Have there been infil houses built in your street?
Are they still standing empty months aftter construction?
Micky Savage penned a post on the 30,000 empty houses in Auckland, (Now 40,000)
The Labour Government echoing the cries of the National opposition bought into the myth of not enough houses, the result was a building frenzy and now many of these newly built houses are standing empty, just waiting to be bulldozed.
We should have had an empty homes tax like they have in Vancouver.
Now it's too late.
Bring in an empty homes tax now and the banks and receivers will be even quicker to call in the bulldozers to avoiid paying it
An empty homes tax would be a good idea and it could be scaled.
It is never too late to rebalance the housing market or for the government to go back to the old state housing model (government control and funding) with modification where needed.
The way the numbers are written here casually suggests there are 40,000 empty newly built houses in Auckland standing empty, just waiting to be bulldozed.
The most political taboo sentence in NZ which is causing the most harm, is no new taxes on property.
Put another way the government are prepared to fund the social problems caused by the high rents and homelessness (and everything ugly as in between) but not to do what is needed. Tax to stop the gluttony of home investors.
I knew a comment would be made about how impractical a tax on a rent rise would be.
I think it would be effective when it came to an improportional rent rise. The average home is now worth $900,000. Never enough for the landlords who have wealth in mortar. The line needs to be redrawn, some renters are suffering financially and emotionally and the homeless are the worst off. Extensive social and personal problems are being experienced by those who struggle.
When it comes to Work and Income the abatements for earnings above the allowed extra income there is a system to manage that. A system can be designed at IRD for rent increases.
I think that was a wise comment Treetops. I like some of the other ideas, but not to bring in something that doesn't stop rents from rising merely because the value of the property is rising because of housing inflation – that's through the roof!
Perhaps there should be an allowance for landlords to put rents up annually at the rate of the CPI and also if there was a rise in bank interest. Anything higher than that would have to be justified by producing documents showing remedial work done on the place, plus a physical inspection by a tax inspector – they miss nothing!
A capital gains tax would also be pretty ineffectual. What is needed is a tax that is collected on a regular basis – annually, half-yearly, or suchlike – not one that is collected only after the house is sold.
To have any effect a tax would need to impact on a landlord's regular outgoings.
Mike, I understand your logic, but many landlords really are struggling from a revenue point of view, particularly as they have increasingly been loaded with additional expenses (insulation, heat pumps etc), and the phased removal of interest deductibility. Their entire investment model was based on capital gains.
Add on an additional tax, and almost certainly many will exit the market. Yes, that may be good for house prices, but I suspect the number of rentals available would dramatically drop, and consequently and ironically rents would increase.
This problem (rentals for tax free capital gain) was many years in the making. CBT is not a quick fix but would stop the speculators without harming the landlords in the here and now.
Mike, I understand your logic, but many landlords really are struggling from a revenue point of view,
Many landlords seem to have made some poor business decisions. It's about time we put them out of their misery. The alternative, CGT or Brightline Tax notwithstanding, will allow the present situation to continue indefinitely.
A property investors tax which treats the profit as secondary income.
Home investors have caused too much economic impact on the housing market, they have become like the banks in the US who caused the 2008 recession. The banks are also part of the problem financing those with collateral in the housing investment market.
A property investors tax which treats the profit as secondary income.
I would leave rental income untaxed, and replace it with a property tax of some sort. Of course, with rental income untaxed, expenses would not be deductible.
I do realise that the recent brightline test extention and the gradual loss of tax relief on interest for a housing loan will help. Whether or not this will be enough to rebalance the housing market will take time to be seen. I'd go full hog and just do what is needed immediately.
eg; There is a disproportionate amount of housing left vacant by landbanking profiteers considering NZ is swamped with both; primarily, and secondarily, homeless people. While maintenance & repairs may be safer & easier without occupying tenants, there has to be a limit. An empty building is not a residence, and should not be protected as such.
Actually, Treetop; I mistook this thread for 2.2… rather than 3.2… so my comment was a bit out of place, being more about empty houses than rent control. Though they are but different aspects of the same issue. That stuff article didn't seem to be the NZI one that Swarbrick referred to (in link below), but Jimmy seemed to be saying that there's been a bit of a flurry recently.
This passage stood out to me:
In a market like ours, renters are price-takers. There’s no bargaining power, and a sense of impermanence that itself creates constant upward wrenching of rents as landlords welcome new tenants at an increased price.
When you can’t put down roots, there’s no sense of belonging nor ownership and no incentive to invest in what could be your community. Kids move schools with each new neighbourhood. You can’t plan for a future you’re not afforded.
Afghanistan was always going to be another Vietnam. Senseless killing and fear until forced compliance and control is in the hands of those who commit the carnage.
Sadly most Islamic dominant countries are Conservative or, as you say, 'ultra Conservative'. The problem in these countries is religion, the more conservative the religion, the more 'right ' it tends to be.
It's really weird that we allow that in nz! Try set up any male only section in a pub ,club or golf course and there would be an uproar, but chuck a bit of religion in and it's all good.
From a geo-political perspective the land-locked, highly mountainous and fractured landscape ensured that Afghanistan was always going to be a relatively poor, tribal, fractured and conservative society. The elements of this play out everywhere.
That this geography is overlaid by an extremely conservative version of Islam is partly an accident of history, and partly a consequence of a religion that still struggles to separate state and mosque.
That the nation also lies at a strategic node in Asia, meaning it has been repeatedly invaded by everyone with an army for millenia, contributes to a highly insular political outlook.
Add all these things together and this horror bombing is merely another blood drenched paragraph in a massive volume of endless tragedy. And it seems no-one knows how to write an ending to it. Leave Afghanistan alone and they scribble more crazed prose like this; invade to impose modernity and they rebel with equal ferocity.
I'm not sure that it's at all useful to try and attribute 'blame' to a Gordian Knot like this – the roots of it are entangled deep in geography, history and ill-fortune. The scum who committed this bombing are of course absolutely culpable, but beyond this?
" I suspect it's simply arrogance and clumsiness from RL, rather than deep-seated racism."…I know it is a serious thing to call someone out as a racist, but RL has a serious habit of describing the people living in third world countries in the way he did right there, like an old school imperialist (he is like listening to BBC archives sometimes)…personally I think he might be way too enamoured with his sacred 'geopolitical' world view, which is very problematic IMO.
Peter chch I think that's a unique point – that the city dwellers and the tribal areas are coming from different places.
That has happened in India too and probably at the base of the terrible street crime which I think was of a group of men raping and then killing a young female student in a miniskirt (because she was improperly clothed in their beliefs?), and they attacked her male companion also.
Grey, TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote a great book 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' about his time in the Middle East in WW1.
Different area, but his insights I think are applicable to Afghanistan today in many ways. The desert Arabs were ultra conservative. The city Arabs largely embraced the Turkish and Western ways. The hill Arabs were altogether different again, as were coastal Arabs. Then you have religion (not all are Muslim by any means). Different sects within the religions. Differing tribal groups with differing culture. Bit of a tangle.
I well remember a book written by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a senior Taliban and Ambassador to Pakistan. Commenting on the destruction of the Buddhas in Bamiyan, he said (paraphrased) 'they might be Taliban, but not all Taliban have the same views. We could not stop them even though we tried'. Complex area for sure!
" The political right and their extreme hardline factions all over the world are responsible for the very worst atrocities we see today."
I think you left out the most important one…the extreme centre and their hardline fractions who are also all over the world causing untold misery and death…which only plays right into the hands of all the religious and political right extremists the world over, creating a cynical symbiotic loop that often benefits them both.
The USSR in Afghanistan engaged in total war from 1979 To mid 80s. 3 million refugees fled to Pakistan, from where the Taliban developed and the medieval theocracy of the next 20 years Spread across the border back to Afghanistan.
Well yes and no, yes the Russian invasion was a disaster for the people of Afghanistan, however the US had started arming and supporting the anti communist Islamists for their own reasons well before the '79 invasion and that group armed by the US is the 'medieval theocracy' that you speak of., which is exactly my point, the west (extreme centre) support/arm/enable even the most horrific leaders around the world if it suits their purpose…regardless of down stream negative effects on the population of those countries or their neighbours.
BTW If the Russians or Iranians had armed the Taliban to the level that the US armed the Mujahideen, the US would have left Afghanistan a long time ago.
The USSR was asked by the communist Afghan government for assistance in fighting internal enemies. In fact, the Russians were very reluctant to get involved at first, to the point that they suggested to president that he may need to water down his policies a little bit.
I think you will find that this was a religious sectarian event by the Sunnies against the Shias. A religious disagreement rather than a political act against those whom they do not consider true muslims..
Also what defines them is that they act in such a way, believing that differences that exist between people can justify the killing of 70 innocent girls.
This over the top reflex action from the PSA and CTU is disingenuous and reeks of greed in an unprecedented economic climate caused by a raging pandemic.
The Government is extending the pay freeze in a move to reduce debt from the Covid-19 response.
…
Ardern said the guidelines to the chief executives in the public sector was just a starting point and now there would be good faith negotiations with the unions.
…
"Our view has been despite the times we are in we have to keep lifting up the lowest pay."
The guidelines didn't stop teachers, police and nurses from moving through pay bands – it just didn't give any room for those pay bands to be adjusted, she said.
No. The base salary rate does not include penal rates and shift allowances. They are earned over and above one's salary and vary from pay packet to pay packet (so to speak) depending on an individual's roster rotations.
How disengenous is the PM. So the lack of pay band movement is ineffect a pay cut (and for those at the end of the band nothing)and in 4 years time when these get renegotiated Will the 4 year period of no movement be a starting point then add on pay increases? I think not
Yet the PM and MO’s will be benchmarked to the private sector so their increase will be adjusted to take into account the nil increases as the Remuneration Authority needs to maintain relativity.
“it just didn't give any room for those pay bands to be adjusted, she said.”
Perpahs this commentary to protect the poor is to cover up all the housing issues that have been failed to be addressed by the govt and the costs that have been incurred by many.
You really need to do something about this anti- government (read Ardern) paranoid condition you have been exhibiting for a long time now. I suggest you open up and admit you are really just trolling this site. It will make you feel a lot better. It really will.
Unfortunately Anne this Labour government's behaviour is open to criticism. Many who visit and write on this site are interested in the treatment of all citizens by government over a wide area of responsibilities, and where the Left is drifting off the course it set itself earlier in the 20th century, not just particular areas of personal concern.
You really need to do something about this anti- government (read Ardern) paranoid condition you have been exhibiting for a long time now. I suggest you open up and admit you are really just trolling this site. It will make you feel a lot better. It really will .
You know Anne, don't you, that calling into question the mental health of someone who disagrees with you says more about you than it does about your victim?
I disagree. reading many of herodotus' posts tells me more about their state of mind than reading annes posts. one comes across as open-minded, the other …not
Well Woodart that's your opinion and as someone who has suffered her personal abuse, I disagree.
As Grey says, this Labour government is open to criticism.
On TS we probably agree in general with the aims, but the 'Left' is a broad church and not all of us are slavishly members of a tribe and will support them regardless of what they do. Does not make H a troll. Why are some in the Left so self righteous and abusive to even mild dissenting viewpoints?
