ACT has floated the possibility of a new kind of governing arrangement if National refuses to cooperate during post-election negotiations.
Party leader David Seymour has threatened to resort to a confidence-only deal, which would require the larger party to seek ACT's backing for all government spending – or "supply" – decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Recent polls suggest National and ACT could form a government together, but National having to also rely on NZ First – who ACT has ruled out – is also a real possibility.
As,,,
National has also begun ruling out – or in some cases merely rejecting – ACT policies.
Gonna be interesting to see what the lefties that think woman are always kinda than men think van valdin and willis are finished with us, with a side dish of collins
Well, I raised a family and worked a (very) hard physical job during the "reign" of dame Jenny Shipley PM…and Ol' Ruthless Richardson.
IMO..their eyes…. like industrial diamonds : (
And IMO…i see some of Nic Willis there. And this notwithstanding her : let them eat icecream !…. re the Nat "taxbreaks" . (does she believe her own shit? Maybe..)
Throw in an Act or 10…and look out you poor NZ battlers. Me included.
Gonna be interesting to see what the lefties that think woman are always kinda than men think van valdin and willis are finished with us, with a side dish of collins
Don't know who thinks that, but let's tease this out a bit.
Women would run things differently if they were in charge en masse. Not because all women are progressive (or kind), but because as a class we take a different approach to relationships. Women have in-built care function due to our role in reproduction: pregnancy, birth, lactation are all hardwired with deep care function. Again, this doesn't mean that all women are good mothers, I'm talking about as a class here.
That in-built care function is distorted in our current society. We (society) both treat mothers badly, and need them. We expect them to do life changing work of keeping the human race going, and providing workers for the capitalism machine, and to do this for free.
Women like Thatcher, Shipley, Collins, Willis, are allowed into the boys club because they play the game the boys want. They're not representative of how women would do things, they're representative of how the right uses women. Shipley in particular was a massive coup for the right because it convinced people that women can be just as bad as men.
I will say here that I don't think men as a class are bad. I think they do badly under this system too. It's the system innit.
The last 6 years of government have been kind to me
Winter warmth payment
Benefit increases of such a number that I have lost count
Had two molars out earlier this year $800 I didn't have to pay thanks to the new MSD Dental policy
I have more jeans, socks, underwear and jackets than I have ever had before.
2 pairs of Timberlands, 1 Doc Martens, 1 pair Steelcap Workboots and 3 other pairs of boots all near new/great condition.
My Doctors visits cost $30 less than what it used to.
Prescriptions are generally free now and my bus travel is discounted.
All of this 'minor wealth' is thanks to to the last 6 years of Labour led government – had National been in power I would have only recieved threats, hoops to jump through and vilification.
I have voted left for nearly the last 40 years and I encourage others to do so. I am concerned for the future of people and the nation under a NACT government. The right wing parties believe that punching down on those who need state assistance is politically advantageous – Can we please have NACT's desire to punish the weakest and least able to defend themselves highlighted made widely known to the electorate. Will someone please ask New Zealanders in a very loud and clear manner
"Do YOU support cruelty? Do YOU support the the harming of the weakest in our society? NACT do! Their policies will take money from the pockets of superannuatants, veterans, the disabled and job seekers
I am concerned for the future of people and the nation under a NACT government. The right wing parties believe that punching down on those who need state assistance is politically advantageous – Can we please have NACT's desire to punish the weakest and least able to defend themselves highlighted made widely known to the electorate. Will someone please ask New Zealanders in a very loud and clear manner
"Do YOU support cruelty? Do YOU support the the harming of the weakest in our society? NACT do! Their policies will take money from the pockets of superannuatants, veterans, the disabled and job seekers
Solid ! And Solidarity from the Left. We can beat them. .
Barfly, I fully concur with your sentiments in both your posts. Very well said comrade.
In the unfortunate event should NACTNZF become government, it will be a very dark time in NZ's history for those at the lower end of the social/economic scale. At the same time, the one percenters will do extremely well, as more public services are sold off and privatised (health, education etc), making access to these services virtually impossible for lower waged and vulnerable Kiwis.
Good on you mary-a. Barfly speaks true. Their "punch down" a palpable worry. There will be some awful carnage on low waged and vulnerable and all on the lower end.
Also…I like the comrade. Not seen that..for a long time.
Barfly, thank you for your honest heartfelt testimony.
