My advice to the Nurses – This Wednesday – Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million
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blockquote> DHBs 'disappointed' in upcoming strike action after nurses reject pay negotiation offer
Rachel Sadler [yesterday]
….The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) announced on Monday that members had "overwhelmingly" voted to reject the offer, which means a strike will go ahead this Wednesday.
The generally caring cycling community will not begrudge the nurses getting $780 million instead of them. In fact they will probably insist on it.
Auckland harbour cycle and pedestrian bridge facing criticism from both side
3 days ago
A cycling advocate says building an entire bridge from the ground up – at a cost of at least $780 million – is totally unnecessary when cyclists and walkers could just have a lane on the existing Auckland harbour bridge.
True that, you should have seen the over the top, heavy handed police presence around here in Marewa during the lockdown…then you would walk up to Napier Hill, up there you wouldn't even see a cop.
The government did drop the Mill Road roading project in Auckland , saving around $3 billion (It is costed at $3.5 billion but there will be safety improvements instead) and saving 6 tonnes of CO2 emissions a day.
So even with the new bike/foot bridge we have a considerable gain for climate change policy from this government-less cars more bikes- and save $2.2 billion too.
Maybe the $2.2 billion saved should be split a billion for the nurses/health service and a billion for more climate friendly cycleways.
(Anyway I am off to do the fantastic new Cromwell-Clyde ride today.)
Besides the divisive nature, this time pitting cyclists against nurses, you’re also wrong, as Government as such is not involved in this employment issue. It is also a misrepresentation of the stumbling blocks, as it is not just about pay and it almost never is, but the irony is that pay is often the easiest (!) ‘fix’ in employment disputes. It looks like you deliberately seed discord. You also stuffed up the formatting of the quoted text; the whole comment appears like a dog’s breakfast. What a way to start the day and OM!
…it is not just about pay and it almost never is, but the irony is that pay is often the easiest (!) ‘fix’ in employment disputes …
Ah…but those other key issues can be fixed by hiring more staff. More staff = higher wage bill=more $$$ needed from Government. Wiping student debt would also alleviate much o the stress.
So….those dollars promised (with impressive alacrity) to the militant bikers would make a real difference to recruiting and retaining these essential workers.
Having had a lot to do with the health system in the last year, from my perspective the issue regarding continuity of care is important. Very rarely are my appointments set up to see the same specialist each time, often I see someone new each time I go in, to the same department. On the two occasions when I have seen the same specialist, both of them have introduced themselves and said "I don't think I've seen you before…" Says a lot about the sense that you are on the receiving end of a manufacturing process rather than a health system.
My experience of the ommunication between DHB's has been abysmal. When you are having to go to different DHB's to get different treatments, this can lead to disjointed care and outcomes. It will be interesting to see how the planned integration will be implemented. If the focus is on costs savings – and not improved continuity of care – the communication problem and its effects will continue.
As a matter of interest, while waiting for treatment you do tend to pass time with the health professionals that attend you. Out of the up to twenty specialist nursing and hospital staff, only two nurses were born and trained in New Zealand. More than a few were looking to work in New Zealand to facilitate easy transfer to Australia. One lovely nurse from the Phillipines, undertook her NZ certification and then was in the Hawkes Bay region for her required placement. She intended to follow her siblings journey to Australia in a couple of years. So much for importing health professionals to make up for the shortfall. The revolving door continues whether they are NZ born or recently NZ certified. It needs to be a more attractive career if we want to keep them.
After an hour or so, she queried whether I was part Māori. When I replied in the affirmative, she said she was surprised. She had been advised during her three month placement that Māori were disruptive and abusive, but the few that she had contact with didn't seem that bad.
If anyone queries the disparity of seeking help and health outcomes for Māori fails to look at the culture of the health system, they are missing a trick.
Hey, Rosemary. Not commenting much, but still reading.
(I enjoy watching you, Sabine, weka, Jenny, Anne and many others to be keeping the valid critique going. Often have a few quiet chuckles reading comments that state much more eloquently – or forcefully – my thoughts on topics.)
Of course the government is involved. They set the policies. And they were cynical enough to announce a 3 year pay freeze for teachers, nurses, public servants one day – then announce so called fair wage bargaining the next. They could afford meaningful wage and staff increases if they got rid of more of the army of beaurocrats, paper shufflers and consultants.
…Government as such is not involved in this employment issue……
Really?
If not, it is only by choice.
Robertson says nurses got 'really big pay increase two or three years ago', but 'hears' frustration
Mark Quinlivan 1 hour ago
"Nurses got a really big pay increase from the Government two or three years ago which was to make up for not having been paid well a decade before that….."
Whether this 'pay increase from the Government' was really 'big' or not, is a matter for debate.
What is not disputable, (according to Robertson), is that it was the government that did it. (And obviously could do it again, if they so chose). To say they can't, is what is 'wrong'. To say they don't want to, would be more accurate.
Jenny How to get there says if nurses occupy a lane of the harbour bridge that "The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million":
The government cannot lose focus on what really needs to be fixed when it comes to nurses, stressed working conditions and struggling to pay the rent or mortgage in some cases.
Stress in the home impacts at work or vice versa, that is the dynamic.
I read your comment a couple of days back when I asked if anyone had been asked at a screening or specialist appointment if they had been vaccinated for Covid.
I thought about your reply and your situation. All these Covid posters but nothing on vaccination at ED or enquiry from the specialist. I was asked about Covid vaccination at a mammogram visit.
I have noticed in the past few years when having procedures that the nurses seem more stressed. Especially if they are short staffed even by one person. Specialist consults seem to be more rushed as well. It is important to have good health management when a serious complication can occur.
Why on Earth would you waste ED resources on vaccinations?
Some folk just like being obtuse…no?
We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic of a highly communicable and deadly Virus which we have been told since day one the only hope is to vaccinate the entire world population else many will die and our health systems will be terminally overloaded.
Entirely appropriate there would be vaccination encouraging posters on the wall and leaflets providing information.
We have spent a ridiculous amount of time in and around hospitals over the past decade or so and feel qualified to comment on some aspects of our publicly funded health system.
On the whole, most healthcare professionals are sincerely committed to providing the very best of treatment and care to patients as resources allow.
Treatment is good…but not always possible, and cost is often a factor in this.
Care, OTOH, costs nothing…but its intrinsic worth is far higher than the most expensive of new-fandangled treatments.
If nurses and doctors cannot provide the care they know their patients need then vital job satisfaction evaporates.
(As for the Covid vaccine messaging, there are two 'worlds' here. There's the one Te Ministry says exists…then there's reality. The two will meet up at some point in the future. Hopefully.)
You are right about lack of job satisfaction. Senior nurses, and some not so senior, had a course last week helping to upskill to coordinator level.
One if the modules was a senior doctor talking about how the local hospital is a 'sick hospital'.
Thus means there are shortages eg staff, capacity for procedures, experienced clinicians, bed space etc. This impacts at all levels particularly ED.
Add a cruel irony, her Mum was admitted after a weekend of feeling poorly and blood tests at the GP on Tuesday confirmed a heart attack had occured. Two days in hospital for observation and, we thought, angiogram etc. Only to be told, good to go home, with the message that no tests will occur because 'priorities'.
(As for the Covid vaccine messaging, there are two ‘worlds’ here. There’s the one Te Ministry says exists…then there’s reality. The two will meet up at some point in the future. Hopefully.)
The irony is not lost on nurses, that several hundreds of millions can be found being the couch for out of the blue bridges, parliament buildings but not for wages for front line workers.
Their worth has to be greater now that the migrant flow is a trickle.
" Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million"
As I've mentioned a few times over the last few years, I am cynical of the process that goes into Auckland Transport planning. On one of their previous publications (which unfortunately I can't find online anymore) they stated in VERY fine print that they identify their list of possible projects solely from the suggestions of the public.
From my perspective, that explains a lot about the disparity of spending and services allocated around the Auckland region. This is why we are having a strange discussion about the creation of a harbour bridge crossing for walkers and cyclists, when your much less expensive and almost able to be immediately implemented suggestion regarding purpose built buses is being ignored. People who want to ride or walk over the harbour bridge – are more vocal, have more time, have more influence and tantrums ensue when that is not recognised… The use of climate change mitigation to support the project is a cynical, self-serving one.
The service provided by Auckland Transport to other less vocal, less time-rich, less influential areas is abysmal. No one is looking at improving those services to get people out of their cars by providing more reliable and efficient services at a reasonable cost.
Greater Auckland – the self appointed and constantly referred to as the definitive and only expert on transport in Auckland – has little regard for improving services to areas that it does not know well, and their influence also guides both support and criticism of any Auckland Transport moves. I still consider their one-eyed criticism and celebration of the removal of Mike Lee to be one of the more harmful moves that they encouraged.
Because of their method of project identification – which does not involve actually looking long-term at need or planned transition – but keeps an ear to the ground for public whining, Auckland Transport planning ends up being a vending machine for the well-to-do. Anyone concerned about inequality should be concerned about this.
Comments here regarding the high – and likely to be underestimated – cost of the harbour crossing, are valid in their criticism when they refer to other possible use of that money. Whether it is nursing, or improved AT services.
"No one is looking at improving those services to get people out of their cars by providing more reliable and efficient services at a reasonable cost."
You've nailed it. AT have chosen to pursue a strategy of maximum inconvenience to private transport (cars specifically) rather than making public transport more attractive.
When decision makers are those that often have all their transport costs met as part of their employment package, and earn enough to reside within a good commutable distance to their place of employment – you end up with decisions that fail to take into account the majority of Auckland residents.
For those that live where they can afford and commute by private transport because they must, punitive measures against private transport without the provision of better and affordable public transport options is an insult.
And when AT is let loose on the suburban shopping villages, creating havoc for local businesses and customer alike, locals in the more affluent suburbs have the money and power to fight back. Not so much in those less affluent areas.
Those who are networked and have influence are able to utilise the current system to steer attention and resource allocation to their areas. It is very rarely – if ever – that the budget is acknowledged to be required to serve all areas of Auckland, just a first-in, best served attitude. Because of this, any small measure of spending (which does not necessarily equate to improvement) in less serviced areas, is accompanied with great fanfare.
Sometimes, it is even possible to find how that spending benefits the decision makers or developers even if at first glance it seems to be an egalitarian spend.
In case you want to get over your own cynicism, plenty of masterplanned areas build public transport in from the beginning. The entities doing this include the Supporting Growth Alliance, Waka Kotahi, and Kainga Ora.
If you want to see how Waka Kotahi makes these kinds of allocation and investment decisions, well, the Investment Assessment Framework used by Waka Kotahi (https://www.nzta.govt.nz/planning-and-investment/learning-and-resources/applying-the-investment-assessment-framework/introduction-to-the-iaf/) considers both results alignment and benefit- cost appraisal outcomes. This reflects that just considering a project’s merits in terms of a BCR is pretty silly especially for complex and costly projects, and enables integrated policy outcomes to be made manifest more clear in the allocation decision.
For the integrated public transport networks in new development areas, all the documents, Plan Changes, masterplans, and consultation documents are on their relevant websites. And granted, like Hobsonvillle, some bits work and some don't.
We have many Auckland households that are struggling financially. They purchase or rent homes where they can get them, and commute to jobs that often don't meet the rising costs of living.
When we conduct surveys or cost-benefit analysis for transport planning, I see very little evidence that the impacts of cost, or convenience are including in making decisions.
Public transport is often talked about as if it is purely a personal choice, and so punitive measures to get people out of cars is used as a mechanism to reduce traffic and improve public transport patronage.
