders know that the majority players at house auctions are people coming in from China. And it is more than time that the Government acknowledged this and took some real action to prevent it continuing. That is why Labour is bringing this issue to the foreground : to try and get some real action on it.
Agree Jenny Kirk and my thanks also to trp for this post.
I first heard about this issue some two years ago from a real estate agent I knew at a personal level. I concluded this person was a racist. Then I had a brain fart and put my home on the market. Fortunately common sense prevailed and I removed it from the market after only a few weeks. But not before I witnessed with my own eyes what was happening. The only people who showed any real interest were Asian – most from mainland China or Hong Kong and one from Korea. I found them unfriendly and aloof – nothing like the permanent residents from China I had come to know and socialised with on occasion. It dawned on me later they were almost certainly agents or proxies for off-shore clients. That was the point I realised my estate agent friend was right. There was a real problem in Auckland and it was likely to get worse.
I venture to suggest that some of the people shouting racism on this site – and elsewhere – are at the point I was at two years ago.
It’s not a dog whistle CV! That’s when something is implied and we’re left to connect the dots. cf Orewa. At least Twyford had the guts to be specific and show his workings. He has identified a really significant problem that is causing resident New Zealanders to no longer be able to afford to buy a house. That’s not dog whistling, it’s being upfront, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Can you just clarify how he got his info for me please TRP. All I can find is what is in the MSM and have trouble just accepting that.
They are saying that he got a list of buyer names from one real estate company and counted the number of Chinese sounding names and used that to determine the percentage of Chinese buyers.
I know of course that this wouldn’t be the case as that would simply be the most shoddy method of looking at the data as it doesn’t take into account resident NZers whoe have Chinese names. To just assume someone was a Chinese buyer based upon their name would be silly and racist.
There’s a couple of links in the first sentence of the post, crashcart. The second goes into the methodology, but this is how I understand it (bear in mind, I’m not a statistician):
Leaked data shows that a large real estate company has sold 4000 houses in Ak in a 3 month period. 40% went to people with surnames that appear to be ethnic Chinese. The top twenty most common of those names are ethnic Chinese. 10% of Aucklanders have Chinese ethnicity. It follows that either that 10% bought, on average, 4 houses each in that 3 month period or, more likely, the vast majority of those sales were from non resident people with ethnic Chinese surnames.
The methodology seems pretty sound and was externally reviewed, and amended as a result, before the announcement was made.
If I recall my maths correctly, 40% of 4000 is 1600. Now, the 2013 census states that there are 118,230 chinese persons living in the Auckland region. Even if all those properties were being sold to NZ based chinese, that is still only 1 house per 73 Auckland based chinese residents.
This is not to say there isn’t a problem with overseas money pouring in, but making unsound arguments doesn’t help the cause.
You need to finish the equation. Assuming you’re correct so far, 1 in 73 bought a house in that 3 month period. Or, 1 in 18 on a yearly basis. And all from the one real estate firm. Does that sound realistic to you?
I love it how you always come up with some anecdote that strangely perfectly aligns with the labour party spin du jour. It’s so eery how uncannily your experiences always tally with labours needs for support on almost any issue.
Perhaps the answer is to ban all non-Chinese NZers from selling their houses to Chinese buyers – at supposedly inflated prices. Shouldn’t we be blaming the greedy sellers?
I can’t understand how houses are described as unaffordable when they are being snapped up and buyers are lining up.
duh..they are unaffordable for the average ,aspirational employed NZ citizen.Try going to ..say China and becoming an absentee landlord…why..do you think ..they don’t allow it?racism”..or
Actually, they say this in the introduction to their Trade and Foreign Ownership policy,
Ownership of land in Aotearoa/ New Zealand is a privilege that should be for citizens and permanent residents only
We welcome new investment that creates jobs in sustainable enterprises.
We propose that all foreign investment proposals undergo aa National Interest Analysis.
Foreign investment must meet sustainability criteria, and needs to be closely monitored to avoid the expatriation of profits from our productive asset base.
Foreign investment must meet justice and sustainability criteria, and not be merely speculative, or lead to the expatriation of profits from a country’s productive assets, or the alienation of a country’s land from its citizens. Foreign investment in Aotearoa New Zealand has increased dramatically in the last decade. Despite controlling nearly 50% of the sharemarket, foreign investors employ less than one quarter of the labour force, and reinvest in Aotearoa New Zealand less than one quarter of the profits made here.
The Green Party will:
Ensure that international and bilateral agreements put the rights of peoples and governments before those of multinational company investors.
Support stronger controls on foreign investment in New Zealand to minimise the negative effects of speculative and other non-productive foreign investment.
Ensure any overseas investment in New Zealand meets much more stringent conditions in order to be approved by the appropriate government authority and the Minister by:
Reserving land ownership for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents; and
Distinguishing between new investment in sustainable enterprises and the simple purchase of existing businesses and resources with a view to exporting profits when prioritising foreign investment approvals.
Applying the National Interest Analysis required under the Overseas Investment Act to all foreign investment proposals i.e. buildings, businesses, land and marine farms, and where the purchasing entity is 10% or more foreign owned reduce the threshold for scrutiny to 10 million.
Amending the Overseas Investment Act to restrict the sale of high country property to New Zealand citizens or residents who reside in New Zealand for at least 185 days a year for three years before purchase.
Require international businesses with significant operations within New Zealand to:
Establish local subsidiaries that are incorporated within New Zealand, and encourage the development of joint ventures and other mechanisms to create a local ownership stake in activities.
Meet the same conditions for sustainable practises that we expect of New Zealand companies.
Support the international initiative for a charter of responsibilities for overseas investors.
Labour has fucked up on this one, in a dozen small and big ways. I think this will become clear in the polls and in other ways over the next month or two.
Really? How about this “demonstrable fact” – Blacks do worse than whites in intelligence tests. And that is very easily a racist statement in many contexts.
Conflating China with Chinese might be though. One’s a country with a new bourgeoisie who have money to burn, the other’s an ethnicity.
This statement expresses utterly no understanding about the Chinese community, Chinese culture or the Chinese identity. Perhaps its time that Labour bothers to get some Asians into its caucus and its senior party ranks so it has some idea.
And why call this post the “China Crisis”?: if Chinese money flooding into Auckland is a “crisis” then it has been going on for over a decade. And the situation has far more to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of NZ, and very little to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of China.
Except that it doesn’t seem to meet the definition of racism, mm. And I haven’t read a decent argument that puts the case that it does, so far. I included a link to the definition in the post hoping that someone would try and do exactly that and it would be great if someone could go beyond ‘the vibe’ or ‘it just is’ to explain why it is racist.
Its not even close to racism. Large groups of right wingers who don’t give a shit for the poor and vulnerable who cant afford houses in Auckland will think that foreign nationals who purchase up Auckland housing stock are deserving, industrious hard workers. These people will actually look up to this group. That’s why it isn’t racism.
In my view, Twyford/Labour are doing this for the people who cant afford housing in Auckland, which is absolutely the right thing for Labour to do.
“Large groups of right wingers who don’t give a shit for the poor and vulnerable who cant afford houses in Auckland will think that foreign nationals who purchase up Auckland housing stock are deserving, industrious hard workers. These people will actually look up to this group. That’s why it isn’t racism.”
If I let you into the world I once lived in, what you’ve just described is a version of the racism that lives there. Unless your description is incomplete.
You know what will enrage victims of racism the most? That the goodwill sometimes extended to them, that the hope they’re “allowed” to dream the pakeha dream and participate in a certain way, well that’s the smiling happy face of racism. Want to test it? Just do something culturally correct (to your culture, or co-incidentally negatively stereotypical) and see. Stereotyping someone as a ne’er do well on one hand, then an industrious go-getter on the other, all because of racial indentity… it’s all racism – just the thinner less-arguable end of the wedge. They aren’t looking up to those people – they’re using them as props in their own ideology, examples of how if even the “natives” can do it (at extreme cost to their own values/ethnicity/identity), it must be true and right. Letting people be people whoever they are, that’s the only neutral position. Thinking better or worse, as measured by an opposing cultural perspective (that perspective as central by right) … racism. It’s not much of a fall from industrious to lazy. Sorry to tell you that. If it’s any consolation, when I found out I used to do it, the result was that my world got colder and smaller – less hopeful. No one likes sudden dips into reality much.
I have called it racism because the call out from Twyford (privileged) identified a group (chinese) based upon their last name (racial profiling) and this group was blamed (othering) for the problems other people (not the identified race/ethnic group) were/are experiencing. They were blamed when the problem is known to have deep, complex, historic and systemic origins (scapegoating).
You’ve become stuck in the detail and have lost sight of the big picture MM. This is a case of very wealthy foreigners buying up Auckland real estate increasing the rental costs and housing costs of Aucklanders. Any half arsed analyst would have drawn the same conclusions from the Barfoot and Thompson data as Twyford did.
Ive experienced racism and I can assure you, this aint it.
I just can’t stand the ineptitude and foolishness of presenting the information in the way it was presented when it didn’t need to be done that way UNLESS it was deliberate, and I can believe that it was, not just because it has worked for some in the past.
How else could it have been done? Is there an issue with Chinese sounding last names buying a disproportionate number of central Auckland residential properties gauged against known Chinese residents/citizens and referenced against Indian, European, etc. last names/resident status.
This really does put the average NZer off left leaning intelligentsia, and that is why it is being marginalised by the media. It’s plain, and open fodder.
Ok Marty, I understand, black and white it is, maybe I should just fall into my usual milky face cheese armpit ice monkey and chingaling routine. You win.
what a load of subjective rubbish!Even Chinese immigrants that are now NZ citizens acknowledge that chinese ‘investors’ are ramping Auckland property prices.Since the GFC ,caused by western financial machinations the Q.E of western nations has lead to the excess of printed’ money seeking hard assets ,as interest rates are almost negative.Couple this with ‘hot money’ and money laundering and you get what we’ve got in the most regulation free property market in the world.The Chinese premier supplied 450 names of chinese fraudsters supposedly active in donating to National,oops I mean resident in NZ…what action has been taken to identify them and hold them to account?
