nah, it looks like he's signalling that Labour will rely on TPM if they need to (as opposed to other elections where they've taken an anti stance), but is also pointing out the limits within MMP post-election negotiations.
And, signalling to the electorate that there won't be a government that adopts the more radical TPM positions. This is fairly normal election jostling. I thought he was quite mild and handled it well.
I can't see Labour being willing to lose the election. Hipkins is courting the working swing vote imo by pulling back from some of the social issues or radical change policies that don't attract swing voters.
Pragmatism is Hipkin's middle name. In that respect he is like John Key. There's room for a pragmatic leader sometimes and given the trials and tribulations we've been through and those we know are coming, then lets give pragmatism another go.
Luxon hasn't got it. He's too wedded to the neoliberal ideology and the notion the market place can sort it all – for himself and his rich cobbers. God forbid he ever had to cope with the type of emergencies that befell Ardern and Hipkins.
It appears to me (and it may be as a result of my own inclinations and the media I consume) that the centre parties are being given the green light to increase taxation on the well heeled.
National to date appear to be unwilling/incapable of hearing the message but will Labour?
I would expect that would be the earliest opportunity…and Im not suggesting the 'approval' is universal, but i get the sense that there is a significant part of the cohort that will not punish any party that proposes such (within reason)
Yes, parties can and should include tax justice as a key policy issue in the election.
Hope it doesn't devolve into a moronic argument about income tax thresholds (which are irrelevant to the truly wealthy). NAct would prefer the argument was just that.
I don't know what tax changes, if any, Labour intends to take to the election, but agree that what Robertson presents at the Budget is not likely to be indicative.
Great to see Te Maaori Party getting on the front foot, a lot of their policies will resonate with the average New Zealander, National and Labour are still Neoliberal Parties pandering to the top 10% percenters and their Cling On’s.
Also with the idea that MMP envisaged a spread of parties and negotiation to get the best of the ideas that smaller parties might have.
Sadly I think the at heart postion of the Labour party still seems to be a nod to neo lib and slow moving on things like the supermarket duopoly and electricity prices. I know there is much still to undo and poverty is ever present.
My husband and I have had the usual increase in our National Superannuation and the winter energy payment has now kicked in as well. OK, we are lucky as we own our property mortgage free, but the Labour Government which you go to great pains to ridicule do look after the less well off than Nact/Act wouldn't have the inclination so to do. ACT have gone as far as saying that they would repeal the WEP straight away – I bet their super aged, well healed followers happily pocket the WEP and don't think to do the decent thing and opt out. I believe that elder poverty has a lot to do with those who are still renting their homes and have to satisfy their rapacious landlords with more and more rent increases.
You are correct that those who have mortgage free houses are doing just fine..
I am talking about the 40% of the retiring baby boomers who aren't in that fortunate position..
Yes..they are prey for parasitic landlords..
And my heart goes out to those still paying off a mortgage..with the pension as their only income…(ok before..but not now)..that must be a new benchmark for being between a rock and a hard place..
I think we all thought we had elder poverty licked..
The landlord. They have inserted themselves in between a person needing a home and an otherwise vacant house and from exploiting that need they extract an income that they didn't labour for.
Landlords 'provide' housing exactly like scalpers 'provide' tickets.
If you decide you want to go to a concert the night before – when all the tickets were sold out two months earlier – then maybe paying a scalper a premium is your only choice.
But a landlord charges you less than what it would cost for you to buy that ‘vacant’ house. How does that work?
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed and demand a rent even for its natural produce – Adam Smith
Landlords don't charge less than a mortgage, they charge as much as the 'market' can support. They have the asset and an income stream as well as a surplus, a renter pays more than an owner-occupier and earns no equity, their labour produces the landlords surplus. Parasites.
How does a renter save for a deposit when the growth in house prices is outpacing inflation, wage increases don't meet inflation and 30+% of their weekly income is spent on rent alone?
As you have said before, there are ongoing costs in maintaining the asset of an investment property, in addition to any mortgage servicing. In the current market renters are expected to pay enough premium to the owners of their home, to cover all the landlords costs, pay down their asset, and provide a surplus on top; all for the luxury of having somewhere to live. No equity, no stability. It’s exploitative.
How does a renter save for a deposit when the growth in house prices is outpacing inflation, wage increases don't meet inflation and 30+% of their weekly income is spent on rent alone?
Now you are asking the right question. Why is property so expensive in New Zealand? And this holds true regardless of whether you are buying an existing property or building new.
As long as your anger is misdirected at your landlord – who is effectively just giving you access to capital and equity you do not have access to – then the problem will remain unsolved.
When I first married in the 80's I had an income of $13kpa and a rent of $1560 pa. I had nothing but a new wife and zero assets. That rent was eminently affordable and I was happy to pay rent just to have a roof over our heads. (Although it has to be said in a stiff southerly the wallpaper did tend to flap a bit.)
As long as your anger is misdirected at your landlord
Why do you insist on mischaracterising the statements of others?