While that may be true for a small part of the Auckland demographic, it is not true for all. Many areas of Auckland have unreliable, relatively expensive public transport access, and the choice is not only a personal decision, but one that is based on finances and commuting time.
I don't really care about the harbour bridge facility. I would like some effort put towards express public transport services to various hub points in Auckland. Given the large swathes of development in some greenfields areas in the region, this should be a priority in terms of climate change transition.
We are pricing Aucklanders out to the regions, and then deserting them in terms of good transport planning, then blaming them for not being able "to play the political game."
Because of their method of project identification – which does not involve actually looking long-term at need or planned transition – but keeps an ear to the ground for public whining, Auckland Transport planning ends up being a vending machine for the well-to-do. Anyone concerned about inequality should be concerned about this.
The more expensive wheels, paradoxically, have the loudest squeaks.
Had a feeling you'd be replying. I don't have a inclination for hyperbole or baloney, so stand behind my initial statement.
It was on one of their long-term plans produced a few years ago. I only found it because I was looking for some information regarding their plans for South Auckland. As I said, I can't provide a link for it.
Perhaps you can provide one that proves that Auckland Transport has a department that systematically looks at services across Auckland, and has a full transition plan that caters to all areas that has not been initiated by the public or certain representatives, and that considers the cost impact on a city that already has many residents under financial stress due to runaway housing costs. As gypsy points out, this point is often ignored in discussions.
IF this method has changed in the last couple of years, then all to the good.
But following the decision making at a local level, it is not apparent that any changes have been made.
The harbour crossing discussion is a good one to identify how justifications for high-cost but low distribution benefit projects can be made. The distribution of funding, attention and resources by Auckland Transport does not appear to provide Auckland region wide services that cater to all. Perhaps, you think it does.
But as someone whose close attention to the surveys in the past managed to get a pitiful public transport service to the local area, (to the stated disgust of one of our local board representatives who wanted it to his local area), I can see how it works here. The public transport link service then provided, was not aligned to the commuter train and only operated after the hours of nine am and before the hours of five pm. Cynically set up to fail if possible. Schoolchildren, and workers commuting were effectively cut from the possible customer base. However, still going after a few years, mainly because of the large amount of residential development that did, and is still taking place.
Because of that, and other incidents with our local board, I can also see the echoes of that type of decision making in such a large project as the proposed harbour crossing.
There don't appear to be any checks that ensure need is the primary driver of projects. Or any overall framework that considers the cost impact to many Aucklanders when discussing transition.
On 12 March the Minister of Transport, Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff released the ATAP 2021-2031 programme that invests around $31.4 billion into critical transport infrastructure and services around Auckland. It focuses on encouraging the shift from private cars to public transport, walking and cycling and addressing Auckland’s longer-term challenges of climate change and housing development.
oh well it 'encourages'…… and it even announced a budget……
You know what would encourage usage of public transport? Making it free. speficially for those that live in the outer suburbs and actually have a commute that is not suitable for cycling.
"You know what would encourage usage of public transport? Making it free."
+1.
Went to a meeting with Chris Bishop, and Matt from Greater Auckland who talked about a survey done on this topic, and who concluded that making public transport free would not have impact on improving patronage. That view seems to be now cemented in. Don’t know who was asked, whether existing public transport services were reliable, just the conclusion….
Improving the services so that they are reliable and efficient, particularly from the outlying areas of Aucklanders that the planners opened up for developers, would be a meaningful start. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of that in the ATAP for outlying areas.
Also, need to make some comment regarding security. Why Auckland Transport created a ticketing system that allows non-travellers access to the platforms, I can't fathom. In a few stations, the presence of non-travellers can be somewhat intimidating with no Auckland Transport staff to be seen. Not conducive to many who travel alone in the early morning, or late evening.
Nice – France, has a similar issue that AKL has, namely that the town is sprawling, has a small footprint wedged in between mountains and the Mediternee.
Now somewhere in the early 2000 they decided to build a proper tram (light rail for Aucklanders) replace some busses, add new busses, and make all the trips at 1 euro dollar in the department "alpes maritimes' i.e. from Cap D'ail to Marseille on the other end.
this is what happened when they opend – currently the price per trip is now at a1.50 Euro.
Opened on 24 November 2007, it replaced bus lines 1, 2, 5 and 18. From the start, the system had 20 Alstom Citadis trams in service, providing a tram every seven minutes. Since its inception, the number of passengers has increased from 70,000 per day in 2008 to 90,000 per day in 2011. The frequency has gradually increased to a tram every four minutes in 2011.
Given the success of the T1 Line, Mayor Christian Estrosi decided to create additional lines. The West-East Line is to serve the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport to the west through the construction of a multimodal center and the Port of Nice to the east. This line will run through a tunnel in the center of Nice. A future extension of the West-East line, north along the Var valley, is proposed. Another extension, running further west from the airport, across Var, is also proposed.[2] In addition, the Nice Côte d'Azur urban region decided to extend Line 1 to the Pasteur neighbourhood.
And this actually suports your point, about 'knowing how to play the game of people in rich suburbs vs people in the outer and poorer suburbs.
Namely a free bridge will have all these rich people cycle to work, but free trains/busses will not have the poor people use them. Right? One must be highly educated and in local / regional/country wide government to form these conclusions. Really only with a lengthy stay in University or Council can some idiocy be born.
It is not hte can't, it is the won't that defines politics in NZ and that is also a bipartisan disease afflicting our highly paid 'representatives'.
Went to a meeting with Chris Bishop, and Matt from Greater Auckland who talked about a survey done on this topic, and who concluded that making public transport free would not have impact on improving patronage
Chris Bishop the nat?
I suppose it's always been a basic tenet of torydom that basic market forces don't apply if a proposal involves making something more affordable for poor people.
Purely a personal viewpoint, (after engaging with hopeful enthusiasm with the Unitary Plan process and transport, and various Auckland Council staffers and representatives) is that we could do much better than the planning and priority frameworks we currently have in place.
We have a group of enthusiasts for great planning and transport initiatives copied from overseas, that are rightly encouraged by such projects because they do improve well-being and provide great public assets.
However, these benefits are not equally distributed, and we forget about the culture and landscape that has formed our communities (Auckland in particular) and how different it is from European communities that resulted from walkable distances and land scarcity. We idealise those aspects of European life, because they are a good fit for climate change transition, without addressing the fundamental misfit that many of our current (usually poorer) communities have with those places.
I think we need to do the grunt work first, then add on the nice to haves. There's a lot of grunt work to be done.
The failure of the Unitary Plan to include the promised affliated Auckland Design Manual as a means to ensure quality, is a notable moment. \
Those who support intensification – alongside good access to services and community assets, while meeting quality standards – were let down by this removal.
Those who think intensification – on its own – is a virtue, seem to think this is of no concern. But then, I don't think they often end up residing in the result.
Fixing this is not simple, but the issue is especially complicated by the fact that inequality in this regard is often not considered a problem at all.
Fundamental ignorance is fine when it's kept private but it will not be met with either silence or a 101-level backgrounder when spread in public forums where there are many more readers than commenters.
Fair criticism, but one that doesn't allow for the possibility that the current framework does not result in good transport policy, or that it is influenced by political lobbying rather than assessed need.
So, in terms of delivery – the harbour crossing is a project to celebrate, yet we still have poor public transport access in many parts of Auckland. Not to mention the ongoing saga of the Southern Motorway refit. The Manukau motorway interchange that creates more than one pinch point makes you wonder where those transport experts were when it was designed. The terminal of Manukau branch line that ends at the new location for part of the Manukau Institute of Technology that requires south Aucklanders to overshoot Manukau and return back via another line are basic design flaws.
I am using my 'anecdata' to give light to concerns I have about process. You have not addressed either the failure to measure benefit distribution for the proposed harbour crossing, or shown me that AT or Waka Kotahi performs any comprehensive review of managing resources across Auckland so that benefits are adequately spread.
I understand that many here are rightfully engaged with planning and planning processes and encouraged to see some projects that have long-term benefits being proposed and implemented.
However, I still believe that there are many in Auckland who are unrepresented or advocated for, and that the current system does not either recognise this or make mitigation to rectify it. In his comments, Ad seems to delight in the fact that successful advocacy produces results and blames non-advocacy on inertia. I think this produces inequalities, and inequality can never be best practice.
Apparently, you believe the current system is best practice. In that we will likely not agree.
“Fundamental ignorance is fine when it’s kept private but it will not be met with either silence or a 101-level backgrounder when spread in public forums where there are many more readers than commenters.”
Consider me chastened but not out, I consider the considered listening to members of the public to be important to good planning, the technical details of implementation require the experts. Many advocates and local body representatives who are decision makers are also not schooled in planning or transport design, but make decisions based on their own ‘anecdata’. All you have to do is have conversations with them to see the truth of this statement.
You could also discuss the initial issue, whether the harbour crossing is good value in terms of the distribution of benefit and the cost.
The problem with the quote Molly used is the word 'solely'. From my experience, AT do solicit ideas from the public, but this is not an authentic process. As with so much of the way AC operates, consultation is used as a shield to hide a predetermined ideology, rather than a genuine attempt to engage.
Fair call. I used the word 'solely' because after searching I could not find any reference to any other method. That does not mean it does not exist.
Would like to point out though, that many projects have a long incubation period and the origins of them get lost over time. For example, the current large spend on the Drury station can be traced over a decade ago to courier articles covering the request of a high-school student for an upgrade.
The high-school student was initially one of a pair. The other student being a relative of a local board representative, who has business connections and landholdings in the area. This representative also worked for Auckland Transport, and still is a local representative. I'm making no accusation of corruption here. Just stating that those that are familiar with the levers of resource allocation, are able to utilise that knowledge to suit what they envision.
From a personal point of view, any transition framework that looked at improving public transport choices for the Franklin region, including those whom are living in the recently developed areas of Waiuku, would identify the currently being developed Paerata as a better hub for the long-term, given the existing railway line to Waiuku that currently services the Glenbrook Steel Mill and has by virtue of the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, also extended that line into Waiuku itself. I suggested this back in 2011, and the aforementioned public representative criticised this suggestion in a public meeting, so I put my hand up and admitted to it. It stayed on the list for a while. Haven't bothered looking lately, too much of a cynic and better things to spend my time on.
gypsy Authorities…do solicit ideas from the public, but this is not an authentic process. As with so much of the way AC operates, consultation is used as a shield to hide a predetermined ideology, rather than a genuine attempt to engage.
You have expressed the situation exactly. It is a charade, and a very expensive one. Our recent Long Term Plan had endless 'books' of explanation double sided sheets with coloured image covers etc.
And we still get stuck with a $44 million spend on a new library, (and I love books and the great librarians who deal with them and are available for advice on research if needed.) Most people think that is too expensive and the options also.
Councils I read about seem hell-bent on borrowing while credit is so cheap. But the economy is on a downward curve and the climate change storms and woes are on an upward one. These things have to be paid for over future years and with costs going up the rates are up, and the Councils are blithely forecasting cumulative rises. It doesn't register with the majority that allowing the housing market to be the main business operating in NZ is like selling the family silver. We actually are keeping the country afloat with a Ponzi-type scheme. The facts we are fed are not the important ones for citizens, only the handy checks for those in business to see what value the $ has today, and what the market is reacting to.
"Paerata is a station that is funded within the Supporting Growth Alliance. Not that hard to google."
Not really interested continuing to follow this. I know Paerata is on the current list of works, and the level of development it is in line for compared to Drury.
As mentioned, the other thing I know, because I was a participant in the process was that I was the singular submitter identifying Paerata as an ideal place to develop as a public transport hub almost a decade ago. I also know, that at least one subsequent public meeting this submission was ridiculed by our local board Chairman. At which point I mentioned that it was actually me that had done so.