Wellbeing. The most important thing is caring. For the ill disabled young old and the environment, the strong should offer support nurture and a share of confidence in the future. Labour Greens and Te Maori Parti look to wellbeing National Act to wealth.
"National will build state houses for those that deserve them"
Don't know the follow up conversation because I switched off in disgust.
So, who decides who is 'deserving' and who is not? Granted there are some tenants who are socially repulsive but the vast majority are law abiding citizens. They just also happen to be poor – and many are brown?
This shows some of the important basic differences to be taken into account when making a choice as to who to vote for at the upcoming election-perish the people who keep saying on the TS that there is no difference between Left and Right.
Nactwurst is a form of bloated political sausage proposed in a recent cook book "More Recipes for National Disaster". It combines a potpourri of wishbones, leftovers, coarsely-chopped tripe, stale breadcrumbs, and broken promises.
Sour cabbage salad, dressed with trickle-down sauce, known for its piquant asparagus overtones, is a preferred accompaniment.
Nactwurst is known in some culinary circles as 'turd down a rabbit hole', served on a mishmash of southern swedes and sprinkled with King Country hayseeds or with raisin d'etre-free, climate-denied wild turkey. It is often grilled on a fire fuelled by banned books and forest trash.
However, it is never ever accompanied with a side-dish such as boiled greens, grated red beetroot salad, or indeed vegetables of any colour.
This meal can be finished with just desserts, such as bitter batter pudding, stirred with a bed leg, or that other nationally-promoted but nutritionally bereft burnt offering, squeezed middle lemon mousse.
Nactwurst has a shelf life of less than three years. Should Nactwurst still be on offer post election, GST will apply,
The Head chef is known for his Mercede arrival, his austerity approach to ingredients, but also for his flamboyant gestures when producing the provided meal.
His grace is so long any sustenance has long gone from the proffered cold offering, and the kitchen helper willis rushes to explain what the chef really meant was on your self provided plate.
Thanks Mac1 you made me see him as a chef of shortcomings propped up by gestures and slogans and caricatures of caring.
Watched Luxon on Q&A this morning with Jack Tame – delayed by one hour so someone else could watch it live and see if it posed a health risk to me. Tame did a good job of not letting Luxon run free and babble his way through his bullshit scripted lines. Something that other people in the same negligent profession should have been doing for the last 18 months.
Overall impression was of Luxon asserting that he was going to deliver desirable things by sheer willpower and mojo – even though the actual content of National's policies seems to run in a direction counter to the declared intention. Such as: being supposedly deeply committed to carbon net zero but looting the Climate Emergency Fund, scrapping the clean car discount, delaying agriculture’s entry to the ETS, removing half-price public transport and building roads; or wanting to solve the housing crisis by doing things that would reinflate the housing bubble and make houses even more unaffordable (reduced bright-line, mortgage interest deductibility); or just making the tax on foreign buyers work even though it appears dubious that it is legal or would produce enough revenue; or make New Zealanders feel safer by evicting problem tenants from Kainga Ora housing but having no plan on where they would go.
Most likely the approach would be simply to command someone else (Councils, Kainga Ora, etc.) to fix the problem and thereby square the circle – then castigate them later for the inevitable delivery failure, i.e. the classic behaviour of 3rd-rate CEOs in relatively simple business environments that do not have a sliver of the complexity of an actual society where the imperial power conferred on CEOs doesn’t exist.
make it difficult to achieve those targets in three different ways: insufficient funding; rapid population growth through permanently high immigration; increasing social pathologies through poverty and insecure housing so that poor and working people suffer a greater burden of illness than they should when they hit the health system
castigate the public service for not meeting targets and darkly imply that publicly-owned services are inherently inefficient
initiate privatisation of potentially profitable parts of the public health system
declare mission accomplished, because even though health care is now worse for most people and unaffordable for many, National has enriched their own social class who now own profitable parts of the formerly public health system, which was always the real intention.
late last week saw some blokes waving nat party signs on a street corner. being a fair minded chap I wandered over and offered them $20, out of my own pocket mind, toward closing the $1 billion hole in their tax cut policy. Nicola Willis would only then need to find $999,999,980. They refused to take it. I then congratulated them for closing the gap from the last election of $4 billion down to $1 billion, they had clearly tightened their belts. One of them accused me of causing mischief which I found highly insulting so I carefully explained to him that I wasn't causing mischief, I was taking the piss.
