Several years ago I attended a seminar of ‘How to be a winner’. In this seminar they spoke of how both real estate and small businesses were the source of large capital gains. Buy the house – do it up as a tax write off – sell it for profit and keep the lot. The same for a business, buy it, make it look profitable, sell it for large tax free returns. For a simple fee of $2000 this mob was willing to let you in on their methods.
Buy a property, use it as leverage to mortgage a second property, use both as leverage for the next properties… This is how you wind up with owning dozens of homes – becoming multi-millionaires yet contributing nothing to society.
With farms it is a similar method of operation. Farms are brought, their books are polished, farms are sold. Now, the way to polish the books on a farm is to raise production. To do this one uses overstocking, supplementary feedstocks, and fertiliser, many many tons of fertiliser. It pays to avoid any expenses that might stand in the way of profit. Erosion control, planting, diversity enhancement unless aesthetically pleasing to hide some problem – all are detrimental to the fast buck farm scheme.
So the rivers get filled with shit and fertiliser but the farmers books look good and the profits realised are enormous.
Now, not all farmers are tax-avoiding small business shifting wannabe millionaires, but there’s enough of them to turn our farming block into a large scale problem. One whiff of treasure and out come the pirates. This is a terrible shame as our decent Farmers are more valuable than ever, as exemplars and teachers in a changing world.
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
The idle rich are polluting our rivers and streams. CGT will slow them down.
oh it’s worse. free movement of employees to oz means that a employee is better off in oz, and isn’t paying a flatter tax system. A flatter tax system means owners pay less of the revenue for govt, and yes, employees pay more. This sucks out productivity since the best and brightest get compensated better in oz, making their products etc.
But wait. It’s even worse, oz is warmer, its businesses aren’t all paying to feed owners greed. Every supermarket, small business, etc is incentivized by 0% CGT to ring ever last cent to pay for all that financing… …And when they do sell out, they invariable move to oz where everyone doesn’t have a heavily leverage financial portfolio, well, not as heavily incentivized, and every worker isn’t carrying their employer.
What is rent, why is it bad it’s a lot worse when you pay for the upkeep of the house, plus the owners cut, plus the extra risk from the premium banks put on coz everyone is doing riskier deals incentuvized by the flatter tax system.
a 0% CGT means a govt back benefit to monied up Nats funded by hard working battlers
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
So true, and what a lot of money those pretend farmers are going to put into propaganda against a CGT. Pretend farming for capital gain is severely detrimental to both the environment and to people who’d like to become actual farmers, so the government should be coming up with ways to make it unattractive. CGT is one of those ways, so journos’ first question to any farmer whinging about CGT should be “What’s your alternative proposal for making farming for capital gain less attractive?”
In the height of the venison boom, there used to be a term ‘Queen Street farmers’ who would have 4 wheel driver, Land Rovers then, to go to work in bought for and tax diminished by their farming operation. They were a badge of success in Auckland.
Yeah, yeah, there will be some sneers about this having always been the case muttering about the Herald, CNN, Faux News etc, but this really is something new.
For a party that likes to court the “Bible-believing Christian” vote, they’re an ethical wasteland. How any actual Christians can vote for these deceitful bags of filth I’ll never understand. But then Sarah Huckabee Sanders purports to be a Christian and spends all day telling massive bare-faced lies and making excuses for a narcissistic sex pest, so I guess they set the bar fairly low.
Yes. But in the interests of fairness those stairs are equipped with a stairlift, so portly, ruddy-faced, cardiac-arrests-waiting-to-happen are able to navigate the family home without risking a premature demise.
Pretty much cliche stuff though:
You could say it was whitewash to cover the vile truth especially coming from the CA. (Chartered Accountants. One thinks of Monty Python who seem to have had a thing about accountants, I suggest you take these once an hour until all used.)
• In general, New Zealand has higher levels of trust in professionals than Australia
• High levels of trust have significant benefits for businesses and professionals
• The importance of communicating a commitment to honesty and ethical behaviour
• Dishonesty and a lack of ethical behaviour are most likely to decrease trust.</i
Trust is at the core of the legitimacy of political parties and, by extension, the political process and our democracy. Our society depends on these power structures be given the authority by us, the people, to govern us. If we feel that we cannot trust those power structures and/or their brokers then society will suffer and eventually crumble. History 101. Trust takes time to build, to earn, and it can easily be lost. It can also be slowly eroded. This is our problem right now and we are not facing up to it and dealing with it. It is easy to say that it is a politicians’ problem and that they should fix it but this would be very mistaken. How can we deal with anything, big (CC) or small (CGT), if the political structure is broken and we don’t really have much confidence in it? This is the problem of our time: we have lost trust and confidence, in institutions, in authorities, in economic doctrines, in religion, and in ourselves …
If you want to summon Gosman, you have to speak his name backwards three times while anointing yourself in the blood of a charter school student. And remember — don’t set foot outside the circle.
Sounds like america,s been at its dirty work in venezuela for quite a while im amazed just how many filthy tentacles can be at work at the same time!! i mean havnt they just brought about regime change in Ukraine ?You,d think that would be enough for a bit but nope lets up the anti on venezuela no matter how many lies need to be told or how many bribes and threats need to be made .
These mayors are an utter disgrace. They should resign and put themselves out to pasture. They are deliberately making it harder for future generations through their ignorance and stupidity.
“Several New Zealand mayors are still reluctant to say they agree with the scientific consensus that human activities have an impact on climate change.”
Judging by the comments section on this article, they are good representatives of a good number of New Zealanders. We really ought to fund education a whole lot better.
A national policy statement on climate change, would require those mayors and their councils to give consideration to that statement when creating planning documents and making resource management decisions. We would not then need any kind of consensus amongst the councils, which is non-binding anyway.
It would be good to see this national policy statement be issued by our coalition government.
Note though from the article that the houses were sold at a price lower than asked originally by Mike Greer Homes to fall inside the Kiwibuild margins.
