Meth and housing

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, October 27th, 2016 - 29 comments
Categories: drugs, housing, science, tenants' rights - Tags: , ,

Key’s “War on P” is going so swimmingly well that there’s a lot of it about. But in this context, is it just being used as an excuse? – Methamphetamine blamed for empty Housing New Zealand houses

Methamphetamine is keeping people out of state homes, says Housing New Zealand.

Several vacant HNZ properties are empty because they have been contaminated with the drug, also known as P, the corporation says.

It is hitting back at criticism from Napier City councillor Maxine Boag, who said a lack of state houses had left vulnerable families homeless with many having to resort to motel units for a place to stay.

The problem is thas – Housing NZ ignored warnings over meth evictions

Housing New Zealand has ignored repeated warnings from senior government officials that it is misusing methamphetamine contamination guidelines to evict its tenants.

The Ministry of Health has repeatedly told Housing New Zealand that its methamphetamine guidelines were to be applied only for the clean up of former meth labs, and were not intended to monitor homes where the drug has been smoked.

Yet hundreds of tenants have been evicted from their state homes, after Housing New Zealand detected tiny traces of methamphetamine in them, and are often made to pay tens of thousands of dollars in clean up fees.

The ministry has just published new guidelines saying meth can be found at three to four times higher than the level being used as a reason to evict tenants.

Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said Housing New Zealand had caused a huge amount of harm by knowingly misusing the guidelines.

“Housing New Zealand have evicted people out of HNZ homes, out of social housing, they have blacklisted these tenants for 12 months and they knew these guidelines were wrong,” Mr Bell said.

“What do they do with the tenants that they’ve evicted, what do they do with the tenants who have been blacklisted, what do they do with the tenants who have been given $20,000 -$40,000 clean up bills?

“What are Housing New Zealand now going to do?”

Excellent reporting from RNZ. Housing NZ has a lot of explaining to do.

(The Ministry of Health guidelines are here.)

29 comments on “Meth and housing ”

  1. Bearded Git 1

    No sign of Minister of Health Coleman fronting up on this scandalous issue on Morning Report-Radio NZ do not seem to have asked to interview him. John Campbell should nail him tonight.

    The evictions have been going on for years.

    • Keith 1.1

      No chance.

      National ministers are refusing to front with Campbell as are Corrections and Police and in fact most senior public service managers empowered by their useless, arrogant, lazy and totally ineffective Ministers refusals to do the same. They fall to pieces when asked anything approaching difficult questions.

      They all got comfortable with the patsy’s like Hosking, Williams and Henry tummy scratching.

      • Bearded Git 1.1.1

        Yes nobody was fronting for Campbell last night.

        Its time Campbell got some comedians in to pretend to be ministers and be interviewed. The problem might be listeners won’t be able to tell the difference.

  2. ianmac 3

    Coleman will of course say that he can do nothing because it is an “Operational Matter” or “Commercial Sensitivity.”

  3. Richard Rawshark 4

    If Labour was in power there would be screams coming from every media outlet demanding resignations from all in sundry. Including the PM.

  4. dv 5

    Fair Go? did a program on this a month or 2 ago.

    As I recall they dis a meth test on paper money people in the street had in their pocket at the same sensitivities they were using on the houses.

    The notes showed positive tests.

  5. The New Student 6

    It’s about time somebody picked up on this travesty.

    I’ve posted this before: “Meth testing” detects meth that’s not “P”, including lawful medications and the stuff in Vicks inhalers, to name the most common.

    Decontamination of a property is ONLY required when it is evident that a lab has been in operation. Get it? Mass production of P. Not someone smoking it at one time or other.

    It’s not really the meth end product that’s dangerous, it’s more the solvents and other reagents needed for the cook. That’s why a lab needs to be decontaminated and rightly so.

    A house that has an indication that meth was smoked there at some point does not need decon.

    These guidelines have been grossly misunderstood and I’d say even abused: the proliferation of meth testing “services” and their own questionable methods are indicative of this misuse.

    There needs to be a full inquiry into this matter, those guidelines are in huge need of overhaul and probably some legislative work to protect hnz tenants and everyone concerned.

    I suspect many of those tenants were wrongfully evicted and wrongfully charged. Inquiry is needed but like that will happen.

    • Punk Is Bread 6.1

      In industrial cleaning products also, which makes sense in state houses. I wish someone would test parliament just to prove a point, the chemicals are everywhere if you are looking for a sample that tiny. I recall a scientist saying that if those houses really were full of P then drug addicts would be smearing themselves on the walls. Total sham, Sabin & his ilk are making a lot of money with the fear & scapegoating & of course the handy side product of kicking out tenants (& making a very tidy profit also!).

    • Bearded Git 6.2

      @TNS Agree totally
      This has been a nice little earner for Nationals mates who clean up the houses even though this is almost always not needed. This government just loves to be seen to be tough on “Meth testing” and the collateral damage of chucking poor people into the streets and fining them huge amounts for the clean up, usually on totally spurious grounds, is irrelevant.

      Coleman has sat on his hands and allowed this situation to develop and go on and on. He should resign.

      • Punk Is Bread 6.2.1

        I wonder if any ‘meth’ is still found even after they ‘clean up’? $20,000 to test a house, & they use one swab on multiple surfaces. HNZ Houses remain empty in Mosgiel because of ‘meth contamination’, Mosgiel is basically a retirement home.