Last election I met Paul Goldsmith and only offered him $5 toward his $4 billion fiscal hole, so I thought I was being generous this time round. Though, I did offer Goldsmith every luck becoming the next party leader after collins lost the election
Because waterborne disease and blue baby syndrome will only affect bottom feeders.
/
Water: What are National and Act doing in the shadows?
National and Act’s policies on drinking water would reduce protections and ignore the recommendations of the inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak
Opinion: During the heady weeks of election campaigning, fundamental public health needs can be overshadowed by more scandalous or dramatic political stories.
But, overlooked, public health concerns such as drinking water can become dramatic in the worst of ways, as the campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North in 2016 demonstrated. And for this reason, public health policies must be brought into the light for debate.
Party leader David Seymour announced the housing policy on Sunday, which would also include scrapping the reformed Resource Management Act and using building insurance as an alternative to building consent authorities.
Self policing is always a good thing and worth its weight in gold to the wide boys who are able to scarper to the hills with their ill-gotten gains, never to be found 'legally' again. Sarc:/
Meanwhile when the poor home owners find yet again they have the equivalent of a leaky home updated to this century by having actually no-one to hold accountable. We know who insurance companies work for, if they work for anyone but themselves and it ain't the home owner.
This kind of stuff was around when the neo-lib madness was in full flight 1980/90s. Those PS working in policy areas in the Health sector found ourselves earnestly giving views on whether registration and professional bodies such as for the Engineers, Doctors and Dentists were needed or were they an impediment to market forces that would weed out the wrong 'uns. Looking back it is surreal and lacking in commonsense just as the notion that all we need is insurance to make sure our homes are built in safe areas to strong safety standards.
If you don’t belive that ACT is the Neo-lib bad fairy come to life then look at this extract:
“Housing is still in crisis and Labour and National are equally responsible, it’s time to stop demand-side policies that aren’t working and set a target for supply,” he said.
Reads like a neo lib play book with refs to ‘supply-side’ & ‘demand-side’. Perhaps a dog whistle to those ‘dry’ economists of the Chicago school that ‘we’re here and we’re going to do it again and play like it is the late 1980s and 1990s all over again’.
In the early days of ACT (1996) a Maori section was set up in their spacious and luxurious head office in Auckland. Maori people, mostly from the East Coast of the North Island, were hired to map out policy for the purpose of attracting Maori voters. I met some of them. A certain Alan Gibbs, who was largely responsible for financing ACT into existence, discovered their presence and he demanded that the staff be immediately sacked and the section disbanded. Within 24 hours they were gone. I felt sorry for them. They had agreed to work for the new party in good faith and then made to feel like they were scum.
Nothing has changed. Seymour and company are dancing to the tune of their major financiers – those Kiwi tycoons whose only motivation is to make money off the rest of us and retain power over the political landscape.
Having turned ACT into their submissive little lamb, they have turned their attention to Christopher Luxon and National. Hence the 8 million dollar treasure chest to fight the election and the rest of us are ultimately destined to be the sacrificial lambs.
Yes Anne, I remember hearing about something happening like that. I remember meeting Gibb, as part of my work, and was amazed at the wee squeaky voice he had.
(Link is paywalled, but provided for authentication)
National's strategy was always obvious, and so far it's working. Rely on voter dissatisfaction with the government so people decide before the campaign that they will vote against, not for. Rely on Luxon saying nothing meaningful at all. Vote "other", but don't ask about the "other".
Short-term (one month to election day) it may well succeed. Medium-term (everything after the election) it will be a disaster. Luxon will be a terrible PM, a daily embarrassment, but National can dump him after the election. Too late for the rest of us.
2024: "We didn't vote for this", say the people who – sadly – just did.
"2024: "We didn't vote for this", say the people who – sadly – just did."
I despair at the persistent political stupidity of so many voters. Mark my words, when the disaster sets in… you won't find anyone who voted for them. Its happened before.
National has identified nearly $2.5bn in cuts to public spending. It calls this "Savings from Back Office Bureaucracy". However an analysis from the CTU has identified many areas that Kiwis would consider front-line and essential. A thread…
[…]
Nationals numbers come from Budget 23 data https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2023/estimates/data.htm This breaks the departmental spending down so we can see the areas in which government spending is taking place. This also allows us to see what National has in its scope for the cuts programme.
[…]
Details of just some of the areas that are in scope of cut are included here:
Election 2023: National leader Christopher Luxon walks off amid questions about National's tax plan
National is still refusing to say which parts of what it calls the back office bureaucracy of government it would cut to fund its tax cuts.
