"Come along for a 'Picnic' at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, a place that symbolises our ancestors that fought for our freedom," a statement on Unite's website read.
What a gang of deluded fuckwits! Do they not realise that every service person since way back when has been vaccinated without choice or rights of refusal. To compound this lack of awareness, the most vulnerable to death with/by Covid overwhelmingly are of the age group that most closely represent those they purport to extol.
After WW2, thousands of young men were forced to do Compulsory Military Training. The 'youngsters' of this cohort are now in their 70's – and were all COMPULSORILY vaccinated, in case they were required as war fodder. Guess what they might think of these self-entitled pricks who want to wrap themselves in sham patriotism, while happily handing out premature death sentences to these people- all in the name of their 'freedumbs".
One might suggest that Unite should watching their backs. It is not only the old buggers that will be offended, there are thousands of younger active and former service men and women who may decide that the fuckwit brigade should be physically dealt too for their blatant disrespect.
The Ukranians are neither confirming or denying the attack on the fuel depot, so there has been some speculation that it was a false flag attack by the Russians.
However, I don't see the point of the Russians staging a false flag attack on this asset. It is strategic infrastructure the Russians need to support their heavily armour dependent effort in the region they have just signalled they want to focus on. It would make an ideal opportunistic target for the Ukranians and would fit with their MO of targeting Russian logistics.
I would suspect a false flag attack if an empty school had been hit, or there had been some sort of chemical incident in Russia.
I agree. I don’t think there really is much point. Unless they wanted to do something like staging a chemical attack against Russian civilians to justify using chemical weapons themselves.
That dissatisfied members of the Russian forces in the area may have carried out the attack themselves because they want to force Russia to exit the war.
Attacking that sort of installation as a false flag makes no sense at all. But mutiny in the ranks is certainly a possibility.
Anything to excuse the highly probable eh? You should be engaged by NATO in a psyops role. At least you might sound a little more credible than old sleepy Joe.
Do you have anything to back up your speculation that the US or NATO had anything to do with that attack? Especially given the extraordinary efforts they have gone to to make sure they weren't directly involved in this fight. Imagine if it had been the US and a helicopter crashed and the Americans were caught?
Or is it more likely to be forces that have been refusing to obey orders and shoot down their own air craft, or back a tank over their own commander?
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Aleksandr Motuzyanık … said, "Ukraine is carrying out a defensive operation to repel the Russian attack. But this does not mean that Ukraine is responsible for all the disasters and events that occurred on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is not the first time we have seen such accusations. Therefore, we cannot confirm this information. I neither deny it."
To screw with the Russian heads though, the Ukranians (regardless of whether or not they carried out the attack) could issue the following press release:
"After investigating this incident we can confirm that Ukraine did not carry out this attack. However, our sources inside the Russian military advise us that the attack was carried out by discontented members of the Russian airforce…"
How is he a 'good mayor'? He's gone against 72% of his own constituents, and appears to have actively shut down debate on the issue. He's also thrown away the opportunity to work with a powerful block of councils to effect change to what is a deeply flawed plan, which is foolish, considering his own Deputy said that "councillors were generally in agreement about having strong misgivings about aspects of the Government’s reform agenda."
He's gone against 72% of his own constituents, and appears to have actively shut down debate on the issue.
What article have you been reading? It sounds like you’re making up things. As you know, I get tetchy when I get the distinct feeling that commenters make up stuff to suit their biased narrative, especially when they make rather bold allegations.
"An unscientific poll of Otago Daily Times readers found 71.74% of respondents thought the council was wrong to pull out of Communities 4 Local Democracy, while 28.26% thought it had done the right thing. There were a total of 2265 voters in the poll."
'…and appears to have actively shut down debate on the issue.'
"While Aaron Hawkins remained mayor, no serious opposition would be mounted to the city council losing control of assets as part of the Government’s Three Waters reforms, Cr Jim O’Malley said. "He has actively blocked that in the past 12 months," Cr O’Malley said."
Fascinating, how your biased mind seems to work, truly fascinating.
You seem to think that the results of “[a]n unscientific poll” of “2265 voters in the poll” is representative of Dunedin’s constituents.
You also seem to think that reckons of one disgruntled councillor mean that debate was shut down. First, that’s not what the councillor said, but simply your incorrect interpretation. There’s nothing in the linked article suggesting that Hawkins has or did shut down debate as you allege. In addition, there’s mention of at least 2 pivotal votes and “numerous opportunities for the council to express concern”. Looks to me there’s been plenty of lively debate.
"You seem to think that the results of “[a]n unscientific poll” of “2265 voters in the poll” is representative of Dunedin’s constituents."
Do you have any other polls that say differently?
"First, that’s not what the councillor said, but simply your incorrect interpretation. "
How do you interpret the suggestion that the mayor blocked opposition?
"“numerous opportunities for the council to express concern”"
Yes that would be a claim made by the mayor who has been the one accused of shutting down debate.
"there’s mention of at least 2 pivotal votes"
And there's mention by the Deputy mayor Christine Garey of councillors being "generally in agreement about having strong misgivings about aspects of the Government’s reform agenda."
You made up these allegations, you find the evidence, which is not in the article I read. I read the facts, not your interpretations or allegations. Explain how there have been at least 2 pivotal votes without prior debate.
If you have other polls, preferentially scientific ones conducted by an independent party, let’s hear it, from you.
Council minutes will no doubt show there’s been plenty of debate. Go find those minutes and read them before you spread your disinformation here.
Even the Deputy Mayor referes to agreement and misgivings; is she a mindreader too just like you?
It seems I have to activate my recent moderation warning to you.
You're having some reading comprehension issues today.
"You made up these allegations,"
No. I quoted directly from the article.
"Even the Deputy Mayor referes to agreement and misgivings;"
But I didn't say there wasn't any disagreement – the votes were close, so clearly there was. What I said was that the mayor 'appears to have actively shut down debate', a claim supported directly from the article by the comments of Cr O'Malley.
"It seems I have to activate my recent moderation warning to you."
Go for your life. I'm not retracting comments that were based directly on the contents of an article that is in the public domain.
[Your conclusion is untenable from the info in that one single article. You make a serious allegation about the Mayor “actively” obstructing the democratic process, i.e. debate, apparent (to you) or not. There are many ways of a attempting a “serious opposition” (whatever that means) from mounting, e.g. persuasive arguments in open and robust debate and/or a legalistic behaviour. Evidence for this or to the contrary may be found in the minutes of Council meetings and/or elsewhere but you made no effort to find any because you’ve already made your conclusions and closed off your mind to other information. You also extrapolate from an unscientific poll result to come to your conclusion about the constituents of Dunedin. So, it is obvious that you subtly twist things your way to suit your bias and spread misinformation and disinformation. I have warned you recently this misleading behaviour here would result in an instant ban. So, take a week off – Incognito]
Yes I'd suggest the local government elections are a reasonable proxy for what local government feels about 3 Waters. And government will have no choice but to listen if it continues to languish in the 36% range or worse.
My feeling is that the government will "hear the word" of this upcoming result and put the proposal up for central government election.
If he has it right, it's by being lucky that his green party future career points in that direction, more than by his ability.
Not sure how many of the council actually support 3waters. But the mana whenua do support it.
So there is a chunk of council, like the mayor, who have "concern" or "misgivings" about it but will do nothing, and another chunk who are actually prepared to oppose it.
There is a certain poetry to councils losing billions of dollars worth of assets with a farcical amount of compensation, with mana whenua looking on and cheering. Who says history never repeats, lol
The biggest OPEX is the housing of the economy’s workforce….time (well past) to cut our biggest cost, and maybe, just maybe we may improve our productivity.
in the last 2 years the population has been stable,and yet house prices went up 40%,and building costs went through the roof,where a lot of the component's are locally sourced.
The cost of land say in CHCH should not have changed,there is for example 47 hecatres of residential land in the 4 avenues alone.
