” Mr Leon [Night Shelter Manager] agrees a housing shortage is one of the biggest problems. “Housing New Zealand isn’t building anymore, council isn’t building anymore but the need is increasing. Where does that lead?”
Wellington City Council has about 2300 social housing units in the city and Housing NZ 8975, although only 1600 are in Wellington city.
Both agencies have been upgrading their housing stock in the past year, but are keen to emphasise how all displaced tenants are successfully rehoused.
Neither organisation is planning to increase their housing stock but talk enthusiastically about “partnering” with third parties to build affordable housing.
Last May, Housing NZ kicked out 131 tenants from its Gordon Wilson complex after the building was found to be quake prone.
In the Wellington region, the number of Housing NZ homes remains steady. However, while available housing hasn’t shrunk, the number of people on the high priority waiting list has more than tripled in the past two years. “
Thanks for the link, AWW. It’s good to see that a mainstream paper is taking notice.
The article gives examples of the most visible, easiest to find and accessible homeless individuals (mostly single men): those sleeping rough in public spaces, and in shelters. It does mention where homeless families (especially children and women) will be found: couch-surfing, (over) crowding into houses and flats with other people.
There are other places where there will be hidden homeless people: living in garages, in the spare rooms of friends and family, in caravans and tents on other people’s quarter acre sections, etc.
Of course, focusing on examples of such single people living at the “sharp end” of homeless, gives a skewed perception, and won’t help a lot to get rid of some people’s misconceptions about the “undeserving poor”.
Those ‘Easy Access’ flat are supposedly for providing transitional accomodation — ie support for the homeless to move into permanent housing. If the guy ended up on the street after his 6 months there, then we need to re look at that scheme and make changes,
My thinking too, here’s what i think has occurred there, the particular ‘Private Organization’ has received Health Budget support to ‘help’ those with intellectual disabilities, including head injuries,
As these contracts are structured, to receive ongoing funding over multi-year budget rounds the ‘Private Organization’ must show that X people have received the short term help and moved on as the ‘Bizness Plan’ of the organization stated to get the original funding,
Or, this is how Tony Ryall is making cuts to Vote Health without having the Doctors and Nurses up in arms,
Whatever the reason tho, that bloke should be in a HousingNZ home…
Porirua has about 45 HNZC houses currently sitting empty, untenanted.
Two blocks of 4 houses are empty. 1 each in those 4 is fire damaged. One house has been damaged since November 2010 and the whole block has been empty since then.
The other block has been empty since February 2011.
On my street there are two standalone HNZC houses both empty, and fire damaged. The roof has collapsed on one (necessitating a cheap n nasty fence with KEEP OUT signs sprinkled liberally on its length) while the other isnt in too bad a shape. Both have been empty since March 2012 and October 2012 respectively… I expect them to still be empty come November 2014.
I’m not too sure whats worse. The seeming prevalence of firebugs receiving HNZC accommodation, or the fact that 10 houses are rotting away which could comfortably accommodate at least 3 families per house /sarc
Finally the MSM start to take notice of Poverty and Homelessness A pity they did not mention Families but it’s a start. Lets hope that this is not just a one off /filler piece. And if it picked up then Shonky and co will have to take notice and will ignore it at their peril.
Climate Change Apologist, Colonial Viper and Climate Change Ignorer weka have accused me of asking the impossible in demanding that political parties particularly the Greens prioritise climate change over all their other policies. Whether they be the venal, getting cabinet seats, or the noble, ending poverty.
Jenny. Apart from this dishonest ‘dogging’ of commentors that you indulge in – does it ever cross your mind, that thanks to years of vilification by major media, that if the Greens went all gung-ho on AGW they’d sink without a trace beneath a wave of public derision aided and abetted by the media? And does it ever cross your mind that if a lead on all of this is going to come from elected representatives (and I’m far from convinced that’s the best option), then for it to be in any way palatable to or accepted by a majority of people, it’s going to have to come from the likes of Labour or National? And are you aware that even then, the mainstream media will round on said party like the pack of stupid corporate dogs that they are and get down to ripping them apart? A Labour party or a National party might withstand that. But a Green party wouldn’t.
Maybe think through what you are saying a little more and consider taking a third colour from your crayon box? The black and white routine isn’t just monotonous, it’s lacking in so many fronts that your reasonable and well founded passion comes across as…well, it doesn’t come across. It hits a stonewall of facepalm, head desk, eye roll, ‘oh, gawd here we go again’ frustration knowing that a good point is about to be obscured because the delivery’s like a flushing toilet with a whole pile of swirling crap dropped in on top.
Bill, Jenny doesn’t care what happens to the GP. She wants to them to be a glorified parliamentary lobby group, not a political party that forms government. She’s been pretty clear on this, that she believes that the GP should commit electoral suicide by going hard on CC, and give up aspirations of governance.
Jenny, I haven’t accused you of asking the impossible. What you ask is entirely possible. It’s just that it’s incredibly stupid.
What I have in fact accused you of is being a selfish, hypocritical coward. You rant about what everyone else should do about CC, but you yourself are unwilling to give up the comfy western lifestyle that not only underpins the causes of AGW, but actively prevents society from doing anything about it. You refuse to look at the large body of work that’s been done by many reputable people on why Green Tech won’t save us, and thus you show that you are willing to let the world burn despite all your rhetoric. You refuse to look at or engage with ideas around peak oil and CC that don’t fit your own dogmatic view that everything would just be alright if we only had a leader like Churchill or the GP threw themselves on their sword.
You repeatedly tell lies not only about the GP, but also about myself and CV (and presumably whoever else gets in your way). I actually felt bad about the dressing down I gave you on the weekend, but now I understand that it’s the only way to respond to you. You have almost zero integrity as commenter here in terms of ability to debate in a way that makes sense, or deal with views that don’t match your own. Quite bizarrely, you routinely slander and make offensive comments about the very people and groups that would be your natural allies. Others have pointed this out to you too, yet it makes no difference.
I’m sure that other commenters find this bullshit debate between you and me and CV tedious. I certainly do. But until you stop telling lies about me, or until the moderators step in, I feel there’s nothing I can do but meet you with with the same level of disrespect you show me. This makes me sad, because it’s obvious you have a lot of passion and energy to do something useful about CC, but you remain unwilling to do so in a way that has meaning in the real world.
In other words, Jenny, to paraphrase weka’s relatively polite statement – if the Greens started ranting obsessively on the one point like you do, no one would vote for them or even pay attention after a while.
They got released eventually, but I couldn’t see what the trigger words might have been. I was starting to think every comment I would submit on every thread would get siphoned off by the bot.
