Immediate large scale State house building and a complete restoration and revamp of our public health system. Obliterate the neoliberal elements in both.
What kind of society allows, nay, encourages profiteering from illness and disability?
When folks are living in cars, garages, or in mouldy homes while thousands are on the list for state housing, how come The Kindness can't deploy an iron fist and operate a state run non profit building and infrastructure team? It could be run by a brand new Ministry…perhaps "Ministry of Works"?
Unfortunately change requires true commitment from Government and this Current Mob simply aren't there for those in need.
The People's Democratic Republic of New Zealand. A full market state socialist system in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled by the State.
Free nurseries for riparian planting trees and native trees.
Return universities to fully publicly funded model and rebuild their eroded reputations. International students admitted on merit, or as aid to Pacific neighbours. Develop reciprocal agreements with any high standard free universities for exchange students.
Restore rail and coastal shipping – saves carbon and roading costs.
Mass produce decent relocatable tiny homes for fruit/horticultural areas for pickers to live rent free during seasonal work – Queenstown should provide a few to workers too.
Remedial oxygenators (solar pump & fountain or jets) for all degraded rivers so the microfauna can process excess nitrates and organic matter.
Free return to workforce training for former National MPs and criminals.
Proper pest control programs using frequently checked traps or bait stations – no more aerial 1080.
Grant for all households eschewing fossil fueled vehicles and mowers.
Fishery restoration project replants the kina barrens and reseeds scallops in all the heavily fished areas, restores grasses and small wetlands for inanga, supports snapper recruitment and other key species.
Startup capital available for recirculating aquaculture or aquaponics and half a dozen preferred species imported and bred to stock startups. (Macquaria ambigua, Lates calcarifer, Huso huso, etc. ) (also Helix pomatia – not a fish but suitable for culture).
Transition planning for hotter and drier climate – crops and animals and varieties developed and stocked to anticipate what's coming.
Volunteer firefighting reserve of a couple of thousand trained to help in Oz or Pacific cyclone aftermath.
Improved waste program with proper incineration of non-recyclables to reduce need for landfills.
If money were no object…start a serious main stream left media organization, because a we have seen quite clearly in the UK and the USA without one the Left will never get back into power it is as simple a that.
This left/right binary projection in media IMO is an issue in itself
Truth, facts and proper 4th estate practices insulated by editorial management doesn't have an agenda. We need to go back to that which is a sea change for celebrity commercially focused TVNZ, less so for RNZ but work required there also.
Look across the ditch as ABC Chair Ita Buttrose is serving it back to the comm's minister and the liberals over political interference.
ex NZ Herald "An official agency has floated the possibility of letting 500 overseas students into New Zealand every month from January."
Politicians really tricked NZ,ers with quietly allowing students after completing their courses . to then flow on to get work then residency in NZ , then bring in their immediate families, whether their English standard was up to the mark or not ……. Most NZers had no idea that this was going on and is still going on. You really don,t need to wonder about how Auckland got in such an infrastructure mess.
So if I was partitioning the government on policy it would be to implement a job guarantee paying the living wage. But thats obviously affordable so…
Lets nationalise home ownership. The government will buy every residential property in the country (for about the RV). At the same time they will perpetually rent them back to present occupants at rates normalized against a reasonable fraction of incomes across the country. They will also pay councils the equivalent of rates. At the same time they will eliminate residential property titles as privately owned assets. Voila housing crisis permanently fixed.
The government may well end up buying a significant number of private residences….I doubt however all….and yes they have the capacity to solve the housing crisis should they so choose…permanently? thats an unknown.
The housing crisis would be permanently fixed, as in housing now costs a well regulated fraction of incomes.
On the other hand its clearly a pretty dodgy idea. I don't know how your going to get people either swapping dwellings or contributing to housing improvements under such a system. I also expect some odd injustices to be inflicted by the transition as some rent and some owners have high equity. You would also expect some pretty screwy changes in other prices, and a few professions would disappear.
Dont know you could say permanently….its a political decision and they can change.
There would be substantial pushback to total nationalisation….limited however may be acceptable…and I dont think many would lament the loss of real estate agencies or property managers, but i may be wrong.
this is the most important line in the whole article.
East and south Auckland’s only private 24-hour medical clinic is scrapping its overnight service after more than 20 years due to fears for staff and patient safety.
next
the service initially got off the ground with no district health board or external funding, but in 2014 Counties Manukau Health agreed to help support the service as part of a regional initiative, Armstrong said.
