(at least not until the government does something about it)
Another biased pro-owner study of the problem has been released.
The brief of this new study exclusively focused on more carrot for rich people, and not sticks to encourage them to rent or put their empty houses up for sale.
Despite the authors of the study admitting that the carrot based strategy has had very limited success.
10% of ghost home owners intentionally keeping them empty
Geraden Cann 05:00, Oct 02 2022
……Ghost homes have become a focus of attention as the housing crisis continues, and now a government-funded project has released a report that explores how many ghost homes there are, how long they remain empty for, why owners keep them empty, and how the Government can encourage owners to rent them out.
Key findings included about 10% of owners of ghost homes kept them empty intentionally, and a little over a quarter had been empty for at least a year…..
…..The survey showed most respondents considered the condition of their empty homes as “ready for occupation”…..
Tax ‘sticks’ not explored
The report listed some tax methods used abroad to encourage owners to rent empty homes out…..
…Wise Group did not investigate how similar policies could be rolled out in New Zealand, or how effective they might be, stating incentive-based measures were more appropriate for the study.
The carrot-based approach was criticised by one of the commenters in the report….
….He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme co-director Nevil Pierse warned in the report that internationally it had proven hard to incentivise owners to fill their empty homes when there were “limited ‘sticks’” available….
…..Despite the report only focusing on carrots, owners still did not favour any of the proposals, which revolved around helping to source and vet potential tenants.
We all know an administration convinced of the justice of neo-liberal trickle down theory, is chary of putting any tax on the lucky rich people with more than one house that they can keep empty, while other families live in cars..
I suggest calling it a fine, instead of a tax.
Rich people, love disproportionately fining poor people.
How about a fine that disproportionately fines the fortunate owners of one or more empty homes?
Would that be more palatable to a neo-liberal administration that has no hestatation on fining low income people for the slightest parking or compliance infraction, yet never call it a tax.
We can fine someone for overparking depriving someone else of a carpark.
Why can't we fine someone for keeping their property/properties empty depriving someone else of somewhere to live?
I agree with encouraging owners to put ghost houses out for rent.
But why go punative? Why not create incentives for owners to rent out their houses? This will likely be more effective than more taxes, because that will just encourage people to look for ways to avoid the tax, so will be a lot less effective than positive incentives to make it worthwhile for Landlords to rent out the houses..
I agree with encouraging owners to put ghost houses out for rent.
But why go punative? Why not create incentives for owners to rent out their houses?….
Hi Smithy what sort of incentive for owners do you think the government should apply. Money incentives?
Now there's an idea, let's subsidise the rich folk (again). If we could just shovel enough money toward the top end of town, trickledown economics could work.. And, a subsidy for the rich folk would be well in line with this government's convinced neoliberal economic agenda.
Unfortunately I am not convinced that more 'carrot' for rich folk (their word) would work, neither are the writers of the report. Even though their brief ruled out "sticks" they had to admit that 'carrot's weren't working. Even the creepy government vetting of tenants to satisfy the wealthy empty home owners, couldn't convince these rich folk to let their empty houses out.
Rather than upset rich folk, better we let kids live in cars. We know homeless kids and their families are never going to give us any party donations. But rich people can and do.
I came across a few of those "ghost houses" when I was working for Auckland Council. The ones I knew about – I doubt that the owners were tax residents in New Zealand – or has much interest in being landlords here at the time. One very large house on an expensive section on the North Shore was just abandoned when its owners went back to their homeland very suddenly. They just packed up and left – even the power was still on in the house. It was a while before the local kids discovered the place was empty as it was a rear site. The neighbours were concerned about squatters and because the lawns were getting long and rank in the summer heat and were a fire hazard. Council eventually made an arrangement to get the lawns mowed and charged the homeowner. The bills were still paid but the house was empty for years.
There is a report available for the 2020 year. It seems to be a well thought out which is working – raising money to both cover costs and assist non-profit providers of housing.
Victory in Lyman appears to be accompanied by an unimaginable slaughter of the fleeing defeated enemy Russian army. Never forget the human cost of this utterly wanton war of aggression.
Caution – read only if you are of a strong constitution. Erich Maria Remarque meets Ernst Jünger. I just thought Jesus Christ, this is happening now in 2022 and while the Ukrainians at least have agency to make sense of what they are going through the Russians are dying for absolutely nothing other than the blood sacrifice demanded from them by their demented dictator. Putin's war is an unspeakable evil where thousands die pathetic deaths and calling for their mothers.
Yes, and not only Lyman. I think the whole Luhansk front will collapse. Very soon the Ukrainians will hold several more key towns for supply of Russian logistics to the whole Donbass region.
Just been reading about the rout in Lyman. It was untenable last week. I could speculate about the political motivations that allowed an effective encirclement without withdrawal. But really just saying that Putin has all of military genius of Hitler just about covers it. It sounds like they were told to hold so it didn’t disrupt a political rally in Moscow.
Just been reading about the rout in Lyman. It was untenable last week. I could speculate about the political motivations that allowed an effective encirclement without withdrawal. But really just saying that Putin has all of military genius of Hitler just about covers it. It sounds like they were told to hold so it didn’t disrupt a political rally in Moscow.
Lyman cuts out a large chunk of the Russian logistics pipeline to their June to August occupation areas. That is going to make life very difficult for those regions when they are attacked.
Yes, it makes the term "bat-shit crazy" seem like a synonym for "rationale".
Despite all the crazy rhetoric, from what I have seen, a lot in Russia are not buying it. Especially those fleeing and those in the poorer regions who are being disproportionately targeted for mobilisation.
I am not too worried about Russia using nukes. An interesting video from an interview with George Friedman that covers that threat amongst other things. He makes the point that so far as tactical nukes go, there are other weapons better for the job, and so far as strategic nukes, the fact that they are being implicitly threatened means they are unlikely to be used, due to the fact that making the threat gives up first strike advantage which is seen as critical in nuclear war.
So, I think Russia is in deep trouble. They are shoving mobilised people to the front line at the moment without any training. Their logisitics is terrible, and struggles to support what they have there now. And human wave tactics don't work in an age of modern weapons.
Do a twitter search using "Kherson". Looks like the Ukrainians are making their play there at the moment, after spending weeks destroying Russian logistics and supplies. They must think the Russians are now too weak to resist.
By morning over there Kherson might be liberated.
That would be a major issue for Russia continuing the war. That is because Ukraine is about to cut supply lines to the Donbass area. Taking Kherson would cut supply lines enable Ukraine to cut supply lines running from Crimea to the other end of Ukraine.
OK – Early reports indicate the Russians planned to hold Lyman and reinforce it with some of their poorly trained newly mobilised troops. However the situation moved faster than they anticipated and the Ukrainians shut off the road between Lyman and Zarichne – effectively surrounding the Russian garrison. The Russians were instead forced to commit the newly arrived troops into a hasty unprepared counter-attack to try and relieve the trapped troops. A dramatic and intense battle ensued. The Russian assault was partially successful but at the cost of catastrophic losses both on the retreating units and the relieving assault. Lots of video showing literally piles of dead Russian bodies.
Sounds like the Ukrainians have suffered many losses as well. What a shit show. Fuck Putin.
Another Lyman scale route and these people in Poots’ ear?
All bets will be off, I reckon.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen republic, said that Putin could use "low-yield" nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
In a statement slamming Russian generals in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal of its forces from the strategic town of Lyman, Kadyrov said it was time for the Kremlin to make use of every weapon at its disposal.
“I do not know what the Defense Ministry reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but in my personal opinion we need to take more drastic measures, including declaring martial law in the border territories and using low-yield nuclear weapons. There is no need to make every decision with the Western American community in mind,” Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.
Earlier last week, Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president between 2008 and 2012, also discussed nuclear weapons use on his Telegram channel, saying it was permitted if the existence of the Russian state was threatened by an attack even by conventional forces.
“If the threat to Russia exceeds our established threat limit, we will have to respond … this is certainly not a bluff,” he wrote.
I think two factors are at play there. Firstly, as mentioned in my previous post, it isn't clear tactical nukes are more effective than other weapons. Secondly, NATO has made it clear to Russia about specific devastating threats if they went down that route.
So, some of the conventional weapons that have similar effects might be preferred. For instance FABs (Father of all bombs) would have a similar effect to low-yield nukes without the international blow-back.
And, the Ukrainians are moving so quickly that they may not provide an easy mass target for either of those weapons.
I am always suspicious when people have to say things like "this is not a bluff", because it sounds like they are having to reinforce a weak position that indicates they could be bluffing.
Yesterday in the The Press a perennial mayoral candidate, Tubby Hansen, alleged a maser was being used to attack his knee along with his old truck being sabotaged to hinder his political career.
In the pub on Friday night a former Green MP, an anti-vaxxerr and critic of mandates, warned me that the Covid vaccines could harm unborn babies. "Unproven", he said……..
Credit to the Herald layout people. They didn't put stories of people living in poverty or trying to survive living in motels next to their walled story about Auckland's newest golf course.
"Inside Auckland's newest golf course Te Arai Links (Mangawhai, Northland) and what members get for a $48k joining fee" is the headline.
"As the Herald reported last month, cost of membership is just shy of a $50,000 joining fee and $10,000 a year for a family membership… The club already has around 475 members, made up of New Zealanders and international golfers with a plan to potentially cap the membership towards the 600 mark."
What they get for their fees is the ability to escape the hoi polloi and the reality of the world. I do appreciate they worked so hard all their lives to afford that and so deserve to escape the slackers who didn't.
Hecklers are going from meeting to meeting in Wellington and abusing candidates for their positions on Three Waters reform.
Eagle and fellow mayoral contender Tory Whanau, both of whom are Māori and who support Three Waters reform, were on the receiving end of the heckling. They both believe the hecklers are coordinated and are trying to disrupt meetings.
Foon has started to make sure her supporters stay nearby at the events and don't leave before her.
Some comments towards Whanau were "pretty ugly", she said
support was needed from the council, because residents' associations were not equipped to deal with abuse.
Would be interesting to know who these slime "hecklers" are..and who they are associated with ? Also the Council absolutely needs to ensure the Safety of Candidates..and members of Public..from these type of people. None should be fearful in anyway. Maybe Police need to have a look in?
