Open mike 18/06/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 18th, 2019 - 226 comments
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226 comments on “Open mike 18/06/2019 ”

  1. Robert Guyton 1

    “What was intended as a simple photo for her friends and social media followers suddenly became a global platform for Greens MP Julie Anne Genter, 39, when she posted an image of herself riding a bike to Auckland Hospital to be induced to give birth last August.

    It was picked up by the Greens Twitter account, which referred to it as "the most on-brand thing ever".

    They're not wrong. Julie Anne is Minister for Women as well as Associate Transport and Health Minister, so riding a bike to the hospital to give birth might just be the ultimate photo opportunity for such a politician.

    It turns out the world agreed. The story was picked up by international news organisations, including the BBC and CNN.”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/pregnancy/113541330/greens-mp-julie-anne-genter-on-bicycles-babies-and-whats-going-to-make-a-better-world

    • Cinny 1.1

      Julie Anne – she's awesome. What a wonderful human, she's coming down our way next month to help with an initiative. Will fill in the gaps closer to the time, super excited, she's a good lady.

      Thanks for the link 🙂

    • Blazer 1.2

      A very stupid and irresponsible thing to do.

      Its called unashamed GRANDSTANDING.

      • marty mars 1.2.1

        Bit harsh on the media there – they can be irresponsible, not sure about stupid – they gotta sell papers you know and it was a good news story.

      • Cinny 1.2.2

        Are you saying the media was irresponsible or Julie Anne?

        As a woman who has given birth twice, active labor is where it's at. The last thing and one of the worst things you can do you is lay around waiting.

        The best advice is for those in labor is to move around and encourage baby to be born, there by shortening ones labor. Activities for such include but is not limited to biking, sex and walking uphill.

        I didn't get this advice for my first baby, labor was 23 hrs, compared to baby #2 when I moved around which shortened my labor down to 6hrs.

        • Blazer 1.2.2.1

          JAG…shameless grandstanding never mind the..spin.

          • solkta 1.2.2.1.1

            Blazer…shameless fuckwitery never mind the..facts.

          • WeTheBleeple 1.2.2.1.2

            A politician putting their money where their mouth is? Shameless indeed.

            I like to shamelessly grandstand by:

            gardening in my front yard

            catching the bus at public stops

            wearing recycled clothes.

            What a hussy!

      • solkta 1.2.3

        and you be a midwife yeh? Oh your not? I think that is called unashamed fuckwitery.

        • Blazer 1.2.3.1

          Too bad.Thats my opinion.

          A heavily pregnant woman rides a bike to hospital in Auckland city.

          I recall someone said it was o.k,because it was …mainly downhill! 🙁

          • WeTheBleeple 1.2.3.1.1

            Look at the photo it's an e-bike.

            Then, go sit in the corner and think about what a dick you are being.

            • Blazer 1.2.3.1.1.1

              are you saying mid wives advise riding e bikes to hospital in Auckland to help induce labour?

              And are you saying that no danger exists in doing so?

              • WeTheBleeple

                You can do far better than this nonsense, I've seen it and generally enjoy your input. Not this time.

                "women who exercised more earlier in pregnancy reported fewer discomforts later in pregnancy (P = 0.01). These data suggest that participation in aerobic exercise during pregnancy at a level great enough to produce or maintain a training effect does not adversely affect birthweight or other maternal and infant outcomes but may be associated temporally with fewer perceived pregnancy-associated discomforts."

                https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/7674866

                "Women who continued endurance exercise at or near preconceptual levels during pregnancy gained less weight (-4.6 kg), delivered earlier (-8 d), and had lighter-weight offspring (-500 g) than those who stopped exercising prior to the 28th week."

                https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/6513772

                To put it scientifically, I can find a shit-ton more studies like that.

              • Cinny

                Blazer….. women regularly ride bikes to hospital in Copenhagen when pregnant.

                Regarding cycling as a transport form for the majority of cyclists, I found this text on the Netdoktor website about cycling and pregnancy. It is highly recommended by doctors in Denmark to ride while pregnant, right up to the end if you can.

                http://www.copenhagenize.com/2011/09/cycling-with-contractions-to-hospital.html

                “This is the view supported by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), who say “Exercise during pregnancy is associated with many health benefits for both the mother and fetus. If a pregnant woman is used to cycling she is no more likely to fall off a bicycle than a non pregnant one. Cycling is often preferred exercise because whilst it is aerobic it is non weight bearing.”

                https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fitness-and-training/cycling-while-pregnant-tips-and-advice/

              • greywarshark

                Give up blazer. I don't know why she wanted to go to hospital at all, as probably it is recommended in some book that a water bath, properly prepared, is the ideal way. Or in a special birth hut built in a fragrant wood out of willow branches and soft leaves for a mattress. Or to have it at home after a vigorous time cleaning the house as they used to do. I would be interested in getting safely to the suitable place decided for the birth and that would be top of my mind.

                But one shouldn't be too precautionary and setting an example for others of the Green way to do it carries the most kudos. Actually it would be ideal to get to the hospital in a safe way, to be carried in a palanquin* with four strong men on the poles, and there climb on an exercise bike and light up the ward with the electricity produced, perhaps the cafeteria too.

                When the light went off, everyone would cheer for the arrival of the new baby with green genes.

                *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter_(vehicle)

                • solkta

                  I don't know why she wanted to go to hospital at all,

                  Jeez old man have you not read any of this thread. She didn't want to go to hospital. She wanted to have a home birth and had the birthing pool all ready but nothing she could do at home would induce labour.

