Hosking wants Auckland Council deposed

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:00 am, May 8th, 2015 - 45 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, national, public transport, same old national, supercity, sustainability, transport - Tags: mike hosking, nick smith, penny hulse

From the you have to be out of your freaking mind file comes this beauty from Mike Hosking. He is advocating for Nick Smith to roll Auckland Council.

The reason? The housing crisis is all Auckland Council’s fault and a central government takeover is the only thing that will resolve the problem.

Here is what he said:

The Auckland Council, in yet another display of its complete inability and ineptitude, has bought a fight with the Government over special housing sites by blocking three of them and holding the Government to ransom.

In a week in which we have discovered the average sale price in Auckland is now $800,000, in a week the Government’s bumped the affordable homes prices by about 50 grand a house, in a week in which Barfoot & Thompson tells us it has never sold so many homes, the last thing Nick Smith needs is a bunch of head-in-the-sanders telling him what they’re putting up with and what they’re not.

I think we’ve worked our way through the whole “housing crisis” enough to understand most of it has nothing to do with the Government.

Indirectly the Government is responsible for the conditions which exist, ie a strong economy, cheap money, booming migration … but these are broad-based market conditions and in many respects we should be welcoming them.

The bit that does have to do with the Government is supply.

You want to slow prices rising? Build more homes.

The special housing areas Hosking is talking about are located in the Kumeu-Huapai area in the north west of Auckland, well away from the urban area. Council decided to put the applications on hold while it talked to Central Government about transport issues. The North Western motorway is already congested and further development so far from the city centre will only make matters worse. The proposed North Western busway and a very sensible proposal to build up and enhance rail services using the Kumeu station would be required to make development manageable. Otherwise we are looking at more congestion.

From Stuff:

Deputy mayor Penny Hulse confirmed the applications for the “reasonable sized” developments had been put on hold while Auckland Council worked out with the government the issues around transport to the region.

Local residents had told the council they were not opposed to the developments, but “they’re already trying to drive down a very congested norwest motorway to work every day, it’s one of the most congested motorways in Auckland”.

In addition the council was also grappling for funding for rail to that area.

“We were already sitting down with the Prime Minister, with local MPs and the council, who agree transport in that area is an issue.”

Auckland was feeling the gap in contributions from developers, which paid for the basic infrastructure needs around their developments such as pipes in the ground and local roads, but which didn’t cover the wider impacts on larger roads and public transport.

“The bottom line is for us, we’re not being difficult, we’re not being intransigent around this, we’re just saying we also need to manage the costs of growth for Auckland ratepayers,” Hulse said.

What was needed to improve transport links from the west was a dedicated busway along the northwestern motorway, similar to the one on the northern motorway from the North Shore, and electric trains all the way to Huapai.

Not only are the concerns utterly rational, they are also legal requirements. Under the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 a special housing area cannot be created unless the Minister is satisfied adequate infrastructure to service the development either exists or will exist. And “infrastructure” includes transport infrastructure.

How did the Government respond? In typical Nick Smith behaviour the Minister tried to blame the Council for Auckland’s housing problems. He claimed that Auckland is already getting more than its share of transport funding. Given it is the fastest growing area in the country this should not be considered an unusual phenomenon.

And in his typically belligerent style Smith has threatened to overrule Auckland Council’s decision.

“The Government also the power to create special housing areas without the approval of the Auckland Council, if they choose to overplay their cards and demands for money,” he said.

“The legislation makes plain that the Government’s strong preference is to work in co-operation with the Auckland Council, and to work on these issues together and those arrangements are still robust.

“If the Auckland Council overplays its card the legislation does make provision for the Government to approve SHAs without the approval of the Council.”

Of course Smith will have to reconcile approving the SHAs at a time where the transport infrastructure is clearly inadequate.

Getting back to Hosking’s rant the basic fallacy with his comments is that he thinks the solution is to allow more subdivision. Unchecked urban sprawl is the answer to Auckland’s housing problems as far as he is concerned. He then rails against increasing council rates despite the fact that urban sprawl is the most expensive form of development as far as a Council is concerned.