Yes and no!!!, sure it was good of Annette to enter into the fray, specially so considering that the Standard has the rep of ‘no quarter given debates’,
The proof of the pudding tho is always in the eating, in this case ‘the pudding’ being the number of HousingNZ properties that a Labour lead Government is willing to add to that portfolio,
This, Annette assured us, while restating Labour’s commitment to building up the HousingNZ numbers, is a work in progress so we will just have to wait a while i guess,
While i have to take what She says at face value i am still mindful that between now and the 2014 election ‘things’ could change, i am still smarting from the election pledge Annette made during the 2011 campaign that benefit dependent children would be made eligible to receive Working for Families tax credits,
It is apparent that from somewhere in the Party Annette was told that that was unlikely to happen and She had to embarrasingly back away from the prior announcement over the next week by announcing things like ‘this would be over time etc’,
A big ‘ups’ has to be extended to Mike Smith for the visit of Annette King, my belief is that He was instrumental from His position in the Leaders office in that visit…
Yes I hoped the Great One had been instrumental in the visitation. I challenged him when he wrote his post to stop doing the Spokesperson’s job for them and geat the actual politician to front.
Genter is lovely, but is was quite some time ago. Not we should presume upon our own self-importance for MPs to visit us. Maybe RogueTrooper is actually an MP đ
Nah, ‘Rouge’ sits way closer to God than that, we have to consider also that the ‘loud noise’ emanating from the Standard over the housing issue in the past month or so might have had Annette King fronting in an attempt to pacify us lot,
Like i commented before, i will for now take the visit and Annette’s comments at face value but i am neither ‘hollering from the rooftops enthused’ about what was said and my ego hasn’t, (as yet), exploded the size of my head beyond it’s ability to separate the ‘chaff’ from the ‘wheat’,
LOLZ, what would be a hoot is if both Labour and the Greens tasked one of their MP’s to engage with the Standard on the same basis as what us lot engage with each other,
You know what i mean, roll up the sleeves, drop the policy paper vocab and give as good as they get…
Homeless families usually have family that are willing to share with them, the sharp end as described in your link tends to have mostly as the client base those with psyche/addiction problems,
Spend a month or two of nights watching Wellington’s streets and you get good at spotting the homeless among the crowds,of course once the crowd thins out the ‘homeless’ become very apparent and if you stay all night you can while watching the street cleaning gangs go about their daily toil identify the ‘Night Shelter crew’ as they arrive from their slumber,
It’s actually relatively ‘hard’ to be homeless in Wellington City, the social agencies,City Council, and, HousingNZ all work reasonably closely together,
There are a couple of ‘drivers’ in the tripling of the ‘urgent need’ category that are on the HousingNZ waiting list,
First, the ‘unintended consequences’ of former Prime Minister Helen Clark doing a deal with the Wellington City Council where Government would subsidize the upgrading of most of the housing stock that the Council has in tower blocks,
This ongoing program has meant that the Council tenants in any tower block being re-furbished have to be found housing elsewhere in either the Council or HousingNZ’s portfolio,
It would have been nice ae, if the ‘thinking’ at the time had of seen this ‘unintended’ consequence’ where having to house a tower block of tenants elsewhere has denied other’s in need access as the total of housing units available declined during the refurbishment,
The solution of course would have been to build another large block of flats so as to be able to house those tenants effected by the Council refurbishment thus allowing the ‘normal’ tenant turnover in the portfolio to continue,
Exacerbating that is the paranoia after the Christchurch Earthquakes, where both Council and HousingNZ have been assessing their portfolio for buildings which might not meet the new standards,
Again it would have been nice to think that both agencies befor they got around to removing the tenants en masse from buildings deemed at risk would have built a suitable alternative, not doing so has simply increased the numbers in urgent need of housing,
There is of course a sub-set of ‘homeless people’ who for obvious reasons i am not going to identify too closely, they live in the garages of relatives and in some cases where their is no garage the garden shed is fitted out as their bedroom, the legality of living this way is questionable so advocating for such people can be fraught as if they are forced to leave this form of accomodation ‘the street’ is the obvious next stop…
If as you say it is relatively hard to be homeless in Wellington then since the number of people listed for priority housing with HNZ or WCC is increasing, AND the number of people showing up at the night shelter has increased from 30 a night to between 50 and 100 we can only assume it is getting easier to be homeless in Wellington than it used to be.
I think you may have overlooked some of the more vulnerable groups such as the mentally ill for whom indigence is an aspect of their pathology, and abused youth – GLBT in particular – who are very distrusting of authority.
Yep, i understand there are little sub-sets of homeless people who like the mentally ill are constantly ‘on the roam’ that it is extremely difficult to either reach or keep housed even if they can be reached,
Wellington’s inner city ministry does an excellent job of working with these people, along with the more feral alcoholics providing among other things a banking service which means among other things that should they be able to be housed the inner city ministry manages their money so as to make sure the rent is at least paid,
Of course among the psychotic and the schizophrenic there is that propensity to be driven by their affliction to just up and off for months at a time, some disappearing off of the face of the Earth and others appearing months later unable or unwilling to say where they have been,(lolz perhaps kidnapped by the aliens and taken away for ‘probing’)…
Here come the Slum-lords, gush,gush,gush go the real estate agents, where’s Gerry chiming in with ‘well if ‘they’ choose to live in them’ in defense of the Slum-lords who will as more labour arrives for the re-build increasingly ‘cream it’ renting out a growing number of slum-tenancies room by room at an ever increasing cost citing ‘demand’ being high from those ‘wanting’ to live in these wrecks…
I find the idea of a building WOF for rental accommodation to be actually dangerous for the tenants until such time as the State gets it’s A into G and builds the necessary housing to accommodate those tenants who would be forced to move if such a regime were in place,
The reason tenants move into such sub-standard accommodation is simply the worse a properties condition is the less they will be charged for rent,
If WOF inspections for tenancies become the norm, the landlord forced to fix sub-standard property will simply put up the rent to cover the cost and if the tenant can then not afford the raised rent they will be forced to look elsewhere…
I can well imagine some of the houses have been written off but are perfectly livable. Doesn’t make them a ‘slum’.
The whole point of the capitalist system is that when demand outstrips supply, price rises and in doing so encourages more supply to be made available. Surely people are only turning these houses into rentals because the demand, and commensurate price, is there.
The alternative would be no house at all. I’m not sure why that’s better.
Disagree, gerry and the other National Party functionary currently Governing Christchurch have a definite knowledge of the expected size of the workforce that will be imported from elsewhere to rebuild Christchurch,
Anyone with an ounce of brains having such knowledge would simply build the tower blocks of accommodation necessary to house this workforce, such accommodation could after the rebuild make a great addition to the HousingNZ portfolio,
Glad to see you firmly in the ‘camp’ of capitalism in your support for slumlords who it is obvious as these houses cannot be insured will not spend any amount of money on them into the future, they may not be quite slum conditions now but given a few years of cracked foundations they soon will be,
I can well imagine the out-right glee of the slumlords as they crank the rent through the roof as more rebuild workers arrive in a shrunken accommodation market, none of this accomodation will have been assessed for asbestos in the ceilings and it’s highly unlikely in many cases that a bit of cracking in the ceiling will provoke such ‘investors’ to investigate nor fix the problem…
“Anyone with an ounce of brains having such knowledge would simply build the tower blocks of accommodation necessary to house this workforce, such accommodation could after the rebuild make a great addition to the HousingNZ portfolio,”
Dormitory housing might be appropriate for temporary workers, but the people of CHCH (of which I am one) still need somewhere to live. There still aren’t enough houses to go around as it is.
