Dog whistling Housing Corp tenants

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, October 25th, 2019 - 29 comments
Categories: Economy, housing, labour, national, phil twyford, poverty, same old national, Social issues, uncategorized - Tags: ,

Housing has not been a simple issue for the Government. Initial expectations were sky high and progress of Kiwibuild has been slow.

On the up side the five year bright line capital gain policy and the policy setting restrictions on overseas ownership have been working as intended and prices, at least in Auckland, have stabilised if not retreated.

And Housing Corp has been steadily adding to its stock after a period during the last Government when numbers were deliberately reduced.

The detail is in this post I wrote during the last election campaign:

This is the graph showing additions and disposals.  Disposals have outpaced additions for some time and the net change is negative.  I don’t know where [National Spokesperson Amy Adams] gets her figure of 2,000 more state houses a year [from].

And the basic problem with this debate? Since 2008 the population has grown 12.4%. To keep up with need as it was then there should be 77,600 state houses. We are going backwards at a rate of knots. And this is before the crisis of affordability has hit Auckland and other areas.  No wonder why homelessness is now so visible in a land that should be made of milk and honey.

Since the election of this Government things have turned around.

National’s response?  As transparent a case of bene bashing as Topham Guerin could conceive.  From Isaac Davison at the Herald:

The National Party will put an end to a “state house for life” if it gets into power next year.

It partly blames the Coalition Government’s halt to most tenancy reviews for the huge increase in the waiting list for public housing – now at more than 13,000 households.

Official reports, however, paint a different picture. They say expensive housing and ageing tenants are the main reasons that people are staying in state houses for longer.

The tenancy reviews, introduced five years ago, check whether an individual or family is earning too much to qualify for state support. They can lead to tenants being moved into the private rental market.

National social housing spokesman Simon O’Connor said the Government’s new exemptions for tenancy reviews were so broad that they were a “joke”.

“National will reinstate tenancy reviews and we won’t be accepting the exemptions either,” he said.

The dog whistle is strong on this one.  Bludging housing corp tenants living it up in cheap housing for long periods at the expense of the rest of us.

But of course the reality is different.

And the Herald reported the reality in this passage:

In a report for Twyford last year, the Ministry of Social Development confirmed state houses tenants were staying in their houses for longer – but not because they were avoiding tenancy reviews.

“This is due to a mix of flat incomes for public housing tenants, an ageing tenant population, differing incentives between accommodation support products, and rising unaffordability of housing in the private market,” the report said.

Tenancy reviews were not the main driver of exits from public housing, the report also said. Between January 2015 and 31 March 2018, just 5.5 per cent of exits came a result of a review. Furthermore, reviewing the tenancies of the households exempted by the Government was likely to find that they still needed their state house.

Of course National know they have nothing to lose.  Their landlord supporters expect nothing less, get they want the state to get out of the residential market so that rents can increase. And the poor know that National is not their friend.

But as said by Mahatma Ghandi a nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.  Clearly National does not aspire to greatness for our nation.  Just the attacking of the weak and dispossessed for political gain.

29 comments on “Dog whistling Housing Corp tenants ”

  1. indiana 1

    "But as said by Mahatma Ghandi a nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. Clearly National does not aspire to greatness for our nation. Just the attacking of the weak and dispossessed for political gain."

    As observers are we allowed to determine who is the weakest number? Is it the single grandmother who has lived in a 4 bedroom state house for 50-60 years, but does not want to moved to a single bedroom apartment. Or is its the family of four that cannot be allocated a 4 bedroom home as there is an abundance of single bedroom state homes/apartments?

    [lprent: Perhaps you should prove that there is :-

    “…there is an abundance of single bedroom state homes/apartments?”

    The National government didn’t build any as far as I can see, and was actively looking at selling off those that they had. Certainly around where I live that was the case.

    As I happen to intensely dislike false assertions (especially ones that are framed as truisms) you are banned for 3 weeks to discourage a repeat (of course you can provide evidence to justify your assertion with some actual numbers).

    National had 9 years to put up some single bedroom homes/flats/apartments. As far as I am aware the number of those reduced. There is a massive shortage of one or two bedroom housing corp places. Typically those that are available are are vast distances from where someone has lived most of their life. Which is one of the main reasons that tenants will hang on to what they have rather than being kicked out.