A lot of the new builds are being used for short term accomodation (airbnb) 2000 in CHCH single use alone.
All supported (made possible) by ever increasing book value…..which im sure we will agree is unsustainable….the moment that book value ceases to grow the whole house of cards collapses, and in the past few months (well before Ukraine) the indications are that enough are beginning to understand that….party is over, hangover to follow.
James Cooney, director of development company Wolfbrook Residential, said low interest rates and Government incentives to buy in new developments had strongly boosted sales of investment properties.
“There’s just so much demand, it’s ridiculous, and 80 to 90 per cent of it is coming from investors.”
New Government rules in force from this year mean mortgages for new properties require smaller deposits than existing ones, and are less likely to attract tax on capital gains.
The Government has announced that New Zealand will release more of its emergency oil stocks in response to the global impact on energy security as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
We do not have a physical reserve,we have a futures contract,too purchase an agreed amount of oil at the spot price.With backwardation the oil prices are less in the future market,then the spot at present.
The US has a wide spread (releasing a million barrels of physical oil) which has brought the spot price down WTI under 100bbl and the december futures up to 94bbl.
Some of those fighting in Ukraine are doing so to cause the fall of Putin, one group are Belarusians. They see Putin as one factor behind the continuance of the rule of the tyrant in Minsk.
About 200 members of the volunteer battalion are serving on the front lines, including in Irpin on Kyiv’s outskirts, where Ukrainian forces recently regained control, Kulazhanka and other recruits said.
They are funded and equipped mostly through donations from the Belarusian and Ukrainian diasporas, including in the United States. But the recent induction of the battalion into the armed forces has meant that some received guns and armor, including some supplied by NATO, from the Ukrainian military.
On my way back across the border, I met two German foreign fighters in their mid-fifties, who were also traveling back to Poland. They’d been at the Yavoriv base earlier the previous morning, when it was bombed. “The international legion is young guys who are hungry for an adventure. They’re cannon fodder,” said one. “They won’t come back from the front lines. They should leave.” He described weapons trainings done with YouTube videos.
KO has been rapped over the knuckles by the Tenancy Tribunal for their gross failure to manage the impact of disruptive tenants on their neighbours. In this case both the parties were KO tenants.
It was declared in the hearing that Kāinga Ora breached its legal obligation by failing to take all reasonable steps in ensuring the peace and comfort of their tenant.
"While the landlord took some reasonable steps, it has become clear that the action taken by the landlord was inadequate," Walker said.
"Some urgent action should have been taken for the landlord to meet their statutory responsibility."
There is nothing in the article, about recent steps (since this new policy was implemented in February) to deal with this issue.
What I'm not seeing (or at least not reported) is a directive to KO to take urgent action – and move out the tenant with the significant and ongoing history of disruptive behaviour.
The wimpish current policy of 'offering both parties alternative accommodation' (especially when they know there is no alternative accommodation) is useless. Evict the problem tenant, and leave the rest of the neighbourhood to enjoy a peaceful life.
The 1st one though indicates those on the state house waiting house includes some who need an accessible wet accessible bathroom area (which would probably push them up the list). They probably usually get a new unit or any existing units once modified as soon as it is available.
The point i was making was that Kainga Ora does evict people. Just not hte violent antisocial assholes.
Yeah, and they get a house when one is available.
Come to Rotorua, go to Fenton street and understand that most of the motels are full with people who wait for a state house. And most of them are not violent antisocial assholes.
Last, i see no difference between L and N, i consider them all unwilling to do what needs to be done when it comes to housing – affordable, clean and tidy housing.
Sabine, Kainga Ora are currently building many homes in Rotorua. More building has happened here in the last 12 months and this year than in the last 5o years we have lived in Rotorua. We built our first home here in 1973, that was the last time you could see new homes in all areas of Rotorua.
A new subdivision is beginning on the corner of Ranolf and Malfroy Streets. Currntly there are 37 new homes in Pukehangi, 190 are planned city wide. So our suggestion they are the same as National is hogwash.
It's estimated that up to 2000 homeless people – many of them from other centres – are staying at about 45 motels in the city. Last year, the Ministry of Social Development spent about $10m on emergency accommodation grants in Rotorua, which has the second worst homeless problem in the country, behind Auckland.
They can't build fast enough and plenty enough to make even just a dent, so now they are buying motels in Rotorua for the homeless families of our fair town.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says emergency accommodation is a "stopgap measure" and is concerned about its long-term social effects
However, she would not say how long motels would be used to house the homeless.
snip
She said the government had built more than 70 public houses and had 180 more in the pipeline.
snip
Rotorua-based list MP Tāmati Coffey said he believed that there were a lot of "desperate" locals who had been pushed out of the rental market in Rotorua's emergency accommodation.
"We don't want them to be in emergency housing, but we also don't want them to be filling up Kuirau Park. We also don't want them in the shops, in the door fronts of some of the shops around the CBD.
Btw, i live next to one of these houses that are being build. The property stood empty for two years, then the property got demolished, then the block stood empty for one year, now they have been building for about half a year, and i would guess it will take another half a year to finish.
At that rate and the number announced it will take another 20 odd years to house the estimated 2000 people (2021 number) in houses.
Btw, my neighbourgh has a family member live in the Garage, it is safer there then in the Motels. Go figure.
Fwiw, i think the effort of N and L in regards to housing are negligable.
Never mind the properties that got demolished, surely for the greater good and some new houses. Hopefully. Never mind that we actually now have less state houses then we used too.
The Government has sold or demolished nearly 2000 state houses since July 2018, Newshub can reveal.
And while Housing Minister Megan Woods continues to trumpet a bonanza state house build, the number of state houses managed by Kāinga Ora – Housing NZ – has actually fallen.
Ms Morris credited Destiny Church's Man Up programme, Whānau Ora, Auckland Action Against Poverty and the Blind Foundation for their continued support throughout the family's tenancy process.
She said Mangere Housing New Zealand staff also treated the family with dignity.
I know two people that have been "saved" from a drunken and lonely old age by Destiny Church.
It appears to be more than just a vanity and self enrichment project of Tamaki's, for many in it.
I suspect like most churches, and other "gangs", they have to be more than just a money making outfit to keep members.
Just heard an acquaintance has transferred from Destiny to Equip. Apparently the tithe is cheaper!
Tempted to let them know that the Presbyterians and Sallies etc, offer the same services, for a voluntary donation!
Well, I guess they can go to the back of the line of the 20,000+ families who are waiting for a KO house.
'Inconvenience' is people parking on the berm, or not mowing the lawn, or having parties every weekend. Annoying. But you just live with it.
This is (as determined by both the police and the Tenancy Tribunal) illegal antisocial behaviour (threats, harassment, etc.). No neighbour should have to put up with it, because KO can't deal with a problem tenant.
And, 9/10 of the problem behaviour would stop immediately, if the tenants concerned knew they would be kicked out for anti-social behaviour.
The government can rent a motel just for these assholes and hide them there just as they do with those that are not antisocial violent assholes but who are unlucky enough to not being put up in state houses as these antisocial violent assholes. Like all the several hundreds of families that can’t get state houses because the government gives them to violent antisocial assholes. .
No they don't need greater support, they need no support. At some stage you cut the abuser out of your life and you put the effort to those that want to be good and law abiding citizens.
The right to safety from your feral neighbours is stronger.
Bear in mind that we are talking about people who conduct a relentless campaign of active harassment, threats, property damage and actual physical violence.
Just imagine what that does to your mental health, let alone physical well-being. We've had story, after story, in the media of families who are literally afraid to leave their houses, because of the (usually gang adjacent) neighbours.
Nothing preventing KO from choosing to house the anti-social in motels – it's still a 'roof over their heads' – just not one that's particularly attractive.
Given that the State can't care for and fix everyone at the same time (9 years of neglect, I hear the echo); then perhaps they need to follow standard triage principles, and deal with the people who 'can' be fixed in the short term. Get them out of the way and resolved, and then try to do something about the long-term dysfunctional.