‘chinese ‘investors’ ramping Auckland property prices’ are a symptom of the problem not the cause – getting rid of every fucking single one of them will not FIX the problem – it is systemic, cyclic and caused by GREED, capitalism, western excess and idiotic lifestyles and behaviour. Focusing the issue on these ‘chinese ‘investors’ ramping Auckland property prices’ is an almost guaranteed way to ensure the REAL problems and issues don’t get addressed – why should they when those ‘others’ have caused it all.
The whole “it’s not racism” thing completely obscures the many forms and ways that racism exists and is practiced in NZ, consciously and unconsciously.
Massive missed opportunity for the lefties here to take a step back and learn something from the people in this thread who have politics that are informed directly by their own experiences of race and racism.
So te reo putake do you think Twyford knows that non-Asian transnational investors buy properties across Auckland? And do you think he understands the power dynamics within Aotearoa? Do you also think that he works in a state free form structural and institutionalised, lets say, short comings? Now do you also think the only form of racism is the overt kind – you know the baiting/slurs and outright bigotry we see from the likes of skin heads and the members of rigorous right wing? And finally does MP Twyford hold a position of privileged?
My point, then by your own wiki definition Twyford used his position to play, the race card. Now I’m not say you have, or anyone else has, I’m not saying the labour party has – all I’m saying is Twyford did. He played the card, when he did not have too. It’s also in what he did not say, when he had the chance. He could have change tack, he chose not to.
I’ve had enough, really, if people want to support Twyford – go for it. Just realise, some of us think he’s a racist twit.
He’s lucky he gets to wake up Hwite every day.
My final word on this, as you can only puck so many times in one day.
Saarbo, I am absolutely for the concept that there is hot money from China and other money printing jurisdictions, distorting our housing market esp in AKL.
I am against the clumsy inept dog whistling way Labour has raised the issue.
Fair enough CV, but the Nat’s aren’t concerned about house prices in Auckland/or land prices anywhere for that matter…in fact they are encouraging it. Someone has presented this data to Twyford, its not perfect but it is compelling and unfortunately there is going to be some collateral damage…if it leads to laws against foreign ownership of NZ land…then in my view, its worth it.
It’s a start Mr CV, we can idealise away to our hearts content… there IS an issue, it’s about Sovereignty above all else, and welfare of all NZ’ers. How else do you get the message across? A Mike Hoskins investigation?
maybe after being polite for the last year and then some, Mr Twyford just thought fuck it, i’m gonna be clumsy, inept and badly judge an issue launch…….but I fucking launch the issue. This is more than a lot have done in the last years of housing madness that is leaving up to 60 % of the population as tenants of rotting housing stock (private and state), or worse living rough.
There are many many instances of Phil Twyford on Q&A and in articles in our esteemed Fishwrap Papers where he calls for more transparency and data on how many houses have been consented too, have been build, have been opened to tenants/owners and how many houses have been sold to overseas interest. Guess what, the answer…….Crickets.
So yes, if he manages to force National in a. acknowledging that the market is not working for Joe and Jane Sixpack, and b. that maybe all that foreign investment into our residential and commercial real estate does make us in the long term tenants with no benefits to the country, then that is a good thing.
But in the meantime lets sing Kumbaya and complain that someone raised an issue that has been rumored and discussed for at least a few years, and that will raise tensions in the community if not addressed.
Well to the chorus of “labour” is not doing enough, too much, too polite, not angry enough, add racism. Well done, and you guys still wonder why we are getting screwed over by the highest bidder.
Gosh, this country is fucked, truly and utterly fucked.
and that will raise tensions in the community if not addressed.
You make a good point here Sabine, which is that left unchecked, this policy of see no evil, hear no evil will damaged race relations in this country 100 fold in the years to come.
+ 1 CV
Perhaps if all those defending this racial profiling research by Rob Salmond and the press release from Twyford read the following they may get a hint of the effect on a New Zealander with a Chinese name. https://nzcoop.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/a-chen-by-any-other-name/
My Māori and Pacific Island friends get stopped by the police far more often than my white friends and they have to pay before filling up at petrol stations when I do not have to. Chinese and Korean friends get abused in the street and told to go back home. Why? Because they do not look caucasian.
By all means ban non-resident ownership of houses and farming land, but don’t target the Chinese because their names make it easy to do so.
We are the top money laundering site in the South Pacific.
Criminal money does not have a nationality, but once our country is drowning in it it is extraordinarily difficult to get rid of. These thugs have no qualms about making politicians and judges “an offer they can’t refuse.”
God defend New Zealand, because we’ve done a shit job of doing it ourselves.
I know some rich Chinese (Let me say they are very nice people, doesn’t sound racist eh?). They have bought some investment properties here and hubby works in China their son drives a Lamborghini I kid you not! My humble opinion this country is stuffed. Why? our young people can’t afford to buy house because prop speculating was never stopped and they’re fucked by student loans and low wages.
Stupid fuckwit governments have been told over and over again,NZ first for new zealanders not,not foreigners, and they do nothing they just suck on the poisonous teat of neoliberalism.
Johnm – it’s New Zealand for rich New Zealanders/Globalist Elites – times have changed, stuff your sense of fairness, justice and down right commie socialist utopia… stop complaining scum… just work harder (and hide your societal moral compass) you loser, oh, and don’t be racist (unless you talk about Maori bludgers).
” What we need is an outright ban on foreigners owning land or houses in New Zealand, a tough capital gains tax to drive local speculators and investors out of the housing market and a massive state house building programme to meet the housing quality and affordability crisis where it’s having its most devastating impact – on low income New Zealand tenants and families. ” – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/07/13/national-playing-the-reverse-race-card-on-housing/#sthash.4uDzdYa2.dpuf
“National knows this is happening but is so desperate to keep house prices artificially large (the growth of house prices makes home-owning middle class families feel wealthier and more supportive towards National) that it refuses to collect the data that would reveal the extent of the problem”.
It is a bubble – but people want to think their retirement years are going to be well financed, or they are mortgaged to the hilt and have a hell of a lot to lose.
Bullshit way to win votes. And a bit of a fuck the kids scenario. To be honest though, Labour should and could have done something about this. Globally I reckon they’ll try to push this for another 30 years to stack up fiat currencies, just think about the amount of monies created out of family homes.
You know the other thing is wages/salaries? Why are NZ’s so low?
A friend of mine is a property investor and a landlord, has a very Chinese name, and by gosh he even looks Chinese.
I believe he has significantly expanded his Auckland portfolio over the last few years.
His family have been here since 1858.
Can’t see this current tactic convincing him to vote Labour.
The real point is that Labour has pretty much guaranteed that East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese) will not be voting for Labour for quite some time to come.
National knows about this only too well. Quite a few Pacific Islanders still raise the dawn raids, which are now nearly 40 years ago. National now has a number of Pacific Island MP’s, but it took a long time to rebuild trust among the Pacifica community.
The real point is that Labour has pretty much guaranteed that East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese) will not be voting for Labour for quite some time to come.
As you would know Wayne most East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese) are politically conservative or they don’t participate in the electoral process at all. Therefore it is fair to say that the majority who do vote are more likely to be National voters. Add to that, the propensity of many Chinese to vote for incumbent governments (because they assume it will be of personal benefit to themselves in the same way it tended to be in their country of origin) then I’m picking this was not of paramount importance for Phil Twyford and Labour.
As a resident of the North Shore (and former MP for the electorate) you would also be aware that the issue has been of paramount concern on the Shore for some considerable time. In light of that, are you big enough to accept that Twyford has shown much courage in highlighting the problem, knowing he would be trampled underfoot by those who – for whatever reason – don’t want the matter to be brought to the public’s attention?
Actually, I think many ordinary resident ‘East Asians’ may/will actually agree and support Twyford’s view as they themselves are finding it too hard to buy a house. It is the overseas investors that are pushing up the demand and hence the fast accelerating prices due to pathetic supply. To know this for sure, this present useless government should open an overseas owners register immediately (and even give retrospective information for the last six years too). I fail to understand see why this clueless government has announced the very bare minimum and that too from next OCTOBER onwards ! Why not at least from now on immediately? What are Key, Smith and the government scared of?
Or he could be a highly respected community leader from a longstanding hard working family that has made an enormous contribution to the community they have been in continuously for 157 years ?
Perhaps you’d like to come down to Otago and start bad mouthing him and his family in the manner you have just done Anne, and see what reaction you get?
Agree, most courageous thing Labour has done for years, Twyford must keep fighting this one for the poor and vulnerable who are renting houses in Auckland.
The working poor are paying a huge amount of their income in rent in Auckland, unfortunately their “inflation” is not the CPI for the rest of us, it is the 6% to 10% increase in their rentals per annum.
Does he care for the 1000’s of Aucklanders sleeping in cold un-insulated garages in south Auckland because they cant afford ever increasing rents??? That is the issue here.
Of course he won’t vote Labour……..like he ever would ? More mileage to be had out of membership of the Cabinet Club and the corruption inherent in it. Ever sat down with your friend and canvassed his honest feelings about Maori and Polynesian ? I suspect that’d knock your studied “I hate racism !” fleece off your lost back. Or maybe not for the reason that these racism charges are but snotty construct.
New Zealand is a huge money laundering site. Dirty money doesn’t have a nationality.
1. Anyone from anywhere can buy real estate here: drug lords, arms dealers, tax evaders, scam artists.
2. One of John Key’s first actions was to remove the limit on how much money can be put into a NZ trust in any year. (Used to be $23,000 a year.)
3. Profits in a NZ trusts that does not have a NZ beneficiary are free from any NZ taxes.
Have you got the picture yet? Example: Bring $100 million of dirty money from overseas. Set up a trust. Buy and sell real estate with no taxes owed. No taxes owed means no IRD checks on who you are, where the money came from, and where you send it from here.
We are the money laundering capital of the South Pacific. It’s not the Chinese, it’s the criminal underworld driving up real estate prices.
