At the same time when we could give our empty Ghost Houses to the homeless – or government could instruct Winz to pay weekly rents rather then overpriced stays in slum motels.
Easily fixed that homeless problem, right? Good grief, Morrissey i get it you don't like these guys, but don't complain about other peoples doorstep when in our country we can't even see ours.
"slum motels" Sabine? That is a little emotive. You lose the argument when you overdo the invective, though I agree that it is scandalous that so many people are being put in motels.
In Northland some of the motels are not exactly top draw Git. Some are repurposed, worn out hotels which I am not going to name and shame-the North gets enough flak.
We have good things happening too with Papakainga projects and trusts like He Korowai and others that are supplying housing.
Sabine is not wrong because units that are designed for short stay, low impact use, by one or two people end up with families in them for months, and can turn into slum like conditions quickly enough.
Motels are designed to be slept in nightly. Assuming the unit has two bedrooms and a bathroom (usually the case) and is kept clean by the inhabitants, while this might not be palatial, a family of 4 should be able to live reasonably in such a unit. (I accept the this is not ideal-see my comment above)
To call this a "slum" (def: "a squalid and overcrowded urban street") is invective-go and see the favelas in San Paolo or the slums of Kolkata
Slum actually isnt to far off, I stayed in one near the airport… feral cats, rubbish overflowing in the carpark, minimal cleaning in common areas, mouldy bathrooms, families of four in 25m2 twin rooms no laundaru facilities…
Was only one night would never go back… I feel very sorry for the families stuck there its a national disgrace
nothing stopping the inhabitants from doing a bit of cleaning.I presume they are getting a roof over there heads for free. I rent a house but dont expect landlord to do the cleaning and yardwork. I agree some of these motels are pretty crappy, but a little bit of an effort by some of the inhabitants could do wonders.
IS that the oldopen the bathroom window if you have black mold growing in your 580$ two week bedroom flat. Why don't you clean the house? A bit of bashing down, to feel good?
Yeah, woodart, i agree, why not blame the down trotten and poorest of this country for the failure of successive governments.
Also. you do realise that people in emergency housing also can have jobs? They are just HOMELESS.
Or is that something that would ruin you worldview? That working people, newborn babies, and retirees in New Zealand are homeless because of the last thirty odd years of 'poo poo you so as long as i have mine' mentality of NZ.
get off your high horse.I live in a falling down cottage that had been abandoned for three yrs before I moved in, reroofed half of it, repiled half of it, insulated the ceilings with old real estate signs because there is no roof hatch, painted it, all on MY dollar, cheap rent ,but I have to get off my arse and do these things, not just sit on a forum and whinge. it is MUCH easier to be a victim, but my worldview is that your worldview(constantly looking at others for solutions)is for losers. get off your arse, if there is mould on window sills(a constant problem in my cottage) go buy a cheap bottle of bleach and wipe them all down.
Very soon we encourage young mothers and their babies to live in sheds and insulate the accommodation with straw and old rags…… hang on, was this not something out of the Dickensian times?
But who would know that these days, those kids will never get a proper school education anyway…. yeah, let go back to the good ol' 1800's. Maybe some workhouses, we need someone to pick fruit. Yes? Is this where we going and strife for, the brutalization of the human spirit?
I really hope you own that cottage or are you doing this work in exchange for free living. Cause that would be the only reason for you to do that.
If you rent that shitter and get the pleasure to fix it up for a greedy landlord than like with all the other in that situation i have nothing but pity for you.
Sure, keep your room tidy, clean a little. But with no laundry, no cooking facilities, cramped space, only outdoor area over run with rubbish and feral cats, living on shit takeaway food it'd be fucking soul destroying after a week or so….
dont you think theres a link between shit takeaway food, rubbish everywhere and feral cats? have stayed at some shitty motels, havent found one without a powerpoint. get a cheap one ring cooker(or gas canister camp stove) for less than the price of a feed of maccas, go to the sallies, get a couple of saucepans and cook ,instead of wasteing what money you have on takeaways….or you can continue to whine and play the victim. have seen families living in dirt floor huts in the third world who can cook good meals in one pan, AND keep there houses spotless. its all about the mindset, obviously many on here have a "whats the world going to do for us"mindset. yeah right, continue on that way, see how far down you can go, before someone else holds your hand..
woodart you have a point. People don't realise that they have abilities to help themselves even in dire surroundings. But I think it may be less helplessness or laziness, but a feeling that this is slipping back into the 19th century past and ‘I don't want to go there. I want to progress and move ahead and if I accept these conditions and manage at this level, the authorities will be prepared to leave me here saying 'Oh they're all right'.’
For years people were not able to get a state house with its affordable rent and security of tenure unless they were living in a draughty garage. Now I think that might be regarded as suitable accommodation of a long-term temporary nature.
Life is quite complex when you are struggling. What seems straightforward behaviour to adopt can actually not be the best if you know how the system works. For instance it may seem good for someone on a benefit to get some work. But it won't pay much, involves the cost of travel, and the authorities take away the grant that you rely on, by a dollar for every gross dollar you earn, which then has tax taken out and the net amount received leaves you worse off overall. It can be brutal when you are up against the mindset of judgmental people who condemn others' humanity who have less, regarding them as scruffy rejects of society when all have their gifts as well as their lacks.
Think you'll find the motels dont allow in room cooking… and I am well aware that what we regard as poverty in NZ is comparativly wealthy compared to many other countries. Ive seen that first hand living in a falling apart communist era tower block in eastern Europe.
We just dont know how lucky we are?
I just dont accept that as an arguement as to why we cant be doing much better than we are currently given the living situation for many is steadily worsening.
When it comes to a fridge I expect the old bar style fridge is still used in a motel. Those in emergency housing need to apply every 7 days to MSD and the occupant can be disrupted if the unit is required for a booking due to the amount of guests.
Even if there was a fridge freezer to hold a week of groceries some of the groceries would spoil without refrigeration and go to waste. Carting around open packets of staples would be annoying.
I find this darkly ironic because 'end of life motel' is an accurate description of exactly where we're living at present.
It's not so much the fact of it being not an ideal home, but we're OK with it we're doing this as a short term measure and we have some control and choices. Being trapped there long-term with little prospect of change would be quite different – and very corrosive on family life.
they are slums. if only because no money is spend upgrading and actually making them fit for purpose.
they are slums because we dump people there without any access to mental health, protection from crime, and even help to the motel operators who suddenly have people on home D there, people with addiction health issues, people who are gang involved / related and no help from government, winz, or any other services.
the Favelas and the slums of kolkata are different because here in NZ our homeless have yet to take to the hills and just start building shanty towns, And personally i wonder just how far away we are from that.
Um Sabine, if you check my comments above you will see that I said it is scandalous that we have to resort to putting people in hotels. My problem is people overstate how bad the conditions are-I repeat that they are not close to being slums.
Re the comments above-surely a launderette would be walking distance from most motels. And even when you pay to stay in a motel you are expected to keep it clean.
We all need "protection from crime", not just the people housed in motels. Similarly mental health is not just an issue related to people staying in motels.
and bring a duffle bag of dirty clothes and linnen and then we walk to the next laundromat hang out there for the time your clothes wash and dry and then we walk bac. and if you have a toddler or two bring them too, just so that we can experience the awesomeness of poverty full throttle. But in syaing that, you need to have the ten bucks it would cost you to not only wash the clothes but to also dry it. And people who recieve tens of dollars in benefits may find that hard to afford.
I live in Rotorua, come for a visit and check out the slum motels that we house the homeless in – in fact the government is currently financing the landbanking of businesses that should have gone out of business a long time and if only because they are not fit for anything else then house some stag party where then no one cares about the damage.
Once you did, come and visit and we go have a chat about the substandard accommodation that we shove these people in, out of sight out of mind, and btw, in which newborns are shoved into too – and in which babys have died (can't think of a most wasted life there, born into poverty, three days old in emergency housing) , cause we as a country really don't care.
I don't care about the polite society in NZ, they are for the most part responsible for the misery that is happening across NZ in motels called 'emergency accommodation' for which the tax payer forks out a million + a night.
So yeah, if my emotive comment upset you, just drink a glass of 'she'll be right, lucky it ain't me' and you will feel better in a second.
Very much a case of 'out of sight out of mind' remember how fiercely the Nats were casitgated for using hotels as emergency housing, politicans having sleep outs in solidarity with the homeless … strangely quite now and the problem is getting steadily worse… but its ok now cause 'kindness'
Its a disgrace and pressure on politicians needs to be immense, how are babies, children growing up in the places going to go in later life. We are busy building massive societal issues and not many people seem overly bothered.