"why are some in the left so self righteous that they need to find an argument that doesnt concern them". there, fixed it for you. maybe, we should all look at the u.k. and see what endless bickering does for political stability. or, how to achieve defeat out of an expected victory. democracy is NOT an excuse to constantly whinge about the little details. (that last line will start whingeing about the right to whinge).
"and see what endless bickering does for political stability. or, how to achieve defeat out of an expected victory."What is the point of victory if those in need under National are still in need under Labour ? You could read from your comments that winning is everything denying the other side at all costs is all that matters.
This century we had had poor opposition, who then holds the government to account ? And what of those who benefited under National now receiving super profits under the policies of the current govt? IMO those who have supported the government need to raise their voices and speak out for those voiceless soles being left behind or being treated poorly/forgotten e.g. homeless, those in slum government paid short term accomodation. What was promised and why is delivery slow or not at all or areas within NZ that need attention e.g. The Environment and its climate consequences. Sure no government is perfect and issues will get missed,
I think some here have to open their eyes to see what is out there, or do you want this to be an ego chamber that the PM and Labour are just IT ??? This Labour party maybe the best for government at the moment given the options. BUT that does not mean to say that they do not have faults. This government (labour) has been in for 4 years now, and unless those who support do not demand that issues/faults are addressed then where do we go ??
And unlike you I would like to see things within NZ to improve, and if you follow any of my comments you will see I am firmly for the housing market to be sorted as IMO most of the problems arise from this, and labour are NOT doing it.
PM Ardern is talking about pay parity. This seem to mean that everybody will now earn the same for quite some time whilst the payback of the billions will need a bit more than that.
The issue is inflation, already going up with rates, rents and you know "healthy" food on the increase. (Roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on your back). It would not be so inconceivable if GST would go up. If wages are not, than you earn less. If you have a mortgage it will bite as interest rates will go back up again , maybe 2022? or later. (Roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on your back)
Selective austerity. Needs to start with a CGT to stem housing inflation, exempting the family home. Ardern has lost votes by not giving a wage increase to those on 60k and landlords votes are more important.
Is there a hidden message to landlords that those on $60k cannot afford a rent rise?
The cost of emergency housing 1 mil a day is here to stay unless the government find an alternative other than motels or hotels. A bed to sleep in is a human right.
The govt simply made a dumb mistake reverting to the 'sound finance' view when its gone out of fashion (even with the IMF). But when the public observed the 2020 wage subsidy coming in after years/a full decade of insistance on public spending limits the game was up on that narrative and people realised that the NZ govt doesn't face a budget constraint (e.g if it puts spending into the budget then that spending goes ahead).
While the govt are now trying to rewrite the narrative to say lower income pay rises will be prioritised, this doesn't require a spending cap but does require a review of public sector pay gradients. In fact a reasonable flattening would probably raise the public wage bill quite a bit, not shrink it.
What I expect as an outcome is the typical, some will be successfully promoted rapidly enough to get around it. Those who don't or can't work around the pay systems in their organisations will bare the brunt with no/minimal pay advances for several years. Some will go across into contracting, actually costing more and also removing accountability for delivery out of public institutions, and some will take their efforts away from the public sector.
Timing your ideologically motivated beltches wrong can be very politically costly. This is of course exactly on form from Labour who truely believe in their superior management of the economy supposedly leading to a rising economy based on govt surpluses (and paying no attention to expanding housing debt).
Yes, the country will need an effective and motivated public sector in the near future. Labour may need to give up their 'better economic managers' mentality before this can be fully and openly adopted.
"The events of the past week – so at odds with the old rules of the game – would suggest that not only have the rules changed radically, but so, too, has the name of the game itself. What our politicians now appear to be playing is a game called “Holding On To Power At All Costs”. It is predicated on voters having a smaller set of principles, and a larger collection of prejudices. A greater propensity to complain, but a reduced willingness to do anything more than post their displeasure on social media. Most important of all, it assumes that voters are rapidly losing the ability to act consistently from first principles; and that they no longer expect their politicians and political parties to even try."
Chris Trotter argues that Labour has thrown out the old Political Rule Book, and that the new game they’re playing is no longer called 'Democracy' but 'Holding On To Power At All Costs'
Holding On To Power At All Costs' ?
Well, if that was the case Labour would be doing the opposite to what they have done. That is, not only removing the pay freeze but giving the Pub. Servants a pay increase – at the expense of the lowest paid workers in the country.
Not if they charm the national voter to keep them in power.
Labour won the Covid election with a majority thanks to National voters.
As a result, we now have a single majority party that is tinkering on all edges but hardly doing anything at all. And the opposition is useless, either shattered as the National Party, or beginners as the Maori Party or more or less silent as is the Green Party.
And the stuff they do, comes several years late and chances are with not enough money, and oh, surely because some IT network needs to be redone, by hte highest bidder of course. Greasing hands makes for good future jobs.
The self test for cervical cancer that has been cancelled in 2018 to suddenly have priority is the best example. But then now there is a Labour person seriously ill with cervical cancer and a minister to boot, so yeah, i guess its now important. Now a cynical person like me will say that they need to throw money at this issue now, considering that one of their own has a good chance of dying. So here the party is doing the right thing, but 4 years to late, at least for that one person that is currently undergoing Cancer treatment.
National voters don't care one bit if poor people get poorer, if homeless people stay homeless, if poor kids schools fall apart with moldy rooms fit only for demolition. And Labour atm is by all means nothing more then National light. But with added kindness and withs some gentleness sprinkles in pretty sparkly colors..
Labour currently is not even trying to please the left, they like their very moderate, very conservative, national voters who like a surplus, so that when national wins again, national again has tax cuts to offer.
These two parties sit in the same boat, and they rowing in the same direction. Most of us however are not in the boat, and we are lucky when there is some debris to hold on to before drowining.
Speaking to The AM Show on Monday, Ardern confirmed Allan's diagnosis had not pushed the self-swab along.
"No, this was part of our budget work," she said.
"This was our first announcement that was a part of this year's budget. Obviously, quite a bit of work has gone into it. This is us responding to those calls for us to bring in a form of screening that we hope will lift the number of women involved in the screening programme of course we have existing screening but we are not reaching everyone."
considering that you are so concerned with people not making stuff up, please do not accuse people here on the Standard of drug use unless you have good proof that they do indeed take drugs. Some might really just disagree with you, and you could also get a person in legal trouble with you making up these stories.
As for the timing of the funding of this particular test:
The change was first promised in 2017, but attempts to get the programme funded in 2018, 2019, and 2020 were rejected.
“It is overdue,” she said. “But we understand that a lot of thought and money needs to go into developing these complicated IT systems.”
as I said, i am a cynical person, and there were more then just I who asked why the self test that was to be rolled out in 2018 was cancelled again and again for lack of funding, and now suddenly there is funding.
Personally i am very happy that it will hopefully be rolled out sooner rather then later, as quite a few women actually have issues with a GP or an OBGYN poking around in their private parts. But excuse me if I find the sudden announcement forced by happenings rather tehn budgeted.
Because that number of a 160 was the number for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and now 2021. Kiri Allan is just one of many.
And consider that women in this country are already on an IT database for cervical cancer smears and mamographies, so really it must be the most complicated IT system Ever.
And consider that women in this country are already on an IT database for cervical cancer smears and mamographies, so really it must be the most complicated IT system Ever.
There are completely separate databases for each screening programmes (with their own laws even in some cases), and NZ’s health IT systems are old and disconnected. A limited pool of suitable people is available to do the IT work, because that part of the health system has not been invested in enough by any governments in recent decades.
That is why the change to cervical self-screening was never started. It was not "cancelled" and the hold up was of official approval rather than 'funding' as such.
Without proper systems to manage risk and quality, no government in the world will launch any screening programme.
Bowel screening had to wait for that too. Breast screening is up for a major IT rework, including managing over 200k women who the current system misses out. About time.
After a five-year campaign by the medical community, highlighted by Minister Kiri Allan’s diagnosis in April, this change could see 1.4 million eligible women able to self-test from 2023.
i guess the cancer treatment costs should have been taken into account as to what is more affordable, chemo treatment, lost hours worked, lost income, dead women, widowers with children etc etc etc, all cheaper then that much vaunted IT system.
Myself and my team felt very sad… These are young whānau, it's very sad considering that it's now a preventable disease," she told Checkpoint.
The government was not serving women well on cervical cancer screening, she said.
"It's really failing a section of New Zealand, and its failure on two counts. One, it's not reaching everyone it should reach, because that's its responsibility as a programme. And secondly, it's using a poor test, a second-class test. What they're doing now is cytology – that is now a second-class test. There is now a gold standard test, which we should be using in New Zealand."
Dr Lawton said she was "totally baffled" why the self-swabbing test was not freely available yet.
"We were not talking a lot of money here. This was supposed to start in 2017.
"And it wasn't just the self-testing. It's moving to the gold standard test which is looking for the [HPV] virus.
"The primary test was supposed to be starting to be rolled out in 2017… Australia has HPV primary testing, the UK has, we're really behind. And this is women's lives at risk because of this.
"The self-testing is the new technology that's come into it, which is really exciting because that's just as good as if a doctor does it."
Dr Lawton said the cost of providing that test to New Zealand women would be about $40 million over three years.
A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said implementing the HPV screening roll-out “requires funding and is a decision for Government”.
I feel very comfortable with my thought that this would still not be an issue for Grant to fund – considering that they could not find the money the last four years, and that if Kiri Allan had not been diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, nothing much could be done. I can not see an IT system that complicated and costly, but then i don't work in Government and thus don't know how many people need to make money first on the IT system before the life of women is factured in the cost of that IT system.
Funding was needed for a new IT system, which would be built as a new component on the national bowel screening programme platform.
Please read what I have already written above about everything you just repeated. You saying it again and again does not make it true but it might mislead others.
Sacha you saying it has not been 'cancelled' but pushed up or held up or reconsidered or or or
fact is the initial roll out was planned for 2018 – i have provided ample evidence of that – coming from Health Leaders in this country btw, and it is now finally been giving funding – that was asked for several times by Healthleaders in this Country – again i provided evidence of that.
It is now planned to be rolled out in 2023.
So the IT system did not receive funding in 2018 or earlier, did not receive funding in 2019, 2020, and is still not working until 2023 because it will take three years for a component to be build to be tacked on to an already existing IT system. As per my last posts.
So you can argue about the word 'cancelled' and disagree with me until the cows come home, but never the less the fact stands that we don't have this self test available, because Funding was not granted by this government last time and now it came about because of the negative press in regards to the 'cancellation of the rollout' due to Kiri Allens diagnose.
And no matter how many will protest to the contrary and that includes the Prime Minister, the optics speak for itself.
But feel free to believe that we really did not have the money to create that extra data base for 1.7 million women who currently get either a phone call or a letter from their GP to remind them of their anual pap smear, or the letter from the DHB to remind them of their mammograms.
Feel free to read all the links that i have provided for you so that you see that I in fact make nothing up, and thus don't risk to mis-inform anyone. And considering that many many health official have literally begged this government over the last few years to finally get going on this, i am in very good company in my believes.
I am familiar not only with all the articles you have linked but with screening programmes and the NZ health system, especially the IT side. You are embarrassing yourself.