He finishes off by claiming there is no housing problem in Auckland.

There is no crisis, there is no bubble. Increased numbers of houses will come on to the market, interest rates will rise, migration will slow … market forces will meld their way into their own natural solution.

With his every utterance I am becoming more and more convinced that Mike Hosking is becoming the New Zealand equivalent of Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. Either that or the reality he occupies is not the same one that I occupy.

45 comments on “Hosking wants Auckland Council deposed ”

Comments are now closed

vto 1

8 May 2015 at 11:13 am

mind-blowingly thick-headed, ignorant and simply wrong on so many levels.

hosking is getting worse with age, and I don’t just mean his hairdo
- Johan 1.1
  
  23 May 2015 at 4:11 pm
  
  Mike is simply an alien, as his wife has pointed out many times.
sabine 2

8 May 2015 at 11:15 am

this is what he is paid to say, as much as Bill O’reilly is paid to say what ever his sponsor wants him to pay. it is very simple.

I don’t think Mike Hoskins ever had nor will he ever have an original thougth – no one would pay him for that. So simply he gets up every morning and starts vomiting verbal diareha as requested by his paymasters. He is truly owned.
- dukeofurl 2.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 11:29 am
  
  Its a complete rehash of what Whaleoil was spouting a few days earlier. but of course both are on the inside track to getting information from ministers
- HumPrac 2.2
  
  8 May 2015 at 9:05 pm
  
  Owned through psyche as opposed to physical, which (if we’re not kidding ourselves) equates to ‘mind control’.
Charles 3

8 May 2015 at 11:40 am

The last I heard, AT were about to drop train service out that way, past Henderson. An “improvement” to match the other proposed “improvements” to the existing western bus routes that would turn public transport into nothing but corporate commuter vehicles – running on the most congested routes at the most congested times. The new Service Centre investment/development/s over the ridge at Westgate are HUGE. Have you seen the area concerned? How are the people going to get there, and from where? It can’t just be for Hobsonville residents. There is a subtext to this story that neither of the factions are offering, and mostly it just filters through piece by dis-jointed piece.
Capn Insano 4

8 May 2015 at 12:28 pm

Hosking really does habitually talk a lot of rectal masala. He also seems to have trouble seeing past his cushy address, car and twattish-but-expensive hairstyle [paid for by Sky City and the public?].
Aaron 5

8 May 2015 at 12:29 pm

Steady on. That’s a bit harsh on Bill O’Reilly isn’t it?
- mickysavage 5.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 12:30 pm
  
  😀
- rhinocrates 5.2
  
  8 May 2015 at 2:24 pm
  
  Of course O’Reilly is an esteemed journalist, famous for his live war correspondence – indeed, he reported live from the Battle of Agincourt and who can forget his first person accounts of Waterloo?
  - Wensleydale 5.2.1
    
    8 May 2015 at 4:03 pm
    
    Gripping stuff. I believe Henry V, Charles VI and the Duke of Wellington all thought O’Reilly was a lunatic suffering from anger-management issues and wanted nothing more to do with him.
Sable 6

8 May 2015 at 12:33 pm

And Hosking’s research to back up this conclusion? I’m sure we will find that in the same place as his credentials….
Tiger Mountain 7

8 May 2015 at 12:57 pm

“Maserati Mike” as he has been called (yes apparently he actually drives a Ferrari) is a major pud puller, that much is obvious, he does not need to believe his pro business script but it is rather likely that he does.

Moving elegantly from air conditioned space to air conditioned space, never needing to look for a car park, from tory grog up to tory award ceremony and so on could well insulate such an important man from his subjects and their pathetic traffic grid locks out on the Western.
https://hoskingrants.wordpress.com
Stuff the Politicians 8

8 May 2015 at 1:08 pm

Motor Mouth Mike at it again.

This guy is as useless as Tits on Bull.
Over paid and over blown.
grumpy 9

8 May 2015 at 1:11 pm

So, the Auckland Council wants to use this land to extract taxpayer funding for Auckland roading?
CnrJoe 10

8 May 2015 at 1:16 pm

Hoskings – “It is a widely known fact that migrants stay where they land. The main point of entry to New Zealand is Auckland.”