        • The New Student 6.2.1.1

          @Punk +1 funny you should say that, because according to the guidelines, following a full decon of a lab/suspected lab, it is expected that meth will likely still be detectable however it is not to exceed 0.5 ug per 100 cm2.

          That is, for reoccupancy of a deconned former clan lab, detectable meth should ideally not exceed 0.5 ug per 100 cm2.

          Source: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/guidelines-remediation-clandestine-meth-lab-sites.pdf
          Chapter 4, table 3

          That magic number, 0.5 micrograms per hundy cm2.

          And yes, using the same swab on multiple areas, wtf

          The guidelines also say that a whole bunch of other key chemicals also need to be tested and meet remediation levels too, not just meth. I wonder how many of these deconned properties actually bothered with those.

          The guidelines are for remediation of known clan labs, not for state houses where somebody smoked P

          I can’t believe it’s managed to get this far 🙁

          • The New Student 6.2.1.1.1

            Ugh sorry for posting so much but the reading is interesting:

            “I wonder if any ‘meth’ is still found even after they ‘clean up’?”

            Sure is:
            1. Fig. A3 p46 MOH Review 26 Oct 2016
            Note the figure caption is a little inaccurate by stating “remediated clandestine laboratories”.
            McKenzie (2014) in her original figure (Figure 6.4 p114) states that these sites are “suspected former clandestine methamphetamine laboratories” for reasons given in the methods (section 4.1.1 p23).
            Either way, the deconned sites fail to hit the 0.5 ug mark conclusively.

            2. Patrick et. al. (2009): “three former CDLs had unacceptable levels of residual methamphetamine despite having been decontaminated by a state-certified contractor”
            Admittedly small sample size, given their constraints, but interesting results from this pilot, which well-referenced in the McKenzie thesis (2014).

            And that’s all I’ve read so far.

            So in a number of cases, decontamination isn’t as effective as one would expect. If decontamination fails to meet the 0.5 ug standard (or even the proposed 2.0 ug standard) then what hope do the new occupants have when the HNZ testers come calling again?

            • Gangnam Style 6.2.1.1.1.1

              Wow, if only we had some journalists left in this country. A mean comment but really, what the fuck are they doing when all this information is out there for someone to collate & present to the nation. Thanks New Student, will look further into that, knew it was a total scam. On the news they have changed the guidelines to 2 instead of 0.5, but won’t say why they changed the number (like what difference will it make).

  6. tc 7

    National yet again show a mastery in crises manufacture and using the dog whistles to their advantage.

  7. ianmac 9

    Of course a tenant in a Housing Corp House is usually powerless to stand up against the beurocracy and not likely to vote National, so toss ’em out and sell the house.

  8. Siobhan 10

    We lived in a house that the landlord insisted on ‘Fly proofing’. This happened after we signed the lease, but hadn’t actually moved in. This involved spraying the whole house with some sort of chemical that kept the house entirely fly free for the whole year. No insect came within cooee of any surface.
    And we lived in that.
    With our 3 children.
    Quite frankly I would rather rent a house where someone had smoked p in the living room.

  9. James Thrace 11

    Fly spray residue tests positive for P. No lie.

    Meth testers only reach the old guidelines because they use one swab, just one, across all surfaces in the house.

    If proper standards were in place, then it would be a swab per room. Not one swab per house which of course, is going to end up with a positive result, every time.

    We had our owner occupied house meth tested out of interest. We’ve lived in it for 10 years. Prior to that it was owned by a retired couple.
    The result? Contaminated. The report from the meth company was scaremongering and recommended an urgent decontamination of the house. We have never smoked P.

    Their recommended company to do decontamination? Oh, their sister company that just happened to be owned by the same director of the testing company.

    Fucking rort. There must be a common law action that can be taken against housing nz for their despicable actions, and the excessive cost they’ve imposed on taxpayers, for no reason at all.

    • Cinny 11.1

      Dang, there is the evidence right there, from your own experience.

      And if fly spray residue makes for a false positive, I wonder if they do a big drive for meth testing in the summer months, when there are more flies etc, more fly spray.

      Same with the comments re chemical cleaners, if tenants move out, the house is professionally cleaned, then tested after that, a false positive is a high probability, and an excuse to keep house vacant, black list the prior tennants, and encourage more homelessness.

      Fucking rort is exactly right. Scare mongering for their own gains and agendas, disgusting.

      • The New Student 11.1.1

        Exactly. This whole thing needs to go to court. Or however such matters are dealt with. How does do?

  10. emergency mike 12

    Politicians and private companies exploiting a “war on drugs” to advance their agenda while shrugging their shoulders at the human beings they fuck over along the way. Who’d have thunk it.

    Drugs are bad, mmmkay, and sometimes I need to rewatch Mr Mackey explain why to remind me of that. But drugs didn’t kick hundreds of people out of their homes even though they, knowingly, had no mandate to do so. National, all heart.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh7l8dx-h8M

    • Gangnam Style 12.1

      What series of South Park is that? I have been watching them all, I didn’t realise how clever it was, always thought of it as dumb teen age boy gross humour until the ‘murder porn’ & Minecraft episodes.

      • emergency mike 12.1.1

        Good move. South Park has aged well, still a clever commentary on various absurdities of modern life. “Ike’s Wee Wee” season 2 episode 4.

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    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    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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    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.
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    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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    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
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    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
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    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
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  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
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    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
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    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    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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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
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    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
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  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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  • 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
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    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
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    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
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    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
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    1 week ago

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