And the approval was in process before Kiri Allen became news. Honestly it's like watching someone try to pin reasons for a political poll result to something that randomly occurred in the same week rather than months earlier.
A prominent person of the Labour party got very very sick, due to not undergoing a pretty invasive method to obtain a pap smear.
The program that could have done a better job of providing said Labour person with a private at home self test was rejected/cancelled several times due to lack of funds (this is evident per the articles that i have linked to – its in the words 'FUNDING was not provided'.
And please provide a citation or link to the fact that the approval of funds was in process before Kiri Allen was diagnosed with a Stage 3 cervical Cancer with a 16% survival chance. Cause that is what it means to women and people with female centric plumbing who don't get tested in time due to what ever reason, and above all because they could not get it done at home.
It was always only ever about money, and that is the best reason i give this government. Any other reason would be callous, inhumane, and chances are has cost the live of quite a few women and others.
Bad press about the self tests not being made available, Health leaders pleading with government as to why this is not done and voila
You are embarrassing yourself in repeating that this is not connected, and that the only reason this did not happen is an IT program. It has been several years now for this much vaunted IT program to be written and implemented.
Here is an interesting interview with ex CIA officer Philip Agee..while watching it one can't help but wonder how it was so easy for so many so called left wingers to have just jumped straight into bed with this nefarious group of terrorists first over Trump/Russia and then Syria and now China (not to mention Venezuela)….the only conclusion one can come too is that these people never really believed in any progressive left project to start with, and that a deep rooted imperialist tendency was always lurking just below the surface in their hearts..who knows, but it is pretty awful when you think about it for two seconds, that is for sure.
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a 1955 novel by Sloan Wilson about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. The main characters, Tom and Betsy Rath, are a young middle-class couple that share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture, while several other characters fight essentially the same battle, but for different reasons. In the end, it is a story about taking responsibility for one's own life.
The novel was the basis for the popular 1956 film of the same name starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones as Tom and Betsy Rath.
Winston Peters – will he ride (rise?) again? And the question about the new planned policies that bring Maori to the fore – will it lead to separatism and a schism despite attempts by thinkers to enable Maori to exert authority in ways satisfactory to them and within the purpose-built political system that NZ has attempted in fits and starts.
I reckon NZ First will return and without Winston at the helm. Winston was looking very tired during the last election champaign. Collins would be gleeful about no pay rise for public servants as this will give her milage until the next election or the person who cancels her leadership. The only saviour for the public service austerity is if WFF tops up the public service workers.
Money borrowed needs to be repaid, how and who repays it is the question?
In a statement, the university's proctor Dave Scott said it would only be used as a last resort. "The vast majority of our students do the right thing when it comes to rubbish. For those who do not, the process is firstly one of engagement and education where we work closely with students to seek the desired outcomes," he said…
Once a policeman, always…?
2018…Dave Scott, a former police officer, spoke to media on Tuesday, hours after he apologised to the Leith St occupants for his actions. The proctor's role is essentially a student supervisor…
Lawyers around New Zealand have said his actions could amount to unlawful entry. The University of Otago's proctor says he made an "error of judgment" entering a student flat and removing three bongs, but maintains he is no "criminal"…
The university could go into the rubbish removal business and employ some of the students to clean up the rubbish outside and encourage students to not hoard rubbish inside so the next rent rise could be afforded. Diversification is good and rubbish removal is profitable.
Sounds like a sound idea Treetop – using their initiative and youthful enthusiasm. The university has tried to help I must point out,. There is mention of a trailer that comes with brooms and shovels and if they can get it to the dump its free. However I still don't agree with daily fines; if you are in a shared flat everyone has to pull their weight and the burden would go on the one most worried about it. The rest may have wealthy daddies who would pay.
The obvious practical and timely way for those trying to cope and avoid a fine is to sneak out at night and leave it by rubbish bins away from their 'digs'. But people struggling to cope in some way, with their study to do and get in in time, it is I think hard. Perhaps sanctions like not being admitted to their favourite pub would work. They seem a boozy lot down there looking at media stories.
What about something like garden and section competitions where everyone could get a prize e.g. free rubbish bags, food cards when there is an improvement or consistency?
As for the bigger furniture items breaking them down and a free skip periodically as required. Never should a TV or microwave be broken down.
Simple – if they don't clean up their pigsty, evict them. I'll bet they wouldn't get away with this in their own homes. A free skip for furniture etc is probably a good idea, but ffs surely they can be expected to live like civilised people in a community.
Did Grant Robertson not really understand who would be affected by the pay freeze? Is it a manufactured response by the lower income workers and their unions as this article seems to imply – 'the narrative shifted'? The people at the lower end of the pay band were bound to be ropable about it.
“I don’t think that Labour was quite prepared for the outpouring from the public and in particular from the unions, says RNZ’s deputy political editor Craig McCulloch. “I think it was caught quite off guard by the fury and how quickly the narrative shifted to be about teachers, about nurses, about police officers….
But McCulloch says what’s happened instead is the idea of a responsible government reining in spending has been pushed aside and replaced with an image of a miserly, punitive one….
(Bank economist from usual cloud floating above our heads with perspective that money for the plebs comes from a pot of limited size to dependent Olivers).
Sharon Zollner, the chief economist of the ANZ, says last year’s massive wage subsidy saw us left with a huge debt for size of our economy – we have borrowed from the future… “It’s a tightening up – I mean it’s inevitable – well, hopefully – that the government is going to spend less in the next 12 months than it has in the last 12 months because that wage subsidy is one out of the box. It was massive. And something would have to go terribly horribly wrong in the economy for us to need to spend that much government money again,” she says. https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018794549/pay-freezing-out-your-traditional-voter-base
Interesting to know –https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/442210/elon-musk-reveals-he-has-asperger-s "Look, I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but that's just how my brain works," he said. "To anyone who's been offended, I just want to say I reinvented electric cars, and I'm sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"
.
https://www.healthline.com/health/aspergers-vs-autism Asperger's and autism are no longer considered separate diagnoses. People who may have previously received an Asperger's diagnosis instead now receive an autism diagnosis. But many people who were diagnosed with Asperger's before the diagnostic criteria changed in 2013 are still perceived as “having Asperger's.”16/04/2020
More boys than girls diagnosed, and when the diagnosis is reviewed previous ratios have decreased to about 3 male to 1 female.
.
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/autisms-sex-ratio-explained/ Would the sex ratio disappear if these diagnostic biases could be overcome?
Probably not. Researchers have found a 3-to-1 ratio even when they have followed children from infancy and repeatedly screened them for autism, minimizing the possibility for biases in diagnosis and referral. The children in these studies have a family history of autism, however, so they may be fundamentally different from other children with the condition, says Daniel Messinger, professor of psychology at the University of Miami.
When historian Edith Sheffer arrived at the Vienna archives to learn more about Dr. Hans Asperger, a pediatrician credited with identifying and defining autism in the 1940s, she was excited to learn about the scientist. Her son had been diagnosed with Asperger’s when he was 17 months old.
But Sheffer did not find what she expected. “Literally, the very first file I found on my very first day was his district party file that testified to his involvement in the racial hygiene measures of the Third Reich,” she told me.
While Asperger was never a member of the Nazi Party, Sheffer discovered that he played a critical role in identifying children with disabilities and sending dozens to Spiegelgrund, a children’s ward in Vienna where adolescents were euthanized or subjected to experimentation. Her research culminated in her new book, Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna.
For Sheffer, the story is also personal because of her now middle-school-age son. And in light of Asperger’s past, a movement has sprung up, spearheaded by an 11-year-old boy with autism, to change the name from Asperger’s syndrome to social communication disorder. The Change.org petition has gathered more than 28,000 signatures as of Monday.
Well what an unpleasant connection between the condition and the name. I can understand a desire to cut that connection. It would be good to sign that petition and facilitate that.
Plenty of Aspies can't be assed with this name change. Aspies we are Aspies we'll be. People who are not Aspergers getting offended on our behalf should fuck off.
This article is two years old thanks for bringing your faux outrage back into the light. People in ASD groups are being asked to drop this shit and leave us alone.
And in light of Asperger’s past, a movement has sprung up, spearheaded by an 11-year-old boy with autism, to change the name from Asperger’s syndrome to social communication disorder.
Cool it WTB. If other people don't want the name why shouldn't they have the right to ask for the official name to change. No-one should can tell you change your way of describing it.
Why should I cool it. I'm not the non-ASD people using a years old article to be talking nonsense about all this. I have the condition, I research the condition. So read.
Aspergers was used to refer to 'high functioning' autistic people. High functioning is a misnomer, most of us need help in one or more areas or we struggle to become productive members of society. Correct diagnosis and help can make a big difference.
As a general rule all we want is to belong to a team and be able to contribute. Look at Elon's contribution, pretty damn good. I've invented things that'll help mankind too, just not as flashy, and I'm still poor, dirty smelly poor.
The term Aspergers was officially dropped because Autism is a spectrum, and the high functioning term was problematic with people expecting rain man to show up. That's why the change, but many Aspies simply stuck with what they knew. We, as a rule, don't enjoy change (unless we pioneer it).
My symptoms do not include genocidal. I couldn't care who Aspergers was, it's our word now even if it's going to disappear in a generation or two.
It sounds like a request for designation change. CFS has gone through different names – now Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but also Myalgic Encephylitis and others.
'Commerce Commission to Probe Building Materials Sector – Grant Robertson'
Houses in the US and Victoria and NSW are so much cheaper than NZ. Sure, we have earthquake resilience issues that Australia does not have and are a small market, but the materials being used here are very limited in variety compared to overseas, and comparitivly very high in cost. And labour very low.
So why such large differences in price? Lets hope this leads somewhere.
This is the link to the article, unfortunately paywalled.
No matter how much of a 'joke' Phil Twyford was, he was the only one in this government who actually tried to build houses. He did not succeed, thanks to private businesses and many other factors but at least he tried.
But for Grant to say after 9 years in opposition to National, and 4 years in government to 'pledge' a probe into the building monopolies in NZ just leaves me with one question. Where did Grant live the last 20 odd years, and how much of that time has he spend in Government? And he still needs to 'probe' the most open secret in NZ. Namely that end users are being screwed over by a few monopolies?
Yeah, three years at least, and then we will need to vote this guy back in again, so he can 'change ' it. Right? Do you really believe that? 🙂
A market study (referred to as a ‘competition study’ in the Bill) is a study into any factors that may affect competition for the supply or acquisition of goods or services.
Market studies:
provide a means of identifying what’s going on in a market and why
focus on the structure and behaviour of the market itself — as opposed to a competition enforcement investigation, which focuses on the actions of a specific company
can provide a market ‘a clean bill of health’ or make recommendations to address any impediments to competition.
major German-headquartered company is undercutting Fletcher Building by selling its insulation for half the price.
Stuart Dunbar, Knauf Insulation general manager for Australia and New Zealand, said his business was able to supply New Zealand builders with insulation for 50% less than Fletcher products.
He criticised high prices here and said competition was great for consumers and might help lower residential construction prices.
"The cost of building a house in New Zealand is amongst the highest in the world because components to make houses are more expensive," he said.