Because, the fastest way to make a gang life attractive to the next generation, is to see criminals getting way with anti-social and intimidating behaviour with zero consequences.
How – you sit down and have a hard think and pull out your hankies.
And the other people who have been trying to be good citizens and not have their children turn in to a…holes just should look on with a saintly expression and get a big dog with big teeth. I saw in a usa film about a working solo father trying to protect his two boys in their inadequate room. He barked when people rattled the doorknob as he couldn't afford a dog. Or perhaps a recording? Ideas that the helpful government should pass on to it's poor and reasonably honest tenants.
People who are most damged probably can never be rehabilitated. They should have a special working farm prison with amenities and get locked into their rooms at night so they can't get out and start fires, pinch farm bikes, rape women or whatever has become their habitual obsession. They could be happy there so for god's sake take away their freedom – to create misery. And have tough cahps in charge, just practice isolation for people who threaten attack and never trust them completely, safety first and stun guns as backups. If they behave it could be a good place with their own room and decent bedding as long as they don't get the urge to slash it. Most of the men, no women permanently there, would be likely to have been assessed as mentally unbalanced.
So we are not solving anything considering that these people cause harm to law abiding citizens – presumably at their cost. So that is OK?
And some will always end up in Prison – that is why we have prisons, to get the criminal elements that wreak havoc in the community out of hte community.
In the meantime we are warehousing families who work in rundown motels at a million dollar or so
so my solution would be that these guys can live in a run down motel and the good state houses go to good families that work, but don't make enough to pay market rent. But i guess that is not awesome and 'woke' enough.
It is an outrage that you have no qualms about comparing assholes to criminals. They are of course not the same thing.
People who have no money for a long time have a propensity to be assholes because they have to fight for absolutely everything and everything in their life can be taken away – such little as they have.
Anyone who carries the badge 'woke' for actually caring for people that are really really hard to deal with … well those people don't give much thought for your labels.
You'll see such people out every weekend with other badges on them like St Johns, St Vincent De Paul, St Francis, Te Whanau Waipereira, Habitat for Humanity, Barnardo's, Tear Fund, The Compassion Soup Kitchen, City Mission, World Vision, and bunches of Anglican and Catholic trusts and entities. Kiwi volunteers and underpaid staff by the thousand.
They don't give a damn about how you disparage their work or the people they work with.
They understand your scorn, derision, rage and urge to punish. They've seen those stories for several thousand years.
People who have no money for a long time have a propensity to be assholes because they have to fight for absolutely everything and everything in their life can be taken away – such little as they have.
You have hit the nail on the head Ad. The above description is a plan for growing more assholes. You big softie Ad. Could you spread your sympathy wider to people who bear the brunt of thr poor caring of these people by authority figures for many years. As many of those people suffering from the effects of those poorly cared for people is likely to follow the same path as them, never having seen a different life, but forced to live amongst the rough, dishonest or vicious. Role models you know, get copied.
surely Tiny Dean has a motel space available for them on Fenton Street.
That is where we warehouse homeless families that work in many cases and can not afford rent. Just a thought. Or is that to good for criminals that wreak havoc in the areas where they get state houses that seemingly one can only get when one is a lawbreaking antisocial criminal.
That is just sour nastiness Sabine, and your constant attacks on the motelliers who have offered their properties says more about your bitterness than their motives. Constant carping and wild generalisations don't prove a thing. Too broad a brush. You confirmed the building programme, then got hung up on the time it takes to get consents and do infrastructure.. typical.!!
No sour nastiness about that at all Patricia. Just facts, inconvenient facts.
It was facts when National did nothing to alleviate the housing crisis and started housing people in motels and it is a fact now that Labour does it too.
We are warehousing people for month/years on end in Motels. In Rotorua and elsewhere.
And if you are pleased with the little that is happening that is good for you. Me i look at my neighbor in his two bedroom unit, with his wife, his son, the daughter, the grand child and the occasional cuzzy cause they have no where to go. This is now a fact in any town in NZ, but particularly in Auckland and Rotorua. Nothing nasty about that. It is actually just a tragedy. A tragedy of epic proportions.
I think Sabine has been really clear about her proposal – rent a motel for the people who are unable to live in a civilized fashion with their neighbours.
What's your one? Or do you think it's OK for them to continue their reign of terror (and that's exactly what it is, in some instances), with no consequences.
My proposal would be to rent the house next to Poto Williams, and put them there.
In the real world, there are already people living in the said motels on the waiting list for state housing.
And telling people in state housing that Labour will do nothing about their neighbour problems leaves them to wonder whether they would be better off under National.
To prove itself serious about such a social contract Labour would have abandon debt targets and bring in CGT, wealth and estate taxation and MMT. And at some risk of being seen as too radical for the centre.
On current policy settings it would have to plot a more measured course – and that means winning elections regularly if it is to make progress over time. That does not happen if the people in state housing are unhappy, or those in motels, because of the behaviour of their neighbours.
The social contract also involves law – landlords have certain responsibilities – including KO.
So, in your Hobsonville Plus vision – what do you do with a tenant who consistently exhibits anti-social behaviour (loud parties til 3am, smashed bottles across shared driveways, hard-core gang associates visiting, dealing drugs, feral dogs chained on the property, physical intimidation, threats, and actual violence against anyone who is brave enough to complain, regular and open domestic violence against women and children resident at the property, etc.)
[Before you say I'm making this up – all of this has been witnessed by friends at a local KO house – luckily, for them, slightly down the road, rather than actually next door]
Don't say the police will deal with it – because they won't – or at least, not until there is a case of actual assault – and even then it will be 'a visitor to the house' rather than a resident, so KO won't do anything.
Treat people like scum and replicate the problem a hundredfold.
That's exactly what KO are doing to the innocent neighbours caught up in this drama. Treating them like scum….
I do not doubt your example. And I am sure there are hundreds more.
You apply as many wraparound services as are required to change the situation. It usually involves a set of interventions from the following state entities, and there's no particular order to this:
Kainga Ora, NZPolice, MSD, MoE, local Kura, MOH and DHBs, urban Maori trust services, Oranga Tamariki or whatever it will be called, local service trusts, wider family members, tonnes upon tonnes of taxpayer $$ and family group conferences, Corrections and MoJ, and finally employers who are prepared to take on Not in Education Employment or Training …
… literally hundreds of thousands of dollars working day after day to lever each and every one of these people out of the desperation and rage they are in.
And yes not all fo them will work and some will still go to gangs, for which the only control is NZPolice and MoJ and Corrections. But then, how did we bring our jail count down from 13,000 to 8,000 in 2 terms?
Hobsonville has most of those services built in.
No it is not easy. Yes that is is what our taxpayer funding is for. Yes that is the essence of the social democratic state.
Pretty pictures and plans, very artistic. But people who want to be good citizens are being treated like scum under the present system Ad. If you don' think that is right the present system is wrong, and should be changed speedily for a better one. What can you do about that, without having fancy modern housing.
Just help with something now not in future years when built, warm, dry house, with sun and light, safe space for kids to play,some shade area beside for super hot summers, friendly, respectful neighbours, own area with gate for wandering dogs and people (though a man who insisted on entering a property despite a warning notice not to use the back entrance, got bitten by the guard dog in one Nelson property, and was able to plead rights and the dog be ordered to be put down). Makes you realise that you are on a different planet than Labour planners. Send in the clowns – Don't you love a farce? My fault, I fear,
I thought that you'd want what I want
Sorry my dear…
Sabine’s proposal sucks and is a typical simpleton solution. Unless such motel is in the wop-wops there will always be neighbours in the hood, just not in adjacent rooms.
The issue is not going away by not doing anything. It is getting worse. And anyone who will run on 'law and order' will pick up all those that feel that law and order has been abandoned.
We have no issues housing homeless people in motels the up and down the country. At great cost to the tax payer – as they are the ones that pay all the bills.