This is simply wrong Sabine. National sold off state houses, reducing the stock in NZ. This government has increased the number of state houses and is further increasing numbers. Search the Standard for the total number of state houses-this is an issue that has been much discussed.
Try to include facts and a sense of perspective in your comments.
But when it comes to our homeless nothing has changed.
Don't look at it from our comfortable view, look at it from the view of the guy who lost his job, who is trying to survive on unemployment benefits. Look at it from the view of the women on a fixed benefit that will have a rent increase soon, another 80 – 100$ and who will end up in emergency housing or a ditch near anyone of us.
Rents sky high. Mortgages so out of reach that the government increases help ot first home buyer who are trying for an affordable house of around 700.000 + .
Look at it from the view of the kid that goes from unsecured rental to car to motel to car to motel to maybe an unsecured rental. And who can't get on with schooling cause they move every few weeks/month.
One could call it the emergency housing to prison pipeline.
Nothing much has changed.
I include facts often enough, in fact i am a stickler for links to support my argument. And currently a fact is that the first three years of Labour were to some extend squandered, and the Covid housing boom made it worse for everyone. These too are facts.
The grand housing plan from Grant Roberston is well nice, but lacks in teeth.
and I don't need to again rehash what national did not do, and chances are will not do next time they get in again, as they are currently not running the show. I will moan about them when it is their turn, i am bipartisan that way.
And for those in emergency housing, for those fearing to end up in emergency housing nothing has changed.
For the poorest and most ignored in our country, women and children on social beggar benefits, retirees that can't afford rent on their fixed income, working poor who can't afford a house / flat/ditch even with an accom benefit there is no discernable difference between National Housing issues and Labour Housing issues. It is them that will always pay the bills of the failures of successive governments. And that is my opinion, nothing more nothing less.
Sabine: I agree with you that the level of poverty in NZ is totally unacceptable-we are not so far apart at all on this issue. I am looking for a major increase in benefits in the upcoming budget.
But if you look back over my posts you will see that I have said many times that I support the Green Party's Wealth Tax which is specifically designed to make serious inroads into poverty (or even eliminate it) by taxing only rich people-couples who have net assets over $2 million.
Until we have a quantum shift like a Wealth Tax, which in the case of the Green Party proposal is estimated to raise $7.9 billion annually, poverty will continue in this country.
again, this is not a failure of one party vs the other. Its a failure by Government. I go to great pains to call for 'government' action ,not party action.
It does not matter atm which party to support. Everyone here was scared into voting for Labour cause Judith!!!!!! Never mind she could not get elected dog catcher ourside her own electorate. And all the third parties suffered and here we are.
And now we have a party in majority and they squander every bit of their advantage and only the gods know why. but it certainly not to our benefit.
BG at 1.1.1 – I hope this is not a measure we want to put on the table. I mean, substandard conditions are a health hazard and really trap families in a hopeless situation. You can use these accommodations temporary but not instead of housing. And talking about housing….
Fair point, Sabine—however it's not a case of me "not liking these guys"; I was simply reminding everyone of where public money is going, as opposed to where it should be going. In this case of course, it is the USA, but obscene mis-prioritizations of funding occur here as well, although not on the same scale.
You obviously haven't been listening. Biden has a 1.9 trillion infrastructure proposal before the Congress right now. That proposal includes funding for housing the homeless as well as many other social justice issues. If only our government was as proactive.
Is this in any way serious? NZ is so far ahead of the US in handling the pandemic that we don't have remotely similar problems. The US stimulus will allow further housing of people in motels, something which NZ is already doing.
The stimulus package (which has been approved) is not the same thing as the Infrastructure Package which is aimed not at housing people in motels – but in building homes.
Just as in NZ, in the US there is a lack of suitable social housing, and the initial stimulus package included funds to immediately house homeless people, as explained in the WaPo article.
But.
It then goes on to explain further the initiatives that are also included in the Infrastructure package that has just been revealed a week ago.
Fudge said Biden’s $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, unveiled last week, would bring additional funding necessary to address homelessness and housing instability. Biden’s jobs and infrastructure plan would include $213 billion for housing programs, including $40 billion to improve public housing.
Sounds like you want Kiwibuild to be given another crack. But as far as I am aware the govt is building and running the state housing stock, reversing a prior National govt sell off. I just can't see how its possible to claim our govt is not proactive with reference to policies well under way in NZ.
But as far as I am aware the govt is building and running the state housing stock, reversing a prior National govt sell off. I just can't see how its possible to claim our govt is not proactive with reference to policies well under way in NZ.
It is true there are some steps being made by the current govt here in NZ to reverse the damage done under previous administrations, but it is far too little IMHO. The emphasis on Kiwibuild is fine for those who might be able to afford to buy a home, but there are many others for whom that vision is simply out of the question. The reliance on private developers to do the work is also a problem. Having worked for a time in the civil construction industry, developers are only in the game for the end dollar. "Cheap" is not an attractive option for them. The money is always in the middle to upper end of the market.
Furthermore for many they are really not interested in 3 bedrooms 1 bathroom and garage, even if one was offered. I work on a voluntary basis here with a group of rough sleepers, and all they want is someplace to have a shower, go to the toilet, cook a meal, and have a chat if they feel the need for some company. When it is raining they would like a dry place they can doss down for the night. We have around 20 -30 rough sleepers in our town right now. I have written to the Ministers for Housing, Social Development, Maori Housing, and Associate Minister for Homelessness, outlining a proposal for a Hub providing such amenities, and ongoing staffing through an acceptable NGO. I have not had the courtesy of a reply.
Every commentator on the MSM whether from real estate or developers or advocacy groups all say that the government should just embark on a massive house-building programme. The leftie ones continue that sentence … "just like Michael Joseph Savage".
This government has found that the states' capacity to execute policy anywhere let alone in housing construction is far, far weaker than they imagined.
The amount of support that Minister Twyford got for trying to start such a programme was next to zero including from his caucus and his PM. They let him swing on the manifesto promises they all signed up to. And he was the only one in this government with enthusiasm for forming anything new that would deliver. So no other Minister is going to try that again.
Good on you for your volunteer efforts that's more than I do. I'd recommend the staff of Megan Woods. She's a solid unit, and about as active as this lot are going to get.
Being visible, being heard, having a strategy and action taken by governments is the way forward when it comes to climate change and ecological sustainability.
Indeed, and while smart young people flex their voices, pale stale male National is trying to bog it down in bickering, as usual, about modelling assumptions and technical details. Stall, stall, stall, in the hope that it will be watered down so much it becomes a meaningless toothless toad, just like the National Party.
I do not think science has yet come up with an alternative technology which will be used to stop greenhouse gas emissions. For now it is about cutting the gas emissions.
A new lever on the standard model. This could be the answer once muons are worked out. There are other forms of energy which will be discovered.
If you are a Minister outside of Cabinet, there is really very little policy one can initiate, because you do not have a seat at the table where the real decisions on what is to be done and prioritised, are made.
Oh horseshit. He's generated the legislation he wanted, the Commission he wanted, and the recommendations he wanted all on his policy area. The release from Shaw today shows how proud he is of getting prioritiations through. He knows how to influence effectively. He's just weak.
It has been said that I am always negative on TS (not actually true) however here is a little something to give readers a few laughs…a great look back at some of the funniest and most over the top anti Russian Mccarthyite hysteria headlines to come from the Liberal press over the past few years …enjoy
What a wonderful world we live in when a pot head comedian is regularly more switched on, informed and informative than flagship liberal media and their vast readerships …
No flattery of Putin whatsoever, rather criticism of the soviet type propaganda exercise , taken up by corporate news media in the west ,blaming outsiders for internal dysfunction, and amplifying secret "intelligence" allegations
Anybody disputing the official govt story is promptly gaslighted as unwitting Kremlin dupes, or "running dog"losers .What a brilliant way to cower people into keeping their mouths shut for fear of being cut loose from the pack
It is only the raging Putin dupes who find it necessary to impose their lack of judgement upon us, day in, day out.
Let us be explicit here, your fellow travelers are promoting a murderous kleptocrat and former head of the Stasi, on a leftwing site, and for some reason expect not to be greeted with universal contempt.
criticism of the soviet type propaganda exercise , taken up by corporate news media in the west ,blaming outsiders for internal dysfunction, and amplifying secret "intelligence" allegations
Were you not Putin dupes, menkurt dependents of his propaganda sources, you would find yourself a few eastern European sources, folk who suffered the Soviet occupation for preference. People from Byelorussia or the Ukraine would soon put you straight about the crap you regurgitate here ad nauseum. The style of that propaganda is instantly recognizable – and often relies on drawing false parallels between less compromised organs like the NYT, and fully compromised ones like RT.