In other words, houses that were empty because of price have been made available for sale and occupancy. That indicates that the policy is working to help make homes more affordable.
With the sale and profit from the sale Mike Greer can continue to build homes, hopefully at more affordable prices in the future, maybe even for Kiwibuild.
Another way of looking at it, is that the high prices were unable to be sustained by the market, and Kiwibuild has provided the mechanism by which the gap between the buyer and the seller was filled.
This is a recognised consequence of help-to-buy programmes, and while some are being housed, we should recognise and admit that in the long-term they do nothing for reducing inflated housing costs and providing access to housing for all.
If Bill were back he would have had great schadenfreude with centre-lefts like me who had hoped for great things from Trudeau. Trudeau rose by social media and is now severely wounded by it. Nothing like a Canadian ‘inferred influence’ scandal to look big against the proper-sized scandals in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere.
Why bother, liberals never change, never listen or learn anything – they just keep supporting evil people thinking they will be better this time.
You just want a cathartic moment, without giving up anything or facing the fact your lesser evil, is still evil.
You can’t accept that the systems you keep forcing on people are broken, and are just their to keep up the illusion of democracy, without actually having a democracy.
We live in a world of corporate tyranny and unless you fight it – you nothing but a apologists, at best.
Hardt and Negri did better a decade ago. Even Bill could do better.
We live in one of the cleanest, institutionally strongest, most regulated, safest, most secular, least populated, least protesting, and most contented liberal states on earth.
You so funny, tell that to the kids killing themselves either quickly through suicide (were number 1, or close enough) or slowly killing themselves with Alcohol and drugs. Tell that to the homeless, the prisoners, the aged, the disabled and people hiding from the immigration department.
Tell them that the systems of power have not been taken over by corporate elects.
No wait, your one of them. You have a position which helps keep working people in check. Keeping them on low wages and not voting – because they know people like you won’t give up an inch of your privilege, or actually do anything real to challenge the dominant power structures.
Good to focus on mental health. That’s precisely what you will see in the 2019 Labour-led completely non-revolutionary Government budget.
What that will build on is New Zealand:
– Least corrupt country in the world
– 4th most peaceful in the world
– 10th best for literacy in the world
– 8th best in world for media freedom
– Highest for political rights and civil liberties
– 2nd easiest for doing business
– 4th for economic freedom
– Top 10 for protected conservation areas
– Regularly top place in the world to visit
You can find these in OECD and Wikipedia stats sources.
Aren’t there enough facts linking Trudeau to business interests pushing
projects. He was the brightest hope wasn’t he an_ thought to be right wing but with left pretensions? Each country needs to look to its own problems with sideways checks on what is happening in the USA. The trouble with big ships going down – they drag surrounding things down with them.
7:22 am today
The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn ($NZ916bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s deficit reduction plan. https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/384128/us-president-donald-trump-dealt-blow-as-us-trade-deficit-jumps
Reacting to news that the Trump administration has revoked a part of an Obama executive order requiring reporting on civilian casualties, Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security with Human Rights stated:
“This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims.
Trump will be ecstatic. “Tremendous decision! One of the best decisions this administration has made, and we’ve made a lot of tremendous decisions! But this one, which essentially allows us to shroud our, erm… ‘collateral damage’ in thick, viscous, nigh-on impenetrable veils of secrecy, well, that’s probably the most tremendous decision we’ve made this week! We continue to drain the swamp by pumping out all that nasty swamp water and replacing it with nastier swamp water! Stay tuned for more tremendousness as it comes to hand, America!”
Elizabeth Warren was struggling to contain her emotions and listening to what she saw it’s not hard to understand why.
This is the USA. The country which claims to be the champion of democracy and freedom for all people. Instead it treats people forced to flee their homelands like animals and yet still has the gall to call out other countries they don’t like for doing the same kind of thing.
My heart goes out to the good, decent Americans who are as appalled as the rest of us is at what is being done in their name.
Disgusting foul waters these lowlifes swim and kill in.
And Joe for your info when Hillary was prez she did much much worse than this and you know it why oh why are you suppressing the truth about well you know everything. 😀
The problem with liberals is the lack of intellectual courage to fight, or at the very least, hold power to account. Your too busy going the other side is bad (which it is, I don’t actually need to be reminded of this), our side good (nope not all of them, some are murderous scum).
When the honest response in that those in power don’t give a damn for people, face it, the death empowering tools in power care nothing for you or your family. So rather then run around like some Byzantine peasant chanting ‘Blue’ or ‘Green’ – have a go at power and those who control the mechanisms of power.
Mark Zuckerberg has sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical-research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, with a goal of curing all disease within a generation.
A less publicized initiative related to the $US5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands. One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate, and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time.
In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on New Year’s Eve, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. One of those researchers is an investigator with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research group related to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Oh good, just what we needed! What’s the use of having zillions of make-believe money if one oesn’t use it to muck up people’s lives and brains so that they can’t understand anything and can’t enquire and make decisions for themselves and anything else, so being entirely flexible, protean and disposable. Tell them to go jump in the lake! Done!
It is called ‘transhumanism’, gw…wireless tech…smart cities…are the precursors…
Core premise of transhumanism …the human being is broken…weak…a biological liability…mortal…
Clearly the ‘slow kill’ method …is too slow…why invest in the environment…when you can become a machine…which does not share fundamental requirments of biological beings…
It is all coming out into the open…just as many folk decades ago stated would happen…
Which is why…IMO…kiss this biologically habitable planet…goodbye…
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road applying his questing mind to NZ matters.
Ardern’s game-changing intuition was that all these voters really wanted to hear were different words. Commitments, promises, studies, working-groups, projects: policies filled with good intentions and promoted with powerful displays of empathy. The number of voters eager to focus on the fiscal mechanisms required to pay for Labour’s kinder, gentler New Zealand were considerably fewer.