Nice work, John Key. Probably a little trick you learned at Merrill Lynch. Nice work Labour and MSM for not exposing it. Ask Cactus Kate for further details.
foreign ownership of new Zealand is absolutely a problem.
but TRP claiming no racism in this circumstance …… and asking for a wee definition of ‘racism’ ….. ha ha what a frikkin laugh…. still like this after so many years ………
I didn’t ask for a definition, I provided one. It’s in the post. And, weird as it may seem to you, what Twyford has done doesn’t meet the definition of racism. Though, marty mars has come as close as anyone to showing why it could be seen that way, so kudos to him.
The housing bubble in auckland is also affecting other parts of the economy – no matter how tempting that job in Auckland looks who can afford to move there to do it. And frankly companies who are beset with hiring problems in Auckland have been very slow to shift staff away to other locations.
if property prices ‘tank’ the private banks would become insolvent….with their rapacious ,one track lending practices reliant on created ‘money’ a 25-30% adjustment could spell disaster!;)except of course they would be bailed out ..AGAIN…and the hoi polloi would take a hit..AGAIN!
@ vto “property prices will tank and you can all feast again”
Yeah right, a Greek feast.
1. A lot of locals will get badly burned because they bought at the market top. The value of their properties will nosedive. But they’ll still owe the mortgage, which they could never afford in the first place.
2. When the borrower can’t pay off the debt, the lender has to eat it. Our banks are drowning in property loans. Will the NZ taxpayers agree to bail out Aussie owned banks who suck billions a year out of us? Not me, thank you.
Depends to what purpose it’s sought to put those stats. If it’s to lambast brown and poor and to gloss over racism/classism/poverty and contrive oneself as the victim, it clearly is racist.
If it’s to speak to the palpable reality that racism/classism/poverty is a major contributor to those stats, it’s clearly not.
Sticks out like dogs’ balls that your purpose is the former. Infused…….the ‘New Nelson Mandela’…….give us a Tui’s break mate.
Big deal. The really vicious issue they are all resoundingly silent on is the TPPA. Once this treasonous deal is in place we will all be servants/slaves/tenants on multiple levels but any noise on this issue? Don’t hold your breath.
And to Adele……it sickens me that long term practitioners both subliminally and consciously of base racism against Maori are suddenly the ones clutching their pearls and screeching “Racist !” at those daring to alert to wells of cheap foreign investment money. Money which in the broad picture simply cements the picture of Maori as long, long, long term victims of racism.
Underlines their bastard contempt for Maori.
This cheap foreign investment money and the TPPA are peas in the same pod, the object being to create within these shores a wildly profitable financial playground for the rich, from wherever they come !
@ North and Adele…a “contempt for Maori” which is very much misplaced and shows up the arrogance of many other so called advanced races
….because the Old traditional Maori (like the Tibetans and American Indians and Aborigines )
…. were/are very ecologically aware
…. and did not overpopulate
…..and women had standing
…. and this applies to the TPPA…we need to think local and support local and live within our means and national country ecology…
…as Naomi Klein points out in her book on the crisis of climate change ‘This Changes Everything’….”market fundamentalism has, from the very first moments, systematically sabotaged our collective response to climate change…The truth is that if we want to live within ecological limits, we would need to return to a lifestyle similar to the one we had in the 1970s, before consumption levels went crazy in the 1980s.”..”a healthy and moderate lifestyle”…”selective degrowth”…
“For many people, the leaked property sale figures reported in the Weekend Herald …… They concluded some time ago that overseas Chinese buyers were behind the boom in the Auckland property market…….”
Interesting editorial in today’s Herald. Maybe its because its based in Auckland that it hasn’t gone “shock, horror, racism” at Phil Twyford raising the tempo on whether or not Chinese out-of-towners are buying up big on Auckland property, but is instead calling for a proper investigation into this matter : just as Phil T, and Labour have been doing for the past couple of years.
TPPA is bad as we all know….and USA foreign policy and corporates tyranny have been dissected at length on this site ( including by me)….but also by some here shouting racism the loudest
….however China also has its problems and those people shouting racism the loudest just about invariably choose to ignore China’s problems…China’s problems could dwarf New Zealand if we let them.
China has a massive overpopulation problem ( 1.4 billion):
Just been looking back through some of Labour’s narrative back in the 90’s when Winston was on the Asian Invasion bandwagon. What bunch of hypocrites. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. Laughable. This race card by Labour is a disgrace. Shame on you. That said, the main nub of the issue is correct. We should not be letting any foreigners buy our existing houses. If they want to build new houses here, fine. But using racism as the strategic “edge of the wedge”, to get this issue out there, is totally un-Kiwi. It’s quite disgusting actually.
Not a race card to question non-dom ownership of NZ property.
Interesting that you agree with the ACT Party, representatives for the international global corporate elite.
Foreigners buying existing houses is a very bad idea, Chinese or not. Foreigners building new houses is effectively, the same as them investing in a business here. Completely different. Turning some demand off (by stopping foreigners buying existing houses), and turning up supply, by encouraging the building of more new houses is quite a sensible approach. That’s Twyford policy, and it’s a good one. Not sure how the ACT party fits in. If they agree with Twyford’s idea, then good on them, the more the better. It is the race card. Blaming the Chinese is just stupid and racist. He just wanted to give the issue more oxygen, and he knew this would do it. Edit: just mentioning foreigners may have been enough, it did not need the vilification of another minority group in our country to shine a light on this issue.
Talking of spin merchants, no doubt Matthew Hooton has prepared his spin on the Auckland housing crisis for 9 to Noon.
Wonder if Mike Williams will rebut his nonsense this time.
No there are more than just ACT supporters who are questioning this.
I mentioned the ACT party to remind people who they are lying down in bed with. The extreme right are on your side.
Yeah I have noticed a trail of “ACT” comebacks from Paul over the place. It’s sort of like a dog pissing on lamp post to mark territory, but ends up like sheep droppings, just mindlessly excreted all over The Standard adding no value. Most of the time irrelevant at best, and don’t even make sense at worst. One word. Troll.
Well, as I said, Paul … Twyford’s racist edge to give oxygen to this issue does not change that fact the he is right, and he has a good policy. Reduce demand by stopping foreigners buying existing houses, and increasing supply by encouraging all investors, foreigners and domestic, to build, instead of buy homes makes sense to me. A good idea, is a good idea. I really don’t see how ACT agreeing with Twyford, makes his policy less plausible. ACT are irrelevant anyway. Obviously you take them seriously, but I wouldn’t get to hung up on what they think.
Supporting a culture of political correctness means that the charges you use against others in arguments can now also be used on you, fairly or unfairly.
No, it’s not about a culture of political correctness.
This is an issue where two concerns of the Left – economic sovereignty and personal identity – collide and have been put in stark relief by Labour’s actions, rightly or wrongly.
”Supporting a culture of political correctness means that the charges you use against others in arguments can now also be used on you, fairly or unfairly.”
Are you saying that if the Left hadn’t supported a culture of political correctness, it would have been able to run an economic sovereignty line without accusations of racism? That doesn’t make sense.
If National have data that rebuts the Barfoot data, let’s see it. New Zealanders need to know, and the Barfoot data are the only data we have. Imperfect though the data may be at present – the picture it paints is clearly indicative.
If it has no data whatsoever, the government is just flying blind, and should get cracking on establishing exactly who is buying our land and property New Zealand-wide – NOT just in Auckland, where it appears mainland Chinese money is flowing. But they should give us the whole picture, or they are simply not doing their job and why are we paying them?
Of course we can see why they would rather we didn’t know who our landlords are. (And somebody must be clipping the ticket on all that money laundering and it sure isn’t me or Mrs Brillo.)
Congratulations!! You’ve all fallen for the Nick Smith diversion- throw out the racism comment and the feeding frenzy for the sheeple begins-fantastic! Funny how the media aren’t that shy about calling out Maori for negative stats, but when it’s middle/wealthy class Asians-oohhhhh!! We don’t want to lose their money now, do we! And then we spend all this time letting ‘racism’ get in the way of the facts. Get over it, and call it for what it is- money laundering and cheap money, predominantly from Asia (particularly China) has been, and is, flooding the Auckland property market, propping up the NZ economy.
Mr Little told Radio NZ today that the average income of ethnic Chinese living in Auckland was below the average income overall, so it would be “madness” to say they were buying so many top-end houses.
One thing i see all the time as my wife is chinese , they use skykiwi for tradesmen, they mostly pay cash with no gst or tax.
There is a whole Chinese black market of tradesmen who can’t speak English, don’t pay tax and live like they are still in China.
As a contractor myself i have a ad in Chinese papers and skykiwi put up by my wife, when a Chinese person contacts me about getting work done they never want to pay the going rate or gst, so i turn the job down.
So on paper some of these people may seem like they are on a low income, but they have a million buck home and two flash cars.
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NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
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+100 …Good Post….just a pity Labour did not twig to this and concentrate on this before the last election….they would have WON in coalition with the Greens and NZF !….(and Mana/Int!)
Agree 100% Chooky. Good post TRP. Twyford/Labour are spot on the mark with this one.
This excellent article on RNZ this morning is also relevant to this argument (Future Financial Stability).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201761887/insight-for-12-july-2015-future-financial-stability
This is something that they should have twigged to when they were last in government. It’s been a concern for that long. Hell, it’s been a concern ever since the 4th Labour government sold out to neo-liberalism.
yes agree…and CAFCA has been going for a long time..
http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/
…but the problem has gotten worse under jonkey nactional by along way
Agree.
Really, what idiots NZ Labour are.
Chinese cash is flowing like water into Western cities all over the globe and its a problem that needs dealing with. A problem that National have completely failed to handle. A problem that Labour could really get some traction on if they wanted to.
Instead we now have the spectacle of Labour tearing itself apart over pissant and false allegations of racism while it simultaneously helps the Nats build a smokescreen over their gross incompetence.
Something so utterly absurd could only be happening in a country so totally submerged in the toxic brew of socialism.
What is more, when the Auckland property bubble inevitably bursts it will be very very bad and a lot of people are going to suffer. Not just in Auckland but right across the country.
An outcome that will be so immensely damaging it will show current pissant concerns with “racism” to be completely off target.