“your support for slumlords”
I don’t know why you’re calling them slumlords. I was listening to this on the radio on the way home, about houses that were worth $500k being bought for $220k because they were damaged. A $500k house is hardly likely to be a ‘slum’, sure it might be damaged but as I said, a damaged house is still better than no house to live in.
“I can well imagine the out-right glee of the slumlords as they crank the rent through the roof as more rebuild workers arrive in a shrunken accommodation market”
The “slumlords” as you persist in calling them, are increasing the size of the accommodation market, not shrinking it.
Just as a data point, I recently moved house. Previous place I was renting for $300/week was a 1 bedroom cottage in a nice area – good condition, heat pump, but with a small kitchen and no dishwasher. Landlord has now rented it out to a couple for $350/week, who were apparently happy to pay it.
NO DISHWASHER, god what savagery, how can anyone be forced to live in such third world squalor,
If you can happily afford to cough 300-350 a week for one bedroom accommodation you or the couple you highlight do not interest me one iota as far as your housing situation is concerned,
My concern is more aimed at the likes of the Canterbury University catering worker recently made redundant who now has 7 dollars a week to live upon after paying rent…
Yeah ae, like the labour and time consumed putting the stuff in the dishwasher and taking it out again is probably more than what you expend running the sink and washing em that way,
Then there’s the consideration of power usage and if your a bit Green the utter waste of it,
I have used one as the galley slave in Wellington kitchens washing up after 120 people have dined out,LOLZ one of the most laborious low payed jobs on the planet,and some of the tight A/holes running these kitchens won’t even chuck in a meal along with that minimum wage…
“NO DISHWASHER, god what savagery, how can anyone be forced to live in such third world squalor,
If you can happily afford to cough 300-350 a week for one bedroom accommodation you or the couple you highlight do not interest me one iota as far as your housing situation is concerned,”
I was merely giving you an idea of what accommodation in CHCH costs at the moment. $350 for a one-bedroom cottage IMO is very steep.
But hey, you’re against private people providing more housing on the rental market. Apparently you’d rather the houses just remain empty or be demolished.
Yes, it would be nice if the government or someone would step in an build houses, and I think they should. But even if the government did do that, surely having another 100 extra houses provided by the private sector on top of anything provided by the government would still be better than not providing those 100 houses.
So I still don’t understand your willingness to call these people slumlords for providing a necessary and wanted service (and it is a service – these houses can’t get insurance, so they’re taking a big risk on the properties burning down etc) and I really don’t think you’ve made any rational case as to why it is a bad thing.
“My concern is more aimed at the likes of the Canterbury University catering worker recently made redundant who now has 7 dollars a week to live upon after paying rent⌔
I recall the one you were talking about. There were many comments on that stuff article about what she *needed* to do, such as downsize her living accommodation to a level that was commensurate with her new income. Yes, life sucks for some people at some times. But once again, taking liveable houses out of the market, which you are advocating, doesn’t help people in her situation one iota.
So I still donât understand your willingness to call these people slumlords for providing a necessary and wanted service (and it is a service â these houses canât get insurance, so theyâre taking a big risk on the properties burning down etc)
But why can’t the houses get insurance. Oh yes, because they are considered by the acturies and the building assessors of being at higher risk of things like fires, flooding and suffering other significant structural damage.
Yet people are expected to live in these higher risk homes with their children, and landlords renting out these uninsurable properties to make good profits on is still considered respectable?
And if a 3 bedroom house can hold 2 families, why not squeeze two families into there, it’s simply “pragmatic” to lower standards and these people have very few options after all so why not push them in.
And to make a few good bucks out of this compromised environment, maybe that’s why the term “slum lord” has been used.
“Yet people are expected to live in these higher risk homes with their children, and landlords renting out these uninsurable properties to make good profits on is still considered respectable?”
No, people are not “expected” to live in those houses. It’s their choice as a private individual as to whether they live in that accommodation or not.
“And if a 3 bedroom house can hold 2 families, why not squeeze two families into there, itâs simply âpragmaticâ to lower standards and these people have very few options after all so why not push them in.”
Now I would agree that would be slumlord behaviour. However there is no evidence of this happening in this case, outside of your suggestion of it.
“And to make a few good bucks out of this compromised environment, maybe thatâs why the term âslum lordâ has been used.”
Once again, I don’t understand why it is preferable for there to be no house at all.
It was good to hear Radio NZ start a short series called A Beginner’s Guide to Parliament this morning. Just the sort of thing that would be suitable for a civics curriculum in this country.
New Zealand’s government needs to be reformed, cutting down government CEO’s to size and putting in more checks and balances would be a start. But National seems committed to raising salaries of the top levels of government, while sacking thousands of low paid public service workers (in the military, schools, in foreign affairs and trade,etc).
We will own the answers, so we must come up with the answers in the first place.
The Standard bloggers and readers are positive people. They care enough to get engaged, and more.
Many general and many specific issues have been raised and debated on theses pages in the past year. The tempo increased significantly with the start of the Constitutional Review and has been white-hot since then.
Identifying problems and shaping answers without being able to advance/influence/progress the solution is very frustrating. Feeling that a rump in the party is fighting against that change is infuriating.
Here are a few things you can do to be in a position to shape the answer and to see them through to execution:
Host a BBQ and don’t invite your MP. She/he will definitely show up with a least two good bottles of wine. They are paranoid, the insecure darlings.
Go to the Summer School in two weeks time. David Shearer will be making another policy speech and many of the movers and shakers will be there. It is hosted by Young Labour and is great fun.
Ask for an urgent extraordinary LEC meeting to discuss your frustrations. If your Sec/Chair says that is not possible, then ask all the members you know/like to come together to discuss how you can collectively own the answer. Ditto your Sectoral group.
Ask your MP to meet over a pint/glass. Those politicians that do not drink usually loose elections quickly. Ditto for your NZ Council rep.
Remember, you own the answer. That is what the voting at Conference was all about.
I see that the RSS feed is now going through FeedBurner. Is there any way to correctly time stamp the comments? At the moment they’re on one of the US time zones. It’s like living in the past, maaan!
And, just wondering what happened to the edit options (Bold, Italic, link etc.) They were pretty useful, particularly for links.
I just shifted to Feedburner a few hours ago because the feeds were getting stuck in the cache system (no post updates since friday). I’ll have a look at the time stamps after I get through this pile of compilation bugs (ie any time between now and midnight).
The tinymce comment editor fell victim to the update of wordpress to 3.5. They finally started to use a more modern version of tinymce. I can repair it or look for a less problematic system or both. I’ll patch something in over the next couple of days.