That had always been the problem with Labour’s dreary procession of earnest middle-aged blokes. They had all been way too keen on the nuts and bolts; far too ready to tell everybody how much fiscal pain they would have to be willing to suffer in order to make all the good things they wanted for New Zealand affordable. Who the hell wanted to hear about that!
That was Jacinda’s gift. A young face. A bright smile. A “Let’s Do This!” willingness to hit the ground running. And, most of all, an extraordinary ability to make her middle-class supporters believe that, as with the relentless rise in the value of their houses, her “politics of kindness” could be brought into being without serious sacrifice or effort.
Under the comments on Ardern’s great style and success which we are all grateful and hopeful for, is the stark thought that it is NZs obvious avarice, weakness of will and moral fibre and compass that may prevent that success. Will we be able to make the bold movement forward needed to cope with the accumulation of neglect and dissolving standards of everything, and more will we forge through with programs that will help to protect and recover from the climatic and societal strikes that are coming to batter us?
Funny I have heard of the same thing in Kaiapoi – houses that failed to sell in the market are now taken over by KiwiBuild.
It could be said that the govt is propping up developers buy purchasing unsold developments. Now isn’t that corporate welfare when the govt saves a failing private enterprise ? But well done to Mike Greer still gets to sell and make a profit 😉 https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
What has been is been
What is done is done
there is nothing new under the sun.
THE HOUSING SITUATION.—The number of new houses and flats constructed each year has, approximately doubled since the pre-war period. A peak of 19,200 was reached in each of the years ended 31 March 1956 and 31 March 1957. The total dropped back a little to 18,600 in the year ended 31 March 1958. This rate of house building in relation to population is higher than in most countries. Over 80 per cent of the houses built at present are for private home ownership.
There was a fairly rapid expansion in house building from 1945 to 1951, when there was a noticeable levelling-off at just over 16,000 houses each year. In August 1953 the Government convened a National Housing Conference for the purpose of surveying the general housing situation in New Zealand and investigating ways and means of implementing the Government’s housing policy of promoting the building of more houses at a reasonable cost. The conference was attended by builders and others directly associated with the building industry, and also by employers, workers, welfare organizations, local bodies, organizations interested in housing finance, and other sections of the public. Every aspect of housing was discussed, and action taken on the resolutions adopted by the conference helped to effect a further expansion in house building to the present level. The conference assessed the extent of the housing shortage and set a number of 206,000 houses in ten years as a target to overcome the shortage and provide for the increase in population expected from both natural increase and immigration. This target represented an increase of 25 per cent in the building rate. A National Housing Council was also set up.
The most noteworthy development in house building which has resulted has been the group building scheme. This scheme has been designed to give builders continuity of work, to reduce non-productive time between the finishing of one house and the starting of the next, and to assist builders in administration and supervision by enabling them to build houses for sale in groups. Plans and specifications are checked by the State Advances Corporation, which also inspects the work and, on behalf of the Government, gives an undertaking to take over at approved prices a specified number of any unsold houses. At 31 December 1958 there were 490 builders participating in the scheme, and 12,415 houses had been programmed; of these 9,785 had been completed and sold, and 675 were under construction.
So basically it removes some of the risk if the developer takes a wee discount on the sale price. The other possibility is that maybe the developer slows everything down, maybe puts some subbies on the “pay when I’m ready if I don’t go bankrupt” list.
Now, I’d like to see a ministry of works-style development, but if some deveopers build houses with the kiwibuild backstop in mind, it’s still doing the job of keeping construction going.
Ending poverty is more important than global warming. Everyone benefits from cheap oil prices. Action proposed to stop global warming usually involves raising oil prices through the roof, to the benefit of the oil companies. The result of these policies is to squeeze the middle class. This country has enormous untapped oil and gas reserves. The profits currently go to oligarchs overseas. If these resource extraction companies were state-owned, everyone would all get a tax cut from the profits.
We do need to reduce our oil usage, but until we’ve implemented a workable replacement technology (or more probably a suite of them), using domestic oil would be better both in terms carbon footprints and balance of payments.
I haven’t seen a credible policy designed to reduce our oil consumption yet, so exploration isn’t entirely stupid – except for the Key terms that give 95% of discovered resources to foreign corporations just for finding them.
Bit of over reach and hyperbole there cinny You got facts to back that statement up We get rid of oil a lot of people starve , ie no tractors, no trucks, no harvester, no ships…., we basically grind to a halt and move to preindustrial agriculture to feed a world that is 16x more populated
I think you are missing my point, which is….. drilling for more oil will not reduce poverty.
A massive amount of poverty can be attributed to climate change. Food, water and shelter are the most important factors of a human life. A changing climate affects all of that.
We don’t need tractors to commercially grow food, nor do we need to suffer from floods, droughts etc…. what we do need to do is grow smarter. Think hydroponic food growing warehouses.
Such growing techniques require no soil, no sun and up to 95% less water. Meaning crops would be cheap to grow and not weather dependent. Cheap fresh food helps those in poverty etc etc. Take it to the next level, robots growing food, like at Iron Ox… http://ironox.com/
Free/cheap energy will decrease poverty, drilling for more oil will not.
Don’t think your a twit Cinny but here is some food for thought, excuse the pun 😊
Patrick Moore, the co-founder of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, ripped into New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend as a “pompous little twit,” saying the Green New Deal plan she’s advocating is “completely crazy.”
Patrick Moore
@EcoSenseNow
Pompous little twit. You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities. Horses? If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.
Lmao 🙂 A particularly humorous Roald Dahl book springs to mind 🙂
Anyways…… context is important… so first I found out just who Patrick Moore is…. and hello… a media statement from Greenpeace, back in 2010 appeared..
“Patrick Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental “expert” or even an “environmentalist,” while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance.
He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.”
But wait… there’s more…. ‘He claims he “saw the light” but what Moore really saw was an opportunity for financial gain. Since then he has gone from defender of the planet to a paid representative of corporate polluters.’