In your naivete, you are dangerous. Do some homework – get the real story on the monster whose work you are doing.
The funny thing, ma petite choux choux, is that I don't. It's not me that, day in, day out posts pathetic drivel in support of a genocidal sonofabitch – that would be you Putin dupes.
America doesn't talk about Chechnya – it coincided with and took advantage of the US invasion of Iraq – it's not a US talking point at all. But I imagine, to the tragic pawn of a murderous despot, that level of compromise must seem natural, even inevitable.
Same thing just happened to me, francesca. I challenged Mr Munro over his remarkable claim that the President of one country ("R") headed the spy agency of another ("E.G.") and I asked him if he had received that information from a particularly foolish and discredited MSNBC commentator, and provided a clip of that commentator insanely repeating the name of the country "R" and its President.
Lo and behold, I found my post marked "awaiting moderation."
Not any more. Over the past few months as house prices have continued to rise, the $500,000 price limit for a home to qualify under the FHL scheme has basically shut out all but the scummiest do-ups in Hamilton.
Oh, but of course do-ups don’t qualify either. Any house with a building report showing more than $5000 of remedial work needed, is automatically ineligible. Too risky for first home buyers.
still, why exclude do-er uppers. Maybe really that is an issue, specifically if that is the only house you can buy for the money the government thinks is the amount you could buy for in any given area.
You get nigh to nothing in Rotorua for 500.000 grand. Before covid no issue, but thanks to a year of low interest rates and cashed up 'expat' kiwis coming home, no longer. Just to show you how obscene it is, the property that i bought 4 years ago for 200.000 grand is now worth over 500.000 grand. And between Christmas and March it increased almost 100.000 in value. I did put in heatpump, insulation, bathroom fan etc – yes this was a rental property – but nothing that would allow for that type of increase other then speculation and desperation. Sad thing, well funny too, if i were to sell, i could not afford a new property. Luckily, this is my forever home, and hopefully i can keep it.
Excluding doer uppers is indeed foolish but I guess if you are promoting 'healthy homes' allowing it gives opposition voices a stick to beat you with…politics trumps common sense.
I suspect the thresholds were set with one eye on where they would like the lower quartile to settle…..maybe inflation is set by expectations.
i bought an 'unhealthy home' and fixed it for about 6 grand to make it healthy and that includes a heat pump.
that should not be a reason.
Inflation currently is set by desperation. Not expectations. Heck, i have yet to do the driveway. lol……………………… But i got the drain dudes in last week and i dug out hte broken piece of drain and fixed it! Woot.
And just wait until the rates increases are coming through. Porirua, one of the poorer areas around Wellington except Aotea, has been told to expect 8% increase. On top of that they talk about a separate levy for waste water pipes maintenance. Yep, I am sure the council staff is well heeled whilst the rest will be loosing their roof over the head. Why is inflation being said to be low? There is a 10% increase of rates which represents some 30-50% of your living costs. No longer, its then 40-60%. I know that supermarkets have increased their pricing in the last 12 months and judging by my weekly bill that hasn't really changed in terms of product bought, I look at 7-8% minimum depending whether I allow myself some meat.
Maybe inflation figures assessed are of all those who can deduct GST, this would be 1-2% inflation alright.
They are obviously thinking about themselves and their business models. A bigger government subsidy to 1st home buyers, means more people knocking on these guys' doors looking for the balance of the purchase price. That this increases demand and will likely push prices still higher, they don't give a flying f*ck about – it's all about them and the perpetual drive to make even more money. There are so many bad faith actors in this scummy little thing called a 'housing market' that it's hard not to puke.
The Senate filibuster effectively requires a 60-vote super-majority for the passage of most legislation in the Senate, but reconciliation provides a process to prevent the use of the filibuster and thereby allow the passage of a bill with simple majority support in the Senate.
Man what could our people here – those who don't work from home, and who are not rich, and who have lost their jobs and who live of begger welfare payments – do with a bit of a stimulus payment. Lol….our people did not even get a christmas bonus payment for some slices of Pams Ham. Go figure.
Just a little trickle down to the people rather then shoveling money to connected people and their 'shovel ready' projects.
While its clear that the democrats control the US govt to the extent they can pass as much legislation as they want, they also already managed to reneg on the $15 federal minimum wage which was a campaign promise. It will hardly be surprising if such a large spending bill gets markedly reduced while negotiating it through government, especially with the corporate tax hikes coupled with it.
Of course as Mozzy highlighted no similar scale military budget has such problems passing (or changes corporate taxes by a cent).
Repugs will vote for aircraft carriers and filibuster wage increases.
It's that simple. For the dems to pass legislation in the Senate they need to change the filibuster rules or get 60$% (the dollar sign was a typo but was too appropriate to leave out, lol) of the seats.
The democrats could easily have avoided the filibuster in the minimum wage case, using the same procedure Sabine highlighted. They decided to make it a problem which makes one think they also didn't want the minimum wage increase to go through.
Yes, I am well aware that the democrats have been telling everyone just how incompetent they are at passing legislation.
On the other hand say an unelected office holder stood in the way of govt policy, say the reserve bank governor refused to reimplement LVR restrictions, do you think they could keep their position?
Especially if that job includes the function of ensuring that the legislative body follows the legislative process as defined by law, in this case the Congressional Budget Act (section 313).
What next, firing judges who hold that the minimum wage law was illegal because it didn't follow the legislative process?
Of course the Republicans have previously fired the senate parliamentarian. Not that it would have come to that had they made it clear that $15 was expected to be in there.
It's not gaslighting to actually focus on the case in question.
What is your argument that the Senate Parliamentarian made the legally incorrect decision? Was the minimum wage change an intrinsic part of the budget legislation, or was it being piggy-backed onto budget legislation in order to bypass the legislated process?
In your opinion, is the issue of minimum wage "extraneous" to a budget bill?
A number of democrat senators didn't support the $15 minimum wage rate Biden wanted, so it still wouldn't have passed if they sacked they senate parliamentarian and put it to a vote.
A bill that (by your link) changes specific federal budget expenses and taxes/charges is not extraneous to a budget, no.
The closest you could get to that with minimum wage is to itemise how many federal employees are on the minimum wage, if any.
Just saying that the downstream economic effects would affect the budget in some unknown way would make everything from the death penalty to speed limits non-extraneous to the budget.
Just pretending words mean whatever they want so they can avoid legislative restrictions was the hallmark of the orange regime, not rule of law.
Yes, its just a fact that the govt budget and the economy are intertwined. There are clear reasons why treasury produces a forecast as part of the budget and when its not accurate then the deficit is off budget to the tune of a billion dollers (within 6 months). Same with the CBO, but with bigger numbers.
Unless you can propose a more accurate way of forecasting I see little way of splitting impacts up by budget impact, but the minimum wage clearly will impact the federal bottom line.
There is a fundamental interconnectedness of all things, but minimum wage increases are not connected to the budget in as direct a way as e.g. a clause explicitly increasing specific tax credits.
The bottom line is that the "parliamentarian" has a statutory role to ensure the legality of the process by which legislation is enacted. If that role was demonstrably performed incompetently or in bad faith, then fine, fire them.
But firing officials because one doesn't like their impartial, competent decisions about the legality of what one wishes to do is exactly the sort of presidency from which the USA needs to move away.
and moderate Democrat Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona.
As Dr, King once said, its not the radicals that he fears, the KKK's and the likes as they are open in their attitude, it is the moderates that he fears, as they have no issue with the status quo and thus are happy to maintain it to the detriment of everyone else.
A pox on the house of all moderates that hide among so called liberals and progressives.
The 15 min wage was killed because of these two Democrats. Sinema even tried to pull of a little John McCain, and did a little curtesy when she gave it that thumps down. Sounds a bit like the moderates in our so called progressive party.
With friends like these who needs enemies. But it would really help if people actually looked a bit further.
So for the moment budget reconciliation it is and sometimes that is what one needs to do to get something done. That is still better then do fuck all, and state before the election that 'the beneficiaries will get nothing more then what we gave them'. Moderates. Just no.
But even without those two, it did not work because minimum wage levels are extraneous to the government's budget reconciliation process.
However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, especially with the repugs beginning their own little civil war. Dems have the moderate bloc and the coastal lefties, but the repugs have the magamob vs the corporate shills.
Thinking back over the years it used to be people became politicians and get into govt because they wanted to enact real change ie the Labour movement but with the rise of the career politician we are seeing a change where the aim is to become the govt for govts sake ie reach the top of the career ladder….
I'm not sure you'd pick it for a career. Doesn't pay that much and it looks very stressful.