Of course if you can control the weather and drop the humidity in Auckland, it’d help speed things up đ
Cheers, Lprent, much appreciated. Nothing I can do about the weather (and after a week’s holiday of mind numbing and body sapping mid-thirties in Gisborne, I know what you mean!).
It shows up as being in GMT on the feed XML, which is correct. Nothing weird like PST.
The reader should display in your local time. Ah so the default silly reader in the link from feedburner – which does not.
Yep. Subscribing to comments in http://www.google.co.nz/reader and in the ubuntu default reader Akregator do correctly display the datetime in the local timezone.
I’ll have a look to see if there is anyway to fix the default feedburner page to do the same
. . . At last we come to politics, where I believe Lanier has been most farsightedâand which may be the deep source of his turning into a digital Le CarrĂŠ figure. As far back as the turn of the century, he singled out one standout aspect of the new web cultureâthe acceptance, the welcoming of anonymous commenters on websitesâas a danger to political discourse and the polity itself. At the time, this objection seemed a bit extreme. But he saw anonymity as a poison seed. The way it didnât hide, but, in fact, brandished the ugliness of human nature beneath the anonymous screen-name masks. An enabling and foreshadowing of mob rule, not a growth of democracy, but an accretion of tribalism . . .
I’m not sure I agree but, coming from Lanier, worthy of consideration, I suggest. This anti-anonymous meme is coming in from all sorts of quarters, particularly the Right but also “Lefties” like Brian Edwards and various Labour MPs. Perhaps they have been captured by the business agenda of transforming the internet from the town square to a shopping mall but given Lanier’s wider comments on the economy maybe that’s not such a bad thing?
used to read ALD đ (in fact, I remember sending them l R; flattered, wish someone would offer me employment, even a home would helpful)
“The true path is a middle way between ascetic denial and pleasurable indulgence”
“Nirvana follows from a disciplined curiosity about the texture of experience, stilling the compulsions”
“…guide the brain with beautiful compassion; on this basis anything can be built, more compassion, more luminosity, greater understanding”-Head Trip : Adventures on The Wheel of Consciousness-Jeff Warren.
“When you have gained some experience in the process of liberating thoughts, they are said to undo themselves, as a snake might untie a knot in it’s own body” -Going Buddhist : Peace and Emptiness-Peter J. Conradi.
“May we attend to our implicational cognitive systems,more than our propositional”, ( in addition to our participatory consciousness).-Owen Barfield.
Is this a (2nd)? Axial Age-Karl Jaspers
It is not helpful to display to your inferiors that what you disdain in your superiors
“Not helpful to offer to your neighbours on the Left what you dislike in your neighbours on the Right”.
V fah (Bury my heart at wounded) knee Cameron ;).you and / or your associates have too much time on your hands.(I’ve always been too trusting, but I not worry) đ
Help need…
You all know and understand QE in all it’s forms 1 thru to 3 etc well I need a new term framed in language that will get resonance and traction with both msm and the public?
Also need to fundamentally reconceptualise what money is, in the mind of the public…money is a way to bring workers and materials together to get important things built.
Yes my friend but without invest growth um capitalism or some replacement then we have very little real growth over last few decades that actually provided both money supply and demand for consumables that in turn provide more employment for all that spare labour.
Personally I am a leveller all same no one greater that the least…
Or, money is simply the means by which we exchange our labour for our daily needs, money only becomes a problem when the supply of it to those with the least of it is constrained in such a way as to not allow the exchange of labour for daily needs to occur…
Pete George over on Asianinvasion showing his lack of basic undstanding of the Labour Party selection process.
“And if the vote did go to the party I doubt there is anyone who would challenge Shearer”
The “trigger” challenge has to start within the Caucus. The members only get to have a say if their MPs understand from the members that the Leadership needs validation by the members. Then life will be sweet and we can get on with kicking the Nats, John Banks and Peter Dunne out of the Treasury benches.
(Wellington Lefties and Greenies: Please, o please help Charles beat Dunne)
Ah, I know the feeling of being the shorty in the crowd, especially when people get out of their seats to stand and cheer – not a helpful box in sight.
Oh, I shouldn’t have followed that link. Laughing out loud at the join the (largely invisible) dots from our sysop to Margaret Wilson via the Uni of Waikato, along with some creative writing about anal proclivities.
Apparently that wasn’t actually Lauda Finem, it was some Brave Courageous Speaking-Truth-To-Power Long-Time Reader of Lauda Finem. Who used the first person plural a heck of a lot, and professed to know a lot about what Lauda Finem intends to publish in future.
I may disagree with David Shearer on many things, but if Lauda Finem’s emails read anything like their posts, chucking their emails in the bin is not one of them.
In case anyone is confused, this is the “definitely not Lauda Finem” who mysteriously speaks on behalf of Lauda Finem and writes in an identical style to that of Lauda Finem: /open-mike-02012013/#comment-569040
Interesting he’s gone to The Standard to find out about “mob behaviour”, “herd mentality” and hypocrisy. Why all that time and effort when he could just spend five minutes on Whaleoil?
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
New Zealand banning Huawei’s 5G network equipment won’t impact you nearly as much as the US’s recent moves against Huawei phones, writes Henry Burrell. Twenty years ago, you would have shown off your flash new Ericsson or Nokia. How times change. Now, those two entities exist only to provide mobile network ...
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)Kaveh Zahedi is Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).In less than ten days world leaders will be ...
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes ...
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...
Ruby Porterlooks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
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 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
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Open mike 14/01/2013 
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Wellington homelessness on the increase. No word about homeless families in this article.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/8173211/Rough-end-of-street-life-bites
” Mr Leon [Night Shelter Manager] agrees a housing shortage is one of the biggest problems. “Housing New Zealand isn’t building anymore, council isn’t building anymore but the need is increasing. Where does that lead?”
Wellington City Council has about 2300 social housing units in the city and Housing NZ 8975, although only 1600 are in Wellington city.
Both agencies have been upgrading their housing stock in the past year, but are keen to emphasise how all displaced tenants are successfully rehoused.
Neither organisation is planning to increase their housing stock but talk enthusiastically about “partnering” with third parties to build affordable housing.
Last May, Housing NZ kicked out 131 tenants from its Gordon Wilson complex after the building was found to be quake prone.
In the Wellington region, the number of Housing NZ homes remains steady. However, while available housing hasn’t shrunk, the number of people on the high priority waiting list has more than tripled in the past two years. “
Thanks for the link, AWW. It’s good to see that a mainstream paper is taking notice.
The article gives examples of the most visible, easiest to find and accessible homeless individuals (mostly single men): those sleeping rough in public spaces, and in shelters. It does mention where homeless families (especially children and women) will be found: couch-surfing, (over) crowding into houses and flats with other people.
There are other places where there will be hidden homeless people: living in garages, in the spare rooms of friends and family, in caravans and tents on other people’s quarter acre sections, etc.