The closure means those in south and east Auckland will only be able to seek after-hours medical care at Middlemore Hospital.
However, the DHB “reversed course” in 2018, and East Care continued to run the overnight clinic “as long as it reasonably could”.
“We took the attitude that our patients need us, so we had to keep sucking it up,” Armstrong said.
It is a private clinic that can open and do what it wants in order to achieve safety for patients and staff.
The issue you have with Middlemore not being equipped and staffed to pick up the slack is the governments inactions, and obvious lack of public medical care in Auckland – all of the previous and the current ones – that for reasons unknown still believe in the Market please fix it Fairy.
If only we had a government that had a such a mandate that they could actually get shit done, but sadly the government is Labour led and getting more hospital capacity or funding for more staff will eat into that all important surplus that the Leader of the government needs on her CV for her next job somewhere else.
@Philllp ure.."it really is fucking up my head that we have that 'left' govt…" no we have a free market liberal…sometimes referred to as centrist…recently being labelled correctly as the 'extreme centre'….the Left are nowhere in sight that I can see in NZ..David Graeber on the Extreme 'Centre'
Yeah, I don't think you are alone there pal, sounds a lot like what many Americans feel about Obama now…disappointment and frustration…which is of course fully justified.
The '84 Labour govt cured me of any political illusions I had and turned me into the cynical bastard I am today..which is just as well as nothing has really come along in NZ politics to make me feel all that positive about it..except a few glimmers here and there I suppose..Helen Kelly and Sue Bradford being high among those glimmers of hope.
I'd focus on the clusterf*k that is the DHB structures and all the NGO's fiefdoms and clubs across the health system that do sfa toward improving clinical effectiveness.
Pretty clear from reading it they're disadvantaged by DHB funding.
Treetop is correct that it should have been worked through and funding made available through the Ministry of Health but that's not how it works, DHB's appear to do as they please.
Patience. It's not yet 11:00 am in California, the Electors probably aren't even out of bed yet.
We just need Kellyalien to tell all the MAGAmorons that the Electoral College vote wasn't a loss for their yam Voldedolt, it was an "alternative win" that they can celebrate.
It would be nice for the farce to be over and the Trump camp to concede. A break could then be made instead of pursuing something which cannot be reversed.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What are the national security implications of the ideologies we saw swirling around yesterday at this big public rally?
ALLAM: Well, for many years now, according to the FBI, the violent far-right has been the deadliest and most active domestic terrorism threat. But these ideologies and groups were mainly confined to the fringe. Now we see the leader of the Proud Boys getting a tour of the White House. Later the same day, I saw his members corner and beat two young Black men. The member – Proud Boys were filmed ripping a Black Lives Matter banner off a historic Black church in D.C. As you noted, there were stabbings and arrests. So, yeah, the mainstreaming of extremist groups is a hallmark of the Trump era. And analysts say it's going to be a heavy lift for the Biden administration to reverse that and to prevent political violence from snowballing.
In Leaked Audio, Biden SHOCKINGLY Similar To Trump
Briahna Joy Gray & Katie Halper do an impromptu stream to talk about the leaked video of Biden talking to Civil Rights leaders in the condescending, entitled, indignant, offensive, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing and incoherent way, we've all seen from him before.
Some people just aren't happy until they're whining about something. And others are happy to feed and stoke that grievance addiction. Looks like it’s easy to grift a good living from the addicts.
Some people…like yourself there Andre, are just so pleased to accept the crumbs and/or happily lay down and be gently sprinkled on as the powers that be trickle down something on to you, it's embarrassing to watch….
My goodness your posting is a repetitive bore. How many Biden fans are here? It's as painful as those vague and earnest twats who approach me at parties to inform me climate change is real.
Here's a challenge, find something positive to think about, every day. Rant for the rest of it if you must but just try get a grip.
Well if I am a twat and a bore for ranting about liberalism, an ideology that Biden is the figurehead of and Ardern governs with in New Zealand then so be it.