But i guess we will see what happen in the near future. Elections are only a few months away.
They’re always only a few months away. Which public assets will NAct flog off to their rich mates this time, and what public services will be privatised – gotta fund those tax cuts. My money's on water assets and health services (the pandemic’s over, right?), and they might give Serco another go – plenty of wealth to gorge on yet.
But I guess we'll see what happens in a few months.
"There's nowhere to sleep at the back of this line."
Really, so we have 20,000+ families sleeping in cars, then?
No, they're in motels – which everyone acknowledges is not adequate housing (apart from the most temporary of emergency housing).
But it does give them somewhere to sleep.
In February this year, Kainga Ora national services general manager Nick Maling announced a suite of changes to policy that would strengthen the way it managed disruptive behaviour in its homes.
Maling said the Residential Tenancies Act provided more scope to deal with unruly tenants by enabling Kāinga Ora to move disruptive residents out of communities more easily.
These changes included Kāinga Ora implementing a warnings process that allowed the public housing landlord to take disruptive tenants to the tribunal to end a tenancy if three incidents of a serious nature were documented in a 90-day period.
Maling noted they did not want to make tenants homeless and would work to provide alternative housing and support to address the causes behind residents' behaviour.
The changes were part of a broader Kāinga Ora Customer Programme that was focused on the wellbeing of state housing tenants and the communities they lived in, Maling said.
Maybe Kainga Ora tenants who have concerns about their neighbours behaviour need to become clients of the said agencies … .
Funny thing is National wants some of the said agencies to have a greater role in the lives of those on welfare, agencies that oppose National’s approach on Kainga Ora.
Oh, so it's fine for an 'ordinary' law-abiding family to be stuck in motel accommodation, but it's too sub-standard for anti-social criminals.
If they're a 'really difficult family' then just maybe – bog-standard KO independent living is *not* the most appropriate solution for them.
I'd like to see some actively monitored housing precincts (could be apartments) – which have a zero-tolerance for gang presence, and are gated so residents only.
I would assume that most people in these households are 'ok', but that one or two elements are not. These are the people that need to be removed. And if they are law breaking they need to be arrested, and locked up. And that is the issue, innit, that we are currently not arresting and locking up people who cause havoc.
Oh well, i guess its fair go for the 'tough on law and order crowd' as the current crowd seems to simply pretend that if you don't lock them up they will rehabilitate themselves, and no it wont be cheaper either as per the Corrections Ministers, cause average and fixed costs and leases.
Something is rotten at the heart of UK politics. The Russian oligarchy has embedded its tentacles deep in the Britsh aristocracy and they are exercising considerable power to suppress the truth. Reminds me of the Jian Yang saga and National's (no so hidden) propensity to suck up to CCP money
Like Russia, we are a deeply unequal society with an exceptionally narrow intermarried inter-director network with no more than a handful of key net worth people in: housing, building supplies, ports, airports, groceries, fuel, politics, media, milk, agriculture, meat, banking, bread, fruit, electricity production, broadband, and more. Most of our debt is controlled by Australia, and most of what we make is taken by China: just 2 countries.
We're under a total illusion that we are more economically free than Russia.
Bruce Jesson and WB Sutch would recognise this country as the worst possible scenario they had imagined.
But Kremlin aligned oligarchs are perhaps unusually active in promoting sociopathies like Brexit, which was intended to reduce the UK's influence and the effectiveness and cohesion of European powers.
The sociopathy of a Bill Gates is not intentionally directed towards the wrecking of Western society (though the various windows systems are hardly benign), they are his customers after all. But this limitation is not true of Kremlin operations, who would not be at all sad to see the present order collapse. They are in a very real sense the enemies of our states.
It's no more likely that Russians will be prosecuted for war crimes in Ukraine than Americans have been for theirs, but if tribunals were to be set up then there'd be a bunch of slam-dunk cases.
"Historically weak government finances, badly timed tax cuts and the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the vital tourism industry, have decimated the economy, triggering a currency crisis that has disrupted fuel imports and caused skyrocketing food prices."
Just read the obit for Dame Miriam Dell – what an outstanding woman. Just reading through this, it's filled with 'only woman on' and 'first woman to' – it's due to her (and the team of strong women around her) that we have made such progress towards equality not, that I – or probably Dell – think that we're there yet
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
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"Come along for a 'Picnic' at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, a place that symbolises our ancestors that fought for our freedom," a statement on Unite's website read.
What a gang of deluded fuckwits! Do they not realise that every service person since way back when has been vaccinated without choice or rights of refusal. To compound this lack of awareness, the most vulnerable to death with/by Covid overwhelmingly are of the age group that most closely represent those they purport to extol.
After WW2, thousands of young men were forced to do Compulsory Military Training. The 'youngsters' of this cohort are now in their 70's – and were all COMPULSORILY vaccinated, in case they were required as war fodder. Guess what they might think of these self-entitled pricks who want to wrap themselves in sham patriotism, while happily handing out premature death sentences to these people- all in the name of their 'freedumbs".
One might suggest that Unite should watching their backs. It is not only the old buggers that will be offended, there are thousands of younger active and former service men and women who may decide that the fuckwit brigade should be physically dealt too for their blatant disrespect.
I see the villagers around Belgarod in Russia have been getting lots of "entertainment" over the last few nights:
First, a Russian ammunition dump explodes allegedly due to Ukranian shelling, or perhaps a missile attack:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/huge-explosions-major-russian-ammo-26587639
And now a huge fire at a fuel storage depot caused by two attack helicopters:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60952125
The Ukranians are neither confirming or denying the attack on the fuel depot, so there has been some speculation that it was a false flag attack by the Russians.
However, I don't see the point of the Russians staging a false flag attack on this asset. It is strategic infrastructure the Russians need to support their heavily armour dependent effort in the region they have just signalled they want to focus on. It would make an ideal opportunistic target for the Ukranians and would fit with their MO of targeting Russian logistics.
I would suspect a false flag attack if an empty school had been hit, or there had been some sort of chemical incident in Russia.
What would be the point of a false flag?
Exactly. No point to attack this sort of infrastructure as a false flag.
A false flag would be much more effective if it was attacking some sort of soft target.
itHow would the Russians benefit from any false flag on Russian territory?
I agree. I don’t think there really is much point. Unless they wanted to do something like staging a chemical attack against Russian civilians to justify using chemical weapons themselves.
Since Ukraine denies all knowledge, there is another highly disturbing implication and it ain't got anything to do with false flags.
Care to join the dots Tsmithfield?
Neither confirm nor deny is not the same thing as claiming no knowledge.
But are you suggesting another foreign actor could have done this? And if so, what would be the point?
Throwing a spanner into the works of peace negotiations?
Who might want the war to carry on and turn Ukraine into Afghanistan?
Actually, there is another possibility:
That dissatisfied members of the Russian forces in the area may have carried out the attack themselves because they want to force Russia to exit the war.
Attacking that sort of installation as a false flag makes no sense at all. But mutiny in the ranks is certainly a possibility.
Anything to excuse the highly probable eh? You should be engaged by NATO in a psyops role. At least you might sound a little more credible than old sleepy Joe.
Do you have anything to back up your speculation that the US or NATO had anything to do with that attack? Especially given the extraordinary efforts they have gone to to make sure they weren't directly involved in this fight. Imagine if it had been the US and a helicopter crashed and the Americans were caught?
Or is it more likely to be forces that have been refusing to obey orders and shoot down their own air craft, or back a tank over their own commander?
https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/31/russians-shooting-down-own-planes-and-refusing-to-follow-orders-16377838/
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-russian-soldier-reportedly-runs-over-his-commander-with-tank-in-protest/
I think there is more basis for my speculation than yours.
Where did you get 'neither confirm nor deny' from?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/300556574/ukraine-denies-they-were-behind-strike-on-russian-territory-as-talks-resume
Making stuff up again to support your obsessions?