Of course, focusing on examples of such single people living at the “sharp end” of homeless, gives a skewed perception, and won’t help a lot to get rid of some people’s misconceptions about the “undeserving poor”.
Those ‘Easy Access’ flat are supposedly for providing transitional accomodation — ie support for the homeless to move into permanent housing. If the guy ended up on the street after his 6 months there, then we need to re look at that scheme and make changes,
My thinking too, here’s what i think has occurred there, the particular ‘Private Organization’ has received Health Budget support to ‘help’ those with intellectual disabilities, including head injuries,
As these contracts are structured, to receive ongoing funding over multi-year budget rounds the ‘Private Organization’ must show that X people have received the short term help and moved on as the ‘Bizness Plan’ of the organization stated to get the original funding,
Or, this is how Tony Ryall is making cuts to Vote Health without having the Doctors and Nurses up in arms,
Whatever the reason tho, that bloke should be in a HousingNZ home…
Porirua has about 45 HNZC houses currently sitting empty, untenanted.
Two blocks of 4 houses are empty. 1 each in those 4 is fire damaged. One house has been damaged since November 2010 and the whole block has been empty since then.
The other block has been empty since February 2011.
On my street there are two standalone HNZC houses both empty, and fire damaged. The roof has collapsed on one (necessitating a cheap n nasty fence with KEEP OUT signs sprinkled liberally on its length) while the other isnt in too bad a shape. Both have been empty since March 2012 and October 2012 respectively… I expect them to still be empty come November 2014.
I’m not too sure whats worse. The seeming prevalence of firebugs receiving HNZC accommodation, or the fact that 10 houses are rotting away which could comfortably accommodate at least 3 families per house /sarc
Finally the MSM start to take notice of Poverty and Homelessness A pity they did not mention Families but it’s a start. Lets hope that this is not just a one off /filler piece. And if it picked up then Shonky and co will have to take notice and will ignore it at their peril.
Climate Change Apologist, Colonial Viper and Climate Change Ignorer weka have accused me of asking the impossible in demanding that political parties particularly the Greens prioritise climate change over all their other policies. Whether they be the venal, getting cabinet seats, or the noble, ending poverty.
Jenny. Apart from this dishonest ‘dogging’ of commentors that you indulge in – does it ever cross your mind, that thanks to years of vilification by major media, that if the Greens went all gung-ho on AGW they’d sink without a trace beneath a wave of public derision aided and abetted by the media? And does it ever cross your mind that if a lead on all of this is going to come from elected representatives (and I’m far from convinced that’s the best option), then for it to be in any way palatable to or accepted by a majority of people, it’s going to have to come from the likes of Labour or National? And are you aware that even then, the mainstream media will round on said party like the pack of stupid corporate dogs that they are and get down to ripping them apart? A Labour party or a National party might withstand that. But a Green party wouldn’t.
Maybe think through what you are saying a little more and consider taking a third colour from your crayon box? The black and white routine isn’t just monotonous, it’s lacking in so many fronts that your reasonable and well founded passion comes across as…well, it doesn’t come across. It hits a stonewall of facepalm, head desk, eye roll, ‘oh, gawd here we go again’ frustration knowing that a good point is about to be obscured because the delivery’s like a flushing toilet with a whole pile of swirling crap dropped in on top.
Bill, Jenny doesn’t care what happens to the GP. She wants to them to be a glorified parliamentary lobby group, not a political party that forms government. She’s been pretty clear on this, that she believes that the GP should commit electoral suicide by going hard on CC, and give up aspirations of governance.
Jenny, I haven’t accused you of asking the impossible. What you ask is entirely possible. It’s just that it’s incredibly stupid.
What I have in fact accused you of is being a selfish, hypocritical coward. You rant about what everyone else should do about CC, but you yourself are unwilling to give up the comfy western lifestyle that not only underpins the causes of AGW, but actively prevents society from doing anything about it. You refuse to look at the large body of work that’s been done by many reputable people on why Green Tech won’t save us, and thus you show that you are willing to let the world burn despite all your rhetoric. You refuse to look at or engage with ideas around peak oil and CC that don’t fit your own dogmatic view that everything would just be alright if we only had a leader like Churchill or the GP threw themselves on their sword.
You repeatedly tell lies not only about the GP, but also about myself and CV (and presumably whoever else gets in your way). I actually felt bad about the dressing down I gave you on the weekend, but now I understand that it’s the only way to respond to you. You have almost zero integrity as commenter here in terms of ability to debate in a way that makes sense, or deal with views that don’t match your own. Quite bizarrely, you routinely slander and make offensive comments about the very people and groups that would be your natural allies. Others have pointed this out to you too, yet it makes no difference.
I’m sure that other commenters find this bullshit debate between you and me and CV tedious. I certainly do. But until you stop telling lies about me, or until the moderators step in, I feel there’s nothing I can do but meet you with with the same level of disrespect you show me. This makes me sad, because it’s obvious you have a lot of passion and energy to do something useful about CC, but you remain unwilling to do so in a way that has meaning in the real world.
In other words, Jenny, to paraphrase weka’s relatively polite statement – if the Greens started ranting obsessively on the one point like you do, no one would vote for them or even pay attention after a while.
Testing; the last two comments I’ve submitted – onto QOT’s DejaVu thread, have gone directly into auto-moderation.
Edit: OK, this comment went thru OK.
No idea why that’s happened on mine, karol!
They got released eventually, but I couldn’t see what the trigger words might have been. I was starting to think every comment I would submit on every thread would get siphoned off by the bot.
You’re getting too close to the truth! The machines are after you!
Wasn’t it good to see Annette King come on this site discussing housing policy over the weekend?
Maybe there’s a whole caucus out there somewhere that would like to engage as well.
Maybe it’s time for the Green MPs to deign us with a visit?
Yes and no!!!, sure it was good of Annette to enter into the fray, specially so considering that the Standard has the rep of ‘no quarter given debates’,
The proof of the pudding tho is always in the eating, in this case ‘the pudding’ being the number of HousingNZ properties that a Labour lead Government is willing to add to that portfolio,
This, Annette assured us, while restating Labour’s commitment to building up the HousingNZ numbers, is a work in progress so we will just have to wait a while i guess,
While i have to take what She says at face value i am still mindful that between now and the 2014 election ‘things’ could change, i am still smarting from the election pledge Annette made during the 2011 campaign that benefit dependent children would be made eligible to receive Working for Families tax credits,
It is apparent that from somewhere in the Party Annette was told that that was unlikely to happen and She had to embarrasingly back away from the prior announcement over the next week by announcing things like ‘this would be over time etc’,
A big ‘ups’ has to be extended to Mike Smith for the visit of Annette King, my belief is that He was instrumental from His position in the Leaders office in that visit…
Yes I hoped the Great One had been instrumental in the visitation. I challenged him when he wrote his post to stop doing the Spokesperson’s job for them and geat the actual politician to front.