I think politics picks them. They all seem to have an intense belief their opinion matters. Unfortunately, most are of the opinion that the boat shall not be rocked.
It may not pay much, but think of the ego trip these people relish. Not sure politics chooses them rather they choose politics cos no one else would employ them, sure, there are exceptions to this rule.
I think unlimited sick leave, guaranteed wage increase, a pension after just 3 years etc… helps. All financed by those who have a battle on their hands to keep afloat.
They will invest in commercial property – not restrictions of any kind there. A person i know asked for a pop up shop here and was quoted i kid you not, 4500NZd plus GST, plus outgoings, plus insurance – a month. And we wonder why our towns are dying.
The principal of Hutt Valley High School is blaming the Ministry of Education saying officials have known about the problems for years and failed to act.
From next term, Year 12 and Year 13 students will have to do their work from home for two-and-a-half days a week because there's not enough room for them at school.
Two weeks ago teachers were given 30 minutes to clear their desks before a whole building was shut down and sealed off.
Thirteen classrooms, three bathrooms and a dance studio have been deemed unsafe.
This left the school struggling for space to teach its 1700 pupils and it resorted to holding multiple classes at a time in the hall and library.
On Monday it decided it would have to send at least 500 senior students home.
Parent at the school, Miranda Cross, was furious……………..
Cross said parents were asked to pay an infrastructure donation on top of other fees because of the underfunding………………….
Acting principal Denise Johnson has been at the school for nine years, and stepped in to the role after former principal Ross Sinclair died in December.
She said Johnson had spent a decade fighting the ministry for more funding and officials knew millions were needed to fix the leaking roofs.
"The ministry have a company that they engage to do an assessment of a school, and that company determines what are the critical infrastructure needs of the school going forward, which would include things like roofing and aged piping and electrics I suspect, all that sort of really important stuff.
"That company assessed the school as needing $10 million… We weren't given $10 million."
Last week’s eruption of La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,has left the entire population of the main island without clean water and electricity, the UN Spokesperson said on Monday.
Emphasizing that access to the island is limited, Mr. Dujarric said that along with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the UN has mobilized pre-positioned water and sanitation hygiene supplies, currently stored in nearby Barbados….
“Explosions and accompanying ashfall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days”, according to the UN humanitarian office.
This is a government managing a country that has good financial standing, oh yes. It's just that a lot of people living in this country are being rorted by a system that no-one has the guts to change because it would involve some very wealthy people getting really pissed off. I'm doing all right, if other people did this…. or that…. (various well-worn recipes for cakes that won't rise) – that is why we are like this. But hey look over here, there's a tv celebrity with white teeth and wearing a Trelise Cooper or such, to take your mind off the probs.
Ordinary people at state schools have to put up with underfunding and not just plain and basic surroundings but neglected buildings that bureaucrats wouldn't work in. Cold, unpleasant and unhealthy.
From next term, Year 12 and Year 13 students will have to do their work from home for two-and-a-half days a week because there's not enough room for them at school.
Two weeks ago teachers were given 30 minutes to clear their desks before a whole building was shut down and sealed off. Thirteen classrooms, three bathrooms and a dance studio have been deemed unsafe…
[Acting Principal Denise Johnson]… Johnson told Morning Report the ministry has known about these issues for years. She said it's only now that "we're in a crisis" that the ministry's response has been brilliant. "This was a train wreck waiting to happen."
The building in question is 50 years old and ventilation is minimised by the design, being surrounded by other buildings, Evans said. ((Ministry of Education's head of property delivery and infrastructure services Scott Evans)
In Nelson the Min of Ed refuse to provide extra classrooms for the nearest co-ed school and so people are forced to send their children to either of the one-sex schools in the city, though everybody wants choice. It certainly is not good for those who would benefit from a mixed gender environment such as the children of single parents, or those who want education amongst average society.
Can't an empty or underutilised stadium be found for them? They have a doubtful productivity record and we can't afford to build another hive for people who have proved to be drones.
I say stop these expensive building plans that the creme de la creme are dreaming up around the country*; put a moratorium on them. We have to get basic matters seen to first, and Parliamentarians should just have to double-bunk if necessary.
Also remember the Parl.. part of their name, they are talkers, and how. But we now need doers of practical things more than chewing gum and advancing exciting ideas at the same time.
I am serious in this concern. I believe that many others will also feel the same way. Should we start a movement about it?
Christchurch stadium that will never pay for itself – $400 million. But can't afford to maintain swimming pool with proud community use and is doing away with mobile library bus to save money!!
Plus another moan – school buses are being run on such a lean budget that pupils who need it, are being refused transport even when it goes past their properties. Education was always the way that countries were told to increase to lift them up in the world, standards of living. So we no longer want to do that? Is that part of why NZ is diminishing?
Nelson which has an attractive library but talking up $44 million for another one at same level on side of river which would be affected by rising sea levels probably needing flood protection in future, costly. I think that the words – Better or as good as the finest, or world standard et al might have been mentioned. Something to beware of, this chest-thumping.
Education was always the way that countries were told to increase to lift them up in the world, standards of living. So we no longer want to do that? Is that part of why NZ is diminishing?
All over the country I think we would find feverish plans to do this or that new mainly to cater for the tourists they hope will come, when they have present attractions that could be flossied up and the emphasis should be on local performance which gives work to people, and advances skills, and which is unique and ihas the multiplier effect on the local and national economy.
Boomers lose what remains of their teeth when their two favourite shows Fair go, which which is about other Boomers being ripped off by brown people, and Casketeers, which is about the coffins they will soon be in…
…temporarily make way for a show about emerging young talent.
andrew little is acting irrationally in his opposition to fixing the cannabis laws.
to date 17 American states have legalised cannabis with the latest being New Mexico just yesterday.
His refusal to do anything is more or less archaic and comes with no explanation except his other irrational fixation which is he is going to mend and repair the mental health of the whole nation in one budget.
does he come by this fixation by himself or who is feeding him his lines?
well there goes a big delusion right there.
as they say over there either shit or get off the pot!
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Salman Shooshtarian Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their ...
Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study on populism reveals a pervasive sense of societal and economic decline among New Zealanders. MORE DETAILS AND FULL REPORT HERE Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study ...
Easily fixed.
So when will President Biden and the "Democrats" fix it?
https://twitter.com/AWKWORDrap/status/1381262710483136512
At the same time when we could give our empty Ghost Houses to the homeless – or government could instruct Winz to pay weekly rents rather then overpriced stays in slum motels.
Easily fixed that homeless problem, right? Good grief, Morrissey i get it you don't like these guys, but don't complain about other peoples doorstep when in our country we can't even see ours.
"slum motels" Sabine? That is a little emotive. You lose the argument when you overdo the invective, though I agree that it is scandalous that so many people are being put in motels.
In Northland some of the motels are not exactly top draw Git. Some are repurposed, worn out hotels which I am not going to name and shame-the North gets enough flak.
We have good things happening too with Papakainga projects and trusts like He Korowai and others that are supplying housing.
Sabine is not wrong because units that are designed for short stay, low impact use, by one or two people end up with families in them for months, and can turn into slum like conditions quickly enough.
Motels are designed to be slept in nightly. Assuming the unit has two bedrooms and a bathroom (usually the case) and is kept clean by the inhabitants, while this might not be palatial, a family of 4 should be able to live reasonably in such a unit. (I accept the this is not ideal-see my comment above)
To call this a "slum" (def: "a squalid and overcrowded urban street") is invective-go and see the favelas in San Paolo or the slums of Kolkata
Slum actually isnt to far off, I stayed in one near the airport… feral cats, rubbish overflowing in the carpark, minimal cleaning in common areas, mouldy bathrooms, families of four in 25m2 twin rooms no laundaru facilities…
Was only one night would never go back… I feel very sorry for the families stuck there its a national disgrace
nothing stopping the inhabitants from doing a bit of cleaning.I presume they are getting a roof over there heads for free. I rent a house but dont expect landlord to do the cleaning and yardwork. I agree some of these motels are pretty crappy, but a little bit of an effort by some of the inhabitants could do wonders.
IS that the oldopen the bathroom window if you have black mold growing in your 580$ two week bedroom flat. Why don't you clean the house? A bit of bashing down, to feel good?
Yeah, woodart, i agree, why not blame the down trotten and poorest of this country for the failure of successive governments.
Also. you do realise that people in emergency housing also can have jobs? They are just HOMELESS.