Greymouth to build International Airport.
- Sacha 10.1
  
  9 May 2015 at 8:00 pm
  
  Mike to be given one-way ticket to cover its opening.
saveNZ 11

8 May 2015 at 1:37 pm

What a joke the Huapai is not affordable at all, the sections alone cost $300,000 – $400,000 plus, that is before you put a spade in ground to build or connect to services or pay council consents. The houses will be $650,000 plus when built and more like $800,000 plus.

Auckland City is incompetent, but not as incompetent as the National Government, in particular Nick Smith, one of the top 5 dumbest ministers in Parliament, amongst stiff competition.

As for Hoskings he is proof we come from single celled organisms and is a miracle of non evolution.

Why should Auckland Rate payers have to pay for the National governments buy NZ immigration stance, I love the way the locals are forced to pay while zero taxes on non residents buying up Auckland’s residential property.
repateet 12

8 May 2015 at 2:16 pm

Some of my ignorance has been cured today. I did not know who Bill O’Reilly is. I now know a lot about him if he is like Mike Hosking. Poor bastard. I’d thought that Hosking was unique. Poor world.
rational thinker 13

8 May 2015 at 2:17 pm

hosking sold his soul a long time ago. The funny part is that his ego is so outta check he believes his own dribble without having any evidence to back up his bullshit. I have never heard a word of common sense come from this mans mouth only fabrications of his imagination projected as truth. i have met teaspoons with more character than hosking and at least a teaspoon can be put to good use. what service does hosking provide to society?? I find it insulting to have to share oxygen with such self righteous know it alls
- vto 13.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 2:27 pm
  
  “what service does hosking provide to society?? ”
  
  entertainment
Tanz 14

8 May 2015 at 2:22 pm

He is partly right though. There is far too much regulation on building new homes and too much emphasis on building apartments, as well as unneeded and unwanted ugly art, and not nearly enough core services or common sense. Auckland council has to shoulder some of the blame, as they are the supposed leaders of Auckland. So our rates go up again; as if people arn’t struggling enough already. Arrogant out of control Len and council, it’s all tax, spend, tax spend, and lots of super city wastage.
- vto 14.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 2:26 pm
  
  He is not partly right at all.
- Tracey 14.2
  
  8 May 2015 at 4:25 pm
  
  unchecked sprawl is a big part of aucklands problems. hoskings seems to think more of it will solve it…
  
  builders suffered the leaky building debacle and now have personal liability. .. developers? yeah but nah.
Wynston 15

8 May 2015 at 2:22 pm

“As for Hoskings he is proof we come from single celled organisms and is a miracle of non evolution.”
100+
SPC 16

8 May 2015 at 2:49 pm

The heart and mind of a boy who knows who butters his bread.
Tracey 17

8 May 2015 at 4:27 pm

On what basis, what special knowledge is anyone publishing what he reckons?!?
- fender 17.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 7:36 pm
  
  Yeah it’s a quiet day in the newsroom when the diatribe/diarrhea of Hosking becomes a discussion topic, though I can appreciate the temptation to take the piss out of a total fuckwit who’s nothing more than a paid-for propagandist.
  
  It’s concerning that the fool is allowed on t.v. and could be influencing impressionable minds 🙁
Richard Christie 18

8 May 2015 at 4:29 pm

Well, it’s to be expected, they’ve got their party mouthpiece ensconced in just about every major news service and they expect him to deliver.
NZSage 19

8 May 2015 at 4:40 pm

After the successful “Save Campbell Live” campaign I think a “Mute Mikes Mic” campaign would attract similar support.
Ennui 20

8 May 2015 at 4:41 pm

Thats the beauty of democracy. We all get a vote. Unfortunately a vote from a cretin like Hoskings is equal to yours or mine.
Ennui 21

8 May 2015 at 4:41 pm

Thats the beauty of democracy. We all get a vote. Unfortunately a vote from a cretin like Hoskings is equal to yours or mine.
heather 22