Genter is lovely, but is was quite some time ago. Not we should presume upon our own self-importance for MPs to visit us. Maybe RogueTrooper is actually an MP đ
Nah, ‘Rouge’ sits way closer to God than that, we have to consider also that the ‘loud noise’ emanating from the Standard over the housing issue in the past month or so might have had Annette King fronting in an attempt to pacify us lot,
Like i commented before, i will for now take the visit and Annette’s comments at face value but i am neither ‘hollering from the rooftops enthused’ about what was said and my ego hasn’t, (as yet), exploded the size of my head beyond it’s ability to separate the ‘chaff’ from the ‘wheat’,
LOLZ, what would be a hoot is if both Labour and the Greens tasked one of their MP’s to engage with the Standard on the same basis as what us lot engage with each other,
You know what i mean, roll up the sleeves, drop the policy paper vocab and give as good as they get…
PS, the Greens Julie Ann Genter paid the Standard a Sunday afternoon visit a while back…
Homeless families usually have family that are willing to share with them, the sharp end as described in your link tends to have mostly as the client base those with psyche/addiction problems,
Spend a month or two of nights watching Wellington’s streets and you get good at spotting the homeless among the crowds,of course once the crowd thins out the ‘homeless’ become very apparent and if you stay all night you can while watching the street cleaning gangs go about their daily toil identify the ‘Night Shelter crew’ as they arrive from their slumber,
It’s actually relatively ‘hard’ to be homeless in Wellington City, the social agencies,City Council, and, HousingNZ all work reasonably closely together,
There are a couple of ‘drivers’ in the tripling of the ‘urgent need’ category that are on the HousingNZ waiting list,
First, the ‘unintended consequences’ of former Prime Minister Helen Clark doing a deal with the Wellington City Council where Government would subsidize the upgrading of most of the housing stock that the Council has in tower blocks,
This ongoing program has meant that the Council tenants in any tower block being re-furbished have to be found housing elsewhere in either the Council or HousingNZ’s portfolio,
It would have been nice ae, if the ‘thinking’ at the time had of seen this ‘unintended’ consequence’ where having to house a tower block of tenants elsewhere has denied other’s in need access as the total of housing units available declined during the refurbishment,
The solution of course would have been to build another large block of flats so as to be able to house those tenants effected by the Council refurbishment thus allowing the ‘normal’ tenant turnover in the portfolio to continue,
Exacerbating that is the paranoia after the Christchurch Earthquakes, where both Council and HousingNZ have been assessing their portfolio for buildings which might not meet the new standards,
Again it would have been nice to think that both agencies befor they got around to removing the tenants en masse from buildings deemed at risk would have built a suitable alternative, not doing so has simply increased the numbers in urgent need of housing,
There is of course a sub-set of ‘homeless people’ who for obvious reasons i am not going to identify too closely, they live in the garages of relatives and in some cases where their is no garage the garden shed is fitted out as their bedroom, the legality of living this way is questionable so advocating for such people can be fraught as if they are forced to leave this form of accomodation ‘the street’ is the obvious next stop…
If as you say it is relatively hard to be homeless in Wellington then since the number of people listed for priority housing with HNZ or WCC is increasing, AND the number of people showing up at the night shelter has increased from 30 a night to between 50 and 100 we can only assume it is getting easier to be homeless in Wellington than it used to be.
For the reasons i stated in comment 5, Yes!!!…
I think you may have overlooked some of the more vulnerable groups such as the mentally ill for whom indigence is an aspect of their pathology, and abused youth – GLBT in particular – who are very distrusting of authority.
Yep, i understand there are little sub-sets of homeless people who like the mentally ill are constantly ‘on the roam’ that it is extremely difficult to either reach or keep housed even if they can be reached,
Wellington’s inner city ministry does an excellent job of working with these people, along with the more feral alcoholics providing among other things a banking service which means among other things that should they be able to be housed the inner city ministry manages their money so as to make sure the rent is at least paid,
Of course among the psychotic and the schizophrenic there is that propensity to be driven by their affliction to just up and off for months at a time, some disappearing off of the face of the Earth and others appearing months later unable or unwilling to say where they have been,(lolz perhaps kidnapped by the aliens and taken away for ‘probing’)…
Meanwhile, down in Chch….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/8173130/Wrecked-houses-used-as-rentals
Here come the Slum-lords, gush,gush,gush go the real estate agents, where’s Gerry chiming in with ‘well if ‘they’ choose to live in them’ in defense of the Slum-lords who will as more labour arrives for the re-build increasingly ‘cream it’ renting out a growing number of slum-tenancies room by room at an ever increasing cost citing ‘demand’ being high from those ‘wanting’ to live in these wrecks…
Slumlords? They’re “savvy investors” according to Stuff /sarc. Pretty sure Gerry will be happy to see the market working to provide, as he expected.
I wonder how a WoF for rentals will affect their savvy investments.
I find the idea of a building WOF for rental accommodation to be actually dangerous for the tenants until such time as the State gets it’s A into G and builds the necessary housing to accommodate those tenants who would be forced to move if such a regime were in place,
The reason tenants move into such sub-standard accommodation is simply the worse a properties condition is the less they will be charged for rent,
If WOF inspections for tenancies become the norm, the landlord forced to fix sub-standard property will simply put up the rent to cover the cost and if the tenant can then not afford the raised rent they will be forced to look elsewhere…
“I wonder how a WoF for rentals will affect their savvy investments.”
Probably not as much as criminal charges if you rent a garage as a domicile will.
I can well imagine some of the houses have been written off but are perfectly livable. Doesn’t make them a ‘slum’.
The whole point of the capitalist system is that when demand outstrips supply, price rises and in doing so encourages more supply to be made available. Surely people are only turning these houses into rentals because the demand, and commensurate price, is there.
The alternative would be no house at all. I’m not sure why that’s better.
Disagree, gerry and the other National Party functionary currently Governing Christchurch have a definite knowledge of the expected size of the workforce that will be imported from elsewhere to rebuild Christchurch,
Anyone with an ounce of brains having such knowledge would simply build the tower blocks of accommodation necessary to house this workforce, such accommodation could after the rebuild make a great addition to the HousingNZ portfolio,
Glad to see you firmly in the ‘camp’ of capitalism in your support for slumlords who it is obvious as these houses cannot be insured will not spend any amount of money on them into the future, they may not be quite slum conditions now but given a few years of cracked foundations they soon will be,
I can well imagine the out-right glee of the slumlords as they crank the rent through the roof as more rebuild workers arrive in a shrunken accommodation market, none of this accomodation will have been assessed for asbestos in the ceilings and it’s highly unlikely in many cases that a bit of cracking in the ceiling will provoke such ‘investors’ to investigate nor fix the problem…
“Anyone with an ounce of brains having such knowledge would simply build the tower blocks of accommodation necessary to house this workforce, such accommodation could after the rebuild make a great addition to the HousingNZ portfolio,”
Dormitory housing might be appropriate for temporary workers, but the people of CHCH (of which I am one) still need somewhere to live. There still aren’t enough houses to go around as it is.