Where will the buck stop when the Auckland bubble bursts?
The real Labour Party is not tearing itself apart over this issue …quite the contrary!
….a pity though it didnt take the stand before the last Election…it would have won!
Well, whatever, Labour are all torn up over allegations of racism that are of course being used by National to detract from their own abject failure.
Is it smart of Labour to be allowing National to manipulate them this way?
Twyford’s started it. He presented the data quite poorly and got bad publicity and a backlash against Labour. And yes, National will try to make the most of it.
Did he, did he really?
But, the racist card is being played te reo putake, like it or not, and the person who played it – is Twyford himself.
He could have talk about, like you have, transnational investors. But, rather, he played the Yellow Peril card. I for one, am sick of this style of politics. How many white Australian investors are there in Auckland, quite a few if my last few land lords are anything to go by. English, American, Irish? But, no it comes back to simple blaming the Asians again. This is simply the politics of divide and rule.
The issue is housing for people. And I agree the market can’t organise a do, in a brewery, over this issue. But to use race, ethnicity or any other power differential the elites love to slam working people with to score points. It is just Tory politics with a smile, and I find it repulsive.
Oh for goodness sake, he did NOT play ‘the yellow peril card’! Watch The Nation interview again, and listen this time!
IMO he went out of his way to emphasise the Chinese angle, and had many opportunities to moderate it and focus on the generic ‘foreign investor’ but didn’t take them.
I already covered my take on it here: http://thestandard.org.nz/international-investment-in-auckland-housing/#comment-1042056
I don’t know how he could do it without being specific, adam. If he just said “transnational investors” and the evidence provided showed it was likely to be primarily Chinese, that would pretty much be a dog whistle. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s not racist to deal in the facts. And it’s quite literally the fact of the matter. Right now, the middle and upper classes of China are investing heavily in property world wide. We’re mugs for not having any significant regulation to moderate the downsides of such investment.
Easy, are house purchases in Auckland financed by illicit cash outflow and if so, is housing affordability compromised by illicit cash looking for a home?.
http://www.gfintegrity.org/issues/data-by-country/
But the facts, as I see them is transnational investors have been buying up property in Auckland and the rest of Aotearoa for quite some time. The facts, as I see them, is the Chinese are latest in a long list of transnational investors. The facts, as I see them, is that were not talking about those other transnational investors – we’re squarely transfixed on Asian buyers. See the problem I have?
We bemoaning Chinese capital, but not the rest of the capitalist scum. I like your post te reo putake, and agree we have a problem of Tenancy in our own land. But to point the finger at this last group of investors and go – look it’s the Asians fault – is just racism, plus it reeks of the politics of divide and rule.
Yep, you’re a fucken idiot trying to racialise an issue that isn’t racist.
I did not play the racism card, your mate Twyford did that already. I’m just pointing out he did – and that he is a racist to do so.
I’m guessing you’re wasting your breath Adam.
‘Noble’ defense of the indefensible by some who arguably overly identify with Labour, is going to be oozing around the internet for a wee while.
In the end, I suspect those mounting a defense for Twyford and Labour will satisfy themselves that everyone who recognises and is repulsed by this latest nonsense is racist: that there was no dog-whistle: that Labour and Twyford are being both bold and brave.
S’cuse me while I away and throw up again…
I’m not a member of Labour and have never voted for them but it’s plain to see some people here are very excited at the opportunity to shout, “Racist!”.
So; as an exercise, why don’t we just assume that Phil Twyford and Labour ARE racist to the core? We can mentally stick big RACIST stickers on their foreheads and feel satisfied that justice has been done – and then we can go back and look at the issue – which is that the NZ real estate market is being distorted by foreign capital.
Based on this data is seems pretty likely that is, so, now that Phil Twyford has been called out for his devious behaviour does anyone have any ideas about what to about this housing problem?
I already gave my tuppence worth on that front.
The problem is that property can be used to make money.
Limit max rents so that a renter doesn’t wind up paying off another persons mortgage – easily done.
Scrap accommodation allowances – that are essentially a landlord subsidy – and introduce very strong tenant protections.
Housing market crashes. End of problem.
And anyone who squeals as their investment becomes….a home. Well…
And it wasn’t worth that much.
Not worth tuppence? Oh well.
The only real argument you put up was that drawing up some formula linked to GV couldn’t mean that a renter wouldn’t pay a mortgage…eventually.
What time scale you think is reasonable (that rent wouldn’t equate with a purchase price)? 20 years? 40 years?
No problem with very robust tenancy rights and abolishing rent subsidies though, right?
(sigh) And till not worth tuppence…
Feel free to attack me directly Aaron, I asked for solutions – look at my posts across this day.
The only person I’m calling a racist is the twit who should have know better. Quite frankly, no I not happy about calling a so called left wing MP a racist. As a matter of fact, it sickens me – that in the 21st century a labour MP thinks its’ OK to play the race card.
As for solutions – We just take the houses – any empty house we occupy. Stop paying rent, and stop paying mortgages.
But that’s to simple – ask a policy wonk – they will come up a convoluted solution that take years to implement, and won’t work anyway.
“As for solutions – We just take the houses – any empty house we occupy. Stop paying rent, and stop paying mortgages.
Ah , the Greek policy- thats certain to work isnt it
Since when I have ever identified with Labour?
You missed the by some who? hey-ho.
1. Yes you did as soon as the limited data available became known you accused someone using that data to highlight the problem of being racist
2. Twyford is not my mate
I go with Lanth’s opinion that Twyford deliberately pushed and emphasised the Chinese angle on the issue. That’s the racism card.
Ideology before rationalism eh Adam?
Specifically? I’m confused by your assertion
Calling a spade a spade – and yes this is a very racist term from my Grandfathers generation, some people, however, now consider it OK?
The comments by the MP were based on reasonable data analysis. Cigarette companies argued for years to obfuscate correlation.
Not at all. The policy is race neutral and applies to all non residents. Currently because of the huge amounts of surplus money the Chinese banks have the vast majority of the investment is coming from one particular country. But it does not matter who is actually creating the problem the problem must be addressed. And while we are on the subject I would love to see decreased reliance on Australian banks for our mortgages. Pointing this out is no anti Australian.
I don’t have any problem with the policy mickysavage, indeed as far as policy goes labour and the greens is well thought out. And I think I’ve been quite clear I’m not having a go at labour for it’s policy.
What I have a problem with, is people who have rushed to defend an MP who used race, and peoples racism to push an agenda. Especially, when that MP had more than one opportunity to extended the debate and chose not to. It’s not about Chinese’s, Koreans, or Malaysians. It’s about a whole slue of Transnational investment, which keeps us locked down, and fighting amongst each other.
Adam, this just does not help. It was one way to attempt a measure for a long suspected issue. It can appear unsavoury, but you have to put it in context. Do we really have evidence that this MP is a bigot? And in turn those that defend him?
Indeed, look at what he said and how he said it. and what he chose not to say. And the fact is off shore speculation is spread across the globe. But, he chose to stick with Chinese as the target, rather than broaden it out.
It’s a start Adam, and it is the elephant in the room, we have to be honest with ourselves, it is not unreasonable to use Chinese surnames to base a analysis on considering New Zealand’s known demographics.
It’s bloody easy to be offended, not so to work towards telling, or attempt to tell, the truth.
Yes, and the “issues of the day” change over time, for many reasons. In the 70’s it was all “dancing cossacks”. Such a concern would be quaint these days. The current housing problem in Auckland was built up over decades of mal-investment into Auckland housing and infrastructure by both the private and public sectors. Similarly, the Auckland housing market concerns truly kicked into high gear 2-3 years ago, when the Australian economy started circling the drain and immigration inflows, largely going to Auckland, picked up.
If you have some evidence that shows British people are buying up 40% of houses in Auckland despite making up 9% of the resident population, please present it and we’ll talk about that.
I suspect you’ll have difficulty in getting such evidence, because the government has refused to collect it in any official capacity, and if you were to try and do an ethnicity analysis based on the information the Labour party got leaked, you wouldn’t be able to draw any conclusions, due to the fact that people of European descent with European surnames make up the largest part of the Auckland resident population.
I agree pointing the finger at only one group is racist. Stating facts about one group – because they’re the only facts that are available – is not in itself racist.
“I agree pointing the finger at only one group is racist. Stating facts about one group – because they’re the only facts that are available – is not in itself racist.”
But the way this has played out is. The MP chose not to widen the debate to all international investors, but chose to stay on target with one community.
“If you have some evidence that shows British people are buying up 40% of houses in Auckland despite making up 9% of the resident population, please present it and we’ll talk about that.”
Again stuck with anecdotal evidence.Most of my friends and me having asked, (very nicely may I add), the real estate agents who are running the property, who actually owns the property. It’s mainly Australians, then English, plus some Irish. This is over moving around a bit and having quite a few landlords and different rental companies.
Good stuff adam – well explained.
QFT
I’ve always quite liked Phil Twford have even voted for him as local MP.
However, this quite overt dogwhistle is yet another reason why I will never vote for the Labour party.
the whole sorry episode has been beautifully dissected a number of times now at public address.
http://publicaddress.net/speaker/identification-strategy-now-its-personal/
“Guys, this is not what I meant. Thanks for listening but, to employ an ancient saying of my culture, UR DOING IT RONG. And thank you Keith Ng , for so forcefully explaining many of the reasons why it is wrong, in the manner of a genteel professor tearing your face off and shoving it down your throat in a white-hot stats rage. ”
” Since I stopped being the shouty Asian girl on Public Address, I moved to London, studied quantitative research methodologies, and became better at maths than Keith. So I have stats rage/race rage confusion on a daily basis.”
LOL
And same to you, only I hope it doesn’t mysteriously print twice this time (not that I mind the emphasis)
[Fixed! TRP]
Thanks for this post.
Needs to be said.
Even New Zealand First won’t go so far as promoting an end to ALL sales of land to foreigners.
If you don’t live here, there’s zero need for you to own land here. In terms of housing in NZ, New Zealand owes nothing to foreigners, we have no responsibility to look after them at all.