Exactly: Also:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-foreign-minister-says-he-has-no-information-about-who-carried-out-2022-04-01/
To screw with the Russian heads though, the Ukranians (regardless of whether or not they carried out the attack) could issue the following press release:
"After investigating this incident we can confirm that Ukraine did not carry out this attack. However, our sources inside the Russian military advise us that the attack was carried out by discontented members of the Russian airforce…"
classic psyops
Pretty understandable however – flying a helicopter over an enemy country rich in manpads is likely rather stressful.
Yes, such a statement could sow seeds of doubt within the Russian forces on a number of levels: eg:
Do the Ukranians have sources inside our military?
Do we have a mutiny in our own forces? etc.
Or possibly some locals who decided to get involved as they have Ukrainian friends or relatives just across the border?
Mayor Hawkins of Dunedin goes against joining with other Councils who oppose the 3 Waters programme. Maori relationship healed, Council rift deepens.
Council schism over Three Waters broad | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)
Great to see a good Major making a principled stand and also paying a political cost for it. Proper politics.
How is he a 'good mayor'? He's gone against 72% of his own constituents, and appears to have actively shut down debate on the issue. He's also thrown away the opportunity to work with a powerful block of councils to effect change to what is a deeply flawed plan, which is foolish, considering his own Deputy said that "councillors were generally in agreement about having strong misgivings about aspects of the Government’s reform agenda."
What article have you been reading? It sounds like you’re making up things. As you know, I get tetchy when I get the distinct feeling that commenters make up stuff to suit their biased narrative, especially when they make rather bold allegations.
From the article referenced by Ad
'He's gone against 72% of his own constituents…'
"An unscientific poll of Otago Daily Times readers found 71.74% of respondents thought the council was wrong to pull out of Communities 4 Local Democracy, while 28.26% thought it had done the right thing. There were a total of 2265 voters in the poll."
'…and appears to have actively shut down debate on the issue.'
"While Aaron Hawkins remained mayor, no serious opposition would be mounted to the city council losing control of assets as part of the Government’s Three Waters reforms, Cr Jim O’Malley said. "He has actively blocked that in the past 12 months," Cr O’Malley said."
Fascinating, how your biased mind seems to work, truly fascinating.
You seem to think that the results of “[a]n unscientific poll” of “2265 voters in the poll” is representative of Dunedin’s constituents.
You also seem to think that reckons of one disgruntled councillor mean that debate was shut down. First, that’s not what the councillor said, but simply your incorrect interpretation. There’s nothing in the linked article suggesting that Hawkins has or did shut down debate as you allege. In addition, there’s mention of at least 2 pivotal votes and “numerous opportunities for the council to express concern”. Looks to me there’s been plenty of lively debate.
So, again, what article have you been reading?
"You seem to think that the results of “[a]n unscientific poll” of “2265 voters in the poll” is representative of Dunedin’s constituents."
Do you have any other polls that say differently?
"First, that’s not what the councillor said, but simply your incorrect interpretation. "
How do you interpret the suggestion that the mayor blocked opposition?
"“numerous opportunities for the council to express concern”"
Yes that would be a claim made by the mayor who has been the one accused of shutting down debate.
"there’s mention of at least 2 pivotal votes"
And there's mention by the Deputy mayor Christine Garey of councillors being "generally in agreement about having strong misgivings about aspects of the Government’s reform agenda."
It’s all in there.
You made up these allegations, you find the evidence, which is not in the article I read. I read the facts, not your interpretations or allegations. Explain how there have been at least 2 pivotal votes without prior debate.
If you have other polls, preferentially scientific ones conducted by an independent party, let’s hear it, from you.
Council minutes will no doubt show there’s been plenty of debate. Go find those minutes and read them before you spread your disinformation here.
Even the Deputy Mayor referes to agreement and misgivings; is she a mindreader too just like you?
It seems I have to activate my recent moderation warning to you.
You're having some reading comprehension issues today.
"You made up these allegations,"
No. I quoted directly from the article.
"Even the Deputy Mayor referes to agreement and misgivings;"
But I didn't say there wasn't any disagreement – the votes were close, so clearly there was. What I said was that the mayor 'appears to have actively shut down debate', a claim supported directly from the article by the comments of Cr O'Malley.
"It seems I have to activate my recent moderation warning to you."
Go for your life. I'm not retracting comments that were based directly on the contents of an article that is in the public domain.
[Your conclusion is untenable from the info in that one single article. You make a serious allegation about the Mayor “actively” obstructing the democratic process, i.e. debate, apparent (to you) or not. There are many ways of a attempting a “serious opposition” (whatever that means) from mounting, e.g. persuasive arguments in open and robust debate and/or a legalistic behaviour. Evidence for this or to the contrary may be found in the minutes of Council meetings and/or elsewhere but you made no effort to find any because you’ve already made your conclusions and closed off your mind to other information. You also extrapolate from an unscientific poll result to come to your conclusion about the constituents of Dunedin. So, it is obvious that you subtly twist things your way to suit your bias and spread misinformation and disinformation. I have warned you recently this misleading behaviour here would result in an instant ban. So, take a week off – Incognito]
Mode note
Yes I'd suggest the local government elections are a reasonable proxy for what local government feels about 3 Waters. And government will have no choice but to listen if it continues to languish in the 36% range or worse.
My feeling is that the government will "hear the word" of this upcoming result and put the proposal up for central government election.
3 Waters is big enough to need a fresh mandate.
The fact that he has gone against 72% of his constituents doesn't mean he is not a 'good mayor'. Those constituents may be wrong.
What fact?
I support Aaron's actions and rationale. He has it right, imo, and the others have it wrong.
Dunedin resident here, & I support Hawkins.
If he has it right, it's by being lucky that his green party future career points in that direction, more than by his ability.
Not sure how many of the council actually support 3waters. But the mana whenua do support it.
So there is a chunk of council, like the mayor, who have "concern" or "misgivings" about it but will do nothing, and another chunk who are actually prepared to oppose it.
There is a certain poetry to councils losing billions of dollars worth of assets with a farcical amount of compensation, with mana whenua looking on and cheering. Who says history never repeats, lol
30,000 Residents driven out of the Big Lemon over the last three years.Low rate of local GDP,excessive cost plus local economy.
A more sustainable city would need another 100000 to leave.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/300556431/chief-economist-says-unaffordable-housing-in-auckland-is-driving-people-away
Median house price to income of 14.69…..nothing more needs to be said.
Thats the cost,the OPEX will increase around 15% by August next year (rates insurance,interest,electricity).
Potemkin policy and wasteful spending will not make it better.
But all the inflation is imported….nothing to be done about, so the experts say.
Unsustainable is.
Well some commodities are antifragile,Onions seem unchanged in price.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/128192151/pak-n-saves-ageing-shopping-lists-show-steep-rise-in-food-prices
And no futures market…i wonder if theres a connection?
That is why there is always been a future in Onions,the other commodity classes Boom and Bust,
The biggest OPEX is the housing of the economy’s workforce….time (well past) to cut our biggest cost, and maybe, just maybe we may improve our productivity.
in the last 2 years the population has been stable,and yet house prices went up 40%,and building costs went through the roof,where a lot of the component's are locally sourced.
The cost of land say in CHCH should not have changed,there is for example 47 hecatres of residential land in the 4 avenues alone.
A lot of the new builds are being used for short term accomodation (airbnb) 2000 in CHCH single use alone.
All supported (made possible) by ever increasing book value…..which im sure we will agree is unsustainable….the moment that book value ceases to grow the whole house of cards collapses, and in the past few months (well before Ukraine) the indications are that enough are beginning to understand that….party is over, hangover to follow.
Its going to be one hell of a hangover
Bigger then we can expect.(8 months ago)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/125970733/developers-take-new-tack-in-search-for-land-as-investors-buy-up-new-homes
The gov and finance sector writing cheques the real economy cant possibly honour
the banks have a lot to answer for again.the RBNZ needs to make the banks increase their capital reserves,
Theyre getting around to it…..the Reserve Bank Act (1989) was a coup d'etat unrecognised.