Commerce Commission inquiry needed into building supplies monopoly
The Commerce Commission must stop dragging the chain and urgently investigate the anti-competitive practices in the building industry that are driving up the cost of building materials, says Labour's Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
“Competition in the building materials market is essential to lowering building costs, according to the Productivity Commission’s analysis. But Knauf Plasterboard has said it is reviewing its position in New Zealand after posting a loss in its first nine months after struggling to break through the building materials monopoly.
oss of wallboards division defends 94 per cent market share as outcome of inquiry looms.
The head of Fletcher Buildings' Winstone Wallboards is defending its dominant New Zealand plasterboard position, as the company awaits a Commerce Commission ruling.
General manager David Thomas said Winstone Wallboards had a 94 per cent market share but only because it manufactured and delivered the best product to customers.
"People do have other options and they have had for the last 20 years," Thomas said, citing Elephant Plasterboard and other products including Chinese board.
sorry, but it is the best kept open secret in NZ, and it has been known for some years now. But i am happy to see that someone from the Labour Party pledges to do something. Soon.
The disagreement with Sabine isnt over the 'jacked up' prices for building supplies. Which are there. But powers of Commerce Commission ( which isnt productivity Commission)
I have personal experience in the pricing of windows and doors and NZ has a proliferation of small window assemblers and each house is different sized windows.
With scores of different colours to choose….like 8 different 'whites'
Australia seems happy to have some standard sizes for group builders and maybe 12-15 colours to choose from.
The NZ system for huge variation is mostly used in Australia for higher end archtectural homes… which we have as well on top of the 'standard ' designs
I am just amused that a man who spend his whole life in politics and no where else btw needs to have a thoothless body "study" the abuse of certain businesses in NZ to see if people are being screwed over. I still think its funny. 🙂
My personal opinion is simply that NZ is such a small market that most people are quite happy to screw everyone over in order to make a quick buck. And it does not matter if that is the cost of milk, butter, meat, carpet, wood, or crappy bendy aluminium windows. The only time kiwis seem to spend money is when they buy houses for their own use. If its a rental everything needs to be as cheap as possible, after all the tenants will just fuck it. Everything else is she'll be right.
And thus it is for all businesses down to the last one.
And you can study that for the next decade or several, i doubt he will change anything.
So, you don't have a disagreement with me. You just did not like that i think this is all very funny.
Yeh it’s a worry, Jimmy! I was there myself this morning after the school-run (fortunately not during the attack).
Though we’re not dealing with a criminal mastermind/ terrorist here. The police didn’t even bother putting him in the car, they just walked him across the carpark to the central police station right next door.
edit: I see the Herald also has that bit about the bystander seeing hysterical girls, assuming they were shoplifting and detaining (presumably by grabbing) them. How is that even an appropriate response, let alone legal? Though I imagine the police had other things on their mind, so it’ll end there.
It seems that random violence is showing up a bit everywhere. Stabbings today in Dunedin, the other day shootings in AKL, someone got bashed over the head in Invercargill, people killed in Wellington and Christchurch. It just seems to be way more then usual.
Homicides are running at similar levels to previous years.
Gun violence is definitely up and is connected to drug trade money and mostly gang members and associates ( some times other relatives like the grandmother in Favona)
This is seriously horrifying, yet also strangely poetic:
A spokesperson for the junta did not answer calls to request comment on the death of Khet Thi, who had penned the line “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know the revolution is in the heart.”…
“I was interrogated. So was he. They said he was at the interrogation centre. But he didn’t come back, only his body,” his wife, Chaw Su, told BBC Burmese language news .
“They called me in the morning and told me to meet him at the hospital in Monywa. I thought it was just for a broken arm or something … But when I arrived here, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out,” she said.
She had been told at the hospital he had a heart problem
Water in Canterbury. When the rivers are no longer fed by snows from the mountains what will they do these farming and business pragmatists. Let 'them' suck cactus or something.
Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) is being accused of creating a monster that it can no longer control when it comes to degraded water quality in the region. That is according to Federation of Freshwater Anglers, which has been testing the Selwyn River and has found polluting nitrates have increased by up to 50 percent in the space of just 22 months.
The federation's president and long time angler Peter Trolove had been monitoring the Selwyn with the help of a nitrate tester, bought with a grant from a pub charity.
The Selwyn, which people could no longer swim in, was once a top trout fishing destination. "If you go back before World War Two, it was considered one of the top half dozen trout fisheries in the dominion. And they had fish counts of over 200,000 trout going up the river, and it's fallen to, well, I don't know if they find any now."
Fascinating seeing certain sections of the left show how absolutely out of touch they are by defending high paid civil servants and bureaucrats who have failed time and time again, at the border by embarrassing the govt with the fiasco earlier in the year, in our prisons, at OT , by making horrendous decisions in health. It's amazing to see certain factions of the left defend unelected useless civil servants with too much power and calling the govt anti union while govt implements strongest pro union reforms in decades.
There will be no solidarity with high paid MSD workers and their ilk and if the PSA thinks the public supports the people who blackmail poor people with their nudes and throw people off welfare it's so deliciously out of touch.
If the other unions about to receive more power who represent lower paid workers side with the PSA it'll mind blowingly self defeating and HILARIOUS.
I'm enjoying watching the wellington mafia and the green and Champagne socialists furious their mates will only get two visits to melbourne a year instead of three with an annual trip to europe (it's the bourgeoisie god given right 🤣) into some kind of attack on low paid workers from a govt that has continued raising min wage and even benefits and strengthened unions in an unprecedented economic crisis in a heavily neoliberal country.
I can't wait for MSD workers and ird workers who spend their lives ruining poor peoples lives and telling people to live within their means with signs saying "more money for msd case managers" delicious
Commissioner John Edwards has concluded that the ministry has been unjustifiably intruding on the lives of beneficiaries.
Since 2012, the ministry has been bypassing beneficiaries and going to third parties for information.
Mr Edwards said that's allowed fraud investigators to collect large amounts of highly sensitive information about beneficiaries without their knowledge.
The information collected included text messages, domestic violence and other police records, banking information and other billing records.
As part of the inquiry, Mr Edwards said they reviewed MSD files that contained text messages between couples, of a sexual or intimate nature.
"In one instance, a beneficiary described to us how MSD obtained, from a telecommunications company, an intimate picture shared by that individual with a sexual partner. The photograph was then produced at an interview by MSD investigators seeking an explanation for it."
Commissioner John Edwards has concluded that the ministry has been unjustifiably intruding on the lives of beneficiaries.
That started in the 1990s under the guidance of that dreadful woman, Christine Rankin. It was the start of the reign of terror known as the Benefit Fraud Squad made up of perfed police officers. They placed my 92 year old mother – who was quite frail with moderate dementia – and myself (her carer) under surveillance. They also rang a few times ostensibly to ask questions, but really checking whether I was there. I also witnessed them make a note of my car particulars parked in the driveway, so presumably they were planning to follow me in my car as well. After a very sharply worded letter to the local WINZ boss, the activity stopped.
Since then, I have had much empathy for beneficiaries suffering a similar fate who may not have the ability to be able to do what I did and get it stopped.
He also introduced new language for discussing the pay restraint’s bands.
“The guidance breaks down three categories for public sector pay, ‘lift’ (those at $60,000 or below), ‘adjust’ (those between $60 and $100,000) and ‘hold’ (those above $100,000).”
your wages aren't being frozen for three years, they are just on "hold".
Is this woman twisting the story more than a little? Especially at the end where she blames a man for believing a young woman who has lied about her age. It's All His Fault the rotter. She doesn't like males herself, but men who still like females are wrong is the message given.
That Greenburg/ Gaetz victim was known to them initially through an online tag that mentioned her birthyear wasn't she, Grey? Anyway – they are the adults, she was the child; so they were the ones who had the duty to be certain about her age, even if that killed the mood.
That said, one advantage of the pandemic has been that there have been fewer Yankee ephebophiles over in Aotearoa this past year. I don't pretend to understand why anyone would want to have sexual relations with a teenager – even another teenager! The allure of the forbidden? Something to do while over visiting their money in the NZ$ /Cook Islands tax haven? But there is apparently a fair bit of grey area between formal prostitution (restricted 18+) and sugar-daddies in our laws (blanket 16 year old consent age), or maybe just their enforcement?
Anyway; the Guardian article is mainly about maassassin's TikTok clips of being approached by a strange man for the first time. That; "nice to meet you too", automatically parroted while her body language was pleading; "please don't kill me", was quite saddening. But then many men don't realize quite how intimidating they can appear to strangers, and it's impossible to know what the rudely intrusive (at the very least) individual's own body language was like in that interaction. It is in the Opinion section, so I can't be too upset that Donegan is giving her own opinion in response to the footage.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
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What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
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They need to sort this quickly. Front line workers shouldn't be penalised for getting vaccinated.
Covid-19 coronavirus: Many port workers missing out on vaccine, union boss says – NZ Herald
The rise of the ghost development.
Have there been infil houses built in your street?
Are they still standing empty months aftter construction?
Micky Savage penned a post on the 30,000 empty houses in Auckland, (Now 40,000)
The Labour Government echoing the cries of the National opposition bought into the myth of not enough houses, the result was a building frenzy and now many of these newly built houses are standing empty, just waiting to be bulldozed.
We should have had an empty homes tax like they have in Vancouver.
Now it's too late.
Bring in an empty homes tax now and the banks and receivers will be even quicker to call in the bulldozers to avoiid paying it
An empty homes tax would be a good idea and it could be scaled.
It is never too late to rebalance the housing market or for the government to go back to the old state housing model (government control and funding) with modification where needed.
NZ never has had the State provide the majority of rental accommodation even at the height of State housing building post WWII.
… with modification where needed.
State housing needs to become competitive with home investors.
The way the numbers are written here casually suggests there are 40,000 empty newly built houses in Auckland standing empty, just waiting to be bulldozed.
Is that so?
Infill housing… standing empty. Yes.
Ive noticed that too. The ones Ive seen arent completely finished yet. Ive assumed its because they are rising in value so fast , why sell them now
Another article by Stuff on rent controls.
Explainer: What are rent controls, and would they actually make things better for renters? | Stuff.co.nz
Almost zero useful information in there.
Is the rent that a landlord gets considered as income?
If so a new tax could be implemented on a rent increase. Zero or minimal tax for a minimal rent rise and hefty for a hefty rent rise.
I am inclined to think that the rental income should be tax free, but replaced by a property tax based on the value of the value of the property.
The most political taboo sentence in NZ which is causing the most harm, is no new taxes on property.
Put another way the government are prepared to fund the social problems caused by the high rents and homelessness (and everything ugly as in between) but not to do what is needed. Tax to stop the gluttony of home investors.
Treetop, One of the great things about the NZ tax system is its simplicity. What you are proposing would be a chartered accountants wet dream.
Differential tax rates just encourages tax avoidance and creates yet another layer of unproductive government workers to arbitrarily administer it.
Must be a better way.
I knew a comment would be made about how impractical a tax on a rent rise would be.
I think it would be effective when it came to an improportional rent rise. The average home is now worth $900,000. Never enough for the landlords who have wealth in mortar. The line needs to be redrawn, some renters are suffering financially and emotionally and the homeless are the worst off. Extensive social and personal problems are being experienced by those who struggle.
