“I heard [councillor] Chris Darby equate our situation to buying a meal at a restaurant and being asked to pay extra for cutlery. I’d say it’s more accurate to say it’s like paying for a combo from McDonald’s, then being asked to pay extra for the fries and drink.”
Walker suggested the Jansens add a 15-day due diligence clause into the contract so they could find out a bit more. But Jonathan says Imperial was reluctant to put in a due diligence clause, so their lawyer talked again about red flags. She advised them to pull out of the deal.
But they had fallen in love with the house. Jonathan says they agreed to scratch the due diligence clause, but asked to see the plans for the house.
Imperial agreed, but Jonathan says they didn’t receive anything extra.
“So we signed it — we really wanted it. But I was worried about the way it was $44,000 in cash and to a separate company. It was niggling at me.”
Then the consultant contacted them again. Jonathan says Imperial told them it was upgrading the flooring from carpet and tiles to laminate because they knew the couple had a dog.
Thanks but no thanks, said Jonathan. They’d stick with the carpet and tiles, which they reckoned were worth more than laminate anyway.
“[She] called three hours later and said someone else was interested in the house. Another family had come in and talked to the director directly, she told us, and those people were happy with the laminate flooring.
“She said the company had already ordered the laminate and she sent us a new quote — up from $44,000 to $48,000 to incorporate the $4000 ‘upgrade’ to laminate.”
A, This situation is the Developer getting squeezed and creating an out.
When we built in the 70s the homeowner had 12 mths to create fences driveways etc.
We just got a 1200 square foot home, bare boards on the floor, lighting we had up graded and that was it. Progress payments assisted in meeting dead lines.
It could be said their developer was using two sets of documents…. one for Council and a variation for the customer…fraud? misleading the Council? Very tricky.
The rules that a developer had to comply with to enable an SHA were specific, and the price level for a finished home was set at the time of the consent being issued.
“sold for no more than 75 per cent of the Auckland region median house price.”
The developer has “Managed” this to comply (??) – and with the extras does the development still comply with the SHA requirements ? Possibly Not. But who will follow up on this ?and it becomes another case of a developer not acting with any integrity, but getting away with it, and profiting. https://www.thefirsthomebuyersclub.co.nz/finding-a-house/special-housing-areas-auckland/
““So we signed it — we really wanted it. But I was worried about the way it was $44,000 in cash and to a separate company. It was niggling at me.” – Perhaps the IRD should have a wee look to make sure that everything from a tax position has been accounted for correctly. As it appears from the story, the couple signed away many of the protections that were in place, and the developer was able to use the situation to max. their interest.
Reflecting on the events yesterday regarding CGT, and a lot of the views on here that this was a politically savvy play – I’m not so convinced. I do think that electioneering and the debates in the lead up to an election play quite a significant role in election success. At the moment, National’s talking points will focus on the fact that key election promises made by Labour have either been a failure or dropped. Kiwibuild (currently failing), 1st year free education (expensive, and not showing great stimulus to student numbers), and now CGT dumped (showing that the tail i.e. Winston is wagging the dog). Aside from Jacinda’s handling of Christchurch events, Labour doesn’t have many wins on the board. Labour needs policy wins! The current love in the polls will only last so long..and who knows what sweeteners National will offer NZF to jump ship.
Weekend warrior, it has been stated by National that student numbers haven;t increased. correct…less from overseas. NZ students have increased, especially in teaching by a fifth, and trades are picking up.
So the construction sector and the government need to work together to sort the sector out….
This is clearly yet further evidence of the failure of the free market and neoliberal policies.
Like the finance sector
Like the mining sector
Like the housing sector
Like the farming sector
How much more evidence is needed before everyone realises that free market policies require very careful implementation given their propensity for disastrous outcomes.
Imagine trying to apply it to health???
Or education???
Or housing??… oh wait, it has been and the outcome is a disaster leading to lower home ownership, not increased..
Or employment?? … oh wait, it has been but the employers don’t like it when the demand-supply equation they all voted for works against them, so squeal and cry to nanny state for intervention.
It’s a balancing act. Too little regulation and you get all the outcomes neoliberalism has delivered us since the 80’s. Too much and you stifle risk and innovation, everything slowly stagnates and dies. Understanding this balance is not easy.
A healthy market needs a diversity of players with different appetites for risk. One of the more attractive models that we know works, is that the state should act as the stodgy, low risk, ‘provider of last resort’ across a range of industries.
The desirable fraction of state involvement varies by industry. Health and education are both long term, high stakes industries where the state already has a dominant position. Corner stores and car dealers much less so. Others like housing and insurance the state has a clear role in providing a ‘floor’ in the market below which no other private provider can fall and stay in business.
We already do this to a large extent; we just need to start thinking about it more strategically.
But this government needs to show that it is a pro-market-regulation government.
At the moment its strongest intervention is with wads of poorly-designed cash handouts in the form of a $3 billion slush fund. The regulation is so bad that government oversight agencies are putting the hard ruler over them.
The Chorus mess with oppressive contracts is a direct responsibility of the government through Crown Fibre Holdings, such that MBIE are stepping in much harder.
Waikato Hospital Hospital Board is about to be sacked.