What is 'Potemkin policy'?
All front and no substance
Ah that's the Potemkin Village. Not Battleship Potemkin.
Understand the clarification.
All smoke no hangi.
With the promise of a great feed
here is a good example with Megan Woods.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128249080/new-zealand-to-release-further-oil-reserves-in-response-to-russian-invasion-of-ukraine
We do not have a physical reserve,we have a futures contract,too purchase an agreed amount of oil at the spot price.With backwardation the oil prices are less in the future market,then the spot at present.
The US has a wide spread (releasing a million barrels of physical oil) which has brought the spot price down WTI under 100bbl and the december futures up to 94bbl.
Some of those fighting in Ukraine are doing so to cause the fall of Putin, one group are Belarusians. They see Putin as one factor behind the continuance of the rule of the tyrant in Minsk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/01/ukraine-belarus-fighters-russia/?carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3677f44%2F62471fe679d9d21aa1133935%2F602879e6ae7e8a31ba10f3a9%2F8%2F70%2F62471fe679d9d21aa1133935
Foreign fighters are of mixed value
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/among-ukraines-foreign-fighters
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/ukraine-pauses-new-recruiting-to-foreign-legion-as-it-grapples-with-non-military-volunteers
KO has been rapped over the knuckles by the Tenancy Tribunal for their gross failure to manage the impact of disruptive tenants on their neighbours. In this case both the parties were KO tenants.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kainga-ora-residents-tenancy-tribunal-complaint-after-neighbour-hell-for-three-years/JHLXUDIR4RO72KZKNQRUNNA7ME/?c_id=1&objectid=12515078&ref=rss
It makes it evident that the statement last year from Poto Williams about KO taking a firmer line, was just so much hot air.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/02/associate-minister-of-housing-poto-williams-steps-in-to-change-k-inga-ora-complaints-process-for-unruly-tenants.html
There is nothing in the article, about recent steps (since this new policy was implemented in February) to deal with this issue.
What I'm not seeing (or at least not reported) is a directive to KO to take urgent action – and move out the tenant with the significant and ongoing history of disruptive behaviour.
The wimpish current policy of 'offering both parties alternative accommodation' (especially when they know there is no alternative accommodation) is useless. Evict the problem tenant, and leave the rest of the neighbourhood to enjoy a peaceful life.
After evicting them, where would you put the inconvenient poor?
i don't know, maybe the same place these guys have to go to?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/128142111/theyre-going-to-rip-our-whole-family-apart-a-week-after-mothers-death-kinga-ora-tells-family-to-leave
or where ever these guys went to?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/338294/housing-nz-orders-eviction-after-grandmother-s-death
It seems that KO can evict people, just not the poor hard done criminal elements.
The 2nd case occurred in 2017 under National.
The 1st one though indicates those on the state house waiting house includes some who need an accessible wet accessible bathroom area (which would probably push them up the list). They probably usually get a new unit or any existing units once modified as soon as it is available.
The point i was making was that Kainga Ora does evict people. Just not hte violent antisocial assholes.
Yeah, and they get a house when one is available.
Come to Rotorua, go to Fenton street and understand that most of the motels are full with people who wait for a state house. And most of them are not violent antisocial assholes.
Last, i see no difference between L and N, i consider them all unwilling to do what needs to be done when it comes to housing – affordable, clean and tidy housing.
Sabine, Kainga Ora are currently building many homes in Rotorua. More building has happened here in the last 12 months and this year than in the last 5o years we have lived in Rotorua. We built our first home here in 1973, that was the last time you could see new homes in all areas of Rotorua.
A new subdivision is beginning on the corner of Ranolf and Malfroy Streets. Currntly there are 37 new homes in Pukehangi, 190 are planned city wide. So our suggestion they are the same as National is hogwash.
Edit function would not respond. "currently"
According to this article from 2021 we have about 2000 homeless housed in motels in Rotorua.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300246795/rotorua-has-become-a-dumping-ground-for-the-countrys-homeless-some-locals-claim#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20that%20up%20to,45%20motels%20in%20the%20city.
They can't build fast enough and plenty enough to make even just a dent, so now they are buying motels in Rotorua for the homeless families of our fair town.
there https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125821220/govt-moves-from-paying-motels-to-house-homeless-to-buying-its-own-in-rotorua
Housing homeless in Motels may be a stop gag, but its going to be a permanent one. 🙂
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/461753/ardern-motel-housing-a-stopgap-measure-but-no-end-date-in-sight-for-rotorua
Btw, i live next to one of these houses that are being build. The property stood empty for two years, then the property got demolished, then the block stood empty for one year, now they have been building for about half a year, and i would guess it will take another half a year to finish.
At that rate and the number announced it will take another 20 odd years to house the estimated 2000 people (2021 number) in houses.
Btw, my neighbourgh has a family member live in the Garage, it is safer there then in the Motels. Go figure.
Fwiw, i think the effort of N and L in regards to housing are negligable.
Never mind the properties that got demolished, surely for the greater good and some new houses. Hopefully. Never mind that we actually now have less state houses then we used too.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/government-has-sold-or-demolished-nearly-2000-state-houses-since-july-2018.html
The second eviction never took place. It was cancelled while National were, just, still the Government. The daughter who took over the lease gave special thanks to the Destiny Church. They must do some good.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/339203/grandchildren-facing-loss-of-state-home-given-reprieve
The link also mentions
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/339203/grandchildren-facing-loss-of-state-home-given-reprieve
I know two people that have been "saved" from a drunken and lonely old age by Destiny Church.
It appears to be more than just a vanity and self enrichment project of Tamaki's, for many in it.
I suspect like most churches, and other "gangs", they have to be more than just a money making outfit to keep members.
Just heard an acquaintance has transferred from Destiny to Equip. Apparently the tithe is cheaper!
Tempted to let them know that the Presbyterians and Sallies etc, offer the same services, for a voluntary donation!
Well, I guess they can go to the back of the line of the 20,000+ families who are waiting for a KO house.
'Inconvenience' is people parking on the berm, or not mowing the lawn, or having parties every weekend. Annoying. But you just live with it.
This is (as determined by both the police and the Tenancy Tribunal) illegal antisocial behaviour (threats, harassment, etc.). No neighbour should have to put up with it, because KO can't deal with a problem tenant.
And, 9/10 of the problem behaviour would stop immediately, if the tenants concerned knew they would be kicked out for anti-social behaviour.
The state has a duty to assholes.
There's nowhere to sleep at the back of this line.
We didn't bring our total prison number down from 12,000 to 8000 by more punishment.
The hard cases need even greater state support.
The government can rent a motel just for these assholes and hide them there just as they do with those that are not antisocial violent assholes but who are unlucky enough to not being put up in state houses as these antisocial violent assholes. Like all the several hundreds of families that can’t get state houses because the government gives them to violent antisocial assholes. .
No they don't need greater support, they need no support. At some stage you cut the abuser out of your life and you put the effort to those that want to be good and law abiding citizens.
Yep a motel set up just for these people is the right approach.
We house each criminal in this country with an average subsidy of $150,000 per year.
You can't get rid of the problem until you solve it.
Unfortunately, the 'cost' of not solving the problem is being borne by the neighbours – who are trapped in the situation with no way out.
They have rights, too. As this Tenancy Tribunal case has made crystal clear to KO.
Neighbours have rights. Sure.
The right to safe housing is stronger.
It's weak to simply say you can just chuck them on the streets. As if our duty of care is exhausted because it's hard.
The hard question the left must always answer is:
How do we care for and fix the most damaged?
The right to safety from your feral neighbours is stronger.
Bear in mind that we are talking about people who conduct a relentless campaign of active harassment, threats, property damage and actual physical violence.
Just imagine what that does to your mental health, let alone physical well-being. We've had story, after story, in the media of families who are literally afraid to leave their houses, because of the (usually gang adjacent) neighbours.