But the Council of Trade Unions has done an analysis and found the pool of money they are proposing to cut from includes the courts system, passport processing, national emergency management and search and rescue funding.
National leader Christopher Luxon refused to answer our questions on what was off the table.
He flounces because he can. He's done it before, it's the freedom of being in opposition. He doesn't even have to face OIA requests (hence the fake numbers on tax).
If he's PM he has to face far more scrutiny, such as the weekly post-Cabinet press conference, which lasts at least half an hour. Unlike Key, whose jokey uncle act worked well as an avoidance tactic, Luxon is not able to pull that off. He can't walk out after 5 minutes of non-answers every time.
Of course I don't want him to get the job, but if he does, at least the sh*tshow will provide some gallows humour.
Launching his house Maori/a Maori in the house campaign, Winston Peters said Maori were not indigenous because they came from another place – Cooks and before that from (a part of – Taiwan) China.
Could someone please tell Mr Peters that there was a migration out of Africa 50,000 years ago. And that those who settled an area first and maintained a cultural presence there, are the ones seen as indigenous. This applied in Polynesia/South Pacific at a later stage than other areas, for some reason.
Because if he tries this argument on the UN, to withdraw us from UNDRIP, our education system is going to be called into question internationally.
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Speilmeister:Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest:Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, The ...
According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Check against delivery.Kia ora koutou katoa It’s a real pleasure to join you at the inaugural New Zealand infrastructure investment summit. I’d like to welcome our overseas guests, as well as our local partners, organisations, and others.I’d also like to acknowledge: The Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and other Ministers from the Coalition ...
It has no insulation, flaking paint, questionable pipes and all my old furniture and artwork. At the auction, bidding was competitive. Embarrassingly, my algorithm knows that I like to browse real estate listings online. The ones I like best are old and tatty, places where the cabinetry in the kitchen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide A bill introduced to parliament this week, if passed, would limit the government’s power to reconsider certain environment approvals when an activity is harming the environment. It fulfils Prime Minister ...
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc says the Members’ Bill lodged by Joseph Mooney seeking to prohibit tort claims arising from or related to climate change matters raises serious issues for both the environment and the constitutional role of the ...
This bill would have a chilling effect on New Zealanders’ democratic rights and our ability to secure a liveable future for our kids and grandkids, says Greenpeace spokesperson Amanda Larsson. ...
Go easy on the speaker – corralling 123 overgrown children must be every school teacher’s worst nightmare.Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus.It’s been nearly two weeks ...
Creative projects are good for your wellbeing. And for many, the weekends are the perfect opportunity to get stuck in.New Zealanders love weekend projects. From tinkering with old machinery, to painting, building a shoe cabinet, playing an instrument, or gardening, New Zealanders find a wealth of ways to unleash ...
The visits took place amid a sharp lurch to the right by ruling elites around the world in response to the escalating global economic crisis of capitalism and the US-led drive to imperialist war. New Zealand is embroiled in these developments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland Siora Photography/Unsplash There is a Fox News headline that goes like this: Transgender female runner who beat 14,000 women at London Marathon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Corey Martin, Lecturer/Podcast Producer, Swinburne University of Technology Shutterstock Podcasting was once the underdog of the media world: a platform where anyone with a microphone and an idea could share their voice. With low barriers to entry and freedom from ...
Yes, it’s flat, but there’s another crucial reason why so many Christchurch residents ride – the city’s extensive network of cycle lanes. Simon Kingham’s 9km commute, from Beckenham in south Christchurch to the University of Canterbury west of the CBD, is mostly on cycle lanes. “It’s only the first 400 ...
The top US commander in the Indo-Pacific has given a glimpse of a war with China playbook, as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth heads around the Pacific after revealing actual war plans to a journalist. ...
The Representation Commission has proposed changes to New Zealand’s parliamentary electorates ahead of the 2026 election, writes Madeleine Chapman in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Wellington loses a seat In a suite of proposed changes, the Representation Commission has outlined ...
Planning consultants have told the High Court that tangata whenua in general, and Ngāi Tahu in particular, have substantial influence over freshwater policy and decisions.Tim Ensor, principal planner at Tonkin & Taylor, and Gerard Willis, a director of the firm Enfocus, appeared as Crown witnesses in the weeks-long case taken ...
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Until 2020, it was possible to book a voyage on a cargo ship. Today, it’s virtually impossible, despite being a greener, languid alternative to air travel. Before the time of te Tiriti, there were few passenger ships. Crossing the Pacific in 1830? Usually, only a merchant could take you – ...