I guess it's everyday when I ride or drive to work and see all the fellow citizens living in their vehicles, see all the motels booked out with fellow citizens and their children who also have no home…talk to my own children who are keep poor from paying outrageous rents and crippling student debts…or after spending quite a period of time in the local hospital last year and seeing that is crumbling and unkept like some late period Soviet satellite state…then hear just yesterday that there are 151 Landrover Discoverys on back order around here, I guess it is that sort of repetitive shit that keeps me repetitive, if that's boring to you.. well sorry but I guess then I just don't give a fuck what you think….but hey you just get on with your life, and don't read my posts…I am sure you are all good, cosy, warm and secure.
BTW, maybe it is you who should get a grip, maybe it is because good people like you are not seething with righteous outrage and indignation at the moral and ethical black hole that we have allowed to become normalized in this country, maybe that is a big part of the problem….not me ranting..but you not ranting.
Actually, I called out your posts, not you. I'm sure you have more to say than fuck you to everyone who isn't as permanently outraged as you, martyr that you are, are.
My post are me, they usually express exactly what I believe to be true or right with the information I have, though I can sometimes be convinced otherwise by a sound argument (but not about liberal capitalism) which is why I have no problem using my real name.
Fair enough. It is merely my opinion you'd have more to offer, and more engagement, with more balance. I've been wrong before, and I've spoken out of turn plenty.
And I bet I sound repetitive at times too.
Have a great day, and if you must, stick it to em.
ANZ New Zealand has upped the ante for residential property investors increasing the minimum deposit to 40 per cent.
The country's largest bank said the change would be effective immediately and was being undertaken to try and bring balance back to the housing market.
It was only a year or two ago that lefties were supposed to boycott ANZ because of the outrageous pay packets of their head honchos and the atrocious way they treated their frontline staff. And the featherbed they installed for Slur John, of course.
Snort, hardly. It's bloody interesting to see the captains of capitalism saying it's time to drop house prices though. Also bloody interesting that Labour are leaving it up to them to sort out the housing crisis.
Yeah, good job. Even better than I expected (since ASB and …was it BNZ? increased their deposit requirement to 30% a couple of weeks back).
The action is driven out of self interest, but whatever works.
MBIE thinks this government will have to spend more on international carbon trading while also saying any delay in action will result in more abrupt and costly interventions.
Officials said that current policies would “stem some growth in transport emissions”.
“However, stopping the growth, and starting decarbonisation, is likely to depend on placing a higher priority on investment, policies and innovation that allow New Zealanders to make sustainable transport choices,”
Very interesting to see the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet pop our smug reverie about meeting our child poverty targets, highlighting that rates of children in material hardship should be expected to rise strongly, and then Jacinda Arden had to plead ignorance:
“Its very hard for us to tell the impact we are having on the ground,” Ardern told stuff.
“I want to know if we are going into the right direction … we don't know that yet.
This government sure could do with more pressure to do something about material hardship:
‘material hardship’ or ‘material deprivation’ is expected to worsen. According to Stats NZ, “material deprivation refers to a person or family lacking essential consumption items because they cannot afford them.”
"We can choose not to let Covid-19 drive more children into poverty"….well I would really loved to be proved wrong, but as usual Labour and Ardern are going to do sweet FA on this one..I mean how can they stop children (and their parents I presume) being driven into poverty when they have no intention of bringing house values and therefore rents down?…in fact Adren thinks they should keep rising.."in moderation" FFS!!!
Jacinda Ardern says 'sustained moderation' remains the Government's goal when it comes to house prices, as people 'expect' the value of their most valuable asset to keep rising
Maybe they will, I guess that when even banks ( whose sole job is to create debt) are starting to freak out about the debt to income ratio's these idiots might actually be moved to act…would have been nice to see them act because some more deeply held altruistic motive….ha just kidding…it's all talk with these guys when it comes to fighting inequality as they have proved time and again by their own policies and actions.
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Thought experiment .
If money wasnt an issue, what actions would you implement right now to improve NZ?
Immediate large scale State house building and a complete restoration and revamp of our public health system. Obliterate the neoliberal elements in both.
Obliterate the neoliberal elements in both.
What kind of society allows, nay, encourages profiteering from illness and disability?
When folks are living in cars, garages, or in mouldy homes while thousands are on the list for state housing, how come The Kindness can't deploy an iron fist and operate a state run non profit building and infrastructure team? It could be run by a brand new Ministry…perhaps "Ministry of Works"?
Unfortunately change requires true commitment from Government and this Current Mob simply aren't there for those in need.
How come indeed
Ressurect our regional rail network, electrify it and move people as well as freight around the country with it.