Now you are asking the right question
I was explaining how landlordism is parasitical, as you professed some confusion. Glad to have added to your understanding.
Why is property so expensive in New Zealand?
Because we incentivised property investment, privatised social housing, stacked the rental 'market' in favour of profit-seeking landlords and then acted shocked when housing became increasingly unaffordable to all those without generational wealth.
Again I have good news for you. If you don't want to compete with everyone else in the property market – as I suggested at the outset you might want to consider building a new house.
The most important factor not captured very well is collateral. This is usually a mix of existing assets and (future) earning potential. This, in turn, determines the risk to the mortgage lender. It is not really different to commercial lending and the same (economic) principles apply. Mortgage lenders can call in the mortgage any time.
Knowing how to interpret the snapshot means we have a fairly good inkling of what the next snapshot will look like, don’t you agree?
Yes and no. From what we know across all creative domains, that over time the Pareto Principle seems to inexorably apply. That no matter whether it is landlords, scientific and technological innovation, or doing business of any kind – the table tends to always end up looking like this at any given moment. (Athough the occupants of the chairs do change over time.)
The trivial path to making everyone equal is to burn the table down and make everyone dirt poor. All historic attempts at addressing this have pretty much ended up at this catastrophic end point. The key to unlocking this puzzle is to understand how to maintain the incentives for creative endeavour, while managing a healthy balance between the extremes of wealth and poverty. That is a whole other topic deserving of many other threads.
In terms of housing it is however important that some rental housing must be available. Young people will naturally lack collateral, or some may choose to invest what they have elsewhere. Many are simply not ready to commit to a fixed dwelling place, others will never qualify for a mortgage at any price on any terms – all of these are perfectly legitimate reasons to rent.
The real cause of the anguish and resentment being expressed here is not renting or landlords per se – but that so many people no longer have access to the collateral and credit necessary to have a choice. They find themselves compelled to rent long after it makes personal sense for them to do so.
If instead this cartoon was addressing say – the ranking of academic paper cites, or income earned from the arts, or sporting achievement – would it look much different?
And what is the most important factor that is captured by that cartoon?
If instead this cartoon was addressing say – the ranking of academic paper cites, or income earned from the arts, or sporting achievement – would it look much different?
Don't know. I do know the cartoon depicts a wealth distribution that means roughly 50% of NZers have a less than decent quality of life. Is that distribution sustainable, nice and natural? Can't help wondering if the answer depends on where one sits at the table – keep ’em hungry!
And I don't have any more time for someone who answers a question:
And what is the most important factor that is captured by that cartoon?
with a question:
If instead this cartoon was addressing say – the ranking of academic paper cites, or income earned from the arts, or sporting achievement – would it look much different?
and then levels an accusation of "intellectual dishonesty."
And some wealthy Kiwis agree – change is needed. Those opposed to changes that would increase redistribution of wealth in Aotearoa NZ should be honest about the reason(s) for their resistance.
Wealth Distribution, Income Inequality and Financial Inclusion: A Panel Data Analysis [April 2023; PDF]
The findings of this paper have several implications for policies geared towards addressing wealth inequality. First, it underscores the need for governments to put in place measures to make wealth inequality less persistent. Fiscal policy, in the form of taxation of inheritance, is one instrument that can be used by governments to make wealth inequality less persistent.
Second, reducing income inequality will go a long way towards dampening wealth inequality. Policies addressing income inequality, for example progressive taxation, social protection measures, and education policies, are crucial for reducing wealth inequality.
In other words you know perfectly well the point I was making – but you choose to pretend otherwise.
As for the rest of your quote wall – yeah we knew all of this here at TS over a decade ago. Over time I've seen variations on this same conversation that go nowhere useful so often I care not to even start counting.
Here's the thing – nobody sane or serious thinks poverty is a good thing. In the western world most people will go a step further and agree that the extremes of wealth and poverty is not a good thing either. And it doesn't take much insight to realise they are not one and the same problem – the creation of human development and prosperity can be reliably measured by material dollar value measures. The impact of inequality by contrast shows up in measures of psychological and social dysfunction – a different domain.
But even assuming wealth and income are the sole criteria here – if the desired goal is to both progress human development, and reduce inequality at the same time, this implies a massive increase in total human prosperity across the board. In crude terms, do you want to solve inequality by making the rich poorer, or the poor richer? This is an important distinction, they are not the same thing at all.
The first solution is what the communists attempted with catastrophic outcomes. The latter solution is something altogether different – lifting everyone out of poverty and dysfunction implies something far more ambitious and complex.
Note carefully – I am not saying that progressive tax policies and redistribution schemes do not have their place. But I argue they are in of themselves far from sufficient. If the left is ever to escape the seemingly endless cycles of Karpman Drama games this is the kind of question we must learn how to discuss honestly.
In crude terms, do you want to solve inequality by making the rich poorer, or the poor richer?