8 May 2015 at 5:02 pm

His sanctimonious pontificating on every subject turns my stomach, who is interested to hear or read his self righteous comments, not me.
the sad thing is, so many people listen and watch him and are influenced by what he says.
stever 23

8 May 2015 at 5:10 pm

Yep…just doing his master’s bidding…no brain..no heart…no courage 🙂
David H 24

8 May 2015 at 6:28 pm

This say’s it very well thank you Joel Clayford. for a good laugh

“I wouldn’t normally respond to Mike Hosking’s comments about Council and Local Government. But his column in NZ Herald this week is an insult even to his intelligence.””

http://joelcayford.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/on-hosking-on-council-shas.html?spref=tw
- David H 24.1
  
  8 May 2015 at 6:32 pm
  
  Won’t let me edit, just a blank screen. Should be thank you Joel Cayford
SMILIN 25

8 May 2015 at 6:39 pm

Next comes the food shortage and gone is any cheap food maybe not in the next ten years but it will happen when we have housing for the rich escaping the over population in Asia at the rate it is now and it will compound to the point that gits like Hoseclip refuse to care to think about as being the reality that will bring about a revolution in this country just like any other place that is stretching the gap between rich and poor and a police state will be instituted like Saudi Arabia to combat people wanting to kill people of Hoseclips frame of mind
The 15 million population target being the economic panacea that will be the optimum rake off for the govt tax is there to fudge the fact that we wont be able to produce enough of anything to sustain the population or the economics of it
But who cares about the capitalist destruction of NZ ANYWAY
NZ Groover 26

8 May 2015 at 8:21 pm

I agree 100% with Hosking. Len will not be the mayor after the next local body elections. He know’s he’s got nothing to lose. He’s pushing ahead with something he truly believe’ in without having to worry about “the politic’s”. If that mean’s that new release of land has to be slowed down by reduced infrastructure budgets to realise that…..then so be it.
Herodotus 27

9 May 2015 at 7:29 pm

The reason? The housing crisis is all Auckland Council’s fault and a central government takeover is the only thing that will resolve the problem.
Perhaps Mike Hosking could chat with John Key Monday morning on his ZB chat show and ask as to why he thinks there is no crisis and Keys response to Mikes suggestions re Auckland Council ?
How can we in Auckland have a housing crisis ? when … our esteemed PM has stated many times that there isn’t one. !!!!!!! Key would have to accept that he was wrong
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/271023/key-denies-akl-housing-crisis
- One Anonymous Bloke 27.1
  
  9 May 2015 at 7:42 pm
  
  To the Hoskings of this world, the answer to every problem is less democracy,
- mickysavage 27.2
  
  9 May 2015 at 8:24 pm
  
  Yep there is no housing crisis in New Zealand … apart from the Auckland Council induced housing crisis …
  - Brendon Harre 27.2.1
    
    9 May 2015 at 8:57 pm
    
    Yep there is no housing crisis in New Zealand ….but the only solution is motorways of National Significance that John Key designed 8 years ago with a few recently added SHA subdivisions for expensive stand alone housing on land banked land.
    
    Yep that all makes sense. Mike Hosking thinks this will allow the ‘market’ to return to historic levels of housing affordability.
    
    If you believe that then I have a bridge I can sell you.
Brendon Harre 28

9 May 2015 at 9:27 pm

Housing was an important and scary part of the UK elections.

Read how the speculators, rentiers, foreign buyers are happy about the Tory win. Housing/property boom to continue in the UK.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/09/election-property-market-housing-crisis-predators-labour?CMP=share_btn_tw

A more detailed analysis of the UK political parties housing policy is here.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/a-real-housing-crisis-but-only-fake-solutions/
Takere 29

11 May 2015 at 1:09 pm

All he really wants is bigger car park spaces so that people can’t scratch his Maserati …. he gets a little upset when this happens. Ask the mum that was abused by him.
herewini 30

12 May 2015 at 12:02 pm

funny thing, since Hoskins came back to tv, I havent watched whatever his show is called. tv 3 is far more interesting.