NRT: Cronyism in Christchurch

26 comments on “NRT: Cronyism in Christchurch ”

• Comments are now closed

1. fisiani 1

   8 August 2014 at 8:56 pm

   Come on just admit it. The Left do not want Christchurch to be reborn and have a convention centre. You use the two degrees of separation in NZ to allege cronyism. Shame on you. The South Island has just 1 million people. Christchurch has just 400,000 people and only about 10 people able to pull this off. what other pathetic attempted smear will be unearthed next in this positive campaign.
   • mickysavage 1.1

     8 August 2014 at 9:12 pm

     I think the left would prefer that there were enough warm houses to go around. $284 million is enough for 710 houses. And do you approve of the Carter whanau doing so well?
     • fisiani 1.1.1

       8 August 2014 at 9:21 pm

       National has insulated more state houses in 6 years than Labour has ever done. Of course I approve of people doing well. You surely are not serious that there has been favoritism. Got any proof?
       • Weepus beard 1.1.1.1

         8 August 2014 at 9:39 pm

         Proof? No, not now, but that’s why the OP wants the relevant questions asked. Do you not want the relevant questions asked? A National government stamp of approval is everything to you lazy sycophantic supporters.
       • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.2

         8 August 2014 at 9:42 pm

         National has insulated more state houses in 6 years than Labour has ever done.

         Well, actually it was the Greens rather than National but I’m not surprised that National are trying to take the credit for themselves the bunch of lying, thieving arseholes that they are. And, yes, we should have started insulating houses far sooner than we did. We should also have far stronger minimum standards as far as new houses go.

         Of course I approve of people doing well.

         I approve of people doing well as well – I just don’t approve of people getting lots of money for doing SFA and/or through corruption.
     • mike 1.1.2

       10 August 2014 at 5:07 pm

       This consortium was the lowest bidder, therefore was the one that should have won the contract.
   • Draco T Bastard 1.2

     8 August 2014 at 9:31 pm

     A convention centre in Auckland is a waste of money and resources. One in Christchurch doubly so. That’s just the market.

     Christchurch has just 400,000 people and only about 10 people able to pull this off.

     Actually, I’d say that there’s probably closer to 40,000 or more that are quite capable of pulling this off with government funding.

     Organisational people aren’t as rare as the ones getting the top dollars like to think and that is what proves that this is pure corruption. It’s just the Old Boys Network at work.
     • Populuxe1 1.2.1

       9 August 2014 at 3:57 pm

       Aside from the fact that smaller ambitious and overextended developers, builders and project managers have already gone bust by the truck load in what is a high risk operation.
       Also one wonders where this “government funding” would be coming from in such large amounts that would see other areas of state welfare and infrastructure slashed.
       • Draco T Bastard 1.2.1.1

         9 August 2014 at 4:10 pm

         Aside from the fact that smaller ambitious and overextended developers, builders and project managers have already gone bust by the truck load in what is a high risk operation.

         Why is it high risk? Why is one of our major cities being allowed to collapse?

         Also one wonders where this “government funding” would be coming from in such large amounts that would see other areas of state welfare and infrastructure slashed.

         Where is the funding for the convention centre coming from now? That convention centre isn’t being built via private funds.

         It is always the public that funds everything and the rich skimming off the top to become even richer.
         • Populuxe1 1.2.1.1.1

           9 August 2014 at 8:47 pm

           Furthermore I can only see your proposal encouraging more of this:
           http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/10365779/Builders-face-a-litany-of-complaints
   • Lanthanide 1.3

     8 August 2014 at 10:01 pm

     I don’t really think we need a white elephant convention centre that is supposed to compete with the massive ones also being planned for Auckland and Queenstown.

     Just like we don’t need a massive covered white-elephant stadium.
     • Puddleglum 1.3.1

       8 August 2014 at 10:28 pm

       Absolutely agree Lanthanide.

       It seems to me that their only significant consequence is to increase the financial pressure on the Christchurch City Council (the stadium in particular).
       • Lanthanide 1.3.1.1

         9 August 2014 at 12:17 pm

         As I’ve refrained, the stadium will never be built as it’s currently planned. It’s already been put on hiatus until ~2017 or so, the only one of the anchor projects to have been so shelved.
         • Puddleglum 1.3.1.1.1

           9 August 2014 at 4:26 pm

           I hope so too – it has partly served its other purpose of shoring up land values of land in the central city that is not part of the anchor projects like it and the Frame so it was partly just a shiny ‘spectacle’ of an idea for the Blueprint launch.