Let’s continue…. lololol 🙂 here’s my response to your above reply 🙂
‘If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.’
We mostly use renewable energy for power in NZ, so Patrick Moore’s statement seems slightly irrelevant for us, and we grow trees.
‘ You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities’
Hydroponic warehouses are often located in cities, that is part of it, a farm in the city, small footprint, tall building.
Free clean energy for all would solve so much poverty, but drilling for more oil won’t accomplish that, instead technology will. Reluctance to engage in finding such answers keeps the planet reliant on a method which is killing it.
Climate change is already causing mass death and the extinction of species. Come to think about it oil rich countries such as saudi arabia also bring about mass death, Yemen.
1: we need to address poverty and AGW both, not one at the expense of the other.
2: Tax cuts help rich people more than poor people, and besides we need to transition to a low-employment automated economy anyway.
3: raising oil prices makes alternative energies more profitable, so they get more development investment rather than developing new fracking methods to go even deeper. Longer term everyone is better off with new, more efficient tech than the internal combustion engine.
I’m trying to work out why Amy Adams has got her knickers in a twist about the census, the lack of reliability of it and the lack of important information which it should have gathered.
James Shaw said today that it took 5-7 years to get it organised to do it right. When he was made Minister he had no more than 47 working days before Christmas for an exercise which was to happen before March 6th. (Comfortably before that I suppose if it was to be done online.)
Not many days to become au fait with all the brilliant things the previous Ministers had been in charge of.
Actually I do know why she’s in the state she’s in – she’s a bloody idiot. She should look to her left in Parliament. Just before her eyes reach David Seymour they should land on Scott Simpson (starts the same as ‘simple’). The eyes would have to travel past another who was involved in the census oversight – Mark Mitchell (doesn’t start the same as ‘simple’ but is that anyway.)
She should ask them about the cock-up they spent years ‘organising.’
The Democrats announce that they will not invite the FOX Network to be a host for the upcoming Democratic Party primary debates, after allegations of corrupt practice by the FOX Netowork.
In response President Trump threatens to ban all other networks from hosting presidential debates. (Presumably all except FOX)
Trump threatens to block networks from hosting debates after Dems reject Fox
Tal Axelrod – March 6, 2019
…..allegations that late Fox News founder Roger Ailes passed along questions to Trump prior to a 2016 Republican primary debate and noted that former Fox executive Bill Shine is now the White House communications director. Several other former Fox News employees and contributors work in the Trump administration….
Kia ora Te ao Maori News Congratulat to Noa Nicholson from Dannvirke 100 years old is a great for A Maori Wahine it looks like the Whanau put on a great hakari for her.
Ka pai for protesting about whenua that was taken by stealf stolen I have one that I will be following my tupuna and taking to Court as the whenua was granted to the wrong WHANAU.
I have a strong interest in Matariki now. I have a lot to learn.
Ka pai to Kanikani 2 cool for there win in America.
Graham Tipene for getting to design that walk way in Auckland it looks awesome with the Maori art involved in the design. Ka kite ano
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The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
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Clean Streams and Capital Gains Tax.
Several years ago I attended a seminar of ‘How to be a winner’. In this seminar they spoke of how both real estate and small businesses were the source of large capital gains. Buy the house – do it up as a tax write off – sell it for profit and keep the lot. The same for a business, buy it, make it look profitable, sell it for large tax free returns. For a simple fee of $2000 this mob was willing to let you in on their methods.
Buy a property, use it as leverage to mortgage a second property, use both as leverage for the next properties… This is how you wind up with owning dozens of homes – becoming multi-millionaires yet contributing nothing to society.
With farms it is a similar method of operation. Farms are brought, their books are polished, farms are sold. Now, the way to polish the books on a farm is to raise production. To do this one uses overstocking, supplementary feedstocks, and fertiliser, many many tons of fertiliser. It pays to avoid any expenses that might stand in the way of profit. Erosion control, planting, diversity enhancement unless aesthetically pleasing to hide some problem – all are detrimental to the fast buck farm scheme.
So the rivers get filled with shit and fertiliser but the farmers books look good and the profits realised are enormous.
Now, not all farmers are tax-avoiding small business shifting wannabe millionaires, but there’s enough of them to turn our farming block into a large scale problem. One whiff of treasure and out come the pirates. This is a terrible shame as our decent Farmers are more valuable than ever, as exemplars and teachers in a changing world.
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
The idle rich are polluting our rivers and streams. CGT will slow them down.
oh it’s worse. free movement of employees to oz means that a employee is better off in oz, and isn’t paying a flatter tax system. A flatter tax system means owners pay less of the revenue for govt, and yes, employees pay more. This sucks out productivity since the best and brightest get compensated better in oz, making their products etc.
But wait. It’s even worse, oz is warmer, its businesses aren’t all paying to feed owners greed. Every supermarket, small business, etc is incentivized by 0% CGT to ring ever last cent to pay for all that financing… …And when they do sell out, they invariable move to oz where everyone doesn’t have a heavily leverage financial portfolio, well, not as heavily incentivized, and every worker isn’t carrying their employer.
What is rent, why is it bad it’s a lot worse when you pay for the upkeep of the house, plus the owners cut, plus the extra risk from the premium banks put on coz everyone is doing riskier deals incentuvized by the flatter tax system.
a 0% CGT means a govt back benefit to monied up Nats funded by hard working battlers
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
So true, and what a lot of money those pretend farmers are going to put into propaganda against a CGT. Pretend farming for capital gain is severely detrimental to both the environment and to people who’d like to become actual farmers, so the government should be coming up with ways to make it unattractive. CGT is one of those ways, so journos’ first question to any farmer whinging about CGT should be “What’s your alternative proposal for making farming for capital gain less attractive?”
In the height of the venison boom, there used to be a term ‘Queen Street farmers’ who would have 4 wheel driver, Land Rovers then, to go to work in bought for and tax diminished by their farming operation. They were a badge of success in Auckland.