They are proposing to re-regulate the entire secondary school industry, polytech industry, justice industry, and many more in the public arena, before we start getting to their woolly ideas on construction “cooperation”.
There is no common strategy, theme, legislative direction, or collective purpose to any of it. It’s pretty incoherent.
Andre
That little comment dripping with malice. It doesn’t add anything to the discourse or the gathering of facts about Assange. Comes under the old saying that if you haven’t got something that adds usefully to the conversation, don’t say anything. This is a positive input because it is necessary for us to aim at striking a good balance of discussion so we don’t become a little den of gossip, innuendo and slanging matches. The TS needs to be better than that.
It’s good you think it good that he is anyone’s hero.
He is certainly one of Roger Water’s hero’s as he says in this interview
“The most important information, that we, Julians Assange’s fellow citizens of the globe need, is information about the secret malfeasance and wrong doing of government, which are legend”
<i>Good to know he is one of your heros. 4.1.2</i> I suggest that your attacks against Assange are not reasonable. But that is not disappointing – it is your expected common theme. You often sharply defend your personal compatriots so you tcarry that through to refer to an 'unnecessary attack' from me to Andre. Andre is quite capable of answering for himself.
It seems that you are trying to limit free speech except for your own. i think it is malicious of Andre to equate Assange with Slater. That is a reasonable view and you have no right to take me to task over it. Don't play the superior pedagogue with me.
“Protesters target Jeremy Corbyn on day three of Extinction Rebellion”
and then later on
“A few hours later, four protesters glued their hands together and chained themselves to a fence outside Corbyn’s house, saying he was “the best hope this country has got” to meet the challenges of the climate crisis, adding that they were there to “support him” to go further.”
It’s when you realise that the media do this ALL the damn time that you begin to understand the problem we have.
The media have an important role in society; well above any commercial consideration. They are like the eyes and ears of our societies, and when they mislead us we are all in deep trouble.
Thanks for that fransesca. People here who read the Guardian have been very critical of it. I looked at it and kept finding good stuff. Then someone noted their peculiar biases here and there and I think one was Jeremy Corbyn. That heading you quote is a blatant, naked example. Headline porn.
Yes it is misleading but why do it?
Maybe they hate corbyn or they follow the agenda given to them
A big part I think is that imo they are money hungry capitalists that want to sell something to make more money and misleading headlines, which drag people into see wtf, are just a crude technique among many that they use. This example you put up shows how they can twist the whole thing around to mean the opposite whilst technically also being correct. Clever little shits alright.
Back in the ’90s I had a pub in a small town.
One Saturday evening 3 brothers came in, 2 were under age. They were asked to leave.
On their way out, 2 of them assaulted a young kitchen hand, a boy who didn’t get a chance to fight back. He was highly disinclined to raise his voice or his fists.
Front page news on Monday: ‘Teens fighting in local bar’, article went on to name pub and make a few assertions. We didn’t get contacted or questioned.
Contacted editor and three days later on page 5 a wee correction.
It can work the other way, though – years ago I ended up fronting to the local journo for a project I was running (just a wee thing, nothing earth shattering). I was a young chap and had no fucking idea about the usual patter one says in such articles.
The journo needed some copy anyway, so asked questions like “would you say that it’s been well received by people in a variety of circumstances?” and “what about it’s contribution to [issue], would you regard it as being a convenient anchor point for [group]?”.
Reading the published article, the others involved thought I’d done really well in the interview – I had so many eloquent quotes lol 🙂
I’ve been labeled a “sub-optimal person” by a Kiwiblogger.
Yesterday I returned to Kiwiblog after a six week absence. My first comment was a brief driveby shot at the infamous Double Dipper from Dipton. It didn’t go down well….
Morrissey….harden up. You know very well that Farrar’s Ferals don’t play nice, yet off you go….
The whole moderation thing is very, very new over there, give them time. They have had carte blanche since, well, forever. They are still straining against the ropes.
I do recall a few bans for behaviour. Can’t recall banning you for being sub-optimal. Going deliberate diversion off the topic of a post was always your thing.
So much for the free speech fetishists on The Daily Blog. If your criticism against Trotter or Bradbury is too trenchant it will never never seethe light of day
I posted a critical rebuttal to one of Trotter’s blogpost and it vanished
I wouldn’t panic too much Mjolnir. There has been lots of traffic over at TDB and all comments go into moderation, so there could very well be a delay.
Trotter, Bradbury, Macskasy ….they all wear big boy pants now and can cope with strong criticism.
I’ve had a few go down the memory hole, which is one reason I hardly ever comment there now. If your comment is one that would be difficult for Bradbury to rebut, it just never appears.
No doubt there’ll be many learnings going forwid from the Wellington bus fiasco @ grey, the proposed solutions which will probably do SFA to solve anything.
They’re thinking of sacking the Waikato DHB board.
The GRWCouncillors ? yea nah 18 monthgs onward – letalone the ‘officials’ that came up with this bugger’s muddle in the first place.
And then there’s WCC’s involvement which I pick they’ll get away with by shifting blame.
And even if and when they do manage to get things back to some semblance of order, they’ve fucked things up SO badly that it’s going to take some serious persuasion to get a certain demographic to go back to catching buses.