I also know, that at a later stage, the same person took credit for identifying Paerata as a possible hub – because it makes sense – and some effort went into maintaining it on the list. However, the bulk of attention and funding has gone into developing two stations for Drury, while – to my mind, Paerata is strategically better in terms of climate change transition given it is the location of the branch line to many thousands of new residents that have moved to Waiuku and its surrounds due to large scale residential developments that have been permitted – and encouraged – by local planners.
Landowners in Drury are now looking to have a landuse change of hundreds of hectares of land to residential – which thanks to the decision to development Drury station – now has the backing of access to public transport links to support it.
Yes, I'm cynical. But if given the choice to support a framework that considered all Auckland residents, I would throw my cynicism aside in a moment to support it.
Plenty complain about the lack of Auckland housing provision, and yet when developers do a masterplan with thousands of houses on it integrated into rail public transport, you revert to cynicism. It's occurring in both brownfields metro and greenfields development at the same time.
The Auckland Plan was the most comprehensive and democratised framework for planning that Auckland has ever had. Not sure where you were.
Naturally you don't have to support anything. But there's no shortage of routes to engage if you want.
" and yet when developers do a masterplan with thousands of houses on it integrated into rail public transport, you revert to cynicism. "
No, I'm suggesting that the identification of Drury for public transport investment over other possibly better options was a result of lobbying and influence rather than an example of prime forward planning. If we had a system of taxing the uplift in capital equity that results from rezoning, we would have a significant fund for state and social housing. The Unitary Plan team briefly considered this mechanism before discarding it without public discussion.
" The Auckland Plan was the most comprehensive and democratised framework for planning that Auckland has ever had. Not sure where you were. "
Stayed through to the bitter end, when only the self-interested and developers were left standing. Democratically washed, ultimately same beneficiaries. The failure of the Unitary Plan to require adherence to the Auckland Design Manual was indicative of where all that democracy ended up. All the way through consultation the ADM was proposed to be the insurance to ensure quality. It ended up as a reference manual only.
They've just done the budget where they made those tradeoffs at a Departmental allocation level.
The main issue at a political budget level is that this government can basically count on the state sector unions to always vote for them every single time – so they have zero political leverage and are no longer in play politically.
The areas of politics still in play for this government – like transport – get more oil simply because they are better at politics.
Transport (including huge highway projects) is also where Labour's timid centrism makes it keep promising and spending as if they lost the election, not won it. Won't see the police budget being cut any time for the same reason.
When it doesn’t fit the narrative, people don’t want to hear it, don’t want to know it, and don’t want to change it, least of all their own believes and convictions. In this good-old binary world of us vs. them, it is always somebody else’s problem and fault.
When successive governments, including this lot, constantly bang on about budgets and priorities they are the ones setting one group off against another.
I don't understand why folks don't understand this.
I don't understand why folks don't understand that we have the power to choose how to think. Folks can either choose to be pliable followers of one group or another, or we could stop blaming whoever's currently 'banging on', take a scary leap into freedom and make up our own minds.
Many here seem to think that politics means and is intended to please all and everyone at the same time all the time. No wonder their commentary is so confused.
Yes and no. What is the definition and purpose of politics? How do commenters here perceive it? The answers are important and coupled to binary thinking of us vs. them and alleged zero-sum systems and processes they dictate much if not all of their commentary. So, they might as well think in the ridiculous way I described, for all intents and purposes.
Yes we surely do need some more Press Secretaries and other State owned Stenographers., There are some that are not quite yet on the 'all is well on the kindness and gentleness boat'.
I personally don't know her, have no beef with her, but unless she outright lied, she might actually has a point, and considering that the ombudsman/women upheld her complaints, it might just be that she has a point.
But funnily the only reason i read this article was the frothing at the seams a few days ago when someone linked to it, and everyone else was just bashing the writer without ever actually mentioning hte article. And so i did read it.
And it does appear that the government now owns a whole lot of press secretaries and state owned stenographers more then the government before that. 🙂
But yeah, if we had more press secretaries surely we would all be singing kumbaya in our boat that is build of kindness and gentleness and no glue.
I'm old enough to know the business of politics is dodgy at the best of times, but AV has been around a long time, and when a journo with her experience expresses concerns such as these, we really do need to at least pay attention.
There is no easy way out for the government for they cannot fuel wage inflation through public sector increases and they cannot increase progressive taxation as they will not be reelected….sadly for all of us the only option is a continuation of the churn of population as the international market place for labour swaps out those able/willing to chase the rewards where they can….and that model is currently hamstrung by covid.
Who decides?….the powers that be I suppose. It always depends upon where you sit but the curious thing is the rhetoric around needing to increase wages for all manner of reasons but when the time comes to act it appears there are compelling reasons why it cannot occur.
They have however attempted to move the floor up but they appear determined to restrict incomes of the middle to upper waged/salaried which with an open border with Australia may cause them some difficulty.
If they are waiting for a lead from our trading partners they may be waiting in vain.
I don't understand why people flying back from Melbourne/Victoria don't have to go into quarantine on arrival. Melbourne has an outbreak with a virus mutation that can't be traced to the boarder so it's unknown how far and wide it's traveled in the community before being noticed. And while passengers have to have a covid test before they come (within 3 days of traveling IIRC) that doesn't get over the fact that traveling across borders is the most likely place to get it. A good strategy came with some good luck but we can't rely on luck in place of a strategy.
(and it's a more infectious version of covid-19 as well – we should be taking even more care to keep it out – it's only a few months or so till everyone can get vaccinated.)
Who is in charge of the Covid19 response now? Is it still Director of Health? Ashley Bloomfield. Or is he on recuperative leave for a year or something and NBA has now resumed (Normal Bland Assurance)?
I want the Crimson Assurance! These are men of mettle and muster all their powers to fight the forces of whatever needs fighting.
I read your comment and was agreeing with it until I came to the last few words " it's only a few months or so till everyone can get vaccinated.". Yeah right. I will be surprised if we get anywhere near 50% having had one jab by the end of the year. The record so far really doesn't give one any faith does it?
However we are supposed to believe that if people have had a negative test within 72 hours of the flight everything is OK and thousands of people can simply go free and untested when they get back here.
What could possibly go wrong? The golfers among us can answer that. Look at Jon Rahm in the PGA event The Memorial Tournament held last week.
On Monday he was advised that he had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid 19. He was tested and was negative. He was tested again on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All were negative. No problems huh? Then on Saturday, just after the third round of a Tournament that he was leading by a margin of 6 strokes he was tested again and had a positive. He was immediately withdrawn from the event and went into isolation. He showed no symptoms.
Compare that to what we are doing. A single test which can be taken while they have 72 hours remaining in Melbourne. That's it. No further test required. No isolation. No nothing. Well I, at least am not impressed. I might be willing to accept it if I had been vaccinated, or at least had had the chance of vaccination but I haven't. I haven't and I can't even get a date when I really might be able to get it.
It is all very well for Ministers like Little, Hipkins and Verrall to tell us everything is sweet. They, after all, had their vaccinations months ago and don't have to worry. Well I am worried. I am in the age group where catching the disease can have very serious risks and where death is a quite likely possibility. Well stuff it. Our Government has an obligation to protect people like me. It doesn't have to concentrate there efforts on not inconveniencing people who chose to travel to Melbourne of their own free will.
My Parents (89 & 90 … one with diabetes & hypertension … so very high-risk) have just been told by their GP they'll have to wait until late July or August … meanwhile two of their acquaintances (in their mid-late 60s) have already had the first jab.
Personally I'm hoping that certain types of disabilities are given $ to buy their own places since neither the govt or private landlords are willing to provide them. In my mind this is a much better use of money than chucking more towards a rental market that doesn't give a f***
The Accommodation Supplement is being looked at closely as part of a wider review of the Working for Families scheme, the Finance Minister has revealed.
"What we do know about the Working for Families system is it's been in place now for the best part of 15 years – well, 16 years," he told Newshub Nation.
"It's actually a system that's served New Zealand well, but within it, there are components that I think everybody would question, the Accommodation Supplement being a really obvious one – very important for supporting people's needs, but a real question mark about whether it's the best way to deliver accommodation support, given that it tends to end up going towards landlords ultimately."
Finally!
AS doesn’t work for people who own their own properties either as they can’t afford the upkeep on what they are given, and end up having to downsize (eventually to caravans). Again, it’s the long term disabled who suffer most.
I'm hoping that certain types of disabilities are given $ to buy their own places …
Back in the day, Kay, there were State Advances loans which did just that.
A part of our history we can be proud of…now disappearing into a black hole.(Follow the link to Te Ara's main page and type in "State Advances Loans" into the Search box.)
From your link…. 'small incomes' were ordinary working people not disabled as such…they would have been steered to State house rentals which were available for a wider range of people…I remember a single aunt who was a lifetime tenant of a bed-sit in a block of around 20 , and she had a full time job.
My parents received a state advances loan as the banking system wasnt set up for ordinary people, and even the savings banks would only lend to long time customers and who had large deposits …maybe 20%.
There were economic reasons for the regulated banking system , as the banks certainly couldnt raise money offshore which is done now and the government rules meant it funded a lot of its internal borrowing from banking and insurance companies, not leaving much for low income lending.
As I wrote….the link one would expect to take you to the TeAra site expanding on the State Advances Loan scheme is not there. Fuck knows where it has gone.
Pity, because I know of at least three significantly physically disabled people who purchased their first home through the 'State Advances' some forty five or so years ago. Only one of these people was working full time. The other was on a lowish income. This was in the days before ACC. Even then there were moves afoot (pun intended) to free the foobarred and infirm from the 'institutions' and facilitate them living in the community.
As Kay says… since neither the govt or private landlords are willing to provide them … it made sense to free up the $$$ so folk could sort their own housing shit out.
And back then one could apply for a suspensory loan for basic modifications, and service groups like Lions and Rotary were even known to step up and pitch in.
Yes, single women and single women with children. And they are poor because that female poverty is baked in. Be it in lesser pay during their working days, no pay during their child rearing years, little to no pay as care givers, thus no savings, etc.
But surely these women just need to get themselves a provider. Right? Al problems solved, just find yourself a meal ticket to keep and hold forever.
It is single women without children who are the poorest, they have no emotional response from government to call on. Let's face it gummint has given up on caring for people at all, except if they are politically essential for votes. So older people are okay and there is still emotional involvement with them as the pollies own parents will still be alive.
But to get any care or notice from gummint the socially responsible have to call on the example of children's poverty you notice. Adult poverty doesn't count any more under this hard neolib regime thought up by male economists with their eyes fixed on political movements rather than people. They were concerned about totaliatarianism? more ie Hayek and Friedman. Then comes womens lib which gets better conditions for middle class women university graduates etc., not all women. Then there is Ayn Rand escaping to USA from Russia, its historical practices, I think it had pogroms, its religionosity? and its patriarchal attitudes to women, so publishes with Braden, The Virtue of Selfishness.
The trend is away from sharing and enjoying life with others at different levels, its all for narrow upward mobility, maximum efficiency at squeezing profit and going for set percentages of return no matter what. Cool business heads that can break through any emotional plea for reasonable wages to enable pleasant living conditions.
The NZ PTB listened to the wiles of Treasury and the cool financiers, and switched off the heating in their own brains. That is why they are so cold-blooded now, I think it is an early evolutionary step towards becoming snakes or lizards. After all they called the lead character in film Wall Street, Gordon Gekko. Rowling introduced a snake, Nagini, into her Harry Potter books which are about the duality of life.