I think you’ll like this. I’d like to read the textbook myself.
’20 minutes of TED talk has done more than 50 years of struggling against official opposition’
This is not that TED talk 😀
‘Running Out Of Time”
Thanks WtB I’ll put that on my list for today. I’m off to save the world. Hah.
Another deceptive dirty politics tactic – creating entire new websites disguised as legitimate news outlets to spread political propaganda.
https://www.salon.com/2019/03/05/republicans-launch-propaganda-sites-designed-to-look-like-local-news-outlets/
Yeah, yeah, there will be some sneers about this having always been the case muttering about the Herald, CNN, Faux News etc, but this really is something new.
For a party that likes to court the “Bible-believing Christian” vote, they’re an ethical wasteland. How any actual Christians can vote for these deceitful bags of filth I’ll never understand. But then Sarah Huckabee Sanders purports to be a Christian and spends all day telling massive bare-faced lies and making excuses for a narcissistic sex pest, so I guess they set the bar fairly low.
Thanks for that link, dang!
Houston, we have a problem with our trusters.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1903/S00082/experts-defy-falling-public-trust.htm
Would have been interesting if political party trust had been broken down into each party. Which one would you trust most?
That’s conducted every election.
No its not. There would be many National supporters who would not Trust National but at election time, they could not vote for anyone else.
Who would you most trust to babysit your grandchildren? Gerry Brownlee, or Trevor Mallard?
Take all the time you need.
Does the babysitting location contain stairs?
Yes. But in the interests of fairness those stairs are equipped with a stairlift, so portly, ruddy-faced, cardiac-arrests-waiting-to-happen are able to navigate the family home without risking a premature demise.
One million people don’t vote. Do you think lack of trust has got anything to do with this?
Pretty much cliche stuff though:
You could say it was whitewash to cover the vile truth especially coming from the CA. (Chartered Accountants. One thinks of Monty Python who seem to have had a thing about accountants, I suggest you take these once an hour until all used.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrsB1RfksEA
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuFMHybILuw
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg0l8bn5UuM
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5aN0VmvFn4
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4
The Crimson Assurance
Meaning of Life – The Crimson Permanent Assurance
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSO9OFJNMBA
The Crimson Assurance Part 2 7.+mins
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNlYBNTCBG8
Other key report findings include:
• In general, New Zealand has higher levels of trust in professionals than Australia
• High levels of trust have significant benefits for businesses and professionals
• The importance of communicating a commitment to honesty and ethical behaviour
• Dishonesty and a lack of ethical behaviour are most likely to decrease trust.</i
Trust is at the core of the legitimacy of political parties and, by extension, the political process and our democracy. Our society depends on these power structures be given the authority by us, the people, to govern us. If we feel that we cannot trust those power structures and/or their brokers then society will suffer and eventually crumble. History 101. Trust takes time to build, to earn, and it can easily be lost. It can also be slowly eroded. This is our problem right now and we are not facing up to it and dealing with it. It is easy to say that it is a politicians’ problem and that they should fix it but this would be very mistaken. How can we deal with anything, big (CC) or small (CGT), if the political structure is broken and we don’t really have much confidence in it? This is the problem of our time: we have lost trust and confidence, in institutions, in authorities, in economic doctrines, in religion, and in ourselves …
Greg Palast – clears a few things up.
Excellent. Thanks Adam.
Where’s our resident Venezuela expert Gosman on this?
If you want to summon Gosman, you have to speak his name backwards three times while anointing yourself in the blood of a charter school student. And remember — don’t set foot outside the circle.
Sounds like america,s been at its dirty work in venezuela for quite a while im amazed just how many filthy tentacles can be at work at the same time!! i mean havnt they just brought about regime change in Ukraine ?You,d think that would be enough for a bit but nope lets up the anti on venezuela no matter how many lies need to be told or how many bribes and threats need to be made .
These mayors are an utter disgrace. They should resign and put themselves out to pasture. They are deliberately making it harder for future generations through their ignorance and stupidity.
“Several New Zealand mayors are still reluctant to say they agree with the scientific consensus that human activities have an impact on climate change.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/111063926/several-mayors-unsure-whether-human-activities-contribute-to-climate-change
Judging by the comments section on this article, they are good representatives of a good number of New Zealanders. We really ought to fund education a whole lot better.
A national policy statement on climate change, would require those mayors and their councils to give consideration to that statement when creating planning documents and making resource management decisions. We would not then need any kind of consensus amongst the councils, which is non-binding anyway.
It would be good to see this national policy statement be issued by our coalition government.
A good read on cost-benefit analyses as applied to the idea of carbon taxes.
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/03/06/green-new-deal-000884
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
Slow hand clap anyone?
Twyford strikes again!
Note though from the article that the houses were sold at a price lower than asked originally by Mike Greer Homes to fall inside the Kiwibuild margins.
In other words, houses that were empty because of price have been made available for sale and occupancy. That indicates that the policy is working to help make homes more affordable.
With the sale and profit from the sale Mike Greer can continue to build homes, hopefully at more affordable prices in the future, maybe even for Kiwibuild.
But its not increasing the number of homes available
Yes it is . That builder can now get on with the next ones he was going build instead of sitting on his hands doing renos while they sell.
It is increasing the number of houses below the Kiwibuild threshold price.
The builder, as bwaghorn below says, gets on with building new houses.
The builder might just join the Kiwibuild scheme in a bigger way.
These are all pluses.
Another way of looking at it, is that the high prices were unable to be sustained by the market, and Kiwibuild has provided the mechanism by which the gap between the buyer and the seller was filled.
This is a recognised consequence of help-to-buy programmes, and while some are being housed, we should recognise and admit that in the long-term they do nothing for reducing inflated housing costs and providing access to housing for all.