                  • greywarshark

                    It was a rhetorical question asked in a rather ironic way. I fear that you aren't good at anything beyond the literal.

          • McFlock 1.2.3.1.2

            How is it stupid and irresponsible?

            Seriously. If other traffic is too dangerous for a pregnant woman, then it's too dangerous for everyone.

            And if there's some issue around bike-riding and pregnancy that doesn't involve an 1820s-level understanding of reproductive biology and exercise, please enlighten us all.

            • Blazer 1.2.3.1.2.1

              if you fall off your bike and injure yourself ,its different to a pregnant woman falling off her bike.'If you can't appreciate that…there's no hope for you.

              • McFlock

                How often do people fall off bikes, compared to crashing cars? And what's the effect of the seatbelt/airbag combo compared to a low speed bike crash (I'm sure she wasn't cycling like a commuting lycra wonder who thinks he's in a tour de france peleton)?

              • Robert Guyton

                Never mind what Blazer's saying, he's just upset and at a loss now that Pete George's blog has expired; all that frustration and nowhere to flush it to!

                • McFlock

                  lol

                • Blazer

                  do behave bobby appleseed.Surely you do not think merely being a Green M.P exempts their behaviour from critique.

                  • McFlock

                    lol dude it's not even at the level of "Green MP" yet. I'm still trying to figure out why you think riding a bike is something pregnant women shouldn't do, let alone what your expertise on which you base that opinion might be.

                    • Blazer

                      well laughing boy if you can find one doctor who recommends that pregnant women about to 'drop' should ride a bicycle to hospital…don't be..shy.

                    • McFlock

                      Bicycling is actuaslly recommended as a low-impact aerobic exercise for pregnant women.

                      As for cycling to an arranged delivery, what precise issue do you have with it. You're the one with the claim that it's "very stupid and irresponsible". Back it up with something more than that you haven't seen a doctor specifically recommend it.

                    • Blazer

                      well McFlock ,you still have not produced any evidence that a woman about to give birth should ride a bike to hospital.

                      Lets make it really simple.

                      Do you ,do doctors recommend that pregnant women about to give birth should ride a bicycle to hospital?

                    • solkta

                      She wasn't about to give birth, she was going to hospital to get induced. She actually wanted to have a home birth. Obviously you didn't bother to actually read the article, you just jumped directly onto your grandstand.

                    • Blazer

                      straight out of the Crosby Textor manual..

                      https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/parenting/pregnancy-birth/green-mp-julie-anne-genters-baby-heartache-24966

                      'In March last year she opened up to the NZ Woman's Weekly about her struggles to get pregnant, saying, "I've been really focused on my career so, until recently, having a child hadn't been a big priority for me.

                      The Minister for Women wowed the world by cycling to Auckland Hospital on Sunday to be induced. She was 42 weeks pregnant.

                      Green Party co-leader James Shaw quipped that in cycling there Genter was very "on brand".

                      do me a..favour!

                      '

                    • solkta

                      What is "straight out of the Crosby Textor manual"?

                      No point in reading up about it now that you are looking silly. The thing is she was going to the hospital to get induced because she wasn't about to give birth otherwise.

                    • Blazer

                      @soltka..go to bed now…commonsense cannot be ..induced..you are a hopeless ..case.

                    • McFlock

                      I haven't seen a recommendation for a taxi or private car as transportation to hospital, either.

                      I guess every single method of getting a pregnant woman to hospital is "reckless and irresponsible". I guess it's a miracle healthy babies are born to such careless women.

                      Unless your actual problem is with something other than having a Classical Greek understanding of female reproductive anatomy.

                    • solkta

                      @Blazer

                      Your common sense is not very common given how many of us have just given you shit. And for fucks sake learn how to construct a sentence.

                    • Blazer

                      @soltka give it up..'

                      and you be a midwife yeh? Oh your not? I think that is called unashamed fuckwitery.'

                      'Your common sense is not very common given how many of us have just given you shit. And for fucks sake learn how to construct a sentence.'

                      'Surely you don't think merely flying the Jolly Roger gives you the ability to form a critique.'

                      Says the guy who flies the Jolly Roger. Do you even know what that flag means?

                      very good..thats a coherent argument in your ..world.Get help.

                      '

                      '

                    • solkta

                      You keep putting ".." in your sentences and as i cannot know what it is that you have removed from your sentence i cannot know if you are presenting an argument or just drivelling.

                    • McFlock

                      As an aside, one GP I know had a patient who had four kids, each born on the exact estimated day. She reckoned the secret was vigourous sex the night before.

                      One way to win the delivery day pool lol

                  • solkta

                    Surely you don't think merely flying the Jolly Roger gives you the ability to form a critique.

                    • Blazer

                      not at all.But as I voted for the Greens last election ,I expect them to be serious about their policies.

                      Your comment is very facile..you should be ashamed of it.

                      Play the man ..not the ball.

                    • solkta

                      When there is no ball all there is is the man.

                    • solkta

                      Also, you do actually understand that the Greens don't have a policy about pregnant women riding bikes, right?

                    • Blazer

                      I'm a man and I have 2 balls at the ..very least…what you got?

                    • Blazer

                      my concern is grandstanding…can't you understand that?

                    • solkta

                      I do understand that you were trying to grandstand, but you fell off.

                    • Blazer

                      you, solkta are as vehement and one eyed and a waste of time to engage with as any RWNJ.