( If you’re one of two from a household, catching an Uber is now just as cheap or fuck-all more expensive for door to door service, and at a time of your choosing ).
Accountability???? There’ll be none
There’s actually a shitload of blame to go around, and it isn’t just Laidlaw and his cronies (elected and/or ensconced in GWRC), but it’s also WCC cronies (elected and ensconced) too.
It’ll be interesting to see who ekshully has the cheek to stand come election time. I hope they put their hands up soon so they can be publicly challenged.
A punk legend in action for 50+ years! Oh bless. Only on RT of course – straight from the propaganda factory. “Westwood: I’ll get Assange out of the embassy”
What do other people do, how do they manage their part of the world? With a less complicated economy and one not dominated by the world system, can a workable system arise? On Yap they have operated their system using stones for currency.. Which reminds us that money is symbolic, and imbued with our ideas of agreed value.
Looking at Yap a small island, now a group, in the North Pacific nearish to Guam a USA military base. Apparently the Chinese will change their tourism from about 4,000 over years by erecting a resort with 4,000 units on the island? End of
culture and simple autonomy to complicated slavery I think with some modern
gew-gaws that alienate the youngsters from the elders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap#Economy
I think more cults will spring up as more people kept pushed to the fringes and to constantly have to search for stability and a settled life that enables a decent standard of living.
“A Hastings principal has slammed an increasing number of parents taking kids on holiday during term time, arguing it could ruin their kids’ and the school’s future results.
St John’s College principal Paul Melloy, who is currently in Chile on a tour with the school’s first XV rugby team…”
The housing market is overpriced, and I am hearing that leases for small businesses are over-valued. The country is riding for a fall, and the rock star will smash his guitar on stage before long. High rents, the people in the rentier game are squeezing the people actually doing the yakka that earns our country’s living. What are we going to do about being hollowed out by these modern aristocrats? A Revolution? Can we think of something clever without blood? We need businesses to keep going, we need employment, the ability to buy things or enjoyment. We may need to live more simply but can we have a decent standard of living.
But small businesses are having trouble keeping going, big overseas names are flooding in to soak up any money we have spare. The rents are getting too high everywhere. The greed of people with a lot of money is growing. The present economic system is unsustainable madness. What a contrast between the ultra-high income and the ordinary business owner earning what an ordinary person needs.
One of the country’s top chefs, Bosley retired from restaurants after his Wellington eatery Martin Bosley’s Yacht Club went into liquidation in 2014.
“When I opened my restaurant my main courses were $35, I sat 60 people and my rent was just over $40,000.
“When I closed it 13 years later, I still sat 60 people, my main courses were now $45 but my rent was now over $100,000 a year.”
With rents so high, Bosley said meals were essentially being “subsidised” by restaurant owners.
“If you’re a diner right now, this is the best time to be dining.”..
Restaurant Association president Mike Egan estimated the average margin was between three and five per cent for most restaurants. ,,,
Egan said the recent minimum wage rise had left businesses scrambling to cut costs before it hit their bottom line.
As of April 1, the minimum wage was $17.70 an hour.
“A Revolution? Can we think of something clever without blood?”
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here – the Mongols were not at all keen on bloodshed either, and Genghis was a master of a kind of democratic decision making.
dead right.The OPEX of doing business in NZ is way out of kilter.
Supposedly the free market will correct that.
.A small domestic market with increased competition should be good for the consumer but the reality is the BIG guy with BIG capital can access offshore product and undercut the local and just like the demise of the Made in NZ auto market ,all other high involvement retail will be taken over by the cheapest alternative…eventually.
Whanau Eco Maori has been on the Gisborne man sandflys radar for a few years now they thought my great grandfather was Eco Maori he died in a work accident ???????? ,
My uncle he was a church going man to the state got a hold of him he died they target 2 other males who lived in my great grandmothers house thinking they were Eco Maori .The sandflys now know the target they have been looking for in the last 50 years is ME Eco Maori they are scared of Eco Maori
Our enviroment is what keeps US alive and we are poisioning it fast.
I have said these words before what would happen if you let a child eat what it wants say chocolate well that child would soon become obeast become sick with deibetes many bad thinks would happen to the child and if not corrected the child would die.
Papatuanuku is the same if we keep pumping chemicals into OUR enviroment we are causing our world to become sick if we don’t stop it we will be in the SHIT.
Another story the 00.1 % ARE like a BABY with chocolate with there money the keep wanting more and won’t share fairly they are getting sick on there overindalgence in MONEY they want more and more even if there actions are killing mother earth and our grandchildrens future we the 99.9 have to become the rulers of the world and teach the ruleing class the correct way to behave love thy neighbour respect thy neighbour forgive thy neighbour share with thy neigbour respect for our past our tipuna respect for OUR FUTURE
The report presents a sobering summary of a country starkly different from the ‘Pure New Zealand’ marketing campaign. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
A report on the state of New Zealand’s environment has painted a bleak picture of catastrophic biodiversity loss, polluted waterways and the destructive rise of the dairy industry and urban sprawl.
Environment Aotearoa is the first major environmental report in four years, and was compiled using data from Statistics New Zealand and the environment ministry.
It presents a sobering summary of a country that is starkly different from the pristine landscape promoted in the “Pure New Zealand” marketing campaign that lures millions of tourists every year.