Our government does however have a responsibility to govern in the best interests of New Zealanders.
We need a political party to have the guts to come up with a policy of ZERO land sales to foreigners. Any loopholes will be exploited. No loopholes. No exceptions.
And it wouldn’t actually be hard to do. Simply require a NZ passport, NZ birth certificate or permanent residency stamp in a foreign passport for a sale to go through. Every time. And that would allow NZers who go overseas for however long they like to still own property to come home to.
For residential land, I pretty much agree.
But for industrial / farm land there could still be cases where foreign ownership, balancing up all considerations, is acceptable. So I support Labour’s policy to make it essentially at the minister’s discretion.
Why? It brings absolutely no benefit to NZ but lots of detriment as NZers get priced out of their own home.
I think commercial investment should be allowed – that been said, farmland should be leasehold only – if at all – preferable for the land ownership to remain in NZ hands with the business usage in a commercial partnership a la China. What’s wrong with that for a useful business venture? – If a commercial potential partners didn’t like those terms you might think that they were more interested capital gains on the land.
Draco,
Are you promoting a new Left policy to ban all international investment?
After all in many specialist industrial processes the industrial owner has to buy the land in order to build the building being used for the relevant process.
At least even Labour is not that daft. They know a policy of compulsory leasehold is tantamount to saying to international long term investors that New Zealand is closed for business.
Globalisation and neo-liberalism has really benefited most NZers, hasn’t it, Wayne?
Or are you only aware of the nouveau riche in NZ who have gained from the looting of Aotoeroa?
Yip, let’s have the Government own all the houses, land, factories and businesses. That will work, Paul.
If its a foreign operator, then the land can be leased by them for a 50 year term, but it would stay NZ owned land.
It’d probably work better than private ownership which is now returning to outright plutocracy and feudalism and bringing the inevitable poverty and collapse of society that such systems always bring.
50 year lease is fine, Wayne.
That doesn’t mean that the industrial owner needs to be foreign.
They appear to be as daft as you and National on this one. Foreign ownership and investment is bad for NZ.
China uses compulsory leasehold and seems to be doing quite well.
Of course, all we should be open for is trade. Selling off our land and businesses brings us no benefit.
The problem with that is it creates an exception. The simplest, cleanest way (and less bureaucratic way) to solve the problem of foreign ownership is to have NO exceptions. Otherwise the loopholes will be exploited and it won’t work.
If a foreign company must operate here they can lease land. And we don’t need to sell our farm land to foreigners, it just means that the profits flow overseas.
Farm land is about as important as homes to live in. Its land we grow food on to feed ourselves, and land from which we produce products for export.
And at a ministers discretion? I guess you have more faith in our leaders than I. Because I don’t trust them. Not one. There’s too much money in NZ politics, and it’s only getting worse.
Ok, so more regulations and bureaucracy. And for what? So some slanty-eyes can’t own property here? How about South Africans, Yanks, Poms, Indians, Hollywood movie stars and obese internet crooks? Can’t have them buying land.
Nothing in the policy suggests it would just bee targeted at people from China, Kevin. Oh, and just by the way, Kim Dot Com didn’t get permission to buy his mansion – it’s a rental. This doesn’t really matter in terms of the flow of argument, but does perhaps suggest that you should calm down and do just a little bit of research before spewing your bile down the wire.
Shut up Kevin – it’s not like you have to have a government department solely to check IRD and residency or company domicile status – it’s in place already.
I prefer the terms chingalings, yarpies, sepo’s, coonass, and curry munchers. Just personally, as a racist. Oh and fetter Mann for the lard-arse German.
What a load of tosh. On average Auckland properties are not selling for outrageous prices – on average they’re selling for a fair price. What happens is that some run down old hovel sells for a few million for whatever crazy reason and the newspapers put it on the front page as evidence that the property market is out of control. Yes, there are Chinese buyers out there but their influence is far less than what this xenophobic scare job by Labour makes out.
The only load of tosh around here seems to be the BS that you’re spewing.
@Kevin
I gather you don’t live in Auckland then? Because if you did, you would know that everything you wrote was utter bullshit.
Yeah nah, 10 x income? It’s not New York, or London… Stuff the National History Museum… it’s happening at Motat!
Arse end of the world with these prices? I worry about when one of these buyers comes for a visit and realises Barfoot and Crooksons or Harcrooks advertising was… well, shonkey to say the least.
National do not plan for us to be tenants in our own country. They were thinking more along the lines of serfs.
If this is the start of trying to get the redneck vote has no one in Labour realised that there are far more Asians living and voting in NZ than rednecks. Also no matter how much Labour tries to play the despicable race card they will always be outbid by Winston.
As a Green voter, I’d be pretty pissed off if Labour were playing the race card. All you have to do is convince me that ethnicity has something to do with it.
Many more rednecks than Asians I’m afraid – but you miss the point.
This was a calculated risk from Labour. Looking at the Stuff comments yesterday, it might have actually paid off.
Rednecks struggle to read the ballot paper. Or remember to vote. Careful what you wish for.
rubbish …. how do you think key got back?
And there… lies your problem. Snob.
I’ve never commented here before but this outburst made me so mad I had to say something.
There are two things here and people are missing the point. One is the policy itself. The other is the method of delivery.
The policy of limiting property sales to foreign investors is possibly correct. I would probably vote for it under certain conditions. Not because of racism. But because it takes some pressure off the local housing market.
The method of delivery on the other hand was definitely racists. It used shoddy statistics to rise up anti-Chinese sentiment to push a political policy. Why single them out? Why just push the Chinese mantra?
Seems judging from social media plenty of people have jumped on the racist bandwagon. I’ve seen people talk about their Chinese landlords like they’re scum – but not realize with all these interactions they’re probably New Zealand residents like you or I.
The Labour Party and many on here supported civil rights in recent years. You’ve stood up for the rights of minorities and shamed those who have been bigoted, racist or homophobic. But now people are jumping to Twyford’s defense. They’re justifying the racism. This is disgusting and it makes me glad I quit the Labour Party.
Te Reo Putake, the author, is not the Labour Party.
So the argument isn’t based on ethnicity, is it.
That’s both your assertions looking shaky.
Twyford pointed the finger at Chinese during his interview, and missed many chances to take the focus off Chinese and generalise the case.
thanks for your post TRP – you set out the matters correctly. Labour is NOT playing the race card on this matter. Auckland housing prices have gone thru the roof, and most Aucklanders know that the majority players at house auctions are people coming in from China. And it is more than time that the Government acknowledged this and took some real action to prevent it continuing. That is why Labour is bringing this issue to the foreground : to try and get some real action on it.
Explaining or excusing is losing. Politics 101
So if you need to have things explained to you you’re a winner. That explains a lot.
Agree Jenny Kirk and my thanks also to trp for this post.
I first heard about this issue some two years ago from a real estate agent I knew at a personal level. I concluded this person was a racist. Then I had a brain fart and put my home on the market. Fortunately common sense prevailed and I removed it from the market after only a few weeks. But not before I witnessed with my own eyes what was happening. The only people who showed any real interest were Asian – most from mainland China or Hong Kong and one from Korea. I found them unfriendly and aloof – nothing like the permanent residents from China I had come to know and socialised with on occasion. It dawned on me later they were almost certainly agents or proxies for off-shore clients. That was the point I realised my estate agent friend was right. There was a real problem in Auckland and it was likely to get worse.
I venture to suggest that some of the people shouting racism on this site – and elsewhere – are at the point I was at two years ago.
+100 Anne
Uh, no. No one is suggesting that hot money pouring in from China is not causing major distortions in the Auckland property market.
It has been, for years.
What I am suggesting is that Labour has tactlessly, provocatively and ineptly created a racist wolf whistle based on what is a very real problem.
I also think that Labour has caused itself some serious damage with a major part of NZ’s resident ethnic population. But it seems quite OK with that.
It’s not a dog whistle CV! That’s when something is implied and we’re left to connect the dots. cf Orewa. At least Twyford had the guts to be specific and show his workings. He has identified a really significant problem that is causing resident New Zealanders to no longer be able to afford to buy a house. That’s not dog whistling, it’s being upfront, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Can you just clarify how he got his info for me please TRP. All I can find is what is in the MSM and have trouble just accepting that.
They are saying that he got a list of buyer names from one real estate company and counted the number of Chinese sounding names and used that to determine the percentage of Chinese buyers.
I know of course that this wouldn’t be the case as that would simply be the most shoddy method of looking at the data as it doesn’t take into account resident NZers whoe have Chinese names. To just assume someone was a Chinese buyer based upon their name would be silly and racist.
Thanks in advance.
There’s a couple of links in the first sentence of the post, crashcart. The second goes into the methodology, but this is how I understand it (bear in mind, I’m not a statistician):
Leaked data shows that a large real estate company has sold 4000 houses in Ak in a 3 month period. 40% went to people with surnames that appear to be ethnic Chinese. The top twenty most common of those names are ethnic Chinese. 10% of Aucklanders have Chinese ethnicity. It follows that either that 10% bought, on average, 4 houses each in that 3 month period or, more likely, the vast majority of those sales were from non resident people with ethnic Chinese surnames.
The methodology seems pretty sound and was externally reviewed, and amended as a result, before the announcement was made.
If I recall my maths correctly, 40% of 4000 is 1600. Now, the 2013 census states that there are 118,230 chinese persons living in the Auckland region. Even if all those properties were being sold to NZ based chinese, that is still only 1 house per 73 Auckland based chinese residents.
This is not to say there isn’t a problem with overseas money pouring in, but making unsound arguments doesn’t help the cause.
You need to finish the equation. Assuming you’re correct so far, 1 in 73 bought a house in that 3 month period. Or, 1 in 18 on a yearly basis. And all from the one real estate firm. Does that sound realistic to you?
I love it how you always come up with some anecdote that strangely perfectly aligns with the labour party spin du jour. It’s so eery how uncannily your experiences always tally with labours needs for support on almost any issue.
Nothing to see… move along.
Perhaps the answer is to ban all non-Chinese NZers from selling their houses to Chinese buyers – at supposedly inflated prices. Shouldn’t we be blaming the greedy sellers?