If both approaches reduce inequality, then why not do both? The cost of living ain't getting any cheaper, and it's no mystery which end of the table is doing (and always has done) it tough.
If instead this cartoon was addressing say – the ranking of academic paper cites, or income earned from the arts, or sporting achievement – would it look much different?
RL, I still don't know if the distribution of 'food' would "look much different" at any of those tables – maybe inequality would be much more pronounced at a 'sporting achievement table', but I genuinely don't know. Might a Google search provide some real analysis? What is your answer to your question?
Is your the point of your question that Pareto-optimalitydescribes (explains?) all inequality? Some have even been so bold as to suggest that it justifies inequality – can you believe it?! Whereas most politicians can understand that sustained optimal redistribution has a part to play in easing the burden of wealth inequality that influences the prospects of most Kiwis from cradle to grave.
At the 1972 conference in honor of Milton Friedman, Buchanan’s solution was, in his words, “close to that expressed by Musgrave” in Musgrave’s comment on Hochman and Rodgers (1969) because it brought in the property rights considerations that structured the “primary distribution”.
Justice, Pareto, and Equality
[December 2016; abstract only]
In a just society the interests of different classes will be interconnected, which explains why a property-owning democracy is one of Rawls’s preferred social systems. The chapter discusses both why inequality is bad for its own sake and why it is instrumentally undesirable because of its bad effects.
The Problem with Pareto [27 Sept 2021]
Imagine a world where one person holds all the wealth and power, and everybody else has nothing – or at least, are subsisting. Nobody would think this was a just world, but it is a Pareto Efficient world – we cannot make anyone better off without making someone (our absolute monarch) worse off. Outside of our somewhat fanciful example, anything redistributive is still ruled out. In a world where some people starve, and others leave resources idle (or use them to send themselves to space), then Pareto efficiency doesn’t seem very… efficient. As is often the case, economists are our own worst enemies, teaching neat examples that undermine the case for our own usefulness.
If you’re harking for a more efficient allocation of resources, then economics offers up another form of efficiency – Kaldor-Hicks efficiency. A change is a Kaldor-Hicks improvement if the people who benefit from it could (theoretically) compensate the people who lose out. Or, put another way, if a change adds more to happiness of the people who benefit than it does the sadness of those who lose out, it’s Kaldor-Hicks improvement.
I am not saying that progressive tax policies and redistribution schemes do not have their place. But I argue they are in of themselves far from sufficient.
Excellent – in addition to more robust and progressive tax policies (un-dodgeable CGT, wealth tax, inheritance tax, higher tax rates for high net wealth individuals and lower tax rates for the poor), other progressive (generational?) policies couldn't hurt.
The point is, we can improve. And the starting point for that is to get over the awkwardness and start acknowledging the problem.
(Cough Cough)
"Hey, aaah… do you reckon we could pass something down for these guys over here?"
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" will be increasingly important (imho) as civilisation continues to grow, and CC, food scarcity, war, pandemics, environmental and economic crises et al. chip away at the feasibility of continuing the human experiment on spaceship Earth.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Straight from the marxist canon, and like so many bad ideas it has a seductively simplicity to it. If only the world was a rainbow hue utopia the condition it aspires to might spontaneously arise – but instead every attempt to deliver on this has resulted in a catastrophic destruction of all the social, economic and political norms that make life worth living.
Because therein lies a big fat clue – this infamous aphorism is not a useful expression of any economic or even political virtue – but a moral one. A virtue that cannot be imposed by the state, or any bureaucratic device – rather it can only come the same place where good and evil is decided – the human heart.
"Greed on their part is what has caused rents to rise so much.."
No. What has caused rents to rise so much is a government with the stupidity to lift the costs of being a landlord in a market where said landlords have the ability to lift rents.
I've tried looking up the annual cost of the Accomadation Supplement on Aotearoa but can't find it. Along with greed another regretable aspect and cost of landlording.
Type in the address of the home you are living in and this will give you an idea of the market value.
If as you believe your landlord is nothing but a tax-payer subsidised parasite, you should have no trouble being able to undercut him or her – and buying a house for yourself.
Even in the cooling-down housing market many people do still have significant collateral, especially compared to those who don’t own property. The last couple of years they have enjoyed (!) steep increases and the average home value is still 22% higher compared to before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
That’s correct, but we were talking about landlords, not new entrants into the housing market (aka first-home buyers), weren’t we? I don’t get the point you’re trying to make about those who had no property as collateral and who have not lost value of something that they didn’t own!?
Home owners became much richer, on paper, over the last couple of years, and now they have become a little less richer (aka you gain a lot and lose a little). They are still heaps better off than someone who owns no home, and they have collateral.
Where is the evidence that 40% of them are retiring without 100% equity in their homes?
Home ownership among those 50-65 is 75%. This is part baby boomer (above that rate) and part Gen X (below it).
Some may have unpaid mortgages now, that will be paid off by the time they are 65 (or by age 70).
So that 40% rate seems high.