+1
The People's Democratic Republic of New Zealand. A full market state socialist system in which the commanding heights of the economy are controlled by the State.
There.
Splitter!
The Democratic People's Republic of Aotearoa is the one and only true path.
Liking the sound of that…"The People's Democratic Republic of New Zealand"..yeah it's got a nice ring to it.
it does have tinges of north korea…
Indeed. We must free ourselves from outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the social and economical differences in our society .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2c-X8HiBng
Free nurseries for riparian planting trees and native trees.
Return universities to fully publicly funded model and rebuild their eroded reputations. International students admitted on merit, or as aid to Pacific neighbours. Develop reciprocal agreements with any high standard free universities for exchange students.
Restore rail and coastal shipping – saves carbon and roading costs.
Mass produce decent relocatable tiny homes for fruit/horticultural areas for pickers to live rent free during seasonal work – Queenstown should provide a few to workers too.
Remedial oxygenators (solar pump & fountain or jets) for all degraded rivers so the microfauna can process excess nitrates and organic matter.
Free return to workforce training for former National MPs and criminals.
Proper pest control programs using frequently checked traps or bait stations – no more aerial 1080.
Grant for all households eschewing fossil fueled vehicles and mowers.
Fishery restoration project replants the kina barrens and reseeds scallops in all the heavily fished areas, restores grasses and small wetlands for inanga, supports snapper recruitment and other key species.
Startup capital available for recirculating aquaculture or aquaponics and half a dozen preferred species imported and bred to stock startups. (Macquaria ambigua, Lates calcarifer, Huso huso, etc. ) (also Helix pomatia – not a fish but suitable for culture).
Transition planning for hotter and drier climate – crops and animals and varieties developed and stocked to anticipate what's coming.
Volunteer firefighting reserve of a couple of thousand trained to help in Oz or Pacific cyclone aftermath.
Improved waste program with proper incineration of non-recyclables to reduce need for landfills.
yes..!..to eschewing mowing bloody lawns..
the two most effective moves an individual can make/do..
..is to stop eating animals and their bye-products ..
..and stop insisting on number one cuts for bloody lawns…!
..the lawnmower is weight for weight one of the dirtiest pieces of machinery on the planet..
Not my new lawnmower.
Enough with the generalisations. They weaken your grasp on credibility.
goodonya..!
putting the 'mug' in 'smug'..eh..?
A simple "yeah, I was wrong" would have sufficed lol
"Proper pest control programs using frequently checked traps or bait stations – no more aerial 1080."
EnviroMate100TM is leading the way with this …… but the guys at the top are fixated on aerial 1080 at the moment.
Thats a big list…do we have the capacity?
If money were no object…start a serious main stream left media organization, because a we have seen quite clearly in the UK and the USA without one the Left will never get back into power it is as simple a that.
This left/right binary projection in media IMO is an issue in itself
Truth, facts and proper 4th estate practices insulated by editorial management doesn't have an agenda. We need to go back to that which is a sea change for celebrity commercially focused TVNZ, less so for RNZ but work required there also.
Look across the ditch as ABC Chair Ita Buttrose is serving it back to the comm's minister and the liberals over political interference.
There is no Left media perspective in NZ…only centre (neoliberal) and centre right (the other neoliberals)…
increase the benefits of everyone to min wage level.
And what should the minimum wage be increased to?
would a jobs guarantee do the same thing?
Shut the door on immigration.-in all its nebulous forms.
all immigration?
Most immigration and especially this one:
ex NZ Herald "An official agency has floated the possibility of letting 500 overseas students into New Zealand every month from January."
Politicians really tricked NZ,ers with quietly allowing students after completing their courses . to then flow on to get work then residency in NZ , then bring in their immediate families, whether their English standard was up to the mark or not ……. Most NZers had no idea that this was going on and is still going on. You really don,t need to wonder about how Auckland got in such an infrastructure mess.
So if I was partitioning the government on policy it would be to implement a job guarantee paying the living wage. But thats obviously affordable so…
Lets nationalise home ownership. The government will buy every residential property in the country (for about the RV). At the same time they will perpetually rent them back to present occupants at rates normalized against a reasonable fraction of incomes across the country. They will also pay councils the equivalent of rates. At the same time they will eliminate residential property titles as privately owned assets. Voila housing crisis permanently fixed.