I can’t understand how houses are described as unaffordable when they are being snapped up and buyers are lining up.
The point is that they are unaffordable for New Zealanders. Home ownership used to be the NZ dream. Not so much these days.
duh..they are unaffordable for the average ,aspirational employed NZ citizen.Try going to ..say China and becoming an absentee landlord…why..do you think ..they don’t allow it?racism”..or
“The Greens say nothing on overseas speculation”
Actually, they say this in the introduction to their Trade and Foreign Ownership policy,
https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/summary/trade
and this from the full policy,
https://home.greens.org.nz/policy/trade
Cheers, Weka!
Labour has fucked up on this one, in a dozen small and big ways. I think this will become clear in the polls and in other ways over the next month or two.
Really? How about this “demonstrable fact” – Blacks do worse than whites in intelligence tests. And that is very easily a racist statement in many contexts.
This statement expresses utterly no understanding about the Chinese community, Chinese culture or the Chinese identity. Perhaps its time that Labour bothers to get some Asians into its caucus and its senior party ranks so it has some idea.
And why call this post the “China Crisis”?: if Chinese money flooding into Auckland is a “crisis” then it has been going on for over a decade. And the situation has far more to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of NZ, and very little to do with the decisions made by the ruling elite of China.
Very good comment cv. The demonstrable fact is that it is racism.
“This statement expresses utterly no understanding about the Chinese community, Chinese culture or the Chinese identity.”
why bother with that stuff – they look different, sound different, are different – end of. /sarc
“The demonstrable fact is that it is racism.”
Except that it doesn’t seem to meet the definition of racism, mm. And I haven’t read a decent argument that puts the case that it does, so far. I included a link to the definition in the post hoping that someone would try and do exactly that and it would be great if someone could go beyond ‘the vibe’ or ‘it just is’ to explain why it is racist.
+1
Its not even close to racism. Large groups of right wingers who don’t give a shit for the poor and vulnerable who cant afford houses in Auckland will think that foreign nationals who purchase up Auckland housing stock are deserving, industrious hard workers. These people will actually look up to this group. That’s why it isn’t racism.
In my view, Twyford/Labour are doing this for the people who cant afford housing in Auckland, which is absolutely the right thing for Labour to do.
“Large groups of right wingers who don’t give a shit for the poor and vulnerable who cant afford houses in Auckland will think that foreign nationals who purchase up Auckland housing stock are deserving, industrious hard workers. These people will actually look up to this group. That’s why it isn’t racism.”
If I let you into the world I once lived in, what you’ve just described is a version of the racism that lives there. Unless your description is incomplete.
You know what will enrage victims of racism the most? That the goodwill sometimes extended to them, that the hope they’re “allowed” to dream the pakeha dream and participate in a certain way, well that’s the smiling happy face of racism. Want to test it? Just do something culturally correct (to your culture, or co-incidentally negatively stereotypical) and see. Stereotyping someone as a ne’er do well on one hand, then an industrious go-getter on the other, all because of racial indentity… it’s all racism – just the thinner less-arguable end of the wedge. They aren’t looking up to those people – they’re using them as props in their own ideology, examples of how if even the “natives” can do it (at extreme cost to their own values/ethnicity/identity), it must be true and right. Letting people be people whoever they are, that’s the only neutral position. Thinking better or worse, as measured by an opposing cultural perspective (that perspective as central by right) … racism. It’s not much of a fall from industrious to lazy. Sorry to tell you that. If it’s any consolation, when I found out I used to do it, the result was that my world got colder and smaller – less hopeful. No one likes sudden dips into reality much.
I have called it racism because the call out from Twyford (privileged) identified a group (chinese) based upon their last name (racial profiling) and this group was blamed (othering) for the problems other people (not the identified race/ethnic group) were/are experiencing. They were blamed when the problem is known to have deep, complex, historic and systemic origins (scapegoating).
You’ve become stuck in the detail and have lost sight of the big picture MM. This is a case of very wealthy foreigners buying up Auckland real estate increasing the rental costs and housing costs of Aucklanders. Any half arsed analyst would have drawn the same conclusions from the Barfoot and Thompson data as Twyford did.
Ive experienced racism and I can assure you, this aint it.
I just can’t stand the ineptitude and foolishness of presenting the information in the way it was presented when it didn’t need to be done that way UNLESS it was deliberate, and I can believe that it was, not just because it has worked for some in the past.
How else could it have been done? Is there an issue with Chinese sounding last names buying a disproportionate number of central Auckland residential properties gauged against known Chinese residents/citizens and referenced against Indian, European, etc. last names/resident status.
This really does put the average NZer off left leaning intelligentsia, and that is why it is being marginalised by the media. It’s plain, and open fodder.
left leaning intelligentsia? – I’d be offended if I wasn’t feeling so chuffed.
“Chinese sounding last names” lol – come on even you must be embarrassed by that precise description.
Ok Marty, I understand, black and white it is, maybe I should just fall into my usual milky face cheese armpit ice monkey and chingaling routine. You win.
what a load of subjective rubbish!Even Chinese immigrants that are now NZ citizens acknowledge that chinese ‘investors’ are ramping Auckland property prices.Since the GFC ,caused by western financial machinations the Q.E of western nations has lead to the excess of printed’ money seeking hard assets ,as interest rates are almost negative.Couple this with ‘hot money’ and money laundering and you get what we’ve got in the most regulation free property market in the world.The Chinese premier supplied 450 names of chinese fraudsters supposedly active in donating to National,oops I mean resident in NZ…what action has been taken to identify them and hold them to account?
‘chinese ‘investors’ ramping Auckland property prices’ are a symptom of the problem not the cause – getting rid of every fucking single one of them will not FIX the problem – it is systemic, cyclic and caused by GREED, capitalism, western excess and idiotic lifestyles and behaviour. Focusing the issue on these ‘chinese ‘investors’ ramping Auckland property prices’ is an almost guaranteed way to ensure the REAL problems and issues don’t get addressed – why should they when those ‘others’ have caused it all.
Yep. And I also can’t wait for the next idiot to lecture me on what is anti-Chinese racism and what isn’t.
I’ve been thinking that.
The whole “it’s not racism” thing completely obscures the many forms and ways that racism exists and is practiced in NZ, consciously and unconsciously.
Massive missed opportunity for the lefties here to take a step back and learn something from the people in this thread who have politics that are informed directly by their own experiences of race and racism.
Cheers, marty. I disagree, because he was pretty specific that the problem was money from China, not Chinese people.
Thanks for that careful analysis MM of why yes, it pretty much is racism – or at least a racist dog whistle – that Labour has provided the MSM with.
So te reo putake do you think Twyford knows that non-Asian transnational investors buy properties across Auckland? And do you think he understands the power dynamics within Aotearoa? Do you also think that he works in a state free form structural and institutionalised, lets say, short comings? Now do you also think the only form of racism is the overt kind – you know the baiting/slurs and outright bigotry we see from the likes of skin heads and the members of rigorous right wing? And finally does MP Twyford hold a position of privileged?
Mostly yes’s, adam. What’s your point?
My point, then by your own wiki definition Twyford used his position to play, the race card. Now I’m not say you have, or anyone else has, I’m not saying the labour party has – all I’m saying is Twyford did. He played the card, when he did not have too. It’s also in what he did not say, when he had the chance. He could have change tack, he chose not to.
I’ve had enough, really, if people want to support Twyford – go for it. Just realise, some of us think he’s a racist twit.
He’s lucky he gets to wake up Hwite every day.
My final word on this, as you can only puck so many times in one day.
Well this is relevant CV
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/12/chinas-rich-seek-shelter-from-stock-market-storm-in-foreign-property?CMP=share_btn_tw
+100 Saarbo
Saarbo, I am absolutely for the concept that there is hot money from China and other money printing jurisdictions, distorting our housing market esp in AKL.
I am against the clumsy inept dog whistling way Labour has raised the issue.
Fair enough CV, but the Nat’s aren’t concerned about house prices in Auckland/or land prices anywhere for that matter…in fact they are encouraging it. Someone has presented this data to Twyford, its not perfect but it is compelling and unfortunately there is going to be some collateral damage…if it leads to laws against foreign ownership of NZ land…then in my view, its worth it.
No doubt Labour thinks from its internal polling that this was the tact to take on this issue.
I think it will backfire in their faces over the next few polls, personally.
It’s a start Mr CV, we can idealise away to our hearts content… there IS an issue, it’s about Sovereignty above all else, and welfare of all NZ’ers. How else do you get the message across? A Mike Hoskins investigation?
I’m waiting to see if Labour has an actual plan to follow on from what I regard as Twyford’s inept and badly judged issue launch.
maybe after being polite for the last year and then some, Mr Twyford just thought fuck it, i’m gonna be clumsy, inept and badly judge an issue launch…….but I fucking launch the issue. This is more than a lot have done in the last years of housing madness that is leaving up to 60 % of the population as tenants of rotting housing stock (private and state), or worse living rough.
There are many many instances of Phil Twyford on Q&A and in articles in our esteemed Fishwrap Papers where he calls for more transparency and data on how many houses have been consented too, have been build, have been opened to tenants/owners and how many houses have been sold to overseas interest. Guess what, the answer…….Crickets.
So yes, if he manages to force National in a. acknowledging that the market is not working for Joe and Jane Sixpack, and b. that maybe all that foreign investment into our residential and commercial real estate does make us in the long term tenants with no benefits to the country, then that is a good thing.
But in the meantime lets sing Kumbaya and complain that someone raised an issue that has been rumored and discussed for at least a few years, and that will raise tensions in the community if not addressed.
Well to the chorus of “labour” is not doing enough, too much, too polite, not angry enough, add racism. Well done, and you guys still wonder why we are getting screwed over by the highest bidder.
Gosh, this country is fucked, truly and utterly fucked.
You make a good point here Sabine, which is that left unchecked, this policy of see no evil, hear no evil will damaged race relations in this country 100 fold in the years to come.