The percentage of people aged 65+ with no mortgage has also dropped from 78% in 2007 to 72% in 2017. Given the lower interest rates c 2017 that is no surprise as people would have borrowed money for repairs and maintenance given it was low cost.
For mine the problem of low levels of home ownership really impacts post boomers from the 2030's. And around the same time there will also hit an aged boomer care crisis.
That's not a recent problem that just appeared, that's a problem that was essentially 35 years in the making. NZ Super rates have always been based on the superannuitant either owning their own house outright or living in social housing. Home ownership has slowly become less common over time, not just recently, and social housing for superannuitants used to be mostly provided by Councils, but that has also become less common over time.
Yes patricia..I think it was lbj who said 'shit happens'
But I don't think inaction on what has been promised in 2017 by j.ardern..ie poverty and the environment..can be excused because of these other events you cite..
Labour has quite a bit of that unable to walk and chew gum at the same time..
An example is that I am currently in a rural area on the outskirts of Auckland…
It used to be 100 k per hour…on roads not built for that..and was dropped to 80..
It is bloody brilliant…no longer do you have arseholes in suv trying to bully you into going faster..
And it makes for much more pleasant driving..
A total success..so what do labour do..?..they can the program for the rest of the country..
Why..?..I ask…surely it is just a matter of consulting with local council/police to identify the dangerous roads…and you change a few signs..
How/why was that so hard for labour to do..?
That example is symptomatic of what ails this gummint..
A majority labour government has been hobbled by its inbuilt incrementalism..
Does NZ have a precedent for a minority, two party coalition government, using confidence and supply from a third party on the cross benches, to form government?
For instance, if we end up with L/G unable to form government, but could with C/S from TPM who sit completely outside of government, would that even work? Has it been done before?
The Governor General would more likely prefer the much more stable National-Act coalition.
It's similar to the UK election a while back when there was talk of a Red-Green-Orange or "traffic light" arrangement, but in the end they just weren't close enough to put it up as a workable arrangement.
Yes, Labour-Alliance with confidence and supply from Greens 1999-2002
Yes, Labour-Progressives confidence and supply from United 2002-2005
Yes, Labour-(Jim Anderton)-NZF, confidence and supply from United and co-operation agreement with Greens
And a National minority government with confidence and supply from ACT and TPM and United 2008-2017
Yes Labour-NZF with confidence and supply from Greens 2017.
google Cabinet governance in New Zealand under MMP:
multi-party government and condoned dissent – Dean R Knight – open access pdf (to see the graphic).
"And a National minority government with confidence and supply from ACT and TPM and United 2008-2017".
How do you come to your conclusion that this was a minority Government but the others weren't? After all they did have Ministers from all of the other parties in their coalition. They were in fact no different from the Governments led by Helen Clark who could be described in exactly the same way.
Does NZ have a precedent for a minority, two party coalition government, using confidence and supply from a third party on the cross benches, to form government?
This was the question.
Of those National is the only one party minority government requiring confidence and supply to govern, the others are two party coalition minority governments requiring this (note I included the 2008 government as Labour+ 1 -NZF, as per Anderton).
The thought that amuses me is Hannah Tamaki as an MP. She will have to go along to work. The bishop won't. My thoughts on who will be running that ship?
And the thought that on the occasion we will be blessed with freedom and democracy.
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TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
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It's been a fun few days watching the beige brigade loss their minds over a minor party, now the PM has joined them.
Does make one wonder if the labour party will return to its nasty box of tricks and rather loss an election, than give working people a break?
But negotiations are hard, and it might actually involve some politics, who would have thought it under MMP.
nah, it looks like he's signalling that Labour will rely on TPM if they need to (as opposed to other elections where they've taken an anti stance), but is also pointing out the limits within MMP post-election negotiations.
And, signalling to the electorate that there won't be a government that adopts the more radical TPM positions. This is fairly normal election jostling. I thought he was quite mild and handled it well.
I can't see Labour being willing to lose the election. Hipkins is courting the working swing vote imo by pulling back from some of the social issues or radical change policies that don't attract swing voters.
Good summary weka.
Pragmatism is Hipkin's middle name. In that respect he is like John Key. There's room for a pragmatic leader sometimes and given the trials and tribulations we've been through and those we know are coming, then lets give pragmatism another go.
Luxon hasn't got it. He's too wedded to the neoliberal ideology and the notion the market place can sort it all – for himself and his rich cobbers. God forbid he ever had to cope with the type of emergencies that befell Ardern and Hipkins.
It appears to me (and it may be as a result of my own inclinations and the media I consume) that the centre parties are being given the green light to increase taxation on the well heeled.
National to date appear to be unwilling/incapable of hearing the message but will Labour?
The level of concern must be great .
MSM are saying that Labour won't increase taxes this term, but I assume they can still campaign on the 2024 budget and taxation?