                    • solkta

                      Says the guy who flies the Jolly Roger. Do you even know what that flag means?

        • greywarshark 1.2.3.2

          A midwife might take umbrage at the idea that gardening in your front yard is the same as being an idealistic Greenie who was chancing an accident to herself and babe on this very important day. I hope she had bike outriders before and after her for protection. All the same I think that some people don't know when and where to draw the line.

          • solkta 1.2.3.2.1

            I don't know why you are replying to about gardening in my front yard old grey one, i don't have a front yard.

            • greywarshark 1.2.3.2.1.1

              Oh that was back earlier solkta and plenty of road has gone by under the bicycle wheels now. Don't worry your pretty head about it.

              • solkta

                Not back earlier by me. Why don't you just learn how to use the site. It is not like you haven't had enough practice.

    • Puckish Rogue 1.3

      She certainly has a lot of bikes

  2. Robert Guyton 2

    Compare with the Julie Anne Genter article:

    “ANZ chairman and former prime minister John Key says a review of outgoing chief executive David Hisco's expenses did not include the purchase of his beach house.

    The house at 43 Success Court, Omaha, is now owned by Hisco and associates. It was previously owned by John and Bronagh Key.”

    • Cinny 2.1

      Morena Robert

      Now they are wheeling out key for some kind of damage control re ANZ, currently watching him spin his shite on newshub. Same old lines he was spinning yesterday on checkpoint.

      Glad I don't bank with any of those aussie banks. Even happier that key is no longer PM.

      On a side note, key was at the Motueka Market on Sunday, lolz the one Sunday I didn't go to the Market. Apparently his mother in law lives in Motueka.

      • Chris T 2.1.1

        "On a side note, key was at the Motueka Market on Sunday,"

        How dare he

        And did you hear someone brought a house off him

        Shocking stuff

        • Cinny 2.1.1.1

          Akshully they brought a soft toy as far as I know, but hey don't let the fact's get in the way.

          Personally I just wanted to see how short he was in real life, up close without his security detail. Sometimes short men are absolute arseholes.

          • Rapunzel 2.1.1.1.1

            I think "derangement syndrome" works both ways and will rear its head even when it is current events that are the ones in focus, it seems, as in this case, some people believe certain past politicians are due a pass on anything for life on a selective basis.

            • Robert Guyton 2.1.1.1.1.1

              "43 Success Court"

              Naming a son, "Max"

              Choices Key made are revealing in a very obvious, crass way.

              • I hope you're not surprised @ Robert (I'll bet not). It's become a feature of most Masters of the Universe – both in private enterprise and in the public sector. Even that guy that drank the Cool Aid in the '80s seems to have had a bit of an epiphany:

                https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/06/14/633692/we-took-corporatisation-of-the-state-too-fa

                • WeTheBleeple

                  Yeah but the writing on the wall was blatantly obvious. Having a change of heart after cashing the cheque…

                  It's not hindsight, it's backtracking.

                  • /agreed again @WtB.

                    What I find both funny AND sad is that after all the antics of these Masters of the Universe (the 'officials', the public and private sector CEOs et al) is that many in this kind and transformational government are only just beginning to see it. Woods and trees and all that shit.

                    Don't get me wrong, I am a supporter of the current coalition in the absence of any viable alternative, and I almost rejoined the Labour party earlier last year. I didn't – mainly because I saw, and continue to see so much naivety; so much spin and shit coming out of the bowels of power that it saddens me. People who SHOULD know better. Iain L-G for one, but several others as well. Sepuloni……Martin (the OT thing) most recently. I L-G and other responsible ministers over various Ministry for Everything failings. We're TWO.years.in!!!! Rome Wasn't Built in a Day shit is wearing pretty thin.

                    It's tempting to go on but transformation is.not.possible without some fundamental change. 2023 is at risk, if not 2020 and it'll all have been for naught

                    • WeTheBleeple

                      This Labour Government has sent me to the Green Party. So I guess they're doing some good.

                      I am supportive like you, and like you I think it's high time someone drew a line in the sand on cronyism and corruption. And the FACT they are meant to serve the 100%, not the 1% again and again and ….

                    • greywarshark

                      'Spin and shit coming out of the bowels of power'. Apparently that has been a problem for Wellington, I was just reading about surfing 'hazards' at Snapper Point and wonder if they have caught up with the source?

                • greywarshark

                  I seem to remember Rob Campbell left being Left and got a directorship of Bank of NZ or something. And he says that things got better. David Lange said it was running like a Polish shipyard. Campbell might remember that as wise and forward-looking but what happened to the man who said it?

                  He is in his grave and the man with a toothbrush moustache and his family connections and serving-mates have done nicely for themselves.

                  And when we ran like a Polish shipyard there was always room for improvement. We have dropped the reins now and our old milkcart donkey turned into a smart, whippet-like jonkey.

                  The rich smart ones wanted to be able to swank above their station when they went to live in Switzerland (Gibbs?). Wealthy men overseas tut-tutted in amazement when they heard that we were still being mucked around by unions (ferries on strike every second Christmas, skeleton building unfinished for three years). It made a man feel small (Douglas Myers?). e&oe

                  Complaints were made because the P&T took 3 months in the early 80's to install new telephone lines. Now we are so efficient and our budgets are so lean that we always employ less people than needed for the job, to ensure there is no down-time so it has become an in-joke when ordinary people make a phone call and hear :

                  • “We are currently experiencing high call volume. Please call again later.
                  • “You have exceeded the waiting limit for this queue. Please hang up and try your call again.”