Well surely our current government will do something? Like re-instating the women over 50 benefit, or the widowers benefit, or really just put the benefit to about 500 (after tax) per week with the option of earning another 300 without abatement rates so that a beneficiary could potentially reach the 'min wage'.
Surely a Government that has poverty reduction at its heart will do such a thing, right? Cause it is the kind and gentle thing to do? Oh yeah, crickets. Here have a benefit increase that was asked for in 2019, and that will now be paid out in instalments – the last one to coincide with the anual increase of benefits rates. (i think that benefit increase will just be absorbed and certainly not added on, but we can discuss this next year in April).
Generous to those who are multi home owners ONLY increased 37% or $300,000 increase in the last 2 years since labour took office. Yes Robertson has been VERY generous. How many here just love to support and accept this government without any critical analysis.
So our PM has said there is no money ""In this Covid environment, just as with the GFC, we are in a position where we are financially constrained."- Does she not listen to her Fin minister or unable to understand. Net core debt $2.6BILLION less than foercast – We are better off than expected !!!!
"“The continued strength of the economy and confidence in the recovery has meant the Crown’s financial accounts are in better shape than expected,” Grant Robertson said."
Now what is the next excuse to be wheeled out and some here will blindly support.
That the government has more money than it thought it would have a few months ago. So the government and our PM is being disingenuous with its reasoning for the nurses pay, and that your comment is misdirected in its "innocence ", in who has been the recipient of its generosity. I note it was to the teachers and now the nurses who are being told there is no money, both sectors that are heavily female.
In being so generous what the social costs are and will be that we as a society will be paying for generations to come, and a little guilty money being paid to a few beneficiaries to keep our government happy.
Both Ardern and Rpbertson areconstantly referring to nation-smacking crises as a reason to keep more in reserve. They now appear to be hitting us once a year.
Here is a good conversation with the important political author Thomas Frank on the current Liberal obsession with censoring anything that moves that does not agree with their world view….
Censoring of 'views' has always existed, its just the social media world has made a wider range available for some who seek them out. Doesnt mean they are all getting into the MSM
The US in the 1950s was the McCarthy era when anyone with a left wing viewpoint was hounded out of Hollywood and the media.
The 1960s saw the counter culture forced to rely on its own outlets and phamplets and when small NYC newspapers like The Village Voice grew into popularity.
The average asking price for houses increased 17 per cent year-on-year in May to reach a record $820,950, Trade Me says.
Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd said May was usually when the property market began to cool off ahead of the winter months, but that didn’t seem to be the case this year.
“New Zealand house prices continued their record-breaking streak, hitting an all-time high for the ninth consecutive month in May.”
Increased demand and the lack of available properties on the market were driving the increases, with site traffic up 2 per cent nationwide last month, compared to April. Supply was down by 3 per cent, he said.
oh this makes for some laughing out loud reading. But the reader must be careful as this might be considered satire by some, and simply politics as usual by others, or maybe politics is just satire. Who knows in these trying times.
Some Wellington children will be getting a cycle lane near their school, thanks to Waka Kotahi. This organisation, whose name many people wrongly translate as meaning “Cars are No 1”, was formerly the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Calls for a cycleway began years ago when a child was knocked off their bike on the busy road on the way to school. Recently, concerned parents and some cycling activists, one of whom was the knocked-over child, now 29 and doing a masters in urban planning, decided, after years of waiting for a protected cycle lane, to take matters into their own hands.
They deposited a few planter boxes on the side of the road, thereby creating their own little cycle lane. Local kids were delighted, but some residents were not………………..
“That would be illegal,” explained Bridgeport-Flyover. “Allow guerrilla cycle lanes and, before you know it, New Zealanders will be breaking the law in other ways, like swearing in their homes, smoking pot at parties and drinking alcohol before they are 18. Total anarchy will ensue!”
Are we likely to see other cycleways in Wellington receive Waka Kotahi funding? “Unlikely, given they’ve blown the entire cycling budget for the next 10 years on this one,” replied Sir Kingston.
But the reader must be careful as this might be considered satire by some, and simply politics as usual by others, or maybe politics is just satire. Who knows in these trying times.
…We're trying to help teachers deepen their understanding of how that relates to socio-emotional wellbeing and how to adapt and maybe reframe some of what they already do… in ways that more explicitly enable [socio-emotional] learning for young people."
The researchers are especially interested in how children themselves perceive wellbeing, belonging and relationship skills, she says.
Language around emotion and wellbeing is "quite linguistically based", Professor Finkel says, so kids often need help developing their own emotional vocabulary.
ie People need to learn from childhood how to talk about their problems and understand themselves, and then they can understand others as well. It would be particularly good for boys and men who seem to go around in a bubble quite often.
The Government in April offered a “reasonable and responsible” a deal, which the union said would give “most members” a salary increase “little more than 1.38 per cent, just under the rate of inflation”. The offer was overwhelmingly rejected by the union on Monday.
cycling for the few or well paid nurses…, americas cup for the few or well paid nurses,
refurbishment of their offices or well paid nurses, Nurses and medical staff that we need considering we are in the times of a pandemic, nurses and staff that OZ is happy to take of us, as would England or the US for that matter, ………wants vs needs.
Or maybe the dear nurses just need to understand that they had their once a decade largesse rained down on them in 2018 and now they need to just come around to accept that its gonna take another decade for the next round of 'government largesse'.
I wonder how much the Press Secretaries and the Labour Stenographers are paid?
Well, i guess the nurses just have to run over a police barricade, while on their expensive bikes, creating a bit of a traffic issues on an otherwise ordinary sunday, and voila bingo the government is again reminded that it needs Auckland to win, b ut nurses are optional and thus can be imported as cheap as possible by the government……:) (oh and be white while doing all this lawbreaking while cycling is also helpful to not get arrested, not get fined, not get done for 'resisting police orders' and such).
I suggest that the nurses go on strike and stay on strike. That is the only thing this government deserves.
As for health care i would suggest that any booboos the Labour lot has should be looked at by a cyclist – any cyclist will do, cause nurses are a ‘nice to have but not really needed’ item on the agenda of the Labour lot.
What occurs to me is that the cyclists are frequently a mostly male group. The nurses are a mostly female group. Males and females come at things in different ways. Males know they should have things, and expect to get them. Females believe they should have things, and that they deserve them, and expect to get treated fairly, and their hurt feelings don't register as adequate justification.
My Auckland rellies thought the idea of having a port at Whangarei was crazy. This must be how most NZs decide on their voting preferences. Quick decisions based on commonsense.
Ships aren't coming our way like they used to. And ports are congested. Commonsense answer – give them a good dose of Vicks. Hah hah.
Any ideas about having some of our own ships with capacity for containers, a homegrown sea transport system to be little brother to our airline?
Feb. 2021 https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2102/S00004/on-the-case-for-investing-in-coastal-shipping.htm The enduring damage done by the economic reforms of the 1980/1990s is still playing out in the communities that lost thousands of well-paid full time jobs, and with a subsequent influx of drugs, domestic violence and mental health problems. A far less visible victim of the market mania for de-regulation has been coastal shipping. As Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison recently pointed out:
We had 34 New Zealand flagged ships in 1994. Today we have just one Kiwi flagged container ship. That’s an incredible loss. We used to protect our coastal shipping by requiring domestic freight to be shipped only by New Zealand registered vessels operating under New Zealand law. We did this because we recognised shipping was vital to our economic interests. When that protection was removed in the deregulation of the 1990’s, the fleet dwindled in the face of international companies, running crews who weren’t protected by New Zealand’s minimum employment standards.
Disappointing that so many on here are dissing an attempt to build long lasting infrastructure in Auckland, that will make a big difference to Auckland's emissions for decades.
It seem it is never the right time to spend money on AGW mitigation, despite all the talk from many on here.
BTW. Paying nurses more is current expenditure, while the bridge is long term investment which will pay off far into the future. Two different things.
BTW. Paying nurses more is current expenditure, while the bridge is long term investment which will pay off far into the future. Two different things.
Correct, of course, but some here seem to think that all Taxpayers’ dollars go into one big hat so that the Great Magician can pull rabbits out of the hat until all rabbits have been pulled. That’s the rabbit hole that many (here) have fallen into. In other words, it is all the same!
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
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Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
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My advice to the Nurses – This Wednesday – Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million
<
blockquote>
DHBs 'disappointed' in upcoming strike action after nurses reject pay negotiation offer
Rachel Sadler [yesterday]
….The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) announced on Monday that members had "overwhelmingly" voted to reject the offer, which means a strike will go ahead this Wednesday.
DHBs 'disappointed' in upcoming strike action after nurses reject pay negotiation offer (msn.com)
The generally caring cycling community will not begrudge the nurses getting $780 million instead of them. In fact they will probably insist on it.
The nurses look like they need to hire the cycling lobbyists.
Or indeed the roading lobbyists.
No point complaining when others are better at it: better to learn than to lose.
Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million
and you won't get arrested for braking the law, breaking a police barrier etc etc etc.
you will not even get fined for causing some traffic issues for others.
just don't try that anywhere near poor neighborhood.
True that, you should have seen the over the top, heavy handed police presence around here in Marewa during the lockdown…then you would walk up to Napier Hill, up there you wouldn't even see a cop.
"braking" the law. That's quite clever. I see what you did there instead of "breaking" as they are cyclists!
The government did drop the Mill Road roading project in Auckland , saving around $3 billion (It is costed at $3.5 billion but there will be safety improvements instead) and saving 6 tonnes of CO2 emissions a day.
So even with the new bike/foot bridge we have a considerable gain for climate change policy from this government-less cars more bikes- and save $2.2 billion too.
Maybe the $2.2 billion saved should be split a billion for the nurses/health service and a billion for more climate friendly cycleways.
(Anyway I am off to do the fantastic new Cromwell-Clyde ride today.)
Are you going there by bike or do you use a car to transport your bike there to and then back from to home?
Hope you have an E-bike…some of the inclines are punishing.
"some of the inclines are punishing."…that is how you get strong, you have to learn to love the hills…or get a e-bike!
Besides the divisive nature, this time pitting cyclists against nurses, you’re also wrong, as Government as such is not involved in this employment issue. It is also a misrepresentation of the stumbling blocks, as it is not just about pay and it almost never is, but the irony is that pay is often the easiest (!) ‘fix’ in employment disputes. It looks like you deliberately seed discord. You also stuffed up the formatting of the quoted text; the whole comment appears like a dog’s breakfast. What a way to start the day and OM!
…it is not just about pay and it almost never is, but the irony is that pay is often the easiest (!) ‘fix’ in employment disputes …
Ah…but those other key issues can be fixed by hiring more staff. More staff = higher wage bill=more $$$ needed from Government. Wiping student debt would also alleviate much o the stress.
So….those dollars promised (with impressive alacrity) to the militant bikers would make a real difference to recruiting and retaining these essential workers.
Having had a lot to do with the health system in the last year, from my perspective the issue regarding continuity of care is important. Very rarely are my appointments set up to see the same specialist each time, often I see someone new each time I go in, to the same department. On the two occasions when I have seen the same specialist, both of them have introduced themselves and said "I don't think I've seen you before…" Says a lot about the sense that you are on the receiving end of a manufacturing process rather than a health system.
My experience of the ommunication between DHB's has been abysmal. When you are having to go to different DHB's to get different treatments, this can lead to disjointed care and outcomes. It will be interesting to see how the planned integration will be implemented. If the focus is on costs savings – and not improved continuity of care – the communication problem and its effects will continue.