I would expect that would be the earliest opportunity…and Im not suggesting the 'approval' is universal, but i get the sense that there is a significant part of the cohort that will not punish any party that proposes such (within reason)
Yes, parties can and should include tax justice as a key policy issue in the election.
Hope it doesn't devolve into a moronic argument about income tax thresholds (which are irrelevant to the truly wealthy). NAct would prefer the argument was just that.
I don't know what tax changes, if any, Labour intends to take to the election, but agree that what Robertson presents at the Budget is not likely to be indicative.
Great to see Te Maaori Party getting on the front foot, a lot of their policies will resonate with the average New Zealander, National and Labour are still Neoliberal Parties pandering to the top 10% percenters and their Cling On’s.
Yes I tend to agree with this Ngungukai.
Also with the idea that MMP envisaged a spread of parties and negotiation to get the best of the ideas that smaller parties might have.
Sadly I think the at heart postion of the Labour party still seems to be a nod to neo lib and slow moving on things like the supermarket duopoly and electricity prices. I know there is much still to undo and poverty is ever present.
And elder poverty is again stalking the halls..
Didn't expect that to be happening/after six years under a labour government…
And there is also the epic fails on the environmental front..
Average pollution output for oecd countries is 18 tonne per year..
In nz our average is 24 tonne..
(Which kinda demolish any clean green claims..eh..?..and speaks volumes to what labour has not done..)
(And as an aside…my annual pollution output is 4.5 tonnes…one sixth of the nz average..
And that's'cos I am an off-grid vegan..
That's how ya do it…the numbers don't lie..)
My husband and I have had the usual increase in our National Superannuation and the winter energy payment has now kicked in as well. OK, we are lucky as we own our property mortgage free, but the Labour Government which you go to great pains to ridicule do look after the less well off than Nact/Act wouldn't have the inclination so to do. ACT have gone as far as saying that they would repeal the WEP straight away – I bet their super aged, well healed followers happily pocket the WEP and don't think to do the decent thing and opt out. I believe that elder poverty has a lot to do with those who are still renting their homes and have to satisfy their rapacious landlords with more and more rent increases.
You are correct that those who have mortgage free houses are doing just fine..
I am talking about the 40% of the retiring baby boomers who aren't in that fortunate position..
Yes..they are prey for parasitic landlords..
And my heart goes out to those still paying off a mortgage..with the pension as their only income…(ok before..but not now)..that must be a new benchmark for being between a rock and a hard place..
I think we all thought we had elder poverty licked..
Have to park that one now..
I understand. If you are so unahappy about your landlord you should apply for a mortgage and build your own house. Problem solved!
Happy to help.
So..red loxic…
A pensioner living on the pension can get a mortgage..?
What planet are you on..?
Now I am confused. If your landlord is providing a house you could not otherwise afford to live in – exactly who is the parasite here?
The landlord. They have inserted themselves in between a person needing a home and an otherwise vacant house and from exploiting that need they extract an income that they didn't labour for.
Landlords 'provide' housing exactly like scalpers 'provide' tickets.
If you decide you want to go to a concert the night before – when all the tickets were sold out two months earlier – then maybe paying a scalper a premium is your only choice.
But a landlord charges you less than what it would cost for you to buy that ‘vacant’ house. How does that work?
Landlords/the rentier class..
are exploitive parasites…
screwing the poorest as much as they can..
Greed on their part is what has caused rents to rise so much..
F#ck them..!
@r.l.
Wot arkie said..
Landlords don't charge less than a mortgage, they charge as much as the 'market' can support. They have the asset and an income stream as well as a surplus, a renter pays more than an owner-occupier and earns no equity, their labour produces the landlords surplus. Parasites.
Wonderful!. So as I said above – pop down to your local friendly bank and explain this to them. Let us know how you get on.
How does a renter save for a deposit when the growth in house prices is outpacing inflation, wage increases don't meet inflation and 30+% of their weekly income is spent on rent alone?
As you have said before, there are ongoing costs in maintaining the asset of an investment property, in addition to any mortgage servicing. In the current market renters are expected to pay enough premium to the owners of their home, to cover all the landlords costs, pay down their asset, and provide a surplus on top; all for the luxury of having somewhere to live. No equity, no stability. It’s exploitative.
Now you are asking the right question. Why is property so expensive in New Zealand? And this holds true regardless of whether you are buying an existing property or building new.
As long as your anger is misdirected at your landlord – who is effectively just giving you access to capital and equity you do not have access to – then the problem will remain unsolved.
When I first married in the 80's I had an income of $13kpa and a rent of $1560 pa. I had nothing but a new wife and zero assets. That rent was eminently affordable and I was happy to pay rent just to have a roof over our heads. (Although it has to be said in a stiff southerly the wallpaper did tend to flap a bit.)
So what changed?
So your rent was ten % of your income?
Average rents are north of $25 000 now Average wages are $70000 about 40%(these are rough ballpark figures)
As long as your anger is misdirected at your landlord
Why do you insist on mischaracterising the statements of others?