Oh, I had wondered : (. I really like Tory Whanau. This ugly heckling (racist as well to her, Paul Eagle, others). But of course NONE of the Candidates….or Public attending, should have to put up with any of this ugly shit..from the ugly VFF…or their fellow 'travellers"
American journalist Luke Mogelson has some insights about such groups in the US. As I interpret it, he identifies 3 interesting points:
The 'mutability' of the anger they express. It is 'nebulous' and can be manipulated by the movement's leaders against a variety of targets. It thus appears to switch back and forth across a range of targets that to an outsider seem dissimilar.
A sense that they are victims, that something like a birthright has been taken away and needs to be restored. This makes the dissimilar-looking targets feel consistent – and this feeling is genuine even though objectively speaking, they are not actually victims (or not more so than many other people)
A view of the world as being based on a binary dominance-subservience dynamic, i.e. if you are not dominant you are subservient. This also plays into particular views of masculinity (the alpha-beta stereotype)
I suspect a closer look at similar groups here might show similar characteristics and forces at play. They do seem to be on the move everywhere.
Trump's 'rhetoric of inversion' as Luke Mogelson describes it, is playing out in our theatre of disinformation as well. If this review is worth a read, his book will be even more interesting.
Mogelson writes with the descriptive fluency and eye for detail that you would expect of a reporter with his credentials. But what makes this book more than a dystopian travelogue is his ability to tease out connections across history and make illuminating global comparisons.
He dips into his experience abroad, describing, for example, the extraordinary communal response to the Ebola virus in the Monrovia slums in 2014. Local leaders in the Liberian capital designed and enforced their own health measures in the absence of outside help. As a result, fewer than 30,000 people contracted the disease, compared to the 1.5 million that experts had predicted. Mogelson wondered at the time: “How would my country bear up under similar pressure?”
Six years later, he had his answer. Flying in from France, where residents had accepted stringent health measures pretty much without complaint as the price of containing the disease, he saw how in the US, questions of science were engulfed by the country’s all consuming culture wars.
In times gone by this would have been written up in the local rag as lively debate, as politicians were tested by tough questions from passionate local constituents.
Sadly this is just another sign (like the <50% voter turnouts) that our democracy is in a terrible state of affairs.
So, this is both HDPA (anathama to many Standardistas, I know) and Herald premium content (you can read through PressReader via most libraries – certainly the big city ones)
However, setting aside her clear preference for much of the ACT agenda, it's the first article that's clearly come out and said that ACT are likely to be heavily influential in a National/ACT government (which, is certainly an option given the current polling).
Selected excerpts:
It's worth reading what Act says it's planning to do after the next election. Because if things stay the way they are, Act will be doing a lot of it. And Act's ideas might impact you more than National's.
On this year's polling, Act could be bringing 20-25 per cent of the votes to that government.
That gives Act a lot of bargaining power in coalition negotiations. If the party is smart, it'll expect a quarter of the vote to translate to a quarter of the Cabinet positions.
But more importantly, it'll expect a number of big policy wins. And Act has a very clear idea of what it wants to do. It's been prepping for the last two years.
The party reckons it's already released eight policy documents, four Covid policy papers and two fully costed alternative budgets. Act's leader consistently has a clear position on everything from crime to co-governance to the cost of living.
If Act implements even one policy fully, it'll be the closest thing to a proper shake-up within that sector since Rogernomics.
[HDPA specifically addresses ACT policy on cutting public servant numbers, education vouchers (she doesn't use that word, but that's what she means), and a referendum on co-governance.]
The size of Act's possible vote counts in its favour.
So does the fact that Seymour apparently isn't hung up on ministerial posts. If he doesn't get what he wants, he's reportedly happy to walk away, sit on the cross benches and force National to negotiate every piece of legislation.
But most importantly, it's clear Act's a lot more prepared for government than National. While Act's been pumping out fully thought-through policy documents, National's been selecting leaders. National's still trying to explain whether it'll cut taxes or not. It is several years behind Act in prep.
Even when it does eventually release policy, National probably won't have big ideas. It's a party of managing the status quo with small changes. There's every chance Act will bring many of the policy changes.
It doesn't look like National's expecting an assertive Act.
It seems as though Seymour and ACT have a much stronger grasp on their policy outcomes than National does. And, (IMO) Seymour is a stronger character than Luxon – I wouldn't say ACT would blink first in negotiations. [This is me, not HDPA]
Whatever applies to ACT, in this – should also apply to the Greens (especially after Shaw's recent shake up with the membership). They, too, will be looking for very significant policy gains from Labour – and are unlikely to be fobbed off with minor portfolios and/or meaningless titles.
In 2023 – policy may shift much more radically to either left or right, than the centre parties are likely to be comfortable with.
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
Credit Suisse has asked hedge funds and other investors to destroy documents relating to its richest clients’ yachts and private jets, in an attempt to stop information leaking about a unit of the bank that has made loans to oligarchs who were later sanctioned.
Investors this week received letters from the Swiss bank requesting that they destroy the documents relating to a securitisation of loans backed by “jets, yachts, real estate and/or financial assets”, according to three people whose firm received the request.
The letters tell the investors to “destroy and permanently erase” any confidential information Credit Suisse previously provided in relation to the transaction, citing a “recent data leak to the media” that it said had been “verified by our investigators”.
Credit Suisse took the action after a Financial Times report last month detailing how it offloaded the risks relating to $2bn of loans to a group of hedge funds.
If the financial risk of the UK is fragile (without the fairy tail economics) prior,there is a substantive misalignment to be undertaken on currency risk alone.Where the Kiwi due to the same problems as the UK,such as high increasing internal debt,large current account deficit,overvalued currency.
These are the drivers of instability in the Global markets,where they are looking for the next storm.and where the wobbly domino appears.
Largest risk,as they (the hedge funds etc) need cash to meet margin calls.There has been a large switch from the long end to short dated cash from large investment groups in the last 3 months.
Oil is falling in value due to demand destruction,cracked products such as diesel is short due to industry and power generators switching from gas.
Electricity is not a driver of inflation in NZ (excluding changes to pricing increases in line charges) Gas similar with lower demand due to some switching to electricity which has allowed the second train at Motunui to start up to meet export demand.
Food and Fibre will still be in demand due to shortages in NH forced by energy constraints.
Both local and central government spending on capital projects,is on borrowed debt with increasing interest risk as new issues for both maturing debt,and increased debt are over 4.1% for the government at the short end moving to 4.5 at the long end.
S&P moved the UK to negative watch late Friday,warning bells are ringing here as each move of 1% in GDP or interest rates changes the interest costs by 1 billion,
Surely it would take mortgages to get to 10% before we start to see big changes in mortgagee sales. In April the NZ mortgagee sales were at a 15 year low.
Perhaps a wee shakeout of investors away from property is just what we need.
More the top end of town,with corporate borrowing becoming more expensive.
Also Government interest costs are well beyond forecast (more if we count SOE) an extra 2b this year,doubling next and net debt increasing 4-6b it isnt coming down.
Property market needs shakeup,as well above realistic valuation,removing a few zombie companies is always good.
Civics education is already part of the curriculum. I don't know what McAnulty's high school taught – but political process (including MMP) has been part of the social studies curriculum in high school for a lot longer than 20 years.
It's not, however, a topic which readily engages kids.
Disengaged teachers droning on to disengaged youth isn't a recipe to change anything about democratic engagement.
Actually changing legislation so that people can make bureaucracy change, especially at a local level, is what's needed. Anyone who's ever engaged the the behemoth which is Auckland Council, knows that achieving even the most obviously beneficial of changes is a multi-year process – requiring commitment and dedication from the individual or group. It's not surprising that youth don't see that this is a winning strategy.
Disengaged teachers droning on to disengaged youth isn't a recipe to change anything about democratic engagement.
"Disengaged teachers droning on" would turn me off – I recall having mostly excellent teachers (the engaged, non-droning kind), and certainly appreciate that now.
The public service profession of teaching is in decline – how to turn this around?
Negative perceptions of teaching as a profession are very well deserved. It's been regularly said over years we want, we need, our best and brightest to go teaching.
We want creatives, flexible and adaptable, personable and empathetic, dedicated with a sense of wanting to make a difference.
Anyone with those qualities doesn't want to be treated like shit by all the unqualified experts without the balls or inclination to take the job on themselves. They're not going to accept being treated like drones by drones who kowtowed to the ignorant crap and have nobbled and sabotaged meaningful teaching as a worthy profession.
How to turn around the public service profession of teaching? It is not possible. To mangle an aged adage: The necessary changes are more difficult than pushing shit to the top of Mt Everest with a marshmallow rake.
How to turn around the public service profession of teaching? It is not possible.
That's depressing Peter – although there are some excellent NZ teachers, I fear you may be right. Another example of the general decline that threatens to overwhelm society's ability to continue in the manner to which we have become accustomed?
I think that if you discuss the quality of teaching/teachers with almost any parent with kids in the current school system, you'd come to a different conclusion.
That's not to say there aren't excellent teachers out there: because there are. However, there are also a number, and a significantly higher number, of teachers who are not.
If you're lucky, you'll get one or two inspirational teachers during your entire schooling career. And they aren't always the same (e.g. a teacher can be inspirational for kid A, but not for kid B).
A much better goal to aim for is excellence – a teacher who thoroughly understands the topic/s they are teaching, is an engaging presenter of material (which may not always be seen as relevant by the kids), and has multiple educational strategies to cut through to kids who don't necessarily 'get' the standard presentation; as well as being able to manage the necessary class discipline for learning.
The numbers of those teachers in the education system is dropping, and dropping rapidly.
What, you believe that the quality of teachers is better now, than it was 20 years ago?
In that case, why have educational levels (you know, the basic ability to read and write) been on a continuous downward trend in virtually every measure?
Yes. Anecdata. In that I do have a kid in the schooling system; do talk to other parents (in primary, a major topic of conversation was how to angle your kid into the class with the 'good' teacher – and you bet it made a difference); do pay attention to the education figures and statistics.
That is entirely probable. And may well be a contributing factor to the observed dropping standards.
The great experiment in Modern Learning Environments (open plan large scale classrooms with 2-4 classes and teachers in a single space), entirely driven by MoE theorists – looks as though it may be coming home to roost [sorry for the mixed metaphors]. With zero evidence that it makes any positive difference to learning, and lots of evidence that it disadvantages kids with learning challenges (hearing, ADHD, etc.) and anecdotal evidence that it damages the teacher-student relationship (it's not realistic for teachers to have a personal relationship with up to 120 primary school kids in a class).
Every new or refurbished classroom for the last 10 years has been built in this style.
However, teachers are (they have to be) a big factor in children's learning. They're the people on the ground, rather than the MoE bureaucrats issuing directives from Wellington.