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The true coalition..of chaos.
As,,,
And
And the real chaos clash looming…"if" they get there..
NActfrst….taking NZ to a bad place.
Gonna be interesting to see what the lefties that think woman are always kinda than men think van valdin and willis are finished with us, with a side dish of collins
and with the after taste of Shipley and Richardson – a thoroughly bitter and nauseating meal. As to women always being kinder …yeah not so much
Well, I raised a family and worked a (very) hard physical job during the "reign" of dame Jenny Shipley PM…and Ol' Ruthless Richardson.
IMO..their eyes…. like industrial diamonds : (
And IMO…i see some of Nic Willis there. And this notwithstanding her : let them eat icecream !…. re the Nat "taxbreaks" . (does she believe her own shit? Maybe..)
Throw in an Act or 10…and look out you poor NZ battlers. Me included.
As the Aussies used to say, "Battlers deserve a fair shake of the sauce for their sav" (savaloy)
We don't seem to have a similar saying about "battlers."
I remember those difficult times. 1986 interest rates climbed to 18.6% on loans.
It appears NZ has weathered the Pandemic better than most. We need skilled empathetic people to mitigate the hurdles of coming problems.
Grant Robertson has worked at supporting and cushioning us. We will need that, The country is more than a business.
Don't know who thinks that, but let's tease this out a bit.
Women would run things differently if they were in charge en masse. Not because all women are progressive (or kind), but because as a class we take a different approach to relationships. Women have in-built care function due to our role in reproduction: pregnancy, birth, lactation are all hardwired with deep care function. Again, this doesn't mean that all women are good mothers, I'm talking about as a class here.
That in-built care function is distorted in our current society. We (society) both treat mothers badly, and need them. We expect them to do life changing work of keeping the human race going, and providing workers for the capitalism machine, and to do this for free.
Women like Thatcher, Shipley, Collins, Willis, are allowed into the boys club because they play the game the boys want. They're not representative of how women would do things, they're representative of how the right uses women. Shipley in particular was a massive coup for the right because it convinced people that women can be just as bad as men.
I will say here that I don't think men as a class are bad. I think they do badly under this system too. It's the system innit.
You left out Paula Bennett…
'Women like Thatcher, Shipley, Collins, Willis, are allowed into the boys club because they play the game the boys want'
Can you enlighten me as to the female politicians that don't play the game that the…boys ..want?
Nicola Willis has no credibility as a Minister of Finance after her 4 tax plan was revealed to be b/s.
As for Seymour….no credentials at all.
Robertson is needed for what NZ is facing….in coming years.You ain't seen nothing…yet.
'There are 388 more mega landlords in the country than there were in September 2021, and this group now owns more than 26,000 properties – about the equivalent of Rotorua.'We have 388 more mega landlords but first-home buyers the big winners | The Post
The only game in town…set to get another…boost.
The last 6 years of government have been kind to me
Winter warmth payment
Benefit increases of such a number that I have lost count
Had two molars out earlier this year $800 I didn't have to pay thanks to the new MSD Dental policy
I have more jeans, socks, underwear and jackets than I have ever had before.
2 pairs of Timberlands, 1 Doc Martens, 1 pair Steelcap Workboots and 3 other pairs of boots all near new/great condition.
My Doctors visits cost $30 less than what it used to.
Prescriptions are generally free now and my bus travel is discounted.
All of this 'minor wealth' is thanks to to the last 6 years of Labour led government – had National been in power I would have only recieved threats, hoops to jump through and vilification.
I have voted left for nearly the last 40 years and I encourage others to do so. I am concerned for the future of people and the nation under a NACT government. The right wing parties believe that punching down on those who need state assistance is politically advantageous – Can we please have NACT's desire to punish the weakest and least able to defend themselves highlighted made widely known to the electorate. Will someone please ask New Zealanders in a very loud and clear manner
"Do YOU support cruelty? Do YOU support the the harming of the weakest in our society? NACT do! Their policies will take money from the pockets of superannuatants, veterans, the disabled and job seekers
Reject cruelty vote Labour
Punching down is what the NAct do best!
Expect more of the same if, God forbid, they win in '23.
Solid ! And Solidarity from the Left. We can beat them. .
Esp for those who dont know/cant fight back.
Barfly, I fully concur with your sentiments in both your posts. Very well said comrade.