As a matter of interest, while waiting for treatment you do tend to pass time with the health professionals that attend you. Out of the up to twenty specialist nursing and hospital staff, only two nurses were born and trained in New Zealand. More than a few were looking to work in New Zealand to facilitate easy transfer to Australia. One lovely nurse from the Phillipines, undertook her NZ certification and then was in the Hawkes Bay region for her required placement. She intended to follow her siblings journey to Australia in a couple of years. So much for importing health professionals to make up for the shortfall. The revolving door continues whether they are NZ born or recently NZ certified. It needs to be a more attractive career if we want to keep them.
After an hour or so, she queried whether I was part Māori. When I replied in the affirmative, she said she was surprised. She had been advised during her three month placement that Māori were disruptive and abusive, but the few that she had contact with didn't seem that bad.
If anyone queries the disparity of seeking help and health outcomes for Māori fails to look at the culture of the health system, they are missing a trick.
I miss you commenting here Molly. You waste no words and add much to the discussion. Thank you.
Hey, Rosemary. Not commenting much, but still reading.
(I enjoy watching you, Sabine, weka, Jenny, Anne and many others to be keeping the valid critique going. Often have a few quiet chuckles reading comments that state much more eloquently – or forcefully – my thoughts on topics.)
you are missed tho.
Ah, yes, hiring more staff. Why did they not think of that?
Of course the government is involved. They set the policies. And they were cynical enough to announce a 3 year pay freeze for teachers, nurses, public servants one day – then announce so called fair wage bargaining the next. They could afford meaningful wage and staff increases if they got rid of more of the army of beaurocrats, paper shufflers and consultants.
Really?
If not, it is only by choice.
Whether this 'pay increase from the Government' was really 'big' or not, is a matter for debate.
What is not disputable, (according to Robertson), is that it was the government that did it. (And obviously could do it again, if they so chose). To say they can't, is what is 'wrong'. To say they don't want to, would be more accurate.
Nurses latest pay offer accept: What you need to know
4:53 pm on 7 August 2018
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/363551/nurses-latest-pay-offer-accept-what-you-need-to-know
Even someone at my pay-grade can understand this, but you can’t!?
"…Government as such is not involved in this employment issue."
So who is it that's involved? In one corner we have the nurses, and in the other we have…? Who is it? Tell us.
The lycra brigade, of course. Please keep up with the excellent commentary here and you will learn a lot.
Jenny How to get there says if nurses occupy a lane of the harbour bridge that "The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million":
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-06-2021/#comment-1796885
To that you say the government's not involved in the employment dispute.
I then ask who is involved, the nurses and who else, if not the government?
You then say the lycra brigade, of course, and accuse me of not keeping up.
That’s fantastic, pure gold.
I’m not doing the thinking for you. Others have managed to work it out, eventually; it is not hard at all.
Sorry, I'm too thick. Explain it.
No manners. And you’re not thick, just stubbornly lazy.
You're a supercilious git.
Not really, just somebody who cannot stand lazy gits.
The government cannot lose focus on what really needs to be fixed when it comes to nurses, stressed working conditions and struggling to pay the rent or mortgage in some cases.
Stress in the home impacts at work or vice versa, that is the dynamic.
Heh! But if they could only bike safely over the Waitemata to and from work their stress levels would plummet.
Somewhere, someone will have calculated and compared the Wellbeing Value of unfettered urban cycling with adequate public healthcare staffing.
I read your comment a couple of days back when I asked if anyone had been asked at a screening or specialist appointment if they had been vaccinated for Covid.
I thought about your reply and your situation. All these Covid posters but nothing on vaccination at ED or enquiry from the specialist. I was asked about Covid vaccination at a mammogram visit.
I have noticed in the past few years when having procedures that the nurses seem more stressed. Especially if they are short staffed even by one person. Specialist consults seem to be more rushed as well. It is important to have good health management when a serious complication can occur.
Why on Earth would you waste ED resources on vaccinations? Do you want a haircut at the same time? Get your priorities right, please.
Where did I say I would waste ED resources on vaccinations?
I was talking about a poster or a pamphlet about vaccinaton at ED.
Do you want little flyers for McDonalds with that? House of Travel brochures perhaps?
Icky Incognito, misinterpretation of my comment @ 1.4.1.1
When you arrive in ED, as a patient, do you scan?
Incognito go for it with Sacha. Sacha you stepped into it.
Anyone else go for it a free for all.
Are we still in ED or are we out of the woods?
@ 1.4.1.1.1.1.Where did I say I would waste ED resources on vaccinations?
What has this got to do with scanning, haircuts, Mc Donalds or House of Travel?
The penny is coming unwedged, it will drop soon …
Fair question. Wonder how they decided where to put them?
No numbering Sacha.
I'm agreeing about lack of vax info in some parts of the health system. Should probably have said 'good point' rather than good question.
Thank you for clarification which helps with communication when not clear.
You can get haircuts at the ED? Wonders!
Yes shaves as well.
Why on Earth would you waste ED resources on vaccinations?
Some folk just like being obtuse…no?
We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic of a highly communicable and deadly Virus which we have been told since day one the only hope is to vaccinate the entire world population else many will die and our health systems will be terminally overloaded.
Entirely appropriate there would be vaccination encouraging posters on the wall and leaflets providing information.
I am considered Group 2, living in Counties Manukau, supposedly vaccinated by the end of May.
8th June 2021… crickets…
More resources in regard to communications, planning and implementation are needed.
FYI, ED does not stand for Entertainment Department or Enjoyment Day-stay.
ED does not stand for Entertainment Department or Enjoyment Day-stay.
It doesn't? Well fuck me, who knew?
(I was under the impression (from personal experience) that the "E" stood for "Eventually", or "Expire")
Of course, you knew.
We have spent a ridiculous amount of time in and around hospitals over the past decade or so and feel qualified to comment on some aspects of our publicly funded health system.
On the whole, most healthcare professionals are sincerely committed to providing the very best of treatment and care to patients as resources allow.
Treatment is good…but not always possible, and cost is often a factor in this.
Care, OTOH, costs nothing…but its intrinsic worth is far higher than the most expensive of new-fandangled treatments.
If nurses and doctors cannot provide the care they know their patients need then vital job satisfaction evaporates.
(As for the Covid vaccine messaging, there are two 'worlds' here. There's the one Te Ministry says exists…then there's reality. The two will meet up at some point in the future. Hopefully.)
It is also important for the GP to follow what the specialist advises. E.g to refer the patient back when x, y or z occurs.
Too simple to put a poster up at ED with a Covid vaccination 0800 number to call for an inquiry.
You are right about lack of job satisfaction. Senior nurses, and some not so senior, had a course last week helping to upskill to coordinator level.
One if the modules was a senior doctor talking about how the local hospital is a 'sick hospital'.
Thus means there are shortages eg staff, capacity for procedures, experienced clinicians, bed space etc. This impacts at all levels particularly ED.
Add a cruel irony, her Mum was admitted after a weekend of feeling poorly and blood tests at the GP on Tuesday confirmed a heart attack had occured. Two days in hospital for observation and, we thought, angiogram etc. Only to be told, good to go home, with the message that no tests will occur because 'priorities'.
Don’t let facts influence your perception of the world as you know it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-tracker-how-many-kiwis-have-been-vaccinated-and-how-do-we-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-world/ENMCOHM5QW6W3UN6MRMCOQKO2U/
Sigh. Wrong end of the stick again, Incognito. What on earth gave you the impression I was referring to our overall vaccine roll out performance?
customer yesterday
two invites for the shot, one from the GP, one from the DHB.
She managed to be on two lists, cat 2 – healthcare worker, cat 3 standard bog Kiwi.
She called to update, and gave up after a lengthy time with no one answering hte phone.
how much did we spend on the 'new IT system to manage this" 35 million? Lol.
What a shambles, two invites for one shot!!!!!
It's not a case of either a cycling bridge or nurses' pay, Jenny. Surely we can achieve both.
Surely. Yeah, right Tui.
thanks for a nice laugh.
Yes dear.
i like it when you agree with me. 🙂
It is as rare as the recent super blood moon and when it happens I always have to sit down because of the shakes
The irony is not lost on nurses, that several hundreds of millions can be found being the couch for out of the blue bridges, parliament buildings but not for wages for front line workers.
Their worth has to be greater now that the migrant flow is a trickle.
" Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million"
As I've mentioned a few times over the last few years, I am cynical of the process that goes into Auckland Transport planning. On one of their previous publications (which unfortunately I can't find online anymore) they stated in VERY fine print that they identify their list of possible projects solely from the suggestions of the public.
From my perspective, that explains a lot about the disparity of spending and services allocated around the Auckland region. This is why we are having a strange discussion about the creation of a harbour bridge crossing for walkers and cyclists, when your much less expensive and almost able to be immediately implemented suggestion regarding purpose built buses is being ignored. People who want to ride or walk over the harbour bridge – are more vocal, have more time, have more influence and tantrums ensue when that is not recognised… The use of climate change mitigation to support the project is a cynical, self-serving one.
The service provided by Auckland Transport to other less vocal, less time-rich, less influential areas is abysmal. No one is looking at improving those services to get people out of their cars by providing more reliable and efficient services at a reasonable cost.
Greater Auckland – the self appointed and constantly referred to as the definitive and only expert on transport in Auckland – has little regard for improving services to areas that it does not know well, and their influence also guides both support and criticism of any Auckland Transport moves. I still consider their one-eyed criticism and celebration of the removal of Mike Lee to be one of the more harmful moves that they encouraged.
Because of their method of project identification – which does not involve actually looking long-term at need or planned transition – but keeps an ear to the ground for public whining, Auckland Transport planning ends up being a vending machine for the well-to-do. Anyone concerned about inequality should be concerned about this.
Comments here regarding the high – and likely to be underestimated – cost of the harbour crossing, are valid in their criticism when they refer to other possible use of that money. Whether it is nursing, or improved AT services.
Well said.
"No one is looking at improving those services to get people out of their cars by providing more reliable and efficient services at a reasonable cost."
You've nailed it. AT have chosen to pursue a strategy of maximum inconvenience to private transport (cars specifically) rather than making public transport more attractive.
When decision makers are those that often have all their transport costs met as part of their employment package, and earn enough to reside within a good commutable distance to their place of employment – you end up with decisions that fail to take into account the majority of Auckland residents.
For those that live where they can afford and commute by private transport because they must, punitive measures against private transport without the provision of better and affordable public transport options is an insult.
And when AT is let loose on the suburban shopping villages, creating havoc for local businesses and customer alike, locals in the more affluent suburbs have the money and power to fight back. Not so much in those less affluent areas.
The existing framework supports this anomaly.
Those who are networked and have influence are able to utilise the current system to steer attention and resource allocation to their areas. It is very rarely – if ever – that the budget is acknowledged to be required to serve all areas of Auckland, just a first-in, best served attitude. Because of this, any small measure of spending (which does not necessarily equate to improvement) in less serviced areas, is accompanied with great fanfare.
Sometimes, it is even possible to find how that spending benefits the decision makers or developers even if at first glance it seems to be an egalitarian spend.
In case you want to get over your own cynicism, plenty of masterplanned areas build public transport in from the beginning. The entities doing this include the Supporting Growth Alliance, Waka Kotahi, and Kainga Ora.
If you want to see how Waka Kotahi makes these kinds of allocation and investment decisions, well, the Investment Assessment Framework used by Waka Kotahi (https://www.nzta.govt.nz/planning-and-investment/learning-and-resources/applying-the-investment-assessment-framework/introduction-to-the-iaf/) considers both results alignment and benefit- cost appraisal outcomes. This reflects that just considering a project’s merits in terms of a BCR is pretty silly especially for complex and costly projects, and enables integrated policy outcomes to be made manifest more clear in the allocation decision.