It found New Zealand is now considered one of the most invaded countries in the world, with 75 animal and plant species having gone extinct since human settlement. The once-vibrant bird life has fared particularly badly, with 90% of seabirds and 80% of shorebirds threatened with or at risk of extinction.
‘Their birthright is being lost’: New Zealanders fret over polluted rivers
Almost two-thirds of New Zealand’s rare ecosystems are under threat of collapse, and over the last 15 years the extinction risk worsened for 86 species, compared with the conservation status of just 26 species improving in the past 10 years.
It amazes me why they would not let Maori build on Marae land why would our culture get to strong.
The government has announced it will build six homes at Tuahiwi marae near Kaiapoi, and will repair sixty houses in the region.
It’s a welcome move for Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga chair Arapata Reuben, who has lived in the small pā at Tuahiwi for 25 years. He spent his childhood there and said the new papakāinga development is major.
“For me, it means that all of my children can live next to me,” he said.
“I have already passed over my lands to them already which means they can now build on their whenua next to their mum and dad, they can grow up and raise their children.
“They all want to live at the pā. They know what it is like to be [raised] at the pā. They see their life being the pā.”
Mr Reuben said local government had restricted the building of houses on the pā for decades. Local Māori fought for more than 10 years to lift the restrictions, which eventually happened in 2015 through the post earthquake Canterbury Emergency Act. Ka kite ano links below P.S I loaded that post above 3 hours ago it just loaded ten mins ago and I had to rewrite this post the sandflys are shitting them selves they cannot put Eco Maori back.
Kia ora Newshub.
If you go into a animal whare house you have to show respect for the animals and keep the tamariki safe.
The trump investergating was a sham I have heaps of facts to link to that statement.
Eco Maori says Rotorua is a great destination to have a holiday the place is booked out enjoying a booming tourist season.?
I say that exercise any time is good the producers boggle me mind YEA IGHT
GUIDE horse in Britain that’s a novelty lol.
Kia kaha Ka extinction Protesters I have said the leftys need to harden up.
I don’t use Facebook had a look.
Fejoe problems with a moth larvae there was a problem with them last year to.
Don’t like having a beard just have time to keep the hair tidy let alone cleaning and brushing a beard each to their own my son has a good beard.
Hydrogen cars will be a rich person toy the common people will drive battery elictric car’s. Ka kite ano P.S my Mokopuna take up my time
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TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
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Imperial Homes eh.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12223339
“I heard [councillor] Chris Darby equate our situation to buying a meal at a restaurant and being asked to pay extra for cutlery. I’d say it’s more accurate to say it’s like paying for a combo from McDonald’s, then being asked to pay extra for the fries and drink.”
Walker suggested the Jansens add a 15-day due diligence clause into the contract so they could find out a bit more. But Jonathan says Imperial was reluctant to put in a due diligence clause, so their lawyer talked again about red flags. She advised them to pull out of the deal.
But they had fallen in love with the house. Jonathan says they agreed to scratch the due diligence clause, but asked to see the plans for the house.
Imperial agreed, but Jonathan says they didn’t receive anything extra.
“So we signed it — we really wanted it. But I was worried about the way it was $44,000 in cash and to a separate company. It was niggling at me.”
Then the consultant contacted them again. Jonathan says Imperial told them it was upgrading the flooring from carpet and tiles to laminate because they knew the couple had a dog.
Thanks but no thanks, said Jonathan. They’d stick with the carpet and tiles, which they reckoned were worth more than laminate anyway.
“[She] called three hours later and said someone else was interested in the house. Another family had come in and talked to the director directly, she told us, and those people were happy with the laminate flooring.
“She said the company had already ordered the laminate and she sent us a new quote — up from $44,000 to $48,000 to incorporate the $4000 ‘upgrade’ to laminate.”
A, This situation is the Developer getting squeezed and creating an out.
When we built in the 70s the homeowner had 12 mths to create fences driveways etc.
We just got a 1200 square foot home, bare boards on the floor, lighting we had up graded and that was it. Progress payments assisted in meeting dead lines.
It could be said their developer was using two sets of documents…. one for Council and a variation for the customer…fraud? misleading the Council? Very tricky.
The rules that a developer had to comply with to enable an SHA were specific, and the price level for a finished home was set at the time of the consent being issued.
“sold for no more than 75 per cent of the Auckland region median house price.”
The developer has “Managed” this to comply (??) – and with the extras does the development still comply with the SHA requirements ? Possibly Not. But who will follow up on this ?and it becomes another case of a developer not acting with any integrity, but getting away with it, and profiting.
https://www.thefirsthomebuyersclub.co.nz/finding-a-house/special-housing-areas-auckland/
““So we signed it — we really wanted it. But I was worried about the way it was $44,000 in cash and to a separate company. It was niggling at me.” – Perhaps the IRD should have a wee look to make sure that everything from a tax position has been accounted for correctly. As it appears from the story, the couple signed away many of the protections that were in place, and the developer was able to use the situation to max. their interest.