    I think that you are a lazy dog-whistling lying troll, so I’ll do as National does – I will assume you are until you you prove that you are not. ]

    • Incognito 1.1

      As a commenter here, you are allowed to lay out your arguments and start a discussion thread. Or you could spray and walk away.

    • Well that is a question that has been asked by government that has narrowed assistance with housing. When National started screwing down the welfare state they were making people shift from their town to another far away if it was a single woman; to go from a two bedroom house to a one bedroom unit in the distant town, just uplifted from friends and known neighbourhood and services. The authorities would not be likely to have even considered her renting a room to someone to ensure that the spare room was being utilised.

      In fact one of the National harpies was incensed to find that state house tenants in South Auckland were renting a room to someone. It would never occur to such an unpretty pollie, that this was offering someone a place to live – perhaps a relative – and it was a useful thing to do for the boarder/tenant and the state. No they looked at it on a narrow monetary basis and because there was an edict against being helpful, the same as private landlords who don't have a duty to assist citizens with housing as the state does. Whatever the poor do to advance or help each other and themselves they will be condemned on some pretext.

      Similarly Metiria Turei was villified for taking in an extra renter to help her make ends meet while she studied hard to get the skills for a secure job suitable for a parent.

    • SPC 1.3

      There is probably a case for the government to buy one bedroom apartments/flats in areas where there are homeless low income families. Then move some tenants from family size state housing into these newly acquired smaller spaces.

    • Agora 1.4

      Re. MAHATMA GHANDI.. I travelled in India by train. In Benares I lived in a houseboat next to pyres burning human remains night and day and dogs scavenging the bones.

      I did not expect NZ Nationalists wouldd try to recreate the Raj in Auckland.

  2. Sabine 2

    so essentially National still has no mates and is still having a hard time moving on from John Key?

    National, no mates, no ideas, vote for us!

  3. Peter 3

    What it all really means? That the truth is irrelevant.

    It means the intellectually limited will be heartened and spread the message that the National Government is going to be tough and deal to losers.

  4. gsays 4

    A couple of observations, the landlord class isn't limited to National voters or MPs.

    The picture accompanying this post makes me think of two Harry Enfield characters: Loadsamoney and Waynetta Slob.

  5. …. ' The National Party will put an end to a “state house for life” if it gets into power next year ' ….

    The answer is simple.

    Keep them out of power.

    When we look at Germany, and Scandinavia, and we see that most of the populace are long term if not life tenants,… we see how archaic the ChiNational party really is.

    Quite appalling, really.

    So dreadfully out of touch with the developed world.

    So 19th century in their approach.

    So ,… Oliver Twist and Ebenezer Scrooge… you can almost smell the smog from their belching factory’s, in fact…

    What they really would prefer is endless lines queuing up for soup kitchens and even greater lines queuing up for a days exploitative and poorly paid work.

    A return to the 19th century ,- the glory days of subservience, hierarchy and the working class knowing their place and not trying to rise above their stations. Oh ,… and exorbitant profits to be made by industrialists and landlords.

    I find it a curious mix of bedfellows tolerated by the ChiNational party … at the one time exuding the far right wing neo con / hawkishness of the extremes of the American Republican party,… yet on the other hand being so far embedded up communist China's arse regards crony business deals ( complete with an ex Chinese spy trainer as one of their MP's ) and free trade deals with the same that all you can really see of them is their toenails hanging out China's rear orifice…

    • John Clover 5.1

      I definitely think that state housed folk should not be permitted to occupy multi bedroom houses at the expense of multi children families.

      However also in state house areas the state should build an range of properties so that single people left by their families are housed in maximum two bedroom properties so they can have family visit them.

      The case of the woman in a four bedroom house was a disgraceful example of inept housing policy by the department.

      Remember that state house tenants are being subsidised by all of us living in the private sector. Of course those who either are depriving themselve to pay a huge rent privately or like me in earlier times are/were able to buy/build for themselves might not agree. 🙂

      • WILD KATIPO 5.1.1

        No problems with a single or couple being relocated to a two bedroomed dwelling,… however, one must juxtapose the costs on a society of family's living on the street and the inherent anger and bitterness among the young that can lead to social disorder ie : theft, vandalism, violence etc. Do we really want to end up like other country's whereby poverty is the breeding grounds for violent social unrest?