                  But we were updating in the 1980's, but too cautiously to keep up with innovation. It can be noted from below that the National Party were in government in the years 1975-1984. http://www.wordworx.co.nz/KiwitelcoTimeline.htm

                  1979: From December 1979 a link through the Intelsat IV satellite, in conjunction with new NEC 820 cross bar equipment in Auckland, enabled international subscriber trunk (ISD) dialling from New Zealand. Intelsat circuits leased to the International Maritime Satellite Organisation (Inmarsat), which New Zealand had joined in July 1979, meant local users could gain instant access to Tymnet and Telenet, two North American data networks which were part of Oasis (Overseas Access Service for Information Services). The service proved popular with New Zealand libraries, as they could access the Dialog database with its then 18 million bibliographic entries.

                  The 1980s: A lack of investment by the Post Office meant the network was not in a position to handle the growth needed for the next generation of services. By the mid-1980s the network was overloaded, there was massive congestion. In Auckland the exchange was verging on collapse and across the country there are frequent network crashes.

                  The Post Office, a government department limited in what it could invest, became increasingly inefficient. The government began to look at the problem and ways to create a more efficient department and as part of its economic reforms began looking at ways of putting it on a commercial footing. Under the State-owned Enterprises Act of 1986 it created several state trading companies including Telecom.

                  The see-sawing began on how to drive the economy and in the end the politicians gave it up as too hard and left it to the hands of the market, but gave up much of their autonomy also.

                  Third Labour Government of New Zealand (1972–75)
                  Third National Government of New Zealand (1975–84)
                  Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand (1984–90)
                  Fourth National Government of New Zealand (1990–99)
                  Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand (1999–2008)
                  Fifth National Government of New Zealand (2008–2017)
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Zealand_governments

          • Cinny 2.1.1.1.2

            FYI the soft toy they brought was a Donkey and yes our local paper had fun with a little article and picture, lovely headline too… Don-key!

        • Robert Guyton 2.1.1.2

          Conflict of interest there, Chris T.

        • Robert Guyton 2.1.1.3

          "ANZ staff are outraged at the way the bank has handled the departure of its chief executive, a union boss says.

          It was revealed yesterday that ANZ chief executive David Hisco has left the bank after an investigation into personal expenses.

          Among them were "tens of thousands of dollars" for chauffeur-driven cars and wine storage over nine years."

          https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113561760/union-anz-staff-who-made-hiscos-mistake-would-have-been-instantly-dismissed

        • solkta 2.1.1.4

          There could have been children with pony tails, there should have been a warning.

          • Robert Guyton 2.1.1.4.1

            Did he wear his tiki t-shirt, the one that connects him to real New Zealanders?

    • ianmac 2.2

      Key said he had not considered resigning himself.

      "It would be inappropriate. Firstly we're not the only bank that has had issues."

      So the others did it too. Same old same old.

      • bwaghorn 2.2.1

        As much as I hate to be fair to key the offending and other problems at that bank predate him being there. One could go so far as to say hes cleaning up the place but more likely just cutting lose any one foolish enough to get caught

        • Stuart Munro. 2.2.1.1

          I wish something would predate him.

        • greywarshark 2.2.1.2

          bwaghorn you seem to have got cynical since you started commenting here. I hope TS has not been a bad influence on you.

          • bwaghorn 2.2.1.2.1

            On the contrary I'm probably less cynical and more reasonable now than when I first visited.

            Still call it how I see though.

            • greywarshark 2.2.1.2.1.1

              Glad you feel that way. Plenty to call about though. I guess you approve of some help for farmers in debt crisis, something positive happening eh.

              • bwaghorn

                Banks should have to go in to mediation with any debtor that is struggling so yip I think it's good.

                Banks are the people that make the loans and supposedly should have more of a understanding on the risk of failure.Yet they still make these high risk loans .

                They in my view are the root cause of property and farms being out of reach to most.

    • Muttonbird 2.3

      43 Success Court.

      You couldn't make that up.

      • AB 2.3.1

        If we still had the consolation of religion, we might be able to believe that there was a special place in hell for anyone who gave a street that name, or bought a house there. But as we don't, we are reduced to derision. Do you think there is an "Excellence Crescent", or a Personal Responsibility Road"? Maybe an "Opportunity Rise" and a "Good Decisions Drive"? Though the truly asprayshunal would go for "Foreign Trust Terrace".

        • greywarshark 2.3.1.1

          I like that last one – it sounds like an exotic cafe where the wine is guaranteed appellation.

    • greywarshark 2.4

      That's interesting. When reading about a $ms failed IT scheme the executive in charge of it had a payout and a nice house on the coast somewhere. Goes with the contract I guess. How nice.

  3. A 3

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48601042

    Glastonbury festival petition against 5G

    "The event, which will run from June 26 to June 30, will host over 200,000 music lovers.

    They will be some of the first people to test the latest mobile network before it is rolled out across several cities in the UK later this year – as long as they have a phone that is compatible with 5G.

    But some campaigners have set up a petition for it to be banned at the world-famous festival, which 3,000 people have signed. They say they're worried about how safe the new technology is.

    Residents of Glastonbury town have also expressed concerns over 5G. The issue has even been taken up with the local authorities. Now, Glastonbury council is looking into it and has voted against the introduction of 5G in the town for now."

    Goes on to talk about radiowaves considered safe. Possibly the worst place for a test run due to the level of resistance.

    • Wayne 3.1

      May be the worst place for a trial, given the counter culture nature (in a mild way) of the festival.