If Bill were back he would have had great schadenfreude with centre-lefts like me who had hoped for great things from Trudeau. Trudeau rose by social media and is now severely wounded by it. Nothing like a Canadian ‘inferred influence’ scandal to look big against the proper-sized scandals in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere.
Come back Bill and spank us liberals .
Why bother, liberals never change, never listen or learn anything – they just keep supporting evil people thinking they will be better this time.
You just want a cathartic moment, without giving up anything or facing the fact your lesser evil, is still evil.
You can’t accept that the systems you keep forcing on people are broken, and are just their to keep up the illusion of democracy, without actually having a democracy.
We live in a world of corporate tyranny and unless you fight it – you nothing but a apologists, at best.
Harder
That’s what you’ve got?
Hardt and Negri did better a decade ago. Even Bill could do better.
We live in one of the cleanest, institutionally strongest, most regulated, safest, most secular, least populated, least protesting, and most contented liberal states on earth.
Rebellion? Not here.
You so funny, tell that to the kids killing themselves either quickly through suicide (were number 1, or close enough) or slowly killing themselves with Alcohol and drugs. Tell that to the homeless, the prisoners, the aged, the disabled and people hiding from the immigration department.
Tell them that the systems of power have not been taken over by corporate elects.
No wait, your one of them. You have a position which helps keep working people in check. Keeping them on low wages and not voting – because they know people like you won’t give up an inch of your privilege, or actually do anything real to challenge the dominant power structures.
Good to focus on mental health. That’s precisely what you will see in the 2019 Labour-led completely non-revolutionary Government budget.
What that will build on is New Zealand:
– Least corrupt country in the world
– 4th most peaceful in the world
– 10th best for literacy in the world
– 8th best in world for media freedom
– Highest for political rights and civil liberties
– 2nd easiest for doing business
– 4th for economic freedom
– Top 10 for protected conservation areas
– Regularly top place in the world to visit
You can find these in OECD and Wikipedia stats sources.
Plenty to do, but lots to build on.
Yeah wonderful – if you’ve financial security. Otherwise it’s miserable.
Aren’t there enough facts linking Trudeau to business interests pushing
projects. He was the brightest hope wasn’t he an_ thought to be right wing but with left pretensions? Each country needs to look to its own problems with sideways checks on what is happening in the USA. The trouble with big ships going down – they drag surrounding things down with them.
7:22 am today
The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn ($NZ916bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s deficit reduction plan.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/384128/us-president-donald-trump-dealt-blow-as-us-trade-deficit-jumps
Best to lower your political expectation standards and avoid perpetual disappointment.
Prefer to maintain high expectations re our politicians – I can handle perpetual disappointment, both receiving and giving. 🙂
Somehow this thread reminds me of …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NP-kD4C1SA
Dunno why.
Of course HRC was the real villain.
/
Reacting to news that the Trump administration has revoked a part of an Obama executive order requiring reporting on civilian casualties, Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security with Human Rights stated:
“This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims.
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/trump-administration-makes-shameful-decision-to-shroud-civilian-casualties-in-secrecy/
Trump will be ecstatic. “Tremendous decision! One of the best decisions this administration has made, and we’ve made a lot of tremendous decisions! But this one, which essentially allows us to shroud our, erm… ‘collateral damage’ in thick, viscous, nigh-on impenetrable veils of secrecy, well, that’s probably the most tremendous decision we’ve made this week! We continue to drain the swamp by pumping out all that nasty swamp water and replacing it with nastier swamp water! Stay tuned for more tremendousness as it comes to hand, America!”
Elizabeth Warren on ‘Murican tremendousness
https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1103427009290608640
Elizabeth Warren was struggling to contain her emotions and listening to what she saw it’s not hard to understand why.
This is the USA. The country which claims to be the champion of democracy and freedom for all people. Instead it treats people forced to flee their homelands like animals and yet still has the gall to call out other countries they don’t like for doing the same kind of thing.
My heart goes out to the good, decent Americans who are as appalled as the rest of us is at what is being done in their name.
Disgusting foul waters these lowlifes swim and kill in.
And Joe for your info when Hillary was prez she did much much worse than this and you know it why oh why are you suppressing the truth about well you know everything. 😀
The problem with liberals is the lack of intellectual courage to fight, or at the very least, hold power to account. Your too busy going the other side is bad (which it is, I don’t actually need to be reminded of this), our side good (nope not all of them, some are murderous scum).
When the honest response in that those in power don’t give a damn for people, face it, the death empowering tools in power care nothing for you or your family. So rather then run around like some Byzantine peasant chanting ‘Blue’ or ‘Green’ – have a go at power and those who control the mechanisms of power.
Daniel Graystone?
Mark Zuckerberg has sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical-research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, with a goal of curing all disease within a generation.
A less publicized initiative related to the $US5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands. One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate, and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time.
In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on New Year’s Eve, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. One of those researchers is an investigator with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research group related to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chan-zuckerberg-research-implantable-brain-device-primates-2018-12
Oh good, just what we needed! What’s the use of having zillions of make-believe money if one oesn’t use it to muck up people’s lives and brains so that they can’t understand anything and can’t enquire and make decisions for themselves and anything else, so being entirely flexible, protean and disposable. Tell them to go jump in the lake! Done!
It is called ‘transhumanism’, gw…wireless tech…smart cities…are the precursors…
Core premise of transhumanism …the human being is broken…weak…a biological liability…mortal…
Clearly the ‘slow kill’ method …is too slow…why invest in the environment…when you can become a machine…which does not share fundamental requirments of biological beings…
It is all coming out into the open…just as many folk decades ago stated would happen…
Which is why…IMO…kiss this biologically habitable planet…goodbye…
Some semblance of justice for a courageous journalist.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111098258/nicky-hager-settles-with-westpac-after-personal-information-released-to-police
Now, has any police officer faced investigation for making the unjustified request?
Or is that being handled by officer forgetful?
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road applying his questing mind to NZ matters.