When it comes to Work and Income the abatements for earnings above the allowed extra income there is a system to manage that. A system can be designed at IRD for rent increases.
“Must be a better way.”
Separate way of doing rental income???
Treetop, personally I think a meaningful Capital Gains Tax and one that is enforced.
Kill the speculators after capital gains and that will pressure rents downwards.
Capital Gains Tax is a politically taboo word.
Homelessness is not a politically taboo word.
It is necessary to do what you say, but the government will cut their nose off to spite their face.
I think that was a wise comment Treetops. I like some of the other ideas, but not to bring in something that doesn't stop rents from rising merely because the value of the property is rising because of housing inflation – that's through the roof!
Perhaps there should be an allowance for landlords to put rents up annually at the rate of the CPI and also if there was a rise in bank interest. Anything higher than that would have to be justified by producing documents showing remedial work done on the place, plus a physical inspection by a tax inspector – they miss nothing!
What has driven housing inflation to go through the roof?
Yes some sort of index needs to be used for a rent rise.
“Capital Gains Tax is a politically taboo word.”
A capital gains tax would also be pretty ineffectual. What is needed is a tax that is collected on a regular basis – annually, half-yearly, or suchlike – not one that is collected only after the house is sold.
To have any effect a tax would need to impact on a landlord's regular outgoings.
Mike, I understand your logic, but many landlords really are struggling from a revenue point of view, particularly as they have increasingly been loaded with additional expenses (insulation, heat pumps etc), and the phased removal of interest deductibility. Their entire investment model was based on capital gains.
Add on an additional tax, and almost certainly many will exit the market. Yes, that may be good for house prices, but I suspect the number of rentals available would dramatically drop, and consequently and ironically rents would increase.
This problem (rentals for tax free capital gain) was many years in the making. CBT is not a quick fix but would stop the speculators without harming the landlords in the here and now.
Mike, I understand your logic, but many landlords really are struggling from a revenue point of view,
Many landlords seem to have made some poor business decisions. It's about time we put them out of their misery. The alternative, CGT or Brightline Tax notwithstanding, will allow the present situation to continue indefinitely.
A property investors tax which treats the profit as secondary income.
Home investors have caused too much economic impact on the housing market, they have become like the banks in the US who caused the 2008 recession. The banks are also part of the problem financing those with collateral in the housing investment market.
A property investors tax which treats the profit as secondary income.
I would leave rental income untaxed, and replace it with a property tax of some sort. Of course, with rental income untaxed, expenses would not be deductible.
Like "Rates"? Or charged with the rates.
Yes or a CGT each year.
I do realise that the recent brightline test extention and the gradual loss of tax relief on interest for a housing loan will help. Whether or not this will be enough to rebalance the housing market will take time to be seen. I'd go full hog and just do what is needed immediately.
Yep Treetop. Early in the election cycle so good timing. It is necessary and just, so just do it Labour!
unproportional not
improportional.Disproportionate.
eg; There is a disproportionate amount of housing left vacant by landbanking profiteers considering NZ is swamped with both; primarily, and secondarily, homeless people. While maintenance & repairs may be safer & easier without occupying tenants, there has to be a limit. An empty building is not a residence, and should not be protected as such.
I have burst out laughing when I saw disproportionate as I was none the wiser until your comment.
An empty building is not a residence, and should not be protected as such.
I think I recall insurance providers needing to be told about homes being vacant after a time period.
Actually, Treetop; I mistook this thread for 2.2… rather than 3.2… so my comment was a bit out of place, being more about empty houses than rent control. Though they are but different aspects of the same issue. That stuff article didn't seem to be the NZI one that Swarbrick referred to (in link below), but Jimmy seemed to be saying that there's been a bit of a flurry recently.
This passage stood out to me:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/may/09/everyone-deserves-a-decent-secure-life-its-time-new-zealand-talked-about-rent-controls
I hope Peter @ 2.2 gets back to you!
Housing security is a basic human need so a person can flourish.
Ultra-conservatives kill 70 schoolgirls in Afghanistan:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/my-sister-had-so-many-dreams-kabul-blasts-kill-nearly-70-schoolgirls/GO7JJSXSSCJMZTXVFYXJA3U6VI/
The political right and their extreme hardline factions all over the world are responsible for the very worst atrocities we see today.
Afghanistan was always going to be another Vietnam. Senseless killing and fear until forced compliance and control is in the hands of those who commit the carnage.
Utterly heartbreaking.
Sadly most Islamic dominant countries are Conservative or, as you say, 'ultra Conservative'. The problem in these countries is religion, the more conservative the religion, the more 'right ' it tends to be.
Even in NZ, try visiting a Mosque. You will be made very welcome, but sadly the males and females are directed to separate rooms for prayer.
It's really weird that we allow that in nz! Try set up any male only section in a pub ,club or golf course and there would be an uproar, but chuck a bit of religion in and it's all good.
Try to set up boys or girls only schools in NZ … Oh, we do have single sex schools here … Sheesh.
Single sex schools are a shit idea imho.
From a geo-political perspective the land-locked, highly mountainous and fractured landscape ensured that Afghanistan was always going to be a relatively poor, tribal, fractured and conservative society. The elements of this play out everywhere.
That this geography is overlaid by an extremely conservative version of Islam is partly an accident of history, and partly a consequence of a religion that still struggles to separate state and mosque.
That the nation also lies at a strategic node in Asia, meaning it has been repeatedly invaded by everyone with an army for millenia, contributes to a highly insular political outlook.
Add all these things together and this horror bombing is merely another blood drenched paragraph in a massive volume of endless tragedy. And it seems no-one knows how to write an ending to it. Leave Afghanistan alone and they scribble more crazed prose like this; invade to impose modernity and they rebel with equal ferocity.
I'm not sure that it's at all useful to try and attribute 'blame' to a Gordian Knot like this – the roots of it are entangled deep in geography, history and ill-fortune. The scum who committed this bombing are of course absolutely culpable, but beyond this?
RL is so right about the invasions. They go back to Persian Conquests – Median c. 678 BC–c. 549 BC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medes
While relatively little detail is known, parts of the region of nowadays Afghanistan came under rule of the Median kingdom for a short time.
Afghanistan partially fell to the Achaemenid Empire after it was conquered by Darius I of Persia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasions_of_Afghanistan#Purpose
Help Afghanistanis by buying a war rug! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_rugs
@RedLogix, " Leave Afghanistan alone and they scribble more crazed prose like this; invade to impose modernity and they rebel with equal ferocity. "
Seriously….did you mean that to sound as racist as it is?
I know you are an imperialist at heart, but you usually hide it's racist root ideology a bit better than that.
Adrian, RL's post is no way racist. He explained very clearly why they are like they are today, a point further expanded upon by Grey.
The only bit RL missed is that the city dwellers in Afghanistan are very different, and want modernity, but the tribal areas are as RL said.
And as for racism, I had a Afghan taxi driver a few months back. I have never heard such unadulterated racist bigoted hate. Cuts both ways.
It reads like, 'we, the powerful and just' can either "leave Afghanistan alone", or "invade to impose modernity".
Adrian has a point, but I suspect it's simply arrogance and clumsiness from RL, rather than deep-seated racism.
" I suspect it's simply arrogance and clumsiness from RL, rather than deep-seated racism."…I know it is a serious thing to call someone out as a racist, but RL has a serious habit of describing the people living in third world countries in the way he did right there, like an old school imperialist (he is like listening to BBC archives sometimes)…personally I think he might be way too enamoured with his sacred 'geopolitical' world view, which is very problematic IMO.
No argument from me.
Peter chch I think that's a unique point – that the city dwellers and the tribal areas are coming from different places.
That has happened in India too and probably at the base of the terrible street crime which I think was of a group of men raping and then killing a young female student in a miniskirt (because she was improperly clothed in their beliefs?), and they attacked her male companion also.
Grey, TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote a great book 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' about his time in the Middle East in WW1.
Different area, but his insights I think are applicable to Afghanistan today in many ways. The desert Arabs were ultra conservative. The city Arabs largely embraced the Turkish and Western ways. The hill Arabs were altogether different again, as were coastal Arabs. Then you have religion (not all are Muslim by any means). Different sects within the religions. Differing tribal groups with differing culture. Bit of a tangle.
I well remember a book written by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a senior Taliban and Ambassador to Pakistan. Commenting on the destruction of the Buddhas in Bamiyan, he said (paraphrased) 'they might be Taliban, but not all Taliban have the same views. We could not stop them even though we tried'. Complex area for sure!
" The political right and their extreme hardline factions all over the world are responsible for the very worst atrocities we see today."
I think you left out the most important one…the extreme centre and their hardline fractions who are also all over the world causing untold misery and death…which only plays right into the hands of all the religious and political right extremists the world over, creating a cynical symbiotic loop that often benefits them both.
Yes but not just 'right'.
The USSR in Afghanistan engaged in total war from 1979 To mid 80s. 3 million refugees fled to Pakistan, from where the Taliban developed and the medieval theocracy of the next 20 years Spread across the border back to Afghanistan.
Well yes and no, yes the Russian invasion was a disaster for the people of Afghanistan, however the US had started arming and supporting the anti communist Islamists for their own reasons well before the '79 invasion and that group armed by the US is the 'medieval theocracy' that you speak of., which is exactly my point, the west (extreme centre) support/arm/enable even the most horrific leaders around the world if it suits their purpose…regardless of down stream negative effects on the population of those countries or their neighbours.
BTW If the Russians or Iranians had armed the Taliban to the level that the US armed the Mujahideen, the US would have left Afghanistan a long time ago.
The USSR was asked by the communist Afghan government for assistance in fighting internal enemies. In fact, the Russians were very reluctant to get involved at first, to the point that they suggested to president that he may need to water down his policies a little bit.
Thats like saying, quite correctly, the South Vietnamese government asked for the US help. It kind of misses the mark.
I think you will find that this was a religious sectarian event by the Sunnies against the Shias. A religious disagreement rather than a political act against those whom they do not consider true muslims..
It is still an act by conservative extremists even if in a conservative society.
It is the conservatism which defines them; religiously, socially, and politically.
Also what defines them is that they act in such a way, believing that differences that exist between people can justify the killing of 70 innocent girls.
Totally agree with Ardern's perspective on the Public Service pay freeze:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ardern-says-public-sector-pay-freeze-excludes-the-too-many-low-paid-workers-in-nz/GQQJ5M6JAKZQ2ZOOXZS54LBCGM/
This over the top reflex action from the PSA and CTU is disingenuous and reeks of greed in an unprecedented economic climate caused by a raging pandemic.
I am curious, is the $60,000 the base rate salary or does that include penal rates eg time and a half or anti-social hours allowance?
A general question, not necessarily for you to answer, Anne.
I am a former public servant who worked shifts.
No. The base salary rate does not include penal rates and shift allowances. They are earned over and above one's salary and vary from pay packet to pay packet (so to speak) depending on an individual's roster rotations.
Thanks.
How disengenous is the PM. So the lack of pay band movement is ineffect a pay cut (and for those at the end of the band nothing)and in 4 years time when these get renegotiated Will the 4 year period of no movement be a starting point then add on pay increases? I think not
Yet the PM and MO’s will be benchmarked to the private sector so their increase will be adjusted to take into account the nil increases as the Remuneration Authority needs to maintain relativity.