      But 5G is going to happen in the UK, and everywhere. I doubt the Glastonbury Council has the legal power to stop it, just like councils can't do that in NZ.

      The power to do so (siting of cell phone towers) was taken off NZ Councils some years ago. They were way too much subject to parochial pressure from zealous activists. A similiar issue arose under the Clark government about the additional electricity link to Auckland. Various councils wanted to stop it. They had to be overridden by legislation.

      • One Two 3.1.1

        But 5G is going to happen in the UK, and everywhere.

        I would not be so certain about that, Wayne…

        Check Gateshead Council Uk

        It would come down to the definition of success factors as portrayed by the marketing departments…

        You are correct that local councils and municipalities have been simultaneously neutered by central governments beholden to the tech/telco industry…

        However, the global pushback is rapidly gathering pace and will essentially come to a head from consumer buy in…or not.

        I'll leave the design and implementation complexities aside, as they are vastly complex and not well understood, even by many technical folks…

        What does 5G mean to you, by your understanding?

        • Wayne 3.1.1.1

          One Two,

          My understanding of 5G (gained only from the general media) is of much greater data, though a richer experience on the internet, that is better graphics, more interesting content, easier to send big files.

          I presume it is delivered on the same radio frequencies as present 4G at the same power levels. Hence my assumption it will be no more adverse effects than present. Which is basically zero side effects.

          In fact as the technology improves, there will be less power in the transmission. 5G delivered over fibre obviously has zero side effects.

          • One Two 3.1.1.1.1

            Good on you for being comfortable in expressing and admitting your level of understanding on present and future wireless networks.

            The only comment I would make in response, is that the technology is nothing like the media/telcos/tech/regulators have portrayed it

            If you have young relatives, you could do them a service by uplifting your understanding on what is a subject as serious as environmental degradation, and will contribute greatly to further amplifying degradation…

            Essentially a case of 'torching the planet'…would not be a hyperbole…

            Your power line analogy could not be more out of context…

          • Pat 3.1.1.1.2

            a question Wayne…how much have various administrations spent on the fibre roll out?….and how do you think they'll justify its early obsolescence to the voting public?

      • Drowsy M. Kram 3.1.2

        NZer's don't have anything to worry about – compliant little guinea pigs are we, going about our 'business as usual'. "What's your driverless car?" – ffs.

        The rollout of 5G (and 6G, and, and…) is likely to be beneficial and have no negative effects, but there's only one way to be sure.

        Brussels does not go ahead with 5G, due to health concerns

        Plans for a pilot project to provide high-speed 5G wireless internet in Brussels have been halted due to fears for the health of citizens, according to reports. It is impossible to estimate the radiation from the antennas required for the service. “I cannot welcome such technology if the radiation standards, which must protect the citizen, are not respected, 5G or not,” Environment minister Céline Fremault (CDH) told Bruzz. “The people of Brussels are not guinea pigs whose health I can sell at a profit. We cannot leave anything to doubt,” she added.

        http://www.brusselstimes.com/brussels/14753/radiation-concerns-halt-brussels-5g-for-now

        Netherlands: Parliament asks for independent investigation on 5G health risks

        Resolution opposing 5G by the municipality of Rome

        Germans petition Parliament to stop 5G auction on health grounds
        https://www.jrseco.com/european-union-5g-appeal-scientists-warn-of-potential-serious-health-effects-of-5g/

        High ambient radiofrequency radiation in Stockholm city, Sweden
        https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ol.2018.9789

        • Wayne 3.1.2.1

          Europeans seem much more opposed to most new technologies, particularly as compared to the US, but also compared to NZ and Aus. It could be one of the reasons that virtually all new IT innovations occur in the US.

          • Drowsy M. Kram 3.1.2.1.1

            Well those dozen or so 'little' European countries sitting above the US in a global prosperity index ranking are probably more than happy to 'freeload' off US IT innovation and experimentation, eh? Precautionary principle and all that.

            Hey, look, NZ's doing OK too – 18 months and no disaster yet. wink

            https://www.prosperity.com/rankings

      • WeTheBleeple 3.1.3

        'Overridden by legislation.'

        You mean ignored and patronised by people (so called leaders) with no expertise who, hand in the pockets of industry, stuck up for industry, not voters.

        Believing in themselves as all powerful benevolent beings. While protesters, you know, wreckers and haters aye.

        May the parochial pressure drown you in your own bullshit.

        • Wayne 3.1.3.1

          Well, you would say that. But virtually all New Zealand governments find they have to override local governments on one thing or the other.

          And no, it is not because of lobby groups, it is because central governments are much more aware of the national interest and have vastly more analytical research capability than local governments.

          I recall a very specific discussion I had with the MP for Hunua in the early 2000's about the electricity supply to Auckland. He was opposed to the lines going over the farms of his constituents. The effect would have been no extra power to Auckland. To be fair, he did propose a cable in the Waikato River, but that would have cost at least triple the landline.

          I said that sometimes your duty as an MP meant you have to put the national interest above the specific interests of your constituents. And that meant telling his constituents that they had to accept the lines going over their properties and getting compensation for that. That was not going to be easy for him. I suspect what he did say to his constituents is that he had represented their concerns to caucus as well as he could, but that caucus had decided in favour of the landline. Which was fine.

          • WeTheBleeple 3.1.3.1.1

            I accept that as a fair reply. Do not assume I'll take a position for the sake of it however, I am one of those types that accesses large volumes of science and my position typically aligns with it. Academics may be largely left leaning because that's the logical route.