Reflecting on the events yesterday regarding CGT, and a lot of the views on here that this was a politically savvy play – I’m not so convinced. I do think that electioneering and the debates in the lead up to an election play quite a significant role in election success. At the moment, National’s talking points will focus on the fact that key election promises made by Labour have either been a failure or dropped. Kiwibuild (currently failing), 1st year free education (expensive, and not showing great stimulus to student numbers), and now CGT dumped (showing that the tail i.e. Winston is wagging the dog). Aside from Jacinda’s handling of Christchurch events, Labour doesn’t have many wins on the board. Labour needs policy wins! The current love in the polls will only last so long..and who knows what sweeteners National will offer NZF to jump ship.
Weekend warrior, it has been stated by National that student numbers haven;t increased. correct…less from overseas. NZ students have increased, especially in teaching by a fifth, and trades are picking up.
and since the education funding changes were targeted at local students, I’ll just summarise to
National – lying again.
So the construction sector and the government need to work together to sort the sector out….
This is clearly yet further evidence of the failure of the free market and neoliberal policies.
Like the finance sector
Like the mining sector
Like the housing sector
Like the farming sector
How much more evidence is needed before everyone realises that free market policies require very careful implementation given their propensity for disastrous outcomes.
Imagine trying to apply it to health???
Or education???
Or housing??… oh wait, it has been and the outcome is a disaster leading to lower home ownership, not increased..
Or employment?? … oh wait, it has been but the employers don’t like it when the demand-supply equation they all voted for works against them, so squeal and cry to nanny state for intervention.
It’s a balancing act. Too little regulation and you get all the outcomes neoliberalism has delivered us since the 80’s. Too much and you stifle risk and innovation, everything slowly stagnates and dies. Understanding this balance is not easy.
A healthy market needs a diversity of players with different appetites for risk. One of the more attractive models that we know works, is that the state should act as the stodgy, low risk, ‘provider of last resort’ across a range of industries.
The desirable fraction of state involvement varies by industry. Health and education are both long term, high stakes industries where the state already has a dominant position. Corner stores and car dealers much less so. Others like housing and insurance the state has a clear role in providing a ‘floor’ in the market below which no other private provider can fall and stay in business.
We already do this to a large extent; we just need to start thinking about it more strategically.
I agree with your comment in the abstract.
But this government needs to show that it is a pro-market-regulation government.
At the moment its strongest intervention is with wads of poorly-designed cash handouts in the form of a $3 billion slush fund. The regulation is so bad that government oversight agencies are putting the hard ruler over them.
The Chorus mess with oppressive contracts is a direct responsibility of the government through Crown Fibre Holdings, such that MBIE are stepping in much harder.
Waikato Hospital Hospital Board is about to be sacked.
They are proposing to re-regulate the entire secondary school industry, polytech industry, justice industry, and many more in the public arena, before we start getting to their woolly ideas on construction “cooperation”.
There is no common strategy, theme, legislative direction, or collective purpose to any of it. It’s pretty incoherent.
Another in the long list of journalism awards for Julian Assange
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/julian-assange-wins-eu-journalism-award-20190417-p51euj.html
The Galizia award
Cameron Slater won awards too.
Andre
That little comment dripping with malice. It doesn’t add anything to the discourse or the gathering of facts about Assange. Comes under the old saying that if you haven’t got something that adds usefully to the conversation, don’t say anything. This is a positive input because it is necessary for us to aim at striking a good balance of discussion so we don’t become a little den of gossip, innuendo and slanging matches. The TS needs to be better than that.
Good to know he is one of your heros.
It’s good you think it good that he is anyone’s hero.
He is certainly one of Roger Water’s hero’s as he says in this interview
“The most important information, that we, Julians Assange’s fellow citizens of the globe need, is information about the secret malfeasance and wrong doing of government, which are legend”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=408&v=6smG6po8YVw
Of course I’m guessing you wont watch this video.
The question you could ask yourself though is,
“why?”
I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick… I love Waters! and am interested in what he has to say.
I was referring to Andre’s obvious reverence for Slater.
Yes he is. You aren’t.
Completely unnecessary attack grey… To say I’m disappointed in your comment is an understatement.
maui
<i>Good to know he is one of your heros. 4.1.2</i> I suggest that your attacks against Assange are not reasonable. But that is not disappointing – it is your expected common theme. You often sharply defend your personal compatriots so you tcarry that through to refer to an 'unnecessary attack' from me to Andre. Andre is quite capable of answering for himself.
It seems that you are trying to limit free speech except for your own. i think it is malicious of Andre to equate Assange with Slater. That is a reasonable view and you have no right to take me to task over it. Don't play the superior pedagogue with me.
You know something about an impending arrest there dredre?
Re Global Warming and what has to be done
Why are there very few asking about population, our pop of 7.7b – and what is the carrying capacity of the earth especially as we are to reduce our dependancy on oil
https://worldpopulationhistory.org/carrying-capacity/
https://www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html
The answer’s right there in the question roddy. Doesn’t take a genius.
Wage Slave
Rent Slave
Slave
Final Preferred PM Poll ratings for Leaders just before being Toppled / Replaced
(Colmar Brunton since 1997)
(Main Intra-Party Rival in parentheses)
Bolger (Oct 1997) … 13%
(Shipley … 10%)
Shipley then replaces Bolger
.
Shipley (Sep 2001) … 14%
(English … 5%)
English then replaces Shipley
.