“your support for slumlords”
I don’t know why you’re calling them slumlords. I was listening to this on the radio on the way home, about houses that were worth $500k being bought for $220k because they were damaged. A $500k house is hardly likely to be a ‘slum’, sure it might be damaged but as I said, a damaged house is still better than no house to live in.
“I can well imagine the out-right glee of the slumlords as they crank the rent through the roof as more rebuild workers arrive in a shrunken accommodation market”
The “slumlords” as you persist in calling them, are increasing the size of the accommodation market, not shrinking it.
Just as a data point, I recently moved house. Previous place I was renting for $300/week was a 1 bedroom cottage in a nice area – good condition, heat pump, but with a small kitchen and no dishwasher. Landlord has now rented it out to a couple for $350/week, who were apparently happy to pay it.
NO DISHWASHER, god what savagery, how can anyone be forced to live in such third world squalor,
If you can happily afford to cough 300-350 a week for one bedroom accommodation you or the couple you highlight do not interest me one iota as far as your housing situation is concerned,
My concern is more aimed at the likes of the Canterbury University catering worker recently made redundant who now has 7 dollars a week to live upon after paying rent…
LOL. Never had a dishwasher in my life – apart from my own 2 hands. It’s not something I ever consider when looking for somewhere to rent.
Yeah ae, like the labour and time consumed putting the stuff in the dishwasher and taking it out again is probably more than what you expend running the sink and washing em that way,
Then there’s the consideration of power usage and if your a bit Green the utter waste of it,
I have used one as the galley slave in Wellington kitchens washing up after 120 people have dined out,LOLZ one of the most laborious low payed jobs on the planet,and some of the tight A/holes running these kitchens won’t even chuck in a meal along with that minimum wage…
I’ve never owned a dishwasher, either, but I’ve long been familiar with using all the clean crockery before having to do the washing up. đ
LOL. I think a dishwasher is very helpful at work, with the quantity of stuff washed.
Some parents tell me a dishwasher is cheaper on the electricity with the amount of kitchen and eating utensils they have to wash.
“NO DISHWASHER, god what savagery, how can anyone be forced to live in such third world squalor,
If you can happily afford to cough 300-350 a week for one bedroom accommodation you or the couple you highlight do not interest me one iota as far as your housing situation is concerned,”
I was merely giving you an idea of what accommodation in CHCH costs at the moment. $350 for a one-bedroom cottage IMO is very steep.
But hey, you’re against private people providing more housing on the rental market. Apparently you’d rather the houses just remain empty or be demolished.
Yes, it would be nice if the government or someone would step in an build houses, and I think they should. But even if the government did do that, surely having another 100 extra houses provided by the private sector on top of anything provided by the government would still be better than not providing those 100 houses.
So I still don’t understand your willingness to call these people slumlords for providing a necessary and wanted service (and it is a service – these houses can’t get insurance, so they’re taking a big risk on the properties burning down etc) and I really don’t think you’ve made any rational case as to why it is a bad thing.
“My concern is more aimed at the likes of the Canterbury University catering worker recently made redundant who now has 7 dollars a week to live upon after paying rent⌔
I recall the one you were talking about. There were many comments on that stuff article about what she *needed* to do, such as downsize her living accommodation to a level that was commensurate with her new income. Yes, life sucks for some people at some times. But once again, taking liveable houses out of the market, which you are advocating, doesn’t help people in her situation one iota.
But why can’t the houses get insurance. Oh yes, because they are considered by the acturies and the building assessors of being at higher risk of things like fires, flooding and suffering other significant structural damage.
Yet people are expected to live in these higher risk homes with their children, and landlords renting out these uninsurable properties to make good profits on is still considered respectable?
And if a 3 bedroom house can hold 2 families, why not squeeze two families into there, it’s simply “pragmatic” to lower standards and these people have very few options after all so why not push them in.
And to make a few good bucks out of this compromised environment, maybe that’s why the term “slum lord” has been used.
“Yet people are expected to live in these higher risk homes with their children, and landlords renting out these uninsurable properties to make good profits on is still considered respectable?”
No, people are not “expected” to live in those houses. It’s their choice as a private individual as to whether they live in that accommodation or not.
“And if a 3 bedroom house can hold 2 families, why not squeeze two families into there, itâs simply âpragmaticâ to lower standards and these people have very few options after all so why not push them in.”
Now I would agree that would be slumlord behaviour. However there is no evidence of this happening in this case, outside of your suggestion of it.
“And to make a few good bucks out of this compromised environment, maybe thatâs why the term âslum lordâ has been used.”
Once again, I don’t understand why it is preferable for there to be no house at all.
It was good to hear Radio NZ start a short series called A Beginner’s Guide to Parliament this morning. Just the sort of thing that would be suitable for a civics curriculum in this country.
New Zealand’s government needs to be reformed, cutting down government CEO’s to size and putting in more checks and balances would be a start. But National seems committed to raising salaries of the top levels of government, while sacking thousands of low paid public service workers (in the military, schools, in foreign affairs and trade,etc).
Pete +1
We will own the answers, so we must come up with the answers in the first place.
The Standard bloggers and readers are positive people. They care enough to get engaged, and more.
Many general and many specific issues have been raised and debated on theses pages in the past year. The tempo increased significantly with the start of the Constitutional Review and has been white-hot since then.
Identifying problems and shaping answers without being able to advance/influence/progress the solution is very frustrating. Feeling that a rump in the party is fighting against that change is infuriating.
Here are a few things you can do to be in a position to shape the answer and to see them through to execution:
Host a BBQ and don’t invite your MP. She/he will definitely show up with a least two good bottles of wine. They are paranoid, the insecure darlings.
Go to the Summer School in two weeks time. David Shearer will be making another policy speech and many of the movers and shakers will be there. It is hosted by Young Labour and is great fun.
Ask for an urgent extraordinary LEC meeting to discuss your frustrations. If your Sec/Chair says that is not possible, then ask all the members you know/like to come together to discuss how you can collectively own the answer. Ditto your Sectoral group.
Ask your MP to meet over a pint/glass. Those politicians that do not drink usually loose elections quickly. Ditto for your NZ Council rep.
Remember, you own the answer. That is what the voting at Conference was all about.
A couple of tech questions for the SYSOP:
I see that the RSS feed is now going through FeedBurner. Is there any way to correctly time stamp the comments? At the moment they’re on one of the US time zones. It’s like living in the past, maaan!
And, just wondering what happened to the edit options (Bold, Italic, link etc.) They were pretty useful, particularly for links.
Cheers,
TRP
I just shifted to Feedburner a few hours ago because the feeds were getting stuck in the cache system (no post updates since friday). I’ll have a look at the time stamps after I get through this pile of compilation bugs (ie any time between now and midnight).