For the integrated public transport networks in new development areas, all the documents, Plan Changes, masterplans, and consultation documents are on their relevant websites. And granted, like Hobsonvillle, some bits work and some don't.
We have many Auckland households that are struggling financially. They purchase or rent homes where they can get them, and commute to jobs that often don't meet the rising costs of living.
When we conduct surveys or cost-benefit analysis for transport planning, I see very little evidence that the impacts of cost, or convenience are including in making decisions.
Public transport is often talked about as if it is purely a personal choice, and so punitive measures to get people out of cars is used as a mechanism to reduce traffic and improve public transport patronage.
While that may be true for a small part of the Auckland demographic, it is not true for all. Many areas of Auckland have unreliable, relatively expensive public transport access, and the choice is not only a personal decision, but one that is based on finances and commuting time.
I don't really care about the harbour bridge facility. I would like some effort put towards express public transport services to various hub points in Auckland. Given the large swathes of development in some greenfields areas in the region, this should be a priority in terms of climate change transition.
We are pricing Aucklanders out to the regions, and then deserting them in terms of good transport planning, then blaming them for not being able "to play the political game."
Agree that Auckland is pricing people out.
I'm generally of the view that's a good thing: 1/3 of our population in one city is unsafe, and regions need more immigration and more support.
I agree. Very well said indeed.
Because of their method of project identification – which does not involve actually looking long-term at need or planned transition – but keeps an ear to the ground for public whining, Auckland Transport planning ends up being a vending machine for the well-to-do. Anyone concerned about inequality should be concerned about this.
The more expensive wheels, paradoxically, have the loudest squeaks.
Baloney. Please google 'ATAP' – or any actual facts would help. There's even a specialist blog about it all..
Hi Sacha,
Had a feeling you'd be replying. I don't have a inclination for hyperbole or baloney, so stand behind my initial statement.
It was on one of their long-term plans produced a few years ago. I only found it because I was looking for some information regarding their plans for South Auckland. As I said, I can't provide a link for it.
Perhaps you can provide one that proves that Auckland Transport has a department that systematically looks at services across Auckland, and has a full transition plan that caters to all areas that has not been initiated by the public or certain representatives, and that considers the cost impact on a city that already has many residents under financial stress due to runaway housing costs. As gypsy points out, this point is often ignored in discussions.
IF this method has changed in the last couple of years, then all to the good.
But following the decision making at a local level, it is not apparent that any changes have been made.
The harbour crossing discussion is a good one to identify how justifications for high-cost but low distribution benefit projects can be made. The distribution of funding, attention and resources by Auckland Transport does not appear to provide Auckland region wide services that cater to all. Perhaps, you think it does.
But as someone whose close attention to the surveys in the past managed to get a pitiful public transport service to the local area, (to the stated disgust of one of our local board representatives who wanted it to his local area), I can see how it works here. The public transport link service then provided, was not aligned to the commuter train and only operated after the hours of nine am and before the hours of five pm. Cynically set up to fail if possible. Schoolchildren, and workers commuting were effectively cut from the possible customer base. However, still going after a few years, mainly because of the large amount of residential development that did, and is still taking place.
Because of that, and other incidents with our local board, I can also see the echoes of that type of decision making in such a large project as the proposed harbour crossing.
There don't appear to be any checks that ensure need is the primary driver of projects. Or any overall framework that considers the cost impact to many Aucklanders when discussing transition.
He/she/They might be talking about this? https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/auckland/auckland-transport-alignment-project/
oh well it 'encourages'…… and it even announced a budget……
You know what would encourage usage of public transport? Making it free. speficially for those that live in the outer suburbs and actually have a commute that is not suitable for cycling.
And all of this only took 6 years.
Now that is balony.
"You know what would encourage usage of public transport? Making it free."
+1.
Went to a meeting with Chris Bishop, and Matt from Greater Auckland who talked about a survey done on this topic, and who concluded that making public transport free would not have impact on improving patronage. That view seems to be now cemented in. Don’t know who was asked, whether existing public transport services were reliable, just the conclusion….
Improving the services so that they are reliable and efficient, particularly from the outlying areas of Aucklanders that the planners opened up for developers, would be a meaningful start. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of that in the ATAP for outlying areas.
Also, need to make some comment regarding security. Why Auckland Transport created a ticketing system that allows non-travellers access to the platforms, I can't fathom. In a few stations, the presence of non-travellers can be somewhat intimidating with no Auckland Transport staff to be seen. Not conducive to many who travel alone in the early morning, or late evening.
so funny that.
Nice – France, has a similar issue that AKL has, namely that the town is sprawling, has a small footprint wedged in between mountains and the Mediternee.
Now somewhere in the early 2000 they decided to build a proper tram (light rail for Aucklanders) replace some busses, add new busses, and make all the trips at 1 euro dollar in the department "alpes maritimes' i.e. from Cap D'ail to Marseille on the other end.
this is what happened when they opend – currently the price per trip is now at a1.50 Euro.
And this actually suports your point, about 'knowing how to play the game of people in rich suburbs vs people in the outer and poorer suburbs.
Namely a free bridge will have all these rich people cycle to work, but free trains/busses will not have the poor people use them. Right? One must be highly educated and in local / regional/country wide government to form these conclusions. Really only with a lengthy stay in University or Council can some idiocy be born.
It is not hte can't, it is the won't that defines politics in NZ and that is also a bipartisan disease afflicting our highly paid 'representatives'.
Chris Bishop the nat?
I suppose it's always been a basic tenet of torydom that basic market forces don't apply if a proposal involves making something more affordable for poor people.
Eurgh. Not Chris Bishop! Chris Darby, the councillor.
Thanks for pointing it out. Obviously, too long away from keyboard.
lol that takes it from "apparent inconsistency" to "people I aren't familiar with arguing odd positions".
I guess it depends on the sample selection for their survey 🙂
Purely a personal viewpoint, (after engaging with hopeful enthusiasm with the Unitary Plan process and transport, and various Auckland Council staffers and representatives) is that we could do much better than the planning and priority frameworks we currently have in place.
We have a group of enthusiasts for great planning and transport initiatives copied from overseas, that are rightly encouraged by such projects because they do improve well-being and provide great public assets.
However, these benefits are not equally distributed, and we forget about the culture and landscape that has formed our communities (Auckland in particular) and how different it is from European communities that resulted from walkable distances and land scarcity. We idealise those aspects of European life, because they are a good fit for climate change transition, without addressing the fundamental misfit that many of our current (usually poorer) communities have with those places.
I think we need to do the grunt work first, then add on the nice to haves. There's a lot of grunt work to be done.
The failure of the Unitary Plan to include the promised affliated Auckland Design Manual as a means to ensure quality, is a notable moment. \
Those who support intensification – alongside good access to services and community assets, while meeting quality standards – were let down by this removal.
Those who think intensification – on its own – is a virtue, seem to think this is of no concern. But then, I don't think they often end up residing in the result.
Fixing this is not simple, but the issue is especially complicated by the fact that inequality in this regard is often not considered a problem at all.
The largest Auckland train stations are already ticket-only access, and they gate more each year. Unlikely all of the small ones will ever be.
Forget ATAP. It's a pain in the ass document with no standing, or indeed much impact on budget prioritisation.
The RLTP and NLTP lists are the ones that are statutorily funded to be done.
" Unlikely all of the small ones will ever be."
And yet those are the ones where security for lone travellers is sorely needed.
Any you had in mind?
AT has a programme in their RLTP for some of them.
Your anecdata vs transport policy expertise..
Fundamental ignorance is fine when it's kept private but it will not be met with either silence or a 101-level backgrounder when spread in public forums where there are many more readers than commenters.
"Your anecdata vs transport policy expertise.."
Fair criticism, but one that doesn't allow for the possibility that the current framework does not result in good transport policy, or that it is influenced by political lobbying rather than assessed need.
So, in terms of delivery – the harbour crossing is a project to celebrate, yet we still have poor public transport access in many parts of Auckland. Not to mention the ongoing saga of the Southern Motorway refit. The Manukau motorway interchange that creates more than one pinch point makes you wonder where those transport experts were when it was designed. The terminal of Manukau branch line that ends at the new location for part of the Manukau Institute of Technology that requires south Aucklanders to overshoot Manukau and return back via another line are basic design flaws.
I am using my 'anecdata' to give light to concerns I have about process. You have not addressed either the failure to measure benefit distribution for the proposed harbour crossing, or shown me that AT or Waka Kotahi performs any comprehensive review of managing resources across Auckland so that benefits are adequately spread.
I understand that many here are rightfully engaged with planning and planning processes and encouraged to see some projects that have long-term benefits being proposed and implemented.
However, I still believe that there are many in Auckland who are unrepresented or advocated for, and that the current system does not either recognise this or make mitigation to rectify it. In his comments, Ad seems to delight in the fact that successful advocacy produces results and blames non-advocacy on inertia. I think this produces inequalities, and inequality can never be best practice.
Apparently, you believe the current system is best practice. In that we will likely not agree.
“Fundamental ignorance is fine when it’s kept private but it will not be met with either silence or a 101-level backgrounder when spread in public forums where there are many more readers than commenters.”
Consider me chastened but not out, I consider the considered listening to members of the public to be important to good planning, the technical details of implementation require the experts. Many advocates and local body representatives who are decision makers are also not schooled in planning or transport design, but make decisions based on their own ‘anecdata’. All you have to do is have conversations with them to see the truth of this statement.
You could also discuss the initial issue, whether the harbour crossing is good value in terms of the distribution of benefit and the cost.
The problem with the quote Molly used is the word 'solely'. From my experience, AT do solicit ideas from the public, but this is not an authentic process. As with so much of the way AC operates, consultation is used as a shield to hide a predetermined ideology, rather than a genuine attempt to engage.
Fair call. I used the word 'solely' because after searching I could not find any reference to any other method. That does not mean it does not exist.
Would like to point out though, that many projects have a long incubation period and the origins of them get lost over time. For example, the current large spend on the Drury station can be traced over a decade ago to courier articles covering the request of a high-school student for an upgrade.
The high-school student was initially one of a pair. The other student being a relative of a local board representative, who has business connections and landholdings in the area. This representative also worked for Auckland Transport, and still is a local representative. I'm making no accusation of corruption here. Just stating that those that are familiar with the levers of resource allocation, are able to utilise that knowledge to suit what they envision.
From a personal point of view, any transition framework that looked at improving public transport choices for the Franklin region, including those whom are living in the recently developed areas of Waiuku, would identify the currently being developed Paerata as a better hub for the long-term, given the existing railway line to Waiuku that currently services the Glenbrook Steel Mill and has by virtue of the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, also extended that line into Waiuku itself. I suggested this back in 2011, and the aforementioned public representative criticised this suggestion in a public meeting, so I put my hand up and admitted to it. It stayed on the list for a while. Haven't bothered looking lately, too much of a cynic and better things to spend my time on.
gypsy Authorities…do solicit ideas from the public, but this is not an authentic process. As with so much of the way AC operates, consultation is used as a shield to hide a predetermined ideology, rather than a genuine attempt to engage.
You have expressed the situation exactly. It is a charade, and a very expensive one. Our recent Long Term Plan had endless 'books' of explanation double sided sheets with coloured image covers etc.
And we still get stuck with a $44 million spend on a new library, (and I love books and the great librarians who deal with them and are available for advice on research if needed.) Most people think that is too expensive and the options also.