And teacher unions are adamantly opposed to teacher quality evaluation and/or measurable educational standards (at least before NCEA level), and/or increased pay for high-quality teachers (those delivering above average results, regardless of the educational starting level)- which makes it a bit of a chicken and egg scenario so far as Ministerial quality standards go.
Your examples of comparable professions are interesting.
It's an incredibly high educational bar to get into Med school, requires 7 years of training, and then another couple to be fully qualified, and/or specialize.
Again, you need high results to get into law school – and these need to be maintained each year of your degree (drop down and you drop out). You have to work in a law form for a year before you can sit a bar exam (and you have to pass – not just serve your time).
To get into teacher training, you just need a bare UE pass & a C-grade pass for a 3 year undergraduate degree. (Yes, there are other pathways in, but that's the minimum).
I think that if you discuss the quality of teaching/teachers with almost any parent with kids in the current school system, you'd come to a different conclusion.
Perhaps, but there's no doubt in my mind that the state school teachers who educated me (50+ years ago) were mostly excellent.
There will be many hypotheses about why education and other 'sectors' of society are apparently in decline – maybe someone will present a cogent summary of the root causes for Kiwis to fulminate over as we twiddle our collective thumbs.
The 2021/22 Human Development Report (HDR) – which is entitled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World” – paints a picture of a global society lurching from crisis to crisis, and which risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice.
Heading the list of events causing major global disruption are the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which have come on top of sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in polarization.
For the first time in the 32 years that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has been calculating it, the Human Development Index, which measures a nation’s health, education, and standard of living, has declined globally for two years in a row.
I have no reason to disbelieve you – though have no direct knowledge of the state of teaching 50+ years ago 😉
I don't know what the answer is in the education system. Though, don't feel inclined to either accept the status quo as the best we can get; or junk the whole system.
Teacher status in Finland (November 2016; PDF)) In Finland, teachers work in one of the most sought-after and respected professions in the country. The 2013 OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey found that primary school teachers in Finland had the highest level of agreement (57%) with a statement that the teaching profession is valued in society – over 20% higher than average. The high social status of teaching in Finland makes it an extremely competitive profession to enter: the elementary education departments in Finnish teaching universities (which train class teachers) only accept 10% of all applicants.
Would be great if successive NZ governments could craft a bipartisan programme to significantly strengthen the 'education brand', but judicious tweeking of the teaching status quo is perhaps the best Kiwis can hope for.
Glad I 'went through' the NZ school system in the 60s/70s.
I agree the Finnish education system is world-leading by a whole raft of measures.
And would love a bi (or multi-party) partisan approach to providing a pathway to a similar result. The question is how to get there.
However, I don't have any confidence that the MoE is the right agency to be leading the way. They are very captured by their own dogma – and have proved unwilling to rock the boat in any way.
I think we need more than just tweaking the status quo. With the dropping attendance levels (yes, Covid, but they haven't bounced back in significant areas post-Covid), as well as the falling literacy rates – we need to take action.
And, education is one area where you don't have the luxury of time. Kids only have around 10-12 years in the education system from beginning to end. And the crucial years are the first 4 – the years when you learn the basic building blocks.
They [the MoE] are very captured by their own dogma…
Please expand your 'captured by dogma' critique – when did the rot set in?
[The MoE] have proved unwilling to rock the boat in any way.
Similarly, examples to supporting your impression would be welcome.
My recent experience in the tertiary education sector is that since TEC (Government) funding has been linked to the number of students passing courses and completing degrees, the twins ‘evils’ of dumbing down content and grade inflation have been given freer reign – what a surprise.
The NZ MoE once crafted a world class education system. Imho it’s important to understand why/how outcomes went downhill [quickly?] if that system is to regain and then sustain its former levels of achievement.
World class education? Why New Zealand must strengthen its teaching profession [14 October 2014] Executive Summary: The greatest asset in New Zealand’s education system is teachers. Teacher salaries make up the bulk of education spend, and teachers are the most important factor for student achievement and development.
[Brought to us be The NZ Initiative!]
World Class? Inside NZ Education [2016]
"The New Zealand education system is broken and we need to start fixing it today if we want to have a prosperous future tomorrow."
Bryan Bruce was a teacher for 10 years before he become an award winning documentary maker. He believes the switch to self-managing schools has proved a disaster for children living in poorer areas of our country, that the way we administer our public schools is getting in the way of teachers doing their job and that to produce creative young thinkers from our schools we need to radically change the way we assess the talents and abilities of our children.
What is the purpose of public education? Are we teaching our children in the way that will best prepare them for a future that no one can predict?
The MoE couldn't even produce any research (on improved student outcomes) which led them to the conclusion that open plan classrooms were a winning learning strategy before the new plan was implemented.
They commissioned a literature review, only after they had started rolling these out (initially in Christchurch following the quake). I note with incredulity, that they even acknowledge that the vast majority of the 'research' they cite – originates from themselves….
The majority of sources were published by the Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office (ERO), or the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and others were commissioned by the Ministry of Education though published by other bodies. Other studies that informed this report have been published in national or international journals. Any other types of studies such as masters or doctoral dissertations were carefully considered before inclusion by examining theoretical
underpinnings, methodological design and data collection instruments, and ensuring the conclusions
reached were justifiable based on the data provided.
Nor did they invest in evaluation of student experience and learning outcomes once they were implemented. And, even when they've been called into question (research showing poorer educational outcomes, especially for students with learning disabilities – and no educational improvement for anyone) – MoE still mandate all new or renovated builds in schools must be open plan MLE.
But the worst (and most long-standing one) is the MoE's attachment to 'balanced literacy' (i.e. learning to read using visual cues, rather than decoding words), even after multiple studies showing that it is not a suitable approach for teaching reading for a large group of children.
People are sceptical (in the above article) because they've been there before with MoE – they'll invest in developing a 'strategy' which takes 3 years – and then the government changes, or there's a new Minister – and they go back to the drawing board. I regard this as professional or bureaucratic capture, rather than a failure of vision from the Minister concerned.
There is a very strong culture of 'we know best' at the MoE – which is not justified by the educational results of kiwi kids.
Thanks Belladonna – the MoE's MLE experiment started in 2011, and the report on MLE you linked to is dated November 2016, so these ‘time points’ coincide with my three links (2012, 2014 and 2016) vis-à-vis when the rot set in at the MoE. It's important (imho) to understand why/how rot sets in, in order to learn from mistakes.
But the worst (and most long-standing one) is the MoE's attachment to 'balanced literacy' (i.e. learning to read using visual cues, rather than decoding words), even after multiple studies showing that it is not a suitable approach for teaching reading for a large group of children.
The RNZ item you linked to suggests that the MoE is considering moving away from 'balanced literacy' towards the 'structured literacy' strategy favoured by Lifting Literacy Aotearoa.
Lifting Literacy Aotearoa chair Alice Wilson said the government was moving in the right direction – but it was moving too slowly.
I hope that the (cautious?) moves currently afoot are in the right direction, and that your assertion the MoE are "unwilling to rock the boat in any way" is a tad hyperbolic. I agree that new initiatives are needed in NZ education, and that making education a political football has the potential to undermine positive change.
The Way Reading Is Taught In New Zealand Must Change – NZ Initiative Report [November 2021] Reading with the Light Switched On by research fellow and former teacher Steen Videbeck shows there are large teaching challenges to overcome. But recent changes by the Ministry of Education provide some hope for the future.
Credit where credit is due [September 2022] Lest our readers think that all we ever do is complain about what’s wrong, I’m delighted to say that we may be on the verge of a new era in New Zealand education. The Ministry has released an action plan for literacy, communication and mathematics.
Like most Ministry publications, the plan is long on buzzwords and short on detail. Still, it does signal a Common Practice Model for effective teaching in these three key areas. Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti was recently interviewed on Q&A. Importantly, she confirmed that the model will use a structured literacy approach.
… But for now, credit where credit is due. Congratulations to Jan Tinetti for heralding a much-needed change in direction for literacy education in New Zealand.
There is a very strong culture of 'we know best' at the MoE…
"Very strong" might be a bit strong, but yes, that seems typical of all Governments, Ministries, private companies and individuals. Mind you, sometimes they probably do 'know best',"lest our readers think that all we ever do is complain about what’s wrong."
MoE has been strongly pro the 'whole language' or 'balanced literacy' (the phrasing changes over time) approach to teaching reading – since at least the 1990s
We tend to forget that much content, earlier than the mid 2000s isn't readily available online, and gets missed from our searches.
There have, during that time, been multiple studies showing that a structured or phonics based approach has a better result for more children (i.e. kids who would learn using balanced literacy, also learn using structured literacy; and the kids who would fail using balanced literacy are more likely to succeed using structured literacy)
That's more than 30 years of MoE clinging to an approach which has demonstrably failed. To me, that qualifies as a "very strong 'we know best' culture".
To me, that qualifies as a "very strong 'we know best' culture".
Let’s hope that MoE public servants continue to believe that they know best, now that they are adopting strategies you support – "lest our readers think that all we ever do is complain about what’s wrong."
To my mind, the apparent shift to a ‘structured literacy’ approach is evidence that MoE public servants can ‘change their dogma’ (ha!) – maybe not rocking the boat, just swaying a little.
You're not going to get inspirational people, the 'best and brightest,' in the job and have them stay there because they're going to the treated like shit.
They can be trained and knowledgeable and become experienced but they will never be as expert as the self-centred, know-it-all, chip on their shoulder parents and the school managers who are driven buy checklists.
Of course the numbers of those with the qualities you want is dropping, and dropping rapidly.
From the era of the likes of Dr C E Beeby and Elwyn Richardson came the expression of New Zealand having a 'world class education system.' The further we moved from their philosophy the more the headlines are about failure.
The discussion started around Civics and topics readily engaging kids. Are we really interested in kids learning about civics and being really engaged? Or is the starting and ending point checklists, accountability charts and administrative paperwork?
Civics education is already part of the curriculum. I don't know what McAnulty's high school taught – but political process (including MMP) has been part of the social studies curriculum in high school for a lot longer than 20 years.
Not everyone believes C.E. Beeby was the great educator you portrait . When he was around (mid 20th century )NZ did have a world class education but his drasticchanges to progressive education away from traditional liberal education have been the cause of our present educational woes. This was predicted by wise educators of Beeby's era .
Please note it is well recorded that Beeby , at the end of his seemingly illustrious life greatly regretted the changes he had made to NZ s excellent education .. He saw the damage they had done even in his life time .