Ardern’s game-changing intuition was that all these voters really wanted to hear were different words. Commitments, promises, studies, working-groups, projects: policies filled with good intentions and promoted with powerful displays of empathy. The number of voters eager to focus on the fiscal mechanisms required to pay for Labour’s kinder, gentler New Zealand were considerably fewer.
That had always been the problem with Labour’s dreary procession of earnest middle-aged blokes. They had all been way too keen on the nuts and bolts; far too ready to tell everybody how much fiscal pain they would have to be willing to suffer in order to make all the good things they wanted for New Zealand affordable. Who the hell wanted to hear about that!
That was Jacinda’s gift. A young face. A bright smile. A “Let’s Do This!” willingness to hit the ground running. And, most of all, an extraordinary ability to make her middle-class supporters believe that, as with the relentless rise in the value of their houses, her “politics of kindness” could be brought into being without serious sacrifice or effort.
Under the comments on Ardern’s great style and success which we are all grateful and hopeful for, is the stark thought that it is NZs obvious avarice, weakness of will and moral fibre and compass that may prevent that success. Will we be able to make the bold movement forward needed to cope with the accumulation of neglect and dissolving standards of everything, and more will we forge through with programs that will help to protect and recover from the climatic and societal strikes that are coming to batter us?
Funny I have heard of the same thing in Kaiapoi – houses that failed to sell in the market are now taken over by KiwiBuild.
It could be said that the govt is propping up developers buy purchasing unsold developments. Now isn’t that corporate welfare when the govt saves a failing private enterprise ? But well done to Mike Greer still gets to sell and make a profit 😉
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
Needs must when the devil drives. Old saying.
And the Labour Coalition isn’t the devil here.
What has been is been
What is done is done
there is nothing new under the sun.
THE HOUSING SITUATION.—The number of new houses and flats constructed each year has, approximately doubled since the pre-war period. A peak of 19,200 was reached in each of the years ended 31 March 1956 and 31 March 1957. The total dropped back a little to 18,600 in the year ended 31 March 1958. This rate of house building in relation to population is higher than in most countries. Over 80 per cent of the houses built at present are for private home ownership.
There was a fairly rapid expansion in house building from 1945 to 1951, when there was a noticeable levelling-off at just over 16,000 houses each year. In August 1953 the Government convened a National Housing Conference for the purpose of surveying the general housing situation in New Zealand and investigating ways and means of implementing the Government’s housing policy of promoting the building of more houses at a reasonable cost. The conference was attended by builders and others directly associated with the building industry, and also by employers, workers, welfare organizations, local bodies, organizations interested in housing finance, and other sections of the public. Every aspect of housing was discussed, and action taken on the resolutions adopted by the conference helped to effect a further expansion in house building to the present level. The conference assessed the extent of the housing shortage and set a number of 206,000 houses in ten years as a target to overcome the shortage and provide for the increase in population expected from both natural increase and immigration. This target represented an increase of 25 per cent in the building rate. A National Housing Council was also set up.
The most noteworthy development in house building which has resulted has been the group building scheme. This scheme has been designed to give builders continuity of work, to reduce non-productive time between the finishing of one house and the starting of the next, and to assist builders in administration and supervision by enabling them to build houses for sale in groups. Plans and specifications are checked by the State Advances Corporation, which also inspects the work and, on behalf of the Government, gives an undertaking to take over at approved prices a specified number of any unsold houses. At 31 December 1958 there were 490 builders participating in the scheme, and 12,415 houses had been programmed; of these 9,785 had been completed and sold, and 675 were under construction.
https://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1959/NZOYB_1959.html?_ga=2.6355505.2035999012.1551916704-443778311.1515815050#idchapter_1_211608
So basically it removes some of the risk if the developer takes a wee discount on the sale price. The other possibility is that maybe the developer slows everything down, maybe puts some subbies on the “pay when I’m ready if I don’t go bankrupt” list.
Now, I’d like to see a ministry of works-style development, but if some deveopers build houses with the kiwibuild backstop in mind, it’s still doing the job of keeping construction going.
“He said the company had to discount the houses to get to the KiwiBuild price threshold, which caps two-bedroom properties in Auckland at $600,000.”
So says the Mike Greer manager.
Part of the deal for kiwibuild is to get prices down to more affordable levels, yes? And inhabited.
Six houses uninhabited helps no-one, except those who own’ghost’ houses for the sole purpose of making capital gains.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/103962397/minister-of-housing-blames-national-for-empty-ghost-houses
Twyford said “Ghost houses can be blamed on the previous government’s policies that have allowed rampant capital gain.”
Another good reason for a CGT. Auckland at one stage had 33,000 empty houses.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11654495
Sounds like a successful public-private partnership.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/383693/arrow-the-latest-pawn-in-construction-chess-match
A good report on the construction industry’s woes from 3/1/2019.
Ending poverty is more important than global warming. Everyone benefits from cheap oil prices. Action proposed to stop global warming usually involves raising oil prices through the roof, to the benefit of the oil companies. The result of these policies is to squeeze the middle class. This country has enormous untapped oil and gas reserves. The profits currently go to oligarchs overseas. If these resource extraction companies were state-owned, everyone would all get a tax cut from the profits.
Global warming aka Climate Change is a massive reason why people are in poverty. Failing crops, displacement due to climate, flooding, fires etc etc
Drilling for more oil won’t do bugger all for either poverty or climate change IMHO.
We do need to reduce our oil usage, but until we’ve implemented a workable replacement technology (or more probably a suite of them), using domestic oil would be better both in terms carbon footprints and balance of payments.
I haven’t seen a credible policy designed to reduce our oil consumption yet, so exploration isn’t entirely stupid – except for the Key terms that give 95% of discovered resources to foreign corporations just for finding them.
Bit of over reach and hyperbole there cinny You got facts to back that statement up We get rid of oil a lot of people starve , ie no tractors, no trucks, no harvester, no ships…., we basically grind to a halt and move to preindustrial agriculture to feed a world that is 16x more populated
I think you are missing my point, which is….. drilling for more oil will not reduce poverty.