Councils I read about seem hell-bent on borrowing while credit is so cheap. But the economy is on a downward curve and the climate change storms and woes are on an upward one. These things have to be paid for over future years and with costs going up the rates are up, and the Councils are blithely forecasting cumulative rises. It doesn't register with the majority that allowing the housing market to be the main business operating in NZ is like selling the family silver. We actually are keeping the country afloat with a Ponzi-type scheme. The facts we are fed are not the important ones for citizens, only the handy checks for those in business to see what value the $ has today, and what the market is reacting to.
Paerata is a station that is funded within the Supporting Growth Alliance. Not that hard to google.
Fine to be cynical, but not out of wilful ignorance.
"Paerata is a station that is funded within the Supporting Growth Alliance. Not that hard to google."
Not really interested continuing to follow this. I know Paerata is on the current list of works, and the level of development it is in line for compared to Drury.
As mentioned, the other thing I know, because I was a participant in the process was that I was the singular submitter identifying Paerata as an ideal place to develop as a public transport hub almost a decade ago. I also know, that at least one subsequent public meeting this submission was ridiculed by our local board Chairman. At which point I mentioned that it was actually me that had done so.
I also know, that at a later stage, the same person took credit for identifying Paerata as a possible hub – because it makes sense – and some effort went into maintaining it on the list. However, the bulk of attention and funding has gone into developing two stations for Drury, while – to my mind, Paerata is strategically better in terms of climate change transition given it is the location of the branch line to many thousands of new residents that have moved to Waiuku and its surrounds due to large scale residential developments that have been permitted – and encouraged – by local planners.
Landowners in Drury are now looking to have a landuse change of hundreds of hectares of land to residential – which thanks to the decision to development Drury station – now has the backing of access to public transport links to support it.
Yes, I'm cynical. But if given the choice to support a framework that considered all Auckland residents, I would throw my cynicism aside in a moment to support it.
Plenty complain about the lack of Auckland housing provision, and yet when developers do a masterplan with thousands of houses on it integrated into rail public transport, you revert to cynicism. It's occurring in both brownfields metro and greenfields development at the same time.
The Auckland Plan was the most comprehensive and democratised framework for planning that Auckland has ever had. Not sure where you were.
Naturally you don't have to support anything. But there's no shortage of routes to engage if you want.
" and yet when developers do a masterplan with thousands of houses on it integrated into rail public transport, you revert to cynicism. "
No, I'm suggesting that the identification of Drury for public transport investment over other possibly better options was a result of lobbying and influence rather than an example of prime forward planning. If we had a system of taxing the uplift in capital equity that results from rezoning, we would have a significant fund for state and social housing. The Unitary Plan team briefly considered this mechanism before discarding it without public discussion.
" The Auckland Plan was the most comprehensive and democratised framework for planning that Auckland has ever had. Not sure where you were. "
Stayed through to the bitter end, when only the self-interested and developers were left standing. Democratically washed, ultimately same beneficiaries. The failure of the Unitary Plan to require adherence to the Auckland Design Manual was indicative of where all that democracy ended up. All the way through consultation the ADM was proposed to be the insurance to ensure quality. It ended up as a reference manual only.
They've just done the budget where they made those tradeoffs at a Departmental allocation level.
The main issue at a political budget level is that this government can basically count on the state sector unions to always vote for them every single time – so they have zero political leverage and are no longer in play politically.
The areas of politics still in play for this government – like transport – get more oil simply because they are better at politics.
Transport (including huge highway projects) is also where Labour's timid centrism makes it keep promising and spending as if they lost the election, not won it. Won't see the police budget being cut any time for the same reason.
I don't see this government as timid due to the scale of their spending, and breadth of their reforms.
But generally agree. Budgets help you get re-elected.
Compared with the scale of what is needed to tackle climate change and poverty, their efforts are piffling.
You might want to wait until they come out with their Net Zero By 2040 plan, which is due out this week.
Given the blowback on cycling in the MSM and indeed here, I'm not convinced our voters will let them go any faster or harder.
You've made my day. Thank you!
‘
While cyclists feel the love.
Nurses feel hurt
Exhausted nurses are more likely to make mistakes and some mistakes can cause irreversible harm.
Exhausted is just the PR and media headline.
The cost seems to 17% pay rise and the exhaustion goes away …for another day.
The only thing going away is NZ trained nurses heading overseas.
By giving a good pay rise, retaining nurses can be fixed and more people would choose a nursing career.
Really does not matter how many times anyone explains how govt actually works, does it. And we wonder why change is difficult to get.
When it doesn’t fit the narrative, people don’t want to hear it, don’t want to know it, and don’t want to change it, least of all their own believes and convictions. In this good-old binary world of us vs. them, it is always somebody else’s problem and fault.
When successive governments, including this lot, constantly bang on about budgets and priorities they are the ones setting one group off against another.
I don't understand why folks don't understand this.
Yes.
+1
+1
I don't understand why folks don't understand that we have the power to choose how to think. Folks can either choose to be pliable followers of one group or another, or we could stop blaming whoever's currently 'banging on', take a scary leap into freedom and make up our own minds.
Righto, I'll get cracking on a bridge tomorrow.
Many here seem to think that politics means and is intended to please all and everyone at the same time all the time. No wonder their commentary is so confused.
No-one actually thinks that though do they.
Yes and no. What is the definition and purpose of politics? How do commenters here perceive it? The answers are important and coupled to binary thinking of us vs. them and alleged zero-sum systems and processes they dictate much if not all of their commentary. So, they might as well think in the ridiculous way I described, for all intents and purposes.
Does the Government need more communication facilitators?
Yes we surely do need some more Press Secretaries and other State owned Stenographers., There are some that are not quite yet on the 'all is well on the kindness and gentleness boat'.
You’ve been reading Andrea Vance? :>
well, is what she said incorrect?
I personally don't know her, have no beef with her, but unless she outright lied, she might actually has a point, and considering that the ombudsman/women upheld her complaints, it might just be that she has a point.
But funnily the only reason i read this article was the frothing at the seams a few days ago when someone linked to it, and everyone else was just bashing the writer without ever actually mentioning hte article. And so i did read it.
And it does appear that the government now owns a whole lot of press secretaries and state owned stenographers more then the government before that. 🙂
But yeah, if we had more press secretaries surely we would all be singing kumbaya in our boat that is build of kindness and gentleness and no glue.
I'm old enough to know the business of politics is dodgy at the best of times, but AV has been around a long time, and when a journo with her experience expresses concerns such as these, we really do need to at least pay attention.
There is no easy way out for the government for they cannot fuel wage inflation through public sector increases and they cannot increase progressive taxation as they will not be reelected….sadly for all of us the only option is a continuation of the churn of population as the international market place for labour swaps out those able/willing to chase the rewards where they can….and that model is currently hamstrung by covid.
There will only be sops.
Wages increases are called inflationary = ‘Bad’
Profit increases are called growth = ‘Good’
I mean who decides this?
And does it depend from where they are sitting?
Who decides?….the powers that be I suppose. It always depends upon where you sit but the curious thing is the rhetoric around needing to increase wages for all manner of reasons but when the time comes to act it appears there are compelling reasons why it cannot occur.
They have however attempted to move the floor up but they appear determined to restrict incomes of the middle to upper waged/salaried which with an open border with Australia may cause them some difficulty.
If they are waiting for a lead from our trading partners they may be waiting in vain.
On a positive note….Happy Aotearoa Nuclear Free Declaration day!
Arguably our finest hour.
We have had many finest hours.
Votes for women.
The Welfare State
Nuclear Free
Covid Free
I might add; Every single one of these 'finest hours' has been opposed by the Right and Championed by the Left.
Votes for women. And shamefully high rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
The Welfare State Hmmm…failure of this government to enact all WEAG reccomendations.
Nuclear Free AFAIK, still holding strong.
Covid Free Time will tell how effective (in the long term) our response has been.
We are NOT Covid 'free'.
We have Covid contained in the MIQ facilities. And we bring a little bit of Covid here every time we allow some more people in from overseas.
I don't understand why people flying back from Melbourne/Victoria don't have to go into quarantine on arrival. Melbourne has an outbreak with a virus mutation that can't be traced to the boarder so it's unknown how far and wide it's traveled in the community before being noticed. And while passengers have to have a covid test before they come (within 3 days of traveling IIRC) that doesn't get over the fact that traveling across borders is the most likely place to get it. A good strategy came with some good luck but we can't rely on luck in place of a strategy.
(and it's a more infectious version of covid-19 as well – we should be taking even more care to keep it out – it's only a few months or so till everyone can get vaccinated.)
but we were told the risk is 'low', so surely that must mean 'acceptable'.
Who is in charge of the Covid19 response now? Is it still Director of Health? Ashley Bloomfield. Or is he on recuperative leave for a year or something and NBA has now resumed (Normal Bland Assurance)?
I want the Crimson Assurance! These are men of mettle and muster all their powers to fight the forces of whatever needs fighting.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSO9OFJNMBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4
I read your comment and was agreeing with it until I came to the last few words " it's only a few months or so till everyone can get vaccinated.". Yeah right. I will be surprised if we get anywhere near 50% having had one jab by the end of the year. The record so far really doesn't give one any faith does it?
However we are supposed to believe that if people have had a negative test within 72 hours of the flight everything is OK and thousands of people can simply go free and untested when they get back here.
What could possibly go wrong? The golfers among us can answer that. Look at Jon Rahm in the PGA event The Memorial Tournament held last week.
On Monday he was advised that he had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid 19. He was tested and was negative. He was tested again on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All were negative. No problems huh? Then on Saturday, just after the third round of a Tournament that he was leading by a margin of 6 strokes he was tested again and had a positive. He was immediately withdrawn from the event and went into isolation. He showed no symptoms.
Compare that to what we are doing. A single test which can be taken while they have 72 hours remaining in Melbourne. That's it. No further test required. No isolation. No nothing. Well I, at least am not impressed. I might be willing to accept it if I had been vaccinated, or at least had had the chance of vaccination but I haven't. I haven't and I can't even get a date when I really might be able to get it.
It is all very well for Ministers like Little, Hipkins and Verrall to tell us everything is sweet. They, after all, had their vaccinations months ago and don't have to worry. Well I am worried. I am in the age group where catching the disease can have very serious risks and where death is a quite likely possibility. Well stuff it. Our Government has an obligation to protect people like me. It doesn't have to concentrate there efforts on not inconveniencing people who chose to travel to Melbourne of their own free will.
Agree … casual, lax attitude … real complacency.
My Parents (89 & 90 … one with diabetes & hypertension … so very high-risk) have just been told by their GP they'll have to wait until late July or August … meanwhile two of their acquaintances (in their mid-late 60s) have already had the first jab.
Pretty bloody useless organisation, I'd say.
All donations and bequests to Daisycutter Sports Inc. are requested to be paid, from now on, in Bitcoin…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/picture-shows-human-races-weird-new-bitcoin-phase/M2GPFLMB4GPMCXD43X7DQBXLDI/
Personally I'm hoping that certain types of disabilities are given $ to buy their own places since neither the govt or private landlords are willing to provide them. In my mind this is a much better use of money than chucking more towards a rental market that doesn't give a f***
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/accommodation-supplement-ends-up-going-towards-landlords-is-under-review-grant-robertson/ar-AAKfxy0?ocid=UP97DHP&li=BBqdk7Q
Finally!
AS doesn’t work for people who own their own properties either as they can’t afford the upkeep on what they are given, and end up having to downsize (eventually to caravans). Again, it’s the long term disabled who suffer most.
I'm hoping that certain types of disabilities are given $ to buy their own places …
Back in the day, Kay, there were State Advances loans which did just that.