            I'm also a mad bastard, which doesn't help.

            The general public have every right to be wary of 5G.

            The power lines illustration was interesting, the expensive option obviously preferable except for the expense.

            Money overrides aesthetics, common sense, people, and governments – oftentimes.

            Unfortunately.

            The 'practicalities' are jargon for a stunning lack of foresight in many cases.

            And please, PLEASE – can we save the damn world before we worry about automating it.

    • greywarshark 3.2

      The new technology that will be so pervasive that it will vibrate our pores and upset the delicate tuning of animals location systems. One of those points is possibly wrong – about the pores – but perhaps it will turn out to be a passive weight loser for me, even if all the animals decline. So it goes.

  4. RedLogix 4

    I suppose we could just pretend this is a mistake, or it doesn’t matter much:

    An independent tribunal sitting in London has concluded that the killing of detainees in China for organ transplants is continuing, and victims include imprisoned followers of the Falun Gong movement.

    The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who was a prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said in a unanimous determination at the end of its hearings it was “certain that Falun Gong as a source – probably the principal source – of organs for forced organ harvesting”.

    “The conclusion shows that very many people have died indescribably hideous deaths for no reason, that more may suffer in similar ways and that all of us live on a planet where extreme wickedness may be found in the power of those, for the time being, running a country with one of the oldest civilisations known to modern man.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/china-is-harvesting-organs-from-detainees-uk-tribunal-concludes

    It could all be lies, but then again in a nation run by a single party state, with a notoriously unreliable rule of law, censorship and suppression, arbitrary arrest and detention and so on … the ordinary person has no way to verify the official CCP narrative.

    Outrage has been done to death and part of me doesn't want to add to it. Yet somehow even in this jaded, cynical age I find even the possibility of this being true is beyond all the flogged out, overworn adjectives.

    • greywarshark 4.1

      It is sad that China should besmirch its reputation, appearing to be a good country of scholars, innovation and law.

      Its leaders now seem to suffer from the awful maxim –

      'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'.

      • WeTheBleeple 4.1.1

        It's heartbreaking, and horrific. China has the potential to lead the world, but this shit will see them stymied at every opportunity. Something as big as China there will certainly be an element of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, but this is not something one hears about and subsequently forgets.

        Come on China, work on your human rights, like, now!

  5. Ed1 5

    This Spin-Off article was referred to recently in the cess-pit of nz.general

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/12-06-2019/why-the-treasury-non-hack-may-still-have-been-illegal/

    A defence of the hacker was given by referring to section 2 of that part of the Crimes Act: (2) To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not apply if a person who is authorised to access a computer system accesses that computer system for a purpose other than the one for which that person was given access.

    I'm no lawyer, but I find myself agreeing with the contention that the clause may excuse accidental discovery of the unauthorised information on the first attempt, but not on the subsequent couple of thousand attempts. What do others think?

  6. joe90 6

    The theocrat's have got their stickies on another Armageddon machine…nice.

    That the church carries extraordinary weight on Russia’s domestic scene is well-known and not that unusual. What is more surprising, and less often explored, is the church’s influence within Russia’s nuclear weapons complex—the most significant wing of one of the world’s most powerful militaries. There the nexus between church and state runs deepest, widest, and longest. During the last three decades, the priesthood has entered all levels of command and positioned itself as a guardian of Russia’s nuclear potential. It’s impossible to fully understand the strategic reality in Russia today without scrutinizing the remarkable conjunction between the Kremlin, the ROC, and the nuclear weapons community.

    THE TRINITY AND THE TRIAD

    In Russia, each of the three components of the nuclear force structure—air, land, and sea—has its own patron saint. Icons adorn the walls of the sanctified headquarters, the command posts, and even the nuclear weapons platforms. Each large military base houses a garrison church, chapel, or prayer room. Aerial, ground, and naval processions of the cross are routine. Supplication services and the sprinkling of holy water mark oaths of allegiance, parades, exercises, and space and nuclear launches. Pilots of strategic bombers sanctify their jets prior to combat sorties and attach icons to the maps they take to the cockpit. Mobile temples accompany land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, and nuclear-armed submarines house portable churches.

    https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2019-06-14/how-russian-church-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-bomb?

  7. Exkiwiforces 7

    Not sure if anyone has this, but I won’t comment on it as leave me tears and a fear of what the future may bring IRT CC. I’ve seen a lot of shit over the yrs cause by our follow humans, but this caps it off.

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/powerful-photos-shows-the-extent-of-arctic-ice-melting-in-greenland/news-story/2c62b6b87797658c2b5c7a2a50ae876b

    • Stuart Munro. 7.1

      You maniacs!

    • lprent 7.2

      Potential of 7m of sealevel rise in Greenland. I suspect most of it will happen within a relatively few decades at the rate of acceleration of the melt.

      One the big problems has been getting decent data about what is happening in the wash zone under the glaciers. Something like the cyroeggs below may help if they manage to survive the crush…

      https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/science-environment-48638958

      • Exkiwiforces 7.2.1

        Yeah its starting to look that way now and I would be interesting to see what a effect it has on the Gulf Steam now and into the coming decades which would a large number of the population on both sides of the Pond.

        I see Nth India is in a one hell of a heat wave atm, which should be there monsoon season. God only knows what it effect it will have on our coming wet season here in the NT. Probably another shit one like the one just gone?

  8. The Chairman 8

    According to Katie Bradford, a Minister has recently pulled out of an interview after they weren't allowed to control the questions.