The government may well end up buying a significant number of private residences….I doubt however all….and yes they have the capacity to solve the housing crisis should they so choose…permanently? thats an unknown.
The housing crisis would be permanently fixed, as in housing now costs a well regulated fraction of incomes.
On the other hand its clearly a pretty dodgy idea. I don't know how your going to get people either swapping dwellings or contributing to housing improvements under such a system. I also expect some odd injustices to be inflicted by the transition as some rent and some owners have high equity. You would also expect some pretty screwy changes in other prices, and a few professions would disappear.
Dont know you could say permanently….its a political decision and they can change.
There would be substantial pushback to total nationalisation….limited however may be acceptable…and I dont think many would lament the loss of real estate agencies or property managers, but i may be wrong.
so because a medical service is too popular it is to close, leaving Middlemore as the only option from11:00pm to 7:00 am. I feel for the staff who have been burnt out – as 1/3 of the area has been serviced by this service what now for those staff at Middlemore? So more pressure is now transferred to them.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300183549/auckland-medical-centre-ends-247-service-over-safety-issues-staff-burnout
This cannot go ahead due to demand and people will be at risk of delaying medical treatment. People require transport to get to Middlemore.
Clinical safety could have been worked through and funding made available through the Ministry of Health.
this is the most important line in the whole article.
next
“We took the attitude that our patients need us, so we had to keep sucking it up,” Armstrong said.
It is a private clinic that can open and do what it wants in order to achieve safety for patients and staff.
The issue you have with Middlemore not being equipped and staffed to pick up the slack is the governments inactions, and obvious lack of public medical care in Auckland – all of the previous and the current ones – that for reasons unknown still believe in the Market please fix it Fairy.
If only we had a government that had a such a mandate that they could actually get shit done, but sadly the government is Labour led and getting more hospital capacity or funding for more staff will eat into that all important surplus that the Leader of the government needs on her CV for her next job somewhere else.
What I said.
Sabine, you should write professionally.
Alternative view, if there are no services then there is no need 😉
If only we had a caring, kinder, gentler and 'social' Government with 50% plus of the vote and a single majority. If only.
oh well……..
it really is fucking up my head that we have that 'left' govt…
..who seem to be doing s.f.a. to fix what ails us..
if not them..?..fucken who..?
@Philllp ure.."it really is fucking up my head that we have that 'left' govt…" no we have a free market liberal…sometimes referred to as centrist…recently being labelled correctly as the 'extreme centre'….the Left are nowhere in sight that I can see in NZ..David Graeber on the Extreme 'Centre'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9afwZON8dU
yeah..my problem there is that i believed those promises made by j.ardern back in 2016..
and tho’ it is now year four of her rule..and fuck all has been done..I am still deluding myself that she wasn't just bullshitting..
Yeah, I don't think you are alone there pal, sounds a lot like what many Americans feel about Obama now…disappointment and frustration…which is of course fully justified.
The '84 Labour govt cured me of any political illusions I had and turned me into the cynical bastard I am today..which is just as well as nothing has really come along in NZ politics to make me feel all that positive about it..except a few glimmers here and there I suppose..Helen Kelly and Sue Bradford being high among those glimmers of hope.
I'd focus on the clusterf*k that is the DHB structures and all the NGO's fiefdoms and clubs across the health system that do sfa toward improving clinical effectiveness.
Pretty clear from reading it they're disadvantaged by DHB funding.
Treetop is correct that it should have been worked through and funding made available through the Ministry of Health but that's not how it works, DHB's appear to do as they please.
When those who supply health are not supplying it or rationing the supply, it is going to cost more in the end.
We pay now through a DHB system which is begging for rationalisation/ flattening in a country of less than 10mil
This US electoral college vote is taking an eternity.
Wonder what Trump and his supporters will do today. Something with guns probably.
Patience. It's not yet 11:00 am in California, the Electors probably aren't even out of bed yet.
We just need Kellyalien to tell all the MAGAmorons that the Electoral College vote wasn't a loss for their yam Voldedolt, it was an "alternative win" that they can celebrate.
It would be nice for the farce to be over and the Trump camp to concede. A break could then be made instead of pursuing something which cannot be reversed.
Cry about it on Twitter.
Like this?
https://twitter.com/EmmaSilverman1/status/1337980208410992642
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/proud-boys-message-to-antifa-butts/
join the giant orange toddler…
he’s sobbing..