“it just didn't give any room for those pay bands to be adjusted, she said.”
Perpahs this commentary to protect the poor is to cover up all the housing issues that have been failed to be addressed by the govt and the costs that have been incurred by many.
You really need to do something about this anti- government (read Ardern) paranoid condition you have been exhibiting for a long time now. I suggest you open up and admit you are really just trolling this site. It will make you feel a lot better. It really will.
Unfortunately Anne this Labour government's behaviour is open to criticism. Many who visit and write on this site are interested in the treatment of all citizens by government over a wide area of responsibilities, and where the Left is drifting off the course it set itself earlier in the 20th century, not just particular areas of personal concern.
You really need to do something about this anti- government (read Ardern) paranoid condition you have been exhibiting for a long time now. I suggest you open up and admit you are really just trolling this site. It will make you feel a lot better. It really will .
You know Anne, don't you, that calling into question the mental health of someone who disagrees with you says more about you than it does about your victim?
I disagree. reading many of herodotus' posts tells me more about their state of mind than reading annes posts. one comes across as open-minded, the other …not
Well Woodart that's your opinion and as someone who has suffered her personal abuse, I disagree.
As Grey says, this Labour government is open to criticism.
On TS we probably agree in general with the aims, but the 'Left' is a broad church and not all of us are slavishly members of a tribe and will support them regardless of what they do. Does not make H a troll. Why are some in the Left so self righteous and abusive to even mild dissenting viewpoints?
I think that is called democracy….
"why are some in the left so self righteous that they need to find an argument that doesnt concern them". there, fixed it for you. maybe, we should all look at the u.k. and see what endless bickering does for political stability. or, how to achieve defeat out of an expected victory. democracy is NOT an excuse to constantly whinge about the little details. (that last line will start whingeing about the right to whinge).
Agree re UK bickering, but dissent can be very positive, just so long as it is not endless bickering!
'Whinging about the right to whinge'. Classic line!
"and see what endless bickering does for political stability. or, how to achieve defeat out of an expected victory."What is the point of victory if those in need under National are still in need under Labour ? You could read from your comments that winning is everything denying the other side at all costs is all that matters.
This century we had had poor opposition, who then holds the government to account ? And what of those who benefited under National now receiving super profits under the policies of the current govt? IMO those who have supported the government need to raise their voices and speak out for those voiceless soles being left behind or being treated poorly/forgotten e.g. homeless, those in slum government paid short term accomodation. What was promised and why is delivery slow or not at all or areas within NZ that need attention e.g. The Environment and its climate consequences. Sure no government is perfect and issues will get missed,
I think some here have to open their eyes to see what is out there, or do you want this to be an ego chamber that the PM and Labour are just IT ??? This Labour party maybe the best for government at the moment given the options. BUT that does not mean to say that they do not have faults. This government (labour) has been in for 4 years now, and unless those who support do not demand that issues/faults are addressed then where do we go ??
And unlike you I would like to see things within NZ to improve, and if you follow any of my comments you will see I am firmly for the housing market to be sorted as IMO most of the problems arise from this, and labour are NOT doing it.
PM Ardern is talking about pay parity. This seem to mean that everybody will now earn the same for quite some time whilst the payback of the billions will need a bit more than that.
The issue is inflation, already going up with rates, rents and you know "healthy" food on the increase. (Roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on your back). It would not be so inconceivable if GST would go up. If wages are not, than you earn less. If you have a mortgage it will bite as interest rates will go back up again , maybe 2022? or later. (Roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on your back)
Selective austerity. Needs to start with a CGT to stem housing inflation, exempting the family home. Ardern has lost votes by not giving a wage increase to those on 60k and landlords votes are more important.
Is there a hidden message to landlords that those on $60k cannot afford a rent rise?
1 million each week is pumped into landlords accounts every week. Perhaps we should look at ways to stop that.
1 million a day is spend on housing homeless in slums.
Is there another layer to the housing crisis?
The cost of emergency housing 1 mil a day is here to stay unless the government find an alternative other than motels or hotels. A bed to sleep in is a human right.
I could not erase Treetoo.
[user name fixed]
The govt simply made a dumb mistake reverting to the 'sound finance' view when its gone out of fashion (even with the IMF). But when the public observed the 2020 wage subsidy coming in after years/a full decade of insistance on public spending limits the game was up on that narrative and people realised that the NZ govt doesn't face a budget constraint (e.g if it puts spending into the budget then that spending goes ahead).
While the govt are now trying to rewrite the narrative to say lower income pay rises will be prioritised, this doesn't require a spending cap but does require a review of public sector pay gradients. In fact a reasonable flattening would probably raise the public wage bill quite a bit, not shrink it.
What I expect as an outcome is the typical, some will be successfully promoted rapidly enough to get around it. Those who don't or can't work around the pay systems in their organisations will bare the brunt with no/minimal pay advances for several years. Some will go across into contracting, actually costing more and also removing accountability for delivery out of public institutions, and some will take their efforts away from the public sector.
Thank goodness we do not need a talented and motivated public sector to work on anything over the next few years, like poverty and climate action.
Timing your ideologically motivated beltches wrong can be very politically costly. This is of course exactly on form from Labour who truely believe in their superior management of the economy supposedly leading to a rising economy based on govt surpluses (and paying no attention to expanding housing debt).
Yes, the country will need an effective and motivated public sector in the near future. Labour may need to give up their 'better economic managers' mentality before this can be fully and openly adopted.
Cynical much?
"The events of the past week – so at odds with the old rules of the game – would suggest that not only have the rules changed radically, but so, too, has the name of the game itself. What our politicians now appear to be playing is a game called “Holding On To Power At All Costs”. It is predicated on voters having a smaller set of principles, and a larger collection of prejudices. A greater propensity to complain, but a reduced willingness to do anything more than post their displeasure on social media. Most important of all, it assumes that voters are rapidly losing the ability to act consistently from first principles; and that they no longer expect their politicians and political parties to even try."
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/110320/chris-trotter-argues-labour-has-thrown-out-old-political-rule-book-and-new-game-they
Holding On To Power At All Costs' ?
Well, if that was the case Labour would be doing the opposite to what they have done. That is, not only removing the pay freeze but giving the Pub. Servants a pay increase – at the expense of the lowest paid workers in the country.
Not if they charm the national voter to keep them in power.
Labour won the Covid election with a majority thanks to National voters.
As a result, we now have a single majority party that is tinkering on all edges but hardly doing anything at all. And the opposition is useless, either shattered as the National Party, or beginners as the Maori Party or more or less silent as is the Green Party.
And the stuff they do, comes several years late and chances are with not enough money, and oh, surely because some IT network needs to be redone, by hte highest bidder of course. Greasing hands makes for good future jobs.
The self test for cervical cancer that has been cancelled in 2018 to suddenly have priority is the best example. But then now there is a Labour person seriously ill with cervical cancer and a minister to boot, so yeah, i guess its now important. Now a cynical person like me will say that they need to throw money at this issue now, considering that one of their own has a good chance of dying. So here the party is doing the right thing, but 4 years to late, at least for that one person that is currently undergoing Cancer treatment.
National voters don't care one bit if poor people get poorer, if homeless people stay homeless, if poor kids schools fall apart with moldy rooms fit only for demolition. And Labour atm is by all means nothing more then National light. But with added kindness and withs some gentleness sprinkles in pretty sparkly colors..
Labour currently is not even trying to please the left, they like their very moderate, very conservative, national voters who like a surplus, so that when national wins again, national again has tax cuts to offer.
These two parties sit in the same boat, and they rowing in the same direction. Most of us however are not in the boat, and we are lucky when there is some debris to hold on to before drowining.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/kiri-allan-s-cancer-diagnosis-didn-t-push-govt-s-decision-on-hpv-self-swab-jacinda-ardern.html
If you can’t ‘hear’ the Green Party you may have to turn on the ‘sound’.
Please stop
eatingsmoking your ownchocolatedope.Dear Incognito,
considering that you are so concerned with people not making stuff up, please do not accuse people here on the Standard of drug use unless you have good proof that they do indeed take drugs. Some might really just disagree with you, and you could also get a person in legal trouble with you making up these stories.
As for the timing of the funding of this particular test:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/125075564/cervical-cancer-selftest-to-be-available-from-2023-should-reduce-health-inequality-for-whine-mori
from 2021 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/124534892/women-keep-dying-of-preventable-cervical-cancer-while-selftest-screening-delayed
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018790464/health-leader-baffled-why-hpv-self-test-not-govt-funded
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300277598/gps-call-for-hpv-selftests-as-current-cancer-screening-not-as-good-as-it-could-be
as I said, i am a cynical person, and there were more then just I who asked why the self test that was to be rolled out in 2018 was cancelled again and again for lack of funding, and now suddenly there is funding.
Personally i am very happy that it will hopefully be rolled out sooner rather then later, as quite a few women actually have issues with a GP or an OBGYN poking around in their private parts. But excuse me if I find the sudden announcement forced by happenings rather tehn budgeted.
Because that number of a 160 was the number for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and now 2021. Kiri Allan is just one of many.
And consider that women in this country are already on an IT database for cervical cancer smears and mamographies, so really it must be the most complicated IT system Ever.
Smoking your own dope is an old saying.
You were wrong about the Government’s decision/announcement about cancer detection.
You were wrong about the Green Party being and staying silent.
You don’t know the slightest about Government IT systems.
The Easter Bunny was a dope but he ended up in a caserole.
Smoking your own dope is an old saying.
I very much doubt that.
Been around almost 40 years. Longer than than the quest to discover who let the dogs out.
I've been around for a lot longer than 40 years and I've never heard it before. And in any case I don't think it can be classified as a "saying".
Your concerns have been noted and are on the agenda for the next Board meeting.
There are completely separate databases for each screening programmes (with their own laws even in some cases), and NZ’s health IT systems are old and disconnected. A limited pool of suitable people is available to do the IT work, because that part of the health system has not been invested in enough by any governments in recent decades.
That is why the change to cervical self-screening was never started. It was not "cancelled" and the hold up was of official approval rather than 'funding' as such.
Without proper systems to manage risk and quality, no government in the world will launch any screening programme.
Bowel screening had to wait for that too. Breast screening is up for a major IT rework, including managing over 200k women who the current system misses out. About time.
Lucky we need IT system, cause we don't have NZ first anymore.
This thing was to be rolled out in 2018 and has been cancelled every year since, and please feel free to google this and read the pleads by variouos health official ( i have linked to some of them above) as to why this was cancelled and why it was not restarted and such. Lucky now we only have to wait till 2023 for the IT system to be rolled out or something.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/125075564/cervical-cancer-selftest-to-be-available-from-2023-should-reduce-health-inequality-for-whine-mori
Quote:
After a five-year campaign by the medical community, highlighted by Minister Kiri Allan’s diagnosis in April, this change could see 1.4 million eligible women able to self-test from 2023.