Nothing preventing KO from choosing to house the anti-social in motels – it's still a 'roof over their heads' – just not one that's particularly attractive.
Given that the State can't care for and fix everyone at the same time (9 years of neglect, I hear the echo); then perhaps they need to follow standard triage principles, and deal with the people who 'can' be fixed in the short term. Get them out of the way and resolved, and then try to do something about the long-term dysfunctional.
Because, the fastest way to make a gang life attractive to the next generation, is to see criminals getting way with anti-social and intimidating behaviour with zero consequences.
How – you sit down and have a hard think and pull out your hankies.
And the other people who have been trying to be good citizens and not have their children turn in to a…holes just should look on with a saintly expression and get a big dog with big teeth. I saw in a usa film about a working solo father trying to protect his two boys in their inadequate room. He barked when people rattled the doorknob as he couldn't afford a dog. Or perhaps a recording? Ideas that the helpful government should pass on to it's poor and reasonably honest tenants.
People who are most damged probably can never be rehabilitated. They should have a special working farm prison with amenities and get locked into their rooms at night so they can't get out and start fires, pinch farm bikes, rape women or whatever has become their habitual obsession. They could be happy there so for god's sake take away their freedom – to create misery. And have tough cahps in charge, just practice isolation for people who threaten attack and never trust them completely, safety first and stun guns as backups. If they behave it could be a good place with their own room and decent bedding as long as they don't get the urge to slash it. Most of the men, no women permanently there, would be likely to have been assessed as mentally unbalanced.
But apparently you prioritise one right to SAFE housing over the other.
So we are not solving anything considering that these people cause harm to law abiding citizens – presumably at their cost. So that is OK?
And some will always end up in Prison – that is why we have prisons, to get the criminal elements that wreak havoc in the community out of hte community.
In the meantime we are warehousing families who work in rundown motels at a million dollar or so
But then you might consider that cheap.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/revealed-the-multimillion-dollar-cost-of-the-government-s-emergency-motel-policy.html
so my solution would be that these guys can live in a run down motel and the good state houses go to good families that work, but don't make enough to pay market rent. But i guess that is not awesome and 'woke' enough.
It is an outrage that you have no qualms about comparing assholes to criminals. They are of course not the same thing.
People who have no money for a long time have a propensity to be assholes because they have to fight for absolutely everything and everything in their life can be taken away – such little as they have.
Anyone who carries the badge 'woke' for actually caring for people that are really really hard to deal with … well those people don't give much thought for your labels.
You'll see such people out every weekend with other badges on them like St Johns, St Vincent De Paul, St Francis, Te Whanau Waipereira, Habitat for Humanity, Barnardo's, Tear Fund, The Compassion Soup Kitchen, City Mission, World Vision, and bunches of Anglican and Catholic trusts and entities. Kiwi volunteers and underpaid staff by the thousand.
They don't give a damn about how you disparage their work or the people they work with.
They understand your scorn, derision, rage and urge to punish. They've seen those stories for several thousand years.
People who have no money for a long time have a propensity to be assholes because they have to fight for absolutely everything and everything in their life can be taken away – such little as they have.
You have hit the nail on the head Ad. The above description is a plan for growing more assholes. You big softie Ad. Could you spread your sympathy wider to people who bear the brunt of thr poor caring of these people by authority figures for many years. As many of those people suffering from the effects of those poorly cared for people is likely to follow the same path as them, never having seen a different life, but forced to live amongst the rough, dishonest or vicious. Role models you know, get copied.
Sabine, These "arseholes" have families. What do you propose?
surely Tiny Dean has a motel space available for them on Fenton Street.
That is where we warehouse homeless families that work in many cases and can not afford rent. Just a thought. Or is that to good for criminals that wreak havoc in the areas where they get state houses that seemingly one can only get when one is a lawbreaking antisocial criminal.
How bout that Patricia?
Only Germans would have such conveniently short memories.
Sometimes the You Tube is called for.
Surely that comment Ad doesn't reach the supposed high standard of The Standard? The reference to nationality is egregious surely.
ONLY Germans? You fishing?
That is just sour nastiness Sabine, and your constant attacks on the motelliers who have offered their properties says more about your bitterness than their motives. Constant carping and wild generalisations don't prove a thing. Too broad a brush. You confirmed the building programme, then got hung up on the time it takes to get consents and do infrastructure.. typical.!!
No sour nastiness about that at all Patricia. Just facts, inconvenient facts.
It was facts when National did nothing to alleviate the housing crisis and started housing people in motels and it is a fact now that Labour does it too.
We are warehousing people for month/years on end in Motels. In Rotorua and elsewhere.
And if you are pleased with the little that is happening that is good for you. Me i look at my neighbor in his two bedroom unit, with his wife, his son, the daughter, the grand child and the occasional cuzzy cause they have no where to go. This is now a fact in any town in NZ, but particularly in Auckland and Rotorua. Nothing nasty about that. It is actually just a tragedy. A tragedy of epic proportions.
I think Sabine has been really clear about her proposal – rent a motel for the people who are unable to live in a civilized fashion with their neighbours.
What's your one? Or do you think it's OK for them to continue their reign of terror (and that's exactly what it is, in some instances), with no consequences.
My proposal would be to rent the house next to Poto Williams, and put them there.
Sabine's solution is a ghetto worse than any you have ever seen in this country. TReat people like scum and replicate the problem a hundredfold.
My solution would look something like Hobsonville.
Who we are » Hobsonville Point
In the real world, there are already people living in the said motels on the waiting list for state housing.
And telling people in state housing that Labour will do nothing about their neighbour problems leaves them to wonder whether they would be better off under National.
So it should. Unless there is a social contract for all of us, not just the deserving, the left has no leg to stand on.
To prove itself serious about such a social contract Labour would have abandon debt targets and bring in CGT, wealth and estate taxation and MMT. And at some risk of being seen as too radical for the centre.
On current policy settings it would have to plot a more measured course – and that means winning elections regularly if it is to make progress over time. That does not happen if the people in state housing are unhappy, or those in motels, because of the behaviour of their neighbours.
The social contract also involves law – landlords have certain responsibilities – including KO.
So, in your Hobsonville Plus vision – what do you do with a tenant who consistently exhibits anti-social behaviour (loud parties til 3am, smashed bottles across shared driveways, hard-core gang associates visiting, dealing drugs, feral dogs chained on the property, physical intimidation, threats, and actual violence against anyone who is brave enough to complain, regular and open domestic violence against women and children resident at the property, etc.)
[Before you say I'm making this up – all of this has been witnessed by friends at a local KO house – luckily, for them, slightly down the road, rather than actually next door]
Don't say the police will deal with it – because they won't – or at least, not until there is a case of actual assault – and even then it will be 'a visitor to the house' rather than a resident, so KO won't do anything.
That's exactly what KO are doing to the innocent neighbours caught up in this drama. Treating them like scum….
I do not doubt your example. And I am sure there are hundreds more.
You apply as many wraparound services as are required to change the situation. It usually involves a set of interventions from the following state entities, and there's no particular order to this:
Kainga Ora, NZPolice, MSD, MoE, local Kura, MOH and DHBs, urban Maori trust services, Oranga Tamariki or whatever it will be called, local service trusts, wider family members, tonnes upon tonnes of taxpayer $$ and family group conferences, Corrections and MoJ, and finally employers who are prepared to take on Not in Education Employment or Training …
… literally hundreds of thousands of dollars working day after day to lever each and every one of these people out of the desperation and rage they are in.
And yes not all fo them will work and some will still go to gangs, for which the only control is NZPolice and MoJ and Corrections. But then, how did we bring our jail count down from 13,000 to 8,000 in 2 terms?
Hobsonville has most of those services built in.
No it is not easy. Yes that is is what our taxpayer funding is for. Yes that is the essence of the social democratic state.
A hostel might be a solution. Where obstreperous 'guests' could be kept away from those who can play nicely with others.