A massive amount of poverty can be attributed to climate change. Food, water and shelter are the most important factors of a human life. A changing climate affects all of that.
“climate change is an acute threat to poorer people across the world, with the power to push more than 100 million people back into poverty over the next fifteen years.”
https://www.gfdrr.org/en/feature-story/managing-impacts-climate-change-poverty
We don’t need tractors to commercially grow food, nor do we need to suffer from floods, droughts etc…. what we do need to do is grow smarter. Think hydroponic food growing warehouses.
Such growing techniques require no soil, no sun and up to 95% less water. Meaning crops would be cheap to grow and not weather dependent. Cheap fresh food helps those in poverty etc etc. Take it to the next level, robots growing food, like at Iron Ox… http://ironox.com/
Free/cheap energy will decrease poverty, drilling for more oil will not.
Don’t think your a twit Cinny but here is some food for thought, excuse the pun 😊
Patrick Moore, the co-founder of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, ripped into New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend as a “pompous little twit,” saying the Green New Deal plan she’s advocating is “completely crazy.”
Patrick Moore
@EcoSenseNow
Pompous little twit. You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities. Horses? If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.
You would bring about mass death.
Lmao 🙂 A particularly humorous Roald Dahl book springs to mind 🙂
Anyways…… context is important… so first I found out just who Patrick Moore is…. and hello… a media statement from Greenpeace, back in 2010 appeared..
“Patrick Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental “expert” or even an “environmentalist,” while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance.
He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.”
But wait… there’s more…. ‘He claims he “saw the light” but what Moore really saw was an opportunity for financial gain. Since then he has gone from defender of the planet to a paid representative of corporate polluters.’
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/greenpeace-statement-on-patric/
Let’s continue…. lololol 🙂 here’s my response to your above reply 🙂
‘If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.’
We mostly use renewable energy for power in NZ, so Patrick Moore’s statement seems slightly irrelevant for us, and we grow trees.
‘ You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities’
Hydroponic warehouses are often located in cities, that is part of it, a farm in the city, small footprint, tall building.
Free clean energy for all would solve so much poverty, but drilling for more oil won’t accomplish that, instead technology will. Reluctance to engage in finding such answers keeps the planet reliant on a method which is killing it.
Climate change is already causing mass death and the extinction of species. Come to think about it oil rich countries such as saudi arabia also bring about mass death, Yemen.
Nitey nite 🙂 Bedtime for me.
1: we need to address poverty and AGW both, not one at the expense of the other.
2: Tax cuts help rich people more than poor people, and besides we need to transition to a low-employment automated economy anyway.
3: raising oil prices makes alternative energies more profitable, so they get more development investment rather than developing new fracking methods to go even deeper. Longer term everyone is better off with new, more efficient tech than the internal combustion engine.
Energy poverty in the North Island in may is a real risk.What is this hi tech stuff going to run on ?
https://nzgb.redspider.co.nz/
Fucked if I know, but increasing fossil fuel mining won’t fix a May problem, either.
Electricity.
Which we have plenty of. If we use the off peak power.
Stella performance by Soimon in the house today during question time.
“Stella”? Was he drunk?
I guess it’s hard to tell with Simon…
Dang Tony, that’s than better a married at first sight bait advert…lmao
*skips off grinning to find the clip*
Laughing here, can’t find him on any of today’s clips. Was it a stella performance because he wasn’t there?
I’m trying to work out why Amy Adams has got her knickers in a twist about the census, the lack of reliability of it and the lack of important information which it should have gathered.
James Shaw said today that it took 5-7 years to get it organised to do it right. When he was made Minister he had no more than 47 working days before Christmas for an exercise which was to happen before March 6th. (Comfortably before that I suppose if it was to be done online.)
Not many days to become au fait with all the brilliant things the previous Ministers had been in charge of.
Actually I do know why she’s in the state she’s in – she’s a bloody idiot. She should look to her left in Parliament. Just before her eyes reach David Seymour they should land on Scott Simpson (starts the same as ‘simple’). The eyes would have to travel past another who was involved in the census oversight – Mark Mitchell (doesn’t start the same as ‘simple’ but is that anyway.)
She should ask them about the cock-up they spent years ‘organising.’
“can’t handle the truth”
Meet the new one party US state broadcaster
The Democrats announce that they will not invite the FOX Network to be a host for the upcoming Democratic Party primary debates, after allegations of corrupt practice by the FOX Netowork.
In response President Trump threatens to ban all other networks from hosting presidential debates. (Presumably all except FOX)
Trump threatens to block networks from hosting debates after Dems reject Fox
Tal Axelrod – March 6, 2019
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/432961-trump-threatens-to-block-networks-from-hosting-debates-after-dems
…..allegations that late Fox News founder Roger Ailes passed along questions to Trump prior to a 2016 Republican primary debate and noted that former Fox executive Bill Shine is now the White House communications director. Several other former Fox News employees and contributors work in the Trump administration….
Any Capital Gains Tax is really a punishment for planning,thinking ,saving,investing and distributing to those who don’t.
or cannot
I fully agree and they should call it Capital Punishment Tax.
Just like income tax is really a punishment for having a job and GST is really a punishment for needing to eat – ie, no not really at all.
Kia ora Te ao Maori News Congratulat to Noa Nicholson from Dannvirke 100 years old is a great for A Maori Wahine it looks like the Whanau put on a great hakari for her.
Ka pai for protesting about whenua that was taken by stealf stolen I have one that I will be following my tupuna and taking to Court as the whenua was granted to the wrong WHANAU.
I have a strong interest in Matariki now. I have a lot to learn.
Ka pai to Kanikani 2 cool for there win in America.
Graham Tipene for getting to design that walk way in Auckland it looks awesome with the Maori art involved in the design. Ka kite ano