In the unfortunate event should NACTNZF become government, it will be a very dark time in NZ's history for those at the lower end of the social/economic scale. At the same time, the one percenters will do extremely well, as more public services are sold off and privatised (health, education etc), making access to these services virtually impossible for lower waged and vulnerable Kiwis.
Support Labour
Good on you mary-a. Barfly speaks true. Their "punch down" a palpable worry. There will be some awful carnage on low waged and vulnerable and all on the lower end.
Also…I like the comrade. Not seen that..for a long time.
Barfly, thank you for your honest heartfelt testimony.
Wellbeing. The most important thing is caring. For the ill disabled young old and the environment, the strong should offer support nurture and a share of confidence in the future. Labour Greens and Te Maori Parti look to wellbeing National Act to wealth.
And as you've also said….Empathy. For the Greater Good.The Left have it.
IMO…NAct …have very little. Well…apart from for their type…and thats def not for any Greater Good.
Luxon said this morning on Q&A :
"National will build state houses for those that deserve them"
Don't know the follow up conversation because I switched off in disgust.
So, who decides who is 'deserving' and who is not? Granted there are some tenants who are socially repulsive but the vast majority are law abiding citizens. They just also happen to be poor – and many are brown?
Jack persisted with where will the evicted go? Luxon had no answer 4-5 times.
Luxon proves himself a fraud.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
+100 great stuff Barfly
7 pairs of boots!You're as bad as…Luxon.
Lol
Nicely explained Barfly.
This shows some of the important basic differences to be taken into account when making a choice as to who to vote for at the upcoming election-perish the people who keep saying on the TS that there is no difference between Left and Right.
Do you ever consider who pays for these things you are given because someone does – it surely is not the government.
Sunday roast suggestions!
Nactwurst is a form of bloated political sausage proposed in a recent cook book "More Recipes for National Disaster". It combines a potpourri of wishbones, leftovers, coarsely-chopped tripe, stale breadcrumbs, and broken promises.
Sour cabbage salad, dressed with trickle-down sauce, known for its piquant asparagus overtones, is a preferred accompaniment.
Nactwurst is known in some culinary circles as 'turd down a rabbit hole', served on a mishmash of southern swedes and sprinkled with King Country hayseeds or with raisin d'etre-free, climate-denied wild turkey. It is often grilled on a fire fuelled by banned books and forest trash.
However, it is never ever accompanied with a side-dish such as boiled greens, grated red beetroot salad, or indeed vegetables of any colour.
This meal can be finished with just desserts, such as bitter batter pudding, stirred with a bed leg, or that other nationally-promoted but nutritionally bereft burnt offering, squeezed middle lemon mousse.
Nactwurst has a shelf life of less than three years. Should Nactwurst still be on offer post election, GST will apply,
Brilliant Mac1
if I may…- The Head chef is known for his Mercede arrival, his austerity approach to ingredients, but also for his flamboyant gestures when producing the provided meal.
His grace is so long any sustenance has long gone from the proffered cold offering, and the kitchen helper willis rushes to explain what the chef really meant was on your self provided plate.
Thanks Mac1 you made me see him as a chef of shortcomings propped up by gestures and slogans and caricatures of caring.
Very descriptive : ) If "ever" dining on that dish (I'd sooner eat stinging nettle) …The culinary requirement : a very long spoon.
Watched Luxon on Q&A this morning with Jack Tame – delayed by one hour so someone else could watch it live and see if it posed a health risk to me. Tame did a good job of not letting Luxon run free and babble his way through his bullshit scripted lines. Something that other people in the same negligent profession should have been doing for the last 18 months.
Overall impression was of Luxon asserting that he was going to deliver desirable things by sheer willpower and mojo – even though the actual content of National's policies seems to run in a direction counter to the declared intention. Such as: being supposedly deeply committed to carbon net zero but looting the Climate Emergency Fund, scrapping the clean car discount, delaying agriculture’s entry to the ETS, removing half-price public transport and building roads; or wanting to solve the housing crisis by doing things that would reinflate the housing bubble and make houses even more unaffordable (reduced bright-line, mortgage interest deductibility); or just making the tax on foreign buyers work even though it appears dubious that it is legal or would produce enough revenue; or make New Zealanders feel safer by evicting problem tenants from Kainga Ora housing but having no plan on where they would go.