Or is that something that would ruin you worldview? That working people, newborn babies, and retirees in New Zealand are homeless because of the last thirty odd years of 'poo poo you so as long as i have mine' mentality of NZ.
get off your high horse.I live in a falling down cottage that had been abandoned for three yrs before I moved in, reroofed half of it, repiled half of it, insulated the ceilings with old real estate signs because there is no roof hatch, painted it, all on MY dollar, cheap rent ,but I have to get off my arse and do these things, not just sit on a forum and whinge. it is MUCH easier to be a victim, but my worldview is that your worldview(constantly looking at others for solutions)is for losers. get off your arse, if there is mould on window sills(a constant problem in my cottage) go buy a cheap bottle of bleach and wipe them all down.
Good on ya, guess its all fault of the people stuck in shit motels cause 'they didnt get off their arse' so I guess lets just forget about em…
Very soon we encourage young mothers and their babies to live in sheds and insulate the accommodation with straw and old rags…… hang on, was this not something out of the Dickensian times?
But who would know that these days, those kids will never get a proper school education anyway…. yeah, let go back to the good ol' 1800's. Maybe some workhouses, we need someone to pick fruit. Yes? Is this where we going and strife for, the brutalization of the human spirit?
It doesn't have to be a binary choice between personal agency and collective support – we can and should require both.
I really hope you own that cottage or are you doing this work in exchange for free living. Cause that would be the only reason for you to do that.
If you rent that shitter and get the pleasure to fix it up for a greedy landlord than like with all the other in that situation i have nothing but pity for you.
Sure, keep your room tidy, clean a little. But with no laundry, no cooking facilities, cramped space, only outdoor area over run with rubbish and feral cats, living on shit takeaway food it'd be fucking soul destroying after a week or so….
details details. s/
dont you think theres a link between shit takeaway food, rubbish everywhere and feral cats? have stayed at some shitty motels, havent found one without a powerpoint. get a cheap one ring cooker(or gas canister camp stove) for less than the price of a feed of maccas, go to the sallies, get a couple of saucepans and cook ,instead of wasteing what money you have on takeaways….or you can continue to whine and play the victim. have seen families living in dirt floor huts in the third world who can cook good meals in one pan, AND keep there houses spotless. its all about the mindset, obviously many on here have a "whats the world going to do for us"mindset. yeah right, continue on that way, see how far down you can go, before someone else holds your hand..
woodart you have a point. People don't realise that they have abilities to help themselves even in dire surroundings. But I think it may be less helplessness or laziness, but a feeling that this is slipping back into the 19th century past and ‘I don't want to go there. I want to progress and move ahead and if I accept these conditions and manage at this level, the authorities will be prepared to leave me here saying 'Oh they're all right'.’
For years people were not able to get a state house with its affordable rent and security of tenure unless they were living in a draughty garage. Now I think that might be regarded as suitable accommodation of a long-term temporary nature.
Life is quite complex when you are struggling. What seems straightforward behaviour to adopt can actually not be the best if you know how the system works. For instance it may seem good for someone on a benefit to get some work. But it won't pay much, involves the cost of travel, and the authorities take away the grant that you rely on, by a dollar for every gross dollar you earn, which then has tax taken out and the net amount received leaves you worse off overall. It can be brutal when you are up against the mindset of judgmental people who condemn others' humanity who have less, regarding them as scruffy rejects of society when all have their gifts as well as their lacks.
Think you'll find the motels dont allow in room cooking… and I am well aware that what we regard as poverty in NZ is comparativly wealthy compared to many other countries. Ive seen that first hand living in a falling apart communist era tower block in eastern Europe.
We just dont know how lucky we are?
I just dont accept that as an arguement as to why we cant be doing much better than we are currently given the living situation for many is steadily worsening.
When it comes to a fridge I expect the old bar style fridge is still used in a motel. Those in emergency housing need to apply every 7 days to MSD and the occupant can be disrupted if the unit is required for a booking due to the amount of guests.
Even if there was a fridge freezer to hold a week of groceries some of the groceries would spoil without refrigeration and go to waste. Carting around open packets of staples would be annoying.
I find this darkly ironic because 'end of life motel' is an accurate description of exactly where we're living at present.
It's not so much the fact of it being not an ideal home, but we're OK with it we're doing this as a short term measure and we have some control and choices. Being trapped there long-term with little prospect of change would be quite different – and very corrosive on family life.
they are slums. if only because no money is spend upgrading and actually making them fit for purpose.
they are slums because we dump people there without any access to mental health, protection from crime, and even help to the motel operators who suddenly have people on home D there, people with addiction health issues, people who are gang involved / related and no help from government, winz, or any other services.
the Favelas and the slums of kolkata are different because here in NZ our homeless have yet to take to the hills and just start building shanty towns, And personally i wonder just how far away we are from that.
Um Sabine, if you check my comments above you will see that I said it is scandalous that we have to resort to putting people in hotels. My problem is people overstate how bad the conditions are-I repeat that they are not close to being slums.
Re the comments above-surely a launderette would be walking distance from most motels. And even when you pay to stay in a motel you are expected to keep it clean.
We all need "protection from crime", not just the people housed in motels. Similarly mental health is not just an issue related to people staying in motels.
again, why don't you come and visit.
and bring a duffle bag of dirty clothes and linnen and then we walk to the next laundromat hang out there for the time your clothes wash and dry and then we walk bac. and if you have a toddler or two bring them too, just so that we can experience the awesomeness of poverty full throttle. But in syaing that, you need to have the ten bucks it would cost you to not only wash the clothes but to also dry it. And people who recieve tens of dollars in benefits may find that hard to afford.
Poverty is very expensive. Just saying.
I live in Rotorua, come for a visit and check out the slum motels that we house the homeless in – in fact the government is currently financing the landbanking of businesses that should have gone out of business a long time and if only because they are not fit for anything else then house some stag party where then no one cares about the damage.
Once you did, come and visit and we go have a chat about the substandard accommodation that we shove these people in, out of sight out of mind, and btw, in which newborns are shoved into too – and in which babys have died (can't think of a most wasted life there, born into poverty, three days old in emergency housing) , cause we as a country really don't care.
I don't care about the polite society in NZ, they are for the most part responsible for the misery that is happening across NZ in motels called 'emergency accommodation' for which the tax payer forks out a million + a night.
So yeah, if my emotive comment upset you, just drink a glass of 'she'll be right, lucky it ain't me' and you will feel better in a second.
Very much a case of 'out of sight out of mind' remember how fiercely the Nats were casitgated for using hotels as emergency housing, politicans having sleep outs in solidarity with the homeless … strangely quite now and the problem is getting steadily worse… but its ok now cause 'kindness'
Its a disgrace and pressure on politicians needs to be immense, how are babies, children growing up in the places going to go in later life. We are busy building massive societal issues and not many people seem overly bothered.
yep, that is what i am pointing out every now and then, ]
i am still making the same comments i did under National. Nothing, absolutly nothing has changed, other then Covid we are were we were in 2016.
I would argue its far worse than it was in 2016. Next to nothing has actually been achieved ie completed to alleviate the issue.
Lots of talk fuck all action and spare me the it's less worse than it would have been under National brigade.
Sabine:"Nothing, absolutely nothing has changed,"
This is simply wrong Sabine. National sold off state houses, reducing the stock in NZ. This government has increased the number of state houses and is further increasing numbers. Search the Standard for the total number of state houses-this is an issue that has been much discussed.
Try to include facts and a sense of perspective in your comments.
i do.
But when it comes to our homeless nothing has changed.
Don't look at it from our comfortable view, look at it from the view of the guy who lost his job, who is trying to survive on unemployment benefits. Look at it from the view of the women on a fixed benefit that will have a rent increase soon, another 80 – 100$ and who will end up in emergency housing or a ditch near anyone of us.
Rents sky high. Mortgages so out of reach that the government increases help ot first home buyer who are trying for an affordable house of around 700.000 + .
Look at it from the view of the kid that goes from unsecured rental to car to motel to car to motel to maybe an unsecured rental. And who can't get on with schooling cause they move every few weeks/month.
One could call it the emergency housing to prison pipeline.
Nothing much has changed.
I include facts often enough, in fact i am a stickler for links to support my argument. And currently a fact is that the first three years of Labour were to some extend squandered, and the Covid housing boom made it worse for everyone. These too are facts.
The grand housing plan from Grant Roberston is well nice, but lacks in teeth.
and I don't need to again rehash what national did not do, and chances are will not do next time they get in again, as they are currently not running the show. I will moan about them when it is their turn, i am bipartisan that way.
And for those in emergency housing, for those fearing to end up in emergency housing nothing has changed.