    Should she name and shame?

  9. The Chairman 9

    Has anybody seen any comment from the Government (Labour, Greens or NZF) in response to The People's Budget?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNCMIjXMK9o&t=4s

  10. greywarshark 10

    The far-Right are feeling emboldened.

    https://www.thelocal.de/20190617/man-arrested-over-german-politician-murder-reportedly-from-far-right-scene

    Police and prosecutors issued a joint statement on Sunday to say that they had taken a 45-year-old man into custody Saturday over the shooting death in early June of prominent local politician Walter Lübcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/suspect-in-killing-of-german-politician-walter-lubcke-was-jailed-for-attempted-bombing-say-security-sources

    A man with links to rightwing extremist groups who once planted a pipe bomb outside a home for asylum seekers is a suspect in the murder of a German politician this month, security sources have said.

    The man who was arrested at the weekend in connection with the shooting of Walter Lübcke on 2 June is believed to have an association with the militant neo-Nazi group Combat 18 among others.

    He was convicted of the attempted pipe bomb attack in 1993 and sentenced to prison, and a decade ago he was arrested on the margins of a neo-Nazi demonstration.

    It is obvious from this that there needs to be intelligence on dangerous obsessives in the community. A pipe bomb in 1993, 2009 approx he was around neo–Nazi demonstrations, 2019 killed a politician. His anomie has only increased during 26 years.

  11. The Chairman 12

    Was speaking to a highly leveraged landlord the other day about his dilemma.

    He has long-term tenants (20 years). Charges them far below market value as they are great tenants that aren't well off. But he is now facing costs for 2 relatively minor (but costly nonetheless) issues that due to other life expenses and the fact he can't obtain a loan he can't afford to fix right away. The thing is, the law is changing and he will be breaking it by not repairing these issues by July 1.

    Does he run the risk of breaking the law until he can afford to get the matters fixed, or should he sell up and give the tenants notice?

    The house would sell for far more than he paid, thus the rent (if relet) would far exceed what he is currently charging meaning the current tenants won't be able to afford to stay on.

    Any thoughts?

    • WeTheBleeple 12.1

      "Any thoughts?"

      Yep. Fuck off.

      • The Chairman 12.1.1

        Really? Grow up.

        • WeTheBleeple 12.1.1.1

          No. Fuck off.

        • solkta 12.1.1.2

          Really? You really think concern trolling this site all day most days is appropriate adult behaviour.

          • The Chairman 12.1.1.2.1

            I'm not concern trolling. The topics I raise are genuine and are genuinely posted for mature discussion. Which some here are happy to partake in.

            • solkta 12.1.1.2.1.1

              get a life.

            • Jimmy 12.1.1.2.1.2

              I know a landlord in a similar situation. I believe he is going to give the tenants notice and sell the property around spring this year.

              • McFlock

                So either the new owner will fix it up and rent it out, or there's a cheap house on the market for owner-residents.

      • Jimmy 12.1.2

        That's an intelligent response! Perhaps try answering or is that too much effort?

        • solkta 12.1.2.1

          Feeding a troll is just stupid.

          • The Chairman 12.1.2.1.1

            Yet here you are helping to draw attention to my topic. And if you genuinely believe I'm a troll (which, by the way I'm not) then who is looking stupid?

            • solkta 12.1.2.1.1.1

              I think it is rather obvious that you are a troll and most are thinking what a crap troll you are. Most of the attention here is on the fact of how great it is that people will finally have healthy homes. As The Al1en says, we on the left have been campaigning for this for a very long time.

    • The Chairman 12.2

      My thoughts?

      A unintended consequence of the law change.

      The question I'm left asking is how widespread is this?

      If widespread, surely it will be something that will need addressing?

      • marty mars 12.2.1

        lol good pun

      • marty mars 12.2.2

        sorry forgot the 'k'

      • Stuart Munro. 12.2.3

        It's not clear that the consequence is that of the law change, rather than of the meteoric rise in property prices created by allowing foreign capital free access to our market.

        Had the property inflation not occurred and rents risen in response, your friend might be in a similar situation, but selling up would not be as attractive, nor as punitive to the tenants.

    • Robert Guyton 12.3

      My thought is: chickens will spend day after day searching for a rent in the fence if ever once they find one; you can repair it but they'll be forever pacing that wire fence, searching, peering, hoping…

      • The Chairman 12.3.1

        No concern for the tenants that may soon become homeless?

        • WeTheBleeple 12.3.1.1

          You are concerned enough for the lot of us. And sincere, soooo sincere.

          • Robert Guyton 12.3.1.1.1

            Sincere as a sincere thing; it drips from the chair, like molasses or other fluids I've seen dripping from chairs, highchairs in particular.

            • Blazer 12.3.1.1.1.1

              always be sincere Robert…even if you don't really…mean it'!(anon)

        • The Al1en 12.3.1.2

          For years we on the left campaigned for warmer, dryer homes for tenants. This government finally made it happen. Sob stories for landlords who can't pay to implement changes that will improve the health and quality of life for tens of thousands, no thanks.

          • The Chairman 12.3.1.2.1

            The home has an open fire place, heatpump and is fully insulated. Meeting all other requirements. And the rent is far below market value.

            Therefore, the real loss here is going to be the quality of life for tenant if he decides to sell.

            • The Al1en 12.3.1.2.1.1

              And yet you state

              The issues relate to ventilation, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. And drainage, guttering.