2017 – 160 women, 2018 – 160 women, 2019 – 160 women, 2020 – 160 women, 2021 – 160 women, 2022 – 160 women………..
i guess the cancer treatment costs should have been taken into account as to what is more affordable, chemo treatment, lost hours worked, lost income, dead women, widowers with children etc etc etc, all cheaper then that much vaunted IT system.
Sure, thing. Makes sense. Right? 🙂
It has not been cancelled. Please engage your eyes and ears before your fingers.
There seems little point sharing any more of what I know about both screening and health IT.
cancelled/ pushed out / put on ice/ in 2018
funding cancelled/pushed out / delayed again – Covid is the culprit
Funding is requried and demands action from the government
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/124534892/women-keep-dying-of-preventable-cervical-cancer-while-selftest-screening-delayed
I feel very comfortable with my thought that this would still not be an issue for Grant to fund – considering that they could not find the money the last four years, and that if Kiri Allan had not been diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, nothing much could be done. I can not see an IT system that complicated and costly, but then i don't work in Government and thus don't know how many people need to make money first on the IT system before the life of women is factured in the cost of that IT system.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/439879/labour-mp-kiri-allan-reveals-she-has-been-diagnosed-with-cervical-cancer
Please read what I have already written above about everything you just repeated. You saying it again and again does not make it true but it might mislead others.
Sacha you saying it has not been 'cancelled' but pushed up or held up or reconsidered or or or
fact is the initial roll out was planned for 2018 – i have provided ample evidence of that – coming from Health Leaders in this country btw, and it is now finally been giving funding – that was asked for several times by Healthleaders in this Country – again i provided evidence of that.
It is now planned to be rolled out in 2023.
So the IT system did not receive funding in 2018 or earlier, did not receive funding in 2019, 2020, and is still not working until 2023 because it will take three years for a component to be build to be tacked on to an already existing IT system. As per my last posts.
So you can argue about the word 'cancelled' and disagree with me until the cows come home, but never the less the fact stands that we don't have this self test available, because Funding was not granted by this government last time and now it came about because of the negative press in regards to the 'cancellation of the rollout' due to Kiri Allens diagnose.
And no matter how many will protest to the contrary and that includes the Prime Minister, the optics speak for itself.
But feel free to believe that we really did not have the money to create that extra data base for 1.7 million women who currently get either a phone call or a letter from their GP to remind them of their anual pap smear, or the letter from the DHB to remind them of their mammograms.
Feel free to read all the links that i have provided for you so that you see that I in fact make nothing up, and thus don't risk to mis-inform anyone. And considering that many many health official have literally begged this government over the last few years to finally get going on this, i am in very good company in my believes.
You are not listening. It was never about money.
I am familiar not only with all the articles you have linked but with screening programmes and the NZ health system, especially the IT side. You are embarrassing yourself.
And the approval was in process before Kiri Allen became news. Honestly it's like watching someone try to pin reasons for a political poll result to something that randomly occurred in the same week rather than months earlier.
Nothing occurred randomly Sacha.
A prominent person of the Labour party got very very sick, due to not undergoing a pretty invasive method to obtain a pap smear.
The program that could have done a better job of providing said Labour person with a private at home self test was rejected/cancelled several times due to lack of funds (this is evident per the articles that i have linked to – its in the words 'FUNDING was not provided'.
And please provide a citation or link to the fact that the approval of funds was in process before Kiri Allen was diagnosed with a Stage 3 cervical Cancer with a 16% survival chance. Cause that is what it means to women and people with female centric plumbing who don't get tested in time due to what ever reason, and above all because they could not get it done at home.
It was always only ever about money, and that is the best reason i give this government. Any other reason would be callous, inhumane, and chances are has cost the live of quite a few women and others.
Bad press about the self tests not being made available, Health leaders pleading with government as to why this is not done and voila
You are embarrassing yourself in repeating that this is not connected, and that the only reason this did not happen is an IT program. It has been several years now for this much vaunted IT program to be written and implemented.
I sure hope you are better at running a shop.
Here is an interesting interview with ex CIA officer Philip Agee..while watching it one can't help but wonder how it was so easy for so many so called left wingers to have just jumped straight into bed with this nefarious group of terrorists first over Trump/Russia and then Syria and now China (not to mention Venezuela)….the only conclusion one can come too is that these people never really believed in any progressive left project to start with, and that a deep rooted imperialist tendency was always lurking just below the surface in their hearts..who knows, but it is pretty awful when you think about it for two seconds, that is for sure.
Puts me in mind of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit_(novel)
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a 1955 novel by Sloan Wilson about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. The main characters, Tom and Betsy Rath, are a young middle-class couple that share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture, while several other characters fight essentially the same battle, but for different reasons. In the end, it is a story about taking responsibility for one's own life.
The novel was the basis for the popular 1956 film of the same name starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones as Tom and Betsy Rath.
Putin dupes are no authority on the Left.
Winston Peters – will he ride (rise?) again? And the question about the new planned policies that bring Maori to the fore – will it lead to separatism and a schism despite attempts by thinkers to enable Maori to exert authority in ways satisfactory to them and within the purpose-built political system that NZ has attempted in fits and starts.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/05/hiding-he-puapua-from-winston-may-cost.html
I reckon NZ First will return and without Winston at the helm. Winston was looking very tired during the last election champaign. Collins would be gleeful about no pay rise for public servants as this will give her milage until the next election or the person who cancels her leadership. The only saviour for the public service austerity is if WFF tops up the public service workers.
Money borrowed needs to be repaid, how and who repays it is the question?
You and i via taxes, levies, rates, fines, lisences, and all the other stuff that you need to give the government a cut.
T'was always the way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442209/otago-students-hit-back-at-uni-s-rubbish-plan-targeting-their-homes
The changes to the Code of Student Conduct, if accepted, would allow the university's proctor to impose a daily fine on students in flats littered with rubbish to a degree it had "an adverse effect on the visual amenity of that place or property"…
In a statement, the university's proctor Dave Scott said it would only be used as a last resort.
"The vast majority of our students do the right thing when it comes to rubbish. For those who do not, the process is firstly one of engagement and education where we work closely with students to seek the desired outcomes," he said…
Once a policeman, always…?
2018…Dave Scott, a former police officer, spoke to media on Tuesday, hours after he apologised to the Leith St occupants for his actions. The proctor's role is essentially a student supervisor…
Lawyers around New Zealand have said his actions could amount to unlawful entry.
The University of Otago's proctor says he made an "error of judgment" entering a student flat and removing three bongs, but maintains he is no "criminal"…
Scott said he entered the flat while delivering information on how to be a good host.
He went to flat in question and found the rear sliding door "wide open"…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107362366/university-of-otago-proctor-speaks-about-bongtaking-incident
The university could go into the rubbish removal business and employ some of the students to clean up the rubbish outside and encourage students to not hoard rubbish inside so the next rent rise could be afforded. Diversification is good and rubbish removal is profitable.
Sounds like a sound idea Treetop – using their initiative and youthful enthusiasm. The university has tried to help I must point out,. There is mention of a trailer that comes with brooms and shovels and if they can get it to the dump its free. However I still don't agree with daily fines; if you are in a shared flat everyone has to pull their weight and the burden would go on the one most worried about it. The rest may have wealthy daddies who would pay.
The obvious practical and timely way for those trying to cope and avoid a fine is to sneak out at night and leave it by rubbish bins away from their 'digs'. But people struggling to cope in some way, with their study to do and get in in time, it is I think hard. Perhaps sanctions like not being admitted to their favourite pub would work. They seem a boozy lot down there looking at media stories.
What about something like garden and section competitions where everyone could get a prize e.g. free rubbish bags, food cards when there is an improvement or consistency?
As for the bigger furniture items breaking them down and a free skip periodically as required. Never should a TV or microwave be broken down.
Simple – if they don't clean up their pigsty, evict them. I'll bet they wouldn't get away with this in their own homes. A free skip for furniture etc is probably a good idea, but ffs surely they can be expected to live like civilised people in a community.
God forbid students should be expected not to create eyesores and health hazards.
God forbid that you should ever stop shooting off one-liners short of the mark.
Move along madam, nothing to see here. Ello ello ello.
Did Grant Robertson not really understand who would be affected by the pay freeze? Is it a manufactured response by the lower income workers and their unions as this article seems to imply – 'the narrative shifted'? The people at the lower end of the pay band were bound to be ropable about it.
“I don’t think that Labour was quite prepared for the outpouring from the public and in particular from the unions, says RNZ’s deputy political editor Craig McCulloch.
“I think it was caught quite off guard by the fury and how quickly the narrative shifted to be about teachers, about nurses, about police officers….
But McCulloch says what’s happened instead is the idea of a responsible government reining in spending has been pushed aside and replaced with an image of a miserly, punitive one….
(Bank economist from usual cloud floating above our heads with perspective that money for the plebs comes from a pot of limited size to dependent Olivers).
Sharon Zollner, the chief economist of the ANZ, says last year’s massive wage subsidy saw us left with a huge debt for size of our economy – we have borrowed from the future…
“It’s a tightening up – I mean it’s inevitable – well, hopefully – that the government is going to spend less in the next 12 months than it has in the last 12 months because that wage subsidy is one out of the box. It was massive. And something would have to go terribly horribly wrong in the economy for us to need to spend that much government money again,” she says.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018794549/pay-freezing-out-your-traditional-voter-base
So a media outlet, who has just reported 'outrage' says the Government didnt expect said 'outrage'
The rest is rubbish a reputable organisation should check before publishing
' massive wage subsidy saw us left with a huge debt for size of our economy '
Zollner , from BNZ who was wrong about almost everything and the economic impact of covid
It was $13 bill, which wasnt 'huge' in terms of NZs economy of $200 bill.
ghost Rubbish is it. Your opinion is always so direct and correct.
Sharon Zollner makes my blood boil when she progosticates on the economy…surely track record counts for something
Interesting to know – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/442210/elon-musk-reveals-he-has-asperger-s
"Look, I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but that's just how my brain works," he said.
"To anyone who's been offended, I just want to say I reinvented electric cars, and I'm sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"
.
https://www.healthline.com/health/aspergers-vs-autism
Asperger's and autism are no longer considered separate diagnoses. People who may have previously received an Asperger's diagnosis instead now receive an autism diagnosis. But many people who were diagnosed with Asperger's before the diagnostic criteria changed in 2013 are still perceived as “having Asperger's.”16/04/2020
More boys than girls diagnosed, and when the diagnosis is reviewed previous ratios have decreased to about 3 male to 1 female.
.
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/autisms-sex-ratio-explained/
Would the sex ratio disappear if these diagnostic biases could be overcome?
Probably not. Researchers have found a 3-to-1 ratio even when they have followed children from infancy and repeatedly screened them for autism, minimizing the possibility for biases in diagnosis and referral. The children in these studies have a family history of autism, however, so they may be fundamentally different from other children with the condition, says Daniel Messinger, professor of psychology at the University of Miami.
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/5/22/17377766/asperger-nazi-rename-syndrome
Well what an unpleasant connection between the condition and the name. I can understand a desire to cut that connection. It would be good to sign that petition and facilitate that.
signed. Thanks for bringing that up.
Plenty of Aspies can't be assed with this name change. Aspies we are Aspies we'll be. People who are not Aspergers getting offended on our behalf should fuck off.