English (Oct 2003) … 7%
(Brash … 3%)
Brash then replaces English
.
Brash (Oct 2006) … 17%
(Key … 11%)
Key then replaces Brash
.
Shearer (July 2013) … 13%
(Cunliffe … 2% / Clark … 2%)
Cunliffe then replaces Shearer
.
Little (July 2017) … 6%
(Ardern … 6%)
.Ardern then replaces Little
.
Compare with
.
Bridges (April 2019) … 5%
(Collins … 5%)
Great stats.
You get my vote for comment of the day.
How about this for misleading headlines?
“Protesters target Jeremy Corbyn on day three of Extinction Rebellion”
and then later on
“A few hours later, four protesters glued their hands together and chained themselves to a fence outside Corbyn’s house, saying he was “the best hope this country has got” to meet the challenges of the climate crisis, adding that they were there to “support him” to go further.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/17/extinction-rebellion-halt-london-docklands-trains-carriage
It’s when you realise that the media do this ALL the damn time that you begin to understand the problem we have.
The media have an important role in society; well above any commercial consideration. They are like the eyes and ears of our societies, and when they mislead us we are all in deep trouble.
OMG, RedLogix actually accepting reality for once…
Well done for noticing, better late than never…
OMG Adam noticed what someone else actually said rather than just making an interpretation up..
RL started saying that on this site about 9-10 years ago. I remember that was the topic of one of the first comments of his that I noticed.
Could it be that you don’t notice what people say unless they agree with you?
OMG lprent, I have not read all his posts – I have a life.
All I have is the ones I have seen of late, which come across as a smug know it all. 🙂
Aren’t we all? Please use a mirror.
When have I not known I'm an arse?
I know I'm a wanker, but others…
Thanks for that fransesca. People here who read the Guardian have been very critical of it. I looked at it and kept finding good stuff. Then someone noted their peculiar biases here and there and I think one was Jeremy Corbyn. That heading you quote is a blatant, naked example. Headline porn.
Yes it is misleading but why do it?
Maybe they hate corbyn or they follow the agenda given to them
A big part I think is that imo they are money hungry capitalists that want to sell something to make more money and misleading headlines, which drag people into see wtf, are just a crude technique among many that they use. This example you put up shows how they can twist the whole thing around to mean the opposite whilst technically also being correct. Clever little shits alright.
Good we keep track of these – thanks.
Back in the ’90s I had a pub in a small town.
One Saturday evening 3 brothers came in, 2 were under age. They were asked to leave.
On their way out, 2 of them assaulted a young kitchen hand, a boy who didn’t get a chance to fight back. He was highly disinclined to raise his voice or his fists.
Front page news on Monday: ‘Teens fighting in local bar’, article went on to name pub and make a few assertions. We didn’t get contacted or questioned.
Contacted editor and three days later on page 5 a wee correction.
Jolly media!
It can work the other way, though – years ago I ended up fronting to the local journo for a project I was running (just a wee thing, nothing earth shattering). I was a young chap and had no fucking idea about the usual patter one says in such articles.
The journo needed some copy anyway, so asked questions like “would you say that it’s been well received by people in a variety of circumstances?” and “what about it’s contribution to [issue], would you regard it as being a convenient anchor point for [group]?”.
Reading the published article, the others involved thought I’d done really well in the interview – I had so many eloquent quotes lol 🙂
Concerning in Peru, a measure of how all countries leaders are stressed? And another nail in democracies coffin-shaped podium.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/387298/peru-s-former-president-alan-garcia-kills-himself-ahead-of-arrest
NZ – another boring report about the poor state of NZ waterways. Ho hum. /sarc!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/387308/nature-at-risk-damning-report-warns-environment-in-serious-trouble
Sanders on FOX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ozAACcc8I
I’ve been labeled a “sub-optimal person” by a Kiwiblogger.
Yesterday I returned to Kiwiblog after a six week absence. My first comment was a brief driveby shot at the infamous Double Dipper from Dipton. It didn’t go down well….
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2019/04/general_debate_17_april_2019.html/comment-page-1#comment-2475821
The comment deemed “grossly inappropriate” by the “moderator” [sic] at Kiwiblog can be accessed here….
http://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/04/brief-kiwiblog-exchange-re-double.html
Morrissey….harden up. You know very well that Farrar’s Ferals don’t play nice, yet off you go….
The whole moderation thing is very, very new over there, give them time. They have had carte blanche since, well, forever. They are still straining against the ropes.
“I’ve been labeled a “sub-optimal person” by a Kiwiblogger.”
Not just Kiwiblog to be fair Moz.
True, the liberal left here are quite quick to quash anyone thinking for themselves.
I do recall a few bans for behaviour. Can’t recall banning you for being sub-optimal. Going deliberate diversion off the topic of a post was always your thing.
It’s Thursday afternoon Aunty Lyn haven’t you got a few moderation messages screeching about men’s privates to post ?
I do recall a few bans for behaviour.
Six, in fact, Mr. Prent. Record so far: two months.
Can’t recall banning you for being sub-optimal. Going deliberate diversion off the topic of a post was always your thing.
Still is, some might say.