From January this year
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealands-public-housing-crisis-waiting-list-grows-nearly-1000-in-two-months/UFYUW4QAUXIYZARA2ASC2L56VY/
dead baby in emergency housing – reason may not be known for month!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124783505/wellington-babys-cause-of-death-may-not-be-known-for-months-coroner-to-investigate
from March this year
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438289/fears-for-children-in-motels-growing-up-next-to-gang-members
For the poorest and most ignored in our country, women and children on social beggar benefits, retirees that can't afford rent on their fixed income, working poor who can't afford a house / flat/ditch even with an accom benefit there is no discernable difference between National Housing issues and Labour Housing issues. It is them that will always pay the bills of the failures of successive governments. And that is my opinion, nothing more nothing less.
Just a few facts.
Sabine: I agree with you that the level of poverty in NZ is totally unacceptable-we are not so far apart at all on this issue. I am looking for a major increase in benefits in the upcoming budget.
But if you look back over my posts you will see that I have said many times that I support the Green Party's Wealth Tax which is specifically designed to make serious inroads into poverty (or even eliminate it) by taxing only rich people-couples who have net assets over $2 million.
Until we have a quantum shift like a Wealth Tax, which in the case of the Green Party proposal is estimated to raise $7.9 billion annually, poverty will continue in this country.
again, this is not a failure of one party vs the other. Its a failure by Government. I go to great pains to call for 'government' action ,not party action.
It does not matter atm which party to support. Everyone here was scared into voting for Labour cause Judith!!!!!! Never mind she could not get elected dog catcher ourside her own electorate. And all the third parties suffered and here we are.
And now we have a party in majority and they squander every bit of their advantage and only the gods know why. but it certainly not to our benefit.
I guess i am moaning again.
BG at 1.1.1 – I hope this is not a measure we want to put on the table. I mean, substandard conditions are a health hazard and really trap families in a hopeless situation. You can use these accommodations temporary but not instead of housing. And talking about housing….
F Waka-see my comment above where I say it is scandalous that NZ is housing people in motels.
On a recent holiday, we stayed in a campground north of Thames.
Another aspect of children living in a motel/campground is the places to play, socialize, ride bikes. Most surfaces are concreted.
Also having yr neighbours change every day or other day. Not good.
Impose squatters rights on the 40,000 ghost houses in Auckland as a start. Then move to the other 60,000 in the rest of the country.
I disagree that it is a financial constraint, it is a lack of will.
Fair point, Sabine—however it's not a case of me "not liking these guys"; I was simply reminding everyone of where public money is going, as opposed to where it should be going. In this case of course, it is the USA, but obscene mis-prioritizations of funding occur here as well, although not on the same scale.
You obviously haven't been listening. Biden has a 1.9 trillion infrastructure proposal before the Congress right now. That proposal includes funding for housing the homeless as well as many other social justice issues. If only our government was as proactive.
I doubt that Mossie reads WaPo.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/04/08/homeless-hud-marcia-fudge/
+1
"If only our government was as proactive. "
Is this in any way serious? NZ is so far ahead of the US in handling the pandemic that we don't have remotely similar problems. The US stimulus will allow further housing of people in motels, something which NZ is already doing.
You do realise that there was a change of govt in the US on 20 Jan 2021. Up until that time, the do nothing Chump was in charge. Since that time (in 83 days to be precise) the country has been rolling out vaccines at a phenomenal rate. The rate of infection, while still high, has dropped and has steadied at around 70,000 cases per day from a peak of over 225,000 cases per day under Trump in Jan this year. Half of the adult population (150 million) have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
The stimulus package (which has been approved) is not the same thing as the Infrastructure Package which is aimed not at housing people in motels – but in building homes.
You thought the clear difference between the challenges faced by the US and NZ should be highlighted?
And if you think housing people in motels is not an outcome of the infrastructure proposal then you should read the WaPo link.
Just as in NZ, in the US there is a lack of suitable social housing, and the initial stimulus package included funds to immediately house homeless people, as explained in the WaPo article.
But.
It then goes on to explain further the initiatives that are also included in the Infrastructure package that has just been revealed a week ago.
my bold.
Where’s Mossie gone?
Sounds like you want Kiwibuild to be given another crack. But as far as I am aware the govt is building and running the state housing stock, reversing a prior National govt sell off. I just can't see how its possible to claim our govt is not proactive with reference to policies well under way in NZ.
It is true there are some steps being made by the current govt here in NZ to reverse the damage done under previous administrations, but it is far too little IMHO. The emphasis on Kiwibuild is fine for those who might be able to afford to buy a home, but there are many others for whom that vision is simply out of the question. The reliance on private developers to do the work is also a problem. Having worked for a time in the civil construction industry, developers are only in the game for the end dollar. "Cheap" is not an attractive option for them. The money is always in the middle to upper end of the market.
Furthermore for many they are really not interested in 3 bedrooms 1 bathroom and garage, even if one was offered. I work on a voluntary basis here with a group of rough sleepers, and all they want is someplace to have a shower, go to the toilet, cook a meal, and have a chat if they feel the need for some company. When it is raining they would like a dry place they can doss down for the night. We have around 20 -30 rough sleepers in our town right now. I have written to the Ministers for Housing, Social Development, Maori Housing, and Associate Minister for Homelessness, outlining a proposal for a Hub providing such amenities, and ongoing staffing through an acceptable NGO. I have not had the courtesy of a reply.
Every commentator on the MSM whether from real estate or developers or advocacy groups all say that the government should just embark on a massive house-building programme. The leftie ones continue that sentence … "just like Michael Joseph Savage".
This government has found that the states' capacity to execute policy anywhere let alone in housing construction is far, far weaker than they imagined.
The amount of support that Minister Twyford got for trying to start such a programme was next to zero including from his caucus and his PM. They let him swing on the manifesto promises they all signed up to. And he was the only one in this government with enthusiasm for forming anything new that would deliver. So no other Minister is going to try that again.
Good on you for your volunteer efforts that's more than I do. I'd recommend the staff of Megan Woods. She's a solid unit, and about as active as this lot are going to get.
That’s just one impact of the School Strikes for Climate Action.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/climate-emergency/school-strikes-give-govt-mandate-to-act-on-climate
Being visible, being heard, having a strategy and action taken by governments is the way forward when it comes to climate change and ecological sustainability.
Indeed, and while smart young people flex their voices, pale stale male National is trying to bog it down in bickering, as usual, about modelling assumptions and technical details. Stall, stall, stall, in the hope that it will be watered down so much it becomes a meaningless toothless toad, just like the National Party.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300275333/national-wont-vote-for-climate-change-commission-proposals-in-current-form
Oh well said sir!
At the moment the best Shaw can come up with is replacing coal boilers for school heaters….
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2104/S00079/carbon-neutral-government-a-step-closer.htm
… which amounts to pretty much doing nothing at all.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/new-zealands-greenhouse-gas-emissions
I'm sure he's going to shock us with his boldness on May 31st.
I do not think science has yet come up with an alternative technology which will be used to stop greenhouse gas emissions. For now it is about cutting the gas emissions.
A new lever on the standard model. This could be the answer once muons are worked out. There are other forms of energy which will be discovered.
If you are a Minister outside of Cabinet, there is really very little policy one can initiate, because you do not have a seat at the table where the real decisions on what is to be done and prioritised, are made.
Oh horseshit. He's generated the legislation he wanted, the Commission he wanted, and the recommendations he wanted all on his policy area. The release from Shaw today shows how proud he is of getting prioritiations through. He knows how to influence effectively. He's just weak.
He has $200 million to play with. That's his limit. That was approved in 2019, when he did have a seat at the table.
It has been said that I am always negative on TS (not actually true) however here is a little something to give readers a few laughs…a great look back at some of the funniest and most over the top anti Russian Mccarthyite hysteria headlines to come from the Liberal press over the past few years …enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2SmniV0HY&t=48s
What a wonderful world we live in when a pot head comedian is regularly more switched on, informed and informative than flagship liberal media and their vast readerships …
Word for the day: Running dog is a pejorative term for an unprincipled person who helps or flatters those more powerful and often evil.
But that's not what's going on in that video
No flattery of Putin whatsoever, rather criticism of the soviet type propaganda exercise , taken up by corporate news media in the west ,blaming outsiders for internal dysfunction, and amplifying secret "intelligence" allegations
Anybody disputing the official govt story is promptly gaslighted as unwitting Kremlin dupes, or "running dog"losers .What a brilliant way to cower people into keeping their mouths shut for fear of being cut loose from the pack
.
Oh, get off the grass.
It is only the raging Putin dupes who find it necessary to impose their lack of judgement upon us, day in, day out.
Let us be explicit here, your fellow travelers are promoting a murderous kleptocrat and former head of the Stasi, on a leftwing site, and for some reason expect not to be greeted with universal contempt.