Pretty pictures and plans, very artistic. But people who want to be good citizens are being treated like scum under the present system Ad. If you don' think that is right the present system is wrong, and should be changed speedily for a better one. What can you do about that, without having fancy modern housing.
Just help with something now not in future years when built, warm, dry house, with sun and light, safe space for kids to play,some shade area beside for super hot summers, friendly, respectful neighbours, own area with gate for wandering dogs and people (though a man who insisted on entering a property despite a warning notice not to use the back entrance, got bitten by the guard dog in one Nelson property, and was able to plead rights and the dog be ordered to be put down). Makes you realise that you are on a different planet than Labour planners. Send in the clowns – Don't you love a farce? My fault, I fear,
I thought that you'd want what I want
Sorry my dear…
Sabine’s proposal sucks and is a typical simpleton solution. Unless such motel is in the wop-wops there will always be neighbours in the hood, just not in adjacent rooms.
Your proposal sounds moronic.
Now that is a really good idea, and some could be housed right next to Carmel Sepuloni, Phil Twyford and so on and so forth.
To see what 300 truly unrepentant undesirable outsiders next door to an MP, look no further than the protests at Parliament weeks ago.
Everyone but Act simply denied they existed.
Your desire for schadenfreude achieves nothing.
I am not sure, Why don't we try?
The issue is not going away by not doing anything. It is getting worse. And anyone who will run on 'law and order' will pick up all those that feel that law and order has been abandoned.
We have no issues housing homeless people in motels the up and down the country. At great cost to the tax payer – as they are the ones that pay all the bills.
But i guess we will see what happen in the near future. Elections are only a few months away.
They’re always only a few months away. Which public assets will NAct flog off to their rich mates this time, and what public services will be privatised – gotta fund those tax cuts. My money's on water assets and health services (the pandemic’s over, right?), and they might give Serco another go – plenty of wealth to gorge on yet.
But I guess we'll see what happens in a few months.
"There's nowhere to sleep at the back of this line."
Really, so we have 20,000+ families sleeping in cars, then?
No, they're in motels – which everyone acknowledges is not adequate housing (apart from the most temporary of emergency housing).
But it does give them somewhere to sleep.
Like every really difficult family is just another can to kick down the road.
Don't become a public servant whatever you do.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kainga-ora-residents-tenancy-tribunal-complaint-after-neighbour-hell-for-three-years/JHLXUDIR4RO72KZKNQRUNNA7ME/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/461209/other-agencies-discourage-kainga-ora-from-evicting-misbehaving-tenants-select-committee-told
Maybe Kainga Ora tenants who have concerns about their neighbours behaviour need to become clients of the said agencies … .
Funny thing is National wants some of the said agencies to have a greater role in the lives of those on welfare, agencies that oppose National’s approach on Kainga Ora.
Oh, so it's fine for an 'ordinary' law-abiding family to be stuck in motel accommodation, but it's too sub-standard for anti-social criminals.
If they're a 'really difficult family' then just maybe – bog-standard KO independent living is *not* the most appropriate solution for them.
I'd like to see some actively monitored housing precincts (could be apartments) – which have a zero-tolerance for gang presence, and are gated so residents only.
I would assume that most people in these households are 'ok', but that one or two elements are not. These are the people that need to be removed. And if they are law breaking they need to be arrested, and locked up. And that is the issue, innit, that we are currently not arresting and locking up people who cause havoc.
Oh well, i guess its fair go for the 'tough on law and order crowd' as the current crowd seems to simply pretend that if you don't lock them up they will rehabilitate themselves, and no it wont be cheaper either as per the Corrections Ministers, cause average and fixed costs and leases.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/exclusive-expensive-failure-new-zealands-cost-per-prisoner-rises-while-jail-population-
What happens to the problem tenant after eviction, rather who's problem will it be next?
Does the law have any sway i.e fines or court?
KO are arguably the worst landlord in NZ. And Poto has to be in line to be one of our worst cabinet ministers.
Sorry to see Jen Psaki shifting from the White House to MSNBC.
Maybe Biden could swap for Rachel Maddow.
Good for her, imagine having to clean up after another Biden brain fart.
I would also assume better pay and a longer contract.
MSNBC is bleeding even faster than CNN. Better off joining Joe Rogan.
I consider it all just performative info/entertainment and i don't care nor do i listen/watch to either them.
Something is rotten at the heart of UK politics. The Russian oligarchy has embedded its tentacles deep in the Britsh aristocracy and they are exercising considerable power to suppress the truth. Reminds me of the Jian Yang saga and National's (no so hidden) propensity to suck up to CCP money
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1509612965011804162?s=21&t=HBIItVqjpfwUvilulnXicg
Interesting post on the connection between oligarachs and UK torys.
https://fb.watch/c7oBj0CGT4/
Are some billionaires more moral because they are not billionaires called oligarchs?
Anyone who doesn't think we have a fully functioning oligarchy here in New Zealand is gravely mistaken.
Bernie Sanders gets it.
Anybody who thinks we do not have an oligarchy right here in America is sorely mistaken. – YouTube
Like Russia, we are a deeply unequal society with an exceptionally narrow intermarried inter-director network with no more than a handful of key net worth people in: housing, building supplies, ports, airports, groceries, fuel, politics, media, milk, agriculture, meat, banking, bread, fruit, electricity production, broadband, and more. Most of our debt is controlled by Australia, and most of what we make is taken by China: just 2 countries.
We're under a total illusion that we are more economically free than Russia.
Bruce Jesson and WB Sutch would recognise this country as the worst possible scenario they had imagined.
Well it's Michel's Iron Law after all.
But Kremlin aligned oligarchs are perhaps unusually active in promoting sociopathies like Brexit, which was intended to reduce the UK's influence and the effectiveness and cohesion of European powers.
The sociopathy of a Bill Gates is not intentionally directed towards the wrecking of Western society (though the various windows systems are hardly benign), they are his customers after all. But this limitation is not true of Kremlin operations, who would not be at all sad to see the present order collapse. They are in a very real sense the enemies of our states.
As Mickey Savage noted yesterday, our own 1% elite political donor class is pretty open about the politics it funds.
Yeah – wage suppression and climate denial – useless backward turkeys.
It's no more likely that Russians will be prosecuted for war crimes in Ukraine than Americans have been for theirs, but if tribunals were to be set up then there'd be a bunch of slam-dunk cases.
Will no one think of whining, thin-skinned
Nazifar right feels.https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1509948907899564044
Well I give thanks today that I don't live in Sri Lanka.
As prices soar in crisis-hit Sri Lanka, many forced to moonlight | News | Al Jazeera
"Historically weak government finances, badly timed tax cuts and the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the vital tourism industry, have decimated the economy, triggering a currency crisis that has disrupted fuel imports and caused skyrocketing food prices."
"Well I give thanks today that I don't live in Sri Lanka."
….yet
We have a few months,and then we will be like the North sea Island off the coast of France.
https://twitter.com/TorstenBell/status/1509820318369693713?cxt=HHwWooC-8ZDl-vMpAAAA
Couldnt possibly happen ….NZ is Godzone.
And all wanting coke cans to rain from the sky
Exhibit 1.
https://www.transpower.co.nz/sites/default/files/interfaces/can/CAN%20Southland%20security%20issues%20and%20request%20for%20information%204289359753.pdf
Its been a funny old summer….quite wet in Canterbury.
Perhaps the climate is changing.
Just read the obit for Dame Miriam Dell – what an outstanding woman. Just reading through this, it's filled with 'only woman on' and 'first woman to' – it's due to her (and the team of strong women around her) that we have made such progress towards equality not, that I – or probably Dell – think that we're there yet
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/women-of-influence/128191223/obituary-teamaking-snub-spurred-a-lifetime-of-advocacy-for-women
That was a lovely read, she would have been awesome to meet. Make us some tea dear! Yeah, nah nah, make your own cuppa. Signed, the token woman.