+ 1 CV
Perhaps if all those defending this racial profiling research by Rob Salmond and the press release from Twyford read the following they may get a hint of the effect on a New Zealander with a Chinese name.
https://nzcoop.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/a-chen-by-any-other-name/
My Māori and Pacific Island friends get stopped by the police far more often than my white friends and they have to pay before filling up at petrol stations when I do not have to. Chinese and Korean friends get abused in the street and told to go back home. Why? Because they do not look caucasian.
By all means ban non-resident ownership of houses and farming land, but don’t target the Chinese because their names make it easy to do so.
CV, see 19 (below)
We are the top money laundering site in the South Pacific.
Criminal money does not have a nationality, but once our country is drowning in it it is extraordinarily difficult to get rid of. These thugs have no qualms about making politicians and judges “an offer they can’t refuse.”
God defend New Zealand, because we’ve done a shit job of doing it ourselves.
Indeed
NZ is a top site of both legal and illegal international money laundering/asset hiding
Absolutely – but don’t burst our non-corruption bubble. Our clean image and lax regulation means we are deliberately targeted.
I know some rich Chinese (Let me say they are very nice people, doesn’t sound racist eh?). They have bought some investment properties here and hubby works in China their son drives a Lamborghini I kid you not! My humble opinion this country is stuffed. Why? our young people can’t afford to buy house because prop speculating was never stopped and they’re fucked by student loans and low wages.
Stupid fuckwit governments have been told over and over again,NZ first for new zealanders not,not foreigners, and they do nothing they just suck on the poisonous teat of neoliberalism.
Johnm – it’s New Zealand for rich New Zealanders/Globalist Elites – times have changed, stuff your sense of fairness, justice and down right commie socialist utopia… stop complaining scum… just work harder (and hide your societal moral compass) you loser, oh, and don’t be racist (unless you talk about Maori bludgers).
What’s that on the bottom of my shoe?
John Minto:
” What we need is an outright ban on foreigners owning land or houses in New Zealand, a tough capital gains tax to drive local speculators and investors out of the housing market and a massive state house building programme to meet the housing quality and affordability crisis where it’s having its most devastating impact – on low income New Zealand tenants and families. ” – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/07/13/national-playing-the-reverse-race-card-on-housing/#sthash.4uDzdYa2.dpuf
Thanks Johnm, this was a salient point:
“National knows this is happening but is so desperate to keep house prices artificially large (the growth of house prices makes home-owning middle class families feel wealthier and more supportive towards National) that it refuses to collect the data that would reveal the extent of the problem”.
It is a bubble – but people want to think their retirement years are going to be well financed, or they are mortgaged to the hilt and have a hell of a lot to lose.
Bullshit way to win votes. And a bit of a fuck the kids scenario. To be honest though, Labour should and could have done something about this. Globally I reckon they’ll try to push this for another 30 years to stack up fiat currencies, just think about the amount of monies created out of family homes.
You know the other thing is wages/salaries? Why are NZ’s so low?
+1
A friend of mine is a property investor and a landlord, has a very Chinese name, and by gosh he even looks Chinese.
I believe he has significantly expanded his Auckland portfolio over the last few years.
His family have been here since 1858.
Can’t see this current tactic convincing him to vote Labour.
Can’t see this current tactic convincing him to vote Labour.
Course not. He’s a greedy tory through and through and the only time he would ever vote Labour is if he was offered a million bucks to do so.
+100 Anne.
The real point is that Labour has pretty much guaranteed that East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese) will not be voting for Labour for quite some time to come.
National knows about this only too well. Quite a few Pacific Islanders still raise the dawn raids, which are now nearly 40 years ago. National now has a number of Pacific Island MP’s, but it took a long time to rebuild trust among the Pacifica community.
Wayne, Labour has no idea how deeply it has screwed itself here, all in search of a very temporary bump in the polls.
What will be interesting is what National’s internal Auckland polling tells them over the coming week.
As you would know Wayne most East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese) are politically conservative or they don’t participate in the electoral process at all. Therefore it is fair to say that the majority who do vote are more likely to be National voters. Add to that, the propensity of many Chinese to vote for incumbent governments (because they assume it will be of personal benefit to themselves in the same way it tended to be in their country of origin) then I’m picking this was not of paramount importance for Phil Twyford and Labour.
As a resident of the North Shore (and former MP for the electorate) you would also be aware that the issue has been of paramount concern on the Shore for some considerable time. In light of that, are you big enough to accept that Twyford has shown much courage in highlighting the problem, knowing he would be trampled underfoot by those who – for whatever reason – don’t want the matter to be brought to the public’s attention?
Actually, I think many ordinary resident ‘East Asians’ may/will actually agree and support Twyford’s view as they themselves are finding it too hard to buy a house. It is the overseas investors that are pushing up the demand and hence the fast accelerating prices due to pathetic supply. To know this for sure, this present useless government should open an overseas owners register immediately (and even give retrospective information for the last six years too). I fail to understand see why this clueless government has announced the very bare minimum and that too from next OCTOBER onwards ! Why not at least from now on immediately? What are Key, Smith and the government scared of?
Non-doms can’t vote, Wayne.
Truth is, they probably don’t care – you’re not going to win from the “he’s good with numbers” cult key.
so what!
Or he could be a highly respected community leader from a longstanding hard working family that has made an enormous contribution to the community they have been in continuously for 157 years ?
Perhaps you’d like to come down to Otago and start bad mouthing him and his family in the manner you have just done Anne, and see what reaction you get?
Baaa
Fine if he’s borrowing his money from local institutions under the same conditions as other Kiwis.
Is he?
Like the other Nat-lite ladder-kickers, and lost people you have been sucked into the dumbed down framing of the problem.
There are plenty who will be listening to see where Phil Twyford’s courageous action leads.
+100 Weepus beard
Agree, most courageous thing Labour has done for years, Twyford must keep fighting this one for the poor and vulnerable who are renting houses in Auckland.
The working poor are paying a huge amount of their income in rent in Auckland, unfortunately their “inflation” is not the CPI for the rest of us, it is the 6% to 10% increase in their rentals per annum.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11425034
“The most courageous thing Labour has done for years”
LOL how fucked is the party if pointing fingers at minority groups qualifies for that
Yep, overly simplistic. Labour has to fight for the poor/vulnerably renters in south Auckland.
This group http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/12/chinas-rich-seek-shelter-from-stock-market-storm-in-foreign-property?CMP=share_btn_tw can take a run and jump, they don’t need Labour’s help. Nats will look after them though.
Does he care for the 1000’s of Aucklanders sleeping in cold un-insulated garages in south Auckland because they cant afford ever increasing rents??? That is the issue here.
Baaa…
Of course he won’t vote Labour……..like he ever would ? More mileage to be had out of membership of the Cabinet Club and the corruption inherent in it. Ever sat down with your friend and canvassed his honest feelings about Maori and Polynesian ? I suspect that’d knock your studied “I hate racism !” fleece off your lost back. Or maybe not for the reason that these racism charges are but snotty construct.
Fine if he’s borrowing his money from local institutions under the same conditions as other Kiwis.
Is he?
Yes.
There are plenty who will be listening to see where Phil Twyford’s courageous action leads.
It leads to Winston Peters.
No problem then. “Your friend” is a local speculator rather than a foreign one. His activity will be addressed in the fullness of time.
Meanwhile, the pressing point, in case you missed it, is foreign capital distorting the Auckland residential market.
You did miss it, but the looks.
I take it you consider anything not Auckland based to be ‘foreign’?
New Zealand is a huge money laundering site. Dirty money doesn’t have a nationality.
1. Anyone from anywhere can buy real estate here: drug lords, arms dealers, tax evaders, scam artists.
2. One of John Key’s first actions was to remove the limit on how much money can be put into a NZ trust in any year. (Used to be $23,000 a year.)
3. Profits in a NZ trusts that does not have a NZ beneficiary are free from any NZ taxes.
Have you got the picture yet? Example: Bring $100 million of dirty money from overseas. Set up a trust. Buy and sell real estate with no taxes owed. No taxes owed means no IRD checks on who you are, where the money came from, and where you send it from here.
We are the money laundering capital of the South Pacific. It’s not the Chinese, it’s the criminal underworld driving up real estate prices.
Nice work, John Key. Probably a little trick you learned at Merrill Lynch. Nice work Labour and MSM for not exposing it. Ask Cactus Kate for further details.
+1
No banks have ever laundered money – HSBC no?
the entire list of them…Citi, Deutsche Bank, Wachovia, a list of Swiss banks for the Nazis, etc.
Business as usual in that industry
Thanks for those details AmaKiwi. It sounds rotten to the core. I guess this is what is meant by NZ as a ‘world financial centre.’
foreign ownership of new Zealand is absolutely a problem.
but TRP claiming no racism in this circumstance …… and asking for a wee definition of ‘racism’ ….. ha ha what a frikkin laugh…. still like this after so many years ………
self-justification is truly a sight to behold
I didn’t ask for a definition, I provided one. It’s in the post. And, weird as it may seem to you, what Twyford has done doesn’t meet the definition of racism. Though, marty mars has come as close as anyone to showing why it could be seen that way, so kudos to him.
The housing bubble in auckland is also affecting other parts of the economy – no matter how tempting that job in Auckland looks who can afford to move there to do it. And frankly companies who are beset with hiring problems in Auckland have been very slow to shift staff away to other locations.
just think though folks, when this wave of Chinese money stops (which it absolutely will) property prices will tank and you can all feast again…
… until the next lot arrive from the next boom-bust place
if property prices ‘tank’ the private banks would become insolvent….with their rapacious ,one track lending practices reliant on created ‘money’ a 25-30% adjustment could spell disaster!;)except of course they would be bailed out ..AGAIN…and the hoi polloi would take a hit..AGAIN!
@ vto “property prices will tank and you can all feast again”
Yeah right, a Greek feast.
1. A lot of locals will get badly burned because they bought at the market top. The value of their properties will nosedive. But they’ll still owe the mortgage, which they could never afford in the first place.
2. When the borrower can’t pay off the debt, the lender has to eat it. Our banks are drowning in property loans. Will the NZ taxpayers agree to bail out Aussie owned banks who suck billions a year out of us? Not me, thank you.