Now you are asking the right question
I was explaining how landlordism is parasitical, as you professed some confusion. Glad to have added to your understanding.
Why is property so expensive in New Zealand?
Because we incentivised property investment, privatised social housing, stacked the rental 'market' in favour of profit-seeking landlords and then acted shocked when housing became increasingly unaffordable to all those without generational wealth.
Again I have good news for you. If you don't want to compete with everyone else in the property market – as I suggested at the outset you might want to consider building a new house.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
On which side of the table are landLords most likely to be seated? Presumably most involuntary renters are seated on the opposite side.
And which direction best describes the net 'flow' of wealth (food) on this table – trickling 'down' (to the right), or flowing 'up' (to the left.)
Some believe this wealth distribution is sustainable, nice and natural – maybe it depends on where you're sitting.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/12/the-full-list-of-how-many-properties-new-zealand-mps-own.html
As of 2 December 2021, five Labour MPs , three Green MPs and one ACT MP don’t own a property.
The most important factor not captured by that cartoon is – time.
The most important factor not captured very well is collateral. This is usually a mix of existing assets and (future) earning potential. This, in turn, determines the risk to the mortgage lender. It is not really different to commercial lending and the same (economic) principles apply. Mortgage lenders can call in the mortgage any time.
@Incognito
Yes – and both collateral and future earning potential are typically a function of time. And both change as the years pass by.
A 20yr old may well have a modest personal collateral – and a highly variable future earning potential.
A 60yr old is likely to have much greater collateral simply because of the passage of time – but a far more truncated future earning potential.
And this is before we factor in the highly complex aspect of intergenerational collateral, which varies widely by culture and historic circumstance.
But in every case time is the underlying factor that a single snapshot cannot express.
Knowing how to interpret the snapshot means we have a fairly good inkling of what the next snapshot will look like, don’t you agree?
If we want to change the pattern, there are two main approaches: 1) redistribute what’s on the table, or 2) redistribute what’s at the table.
Yes and no. From what we know across all creative domains, that over time the Pareto Principle seems to inexorably apply. That no matter whether it is landlords, scientific and technological innovation, or doing business of any kind – the table tends to always end up looking like this at any given moment. (Athough the occupants of the chairs do change over time.)
The trivial path to making everyone equal is to burn the table down and make everyone dirt poor. All historic attempts at addressing this have pretty much ended up at this catastrophic end point. The key to unlocking this puzzle is to understand how to maintain the incentives for creative endeavour, while managing a healthy balance between the extremes of wealth and poverty. That is a whole other topic deserving of many other threads.
In terms of housing it is however important that some rental housing must be available. Young people will naturally lack collateral, or some may choose to invest what they have elsewhere. Many are simply not ready to commit to a fixed dwelling place, others will never qualify for a mortgage at any price on any terms – all of these are perfectly legitimate reasons to rent.
The real cause of the anguish and resentment being expressed here is not renting or landlords per se – but that so many people no longer have access to the collateral and credit necessary to have a choice. They find themselves compelled to rent long after it makes personal sense for them to do so.
That is the nub of the problem.
And what is the most important factor that is captured by that cartoon?
If instead this cartoon was addressing say – the ranking of academic paper cites, or income earned from the arts, or sporting achievement – would it look much different?
And what is the most important factor that is captured by that cartoon?
Don't know. I do know the cartoon depicts a wealth distribution that means roughly 50% of NZers have a less than decent quality of life. Is that distribution sustainable, nice and natural? Can't help wondering if the answer depends on where one sits at the table – keep ’em hungry!
And I don't have time for intellectual dishonesty.
And I don't have any more time for someone who answers a question:
with a question:
and then levels an accusation of "intellectual dishonesty."
Each country has adopted a range of responses to wealth inequality.
https://www.oecd.org/statistics/wealth-inequalities-26-april-issues-note.pdf
Aotearoa NZ's responses have been sub-optimal, imho.
And some wealthy Kiwis agree – change is needed. Those opposed to changes that would increase redistribution of wealth in Aotearoa NZ should be honest about the reason(s) for their resistance.
In other words you know perfectly well the point I was making – but you choose to pretend otherwise.
As for the rest of your quote wall – yeah we knew all of this here at TS over a decade ago. Over time I've seen variations on this same conversation that go nowhere useful so often I care not to even start counting.
Here's the thing – nobody sane or serious thinks poverty is a good thing. In the western world most people will go a step further and agree that the extremes of wealth and poverty is not a good thing either. And it doesn't take much insight to realise they are not one and the same problem – the creation of human development and prosperity can be reliably measured by material dollar value measures. The impact of inequality by contrast shows up in measures of psychological and social dysfunction – a different domain.
But even assuming wealth and income are the sole criteria here – if the desired goal is to both progress human development, and reduce inequality at the same time, this implies a massive increase in total human prosperity across the board. In crude terms, do you want to solve inequality by making the rich poorer, or the poor richer? This is an important distinction, they are not the same thing at all.