The tinymce comment editor fell victim to the update of wordpress to 3.5. They finally started to use a more modern version of tinymce. I can repair it or look for a less problematic system or both. I’ll patch something in over the next couple of days.
Of course if you can control the weather and drop the humidity in Auckland, it’d help speed things up đ
Cheers, Lprent, much appreciated. Nothing I can do about the weather (and after a week’s holiday of mind numbing and body sapping mid-thirties in Gisborne, I know what you mean!).
It shows up as being in GMT on the feed XML, which is correct. Nothing weird like PST.
The reader should display in your local time. Ah so the default silly reader in the link from feedburner – which does not.
Yep. Subscribing to comments in http://www.google.co.nz/reader and in the ubuntu default reader Akregator do correctly display the datetime in the local timezone.
I’ll have a look to see if there is anyway to fix the default feedburner page to do the same
Great scott! Thank God for Punk Rock (oh we’re so pretty, oh so pretty,ahh, we’re vacant) đ
.
Interesting perspective from a recent net “apostate”:
I’m not sure I agree but, coming from Lanier, worthy of consideration, I suggest. This anti-anonymous meme is coming in from all sorts of quarters, particularly the Right but also “Lefties” like Brian Edwards and various Labour MPs. Perhaps they have been captured by the business agenda of transforming the internet from the town square to a shopping mall but given Lanier’s wider comments on the economy maybe that’s not such a bad thing?
(Hat Tip: Arts and Letters Daily.)
The reality tho is the opposite, by being anonymous we are simply all equal…
bad12
Trouble is – some are more equal than others. Depends on what level of probity you want to speak from.
used to read ALD đ (in fact, I remember sending them l R; flattered, wish someone would offer me employment, even a home would helpful)
“The true path is a middle way between ascetic denial and pleasurable indulgence”
“Nirvana follows from a disciplined curiosity about the texture of experience, stilling the compulsions”
“…guide the brain with beautiful compassion; on this basis anything can be built, more compassion, more luminosity, greater understanding”-Head Trip : Adventures on The Wheel of Consciousness-Jeff Warren.
“When you have gained some experience in the process of liberating thoughts, they are said to undo themselves, as a snake might untie a knot in it’s own body” -Going Buddhist : Peace and Emptiness-Peter J. Conradi.
“May we attend to our implicational cognitive systems,more than our propositional”, ( in addition to our participatory consciousness).-Owen Barfield.
Is this a (2nd)? Axial Age-Karl Jaspers
It is not helpful to display to your inferiors that what you disdain in your superiors
“Not helpful to offer to your neighbours on the Left what you dislike in your neighbours on the Right”.
40 Ways Trees Can Save Us
http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/climate_change_and_energy/841418/diana_beresfordkroeger_the_woman_who_speaks_for_the_trees.html
remember The Red and The Green (haemoglobin and chlorophyll)
Plus
Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas (all Three Women)
or
Why I left Goldman Sachs (or never considered finance in the first place)
welllll…
Lynn, are you around? I just did an advanced search and all the hits came back with the date 12:00 am, January 1st, 1970.
Yep. Looks like a bug in the sphinx search. I’ll look at it later tonight. And damnit I already noticed it and forgot to fix it…
BTW: midnight on the 1st of Jan 1970 is the NULL date for most *nix computers. They store the date/time in seconds since then.
V fah (Bury my heart at wounded) knee Cameron ;).you and / or your associates have too much time on your hands.(I’ve always been too trusting, but I not worry) đ
Help need…
You all know and understand QE in all it’s forms 1 thru to 3 etc well I need a new term framed in language that will get resonance and traction with both msm and the public?
Here’s an idea
Kiwbuild to kiwi bank mortgages to mortgage backed securities bought from kiwi bank by QE.
Also need to fundamentally reconceptualise what money is, in the mind of the public…money is a way to bring workers and materials together to get important things built.
Yes my friend but without invest growth um capitalism or some replacement then we have very little real growth over last few decades that actually provided both money supply and demand for consumables that in turn provide more employment for all that spare labour.
Personally I am a leveller all same no one greater that the least…
Well all that is true…Cullen’s economic growth and employment miracle was built on a massive spiking of foreign sourced private debt 2002-2008.
Yip housing speculAtion created debt demand, that money had to come from somewhere…
Kiwbuild here we come..
Or, money is simply the means by which we exchange our labour for our daily needs, money only becomes a problem when the supply of it to those with the least of it is constrained in such a way as to not allow the exchange of labour for daily needs to occur…
http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/labour-struggles-with-its-direction.html?m=1
Pete George over on Asianinvasion showing his lack of basic undstanding of the Labour Party selection process.
“And if the vote did go to the party I doubt there is anyone who would challenge Shearer”
The “trigger” challenge has to start within the Caucus. The members only get to have a say if their MPs understand from the members that the Leadership needs validation by the members. Then life will be sweet and we can get on with kicking the Nats, John Banks and Peter Dunne out of the Treasury benches.
(Wellington Lefties and Greenies: Please, o please help Charles beat Dunne)
A thousand words.
Ah, I know the feeling of being the shorty in the crowd, especially when people get out of their seats to stand and cheer – not a helpful box in sight.
Awwww, isn’t it cute? Muzza’s been doing a social experiment on us the whole time. đ
[Note: link to Lauda Finem post, which is most kindly described as incoherent, made against The Standard.]
So one outcome of Muzz’ social experiment is to conclude that NZ has been damaged by folks experimenting on it so much?
Fascinating. NUDIST, I wonder?
Oh, I shouldn’t have followed that link. Laughing out loud at the join the (largely invisible) dots from our sysop to Margaret Wilson via the Uni of Waikato, along with some creative writing about anal proclivities.
Didn’t Lauda Finem get a ban from ts a while back?
Ah, yes…. /open-mike-04012013/#comment-569281
Apparently that wasn’t actually Lauda Finem, it was some Brave Courageous Speaking-Truth-To-Power Long-Time Reader of Lauda Finem. Who used the first person plural a heck of a lot, and professed to know a lot about what Lauda Finem intends to publish in future.
I may disagree with David Shearer on many things, but if Lauda Finem’s emails read anything like their posts, chucking their emails in the bin is not one of them.
In case anyone is confused, this is the “definitely not Lauda Finem” who mysteriously speaks on behalf of Lauda Finem and writes in an identical style to that of Lauda Finem: /open-mike-02012013/#comment-569040
Ah, thanks. Far to complicated for me at this time of night. And it’s not like I was going to go and read all the interminable details đ
Interesting he’s gone to The Standard to find out about “mob behaviour”, “herd mentality” and hypocrisy. Why all that time and effort when he could just spend five minutes on Whaleoil?
There is also Fox news on you tube.
Where have I heard that ‘I’m really only here to conduct research’ bullshit before?
Oh that’s right, from Pete George, who coincidentally also has a website dedicated to writing about The Standard.
Very Sad
(at least I am better informed than I was Before)