Most likely the approach would be simply to command someone else (Councils, Kainga Ora, etc.) to fix the problem and thereby square the circle – then castigate them later for the inevitable delivery failure, i.e. the classic behaviour of 3rd-rate CEOs in relatively simple business environments that do not have a sliver of the complexity of an actual society where the imperial power conferred on CEOs doesn’t exist.
Tame did a great job ,but Luxon,just ducked and dived and regurgitated his implausible arguments.
Credibility of the Natz financial acumen =zero.
Tame should be the obvious choice to run the debates.
He serves it up to all politicians ,no matter their affiliations.
Rawiti danced a similar step to Luxon when cornered.
Rawiti at least said it according to a certain Maori perspective. He didn't obfuscate on their fundamental principles.
National announces reintroduction of health targets.
This is how the Tory playbook goes:
That link is for the John Pilger documentary on how the ringtwing in the UK is destroying their NHS
Tame Luxon interview.
Wow, what a lot of ducking and diving.
Him indoors "Snake oil salesman".
Personally, I think Jack showed he has, like Baldrick "A cunning plan"….. full of holes?
Let us see that plan, plus costings and modelling.
late last week saw some blokes waving nat party signs on a street corner. being a fair minded chap I wandered over and offered them $20, out of my own pocket mind, toward closing the $1 billion hole in their tax cut policy. Nicola Willis would only then need to find $999,999,980. They refused to take it. I then congratulated them for closing the gap from the last election of $4 billion down to $1 billion, they had clearly tightened their belts. One of them accused me of causing mischief which I found highly insulting so I carefully explained to him that I wasn't causing mischief, I was taking the piss.
Last election I met Paul Goldsmith and only offered him $5 toward his $4 billion fiscal hole, so I thought I was being generous this time round. Though, I did offer Goldsmith every luck becoming the next party leader after collins lost the election
Because waterborne disease and blue baby syndrome will only affect bottom feeders.
/
Water: What are National and Act doing in the shadows?
National and Act’s policies on drinking water would reduce protections and ignore the recommendations of the inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak
Opinion: During the heady weeks of election campaigning, fundamental public health needs can be overshadowed by more scandalous or dramatic political stories.
But, overlooked, public health concerns such as drinking water can become dramatic in the worst of ways, as the campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North in 2016 demonstrated. And for this reason, public health policies must be brought into the light for debate.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/what-are-national-and-act-doing-in-the-shadows
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300967812/act-proposes-to-allow-builders-to-opt-out-of-council-building-consents
Party leader David Seymour announced the housing policy on Sunday, which would also include scrapping the reformed Resource Management Act and using building insurance as an alternative to building consent authorities.
GEEZ
Self policing is always a good thing and worth its weight in gold to the wide boys who are able to scarper to the hills with their ill-gotten gains, never to be found 'legally' again. Sarc:/
Meanwhile when the poor home owners find yet again they have the equivalent of a leaky home updated to this century by having actually no-one to hold accountable. We know who insurance companies work for, if they work for anyone but themselves and it ain't the home owner.
This kind of stuff was around when the neo-lib madness was in full flight 1980/90s. Those PS working in policy areas in the Health sector found ourselves earnestly giving views on whether registration and professional bodies such as for the Engineers, Doctors and Dentists were needed or were they an impediment to market forces that would weed out the wrong 'uns. Looking back it is surreal and lacking in commonsense just as the notion that all we need is insurance to make sure our homes are built in safe areas to strong safety standards.
If you don’t belive that ACT is the Neo-lib bad fairy come to life then look at this extract:
“Housing is still in crisis and Labour and National are equally responsible, it’s time to stop demand-side policies that aren’t working and set a target for supply,” he said.
Reads like a neo lib play book with refs to ‘supply-side’ & ‘demand-side’. Perhaps a dog whistle to those ‘dry’ economists of the Chicago school that ‘we’re here and we’re going to do it again and play like it is the late 1980s and 1990s all over again’.
Some background on ACT.
In the early days of ACT (1996) a Maori section was set up in their spacious and luxurious head office in Auckland. Maori people, mostly from the East Coast of the North Island, were hired to map out policy for the purpose of attracting Maori voters. I met some of them. A certain Alan Gibbs, who was largely responsible for financing ACT into existence, discovered their presence and he demanded that the staff be immediately sacked and the section disbanded. Within 24 hours they were gone. I felt sorry for them. They had agreed to work for the new party in good faith and then made to feel like they were scum.
Nothing has changed. Seymour and company are dancing to the tune of their major financiers – those Kiwi tycoons whose only motivation is to make money off the rest of us and retain power over the political landscape.