The first solution is what the communists attempted with catastrophic outcomes. The latter solution is something altogether different – lifting everyone out of poverty and dysfunction implies something far more ambitious and complex.
Note carefully – I am not saying that progressive tax policies and redistribution schemes do not have their place. But I argue they are in of themselves far from sufficient. If the left is ever to escape the seemingly endless cycles of Karpman Drama games this is the kind of question we must learn how to discuss honestly.
If both approaches reduce inequality, then why not do both? The cost of living ain't getting any cheaper, and it's no mystery which end of the table is doing (and always has done) it tough.
RL, I still don't know if the distribution of 'food' would "look much different" at any of those tables – maybe inequality would be much more pronounced at a 'sporting achievement table', but I genuinely don't know. Might a Google search provide some real analysis? What is your answer to your question?
Is your the point of your question that Pareto-optimality describes (explains?) all inequality? Some have even been so bold as to suggest that it justifies inequality – can you believe it?! Whereas most politicians can understand that sustained optimal redistribution has a part to play in easing the burden of wealth inequality that influences the prospects of most Kiwis from cradle to grave.
Excellent – in addition to more robust and progressive tax policies (un-dodgeable CGT, wealth tax, inheritance tax, higher tax rates for high net wealth individuals and lower tax rates for the poor), other progressive (generational?) policies couldn't hurt.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" will be increasingly important (imho) as civilisation continues to grow, and CC, food scarcity, war, pandemics, environmental and economic crises et al. chip away at the feasibility of continuing the human experiment on spaceship Earth.
Straight from the marxist canon, and like so many bad ideas it has a seductively simplicity to it. If only the world was a rainbow hue utopia the condition it aspires to might spontaneously arise – but instead every attempt to deliver on this has resulted in a catastrophic destruction of all the social, economic and political norms that make life worth living.
Because therein lies a big fat clue – this infamous aphorism is not a useful expression of any economic or even political virtue – but a moral one. A virtue that cannot be imposed by the state, or any bureaucratic device – rather it can only come the same place where good and evil is decided – the human heart.
Absolutely. Also….predates Marx,
And even !…..
I certainly believe Jesus was real. Just not the son of a sky myth…
Certainly a good guy, who wouldnt have had any common ground with neolibs..or fatcat landlords : )
"Greed on their part is what has caused rents to rise so much.."
No. What has caused rents to rise so much is a government with the stupidity to lift the costs of being a landlord in a market where said landlords have the ability to lift rents.
Taxpayer subsidised parasites, no less.
I've tried looking up the annual cost of the Accomadation Supplement on Aotearoa but can't find it. Along with greed another regretable aspect and cost of landlording.
Good news, go to this website: https://qv.co.nz/
Type in the address of the home you are living in and this will give you an idea of the market value.
If as you believe your landlord is nothing but a tax-payer subsidised parasite, you should have no trouble being able to undercut him or her – and buying a house for yourself.
Thanks, but no.
Despite the positives, I'm not interested in joining the landlord class.
I meant that if you think owning your own home is cheaper than renting – then you have every chance to undercut your landlord.
The landlord has collateral, the tenant has not. That’s a huge difference when trying to get a home loan.
It may be worth noting….fewer and fewer landlords have collateral in the current market.
The family home is collateral.
and that collateral is declining in value in a tight credit market…family home or not.
Even in the cooling-down housing market many people do still have significant collateral, especially compared to those who don’t own property. The last couple of years they have enjoyed (!) steep increases and the average home value is still 22% higher compared to before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
https://www.qv.co.nz/price-index/
Arguably, houses are still grossly overvalued in NZ.
Spare a thought for the landlords who face steeply rising costs and have the ability the raise rents once a year but can’t.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/132018727/property-investors-facing-equivalent-of-105-interest-rate-investor-says
I can’t see the pain easing any time soon although NACT will make it magically go away, of course, at least for landlords – one way of ‘buying’ votes.
Excepting those with existing property have potentially lost their equity whereas those yet to enter the market have not.
That’s correct, but we were talking about landlords, not new entrants into the housing market (aka first-home buyers), weren’t we? I don’t get the point you’re trying to make about those who had no property as collateral and who have not lost value of something that they didn’t own!?
Home owners became much richer, on paper, over the last couple of years, and now they have become a little less richer (aka you gain a lot and lose a little). They are still heaps better off than someone who owns no home, and they have collateral.
"The landlord has collateral, the tenant has not. "
The point is the landlord does not necessarily have collateral, whereas a tenant may.
Generalisations are even more fraught when asset values are in decline.
Baby boomers were born 1945 to 1964.
Where is the evidence that 40% of them are retiring without 100% equity in their homes?
Home ownership among those 50-65 is 75%. This is part baby boomer (above that rate) and part Gen X (below it).
Some may have unpaid mortgages now, that will be paid off by the time they are 65 (or by age 70).
So that 40% rate seems high.