We need to reverse our entire educational philosophy to return to traditional values which believed in universal literacy and numeracy by phonics , spelling, tables some some rote learning , correction of work , proper handwriting , comprehension exercises ,etc .
Traditional learning would never had excluded art and crafts and civics but progressive education condemned the above mentioned subjects,
Lack of civics education doesn't account for a massive decline in local government voter turnout in one year.
If MPs wanted more public engagement about what they do, they could get those feckless and otherwise utterly $170k useless list MPs to go do some actual work in the community. There's enough of them.
The cynicism about bothering to vote in local body elections is very real — almost no one at work (100+ employees) is going to bother. The few who will, are 50+, and doing so as an act of civic virtue, rather than in any belief that their vote will make a difference.
The problem is in the age of the individual, where most of us don't have regular contact with large parts of our own community, I've got nothing to base my vote on other than guessing.
However, it's the older people who are (anecdotally, at least – I recognize this is just my own lived experience) the ones bothering to vote.
How do you motivate younger people to care? When everything around them is showing that voting doesn't change anything.
Dropping the electoral limit age below 70 is probably a good thing (we can certainly see instances of where politicians have remained beyond their use-by date – Shadbolt should have gracefully retired at the last election)
But, I don't see that electing a bunch of people in their 50s and 60s is going to be a whole lot better. And, many of the ones elected younger just become an institutional part of the system.
Given the stress and family-unfriendly hours and conditions – it's not realistic to expect many politicians in their 30s and 40s.
Perhaps a total limit on the number of years you can serve as an elected representative. 12 years (3 terms). And then a mandatory break of at least one term (3 years) before you can serve another 3 terms. After that, not eligible. Time served at both national and regional/local level to count.
I don't believe that we've been particularly well served by MP retreads at local body level.
But, none of that addresses the engagement factor.
Coming from Auckland, I'd say the biggest factor is the inertia of the local bureaucracy. Quite simply, I don't believe that any elected representatives have the ability to make change happen.
quite. I ended up in a conversation off that tweet which was saying that if we get rid of the olds, young people will vote. I think this is dangerous (messing with enfranchisement), discriminatory (ageist), and lacking in class analysis (why exclude older women, Māori, working class people and as you say end up with a bunch of late Pākehā middle agers top heavy with blokes).
It's also daft. Young people don't vote for a range of reasons including that they're busy doing other things they deem more important. I agree that people feel their vote doesn't change anything, but patently it does. So many people seem to believe that their vote is about their personal gratification, even politically aware people hold this view that. I see voting as an act of solidarity with my community and as a social good 🤷♀️
I don't feel disempowered, so I suppose that's part of why I see the power in voting.
I vote as a civic duty (if I don't vote in elections, I believe I forfeit the right to complain about the results for the next 3 years – a fate too dire to contemplate) (joke)
In the Auckland local body elections – even given the relatively significant divergence of the candidates at the mayoral level – I don't have a lot of confidence that much will change in the AC bureaucracy (and especially not with the council owned entities – like AT) – no matter who is elected.
At the local level – the Community Boards are basically powerless. They are blatantly ignored (and even lied to) by the likes of AT – and have little power to change or influence AC bureaucratic policy.
I admire the people who put their hats in the ring (without having any desire to emulate them); and I know they work hard in an often thankless job.
Truly. We have to find a way to give back more power at the local level. So that people can really see that their candidate (i.e. their vote) can make a difference in their community.
TOP will support National into government if it suits them. They've had major problems with their policies conflicting with welfare. I see they've made some changes on that, but haven't looked at the details yet.
They also wanted to asset strip elderly when they die by deferring the land tax. Don't know if that's still true.
Given they've specifically said they're a Centrist party – then that goes with the territory – supporting Labour or National depending on the policy gains they can get.
They've specifically said that the land tax can be deferred – so the 'asset stripping the elderly' would still apply (as it does to any land tax or CGT which includes land value, and has the capacity to be deferred).
A one-off land tax applied at death (aka death duties) is a known cost. (you know it's x% of whatever the value is)
A deferred tax simply goes on adding up – depending on how long it takes to die or sell. So, potentially could be a lot more, when added up over 20 years or so….
Can see them getting hammered on their property tax. When most landlords are operating on 2-3% real return, at best, (the money's in the capital gain) a 0.75% Property Tax is going to put 25 – 40% on the rent initially until property values crash.
Like CGT a good idea in a perfect world, but getting from here to there has got a few knobs on it.
I'd like to see a breakdown of parts of New Zealand where the gain from reduced income tax is equal or greater than what the homeowner will pay in Property Tax. It'll be an interesting relationship between property values and income, desirable places with poor wages will get hammered, others not so much. Can see a lot of wailing from people who have to sell their homes because they can't afford the tax payments.
I seem to remember Morgan's property tax proposal 10 years back wasn't quite so stark and was around equity so you could borrow and invest something other than property to reduce your liability.
There are some decent ideas in their tax policy. Worth considering.
Sadly, they won't get anywhere with the wider public for 2 reasons:
1) The 5% threshold is too high, and unfair. Proposals to lower it have been consistently blocked by National.
2) TOP killed their own brand when Gareth Morgan and Sean Plunkett decided to insult as many people as possible, which turned out not to be a vote-winning tactic. Who'd have guessed?
Of course TOP today is not the same as it was then. But you only get one chance to be a new, fresh party, and they blew it.
Again, they do have good ideas. Sadly, nobody is going to talk about them, outside a tiny minority of us on poli-blogs.
That Morgan meltdown of his own party was quite something to witness. New people now who seem to be doing good things. I value diversity in politics and it's been good to see them updating their policy as they get feedback on the holes in it. Still have some major issues with their positioning (they will support Nact into govt if it suits them). They've improved some of the stuff that was going to impact negatively on welfare*, but haven't looked at the details yet.
*they're also smart in some ways. Increasing disability allowance is both good for people who can't work and is non taxable and won't be affected by earnings and the WINZ rebate, but also there are a lot of people fucked off with Labour over them ignoring disabled people in benefits.
This is the first tax policy I have seen that will help the poor and pay for it by taxing landowners.
Top will also right off beneficiary debt. I am surprized more on the left aren't cheering it.
There are a lot of dissaffected Labour voters who can't bring themselves to vote National, especially having seen how disastrous the UK tax cuts have been (in all of 5 minutes). I think this policy will appeal. Many of us want some redistribution of wealth. Labour have increased inequality and made a lot of weatlhy people even wealthier.
This is the first tax policy I have seen that will help the poor and pay for it by taxing landowners.
It will tax rich and poor landowners alike. The Greens's policy targets people with a lot of wealth and directly helps all beneficiaries.
Top will also right off beneficiary debt. I am surprized more on the left aren't cheering it.
Most won't be aware of it yet. There are some good things in the policy for low income people. I'm not seeing an overall plan that's better than the GP's.
The land tax would replace current the bright line test, not apply to rural, Māori and conservation land and could be deferred for superannuitants.
Suspect they may not have thought this through. Replacing the bright line test, takes us right back to the property price inflation (buy and sell for capital gain) – though, it might look more appealing in an era of falling/settling property values. Rural land exempt? Farmers will be delighted: a massive tax cut, and no compensatory tax increase.
Manji also announced that he would run in the seat of Ilam, which was lost by long-term MP Gerry Brownlee to Labour’s Sarah Pallett in 2020. Manji won 23% of the vote in the seat running as an independent in 2017
“If we win Ilam, every single vote will count, so that will be our focus and the team is ready to go”, he said.
Looks like a well-thought through strategy there. Labour has little hold on the seat, and it would depend mightily on who National chose to put up against him (will Brownlee stay or go?). He's clearly got a strong local profile in the seat – so may be able to capitalize on this – even if only as a protest vote. And, if he looks like a winner in Ilam – then waverers are more inclined to risk their vote on TOP.
Oh, I absolutely agree the Swarbrick showed it was possible.
And, it looks as though Manji has the right local profile to give it a good shot.
I wouldn't expect Labour to hold this seat, even if TOP didn't stand – it's one of the ones which they won in the 2020 Jacinda landslide, and couldn't realistically have believed they'd hold.
It all depends on who National puts up.
Options:
Brownlee has high local and national profile (you may not like him but you certainly know who he is). However, he's already said he's going list only (with the aim of Speaker, if the Right wins). I don't see him standing in Ilam as a likely alternative.
National could parachute another high-profile list MP in (not a lot of options here, given their clean out in 2020)
National could head-hunt a local high-profile candidate [better get the selection right 😉 ] – with the specific goal of knee-capping Manji.
National could put up a standard candidate, and see how the chips fall. [I don't think they'd be happy with this option – and would prefer no. 3]
I can't see National doing a cup of tea with Manji – but they have history of working with centrist MPs and parties (Peter Dunn).
We don't have a good picture on how the resurgent ACT would play here either. Historically, this hasn't been a good seat for them – but the figures have changed a lot since 2020.
This will be a seat to watch with interest, once electoral polling gets going at the regional/seat level.
The Greens ran Auckland Central as if it were a by-election. They threw everything at it – they had people from as far away as Riverton working in Auckland Central. They also piled on the emotional blackmail to Labour people trying to get them to give the electorate vote to Swarbribk as some sort of insurance policy "how would you feel if Labour was not in government because they did not have the Green Party to support them"?
Do you think Swarbrick will hold Auckland Central?
I wouldn't bet against her. National profile, and she's visible and articulate at a local level as well.
I'd be surprised if Helen White (in parliament on a list seat) takes it from her. White hasn't shone in Parliament (I know, difficult when you're a new back bencher), and doesn't seem to be getting cut-through locally, either.
Don't know who National will stand. A Nikki Kaye clone would have the possibility of coming through the middle, with the left vote split between Swarbrick and White. But it's a big ask for a newcomer. Emma Mellow (previous Nat candidate) has gone to Australia (I think) – so will almost certainly be a new face.
My gut says that Swarbrick will hold the electorate.
I usually ignore Avaaz campaigns. This time I'm going to ignore the WC and sign the campaign petition.
In just two months, more than a million fans will watch the World Cup from seats built with the blood of Qatar’s migrant workforce. These seven gleaming stadiums, dozens of new hotels, and other construction cost the lives of 6,500 modern day slaves.
That’s 39 lives for every goal expected at the World Cup.
Qatar is expected to rake in $17 billion in profit from hosting the games. FIFA will grab $6 billion. The winning teams will take home $440 million. Migrant workers make as little as $1 per hour.