Very true, higherstandard, very true. In fact, “sub-optimal” is quite mild compared to some of the calumnies heaped on me on this forum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian_(Mantegna)#/media/File:Andrea_Mantegna_088.jpg
So much for the free speech fetishists on The Daily Blog. If your criticism against Trotter or Bradbury is too trenchant it will never never seethe light of day
I posted a critical rebuttal to one of Trotter’s blogpost and it vanished
Free speech?
I call tui
I wouldn’t panic too much Mjolnir. There has been lots of traffic over at TDB and all comments go into moderation, so there could very well be a delay.
Trotter, Bradbury, Macskasy ….they all wear big boy pants now and can cope with strong criticism.
From 2 days ago?.
Yeah I get that everything is placed moderation, but that one was submitted on Tuesday evening. Since then other comments have been published
So free speech is fine but not the thingI said (and I am minding my language, Scarlet Mod made a fair call on me on that one)
I’ve had a few go down the memory hole, which is one reason I hardly ever comment there now. If your comment is one that would be difficult for Bradbury to rebut, it just never appears.
It wasn’t a comment on Trotter’s post entitled “Recognising Hate Speech When You See It”, was it?
Some thoughtful comment on Wellington buses/public transport from someone with depth of background experience. With thoughtful comments below.
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=117890
Waiting at the bus stop?
No doubt there’ll be many learnings going forwid from the Wellington bus fiasco @ grey, the proposed solutions which will probably do SFA to solve anything.
They’re thinking of sacking the Waikato DHB board.
The GRWCouncillors ? yea nah 18 monthgs onward – letalone the ‘officials’ that came up with this bugger’s muddle in the first place.
And then there’s WCC’s involvement which I pick they’ll get away with by shifting blame.
And even if and when they do manage to get things back to some semblance of order, they’ve fucked things up SO badly that it’s going to take some serious persuasion to get a certain demographic to go back to catching buses.
( If you’re one of two from a household, catching an Uber is now just as cheap or fuck-all more expensive for door to door service, and at a time of your choosing ).
Accountability???? There’ll be none
There’s actually a shitload of blame to go around, and it isn’t just Laidlaw and his cronies (elected and/or ensconced in GWRC), but it’s also WCC cronies (elected and ensconced) too.
It’ll be interesting to see who ekshully has the cheek to stand come election time. I hope they put their hands up soon so they can be publicly challenged.
A punk legend in action for 50+ years! Oh bless. Only on RT of course – straight from the propaganda factory.
“Westwood: I’ll get Assange out of the embassy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEhkDrF5GWw
What do other people do, how do they manage their part of the world? With a less complicated economy and one not dominated by the world system, can a workable system arise? On Yap they have operated their system using stones for currency.. Which reminds us that money is symbolic, and imbued with our ideas of agreed value.
Looking at Yap a small island, now a group, in the North Pacific nearish to Guam a USA military base. Apparently the Chinese will change their tourism from about 4,000 over years by erecting a resort with 4,000 units on the island? End of
culture and simple autonomy to complicated slavery I think with some modern
gew-gaws that alienate the youngsters from the elders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap#Economy
I think more cults will spring up as more people kept pushed to the fringes and to constantly have to search for stability and a settled life that enables a decent standard of living.
I don’t like the sound of this one.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018691418/inside-the-nxivm-cult
“A Hastings principal has slammed an increasing number of parents taking kids on holiday during term time, arguing it could ruin their kids’ and the school’s future results.
St John’s College principal Paul Melloy, who is currently in Chile on a tour with the school’s first XV rugby team…”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12223056
Goodness me.
The housing market is overpriced, and I am hearing that leases for small businesses are over-valued. The country is riding for a fall, and the rock star will smash his guitar on stage before long. High rents, the people in the rentier game are squeezing the people actually doing the yakka that earns our country’s living. What are we going to do about being hollowed out by these modern aristocrats? A Revolution? Can we think of something clever without blood? We need businesses to keep going, we need employment, the ability to buy things or enjoyment. We may need to live more simply but can we have a decent standard of living.
But small businesses are having trouble keeping going, big overseas names are flooding in to soak up any money we have spare. The rents are getting too high everywhere. The greed of people with a lot of money is growing. The present economic system is unsustainable madness. What a contrast between the ultra-high income and the ordinary business owner earning what an ordinary person needs.
(https://hub.packtpub.com/jack-ma-defends-the-extreme-996-work-culture-in-chinese-tech-firms/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111998900/capital-cuisine-how-hard-is-it-to-run-a-restaurant-in-wellington
Capital Cuisine: What’s killing Wellington’s restaurants?
4/16/2019
STUFF
There are nearly 900 places to grab food and drink in Wellington City.
One of the country’s top chefs, Bosley retired from restaurants after his Wellington eatery Martin Bosley’s Yacht Club went into liquidation in 2014.
“When I opened my restaurant my main courses were $35, I sat 60 people and my rent was just over $40,000.
“When I closed it 13 years later, I still sat 60 people, my main courses were now $45 but my rent was now over $100,000 a year.”
With rents so high, Bosley said meals were essentially being “subsidised” by restaurant owners.
“If you’re a diner right now, this is the best time to be dining.”..
Restaurant Association president Mike Egan estimated the average margin was between three and five per cent for most restaurants. ,,,
Egan said the recent minimum wage rise had left businesses scrambling to cut costs before it hit their bottom line.