Patience. Only 38 days.
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1338345200536727554?s=01
So funny and so clever! Thanks Macro.
Last I heard he had locked himself in his White House bedroom and wouldn't come out. 🙂
Reply to Ad @ 3.
Something with guns probably.
I doubt it. So far 70 plus million pissed off Trump voters and no burning cities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JgnUh96To&ab_channel=Reuters
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/13/945989928/protests-grow-violent-after-trump-supporters-gather-again-in-d-c
In Leaked Audio, Biden SHOCKINGLY Similar To Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVTSYqQjjU
Inside Biden’s Meeting With Civil Rights Leaders
https://theintercept.com/2020/12/10/biden-audio-meeting-civil-rights-leaders/
my expectations are so low re biden..
..he won't have to do much to pleasantly surprise..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg4NsEUfWDc&feature=emb_logo
I found this unsurprising but still very discouraging.
Some people just aren't happy until they're whining about something. And others are happy to feed and stoke that grievance addiction. Looks like it’s easy to grift a good living from the addicts.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/12/trump-grievance-addiction-444570
Some people…like yourself there Andre, are just so pleased to accept the crumbs and/or happily lay down and be gently sprinkled on as the powers that be trickle down something on to you, it's embarrassing to watch….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2r86G0sdc
My goodness your posting is a repetitive bore. How many Biden fans are here? It's as painful as those vague and earnest twats who approach me at parties to inform me climate change is real.
Here's a challenge, find something positive to think about, every day. Rant for the rest of it if you must but just try get a grip.
Well if I am a twat and a bore for ranting about liberalism, an ideology that Biden is the figurehead of and Ardern governs with in New Zealand then so be it.
I guess it's everyday when I ride or drive to work and see all the fellow citizens living in their vehicles, see all the motels booked out with fellow citizens and their children who also have no home…talk to my own children who are keep poor from paying outrageous rents and crippling student debts…or after spending quite a period of time in the local hospital last year and seeing that is crumbling and unkept like some late period Soviet satellite state…then hear just yesterday that there are 151 Landrover Discoverys on back order around here, I guess it is that sort of repetitive shit that keeps me repetitive, if that's boring to you.. well sorry but I guess then I just don't give a fuck what you think….but hey you just get on with your life, and don't read my posts…I am sure you are all good, cosy, warm and secure.
BTW, maybe it is you who should get a grip, maybe it is because good people like you are not seething with righteous outrage and indignation at the moral and ethical black hole that we have allowed to become normalized in this country, maybe that is a big part of the problem….not me ranting..but you not ranting.
bleeple be bleeped..
Fuck him and the rest of the Chardonnay Socialist, you keep ranting
say what you believe.
Actually, I called out your posts, not you. I'm sure you have more to say than fuck you to everyone who isn't as permanently outraged as you, martyr that you are, are.
My post are me, they usually express exactly what I believe to be true or right with the information I have, though I can sometimes be convinced otherwise by a sound argument (but not about liberal capitalism) which is why I have no problem using my real name.
Fair enough. It is merely my opinion you'd have more to offer, and more engagement, with more balance. I've been wrong before, and I've spoken out of turn plenty.
And I bet I sound repetitive at times too.
Have a great day, and if you must, stick it to em.
If this does what I think it does then whoopee!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/anz-wants-40pc-deposit-from-property-investors/3GGS3U7YFACKVJP4BXJPJMEH7I/
good on anz for doing that…
..all lefties should switch to anz…
..and tell them why you are doing it..
..show them some love…
and how fucked is this govt…?
..banksters having to do their job for them..
..bah..!
Phillip, please! Lefties switch to ANZ…
How about holding the door open for them and the other three, so it doesn't hit their backside on the way out?
Switch to Kiwibank or one of the other NZ owned Building Societies.
don't tell them I said so..
..but I would nationalise the whole bloody lot of them…
..and reconfigure them to work in the interests of this country..and it's people ..
..and providing financial support for housing for all..
..would be high on the list of to-do's..
..we used to do it before..where young people could capitalise on the child support for their deposit…
..we need to get back there again..(as just one example..)
It's banking greed and insatiable desire to enslave people in debt that got us where we are.
I'm so confused.
It was only a year or two ago that lefties were supposed to boycott ANZ because of the outrageous pay packets of their head honchos and the atrocious way they treated their frontline staff. And the featherbed they installed for Slur John, of course.