It is clear Qatar did not value the lives lost preparing for the World Cup. But we can make sure that the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families are compensated for the serious abuses they faced and continue to face.
Human rights organizations around the world are calling on FIFA and everyone else profiting from the World Cup to set aside $440 million in compensation funds for the migrant workers exploited in preparing for the World Cup – the same amount that will be awarded to the winning teams.
FIFA is ignoring the call to action – but pressure is mounting. Just this week England’s top football organization publicly backed the campaign. And if FIFA hears a massive outcry from people all around the world – they may be forced to act! So add your voice today and we’ll deliver our petition straight to FIFA.
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Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
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The ghost that will not rest.
(at least not until the government does something about it)
Another biased pro-owner study of the problem has been released.
The brief of this new study exclusively focused on more carrot for rich people, and not sticks to encourage them to rent or put their empty houses up for sale.
Despite the authors of the study admitting that the carrot based strategy has had very limited success.
https://waikanaewatch.org/2022/08/23/number-of-kids-living-in-cars-has-jumped-447-under-the-jacinda-government/
We all know an administration convinced of the justice of neo-liberal trickle down theory, is chary of putting any tax on the lucky rich people with more than one house that they can keep empty, while other families live in cars..
I suggest calling it a fine, instead of a tax.
Rich people, love disproportionately fining poor people.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6347272/not-feasible-income-based-fines-not-an-option-barr-says/
How about a fine that disproportionately fines the fortunate owners of one or more empty homes?
Would that be more palatable to a neo-liberal administration that has no hestatation on fining low income people for the slightest parking or compliance infraction, yet never call it a tax.
We can fine someone for overparking depriving someone else of a carpark.
Why can't we fine someone for keeping their property/properties empty depriving someone else of somewhere to live?
Maybe check whether "full and undisturbed possession of their lands' applies to all. TOW article 2
I agree with encouraging owners to put ghost houses out for rent.
But why go punative? Why not create incentives for owners to rent out their houses? This will likely be more effective than more taxes, because that will just encourage people to look for ways to avoid the tax, so will be a lot less effective than positive incentives to make it worthwhile for Landlords to rent out the houses..
Hi Smithy what sort of incentive for owners do you think the government should apply. Money incentives?
Now there's an idea, let's subsidise the rich folk (again). If we could just shovel enough money toward the top end of town, trickledown economics could work.. And, a subsidy for the rich folk would be well in line with this government's convinced neoliberal economic agenda.
Unfortunately I am not convinced that more 'carrot' for rich folk (their word) would work, neither are the writers of the report. Even though their brief ruled out "sticks" they had to admit that 'carrot's weren't working. Even the creepy government vetting of tenants to satisfy the wealthy empty home owners, couldn't convince these rich folk to let their empty houses out.
Rather than upset rich folk, better we let kids live in cars. We know homeless kids and their families are never going to give us any party donations. But rich people can and do.
I came across a few of those "ghost houses" when I was working for Auckland Council. The ones I knew about – I doubt that the owners were tax residents in New Zealand – or has much interest in being landlords here at the time. One very large house on an expensive section on the North Shore was just abandoned when its owners went back to their homeland very suddenly. They just packed up and left – even the power was still on in the house. It was a while before the local kids discovered the place was empty as it was a rear site. The neighbours were concerned about squatters and because the lawns were getting long and rank in the summer heat and were a fire hazard. Council eventually made an arrangement to get the lawns mowed and charged the homeowner. The bills were still paid but the house was empty for years.
Vancouver has just such a tax, see:
https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-tax.aspx
There is a report available for the 2020 year. It seems to be a well thought out which is working – raising money to both cover costs and assist non-profit providers of housing.
See also https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax
My perception is that this would be good in Wellington and Auckland; possibly less useful for Christchurch and Rotorua . . .
On the good news front;
The Russian Federation's neo-imperialist and colonialist project in Ukraine suffers another setback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJKbbI2EbH0
Victory in Lyman appears to be accompanied by an unimaginable slaughter of the fleeing defeated enemy Russian army. Never forget the human cost of this utterly wanton war of aggression.
Caution – read only if you are of a strong constitution. Erich Maria Remarque meets Ernst Jünger. I just thought Jesus Christ, this is happening now in 2022 and while the Ukrainians at least have agency to make sense of what they are going through the Russians are dying for absolutely nothing other than the blood sacrifice demanded from them by their demented dictator. Putin's war is an unspeakable evil where thousands die pathetic deaths and calling for their mothers.
Yes, and not only Lyman. I think the whole Luhansk front will collapse. Very soon the Ukrainians will hold several more key towns for supply of Russian logistics to the whole Donbass region.
Running for their lives but they couldn't abandon booty for the fam'.
(women's tights and immersion blender in the red bag)
https://twitter.com/radiosvoboda/status/1576239984675364865
Just been reading about the rout in Lyman. It was untenable last week. I could speculate about the political motivations that allowed an effective encirclement without withdrawal. But really just saying that Putin has all of military genius of Hitler just about covers it. It sounds like they were told to hold so it didn’t disrupt a political rally in Moscow.
Just been reading about the rout in Lyman. It was untenable last week. I could speculate about the political motivations that allowed an effective encirclement without withdrawal. But really just saying that Putin has all of military genius of Hitler just about covers it. It sounds like they were told to hold so it didn’t disrupt a political rally in Moscow.
Lyman cuts out a large chunk of the Russian logistics pipeline to their June to August occupation areas. That is going to make life very difficult for those regions when they are attacked.
Breaking news. video on the internet of large explosions at a Russian airbase in Crimea.
This will be the second time that Russian Federation airbases in Crimea have been rocked by explosions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGe1wiV9Y2Y
Barking.
https://twitter.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1576126809993011205
https://twitter.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1575853684852150272
https://konstantinkisin.substack.com/p/putin-the-end-of-western-hegemony?
Yes, it makes the term "bat-shit crazy" seem like a synonym for "rationale".
Despite all the crazy rhetoric, from what I have seen, a lot in Russia are not buying it. Especially those fleeing and those in the poorer regions who are being disproportionately targeted for mobilisation.
I am not too worried about Russia using nukes. An interesting video from an interview with George Friedman that covers that threat amongst other things. He makes the point that so far as tactical nukes go, there are other weapons better for the job, and so far as strategic nukes, the fact that they are being implicitly threatened means they are unlikely to be used, due to the fact that making the threat gives up first strike advantage which is seen as critical in nuclear war.
I think Russian mobilisation will be a complete disaster. Excellent analysis on that by Perun. It is a long video, but his stuff is well-researched and comprehensive. Also, Peter Zeihan makes some great points in a video on this.
So, I think Russia is in deep trouble. They are shoving mobilised people to the front line at the moment without any training. Their logisitics is terrible, and struggles to support what they have there now. And human wave tactics don't work in an age of modern weapons.
Of course he's a defrocked Orthodox priest.
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1575863539939823616
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1575868888327524352
Do a twitter search using "Kherson". Looks like the Ukrainians are making their play there at the moment, after spending weeks destroying Russian logistics and supplies. They must think the Russians are now too weak to resist.
By morning over there Kherson might be liberated.
That would be a major issue for Russia continuing the war. That is because Ukraine is about to cut supply lines to the Donbass area. Taking Kherson would cut supply lines enable Ukraine to cut supply lines running from Crimea to the other end of Ukraine.
It would basically be game over then.
Even according to favourable media, Ukraine was suffering heavy losses in Kherson a month ago. By now the losses must be enormous.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/
We will see. But Ukraine has been working on destroying logistics and supplies in Kherson. The Russians may not have anything to fire back now.
Yup, getting big 1905 vibes about this…
You must be very old.
OK – Early reports indicate the Russians planned to hold Lyman and reinforce it with some of their poorly trained newly mobilised troops. However the situation moved faster than they anticipated and the Ukrainians shut off the road between Lyman and Zarichne – effectively surrounding the Russian garrison. The Russians were instead forced to commit the newly arrived troops into a hasty unprepared counter-attack to try and relieve the trapped troops. A dramatic and intense battle ensued. The Russian assault was partially successful but at the cost of catastrophic losses both on the retreating units and the relieving assault. Lots of video showing literally piles of dead Russian bodies.
Sounds like the Ukrainians have suffered many losses as well. What a shit show. Fuck Putin.
Indeed.
https://twitter.com/CasualArtyFan/status/1576188496255254529
Another Lyman scale route and these people in Poots’ ear?
All bets will be off, I reckon.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen republic, said that Putin could use "low-yield" nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
In a statement slamming Russian generals in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal of its forces from the strategic town of Lyman, Kadyrov said it was time for the Kremlin to make use of every weapon at its disposal.
Earlier last week, Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president between 2008 and 2012, also discussed nuclear weapons use on his Telegram channel, saying it was permitted if the existence of the Russian state was threatened by an attack even by conventional forces.
“If the threat to Russia exceeds our established threat limit, we will have to respond … this is certainly not a bluff,” he wrote.
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-10-01-22#h_33f48bf1d4d8f1898e12a4ff46407fae
I think two factors are at play there. Firstly, as mentioned in my previous post, it isn't clear tactical nukes are more effective than other weapons. Secondly, NATO has made it clear to Russia about specific devastating threats if they went down that route.
So, some of the conventional weapons that have similar effects might be preferred. For instance FABs (Father of all bombs) would have a similar effect to low-yield nukes without the international blow-back.
And, the Ukrainians are moving so quickly that they may not provide an easy mass target for either of those weapons.
I am always suspicious when people have to say things like "this is not a bluff", because it sounds like they are having to reinforce a weak position that indicates they could be bluffing.
Though who knows. Time will tell I guess.
Wonder if some people in Florida will figure out what Federal government is for now.
Yup – it is manipulating the weather to punish Trump voters.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1575874385948598272
Don't worry, we've got 'em in NZ, too.
Remember Bishop Brian saying the earthquakes were God's revenge for our homosexual law reform? https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2016/11/destiny-church-leader-brian-tamaki-blames-earthquake-on-gays.html
Yesterday in the The Press a perennial mayoral candidate, Tubby Hansen, alleged a maser was being used to attack his knee along with his old truck being sabotaged to hinder his political career.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/130023313/tubby-hansen-the-man-who-has-run-unsuccessfully-in-every-christchurch-election-since-1969
In the pub on Friday night a former Green MP, an anti-vaxxerr and critic of mandates, warned me that the Covid vaccines could harm unborn babies. "Unproven", he said……..
Its their hurricane season for God's sake. If "they" had the technology to manipulate the weather then they are God!
The insanity and the ignorance is beyond…….. words.
Credit to the Herald layout people. They didn't put stories of people living in poverty or trying to survive living in motels next to their walled story about Auckland's newest golf course.
"Inside Auckland's newest golf course Te Arai Links (Mangawhai, Northland) and what members get for a $48k joining fee" is the headline.
"As the Herald reported last month, cost of membership is just shy of a $50,000 joining fee and $10,000 a year for a family membership… The club already has around 475 members, made up of New Zealanders and international golfers with a plan to potentially cap the membership towards the 600 mark."
What they get for their fees is the ability to escape the hoi polloi and the reality of the world. I do appreciate they worked so hard all their lives to afford that and so deserve to escape the slackers who didn't.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/inside-aucklands-newest-golf-course-te-arai-links-and-what-members-get-for-a-48k-joining-fee/7P4QGMPGMGTXRR4FE3L3LLEUR4/
Would be interesting to know who these slime "hecklers" are..and who they are associated with ? Also the Council absolutely needs to ensure the Safety of Candidates..and members of Public..from these type of people. None should be fearful in anyway. Maybe Police need to have a look in?
Voices For Freedom.
Oh, I had wondered : (. I really like Tory Whanau. This ugly heckling (racist as well to her, Paul Eagle, others). But of course NONE of the Candidates….or Public attending, should have to put up with any of this ugly shit..from the ugly VFF…or their fellow 'travellers"
The heckling was racist? Citation please…
American journalist Luke Mogelson has some insights about such groups in the US. As I interpret it, he identifies 3 interesting points:
I suspect a closer look at similar groups here might show similar characteristics and forces at play. They do seem to be on the move everywhere.
Trump's 'rhetoric of inversion' as Luke Mogelson describes it, is playing out in our theatre of disinformation as well. If this review is worth a read, his book will be even more interesting.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/07/the-storm-is-here-by-luke-mogelson-review-america-on-the-brink
In times gone by this would have been written up in the local rag as lively debate, as politicians were tested by tough questions from passionate local constituents.
Sadly this is just another sign (like the <50% voter turnouts) that our democracy is in a terrible state of affairs.
So, this is both HDPA (anathama to many Standardistas, I know) and Herald premium content (you can read through PressReader via most libraries – certainly the big city ones)
However, setting aside her clear preference for much of the ACT agenda, it's the first article that's clearly come out and said that ACT are likely to be heavily influential in a National/ACT government (which, is certainly an option given the current polling).
Selected excerpts:
[HDPA specifically addresses ACT policy on cutting public servant numbers, education vouchers (she doesn't use that word, but that's what she means), and a referendum on co-governance.]
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/heather-du-plessis-allan-national-needs-to-watch-its-hand-with-act-holding-the-cards/GVFBYG22RH7TGGQ2QKMCB6ZYTA/?c_id=1&objectid=12555717&ref=rss
It seems as though Seymour and ACT have a much stronger grasp on their policy outcomes than National does. And, (IMO) Seymour is a stronger character than Luxon – I wouldn't say ACT would blink first in negotiations. [This is me, not HDPA]
Whatever applies to ACT, in this – should also apply to the Greens (especially after Shaw's recent shake up with the membership). They, too, will be looking for very significant policy gains from Labour – and are unlikely to be fobbed off with minor portfolios and/or meaningless titles.
In 2023 – policy may shift much more radically to either left or right, than the centre parties are likely to be comfortable with.
The Sunday lesson (Kipling)
https://mobile.twitter.com/DaveTaylorNews/status/1576137253734076418?cxt=HHwWhMCi4eieyN8rAAAA
https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1576208659486412802
The dodgy debt they couldn't flog?
Credit Suisse has asked hedge funds and other investors to destroy documents relating to its richest clients’ yachts and private jets, in an attempt to stop information leaking about a unit of the bank that has made loans to oligarchs who were later sanctioned.
Investors this week received letters from the Swiss bank requesting that they destroy the documents relating to a securitisation of loans backed by “jets, yachts, real estate and/or financial assets”, according to three people whose firm received the request.
The letters tell the investors to “destroy and permanently erase” any confidential information Credit Suisse previously provided in relation to the transaction, citing a “recent data leak to the media” that it said had been “verified by our investigators”.
Credit Suisse took the action after a Financial Times report last month detailing how it offloaded the risks relating to $2bn of loans to a group of hedge funds.
https://archive.ph/g9jeI (ft)
More the appreciation of the credit default swaps against CS.
Kipling and Bismark in one post….things must indeed be dire.
If the financial risk of the UK is fragile (without the fairy tail economics) prior,there is a substantive misalignment to be undertaken on currency risk alone.Where the Kiwi due to the same problems as the UK,such as high increasing internal debt,large current account deficit,overvalued currency.
These are the drivers of instability in the Global markets,where they are looking for the next storm.and where the wobbly domino appears.
https://twitter.com/RobinBrooksIIF/status/1575107614647603200
And liquidity disappears in an instant….a greatly underestimated risk.
Largest risk,as they (the hedge funds etc) need cash to meet margin calls.There has been a large switch from the long end to short dated cash from large investment groups in the last 3 months.
I remember Brash complaining about why we were overvalued 20 years ago.
Granted all those July predictions that NZ inflation would peak by the end of the year look optimistic with oil esp diesel going up fast.
But in reality we're pretty good.
Our GDP has stabilised after 2020-21 and is strong
Economy | Stats NZ
Jobs growth looking good still
Employment indicators: Weekly as at 26 September 2022 | Stats NZ
Unemployment still the lowest it's ever been
New Zealand Unemployment Rate – 2022 Data – 2023 Forecast – 1985-2021 Historical (tradingeconomics.com)
New building consents and construction still gangbusters
Building consents issued: August 2022 | Stats NZ
Cars and trucks are busy on the roads again
ANZ Truckometer | NZ economic indicator | ANZ
Food and fibre exports are strong and dairy in particular is very strong in both price and production
Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)
We're in about the best place in the world. No panic.
Oil is falling in value due to demand destruction,cracked products such as diesel is short due to industry and power generators switching from gas.
Electricity is not a driver of inflation in NZ (excluding changes to pricing increases in line charges) Gas similar with lower demand due to some switching to electricity which has allowed the second train at Motunui to start up to meet export demand.
Food and Fibre will still be in demand due to shortages in NH forced by energy constraints.
Both local and central government spending on capital projects,is on borrowed debt with increasing interest risk as new issues for both maturing debt,and increased debt are over 4.1% for the government at the short end moving to 4.5 at the long end.
S&P moved the UK to negative watch late Friday,warning bells are ringing here as each move of 1% in GDP or interest rates changes the interest costs by 1 billion,
Surely it would take mortgages to get to 10% before we start to see big changes in mortgagee sales. In April the NZ mortgagee sales were at a 15 year low.
Perhaps a wee shakeout of investors away from property is just what we need.
More the top end of town,with corporate borrowing becoming more expensive.
Also Government interest costs are well beyond forecast (more if we count SOE) an extra 2b this year,doubling next and net debt increasing 4-6b it isnt coming down.
Property market needs shakeup,as well above realistic valuation,removing a few zombie companies is always good.
Civics education is already part of the curriculum. I don't know what McAnulty's high school taught – but political process (including MMP) has been part of the social studies curriculum in high school for a lot longer than 20 years.
It's not, however, a topic which readily engages kids.
Disengaged teachers droning on to disengaged youth isn't a recipe to change anything about democratic engagement.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/300701729/civics-education-floated-to-combat-voter-disengagement-distrust
Actually changing legislation so that people can make bureaucracy change, especially at a local level, is what's needed. Anyone who's ever engaged the the behemoth which is Auckland Council, knows that achieving even the most obviously beneficial of changes is a multi-year process – requiring commitment and dedication from the individual or group. It's not surprising that youth don't see that this is a winning strategy.
"Disengaged teachers droning on" would turn me off – I recall having mostly excellent teachers (the engaged, non-droning kind), and certainly appreciate that now.
The public service profession of teaching is in decline – how to turn this around?
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2021/06/30/deciphering-the-decline-in-literacy-of-new-zealand-students.html
Negative perceptions of teaching as a profession are very well deserved. It's been regularly said over years we want, we need, our best and brightest to go teaching.
We want creatives, flexible and adaptable, personable and empathetic, dedicated with a sense of wanting to make a difference.
Anyone with those qualities doesn't want to be treated like shit by all the unqualified experts without the balls or inclination to take the job on themselves. They're not going to accept being treated like drones by drones who kowtowed to the ignorant crap and have nobbled and sabotaged meaningful teaching as a worthy profession.
How to turn around the public service profession of teaching? It is not possible. To mangle an aged adage: The necessary changes are more difficult than pushing shit to the top of Mt Everest with a marshmallow rake.
That's depressing Peter – although there are some excellent NZ teachers, I fear you may be right. Another example of the general decline that threatens to overwhelm society's ability to continue in the manner to which we have become accustomed?
I think that if you discuss the quality of teaching/teachers with almost any parent with kids in the current school system, you'd come to a different conclusion.
That's not to say there aren't excellent teachers out there: because there are. However, there are also a number, and a significantly higher number, of teachers who are not.
If you're lucky, you'll get one or two inspirational teachers during your entire schooling career. And they aren't always the same (e.g. a teacher can be inspirational for kid A, but not for kid B).
A much better goal to aim for is excellence – a teacher who thoroughly understands the topic/s they are teaching, is an engaging presenter of material (which may not always be seen as relevant by the kids), and has multiple educational strategies to cut through to kids who don't necessarily 'get' the standard presentation; as well as being able to manage the necessary class discipline for learning.
The numbers of those teachers in the education system is dropping, and dropping rapidly.
Love to know where you get that information from BD.
Looks like unreliable anecdata to me.
What, you believe that the quality of teachers is better now, than it was 20 years ago?
In that case, why have educational levels (you know, the basic ability to read and write) been on a continuous downward trend in virtually every measure?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/why-literacy-rates-are-falling-in-nz-schools/YTQJAYXYV4SG6XTJFWIRI5E3CA/
Why are articles like these common:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300368442/our-education-system-is-in-decline-but-nobody-wants-to-fix-it
Yes. Anecdata. In that I do have a kid in the schooling system; do talk to other parents (in primary, a major topic of conversation was how to angle your kid into the class with the 'good' teacher – and you bet it made a difference); do pay attention to the education figures and statistics.
Rather than dump on teachers, maybe look at the Ministry. They’re the ones who set the curriculum and liase with training organisations.
The range of quality of teaching probably mirrors the range of every other profession. Doctors and lawyers included.
That is entirely probable. And may well be a contributing factor to the observed dropping standards.
The great experiment in Modern Learning Environments (open plan large scale classrooms with 2-4 classes and teachers in a single space), entirely driven by MoE theorists – looks as though it may be coming home to roost [sorry for the mixed metaphors]. With zero evidence that it makes any positive difference to learning, and lots of evidence that it disadvantages kids with learning challenges (hearing, ADHD, etc.) and anecdotal evidence that it damages the teacher-student relationship (it's not realistic for teachers to have a personal relationship with up to 120 primary school kids in a class).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018859439/no-evidence-modern-learning-environments-work-report
Every new or refurbished classroom for the last 10 years has been built in this style.
However, teachers are (they have to be) a big factor in children's learning. They're the people on the ground, rather than the MoE bureaucrats issuing directives from Wellington.
And teacher unions are adamantly opposed to teacher quality evaluation and/or measurable educational standards (at least before NCEA level), and/or increased pay for high-quality teachers (those delivering above average results, regardless of the educational starting level)- which makes it a bit of a chicken and egg scenario so far as Ministerial quality standards go.
Your examples of comparable professions are interesting.
It's an incredibly high educational bar to get into Med school, requires 7 years of training, and then another couple to be fully qualified, and/or specialize.
Again, you need high results to get into law school – and these need to be maintained each year of your degree (drop down and you drop out). You have to work in a law form for a year before you can sit a bar exam (and you have to pass – not just serve your time).
To get into teacher training, you just need a bare UE pass & a C-grade pass for a 3 year undergraduate degree. (Yes, there are other pathways in, but that's the minimum).
Perhaps, but there's no doubt in my mind that the state school teachers who educated me (50+ years ago) were mostly excellent.
There will be many hypotheses about why education and other 'sectors' of society are apparently in decline – maybe someone will present a cogent summary of the root causes for Kiwis to fulminate over as we twiddle our collective thumbs.
I have no reason to disbelieve you – though have no direct knowledge of the state of teaching 50+ years ago 😉
I don't know what the answer is in the education system. Though, don't feel inclined to either accept the status quo as the best we can get; or junk the whole system.
Would be great if successive NZ governments could craft a bipartisan programme to significantly strengthen the 'education brand', but judicious tweeking of the teaching status quo is perhaps the best Kiwis can hope for.
Glad I 'went through' the NZ school system in the 60s/70s.
I agree the Finnish education system is world-leading by a whole raft of measures.
And would love a bi (or multi-party) partisan approach to providing a pathway to a similar result. The question is how to get there.
However, I don't have any confidence that the MoE is the right agency to be leading the way. They are very captured by their own dogma – and have proved unwilling to rock the boat in any way.
I think we need more than just tweaking the status quo. With the dropping attendance levels (yes, Covid, but they haven't bounced back in significant areas post-Covid), as well as the falling literacy rates – we need to take action.
And, education is one area where you don't have the luxury of time. Kids only have around 10-12 years in the education system from beginning to end. And the crucial years are the first 4 – the years when you learn the basic building blocks.
Please expand your 'captured by dogma' critique – when did the rot set in?
Similarly, examples to supporting your impression would be welcome.
My recent experience in the tertiary education sector is that since TEC (Government) funding has been linked to the number of students passing courses and completing degrees, the twins ‘evils’ of dumbing down content and grade inflation have been given freer reign – what a surprise.
The NZ MoE once crafted a world class education system. Imho it’s important to understand why/how outcomes went downhill [quickly?] if that system is to regain and then sustain its former levels of achievement.
The MLE linked earlier is one example.
https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/media/media-release-school-classrooms-experiment-has-been-based-on-ideology-report/
The MoE couldn't even produce any research (on improved student outcomes) which led them to the conclusion that open plan classrooms were a winning learning strategy before the new plan was implemented.
They commissioned a literature review, only after they had started rolling these out (initially in Christchurch following the quake). I note with incredulity, that they even acknowledge that the vast majority of the 'research' they cite – originates from themselves….
https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/Primary-Secondary/Property/Design/Flexible-learning-spaces/FLS-The-impact-of-physical-design-on-student-outcomes.pdf
Nor did they invest in evaluation of student experience and learning outcomes once they were implemented. And, even when they've been called into question (research showing poorer educational outcomes, especially for students with learning disabilities – and no educational improvement for anyone) – MoE still mandate all new or renovated builds in schools must be open plan MLE.
But the worst (and most long-standing one) is the MoE's attachment to 'balanced literacy' (i.e. learning to read using visual cues, rather than decoding words), even after multiple studies showing that it is not a suitable approach for teaching reading for a large group of children.
https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/structured-and-balanced-literacy
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/472783/government-s-new-literacy-plan-met-with-some-skepticism
People are sceptical (in the above article) because they've been there before with MoE – they'll invest in developing a 'strategy' which takes 3 years – and then the government changes, or there's a new Minister – and they go back to the drawing board. I regard this as professional or bureaucratic capture, rather than a failure of vision from the Minister concerned.
There is a very strong culture of 'we know best' at the MoE – which is not justified by the educational results of kiwi kids.
Thanks Belladonna – the MoE's MLE experiment started in 2011, and the report on MLE you linked to is dated November 2016, so these ‘time points’ coincide with my three links (2012, 2014 and 2016) vis-à-vis when the rot set in at the MoE. It's important (imho) to understand why/how rot sets in, in order to learn from mistakes.
The RNZ item you linked to suggests that the MoE is considering moving away from 'balanced literacy' towards the 'structured literacy' strategy favoured by Lifting Literacy Aotearoa.
I hope that the (cautious?) moves currently afoot are in the right direction, and that your assertion the MoE are "unwilling to rock the boat in any way" is a tad hyperbolic. I agree that new initiatives are needed in NZ education, and that making education a political football has the potential to undermine positive change.
https://gazette.education.govt.nz/articles/structured-literacy-provides-solid-foundations/
https://pld.education.govt.nz/find-pld/bsla-professional-support
https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/publications/budget-2022/education-summary-of-initiatives-2022/
"Very strong" might be a bit strong, but yes, that seems typical of all Governments, Ministries, private companies and individuals. Mind you, sometimes they probably do 'know best', "lest our readers think that all we ever do is complain about what’s wrong."
MoE has been strongly pro the 'whole language' or 'balanced literacy' (the phrasing changes over time) approach to teaching reading – since at least the 1990s
https://www.nzcpr.com/doris-ferry-and-the-phonics-debate/
We tend to forget that much content, earlier than the mid 2000s isn't readily available online, and gets missed from our searches.
There have, during that time, been multiple studies showing that a structured or phonics based approach has a better result for more children (i.e. kids who would learn using balanced literacy, also learn using structured literacy; and the kids who would fail using balanced literacy are more likely to succeed using structured literacy)
That's more than 30 years of MoE clinging to an approach which has demonstrably failed. To me, that qualifies as a "very strong 'we know best' culture".
Let’s hope that MoE public servants continue to believe that they know best, now that they are adopting strategies you support – "lest our readers think that all we ever do is complain about what’s wrong."
To my mind, the apparent shift to a ‘structured literacy’ approach is evidence that MoE public servants can ‘change their dogma’ (ha!) – maybe not rocking the boat, just swaying a little.
You're not going to get inspirational people, the 'best and brightest,' in the job and have them stay there because they're going to the treated like shit.
They can be trained and knowledgeable and become experienced but they will never be as expert as the self-centred, know-it-all, chip on their shoulder parents and the school managers who are driven buy checklists.
Of course the numbers of those with the qualities you want is dropping, and dropping rapidly.
From the era of the likes of Dr C E Beeby and Elwyn Richardson came the expression of New Zealand having a 'world class education system.' The further we moved from their philosophy the more the headlines are about failure.
The discussion started around Civics and topics readily engaging kids. Are we really interested in kids learning about civics and being really engaged? Or is the starting and ending point checklists, accountability charts and administrative paperwork?
Civics education is already part of the curriculum. I don't know what McAnulty's high school taught – but political process (including MMP) has been part of the social studies curriculum in high school for a lot longer than 20 years.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6r8/richardson-elwyn-stuart
Not everyone believes C.E. Beeby was the great educator you portrait . When he was around (mid 20th century )NZ did have a world class education but his drasticchanges to progressive education away from traditional liberal education have been the cause of our present educational woes. This was predicted by wise educators of Beeby's era .
Please note it is well recorded that Beeby , at the end of his seemingly illustrious life greatly regretted the changes he had made to NZ s excellent education .. He saw the damage they had done even in his life time .
We need to reverse our entire educational philosophy to return to traditional values which believed in universal literacy and numeracy by phonics , spelling, tables some some rote learning , correction of work , proper handwriting , comprehension exercises ,etc .
Traditional learning would never had excluded art and crafts and civics but progressive education condemned the above mentioned subjects,
Lack of civics education doesn't account for a massive decline in local government voter turnout in one year.
If MPs wanted more public engagement about what they do, they could get those feckless and otherwise utterly $170k useless list MPs to go do some actual work in the community. There's enough of them.
The cynicism about bothering to vote in local body elections is very real — almost no one at work (100+ employees) is going to bother. The few who will, are 50+, and doing so as an act of civic virtue, rather than in any belief that their vote will make a difference.
The problem is in the age of the individual, where most of us don't have regular contact with large parts of our own community, I've got nothing to base my vote on other than guessing.
this is why we have shit in our rivers.
We also have people saying stuff like this,
https://twitter.com/justadiver1999/status/1576042955164766209
234 people agree with him.
However, it's the older people who are (anecdotally, at least – I recognize this is just my own lived experience) the ones bothering to vote.
How do you motivate younger people to care? When everything around them is showing that voting doesn't change anything.
Dropping the electoral limit age below 70 is probably a good thing (we can certainly see instances of where politicians have remained beyond their use-by date – Shadbolt should have gracefully retired at the last election)
But, I don't see that electing a bunch of people in their 50s and 60s is going to be a whole lot better. And, many of the ones elected younger just become an institutional part of the system.
Given the stress and family-unfriendly hours and conditions – it's not realistic to expect many politicians in their 30s and 40s.
Perhaps a total limit on the number of years you can serve as an elected representative. 12 years (3 terms). And then a mandatory break of at least one term (3 years) before you can serve another 3 terms. After that, not eligible. Time served at both national and regional/local level to count.
I don't believe that we've been particularly well served by MP retreads at local body level.
But, none of that addresses the engagement factor.
Coming from Auckland, I'd say the biggest factor is the inertia of the local bureaucracy. Quite simply, I don't believe that any elected representatives have the ability to make change happen.
quite. I ended up in a conversation off that tweet which was saying that if we get rid of the olds, young people will vote. I think this is dangerous (messing with enfranchisement), discriminatory (ageist), and lacking in class analysis (why exclude older women, Māori, working class people and as you say end up with a bunch of late Pākehā middle agers top heavy with blokes).
It's also daft. Young people don't vote for a range of reasons including that they're busy doing other things they deem more important. I agree that people feel their vote doesn't change anything, but patently it does. So many people seem to believe that their vote is about their personal gratification, even politically aware people hold this view that. I see voting as an act of solidarity with my community and as a social good 🤷♀️
I don't feel disempowered, so I suppose that's part of why I see the power in voting.
I vote as a civic duty (if I don't vote in elections, I believe I forfeit the right to complain about the results for the next 3 years – a fate too dire to contemplate) (joke)
In the Auckland local body elections – even given the relatively significant divergence of the candidates at the mayoral level – I don't have a lot of confidence that much will change in the AC bureaucracy (and especially not with the council owned entities – like AT) – no matter who is elected.
At the local level – the Community Boards are basically powerless. They are blatantly ignored (and even lied to) by the likes of AT – and have little power to change or influence AC bureaucratic policy.
I admire the people who put their hats in the ring (without having any desire to emulate them); and I know they work hard in an often thankless job.
Truly. We have to find a way to give back more power at the local level. So that people can really see that their candidate (i.e. their vote) can make a difference in their community.
At the very least, voting is holding a line. Even if there is only one worthy candidate, it's worth voting just to support them.
Agree about community democracy.
Potholes . . .
https://twitter.com/michaelwoodnz/status/1576090159749115905?cxt=HHwWgsCtncvpst8rAAAA
TOp has just released their tax policy. Will try and link. It looks bloody fantastic. They may well get my vote
TOP will support National into government if it suits them. They've had major problems with their policies conflicting with welfare. I see they've made some changes on that, but haven't looked at the details yet.
They also wanted to asset strip elderly when they die by deferring the land tax. Don't know if that's still true.
Given they've specifically said they're a Centrist party – then that goes with the territory – supporting Labour or National depending on the policy gains they can get.
They've specifically said that the land tax can be deferred – so the 'asset stripping the elderly' would still apply (as it does to any land tax or CGT which includes land value, and has the capacity to be deferred).
Is there a difference between applying a land tax on death, as opposed to applying one yearly and deferring it until death or sale?
Mostly a matter of amount and certainty.
A one-off land tax applied at death (aka death duties) is a known cost. (you know it's x% of whatever the value is)
A deferred tax simply goes on adding up – depending on how long it takes to die or sell. So, potentially could be a lot more, when added up over 20 years or so….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130049986/the-opportunities-party-releases-65b-tax-cut-plan-to-get-back-on-political-map
TOPs tax policy. First 15,000 not taxed. Forgive the debt owed by beneficiaries. Pay for it all by a small land tax.75%. Retirees can defer payment.
Interesting ,nz needs top, if he's got a chance of a seat I might vote top again, (voted once for them , 3 elections ago if I remember rightly)
Can see them getting hammered on their property tax. When most landlords are operating on 2-3% real return, at best, (the money's in the capital gain) a 0.75% Property Tax is going to put 25 – 40% on the rent initially until property values crash.
Like CGT a good idea in a perfect world, but getting from here to there has got a few knobs on it.
I'd like to see a breakdown of parts of New Zealand where the gain from reduced income tax is equal or greater than what the homeowner will pay in Property Tax. It'll be an interesting relationship between property values and income, desirable places with poor wages will get hammered, others not so much. Can see a lot of wailing from people who have to sell their homes because they can't afford the tax payments.
I seem to remember Morgan's property tax proposal 10 years back wasn't quite so stark and was around equity so you could borrow and invest something other than property to reduce your liability.
They aren't and never have chased the wealthy house owners vote
There are some decent ideas in their tax policy. Worth considering.
Sadly, they won't get anywhere with the wider public for 2 reasons:
1) The 5% threshold is too high, and unfair. Proposals to lower it have been consistently blocked by National.
2) TOP killed their own brand when Gareth Morgan and Sean Plunkett decided to insult as many people as possible, which turned out not to be a vote-winning tactic. Who'd have guessed?
Of course TOP today is not the same as it was then. But you only get one chance to be a new, fresh party, and they blew it.
Again, they do have good ideas. Sadly, nobody is going to talk about them, outside a tiny minority of us on poli-blogs.
That Morgan meltdown of his own party was quite something to witness. New people now who seem to be doing good things. I value diversity in politics and it's been good to see them updating their policy as they get feedback on the holes in it. Still have some major issues with their positioning (they will support Nact into govt if it suits them). They've improved some of the stuff that was going to impact negatively on welfare*, but haven't looked at the details yet.
*they're also smart in some ways. Increasing disability allowance is both good for people who can't work and is non taxable and won't be affected by earnings and the WINZ rebate, but also there are a lot of people fucked off with Labour over them ignoring disabled people in benefits.
This is the first tax policy I have seen that will help the poor and pay for it by taxing landowners.
Top will also right off beneficiary debt. I am surprized more on the left aren't cheering it.
There are a lot of dissaffected Labour voters who can't bring themselves to vote National, especially having seen how disastrous the UK tax cuts have been (in all of 5 minutes). I think this policy will appeal. Many of us want some redistribution of wealth. Labour have increased inequality and made a lot of weatlhy people even wealthier.
It will tax rich and poor landowners alike. The Greens's policy targets people with a lot of wealth and directly helps all beneficiaries.
Most won't be aware of it yet. There are some good things in the policy for low income people. I'm not seeing an overall plan that's better than the GP's.
there's some good stuff in here, I'll wait for the details.
https://www.top.org.nz/the_status_quo_must_go
Suspect they may not have thought this through. Replacing the bright line test, takes us right back to the property price inflation (buy and sell for capital gain) – though, it might look more appealing in an era of falling/settling property values. Rural land exempt? Farmers will be delighted: a massive tax cut, and no compensatory tax increase.
Looks like a well-thought through strategy there. Labour has little hold on the seat, and it would depend mightily on who National chose to put up against him (will Brownlee stay or go?). He's clearly got a strong local profile in the seat – so may be able to capitalize on this – even if only as a protest vote. And, if he looks like a winner in Ilam – then waverers are more inclined to risk their vote on TOP.
Swarbrick broke the mold for Labour holding a seat. It would improve MMP if they win (although some of their policies are problematic from a lw pov).
Oh, I absolutely agree the Swarbrick showed it was possible.
And, it looks as though Manji has the right local profile to give it a good shot.
I wouldn't expect Labour to hold this seat, even if TOP didn't stand – it's one of the ones which they won in the 2020 Jacinda landslide, and couldn't realistically have believed they'd hold.
It all depends on who National puts up.
Options:
I can't see National doing a cup of tea with Manji – but they have history of working with centrist MPs and parties (Peter Dunn).
We don't have a good picture on how the resurgent ACT would play here either. Historically, this hasn't been a good seat for them – but the figures have changed a lot since 2020.
This will be a seat to watch with interest, once electoral polling gets going at the regional/seat level.
thanks Belladonna, appreciate that analysis and insight.
The Greens ran Auckland Central as if it were a by-election. They threw everything at it – they had people from as far away as Riverton working in Auckland Central. They also piled on the emotional blackmail to Labour people trying to get them to give the electorate vote to Swarbribk as some sort of insurance policy "how would you feel if Labour was not in government because they did not have the Green Party to support them"?
that's not emotional blackmail, that's reminding people how MMP works 😉
Do you think Swarbrick will hold Auckland Central?
I wouldn't bet against her. National profile, and she's visible and articulate at a local level as well.
I'd be surprised if Helen White (in parliament on a list seat) takes it from her. White hasn't shone in Parliament (I know, difficult when you're a new back bencher), and doesn't seem to be getting cut-through locally, either.
Don't know who National will stand. A Nikki Kaye clone would have the possibility of coming through the middle, with the left vote split between Swarbrick and White. But it's a big ask for a newcomer. Emma Mellow (previous Nat candidate) has gone to Australia (I think) – so will almost certainly be a new face.
My gut says that Swarbrick will hold the electorate.
Public Opinion News. Net approval ratings for Prime Ministers (positive, minus negative) …
1) Wicked Dictator Cindy: + 15. Worst Government Ever, End Of, Fact!!111!!
2) Bright New Tax-Cutting Tory: – 37.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/01/liz-truss-poll-ratings-plummet-lower-than-boris-johnsons-before-he-was-forced-out
"The Conservative Party and the National Party enjoy many shared values and I hope both parties will continue to build on that." (Christopher Luxon)
And this amazing remarkable stat on Sir Keith considering an alleged 33 point poll lead.
‘His net score is now +9, up from -4 last week. ’
I usually ignore Avaaz campaigns. This time I'm going to ignore the WC and sign the campaign petition.
In just two months, more than a million fans will watch the World Cup from seats built with the blood of Qatar’s migrant workforce. These seven gleaming stadiums, dozens of new hotels, and other construction cost the lives of 6,500 modern day slaves.
That’s 39 lives for every goal expected at the World Cup.
Qatar is expected to rake in $17 billion in profit from hosting the games. FIFA will grab $6 billion. The winning teams will take home $440 million. Migrant workers make as little as $1 per hour.
It is clear Qatar did not value the lives lost preparing for the World Cup. But we can make sure that the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families are compensated for the serious abuses they faced and continue to face.
Human rights organizations around the world are calling on FIFA and everyone else profiting from the World Cup to set aside $440 million in compensation funds for the migrant workers exploited in preparing for the World Cup – the same amount that will be awarded to the winning teams.
FIFA is ignoring the call to action – but pressure is mounting. Just this week England’s top football organization publicly backed the campaign. And if FIFA hears a massive outcry from people all around the world – they may be forced to act! So add your voice today and we’ll deliver our petition straight to FIFA.
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/make_fifa_pay_21/
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/what-is-the-human-cost-of-the-world-cup-in-qatar/m3zrnp26l
They'll investigate until they wear the skin off.
https://twitter.com/AymanMSNBC/status/1575553496539078656