As of April 1, the minimum wage was $17.70 an hour.
“A Revolution? Can we think of something clever without blood?”
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here – the Mongols were not at all keen on bloodshed either, and Genghis was a master of a kind of democratic decision making.
https://www.cvltnation.com/mongols-executed-enemies-no-blood-spilled/
I understand the process commences with a request for earth and grass.
dead right.The OPEX of doing business in NZ is way out of kilter.
Supposedly the free market will correct that.
.A small domestic market with increased competition should be good for the consumer but the reality is the BIG guy with BIG capital can access offshore product and undercut the local and just like the demise of the Made in NZ auto market ,all other high involvement retail will be taken over by the cheapest alternative…eventually.
What’s behind Ecuador’s betrayal of Julian Assange?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7qZWva5lj8
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/fKopy74weus
Whanau Eco Maori has been on the Gisborne man sandflys radar for a few years now they thought my great grandfather was Eco Maori he died in a work accident ???????? ,
My uncle he was a church going man to the state got a hold of him he died they target 2 other males who lived in my great grandmothers house thinking they were Eco Maori .The sandflys now know the target they have been looking for in the last 50 years is ME Eco Maori they are scared of Eco Maori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvTqknDobU
P.S Ma te wa
Our enviroment is what keeps US alive and we are poisioning it fast.
I have said these words before what would happen if you let a child eat what it wants say chocolate well that child would soon become obeast become sick with deibetes many bad thinks would happen to the child and if not corrected the child would die.
Papatuanuku is the same if we keep pumping chemicals into OUR enviroment we are causing our world to become sick if we don’t stop it we will be in the SHIT.
Another story the 00.1 % ARE like a BABY with chocolate with there money the keep wanting more and won’t share fairly they are getting sick on there overindalgence in MONEY they want more and more even if there actions are killing mother earth and our grandchildrens future we the 99.9 have to become the rulers of the world and teach the ruleing class the correct way to behave love thy neighbour respect thy neighbour forgive thy neighbour share with thy neigbour respect for our past our tipuna respect for OUR FUTURE
The report presents a sobering summary of a country starkly different from the ‘Pure New Zealand’ marketing campaign. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
A report on the state of New Zealand’s environment has painted a bleak picture of catastrophic biodiversity loss, polluted waterways and the destructive rise of the dairy industry and urban sprawl.
Environment Aotearoa is the first major environmental report in four years, and was compiled using data from Statistics New Zealand and the environment ministry.
It presents a sobering summary of a country that is starkly different from the pristine landscape promoted in the “Pure New Zealand” marketing campaign that lures millions of tourists every year.
It found New Zealand is now considered one of the most invaded countries in the world, with 75 animal and plant species having gone extinct since human settlement. The once-vibrant bird life has fared particularly badly, with 90% of seabirds and 80% of shorebirds threatened with or at risk of extinction.
‘Their birthright is being lost’: New Zealanders fret over polluted rivers
Almost two-thirds of New Zealand’s rare ecosystems are under threat of collapse, and over the last 15 years the extinction risk worsened for 86 species, compared with the conservation status of just 26 species improving in the past 10 years.
Ka kite ano links below
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/18/decades-of-denial-major-report-finds-new-zealands-environment-is-in-serious-trouble
It amazes me why they would not let Maori build on Marae land why would our culture get to strong.
The government has announced it will build six homes at Tuahiwi marae near Kaiapoi, and will repair sixty houses in the region.
It’s a welcome move for Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga chair Arapata Reuben, who has lived in the small pā at Tuahiwi for 25 years. He spent his childhood there and said the new papakāinga development is major.
“For me, it means that all of my children can live next to me,” he said.
“I have already passed over my lands to them already which means they can now build on their whenua next to their mum and dad, they can grow up and raise their children.
“They all want to live at the pā. They know what it is like to be [raised] at the pā. They see their life being the pā.”
Mr Reuben said local government had restricted the building of houses on the pā for decades. Local Māori fought for more than 10 years to lift the restrictions, which eventually happened in 2015 through the post earthquake Canterbury Emergency Act. Ka kite ano links below P.S I loaded that post above 3 hours ago it just loaded ten mins ago and I had to rewrite this post the sandflys are shitting them selves they cannot put Eco Maori back.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/387264/new-3-point-7m-housing-development-signals-new-era-for-christchurch-marae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnwqsJYyiU
Kia ora Newshub.
If you go into a animal whare house you have to show respect for the animals and keep the tamariki safe.
The trump investergating was a sham I have heaps of facts to link to that statement.
Eco Maori says Rotorua is a great destination to have a holiday the place is booked out enjoying a booming tourist season.?
I say that exercise any time is good the producers boggle me mind YEA IGHT
GUIDE horse in Britain that’s a novelty lol.
Kia kaha Ka extinction Protesters I have said the leftys need to harden up.
I don’t use Facebook had a look.
Fejoe problems with a moth larvae there was a problem with them last year to.
Don’t like having a beard just have time to keep the hair tidy let alone cleaning and brushing a beard each to their own my son has a good beard.
Hydrogen cars will be a rich person toy the common people will drive battery elictric car’s. Ka kite ano P.S my Mokopuna take up my time