How's that working out for you?
Putin headed the Stasi, did he? Where did you learn that—from Rachel Domdaw?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPpyn3QwSj0
criticism of the soviet type propaganda exercise , taken up by corporate news media in the west ,blaming outsiders for internal dysfunction, and amplifying secret "intelligence" allegations
Were you not Putin dupes, menkurt dependents of his propaganda sources, you would find yourself a few eastern European sources, folk who suffered the Soviet occupation for preference. People from Byelorussia or the Ukraine would soon put you straight about the crap you regurgitate here ad nauseum. The style of that propaganda is instantly recognizable – and often relies on drawing false parallels between less compromised organs like the NYT, and fully compromised ones like RT.
In your naivete, you are dangerous. Do some homework – get the real story on the monster whose work you are doing.
While you amplify hegemonic US talking points
You are dangerous for any journalist who speaks out against a war mongering western elite
While you amplify hegemonic US talking points
The funny thing, ma petite choux choux, is that I don't. It's not me that, day in, day out posts pathetic drivel in support of a genocidal sonofabitch – that would be you Putin dupes.
America doesn't talk about Chechnya – it coincided with and took advantage of the US invasion of Iraq – it's not a US talking point at all. But I imagine, to the tragic pawn of a murderous despot, that level of compromise must seem natural, even inevitable.
My reply is "awaiting moderation"
heh
I mean, we could all try a bit more moderation in some way or another 🙂
Censorship—don't you love it!
Sometimes words have two meanings 🙄
Same thing just happened to me, francesca. I challenged Mr Munro over his remarkable claim that the President of one country ("R") headed the spy agency of another ("E.G.") and I asked him if he had received that information from a particularly foolish and discredited MSNBC commentator, and provided a clip of that commentator insanely repeating the name of the country "R" and its President.
Lo and behold, I found my post marked "awaiting moderation."
There's a lot of it about.
Ok KGB, not Stasi – though these despotic intelligence organizations are very alike and cooperated – sharing files and methodologies.
Advocates and journalist calling for even greater property inflation….what the hell are they thinking?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/governments-first-home-loan-scheme-totally-redundant
maybe this is the problem?
And increasing the thresholds simply puts a higher floor under the market….as they should all understand.
still, why exclude do-er uppers. Maybe really that is an issue, specifically if that is the only house you can buy for the money the government thinks is the amount you could buy for in any given area.
You get nigh to nothing in Rotorua for 500.000 grand. Before covid no issue, but thanks to a year of low interest rates and cashed up 'expat' kiwis coming home, no longer. Just to show you how obscene it is, the property that i bought 4 years ago for 200.000 grand is now worth over 500.000 grand. And between Christmas and March it increased almost 100.000 in value. I did put in heatpump, insulation, bathroom fan etc – yes this was a rental property – but nothing that would allow for that type of increase other then speculation and desperation. Sad thing, well funny too, if i were to sell, i could not afford a new property. Luckily, this is my forever home, and hopefully i can keep it.
Maybe the inflation is driven by desperation.
Excluding doer uppers is indeed foolish but I guess if you are promoting 'healthy homes' allowing it gives opposition voices a stick to beat you with…politics trumps common sense.
I suspect the thresholds were set with one eye on where they would like the lower quartile to settle…..maybe inflation is set by expectations.
i bought an 'unhealthy home' and fixed it for about 6 grand to make it healthy and that includes a heat pump.
that should not be a reason.
Inflation currently is set by desperation. Not expectations. Heck, i have yet to do the driveway. lol……………………… But i got the drain dudes in last week and i dug out hte broken piece of drain and fixed it! Woot.
And just wait until the rates increases are coming through. Porirua, one of the poorer areas around Wellington except Aotea, has been told to expect 8% increase. On top of that they talk about a separate levy for waste water pipes maintenance. Yep, I am sure the council staff is well heeled whilst the rest will be loosing their roof over the head. Why is inflation being said to be low? There is a 10% increase of rates which represents some 30-50% of your living costs. No longer, its then 40-60%. I know that supermarkets have increased their pricing in the last 12 months and judging by my weekly bill that hasn't really changed in terms of product bought, I look at 7-8% minimum depending whether I allow myself some meat.
Maybe inflation figures assessed are of all those who can deduct GST, this would be 1-2% inflation alright.
"what the hell are they thinking?"
They are obviously thinking about themselves and their business models. A bigger government subsidy to 1st home buyers, means more people knocking on these guys' doors looking for the balance of the purchase price. That this increases demand and will likely push prices still higher, they don't give a flying f*ck about – it's all about them and the perpetual drive to make even more money. There are so many bad faith actors in this scummy little thing called a 'housing market' that it's hard not to puke.
Sadly I fear you are correct….though why the journalist didnt ask those questions is disturbing.
Macro you think Biden's 1.9trillion package will solve the US "s homeless problem you are joking .
When you look at where it's going to be spent and the fact that it could be filibuster by the GOP .
look up the term budget reconciliation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)#:~:text=The%20Senate%20filibuster%20effectively%20requires,majority%20support%20in%20the%20Senate.
Man what could our people here – those who don't work from home, and who are not rich, and who have lost their jobs and who live of begger welfare payments – do with a bit of a stimulus payment. Lol….our people did not even get a christmas bonus payment for some slices of Pams Ham. Go figure.
Just a little trickle down to the people rather then shoveling money to connected people and their 'shovel ready' projects.
While its clear that the democrats control the US govt to the extent they can pass as much legislation as they want, they also already managed to reneg on the $15 federal minimum wage which was a campaign promise. It will hardly be surprising if such a large spending bill gets markedly reduced while negotiating it through government, especially with the corporate tax hikes coupled with it.
Of course as Mozzy highlighted no similar scale military budget has such problems passing (or changes corporate taxes by a cent).
Repugs will vote for aircraft carriers and filibuster wage increases.
It's that simple. For the dems to pass legislation in the Senate they need to change the filibuster rules or get 60
$% (the dollar sign was a typo but was too appropriate to leave out, lol) of the seats.The democrats could easily have avoided the filibuster in the minimum wage case, using the same procedure Sabine highlighted. They decided to make it a problem which makes one think they also didn't want the minimum wage increase to go through.
They tried that procedure. It didn't work.
Yes, I am well aware that the democrats have been telling everyone just how incompetent they are at passing legislation.
On the other hand say an unelected office holder stood in the way of govt policy, say the reserve bank governor refused to reimplement LVR restrictions, do you think they could keep their position?
If they are doing their job, yes.
Especially if that job includes the function of ensuring that the legislative body follows the legislative process as defined by law, in this case the Congressional Budget Act (section 313).
What next, firing judges who hold that the minimum wage law was illegal because it didn't follow the legislative process?
Amazing.
Sticking to your gas lighting I see.
Of course the Republicans have previously fired the senate parliamentarian. Not that it would have come to that had they made it clear that $15 was expected to be in there.
It's not gaslighting to actually focus on the case in question.
What is your argument that the Senate Parliamentarian made the legally incorrect decision? Was the minimum wage change an intrinsic part of the budget legislation, or was it being piggy-backed onto budget legislation in order to bypass the legislated process?
In your opinion, is the issue of minimum wage "extraneous" to a budget bill?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_and_Education_Reconciliation_Act_of_2010
This went through that process in 2010.
No, a minimum wage increase will quite clearly effect the budget. Boosting both income tax collected and the pay of some federal employees.
A number of democrat senators didn't support the $15 minimum wage rate Biden wanted, so it still wouldn't have passed if they sacked they senate parliamentarian and put it to a vote.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/541860-the-eight-democrats-who-voted-no-on-15-minimum-wage
Agree. This could have made things difficult for democrats who were against the increase in their electorates.
A bill that (by your link) changes specific federal budget expenses and taxes/charges is not extraneous to a budget, no.
The closest you could get to that with minimum wage is to itemise how many federal employees are on the minimum wage, if any.
Just saying that the downstream economic effects would affect the budget in some unknown way would make everything from the death penalty to speed limits non-extraneous to the budget.
Just pretending words mean whatever they want so they can avoid legislative restrictions was the hallmark of the orange regime, not rule of law.
Yes, its just a fact that the govt budget and the economy are intertwined. There are clear reasons why treasury produces a forecast as part of the budget and when its not accurate then the deficit is off budget to the tune of a billion dollers (within 6 months). Same with the CBO, but with bigger numbers.
Unless you can propose a more accurate way of forecasting I see little way of splitting impacts up by budget impact, but the minimum wage clearly will impact the federal bottom line.