           Nevertheless, whether or not it gets built, the financial commitment will stay on the Council’s books unless and until a decision is made not to go ahead with it. The Council has signed up to it so I presume it must be in the budget forecasts.
   • Mark 1.4

     9 August 2014 at 12:36 pm

     Fuck National. I’m a Cantab and i’m closer to sixty than twenty but those young people got it so right this week. Fuck John Key. The anger towards those tossers and what they have done to Christchurch is going to blow one day. Someone will die. Nothing surer. People have a breaking point and its well passed down here. The first Nat canvasser that knocks on my door will need an ambulance.I ‘ve had enough. Fuck John Key. Fuck National.
     • Tracey 1.4.1

       9 August 2014 at 12:53 pm

       240m would go a long way to fixing roads and infrastructure. …
     • fisiani 1.4.2

       9 August 2014 at 8:42 pm

       Mark you are an angry man. Get a grip on reality. You are threatening violence and death and lack a vocabulary with words longer than four letters.
       • Weepus beard 1.4.2.1

         9 August 2014 at 9:35 pm

         This mirrors National party policy towards the people of Christchurch.

         Shut up, harden up.

         Your emotions mean nothing to us.
2. philj 2

   8 August 2014 at 9:19 pm

   xox
   Sure fizzy, the people chosen are the only way this growth opportunity can happen. Albeit with a government $280 million buck handout. And I thought the market would provide. Silly me, and you fizzy are pure geniarse.
3. Jimc 3

   8 August 2014 at 9:32 pm

   are you saying that you and I are governed in what we can do by what our siblings do for a living.
   • McFlock 3.1

     8 August 2014 at 10:24 pm

     I’m sure it’s a coincidence, just like how the best person to head up the GCSB (so awesome he wasn’t even on the candidate list because the bureaucrats must have thought he was out of their league) turned out to have been at school with the prime minister.
4. philj 4

   8 August 2014 at 9:34 pm

   Ok fizzy. What’s the cost of this project? Surely the public of this Country should know where their money is going ? Or is it commercially sensitive? What is the R.O.R to the taxpayer? Where is the MSM on this? AWOL!
5. Puddleglum 5

   8 August 2014 at 10:19 pm

   Good grief.

   Philip Carter also owned buildings that used to be on the Convention Centre site.

   Further, as I mentioned in one of my own blog posts, the price for land offered by the government in its ‘offer’ (under the threat of compulsory acquisition) to buy land designated for anchor projects as part of the Central City Blueprint varied from site to site. There were very low prices negotiated in the Frame, for example, and – surprise, surprise – the highest prices offered were for land for the Convention Centre anchor project.

   The whole Blueprint was explicitly designed to increase central city property values – but not, of course, for all landowners (e.g., those who held land in the east of the central city). Just for some who happened to hold land in the parts of the central city that were ‘dying’ pre-earthquakes.

   It also needs to be remembered that Carter was one of the first inner city property owners to make a deal over his land with the government and he then had the gall to tell other landowners to ‘get real’ and accept the government’s offers. Perhaps he didn’t want those other landowners slowing down the wealth and asset accumulation he saw coming his way.
6. Foreign Waka 6

   9 August 2014 at 5:49 pm

   The mind boggles. The City council has to sell assets to repair infrastructure. The people are going through the 3rd winter and many still are without an adequate home.
   And the government, residing in an universe that is clearly far far away, wants to build a convention center whilst people are on the brink of braking down? This is so wrong on so many levels that it takes one’s breath away.
7. amirite 7

   9 August 2014 at 7:06 pm

   Why is there no outrage in the media over this? This should be one of the major election issues!
   I suspect there’ll be a lot of dirt and corrupt practices of this Government in Christchurch to resurface only after the election…if ever, thanks to the useless media.
8. philj 8

   9 August 2014 at 7:40 pm

   xox
   Over a quarter of a billion dollars subsidy to a private consortium from the taxpayers pocket! Little or no media coverage of this electoral fire cracker! Unbelievable! And Amirite, you’re corruption comments were echoed to me just yesterday from a travellor / contractor on the Cook Strait ferry. Hmmm…

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS