To put it bluntly the Govt. should be plunking down many millions on these types of initiatives to house the people. But it seems the bulk of the Labour Caucus would fill their pants at the prospect of a mass flat pack/tiny house/apartment build.
Yes there is a reason for that timidity, many decades of housing being treated as a cash cow rather than a family resource and accomodation, does not allow for an easy quick solution, but it surely must be attempted.
(New) Labour New Zealand are as much a part of the problem as National, therefore as they both exist today they will never tackle this housing disaster..I can't understand why people haven't figured out by now that Ardern/Robertson and pretty much all Labour NZ are Neo Liberal Free Market ideologues…they are real believers in that shit and are prepared to hold that course until the bitter end, just like all ideologues (myself included, except my political ideology is right and theirs is wrong).
I agree Adrian, which is why I have suggested homeless and supporters need to start occupying appropriate empty residential and commercial property in an organised manner to put some more heat on the Labour Caucus. Pressure worked at Ihumatāo. Around 40,000 empty properties in Auckland per various statistics from Census to Real Estate sources.
Squatting was common when I was young in England. Unoccupied buildings were squatted and in London, there was an agreement between local councils and a well organised squatting movement that allowed people who couldnt afford the rents at the time to occupy empty council homes that were going to be renovated or knocked down. My partner and I lived in 2 of these places for several years with others until eventually securing a council flat. I think squatting has been a criminal offence for years, now. Thatcher and those who followed her squashed all those protests at the same time as they squashed the miners and the British TU movement. Then she sold off as many council houses as possible.
We have brought up 3 children in an 150 year old school house, the main living area of which is the dining, lounge, homework and play area and is 60 sq metres. A 60 sq metre house which also requires toilet and bathroom, kitchen, wash house and storage and 3 bedrooms crammed into the same meterage means the rooms become cells. That’s why these things get turned down they don’t meet the required regulatory conditions for healthy living. Yes, there will be stories of “We we’re all bought up in shoebox and luvved it”, and so was I, but it had an outside shithouse, the bathroom could only take one person at a time and a standard bed wouldn’t fit in my shared room. It was not fit for purpose.
If you count 8 sqm per bedroom as a min that would meant your three rooms would be 24 sqm, then the rest can be build into the remaining 36 sqm.
Yeah, that might be a bit small, but it beats living in transient housing at million dollars for some motels who would have gone bust since the closed borders were it not for homeless people and those that lost houses in floods/tornadoes etc.
Also not everyone has three kids. Tell us why someone starting out in adult life needs a 100sqm, three garages, two landings and 4 rooms?
I remember a journalist in tears as he described the likely starvation of people in an African country. They had estimates that they only had enough food, grain etc for about two weeks to send out to the people whose crops had failed, or had run from violence. The Red Cross were onto it, they were making plans for a big delivery – but that was months away, some said six months.
Sometimes the small is beautiful, get started with practical plans now is the right thing to do. Not worry about the medium-term future, not make doubtful comments about it not being the best answer; if it fits short-term, wear it.
Definitely a fair point to consider. The penalty for failure of subsized homes, however, is a slum. So would it be "two steps forward, one back", or "one step forward, two back"?
The fact is that detached housing, no matter the size, isn't going to change the housing crisis. Just money for developers.
Vacant investment dwellings and significant state housing increases need to be addressed. It's possible that some of the govt's economic changes might tweak things over the longer term, but I doubt it will decimate property market speculation.
Agree 96% – but some more advanced fix-it ideas needed.
Like registering at an approved camping ground with toilets and showers. and covered area around them. concrete pathways and electric points so that those who have to sleep in their cars can do so. This would be government admitting the need and helping one group in a practical, honest way instead of promises at the end of the very ordinary rainbow. People who didn't behave would be ejected, so that those using the facility would have good sleep and security,
"NZ is going to the dogs because we cannot express ourselves freely and frankly any longer" = New Zealand is going to the dogs because I fear my opinions and worldview are no longer hegemonic and I am being challenged in ways I find unacceptable. And I will 'prove' this by pointing at all manner of dopey sh*t that is basically just irrelevant peripheral idiocy – while ignoring anything else that doesn't suit my argument.
Well I think its fair to say outside of Covid response evidence is mounting that this Govt is failing badly on a core issue that they had promised to address.
We all know that accommodation insecurity / affordability has a severe effect on families and their children including long term outcomes I think you can see the beginnings of this here.
This is a crisis and it feels like the current govt is happy to tinker around the edges doing just enough to avoid real scrutiny… a middle class free the lane protest got a faster reaction ffs.
A Hawke's Bay hotel that earned $1.5 million in nine months from housing people in emergency accommodation has stopped because it was "too much hassle".
He said the $1.55m his hotel earned could be down to the November floods in Napier, which displaced hundreds and caused millions of dollars of damage.
oh well. I guess that money will help him weather the lack of tourists and if its not enough they can again take up unhoused kiwis for another million or several.
Yeah, I remember the endless media stories towards the end last Nat govt covering homelessness we had the big sleepout events all this pressure for action and now we have a Lab majority govt if feels no one cares that much anymore…
i honestly don't care about Louise Upton, i dont' think that women has ever said a word in her political life that had value.
My point was that the Motelier complained about housing people for Top Dollar who mostly have lost their houses in floods. He called it / them a 'hassle' that is not worth it.
Unless 1.55 million is not top dollar and being a shitheel is the new norm.
Yup, othering, virtue signalling, making unsupported assumptions about what others think or feel, criticising the good intentions and actions of others, judging others in a negative way, the list goes on, doesn’t it, Sabine?
sabine washes her hands of all her statements with the trump excuse"im only repeating what someone else has said" just as indefensable as saying she is carbon negative because she doesnt have a car, too bad that all her product is delivered and most of her product is resold to people using dinosaur juice. bollocks…
Sabine's comments might work on the 80:20 principle. Most right but it us hard to see the constant truth. Perhaps you should put up some more interesting German stuff Sabine that we could learn from. You would be making your point and giving us some fresh ideas to add to the pot.
The Lambda variant – known to scientists as C.37 – was first identified in Peru and has been detected in samples dating back to as early as December 2020.
Since then it has become the dominant variant in the South American country, where it accounts for more than 80 per cent of new infections.
It has now been detected in at least 26 countries, including the UK. So should we be concerned?
A Variant of Interest
The World Health Organisation designated the Lambda variant as a variant of interest on 14 June.
It's more infectious than delta and so far appears to resist the vaccines.
Blojo wants to remove many restrictions in a week or so whilst the reigning F1 Champion is openly critical of the expected crowd at his home event for the British GP
If Bojo's "Freedom Day" on July 19 results in a million-person march descending on no.10 demanding that the genocidal lunatic leave office, there is some justification for it. More likely though that everyone will go to the pub.
I know, right. How dare the rest of the western world actually have a vaccination plan and a plan to move beyond closed borders and MIQ as the only way to deal with COVID.
A plan based on the science that's data driven so you know it's effective is awesome.
However the tories have time and again shown a priority for the optics, dominating the rhetoric and looking after their mates with lucrative uncontested contracts using covid as cover.
Good new covert system David, kill Covid19 and its variants off! Use sly remarks, they are so satisfying to the progenitor. Bet you don't even know what that means.
There is distinction between the Variants of Concern (still only alpha, beta, gamma & delta), and Variants of Interest (epsilon-lambda). Kappa is also a potential VoC; and it may not be always distinguished from delta, if the reference sequences aren't being looked for. Though it does seem to be a bit weird that Lambda is more related to alpha (B1.1 – first detected in UK) than gamma (P.1 – Brazil). It's a bit hard to tell; given the limits of Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 testing, but the gamma may be holding it's own against the lambda variant there.
I found this particularly concerning from your link, Sabine:
A new study – which has not yet been reviewed by other scientists and is based on tests on samples from healthcare workers in Chile – suggests that the Lambda variant is more infectious than both the Alpha (UK) or the Gamma (Brazil) variants.
It also suggests that the Lambda variant has a higher "immune escape" compared to the Alpha or Gamma variants in relation to antibodies produced in patients who have received China’s CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccine. (The preprint, published on 1 July, did not look at other vaccines).
Much like Covid-19, simple precautions like social distancing, hand washing and keeping sick children home from daycare or kindy could help to limit the spread [of the RSV virus], he said.
But what about our freedoms? If you take away my freedom to cough over other people's babies what will you do next – forced labour camps and organ-harvesting?
When will we stand up to Australia's abuse of our common entry border?
Are we appalled at Australia's contempt for New Zealand as a dumping ground for convicts who have done their time in Australia?
Currently new Zealand shares a common entry border with Australia.
Should New Zealand protest these deportations as a breach of the common border?
Should the government give a warning that the continued abuse of our common entry border threatens the preferential free entry to New Zealand afforded Australian citizens?
If this abuse continues, should New Zealand demote Australian citizens to the same entry restrictions that we impose on our Pacific Island neighbours?
In the midst of a pandemic.
Is it time for New Zealand to stop being supine to Australia over the forced detention and deportation of 501s to this country?
Should the government tell the Morrison Administration that flights from Australia bearing 501s will not be given landing rights, or not be allowed to disembark?
Or how about these '501's actually accepting their own responsibility for their plight?
Why do you care, or why do you think anyone else should care about these 'people'?
Australia is acting legally and with its own interests at heart. We spent decades exporting our problem people (long term unemployed, criminals and so on) to Australia, starting from the 1970s. Thats why Kiwis are and have been so prominent in Australian organised crime (eg, Mr Asia Syndicate). I guess what goes around comes around.
Australia has a good historical example for transportation of criminals. Between 1788 and 1868 more than 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. It’s estimated that 20% of the Australian population, over 5 million people, are descended from people originally transported as convicts, while around 2 million Britons have transported convict ancestry.
Just thinking about the length of your comments Jenny JTGT. I know that the setting when enter is pressed is to go to double spacing. When I finish my comments I usually go back and edit it to help put my point over, and I don't have a lot of one line paragraphs as you do.
Could you consider making your comments shorter, more concise, easier to read. Then more people will read them and not just get annoyed at the number and length of yours. You are exhorting others all the time to do more, and giving us info about the environment, so to get the maximum number of minds reading them, the above changes would help your quest.
This then raises the question: Are prisoners entitled to medical care while in custody? Because i seem that is what he is mainly complaining about, the lack of medical care.
Unless we don't care about such things when it comes to those that we deem 'undesirables' such as the 501'ers.
;"are prisoners entitled to medical care while in custody?" good question and one that continues to vex private prison operators in the u.s. . a real profit killer, blacks in prison have significantley better healthcare and a longer life expectancy than there brothers who are free(?). this has lead directley to private prison operators petitioning various states to be allowed to release many lossleaders,sorry, prisoners early, .. three stikes be damned.
If this article is true, haven't the tax break on the EV's been a waste of time? Japanese putting up the price of EV's by the amount of the subsidy!
"In Japan, there's such a small number of EVs. In terms of pricing, the vehicles in Japan have all gone up for the amount of the subsidy – $3450."
– Todd Hunter, Turners Automotive Group
Provided the car has a 3 Star safety rating and qualifies for the subsidy, and is being built in RHD, that'd come out cheaper than a lot of e-bikes or second hand ice cars.
So, Barnaby Joyce is back leading the Australian National Party.
That means Deputy Prime Minister. Big Cabinet vote. Big policy influence.
National used to he a straight rural political organization. Now it's the funnel for big oil and coal to tilt Australian politics away from climate mitigation. Very successfully over a decade.
That's a massive headache for the Liberals, because those rich inner seats will keep getting lost to light green independents.
And of course that itself will become the second largest transTasman problem for NZ and our Pacific Island colleagues.
One small party spill, one very big political problem.
As pointed out before, our deplorables have found Australia the land of promise, where they have flourished in that fertile soil, Joyce, Bjelke-Petersen, Clark, etc. (But not Clarke.) I guess it's all our fault! Now we have to get stronger to combat that overseas well-fed team of bullies. Perhaps we should try to enhance our strong points, and strive together including all in our team, and send the remaining deplorables over there to join with their natural cohort.
(As is common in communications (lazy), only an acronym is used in this item, with no reference to the actual descriptive words. So here is info. – Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection)
Our nation's leaders and wealthy upper class have brought the living conditions here down so far that people cannot keep themselves healthy, no longer having a standard of living previously regarded as basic and expected in an 'advanced, developed' country. Advancing means going forward, but we always thought it meant rising, not being on a sloping, downward path,
There is no resilience in much of the population to be able to cope with the unhealthy conditions that bring sickness to the lower strata of society. Yet I see an outwardly pleasant world as i look locally and read about NZ with many examples of well-off people and consumer goods and holidays that the comfortably-off can afford. It's time to get off your comfortable assets and look to doing your bit to assist those disadvantaged through not having your 'class' advantages.
It will cost you, but remember that we all pay tax through GST, and on top of that you can afford to pay more from your discretionary income ie what is left after paying the necessary bills, and buy less of your wants, so there is money left to go to others who can then have their needs met.
More stats about something we know is a precipitating factor? How will that help us? The UN have already told us we are not up to the mark in the modern world as far as kiddies are concerned.l
Wikpedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_poverty_in_New_Zealand#Housing In 2010 25,000 children, mostly from lower-income families, were admitted to hospital for preventable respiratory infections aggravated by poor houses…The highest levels of crowding seen from 2013-2015 were children ages 0–17 living in social housing. 33% of children living in social housing experienced overcrowding
New Zealand continues to fail children, Unicef report shows …
This article on suicide: 3/09/2020 — Last year, Unicef's State of the World's Children report ranked New Zealand second-worst in the OECD for child obesity. New Zealand also ranked 33rd of 38 for ..
A "feasibility study" was commissioned as part of the overhaul of Child, Youth and Family (CYF), which found that such an approach was "highly desirable" to support a consistent approach.
Perhaps someone can design a movable fence in Hurricane wire or such, and that can be placed around the seal to protect it and allow it uninterrupted spectator enjoyment! The kids can regard it as a mascot, give it a name, and ask it to arf who it considers the best player or team. Have to think laterally here I think.
What do you think would happen if the pay were increased to say 35 NZD? The landlords would increase their rent once a year as they are legally allowed to do.
27NZD *40=1080 NZD per week, plus Kiwi Safer, Holiday Pay, Sick leave.
But if you think that you can increase the pay to a point where Landlords are gonna be shamed into not annually increasing their rentals to match the pay increases, then how much would that be?
Fifty bucks? A hundred?
We need a better system for rentals and rents charged. A. the rent should reflect the value of the space rented. B. the rent should reflect that one uses the premises, but will not own these (difference between mortgage and rent), c. all rentals should be open ended, and rent should only be increased if significant investment happened during that tenancy. I .e. say remodel of the rotting bathroom could / should lead to a higher rent. These are just a few things that could be done, above all a Rent Cap system could be established.
However that is not being done, with expeption being Chloe Swarbruck who raises these issues.
Agree we have a massive problem with out of control housing costs and I completely support perpetual tenancy by right and rent controls (and capital taxes too!). These need addressing and as you mention – Labour and National seem resolved not to do anything significant.
But these high costs are real and the solution to the burden on society is not to suppress wages, but to address the housing crisis.
Something that doesn't get mentioned in the hospo worker shortage is that people don't want to work in hospo because of covid. They've found other employment where you don't have random strangers spraying all over you. Personally know a lot who don't do hospo any more.
Same goes on the punter side of the game too, people are being careful where and when they go out now.
Over a third of Kiwis claimed their lifestyle values have changed since the Covid-19 lockdowns. These have shifted to focus on family, health, friends and time.
Nearly half of Kiwis agree that they now go out for dinner less frequently than they did before Covid. While 43% are trying to save money due to uncertainty, 35% do so because they enjoy staying at home more after getting used to it in lockdowns.
Well, casting my mind back to 12 or so months ago, back then we would have been ecstatic at the idea of a vaccine with efficacy numbers as good as the reduced efficacy claimed for Pfizer against the Delta variant in Israel.
Never mind that the UK has studied the same question and found a much smaller reduction in efficacy than the Israelis.
The data, however, also shows that the [Pfizer] vaccine is still highly effective against preventing serious symptoms and hospitalization. During May, that figure stood at 98.2%, and during June, it was 93%.
Never mind the sentence construction, appreciate the good news. There will be [at least some] better days ahead – but we can't hurry them.
Some of us need a chuckle, and are interested in a different perspective on politics. The Holy Grail offers some hidden truths – it's not all buffoonery.
Perhaps this opens up a sport that would take up male energies and channel them into fighting which also requires skill in metalwork, and obedience to a code of how to knock other people about. The new ABs.
Treetop, can you just enjoy giving some positive news, without the grizzle 'not happening fast enough'. Be grateful completely, we need to feed that in when something good happens and just leave it as a Good Thing.
If it's magic you wouldn't see it, so how do you know they aren't using it somewhere? It's not near me though so maybe you're right. But i like fairy stories; they can feel free to float by me scattering stars and tinsel around some great achievement.
It goes to show it can be done. It is a slow process. It is not happening fast enough and this is a fact. If you interpret fact as grizzle that is up to you.
Just drove from Blenheim to Christchurch and must have seen hundreds of houses being built and in even the smallest settlements, but get here and only read about ‘ Labour housing failure’ , these blind media fuckers need to get out more.
But who are the houses being built for Adrian? Can they be afforded by the really needy, the young families, the poorly paid single people or ones in the 'gig' economy with short-term contracts? Are they just a way for the overseas and local investors to exchange their vouchers for something real, such a nice solid feeling of wealth. Are they being used as lures for the overseas people who have come from a country that offers better wages, ie Australia…as holiday homes, or retirement ones, rather than adding extra houses to the present local waiting list? Are the houses built and the incoming residents in sync so that the locals aren't seeing any more houses available for them?
Your irritated comment Adrian doesn't seem to allow for the above possibilities.
Now there's a good game for those who say the Government is doing nothing about housing and are also ultra-quick to to throw around words like "dictatorship" and "state control."
Let houses only be built for certain defined groups – no-one outside that group is to get builders working for them.
Our government wimps out on dealing with our current clusterfuck of a system for collecting funding for our roads, and just kicks the can of RUCs for electric vehicles down the road to 2024.
That means if your vehicle operating cost is any kind of factor in your purchasing choices, electric vehicles will cost more to operate from 2024 than a lot of the small hybrids running around today. I'm certainly not going to massively stretch my budget to go electric if there's that kind of financial penalty waiting to drop in 2 1/2 years.
Cmon Grey, bugger all people are allowed in so that shoots down that theory, houses aren’t usually built without pre-sale , “ poorly paid “ singles generally flat with others or camp with mum and dad so no they haven’t put down a deposit and gig workers move about a bit to much to settle down until they find a job they want to stay in. No, these houses are for people to live in. In Blenheim, a 240 unit retirement complex being built, which I didn’t count as I didn’t drive past it, will free up a couple of hundred houses for families to shift into either to rent or own. So that shoots down that theory as well.
The truth is that there are shitloads of houses being built, record numbers in fact, the last I heard the most annually since the early 70s. I’m complaining about lazy shit-stirring journalism. And shitloads of new houses puts downward pressure on housing costs and and about time, but speaking as an ex-builder I know it takes quite a while from the first line on a plan to a key in the door.
Ex-builder eh. So you know about it all. The problem is supply and demand for cheaper houses being in sync I guess. And whether those shitloads of houses are going to be leak-proof and fungus proof. Seems that one of the problems is the obsessive desire to have sealed-up houses so not a drop of hot air escapes. People need to open windows, stop thinking about lost energy units all the time, and government needs to just act sensibly and ensure builders are doing the right thing. Not only regulation but inspection while the concrete is being poured etc.
The local Mens Shelter up for many years, and very much prized as we can't afford to put another one or one for women in our NCC budget, may have to be vacated because it is too expensive to put in all the energy-saving insulation required by busy bureaucrats devoted to achieving 'best practice' and 100% compliance, even if they have to use a whip – /sarc for the sensitives.
All those houses, I hope they have young families and people living in them soon and they don't have to sell their souls to achieve that. But I am like bwaghorn wishful about magic wands, but with no suspended disbelief in the magician. And of course the disbelief needs to spread to the media because this is something they can hit Labour about. Why did they ever let wotsisname talk about 10,000 houses? Even a child of five would know that wouldn't fly. As Groucho Marx said – 'Send for a child of five' for our next list position.
Not that Housing Minister Megan Woods vouchsafes too many smiles these days – progressive or otherwise. These days Megan’s more into frowns. The earnest frowns of the political realist who knows that there is no simple or quick fix to New Zealand’s housing crisis. The stoical frown of the left-wing politician who yet remains unflinching in her determination to keep on doing what she can with what she’s got.
(It's part of a response to Bernard Hickey's comments on going to Oz and what is to be made of that by Minister Megan Wood.)
Crazy levels of apartments and townhouses going up in Auckland burbs now as well. Not just the 33m2 student apartments either.
Bit of a pain in the arse dealing with their traffic disruptions to build them. Along with the infrastructure upgrades to water, power and comms that go along with them.
edit
I would appreciate it if someone knows of a citizens website where there is a check kept on our business world. We were told things were going to be better under business control, and guidance instead of dozy old government…hah.
I am concerned about my friend's experiences with InterCity buses cancelling bus services at the drop of a hat, tourist information providers not notified of immediate effect etc. She had to hitchhike to get to her next stop so she could take up the flight bookings to get home. Another time she was in Christchurch for a weekend, came to get the bus back and nil result!
How much of this treatment of us as pawns to be pandered to when there is profit in it, and to be dropped like hot spuds when not, goes on? AirNZ has been doing this – people sleeping over at the airport or wherever when their plane is cancelled. If you are flying from Wellington to somewhere, and the flight is cancelled, you have to find your own accommodation as a local, it only gets provided for those from somewhere else!
I think we need a Citizens site that gets feedback where you can check to find the company that gives decent service. Or we can try to go back to a time where we could get some leverage from those supposed to be providing service.
For your information, in the year to the end of May, 43,460 new houses consented and the recent rolling monthly totals are heading for 50,000 annually. The most for almost 50 years.
Shows a March year on year nett increase of population about 33,200.
Better than the 117,900 from the previous March year.
Or the 79,200 the March year prior to that.
The ramp up on consents is welcome and way better than National has managed over 9 years of nett rampant population growth mostly from immigration, but there is a hell of a backlog.
From your figures, lprent, can one say that there are more houses being consented to be built than the total number of people in the net increase in New Zealand's population? That is, 43460 houses consented for 32,000 increase in population?
Can the figures be easily discovered for the same two figures over the last ten years? Is there a significant difference between the numbers consented, and the numbers actually built?
I'm watching a replay of today's question time where I watched the Prime Minister give a serve back to the Leader of the Opposition who was criticising children's having to be housed in motels by saying that this has to be better than children sleeping in cars. Especially when at the same time state housing was being sold into private ownership.
Just how many houses are we short in God's Own Country?
How does this sit in conscience with 200,000 empty houses in God's Own Country at the last census?
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I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Read/listen to these and weep…particularly the modular company account–they need more workflow fer crissakes…as motels blowout
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018800028/a-modular-solution-to-the-housing-crisis
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018799639/small-homes-big-ambitions
To put it bluntly the Govt. should be plunking down many millions on these types of initiatives to house the people. But it seems the bulk of the Labour Caucus would fill their pants at the prospect of a mass flat pack/tiny house/apartment build.
Yes there is a reason for that timidity, many decades of housing being treated as a cash cow rather than a family resource and accomodation, does not allow for an easy quick solution, but it surely must be attempted.
(New) Labour New Zealand are as much a part of the problem as National, therefore as they both exist today they will never tackle this housing disaster..I can't understand why people haven't figured out by now that Ardern/Robertson and pretty much all Labour NZ are Neo Liberal Free Market ideologues…they are real believers in that shit and are prepared to hold that course until the bitter end, just like all ideologues (myself included, except my political ideology is right and theirs is wrong).
Adrian Thornton I am enjoying reading your comments. Wry sometimes, and leading to useful thought most of the time. Please stick in there.
I agree Adrian, which is why I have suggested homeless and supporters need to start occupying appropriate empty residential and commercial property in an organised manner to put some more heat on the Labour Caucus. Pressure worked at Ihumatāo. Around 40,000 empty properties in Auckland per various statistics from Census to Real Estate sources.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cat-maclennan-on-ghost-housing
Can you point yo a country that's following your ideology so I can check that you are in fact right. ??
Late 70s Cambodia seems pretty close, as far as I can tell.
Here is some info on England and Wales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting_in_England_and_Wales
Interestingly, you can apply to own the property after 12 years.
Squatting was common when I was young in England. Unoccupied buildings were squatted and in London, there was an agreement between local councils and a well organised squatting movement that allowed people who couldnt afford the rents at the time to occupy empty council homes that were going to be renovated or knocked down. My partner and I lived in 2 of these places for several years with others until eventually securing a council flat. I think squatting has been a criminal offence for years, now. Thatcher and those who followed her squashed all those protests at the same time as they squashed the miners and the British TU movement. Then she sold off as many council houses as possible.
We have brought up 3 children in an 150 year old school house, the main living area of which is the dining, lounge, homework and play area and is 60 sq metres. A 60 sq metre house which also requires toilet and bathroom, kitchen, wash house and storage and 3 bedrooms crammed into the same meterage means the rooms become cells. That’s why these things get turned down they don’t meet the required regulatory conditions for healthy living. Yes, there will be stories of “We we’re all bought up in shoebox and luvved it”, and so was I, but it had an outside shithouse, the bathroom could only take one person at a time and a standard bed wouldn’t fit in my shared room. It was not fit for purpose.
How did you survive without a media room and ensuite?
If you count 8 sqm per bedroom as a min that would meant your three rooms would be 24 sqm, then the rest can be build into the remaining 36 sqm.
Yeah, that might be a bit small, but it beats living in transient housing at million dollars for some motels who would have gone bust since the closed borders were it not for homeless people and those that lost houses in floods/tornadoes etc.
Also not everyone has three kids. Tell us why someone starting out in adult life needs a 100sqm, three garages, two landings and 4 rooms?
That's the same argument as the one for jobs paying a sub-living minimum wage – it's only for hardy young 'uns starting out.
The problem is that a serious chunk of people end up in those jobs or dwellings for life.
I remember a journalist in tears as he described the likely starvation of people in an African country. They had estimates that they only had enough food, grain etc for about two weeks to send out to the people whose crops had failed, or had run from violence. The Red Cross were onto it, they were making plans for a big delivery – but that was months away, some said six months.
Sometimes the small is beautiful, get started with practical plans now is the right thing to do. Not worry about the medium-term future, not make doubtful comments about it not being the best answer; if it fits short-term, wear it.
Definitely a fair point to consider. The penalty for failure of subsized homes, however, is a slum. So would it be "two steps forward, one back", or "one step forward, two back"?
The fact is that detached housing, no matter the size, isn't going to change the housing crisis. Just money for developers.
Vacant investment dwellings and significant state housing increases need to be addressed. It's possible that some of the govt's economic changes might tweak things over the longer term, but I doubt it will decimate property market speculation.
Agree 96% – but some more advanced fix-it ideas needed.
Like registering at an approved camping ground with toilets and showers. and covered area around them. concrete pathways and electric points so that those who have to sleep in their cars can do so. This would be government admitting the need and helping one group in a practical, honest way instead of promises at the end of the very ordinary rainbow. People who didn't behave would be ejected, so that those using the facility would have good sleep and security,
Is that really better than transitional housing in a motel?
Helpfully, Tim Watkin and RNZ are drawing the dividing line for us.
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/drawing-a-red-line-with-china
Better make sure that I choose the right side …
Yeah, apparently Japan is an imperialist country.
Shows what I (or maybe Tim) know to be facts.
NZ is going to the dogs because we cannot express ourselves freely and frankly any longer 🙁
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/worker-at-auckland-airport-arrested-after-making-concerning-comments/DXVJBX2253DLWGC3GVXHK2SR5Q/
Witness the supporters jumping to his aid \SARC
Hopefully more details will come out. Was he talking about a bomb? Or was he being racist or sexist?
Did he make them online or did he have a ‘bad day’ at work and yelled at his co-workers and/or his boss? But that’s not really my point 😉
Would you mind saying what your point is? I’m not getting it.
"NZ is going to the dogs because we cannot express ourselves freely and frankly any longer" = New Zealand is going to the dogs because I fear my opinions and worldview are no longer hegemonic and I am being challenged in ways I find unacceptable. And I will 'prove' this by pointing at all manner of dopey sh*t that is basically just irrelevant peripheral idiocy – while ignoring anything else that doesn't suit my argument.
Good one AB you understand the situation completely and ridicule it well, except that you are choosing the wrong side for your wry ire.
Well I think its fair to say outside of Covid response evidence is mounting that this Govt is failing badly on a core issue that they had promised to address.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018802675/nz-children-living-in-motels-reaches-record-high
The state house build is forecast to add around 8000 homes over the next 4 years which will barely touch the sides.
Record house price increases adding hundreds of thousands to values further entrenching inequality.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/124504352/national-median-house-price-soars-to-record-high–reinz
Rents are hitting record highs https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/04/housing-crisis-price-for-rentals-hits-new-all-time-high.html
We all know that accommodation insecurity / affordability has a severe effect on families and their children including long term outcomes I think you can see the beginnings of this here.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/truancy-crisis-more-than-60000-students-chronically-absent-from-school/6TXZWOLAE6WTO35J7CGKHIOOQ4/
This is a crisis and it feels like the current govt is happy to tinker around the edges doing just enough to avoid real scrutiny… a middle class free the lane protest got a faster reaction ffs.
well, there is a lot of money to be made in 'transient housing'.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/emergency-housing-crisis-hawkes-bay-hotel-earned-15m-in-nine-months-but-it-was-too-much-hassle/W3FGXTV5KFKFFJSXJXEB7RBV3E/
oh well. I guess that money will help him weather the lack of tourists and if its not enough they can again take up unhoused kiwis for another million or several.
As for the kids. No one really cares.
Yeah, I remember the endless media stories towards the end last Nat govt covering homelessness we had the big sleepout events all this pressure for action and now we have a Lab majority govt if feels no one cares that much anymore…
I retread the article.
Louise Upston obviously didn't want the hotel to take any of the displaced hundreds from the November floods in Napier.
Maybe she could have put them up at her place.
i honestly don't care about Louise Upton, i dont' think that women has ever said a word in her political life that had value.
My point was that the Motelier complained about housing people for Top Dollar who mostly have lost their houses in floods. He called it / them a 'hassle' that is not worth it.
Unless 1.55 million is not top dollar and being a shitheel is the new norm.
It saddens me to hear that you don’t care about the kids
We all got to do what we got to do, don't we Incognito.
Yup, othering, virtue signalling, making unsupported assumptions about what others think or feel, criticising the good intentions and actions of others, judging others in a negative way, the list goes on, doesn’t it, Sabine?
Of course Incognito, it must be as you say it is.
I don’t write your comments, so please don’t avoid taking responsibility for them; they are yours.
sabine washes her hands of all her statements with the trump excuse"im only repeating what someone else has said" just as indefensable as saying she is carbon negative because she doesnt have a car, too bad that all her product is delivered and most of her product is resold to people using dinosaur juice. bollocks…
Sabine's comments might work on the 80:20 principle. Most right but it us hard to see the constant truth. Perhaps you should put up some more interesting German stuff Sabine that we could learn from. You would be making your point and giving us some fresh ideas to add to the pot.
Move over Delta, there is a new kid in town. Everyone meet Lamda.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-uk-lambda-variant-peru-b1878416.html
They are going to run out of letters soon to name these variants.
That is what i said to some friends today. Next roman numericals?
It's more infectious than delta and so far appears to resist the vaccines.
Blojo wants to remove many restrictions in a week or so whilst the reigning F1 Champion is openly critical of the expected crowd at his home event for the British GP
The new normal is here.
If Bojo's "Freedom Day" on July 19 results in a million-person march descending on no.10 demanding that the genocidal lunatic leave office, there is some justification for it. More likely though that everyone will go to the pub.
I know, right. How dare the rest of the western world actually have a vaccination plan and a plan to move beyond closed borders and MIQ as the only way to deal with COVID.
A plan based on the science that's data driven so you know it's effective is awesome.
However the tories have time and again shown a priority for the optics, dominating the rhetoric and looking after their mates with lucrative uncontested contracts using covid as cover.
Good new covert system David, kill Covid19 and its variants off! Use sly remarks, they are so satisfying to the progenitor. Bet you don't even know what that means.
There is distinction between the Variants of Concern (still only alpha, beta, gamma & delta), and Variants of Interest (epsilon-lambda). Kappa is also a potential VoC; and it may not be always distinguished from delta, if the reference sequences aren't being looked for. Though it does seem to be a bit weird that Lambda is more related to alpha (B1.1 – first detected in UK) than gamma (P.1 – Brazil). It's a bit hard to tell; given the limits of Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 testing, but the gamma may be holding it's own against the lambda variant there.
https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210627/Lambda-lineage-of-SARS-CoV-2-has-potential-to-become-variant-of-concern.aspx
I found this particularly concerning from your link, Sabine:
Honestly at this stage I just call it the fucking virus or the fucking plague. 🙂 TFV or TVP take your pick.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446272/rsv-outbreak-cases-of-babies-with-serious-virus-rising-nationwide
But what about our freedoms? If you take away my freedom to cough over other people's babies what will you do next – forced labour camps and organ-harvesting?
AB – hyperbole?
When will we stand up to Australia's abuse of our common entry border?
Are we appalled at Australia's contempt for New Zealand as a dumping ground for convicts who have done their time in Australia?
Currently new Zealand shares a common entry border with Australia.
Should New Zealand protest these deportations as a breach of the common border?
Should the government give a warning that the continued abuse of our common entry border threatens the preferential free entry to New Zealand afforded Australian citizens?
If this abuse continues, should New Zealand demote Australian citizens to the same entry restrictions that we impose on our Pacific Island neighbours?
In the midst of a pandemic.
Is it time for New Zealand to stop being supine to Australia over the forced detention and deportation of 501s to this country?
Should the government tell the Morrison Administration that flights from Australia bearing 501s will not be given landing rights, or not be allowed to disembark?
Are we disgusted enough yet?
[over long text deleted]
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/deportee-with-terminal-cancer-says-australian-government-treats-501s-like-numbers-not-humans/ar-AALMzsU?
Or how about these '501's actually accepting their own responsibility for their plight?
Why do you care, or why do you think anyone else should care about these 'people'?
Australia is acting legally and with its own interests at heart. We spent decades exporting our problem people (long term unemployed, criminals and so on) to Australia, starting from the 1970s. Thats why Kiwis are and have been so prominent in Australian organised crime (eg, Mr Asia Syndicate). I guess what goes around comes around.
Australia has a good historical example for transportation of criminals. Between 1788 and 1868 more than 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. It’s estimated that 20% of the Australian population, over 5 million people, are descended from people originally transported as convicts, while around 2 million Britons have transported convict ancestry.
https://www.migrationmuseum.org/were-your-ancestors-transported-to-australia-as-convicts/
Just thinking about the length of your comments Jenny JTGT. I know that the setting when enter is pressed is to go to double spacing. When I finish my comments I usually go back and edit it to help put my point over, and I don't have a lot of one line paragraphs as you do.
Could you consider making your comments shorter, more concise, easier to read. Then more people will read them and not just get annoyed at the number and length of yours. You are exhorting others all the time to do more, and giving us info about the environment, so to get the maximum number of minds reading them, the above changes would help your quest.
@ mac1 (8.1.1) … Australian Royalty
This then raises the question: Are prisoners entitled to medical care while in custody? Because i seem that is what he is mainly complaining about, the lack of medical care.
Unless we don't care about such things when it comes to those that we deem 'undesirables' such as the 501'ers.
;"are prisoners entitled to medical care while in custody?" good question and one that continues to vex private prison operators in the u.s. . a real profit killer, blacks in prison have significantley better healthcare and a longer life expectancy than there brothers who are free(?). this has lead directley to private prison operators petitioning various states to be allowed to release many lossleaders,sorry, prisoners early, .. three stikes be damned.
The real human rights being abused are us NZ citizens who have to put up with new massive criminal gangs expanding here.
They should be required to wear bracelets upon entry, until they renounce all such affiliates.
If this article is true, haven't the tax break on the EV's been a waste of time? Japanese putting up the price of EV's by the amount of the subsidy!
"In Japan, there's such a small number of EVs. In terms of pricing, the vehicles in Japan have all gone up for the amount of the subsidy – $3450."
– Todd Hunter, Turners Automotive Group
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/car-dealers-price-warning-on-ev-subsidies
Maybe we'll get Chinese EV like this one. Similar range to my Leaf yet with a much smaller 13 kw/h battery.
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/07/20200725-wuling.html
The Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV, outselling the Tesla. Under 3 metres long, under 700 kg weight, cleverly roomy inside. And much cheaper.
Provided the car has a 3 Star safety rating and qualifies for the subsidy, and is being built in RHD, that'd come out cheaper than a lot of e-bikes or second hand ice cars.
So, Barnaby Joyce is back leading the Australian National Party.
That means Deputy Prime Minister. Big Cabinet vote. Big policy influence.
National used to he a straight rural political organization. Now it's the funnel for big oil and coal to tilt Australian politics away from climate mitigation. Very successfully over a decade.
That's a massive headache for the Liberals, because those rich inner seats will keep getting lost to light green independents.
And of course that itself will become the second largest transTasman problem for NZ and our Pacific Island colleagues.
One small party spill, one very big political problem.
As pointed out before, our deplorables have found Australia the land of promise, where they have flourished in that fertile soil, Joyce, Bjelke-Petersen, Clark, etc. (But not Clarke.) I guess it's all our fault! Now we have to get stronger to combat that overseas well-fed team of bullies. Perhaps we should try to enhance our strong points, and strive together including all in our team, and send the remaining deplorables over there to join with their natural cohort.
wasnt hosking threatening-promising to phuck off to aus? start a whocares page.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446272/rsv-outbreak-cases-of-babies-with-serious-virus-rising-nationwide
(As is common in communications (lazy), only an acronym is used in this item, with no reference to the actual descriptive words. So here is info. – Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection)
Our nation's leaders and wealthy upper class have brought the living conditions here down so far that people cannot keep themselves healthy, no longer having a standard of living previously regarded as basic and expected in an 'advanced, developed' country. Advancing means going forward, but we always thought it meant rising, not being on a sloping, downward path,
There is no resilience in much of the population to be able to cope with the unhealthy conditions that bring sickness to the lower strata of society. Yet I see an outwardly pleasant world as i look locally and read about NZ with many examples of well-off people and consumer goods and holidays that the comfortably-off can afford. It's time to get off your comfortable assets and look to doing your bit to assist those disadvantaged through not having your 'class' advantages.
It will cost you, but remember that we all pay tax through GST, and on top of that you can afford to pay more from your discretionary income ie what is left after paying the necessary bills, and buy less of your wants, so there is money left to go to others who can then have their needs met.
I would like to know how many hospitalised babies live in substandard housing?
More stats about something we know is a precipitating factor? How will that help us? The UN have already told us we are not up to the mark in the modern world as far as kiddies are concerned.l
Wikpedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_poverty_in_New_Zealand#Housing
In 2010 25,000 children, mostly from lower-income families, were admitted to hospital for preventable respiratory infections aggravated by poor houses…The highest levels of crowding seen from 2013-2015 were children ages 0–17 living in social housing. 33% of children living in social housing experienced overcrowding
https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-opinion/media/2020/new-zealand-is-violating-the-rights-of-its-children-is-it-time-to-change-the-legal-definition-of-age-discrimination
New Zealand continues to fail children, Unicef report shows …
This article on suicide: 3/09/2020 — Last year, Unicef's State of the World's Children report ranked New Zealand second-worst in the OECD for child obesity. New Zealand also ranked 33rd of 38 for ..
2016 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/84170880/nz-comes-under-un-scrutiny-over-its-treatment-of-children
(Anne Tolley) It's asked New Zealand to report on whether the "outsourcing" of essential services to private enterprise is "compliant with the provisions of the convention".
A "feasibility study" was commissioned as part of the overhaul of Child, Youth and Family (CYF), which found that such an approach was "highly desirable" to support a consistent approach.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446252/sea-lion-pitch-invasion-causes-suspension-of-two-kids-footie-games
Perhaps someone can design a movable fence in Hurricane wire or such, and that can be placed around the seal to protect it and allow it uninterrupted spectator enjoyment! The kids can regard it as a mascot, give it a name, and ask it to arf who it considers the best player or team. Have to think laterally here I think.
oh well that is some record i guess
https://twitter.com/UNFCCC/status/1412006088090820610
Yet another long article on the "Worker Shortage" (substitute "Pay and Training Shortage" every time you read that).
They say they offer $27 / hour so "it can't be the pay" – tried renting a house lately??!
Instead of paying or training – just braying to be allowed to bring in insecure immigrant labour to drive wages and training down.
What do you think would happen if the pay were increased to say 35 NZD? The landlords would increase their rent once a year as they are legally allowed to do.
27NZD *40=1080 NZD per week, plus Kiwi Safer, Holiday Pay, Sick leave.
But if you think that you can increase the pay to a point where Landlords are gonna be shamed into not annually increasing their rentals to match the pay increases, then how much would that be?
Fifty bucks? A hundred?
We need a better system for rentals and rents charged. A. the rent should reflect the value of the space rented. B. the rent should reflect that one uses the premises, but will not own these (difference between mortgage and rent), c. all rentals should be open ended, and rent should only be increased if significant investment happened during that tenancy. I .e. say remodel of the rotting bathroom could / should lead to a higher rent. These are just a few things that could be done, above all a Rent Cap system could be established.
However that is not being done, with expeption being Chloe Swarbruck who raises these issues.
Agree we have a massive problem with out of control housing costs and I completely support perpetual tenancy by right and rent controls (and capital taxes too!). These need addressing and as you mention – Labour and National seem resolved not to do anything significant.
But these high costs are real and the solution to the burden on society is not to suppress wages, but to address the housing crisis.
Something that doesn't get mentioned in the hospo worker shortage is that people don't want to work in hospo because of covid. They've found other employment where you don't have random strangers spraying all over you. Personally know a lot who don't do hospo any more.
Same goes on the punter side of the game too, people are being careful where and when they go out now.
Re above
https://theregister.co.nz/2021/07/05/new-zealands-hospitality-industry-is-struggling-more-than-ever/
I know 2 youngins who have worked in hospo and hated it because alot of people are rude ignorant fuckwits who cant even use basic manners.
Yep, and begrudge paying the price that would help enable a decent wage let alone a living.
Pfizer vaccine less effective against Delta variant, Israeli study finds
https://www.ft.com/content/0b3da41e-6390-4f4b-866c-da5c6aec7f5e
Well, that’s not the news that one would like to hear about this shitty virus.
Well, casting my mind back to 12 or so months ago, back then we would have been ecstatic at the idea of a vaccine with efficacy numbers as good as the reduced efficacy claimed for Pfizer against the Delta variant in Israel.
Never mind that the UK has studied the same question and found a much smaller reduction in efficacy than the Israelis.
"Always look on the bright side of life" – “At least they didn’t burn the potatoes.”
Or (simply) "The sun will come out…"
Never mind the sentence construction, appreciate the good news. There will be [at least some] better days ahead – but we can't hurry them.
Some of us need a chuckle, and are interested in a different perspective on politics. The Holy Grail offers some hidden truths – it's not all buffoonery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-wbrKimEOc
Perhaps this opens up a sport that would take up male energies and channel them into fighting which also requires skill in metalwork, and obedience to a code of how to knock other people about. The new ABs.
England v Australia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoFM2s0jxyQ
NZrs are already into this. Let's get behind the code and the sporting bodies already organising it, make them officially recognised.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TflUa6IWNdk
(https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/106094232/fighting-for-fun-an-inside-look-at-new-zealands-medieval-combat-scene
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Medieval_Combat_Federation
Good to see, but not happening fast enough. 83 apartments, 70 are one bedroom apartments.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/125552616/wellington-city-mission-opens-new-transitional-housing-facility-te-p-pori
Treetop, can you just enjoy giving some positive news, without the grizzle 'not happening fast enough'. Be grateful completely, we need to feed that in when something good happens and just leave it as a Good Thing.
Oh common grey every one knows labour has a fucking big magic wand, but the buggers simple wont use it.
If it's magic you wouldn't see it, so how do you know they aren't using it somewhere? It's not near me though so maybe you're right. But i like fairy stories; they can feel free to float by me scattering stars and tinsel around some great achievement.
It goes to show it can be done. It is a slow process. It is not happening fast enough and this is a fact. If you interpret fact as grizzle that is up to you.
Just drove from Blenheim to Christchurch and must have seen hundreds of houses being built and in even the smallest settlements, but get here and only read about ‘ Labour housing failure’ , these blind media fuckers need to get out more.
But who are the houses being built for Adrian? Can they be afforded by the really needy, the young families, the poorly paid single people or ones in the 'gig' economy with short-term contracts? Are they just a way for the overseas and local investors to exchange their vouchers for something real, such a nice solid feeling of wealth. Are they being used as lures for the overseas people who have come from a country that offers better wages, ie Australia…as holiday homes, or retirement ones, rather than adding extra houses to the present local waiting list? Are the houses built and the incoming residents in sync so that the locals aren't seeing any more houses available for them?
Your irritated comment Adrian doesn't seem to allow for the above possibilities.
Now there's a good game for those who say the Government is doing nothing about housing and are also ultra-quick to to throw around words like "dictatorship" and "state control."
Let houses only be built for certain defined groups – no-one outside that group is to get builders working for them.
Our government wimps out on dealing with our current clusterfuck of a system for collecting funding for our roads, and just kicks the can of RUCs for electric vehicles down the road to 2024.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/125666247/government-extends-ruc-exemption-for-evs
That means if your vehicle operating cost is any kind of factor in your purchasing choices, electric vehicles will cost more to operate from 2024 than a lot of the small hybrids running around today. I'm certainly not going to massively stretch my budget to go electric if there's that kind of financial penalty waiting to drop in 2 1/2 years.
Cmon Grey, bugger all people are allowed in so that shoots down that theory, houses aren’t usually built without pre-sale , “ poorly paid “ singles generally flat with others or camp with mum and dad so no they haven’t put down a deposit and gig workers move about a bit to much to settle down until they find a job they want to stay in. No, these houses are for people to live in. In Blenheim, a 240 unit retirement complex being built, which I didn’t count as I didn’t drive past it, will free up a couple of hundred houses for families to shift into either to rent or own. So that shoots down that theory as well.
The truth is that there are shitloads of houses being built, record numbers in fact, the last I heard the most annually since the early 70s. I’m complaining about lazy shit-stirring journalism. And shitloads of new houses puts downward pressure on housing costs and and about time, but speaking as an ex-builder I know it takes quite a while from the first line on a plan to a key in the door.
Ex-builder eh. So you know about it all. The problem is supply and demand for cheaper houses being in sync I guess. And whether those shitloads of houses are going to be leak-proof and fungus proof. Seems that one of the problems is the obsessive desire to have sealed-up houses so not a drop of hot air escapes. People need to open windows, stop thinking about lost energy units all the time, and government needs to just act sensibly and ensure builders are doing the right thing. Not only regulation but inspection while the concrete is being poured etc.
The local Mens Shelter up for many years, and very much prized as we can't afford to put another one or one for women in our NCC budget, may have to be vacated because it is too expensive to put in all the energy-saving insulation required by busy bureaucrats devoted to achieving 'best practice' and 100% compliance, even if they have to use a whip – /sarc for the sensitives.
All those houses, I hope they have young families and people living in them soon and they don't have to sell their souls to achieve that. But I am like bwaghorn wishful about magic wands, but with no suspended disbelief in the magician. And of course the disbelief needs to spread to the media because this is something they can hit Labour about. Why did they ever let wotsisname talk about 10,000 houses? Even a child of five would know that wouldn't fly. As Groucho Marx said – 'Send for a child of five' for our next list position.
This from Bowalley Road on housing: https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-choice-giving-up-or-keeping-hope.html
Not that Housing Minister Megan Woods vouchsafes too many smiles these days – progressive or otherwise. These days Megan’s more into frowns. The earnest frowns of the political realist who knows that there is no simple or quick fix to New Zealand’s housing crisis. The stoical frown of the left-wing politician who yet remains unflinching in her determination to keep on doing what she can with what she’s got.
(It's part of a response to Bernard Hickey's comments on going to Oz and what is to be made of that by Minister Megan Wood.)
Crazy levels of apartments and townhouses going up in Auckland burbs now as well. Not just the 33m2 student apartments either.
Bit of a pain in the arse dealing with their traffic disruptions to build them. Along with the infrastructure upgrades to water, power and comms that go along with them.
edit
I would appreciate it if someone knows of a citizens website where there is a check kept on our business world. We were told things were going to be better under business control, and guidance instead of dozy old government…hah.
I am concerned about my friend's experiences with InterCity buses cancelling bus services at the drop of a hat, tourist information providers not notified of immediate effect etc. She had to hitchhike to get to her next stop so she could take up the flight bookings to get home. Another time she was in Christchurch for a weekend, came to get the bus back and nil result!
How much of this treatment of us as pawns to be pandered to when there is profit in it, and to be dropped like hot spuds when not, goes on? AirNZ has been doing this – people sleeping over at the airport or wherever when their plane is cancelled. If you are flying from Wellington to somewhere, and the flight is cancelled, you have to find your own accommodation as a local, it only gets provided for those from somewhere else!
I think we need a Citizens site that gets feedback where you can check to find the company that gives decent service. Or we can try to go back to a time where we could get some leverage from those supposed to be providing service.
For your information, in the year to the end of May, 43,460 new houses consented and the recent rolling monthly totals are heading for 50,000 annually. The most for almost 50 years.
Yay! But that still means that we’re running from way behind.
Stats estimates on population growth between March 2020 5,083,100 to March 2021 5,116,300
Shows a March year on year nett increase of population about 33,200.
Better than the 117,900 from the previous March year.
Or the 79,200 the March year prior to that.
The ramp up on consents is welcome and way better than National has managed over 9 years of nett rampant population growth mostly from immigration, but there is a hell of a backlog.
From your figures, lprent, can one say that there are more houses being consented to be built than the total number of people in the net increase in New Zealand's population? That is, 43460 houses consented for 32,000 increase in population?
Can the figures be easily discovered for the same two figures over the last ten years? Is there a significant difference between the numbers consented, and the numbers actually built?
I'm watching a replay of today's question time where I watched the Prime Minister give a serve back to the Leader of the Opposition who was criticising children's having to be housed in motels by saying that this has to be better than children sleeping in cars. Especially when at the same time state housing was being sold into private ownership.
Just how many houses are we short in God's Own Country?
How does this sit in conscience with 200,000 empty houses in God's Own Country at the last census?