But now they're heroes?
Snort, hardly. It's bloody interesting to see the captains of capitalism saying it's time to drop house prices though. Also bloody interesting that Labour are leaving it up to them to sort out the housing crisis.
no..they are not 'heros'…
any good they do is involuntary…as they are acting out of self-interest..
as the biggest lender in that area they are most exposed of all the banks to a chaotic market ending in a crash ..
.they can see that they have to act…
'cos the gummint sure isn't gonna do the job..are they..?
Yeah, good job. Even better than I expected (since ASB and …was it BNZ? increased their deposit requirement to 30% a couple of weeks back).
The action is driven out of self interest, but whatever works.
It needs to be 80% IMO so it washes through and rebalances the market.
Banks are probably doing this as a hedge for a hot market, reducing their exposure, rather than helping first home buyers.
understandable…it doesn't take a genius to work out that what is happening now is utter madness..
..that if left to continue..will blow up/back on those banks .i.e..a crash..
(the government is just helplessly flapping it's hands ..
..a study in ineffectuality..)
..so they decided to damp it down..
..to save their own skins..
(and I agree re 80%..)
I would like to see 75% for the next year and then to stay at 50% deposit for home investors not a first home.
Sir Bob Jones is apparently still awaiting Ricardos apology for his "alternative facts" in his maiden speech https://nopunchespulled.com/2020/12/14/a-horrible-green-party-little-turd/
While I'm still waiting for you to post something that isn't hateful ignorance.
whatever you do…don't read the comments..
I did..they are kinda even worse..
Ricardo is the definition of hateful ignorance.
I think that is more jones..
and the vile pond-scum chorus in his comments thread…
more 'hateful ignorance' there than you can poke a stick at…
Very interesting to see MBIE pop our smug reverie about climate change responsiveness, and the cost of our lack of action over the last decade:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/432886/climate-change-new-zealand-not-on-track-to-meet-paris-obligations-mbie
MBIE thinks this government will have to spend more on international carbon trading while also saying any delay in action will result in more abrupt and costly interventions.
Very interesting to see transport officials have delivered a scathing rebuke to current government transport policies to reduce emissions:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300184111/government-policy-not-enough-to-curb-rising-transport-emissions-officials-say
Officials said that current policies would “stem some growth in transport emissions”.
“However, stopping the growth, and starting decarbonisation, is likely to depend on placing a higher priority on investment, policies and innovation that allow New Zealanders to make sustainable transport choices,”
Very interesting to see the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet pop our smug reverie about meeting our child poverty targets, highlighting that rates of children in material hardship should be expected to rise strongly, and then Jacinda Arden had to plead ignorance:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/123709248/jacinda-ardern-warned-child-poverty-will-rise-due-to-covid19-in-government-briefing
This government sure could do with more pressure to do something about material hardship:
Childrens' Commissioner makes a point:
https://twitter.com/ChildrensCommNZ/status/1338686980989710337
+1000
"We can choose not to let Covid-19 drive more children into poverty"….well I would really loved to be proved wrong, but as usual Labour and Ardern are going to do sweet FA on this one..I mean how can they stop children (and their parents I presume) being driven into poverty when they have no intention of bringing house values and therefore rents down?…in fact Adren thinks they should keep rising.."in moderation" FFS!!!
Jacinda Ardern says 'sustained moderation' remains the Government's goal when it comes to house prices, as people 'expect' the value of their most valuable asset to keep rising
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/108301/pm-jacinda-ardern-says-sustained-moderation-remains-governments-goal-when-it-comes
Perhaps the government will listen to the commercial banks
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/432899/new-anz-report-says-continuing-house-price-rises-doesn-t-add-up
Maybe they will, I guess that when even banks ( whose sole job is to create debt) are starting to freak out about the debt to income ratio's these idiots might actually be moved to act…would have been nice to see them act because some more deeply held altruistic motive….ha just kidding…it's all talk with these guys when it comes to fighting inequality as they have proved time and again by their own policies and actions.
'the panel'…on rnz…is boredom on a stick..
the host is the issue…not the format..
he is pretty much anti-intellectual..
A look at Labour's terrible election result on the West Coast:
Don't Take Me Home, Country Roads: Labour's 2020 West Coast Problem
Which really begs the question… what the hell caused this?