Funny how this isn’t racist yet pointing out some prison and crime stats suddenly is.
I love the lefts way of thinking.
Depends to what purpose it’s sought to put those stats. If it’s to lambast brown and poor and to gloss over racism/classism/poverty and contrive oneself as the victim, it clearly is racist.
If it’s to speak to the palpable reality that racism/classism/poverty is a major contributor to those stats, it’s clearly not.
Sticks out like dogs’ balls that your purpose is the former. Infused…….the ‘New Nelson Mandela’…….give us a Tui’s break mate.
Kiaora koutou
Twyford has been called courageous because he did a Winnie – used race to conjure up nationalist fervour.
The only people who are tenants in their own country are Maori. Maori home ownership rates hover about 28%
A new study published earlier this year concluded that if you looked or sounded overtly Maori or Pasifika you were less likely to get a mortgage.
I personally think we should ban Europeans from owning property in this country – they are too racist by far.
Well of course Maori are not the only ones who are tenants in their own country… but I see the point you make and it is a good one.
Just like all peoples everywhere, the community is stronger and better if the people who live on the land own the land.
Absent landlordism is simply shit and I have no idea why people do not acknowledge this base facet of human existence (to do with greed probably).
Kiaora vto
Nice to see you. I agree with most of what you say.
Big deal. The really vicious issue they are all resoundingly silent on is the TPPA. Once this treasonous deal is in place we will all be servants/slaves/tenants on multiple levels but any noise on this issue? Don’t hold your breath.
Exactly.
Come on Labour.
If you can cry and stomp your feet on this then in order to keep any credibility you need to do the same with the TPPA.
……. waiting
‘Hear Hear !!!’ at 26.1 VTO.
And to Adele……it sickens me that long term practitioners both subliminally and consciously of base racism against Maori are suddenly the ones clutching their pearls and screeching “Racist !” at those daring to alert to wells of cheap foreign investment money. Money which in the broad picture simply cements the picture of Maori as long, long, long term victims of racism.
Underlines their bastard contempt for Maori.
This cheap foreign investment money and the TPPA are peas in the same pod, the object being to create within these shores a wildly profitable financial playground for the rich, from wherever they come !
+100 North
@ North and Adele…a “contempt for Maori” which is very much misplaced and shows up the arrogance of many other so called advanced races
….because the Old traditional Maori (like the Tibetans and American Indians and Aborigines )
…. were/are very ecologically aware
…. and did not overpopulate
…..and women had standing
…. and this applies to the TPPA…we need to think local and support local and live within our means and national country ecology…
…as Naomi Klein points out in her book on the crisis of climate change ‘This Changes Everything’….”market fundamentalism has, from the very first moments, systematically sabotaged our collective response to climate change…The truth is that if we want to live within ecological limits, we would need to return to a lifestyle similar to the one we had in the 1970s, before consumption levels went crazy in the 1980s.”..”a healthy and moderate lifestyle”…”selective degrowth”…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11479754
“For many people, the leaked property sale figures reported in the Weekend Herald …… They concluded some time ago that overseas Chinese buyers were behind the boom in the Auckland property market…….”
Interesting editorial in today’s Herald. Maybe its because its based in Auckland that it hasn’t gone “shock, horror, racism” at Phil Twyford raising the tempo on whether or not Chinese out-of-towners are buying up big on Auckland property, but is instead calling for a proper investigation into this matter : just as Phil T, and Labour have been doing for the past couple of years.
TPPA is bad as we all know….and USA foreign policy and corporates tyranny have been dissected at length on this site ( including by me)….but also by some here shouting racism the loudest
….however China also has its problems and those people shouting racism the loudest just about invariably choose to ignore China’s problems…China’s problems could dwarf New Zealand if we let them.
China has a massive overpopulation problem ( 1.4 billion):
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-07/04/content_10055250.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-tal/overpopulation-is-still-t_b_3990646.html
China has a massive population imbalance between males and females (approx 55 million males more than females by 2020):
http://hir.harvard.edu/archives/8272
China has massive environmental and resource problems:
http://www.livescience.com/27862-china-environmental-problems.html
http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/china/environmental_problems_china/
http://thediplomat.com/2014/11/chinas-looming-water-shortage/
China has spread these problems to Tibet and other countries:
http://freetibet.org/about/tibets-environment
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/05/the-silence-around-tibets-ecological-crisis/275617/
http://www.thetibetpost.com/en/news/tibet/4399-china-says-to-increase-urban-population-in-tibet-30-by-2020
http://www.ibtimes.com/japan-gets-involved-south-china-sea-territorial-dispute-tokyo-offers-maritime-support-1844102
Just been looking back through some of Labour’s narrative back in the 90’s when Winston was on the Asian Invasion bandwagon. What bunch of hypocrites. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. Laughable. This race card by Labour is a disgrace. Shame on you. That said, the main nub of the issue is correct. We should not be letting any foreigners buy our existing houses. If they want to build new houses here, fine. But using racism as the strategic “edge of the wedge”, to get this issue out there, is totally un-Kiwi. It’s quite disgusting actually.
Not a race card to question non-dom ownership of NZ property.
Interesting that you agree with the ACT Party, representatives for the international global corporate elite.
Foreigners buying existing houses is a very bad idea, Chinese or not. Foreigners building new houses is effectively, the same as them investing in a business here. Completely different. Turning some demand off (by stopping foreigners buying existing houses), and turning up supply, by encouraging the building of more new houses is quite a sensible approach. That’s Twyford policy, and it’s a good one. Not sure how the ACT party fits in. If they agree with Twyford’s idea, then good on them, the more the better. It is the race card. Blaming the Chinese is just stupid and racist. He just wanted to give the issue more oxygen, and he knew this would do it. Edit: just mentioning foreigners may have been enough, it did not need the vilification of another minority group in our country to shine a light on this issue.
Leave racism to Winston Peters, Mr Twiford. Mr Little should be telling him just that.
It’s funny how all our friendly trolls are so keen to shut down discussion of non-dom ownership of NZ housing.
Yep. And it appears Twyford has taken that advice right from the start. Nice attempted troll though.
Talking of spin merchants, no doubt Matthew Hooton has prepared his spin on the Auckland housing crisis for 9 to Noon.
Wonder if Mike Williams will rebut his nonsense this time.
Yeah, the spinner for the party that bought us Orewa and Kiwi, not iwi should have some valuable insights, ho ho.
One of the quickest ways of shutting down debate is to accuse your opponent of being sexist or racist.
That is the ACT Party’s plan.
and calling those you disagree with ACT people – pot-black poitics
No there are more than just ACT supporters who are questioning this.
I mentioned the ACT party to remind people who they are lying down in bed with. The extreme right are on your side.
Yeah I have noticed a trail of “ACT” comebacks from Paul over the place. It’s sort of like a dog pissing on lamp post to mark territory, but ends up like sheep droppings, just mindlessly excreted all over The Standard adding no value. Most of the time irrelevant at best, and don’t even make sense at worst. One word. Troll.
Not the best bedfellows to have, Amanda.
Well, as I said, Paul … Twyford’s racist edge to give oxygen to this issue does not change that fact the he is right, and he has a good policy. Reduce demand by stopping foreigners buying existing houses, and increasing supply by encouraging all investors, foreigners and domestic, to build, instead of buy homes makes sense to me. A good idea, is a good idea. I really don’t see how ACT agreeing with Twyford, makes his policy less plausible. ACT are irrelevant anyway. Obviously you take them seriously, but I wouldn’t get to hung up on what they think.
Didn’t use to be the case, but the Left made it a thing which could be used that way.
How’s that CV? Can you point to specific examples of where people on the Left ”made it a thing” by standing up for the wrong groups or causes?
Supporting a culture of political correctness means that the charges you use against others in arguments can now also be used on you, fairly or unfairly.
No, it’s not about a culture of political correctness.
This is an issue where two concerns of the Left – economic sovereignty and personal identity – collide and have been put in stark relief by Labour’s actions, rightly or wrongly.
”Supporting a culture of political correctness means that the charges you use against others in arguments can now also be used on you, fairly or unfairly.”
Are you saying that if the Left hadn’t supported a culture of political correctness, it would have been able to run an economic sovereignty line without accusations of racism? That doesn’t make sense.
If National have data that rebuts the Barfoot data, let’s see it. New Zealanders need to know, and the Barfoot data are the only data we have. Imperfect though the data may be at present – the picture it paints is clearly indicative.
If it has no data whatsoever, the government is just flying blind, and should get cracking on establishing exactly who is buying our land and property New Zealand-wide – NOT just in Auckland, where it appears mainland Chinese money is flowing. But they should give us the whole picture, or they are simply not doing their job and why are we paying them?
Of course we can see why they would rather we didn’t know who our landlords are. (And somebody must be clipping the ticket on all that money laundering and it sure isn’t me or Mrs Brillo.)
Congratulations!! You’ve all fallen for the Nick Smith diversion- throw out the racism comment and the feeding frenzy for the sheeple begins-fantastic! Funny how the media aren’t that shy about calling out Maori for negative stats, but when it’s middle/wealthy class Asians-oohhhhh!! We don’t want to lose their money now, do we! And then we spend all this time letting ‘racism’ get in the way of the facts. Get over it, and call it for what it is- money laundering and cheap money, predominantly from Asia (particularly China) has been, and is, flooding the Auckland property market, propping up the NZ economy.
Mr Little told Radio NZ today that the average income of ethnic Chinese living in Auckland was below the average income overall, so it would be “madness” to say they were buying so many top-end houses.
One thing i see all the time as my wife is chinese , they use skykiwi for tradesmen, they mostly pay cash with no gst or tax.
There is a whole Chinese black market of tradesmen who can’t speak English, don’t pay tax and live like they are still in China.
As a contractor myself i have a ad in Chinese papers and skykiwi put up by my wife, when a Chinese person contacts me about getting work done they never want to pay the going rate or gst, so i turn the job down.
So on paper some of these people may seem like they are on a low income, but they have a million buck home and two flash cars.
Little was quoting official statistics. Your experience may differ from the norm.