Having turned ACT into their submissive little lamb, they have turned their attention to Christopher Luxon and National. Hence the 8 million dollar treasure chest to fight the election and the rest of us are ultimately destined to be the sacrificial lambs.
Supposed to be a reply to Shanreagh.@12.1. Sorry. 🙁
Yes Anne, I remember hearing about something happening like that. I remember meeting Gibb, as part of my work, and was amazed at the wee squeaky voice he had.
Luxon's interview was so bad he even lost Claire Trevett at the Herald:
Election 2023: Claire Trevett – National leader Christopher Luxon’s dire interview of no answers – NZ Herald
(Link is paywalled, but provided for authentication)
National's strategy was always obvious, and so far it's working. Rely on voter dissatisfaction with the government so people decide before the campaign that they will vote against, not for. Rely on Luxon saying nothing meaningful at all. Vote "other", but don't ask about the "other".
Short-term (one month to election day) it may well succeed. Medium-term (everything after the election) it will be a disaster. Luxon will be a terrible PM, a daily embarrassment, but National can dump him after the election. Too late for the rest of us.
2024: "We didn't vote for this", say the people who – sadly – just did.
"2024: "We didn't vote for this", say the people who – sadly – just did."
I despair at the persistent political stupidity of so many voters. Mark my words, when the disaster sets in… you won't find anyone who voted for them. Its happened before.
Craig Renny/CTU put the needle in. Luxo flounces.
Craig Renney
@CLRenney
National has identified nearly $2.5bn in cuts to public spending. It calls this "Savings from Back Office Bureaucracy". However an analysis from the CTU has identified many areas that Kiwis would consider front-line and essential. A thread…
[…]
Nationals numbers come from Budget 23 data https://budget.govt.nz/budget/2023/estimates/data.htm This breaks the departmental spending down so we can see the areas in which government spending is taking place. This also allows us to see what National has in its scope for the cuts programme.
[…]
Details of just some of the areas that are in scope of cut are included here:
https://union.org.nz/national-party-cuts-front-line-services-in-the-firing-line/
https://twitter.com/CLRenney/status/1700755158047862787
Election 2023: National leader Christopher Luxon walks off amid questions about National's tax plan
National is still refusing to say which parts of what it calls the back office bureaucracy of government it would cut to fund its tax cuts.
But the Council of Trade Unions has done an analysis and found the pool of money they are proposing to cut from includes the courts system, passport processing, national emergency management and search and rescue funding.
National leader Christopher Luxon refused to answer our questions on what was off the table.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/09/election-2023-national-leader-christopher-luxon-walks-off-amid-questions-about-national-s-tax-plan.html
He flounces because he can. He's done it before, it's the freedom of being in opposition. He doesn't even have to face OIA requests (hence the fake numbers on tax).
If he's PM he has to face far more scrutiny, such as the weekly post-Cabinet press conference, which lasts at least half an hour. Unlike Key, whose jokey uncle act worked well as an avoidance tactic, Luxon is not able to pull that off. He can't walk out after 5 minutes of non-answers every time.
Of course I don't want him to get the job, but if he does, at least the sh*tshow will provide some gallows humour.
Why not? It works for Wayne Brown.
Sometimes he can't even spare 5mins because you know……..tennis.
Launching his house Maori/a Maori in the house campaign, Winston Peters said Maori were not indigenous because they came from another place – Cooks and before that from (a part of – Taiwan) China.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2023-winston-peters-claims-maori-are-not-indigenous-during-nelson-meeting-with-nz-first-supporters/ZCEBFEUDZJGHXA2SY4KGOFETIQ/
Could someone please tell Mr Peters that there was a migration out of Africa 50,000 years ago. And that those who settled an area first and maintained a cultural presence there, are the ones seen as indigenous. This applied in Polynesia/South Pacific at a later stage than other areas, for some reason.
Because if he tries this argument on the UN, to withdraw us from UNDRIP, our education system is going to be called into question internationally.
That’s classical Peters: Orwellian populist demagogue practicing semantic sophistry. It could be sufficient to get him (not NZF) over the 5%.
Remember this is now, under Labour with all the market correction and the impact of policy measures:
if you are a middle class family you can have grandparents or a pet, but not both.
The family in this example were lucky in that they scrambled and got into a house before the election.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/business/350069109/mega-landlord-numbers-swell-third-first-home-buyers-real-winners