        Is the price of providing basic housing not worth it?

        And heres another thing, – for the last 9 years we have seen this problem of state housing getting worse and worse. Driven mainly by a rapacious National govt hell bent on selling off those remaining state houses to private interests while at the same time allowing offshore interests to ramp up housing prices to the point where there was and still is a housing crisis.

        All in the name of neo liberal private enterprise.

        Meanwhile, children died in preventable third world type diseases in moldy, cold , dilapidated state houses according to our own medical reports.

        And lets not forget that those state houses were originally built to house the family's of those workers who served the interests of the state in large work projects, – now they serve the interests of the business elites more often than not.

        So.

        It seems if you or I want service, we need to house those workers and their familys somewhere.

        Or else take your own trash to the dump,- and pay the fees and like or lump the inconvenience when doing so.

  6. Barfly 6

    The National party …home of evil bastards

  7. Stuart Munro. 7

    Housing still has a long way to go – and while the government maintains a policy of net migration in the order of 50k pa, achievements of the order of 2.7 k homes are readily overlooked.

    Evidently that 50k inward migration target is such a massive sacred cow that New Zealanders are to end up on the streets in service of it.

    • Don't worry , Stuart,- all their trying to do is replace the over 650,000 New Zealanders who moved permanently to Australia just after Ruth Richardson's Employment Contracts Act 1991 was passed…

      With cheap, foreign ,non unionized labour.

      And if that means New Zealanders and immigrants get to sleep on a park bench? – somehow they figure its all been worth it for their own little comfort zones and cozy retirements,- not to mention the glorious opportunity’s for future investments with great returns for them and their offspring…

      As for the rest of us in struggle street…

      Have they even heard it exists???

  8. Craig H 8

    I never really understood the problem since long term State House tenants either qualify for income related rent, in which case they qualify for the house, or they don't, in which case they pay market rent and HNZ can use that income to build another house. It's a self-correcting situation.

    • John Clover 8.1

      It should be Craig but the trouble is the inflexibility of state department's thinking. But I doubt if a private "department" would work any better.

      Isn't the problem of the polies/voters wanting a dividend from a trading dept? So housing department's loose any profits..

      • Craig H 8.1.1

        A trading dividend would incentivise keeping stable tenants at market rents, but I agree that the correct use of the money made is maintenance of existing stock and building new houses.

  9. Peter Martin 9

    I agree with the sentiment…but not the quote…

    'It was American writer and novelist Pearl Buck (1892-1973), best known for her novel, The Good Earth (winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932), and recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature that wrote: “Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.”'

  10. Lettuce 10

    "I can personally guarantee that every New Zealand family will have a section of pavement to sleep on when I'm Prime Minister."

    Simon Bridges

    National – 'Delivering for our donors'

  11. michelle 11

    National sold 2 thousand state houses they sold land as well they sold SHA areas to the chinese airline company and they sold to developers and they also sold to some so – called community housing providers. National did this so they don't have to provide this much needed service. Then for 9 years we herd them say we don't have a housing crisis. Now they are at it again after selling many of our assets paid for with our taxes they are selling us down the tiolet.

  12. John Clover 12

    I see part of the problem as with our good nature we are accepting refugees and housing them ahead of kiwi citizens. We should look after our own ahead of inviting people from overseas.

    • Incognito 12.1

      Well, John, since you appear to be strong with facts, why don’t you give us some numbers to go on? For example, how many refugees does NZ let into the country annually?

  13. John Clover 13

    I do not think I am strong on facts but I believe the total in past years has been 750 pa and that is going up to 1500 pa

  14. John Clover 14

    Incognito

    Plese explain to somebody not as worldly as you what 'dog whisling' means 🙂

    • Incognito 14.1

      It’s in the title of the OP so rather odd that you have to ask. Have you tried using a search engine to edify yourself?

  15. John Clover 15

    Yes I did and I am not sure I understand it any better.

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  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
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    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
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    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
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    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
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  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
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    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
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    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
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    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
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    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
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    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
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    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
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    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
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    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
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    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
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    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
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    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
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    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
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    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
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  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
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    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
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    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
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    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
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  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
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    1 week ago

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