A part of our history we can be proud of…now disappearing into a black hole.(Follow the link to Te Ara's main page and type in "State Advances Loans" into the Search box.)
https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/finance-public/page-9
From your link…. 'small incomes' were ordinary working people not disabled as such…they would have been steered to State house rentals which were available for a wider range of people…I remember a single aunt who was a lifetime tenant of a bed-sit in a block of around 20 , and she had a full time job.
My parents received a state advances loan as the banking system wasnt set up for ordinary people, and even the savings banks would only lend to long time customers and who had large deposits …maybe 20%.
There were economic reasons for the regulated banking system , as the banks certainly couldnt raise money offshore which is done now and the government rules meant it funded a lot of its internal borrowing from banking and insurance companies, not leaving much for low income lending.
As I wrote….the link one would expect to take you to the TeAra site expanding on the State Advances Loan scheme is not there. Fuck knows where it has gone.
Pity, because I know of at least three significantly physically disabled people who purchased their first home through the 'State Advances' some forty five or so years ago. Only one of these people was working full time. The other was on a lowish income. This was in the days before ACC. Even then there were moves afoot (pun intended) to free the foobarred and infirm from the 'institutions' and facilitate them living in the community.
As Kay says… since neither the govt or private landlords are willing to provide them … it made sense to free up the $$$ so folk could sort their own housing shit out.
And back then one could apply for a suspensory loan for basic modifications, and service groups like Lions and Rotary were even known to step up and pitch in.
Ah, the good old days.
Really …convenient That Te Ara has rewrote history just for you
Also, anyone without kids isn’t part of WFF, so GR is making me nervous there.
I have a statement on housing of decades ago referring to the most disadvantaged in NZ, the poorest were single women.
Yes, single women and single women with children. And they are poor because that female poverty is baked in. Be it in lesser pay during their working days, no pay during their child rearing years, little to no pay as care givers, thus no savings, etc.
But surely these women just need to get themselves a provider. Right? Al problems solved, just find yourself a meal ticket to keep and hold forever.
It is single women without children who are the poorest, they have no emotional response from government to call on. Let's face it gummint has given up on caring for people at all, except if they are politically essential for votes. So older people are okay and there is still emotional involvement with them as the pollies own parents will still be alive.
But to get any care or notice from gummint the socially responsible have to call on the example of children's poverty you notice. Adult poverty doesn't count any more under this hard neolib regime thought up by male economists with their eyes fixed on political movements rather than people. They were concerned about totaliatarianism? more ie Hayek and Friedman. Then comes womens lib which gets better conditions for middle class women university graduates etc., not all women. Then there is Ayn Rand escaping to USA from Russia, its historical practices, I think it had pogroms, its religionosity? and its patriarchal attitudes to women, so publishes with Braden, The Virtue of Selfishness.
The trend is away from sharing and enjoying life with others at different levels, its all for narrow upward mobility, maximum efficiency at squeezing profit and going for set percentages of return no matter what. Cool business heads that can break through any emotional plea for reasonable wages to enable pleasant living conditions.
The NZ PTB listened to the wiles of Treasury and the cool financiers, and switched off the heating in their own brains. That is why they are so cold-blooded now, I think it is an early evolutionary step towards becoming snakes or lizards. After all they called the lead character in film Wall Street, Gordon Gekko. Rowling introduced a snake, Nagini, into her Harry Potter books which are about the duality of life.
Well surely our current government will do something? Like re-instating the women over 50 benefit, or the widowers benefit, or really just put the benefit to about 500 (after tax) per week with the option of earning another 300 without abatement rates so that a beneficiary could potentially reach the 'min wage'.
Surely a Government that has poverty reduction at its heart will do such a thing, right? Cause it is the kind and gentle thing to do? Oh yeah, crickets. Here have a benefit increase that was asked for in 2019, and that will now be paid out in instalments – the last one to coincide with the anual increase of benefits rates. (i think that benefit increase will just be absorbed and certainly not added on, but we can discuss this next year in April).
Grant Robertson should make anyone nervous. Any time the guy opens his mouth.
+1. I've never had much time for him myself.
Grant Robertson is by a long way the most generous Minister of Finance we've had since Walter Nash working with PM's Savage and Peter Fraser.
Generous to those who are multi home owners ONLY increased 37% or $300,000 increase in the last 2 years since labour took office. Yes Robertson has been VERY generous. How many here just love to support and accept this government without any critical analysis.
So our PM has said there is no money ""In this Covid environment, just as with the GFC, we are in a position where we are financially constrained."- Does she not listen to her Fin minister or unable to understand. Net core debt $2.6BILLION less than foercast – We are better off than expected !!!!
"“The continued strength of the economy and confidence in the recovery has meant the Crown’s financial accounts are in better shape than expected,” Grant Robertson said."
Now what is the next excuse to be wheeled out and some here will blindly support.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2106/S00028/crown-accounts-reflect-govt-focus-on-securing-recovery.htm
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/05/house-prices-increase-21-percent-as-govt-reserve-bank-changes-fail-to-hit-market.html
Apparently your point, somewhere in there, is that the government should spend more money.
That the government has more money than it thought it would have a few months ago. So the government and our PM is being disingenuous with its reasoning for the nurses pay, and that your comment is misdirected in its "innocence ", in who has been the recipient of its generosity. I note it was to the teachers and now the nurses who are being told there is no money, both sectors that are heavily female.
In being so generous what the social costs are and will be that we as a society will be paying for generations to come, and a little guilty money being paid to a few beneficiaries to keep our government happy.
Yup fair point.
Both Ardern and Rpbertson areconstantly referring to nation-smacking crises as a reason to keep more in reserve. They now appear to be hitting us once a year.
But you still have a fair point.
Here is a good conversation with the important political author Thomas Frank on the current Liberal obsession with censoring anything that moves that does not agree with their world view….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH3wMlPI278
Censoring of 'views' has always existed, its just the social media world has made a wider range available for some who seek them out. Doesnt mean they are all getting into the MSM
The US in the 1950s was the McCarthy era when anyone with a left wing viewpoint was hounded out of Hollywood and the media.
The 1960s saw the counter culture forced to rely on its own outlets and phamplets and when small NYC newspapers like The Village Voice grew into popularity.
oh well, surely one day the prices are gonna drop…..one day soon!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/125370891/trade-me-property-asking-prices-jump-17-per-cent
oh this makes for some laughing out loud reading. But the reader must be careful as this might be considered satire by some, and simply politics as usual by others, or maybe politics is just satire. Who knows in these trying times.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/125367733/transports-of-delight-for-freewheeling-spenders
Poor old Sabine. If you couldn't see that "Sir Bridgeport-Flyover" was a satire itself, you're not in the right game.
There are thankfully tonnes more cycle lanes that are funded by NZTA, in Wellington.
I covered all of this in a post a week ago. If you can't keep up, inhale into a paper bag for a bit.
yes, dear.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018798247/holistic-education-good-for-everyone
…We're trying to help teachers deepen their understanding of how that relates to socio-emotional wellbeing and how to adapt and maybe reframe some of what they already do… in ways that more explicitly enable [socio-emotional] learning for young people."
The researchers are especially interested in how children themselves perceive wellbeing, belonging and relationship skills, she says.
Language around emotion and wellbeing is "quite linguistically based", Professor Finkel says, so kids often need help developing their own emotional vocabulary.
ie People need to learn from childhood how to talk about their problems and understand themselves, and then they can understand others as well. It would be particularly good for boys and men who seem to go around in a bubble quite often.
no matter what they just can't help themselves.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125372846/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-says-nurses-wanted-17-per-cent-pay-increase-government-financially-constrained
cycling for the few or well paid nurses…, americas cup for the few or well paid nurses,
refurbishment of their offices or well paid nurses, Nurses and medical staff that we need considering we are in the times of a pandemic, nurses and staff that OZ is happy to take of us, as would England or the US for that matter, ………wants vs needs.
Or maybe the dear nurses just need to understand that they had their once a decade largesse rained down on them in 2018 and now they need to just come around to accept that its gonna take another decade for the next round of 'government largesse'.
I wonder how much the Press Secretaries and the Labour Stenographers are paid?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/363551/nurses-latest-pay-offer-accept-what-you-need-to-know
That nursing union had better figure out how to win.
If they can't turn all that Covid 19 public health emotion and righteousness into a decent winning campaign, they need to resign.
The question you are taking too long to get to is this:
How can the cyclists win but the nurses can't?
Therein is the tale of effective advocacy.
Well, i guess the nurses just have to run over a police barricade, while on their expensive bikes, creating a bit of a traffic issues on an otherwise ordinary sunday, and voila bingo the government is again reminded that it needs Auckland to win, b ut nurses are optional and thus can be imported as cheap as possible by the government……:) (oh and be white while doing all this lawbreaking while cycling is also helpful to not get arrested, not get fined, not get done for 'resisting police orders' and such).
I suggest that the nurses go on strike and stay on strike. That is the only thing this government deserves.
As for health care i would suggest that any booboos the Labour lot has should be looked at by a cyclist – any cyclist will do, cause nurses are a ‘nice to have but not really needed’ item on the agenda of the Labour lot.
Striking is exceedingly unlikely to get the nurses what they want.
They need a campaign manager that knows how to win.
Now, nurses on bikes. That would get some attention.
What occurs to me is that the cyclists are frequently a mostly male group. The nurses are a mostly female group. Males and females come at things in different ways. Males know they should have things, and expect to get them. Females believe they should have things, and that they deserve them, and expect to get treated fairly, and their hurt feelings don't register as adequate justification.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJzSTNDUGI
My Auckland rellies thought the idea of having a port at Whangarei was crazy. This must be how most NZs decide on their voting preferences. Quick decisions based on commonsense.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/444236/exporters-seek-urgent-solutions-over-constricted-global-supply-chains
Ships aren't coming our way like they used to. And ports are congested. Commonsense answer – give them a good dose of Vicks. Hah hah.
Any ideas about having some of our own ships with capacity for containers, a homegrown sea transport system to be little brother to our airline?
Feb. 2021 https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2102/S00004/on-the-case-for-investing-in-coastal-shipping.htm
The enduring damage done by the economic reforms of the 1980/1990s is still playing out in the communities that lost thousands of well-paid full time jobs, and with a subsequent influx of drugs, domestic violence and mental health problems. A far less visible victim of the market mania for de-regulation has been coastal shipping. As Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison recently pointed out:
We had 34 New Zealand flagged ships in 1994. Today we have just one Kiwi flagged container ship. That’s an incredible loss. We used to protect our coastal shipping by requiring domestic freight to be shipped only by New Zealand registered vessels operating under New Zealand law. We did this because we recognised shipping was vital to our economic interests. When that protection was removed in the deregulation of the 1990’s, the fleet dwindled in the face of international companies, running crews who weren’t protected by New Zealand’s minimum employment standards.
and back a bit –
Apr 2010 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/ports-there-will-be-blood/LP7ORAETC6XS6VW73CRXXDCBBU/
And with thoughts of shipping how about another look at Whangarei and Marsden Point refinery.
Disappointing that so many on here are dissing an attempt to build long lasting infrastructure in Auckland, that will make a big difference to Auckland's emissions for decades.
It seem it is never the right time to spend money on AGW mitigation, despite all the talk from many on here.
BTW. Paying nurses more is current expenditure, while the bridge is long term investment which will pay off far into the future. Two different things.
Correct, of course, but some here seem to think that all Taxpayers’ dollars go into one big hat so that the Great Magician can pull rabbits out of the hat until all rabbits have been pulled. That’s the rabbit hole that many (here) have fallen into. In other words, it is all the same!