This article is two years old thanks for bringing your faux outrage back into the light. People in ASD groups are being asked to drop this shit and leave us alone.
Thank you.
Cool it WTB. If other people don't want the name why shouldn't they have the right to ask for the official name to change. No-one should can tell you change your way of describing it.
Why should I cool it. I'm not the non-ASD people using a years old article to be talking nonsense about all this. I have the condition, I research the condition. So read.
Aspergers was used to refer to 'high functioning' autistic people. High functioning is a misnomer, most of us need help in one or more areas or we struggle to become productive members of society. Correct diagnosis and help can make a big difference.
As a general rule all we want is to belong to a team and be able to contribute. Look at Elon's contribution, pretty damn good. I've invented things that'll help mankind too, just not as flashy, and I'm still poor, dirty smelly poor.
The term Aspergers was officially dropped because Autism is a spectrum, and the high functioning term was problematic with people expecting rain man to show up. That's why the change, but many Aspies simply stuck with what they knew. We, as a rule, don't enjoy change (unless we pioneer it).
My symptoms do not include genocidal. I couldn't care who Aspergers was, it's our word now even if it's going to disappear in a generation or two.
Is he preparing a legal defence?
It sounds like a request for designation change. CFS has gone through different names – now Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but also Myalgic Encephylitis and others.
'Commerce Commission to Probe Building Materials Sector – Grant Robertson'
Houses in the US and Victoria and NSW are so much cheaper than NZ. Sure, we have earthquake resilience issues that Australia does not have and are a small market, but the materials being used here are very limited in variety compared to overseas, and comparitivly very high in cost. And labour very low.
So why such large differences in price? Lets hope this leads somewhere.
This is the link to the article, unfortunately paywalled.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/commerce-commission-to-probe-building-materials-sector-grant-robertson/YNTDJTUVVEGEREO5JBFYNL5PBQ/
how many years will this probe need?
Because people here have often spoken about the monopolies certain companies in NZ have in regards to building supplies?
Three years? 🙂 Oh well, things will go better soon then.
I won't hold my breath Sabine, although Grant Robertson does seem to deliver on his statements.
Three years ago in 2018, Phil Twitford promised the exact same thing, but we all know what a joke he was!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/are-building-products-a-rip-off-or-good-value/CQ7EQQZ2ASCBVECH7XLVE3ZMOA/
No matter how much of a 'joke' Phil Twyford was, he was the only one in this government who actually tried to build houses. He did not succeed, thanks to private businesses and many other factors but at least he tried.
But for Grant to say after 9 years in opposition to National, and 4 years in government to 'pledge' a probe into the building monopolies in NZ just leaves me with one question. Where did Grant live the last 20 odd years, and how much of that time has he spend in Government? And he still needs to 'probe' the most open secret in NZ. Namely that end users are being screwed over by a few monopolies?
Yeah, three years at least, and then we will need to vote this guy back in again, so he can 'change ' it. Right? Do you really believe that? 🙂
So cynical Sabine! But I daresay you are right.
No Sabine is most definitely NOT right.
Until recently with the passing of the Commerce Amendment Act there was no power for the monopolies/duopolies etc to hand over their most sensitive costs and prices to any inquiry.
from 2012
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/german-based-group-undercuts-fletcher-half
from 2014
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1411/S00151/inquiry-needed-into-building-supplies-monopoly.htm
sorry, but it is the best kept open secret in NZ, and it has been known for some years now. But i am happy to see that someone from the Labour Party pledges to do something. Soon.
So did Fletchers just promise to boycott any retailer stocking Knauf?
it seems that you can find the product here online – can't find any retailers on their site, so who knows. 🙂
https://www.knaufinsulation.co.nz/
The disagreement with Sabine isnt over the 'jacked up' prices for building supplies. Which are there. But powers of Commerce Commission ( which isnt productivity Commission)
I have personal experience in the pricing of windows and doors and NZ has a proliferation of small window assemblers and each house is different sized windows.
With scores of different colours to choose….like 8 different 'whites'
Australia seems happy to have some standard sizes for group builders and maybe 12-15 colours to choose from.
The NZ system for huge variation is mostly used in Australia for higher end archtectural homes… which we have as well on top of the 'standard ' designs
I am just amused that a man who spend his whole life in politics and no where else btw needs to have a thoothless body "study" the abuse of certain businesses in NZ to see if people are being screwed over. I still think its funny. 🙂
My personal opinion is simply that NZ is such a small market that most people are quite happy to screw everyone over in order to make a quick buck. And it does not matter if that is the cost of milk, butter, meat, carpet, wood, or crappy bendy aluminium windows. The only time kiwis seem to spend money is when they buy houses for their own use. If its a rental everything needs to be as cheap as possible, after all the tenants will just fuck it. Everything else is she'll be right.
And thus it is for all businesses down to the last one.
And you can study that for the next decade or several, i doubt he will change anything.
So, you don't have a disagreement with me. You just did not like that i think this is all very funny.
+1,000 Sabine
Seen it both personally and professionally.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/rachel-peters-labour-needs-bolder-policy-changes-to-help-those-who-need-it-most
Same or similar voices who were saying post election it was a do nothing government
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2008/S00052/dunne-speaks-will-labours-no-policy-campaign-work.htm
Like parrots these commentators can be relied on to always 'squawk'
What the hell is happening in Dunedin?
Reports of 'multiple' stabbings at Dunedin supermarket, screams heard – NZ Herald
Yeh it’s a worry, Jimmy! I was there myself this morning after the school-run (fortunately not during the attack).
Though we’re not dealing with a criminal mastermind/ terrorist here. The police didn’t even bother putting him in the car, they just walked him across the carpark to the central police station right next door.
I have been following it here:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/breaking-four-hurt-dunedin-supermarket-stabbing
edit: I see the Herald also has that bit about the bystander seeing hysterical girls, assuming they were shoplifting and detaining (presumably by grabbing) them. How is that even an appropriate response, let alone legal? Though I imagine the police had other things on their mind, so it’ll end there.
Care in the community?
It seems that random violence is showing up a bit everywhere. Stabbings today in Dunedin, the other day shootings in AKL, someone got bashed over the head in Invercargill, people killed in Wellington and Christchurch. It just seems to be way more then usual.
Maybe its just people under stress and cracking.
Homicides are running at similar levels to previous years.
Gun violence is definitely up and is connected to drug trade money and mostly gang members and associates ( some times other relatives like the grandmother in Favona)
This is seriously horrifying, yet also strangely poetic:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/body-of-arrested-myanmar-poet-khet-thi-returned-to-family-with-organs-missing
He may have died of a broken heart. Heart seizure is a growing non-medical problem in extremist bodies around the world. RIP Khet Thi.
Water in Canterbury. When the rivers are no longer fed by snows from the mountains what will they do these farming and business pragmatists. Let 'them' suck cactus or something.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442223/nitrates-in-selwyn-river-up-50-percent-in-22-months-federation-of-freshwater-anglers-says
Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) is being accused of creating a monster that it can no longer control when it comes to degraded water quality in the region.
That is according to Federation of Freshwater Anglers, which has been testing the Selwyn River and has found polluting nitrates have increased by up to 50 percent in the space of just 22 months.
The federation's president and long time angler Peter Trolove had been monitoring the Selwyn with the help of a nitrate tester, bought with a grant from a pub charity.
The Selwyn, which people could no longer swim in, was once a top trout fishing destination.
"If you go back before World War Two, it was considered one of the top half dozen trout fisheries in the dominion. And they had fish counts of over 200,000 trout going up the river, and it's fallen to, well, I don't know if they find any now."
Fascinating seeing certain sections of the left show how absolutely out of touch they are by defending high paid civil servants and bureaucrats who have failed time and time again, at the border by embarrassing the govt with the fiasco earlier in the year, in our prisons, at OT , by making horrendous decisions in health. It's amazing to see certain factions of the left defend unelected useless civil servants with too much power and calling the govt anti union while govt implements strongest pro union reforms in decades.
There will be no solidarity with high paid MSD workers and their ilk and if the PSA thinks the public supports the people who blackmail poor people with their nudes and throw people off welfare it's so deliciously out of touch.
If the other unions about to receive more power who represent lower paid workers side with the PSA it'll mind blowingly self defeating and HILARIOUS.
I'm enjoying watching the wellington mafia and the green and Champagne socialists furious their mates will only get two visits to melbourne a year instead of three with an annual trip to europe (it's the bourgeoisie god given right 🤣) into some kind of attack on low paid workers from a govt that has continued raising min wage and even benefits and strengthened unions in an unprecedented economic crisis in a heavily neoliberal country.
I can't wait for MSD workers and ird workers who spend their lives ruining poor peoples lives and telling people to live within their means with signs saying "more money for msd case managers" delicious
If you thought it was bad already, just wait until the Government wants the public servants to implement policy now.
You will find the PSA is sending them that message already.
The mind boggles.![surprise surprise](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/389301/ministry-of-social-development-systematically-misusing-powers-inquiry
That started in the 1990s under the guidance of that dreadful woman, Christine Rankin. It was the start of the reign of terror known as the Benefit Fraud Squad made up of perfed police officers. They placed my 92 year old mother – who was quite frail with moderate dementia – and myself (her carer) under surveillance. They also rang a few times ostensibly to ask questions, but really checking whether I was there. I also witnessed them make a note of my car particulars parked in the driveway, so presumably they were planning to follow me in my car as well. After a very sharply worded letter to the local WINZ boss, the activity stopped.
Since then, I have had much empathy for beneficiaries suffering a similar fate who may not have the ability to be able to do what I did and get it stopped.
Yeah. We have money to waste in this country. But we can't increase benefits in any meaningful way.
are we allowed to find this funny?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300303904/government-in-damage-control-over-public-sector-pay-freeze-ahead-of-meeting-with-union
your wages aren't being frozen for three years, they are just on "hold".
oh that is funny.
Is this woman twisting the story more than a little? Especially at the end where she blames a man for believing a young woman who has lied about her age. It's All His Fault the rotter. She doesn't like males herself, but men who still like females are wrong is the message given.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/teenage-girls-unwanted-adult-male-attention
That Greenburg/ Gaetz victim was known to them initially through an online tag that mentioned her birthyear wasn't she, Grey? Anyway – they are the adults, she was the child; so they were the ones who had the duty to be certain about her age, even if that killed the mood.
That said, one advantage of the pandemic has been that there have been fewer Yankee ephebophiles over in Aotearoa this past year. I don't pretend to understand why anyone would want to have sexual relations with a teenager – even another teenager! The allure of the forbidden? Something to do while over visiting their money in the NZ$ /Cook Islands tax haven? But there is apparently a fair bit of grey area between formal prostitution (restricted 18+) and sugar-daddies in our laws (blanket 16 year old consent age), or maybe just their enforcement?
Anyway; the Guardian article is mainly about maassassin's TikTok clips of being approached by a strange man for the first time. That; "nice to meet you too", automatically parroted while her body language was pleading; "please don't kill me", was quite saddening. But then many men don't realize quite how intimidating they can appear to strangers, and it's impossible to know what the rudely intrusive (at the very least) individual's own body language was like in that interaction. It is in the Opinion section, so I can't be too upset that Donegan is giving her own opinion in response to the footage.