The percentage of people aged 65+ with no mortgage has also dropped from 78% in 2007 to 72% in 2017. Given the lower interest rates c 2017 that is no surprise as people would have borrowed money for repairs and maintenance given it was low cost.
For mine the problem of low levels of home ownership really impacts post boomers from the 2030's. And around the same time there will also hit an aged boomer care crisis.
That's not a recent problem that just appeared, that's a problem that was essentially 35 years in the making. NZ Super rates have always been based on the superannuitant either owning their own house outright or living in social housing. Home ownership has slowly become less common over time, not just recently, and social housing for superannuitants used to be mostly provided by Councils, but that has also become less common over time.
Phillip, some reasons…
Food disruption caused by supply lines storms and supermarket greed.
Rental rises pushing people into hardship.
A bigger contributor is our longevity, (though there is no relief for groups who don't have a good lifespan.)
I don't think it is Labour or the Greens causing these situations imo. They have put aids in place, winter warmth, rises etc…but
As McMillan said" Events dear boy events" Covid Cyclones and War.
Yes patricia..I think it was lbj who said 'shit happens'
But I don't think inaction on what has been promised in 2017 by j.ardern..ie poverty and the environment..can be excused because of these other events you cite..
Labour has quite a bit of that unable to walk and chew gum at the same time..
An example is that I am currently in a rural area on the outskirts of Auckland…
It used to be 100 k per hour…on roads not built for that..and was dropped to 80..
It is bloody brilliant…no longer do you have arseholes in suv trying to bully you into going faster..
And it makes for much more pleasant driving..
A total success..so what do labour do..?..they can the program for the rest of the country..
Why..?..I ask…surely it is just a matter of consulting with local council/police to identify the dangerous roads…and you change a few signs..
How/why was that so hard for labour to do..?
That example is symptomatic of what ails this gummint..
A majority labour government has been hobbled by its inbuilt incrementalism..
It's kinda sad.. really…and we are all the losers
I still haven't forgiven John Tamihere referring to women as 'front bums' – and most of their policies don't resonate with this average Aotearoan.
Does NZ have a precedent for a minority, two party coalition government, using confidence and supply from a third party on the cross benches, to form government?
For instance, if we end up with L/G unable to form government, but could with C/S from TPM who sit completely outside of government, would that even work? Has it been done before?
The Governor General would more likely prefer the much more stable National-Act coalition.
It's similar to the UK election a while back when there was talk of a Red-Green-Orange or "traffic light" arrangement, but in the end they just weren't close enough to put it up as a workable arrangement.
Yes, Labour-Alliance with confidence and supply from Greens 1999-2002
Yes, Labour-Progressives confidence and supply from United 2002-2005
Yes, Labour-(Jim Anderton)-NZF, confidence and supply from United and co-operation agreement with Greens
And a National minority government with confidence and supply from ACT and TPM and United 2008-2017
Yes Labour-NZF with confidence and supply from Greens 2017.
google Cabinet governance in New Zealand under MMP:
multi-party government and condoned dissent – Dean R Knight – open access pdf (to see the graphic).
"And a National minority government with confidence and supply from ACT and TPM and United 2008-2017".
How do you come to your conclusion that this was a minority Government but the others weren't? After all they did have Ministers from all of the other parties in their coalition. They were in fact no different from the Governments led by Helen Clark who could be described in exactly the same way.
This was the question.
Of those National is the only one party minority government requiring confidence and supply to govern, the others are two party coalition minority governments requiring this (note I included the 2008 government as Labour+ 1 -NZF, as per Anderton).
Sue grey and Brian tamaki have joined at the hip..in a new political party ..
Should be good for a few laffs…
The thought that amuses me is Hannah Tamaki as an MP. She will have to go along to work. The bishop won't. My thoughts on who will be running that ship?
And the thought that on the occasion we will be blessed with freedom and democracy.
"She will have to go along to work. "
Why? She has the precedent of the The Maori Party to follow. How often do you see them in the House?
I think basing how much MPs do and how effective they are being based on how often you see them in the house is simplistic and silly.
All the current mischief makes me laugh, after all it's all happened before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamein_Kopu
What a pathetic bunch the current lot of politicians are ….same as it ever was.
Isn’t that a Talking Heads hit?
I have just seen a story about the Tamakis I wasn't aware of when I posted earlier.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brian-tamaki-vs-newshub-tv-show-pulls-destiny-church-leader-interview-off-air-at-last-moment/FIV3R6V2OBDDBH7OQJXGYLYP7E/
1st tamaki laff in link…
Tamaki claimed cyclone gabrielle was visited upon nz 'cos of 'porn abortion and gay rights'.
And the good bishop has clearly walked on the dark side..so we don't have to…
He has been rummaging in the pornhub stats…
And he tells us that those places hit worst by cyclone had the highest number of viewers of pornhub..
He really is as funny as fuck..
Yuk yuk yuk.
Hopefully wastes a few NAct votes, but probably not many.
more likely to waste a few labour votes