There is a fundamental interconnectedness of all things, but minimum wage increases are not connected to the budget in as direct a way as e.g. a clause explicitly increasing specific tax credits.
The bottom line is that the "parliamentarian" has a statutory role to ensure the legality of the process by which legislation is enacted. If that role was demonstrably performed incompetently or in bad faith, then fine, fire them.
But firing officials because one doesn't like their impartial, competent decisions about the legality of what one wishes to do is exactly the sort of presidency from which the USA needs to move away.
Yes, it did not work thanks to
moderate Democrat Jo Manchin from West Virginia
and moderate Democrat Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona.
As Dr, King once said, its not the radicals that he fears, the KKK's and the likes as they are open in their attitude, it is the moderates that he fears, as they have no issue with the status quo and thus are happy to maintain it to the detriment of everyone else.
A pox on the house of all moderates that hide among so called liberals and progressives.
The 15 min wage was killed because of these two Democrats. Sinema even tried to pull of a little John McCain, and did a little curtesy when she gave it that thumps down. Sounds a bit like the moderates in our so called progressive party.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/sinema-gives-a-thumbs-down-to-federal-minimum-wage-increase-to-15-per-hour/2021/03/05/2428d425-2370-4ed1-91f5-21b4a9495301_video.html
and funny it is these two that are upset that they have to give up the fillibuster for their friends in the republican party.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/us/politics/joe-manchin-filibuster-reconciliation.html
With friends like these who needs enemies. But it would really help if people actually looked a bit further.
So for the moment budget reconciliation it is and sometimes that is what one needs to do to get something done. That is still better then do fuck all, and state before the election that 'the beneficiaries will get nothing more then what we gave them'. Moderates. Just no.
But even without those two, it did not work because minimum wage levels are extraneous to the government's budget reconciliation process.
However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, especially with the repugs beginning their own little civil war. Dems have the moderate bloc and the coastal lefties, but the repugs have the magamob vs the corporate shills.
Thinking back over the years it used to be people became politicians and get into govt because they wanted to enact real change ie the Labour movement but with the rise of the career politician we are seeing a change where the aim is to become the govt for govts sake ie reach the top of the career ladder….
I'm not sure you'd pick it for a career. Doesn't pay that much and it looks very stressful.
I think politics picks them. They all seem to have an intense belief their opinion matters. Unfortunately, most are of the opinion that the boat shall not be rocked.
It may not pay much, but think of the ego trip these people relish. Not sure politics chooses them rather they choose politics cos no one else would employ them, sure, there are exceptions to this rule.
I think unlimited sick leave, guaranteed wage increase, a pension after just 3 years etc… helps. All financed by those who have a battle on their hands to keep afloat.
sure does.
Gee, that was quick.* Why didn't we do something sooner?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/04/investors-losing-interest-in-property-survey.html
*I doubt they are telling the truth, they are not the type.
They will invest in commercial property – not restrictions of any kind there. A person i know asked for a pop up shop here and was quoted i kid you not, 4500NZd plus GST, plus outgoings, plus insurance – a month. And we wonder why our towns are dying.
Obviously not a shovel ready project.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440348/hutt-valley-high-school-principal-beyond-angry-as-classrooms-close-due-to-mould-leaks
They should contact James Shaw, get him to re-direct that $11.9m that went to the 'green' school. This school seems far more deserving.
Are you a disingenuous or just an ignorant troll?
Let’s just assume it was the least worse option: an ignorant troll. Next time we’ll see a flying troll
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/green-schools-11-7-million-grant-now-100-per-cent-government-loan
That's good to hear it is now only a loan to the Green school, I was unaware of that.
Thanks for advising. It annoyed me at the time as there are so many other public schools badly in need of funding.
I expect more structural defects will be found. Maybe a rebuild is the smarter decision.
The UN comes to the rescue, it is so good that we have it.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2104/S00128/volcanic-eruption-leaves-entire-population-of-saint-vincent-without-clean-water.htm
Last week’s eruption of La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,has left the entire population of the main island without clean water and electricity, the UN Spokesperson said on Monday.
Emphasizing that access to the island is limited, Mr. Dujarric said that along with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the UN has mobilized pre-positioned water and sanitation hygiene supplies, currently stored in nearby Barbados….
“Explosions and accompanying ashfall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days”, according to the UN humanitarian office.
This is a government managing a country that has good financial standing, oh yes. It's just that a lot of people living in this country are being rorted by a system that no-one has the guts to change because it would involve some very wealthy people getting really pissed off. I'm doing all right, if other people did this…. or that…. (various well-worn recipes for cakes that won't rise) – that is why we are like this. But hey look over here, there's a tv celebrity with white teeth and wearing a Trelise Cooper or such, to take your mind off the probs.
Ordinary people at state schools have to put up with underfunding and not just plain and basic surroundings but neglected buildings that bureaucrats wouldn't work in. Cold, unpleasant and unhealthy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440348/hutt-valley-high-school-principal-beyond-angry-as-classrooms-close-due-to-mould-leaks
From next term, Year 12 and Year 13 students will have to do their work from home for two-and-a-half days a week because there's not enough room for them at school.
Two weeks ago teachers were given 30 minutes to clear their desks before a whole building was shut down and sealed off.
Thirteen classrooms, three bathrooms and a dance studio have been deemed unsafe…
[Acting Principal Denise Johnson]… Johnson told Morning Report the ministry has known about these issues for years.
She said it's only now that "we're in a crisis" that the ministry's response has been brilliant.
"This was a train wreck waiting to happen."
The building in question is 50 years old and ventilation is minimised by the design, being surrounded by other buildings, Evans said. ( (Ministry of Education's head of property delivery and infrastructure services Scott Evans)
In Nelson the Min of Ed refuse to provide extra classrooms for the nearest co-ed school and so people are forced to send their children to either of the one-sex schools in the city, though everybody wants choice. It certainly is not good for those who would benefit from a mixed gender environment such as the children of single parents, or those who want education amongst average society.
True to form, MediaJerks says: Nothing to see here.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/mediaworks-harassment-inquiries-anger-after-internal-probe-finds-no-misconduct-at-the-rock/B5SJYS4H3IH2GWKRTIV7ISGKDA/
This despite multiple complaints about workplace culture.
edit
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/440374/new-parliament-building-to-house-mps-staff-planned-for-2022-build
Can't an empty or underutilised stadium be found for them? They have a doubtful productivity record and we can't afford to build another hive for people who have proved to be drones.
I say stop these expensive building plans that the creme de la creme are dreaming up around the country*; put a moratorium on them. We have to get basic matters seen to first, and Parliamentarians should just have to double-bunk if necessary.
Also remember the Parl.. part of their name, they are talkers, and how. But we now need doers of practical things more than chewing gum and advancing exciting ideas at the same time.
I am serious in this concern. I believe that many others will also feel the same way. Should we start a movement about it?
Plus another moan – school buses are being run on such a lean budget that pupils who need it, are being refused transport even when it goes past their properties. Education was always the way that countries were told to increase to lift them up in the world, standards of living. So we no longer want to do that? Is that part of why NZ is diminishing?
Education was always the way that countries were told to increase to lift them up in the world, standards of living. So we no longer want to do that? Is that part of why NZ is diminishing?
All over the country I think we would find feverish plans to do this or that new mainly to cater for the tourists they hope will come, when they have present attractions that could be flossied up and the emphasis should be on local performance which gives work to people, and advances skills, and which is unique and ihas the multiplier effect on the local and national economy.
Gawd, how pathetic. JuCo has a cry because old racist Phil
GlücksburgBattenburgthe Greek had such a hard time growing up.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh
Silly old bat.
What a surprise.
Boomers lose what remains of their teeth when their two favourite shows Fair go, which which is about other Boomers being ripped off by brown people, and Casketeers, which is about the coffins they will soon be in…
…temporarily make way for a show about emerging young talent.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300275881/tvnz-backlash-grows-after-popstars-replaces-fair-go-this-is-a-joke
Good news they seem to have caught up with this bloke finally.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124808216/judge-tells-horticultural-contractors-to-prepare-for-jail-after-they-admit-to-17m-tax-evasion
Yes, it's good the whole industry is under the microscope now. The growers were complicit in this and a bit of sunlight is doing everyone some good.
andrew little is acting irrationally in his opposition to fixing the cannabis laws.
to date 17 American states have legalised cannabis with the latest being New Mexico just yesterday.
His refusal to do anything is more or less archaic and comes with no explanation except his other irrational fixation which is he is going to mend and repair the mental health of the whole nation in one budget.
does he come by this fixation by himself or who is feeding him his lines?
well there goes a big delusion right there.
as they say over there either shit or get off the pot!