              Which is it? Sounds damp waiting to happen.

            • McFlock 12.3.1.2.1.2

              No, currently the tenant is trading cheaper rent for mould problems in kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, and "drainage" and "guttering" issues. And, until recently, a sub-par oven, apparently. As well as a landlord who doesn't have access to short term cash to repair anything if there's a plumbing problem or a roof leak.

              That's their choice.

              But the regulation change means that they're not forced to pay market rents and put up with all that, and nor is anyone else.

            • The Al1en 12.3.1.2.1.3

              Of course what you're attempting to do is run the nat line that improvements will raise rents and force tenants out.

              What's next up on their agenda?

              • marty mars

                yep – seems clear to me that the C.Hairman was talking about himself not actually his friend. Pity people can't face up to their failings as landlords – most people just want them to fix the messes they have created instead of thinking of exploiting tenants. Sickens me really these types.

      • solkta 12.3.2

        You can train chickens. I've taught my neighbors chickens to stay on their side of the fence by throwing small sticks at them. The Chairman on the other hand..

    • Drowsy M. Kram 12.4

      Difficult without more info. How long had the landlord known that the accommodation they were ‘providing’ wouldn't be compliant with the July 2019 rules?

      What are those two relatively minor but costly issues, e.g. do they relate to insulation; did the landlord consider taking advantage of incentives to upgrade their asset?

      What region/city? [Wondering about other options for the tenants.]

      And does 'The Landlord' that 'The Chairman' was speaking to own only one property?

      Was The Chairman‘s question a (mis)leading question?

      "Renters whose freezing homes won't be insulated before new regulations come into effect next month say they have no power in getting their landlords to bring them up to scratch."

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/392001/about-100-000-rental-properties-likely-to-miss-insulation-deadline

      • WeTheBleeple 12.4.1

        He said the landlord is highly leveraged. Or to paraphrase, another greedy twat squeezing the system.

        May their house of cards collapse.

      • The Chairman 12.4.2

        Difficult without more info. How long had the landlord known that the accommodation they were ‘providing’ wouldn't be compliant with the July 2019 rules?

        He was aware for sometime but was/is under financial pressure due to personal circumstances coupled with the cost of recently paying for a new oven for the flat.

        The issues relate to ventilation, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. And drainage, guttering. Which are two issues that doesn't seem to have any Government (local or central) assistance set up to help. Other than that, the house is fully up to scratch. And he only has the one rental.

        The area has a housing shortage with prices and rents soaring. He will have no trouble selling and getting good money for it. But that won't leave the current tenants in a good position.

        • The Al1en 12.4.2.1

          But they have been happy to rent out what sounds like a substandard property for 20 years.

          The tenants should take the owner to tribunal as soon as possible.

          • The Chairman 12.4.2.1.1

            Rubbish. The house has largely been above current standards. Having added a heatpump and insulation many years ago.

            • solkta 12.4.2.1.1.1

              oh, so this imaginary friend of yours had the ability to upgrade many years ago before the deadline for those things but not now..

              • The Chairman

                The cost of rates and insurance weren't so high back then. Those costs have doubled along with the increase in real cost of living. Moreover, he wasn't facing the problems he has been of late.

                • McFlock

                  If it's been that long since the tenants have had a rent increase, maybe they can wear a little one if the basic cost of keeping the house habitable is dragging him under.

                • Muttonbird

                  Your friend sounds like an absolutely shit businessman. He should be in the business of landlordism because he's obviously not up to it or anything else.

                  Good riddance out of the rental market before he can do more damage.

            • The Al1en 12.4.2.1.1.2

              And now it isn't within regs, and with all those issues you've listed, probably wasn't for a long time.

              Save your bullshit concern for the imaginary highly leveraged landlord you were speaking with. It won't work here.

              • The Chairman

                And now it isn't within regs,

                No. It still above current regulation. The law hasn't come into effect yet.

                So save you bullshit.

                • The Al1en

                  So the issues you've listed aren't going to fall foul of the new legislation? Even though you wrote “The thing is, the law is changing and he will be breaking it by not repairing these issues by July 1.”

                  So, apart from the kitchen, laundry, ventilation and drainage, what's the 'effing problem then? 🙄

                  You do way too much bullshit defending.

            • WeTheBleeple 12.4.2.1.1.3

              Added a heatpump many years ago. So, he was an early adopter of this tech, but failed to see the writing on the wall?

              I call bullshit.

            • mauī 12.4.2.1.1.4

              Of course they foresaw what the new Government standards would be "many years ago" lol. These landlords were way ahead of Labour and now Labour is punishing them by not stumping up funding so their tenants can finally use the toilet, cook a meal or do some washing for the first time in 20 years. F'n Hell! This is atrocious from Labour Labour.

        • Drowsy M. Kram 12.4.2.2

          "He was aware for sometime [sic]" – 6 months, 12 months, 18 months?

          Probably sound business practice to take steps to ensure that your assets are compliant well in advance of deadlines, with a healthy cushion against unforseen circumstances, don't you think?

          The landLord's financial situation, as you paint it, sounds dire – hope he has secured his own accommodation at least! As for the thousands of tenants doing it hard in a tight market, this problem has been brewing for ‘some time’, but it does need to be tackled sooner rather than later (or, in the case of National-led governments, not at all !)

          https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94936945/govt-spent-record-12m-on-emergency-housing-in-motels-over-last-three-months

          • solkta 12.4.2.2.1

            hope he has secured his own accommodation at least!

            You can rest assured that he is warm and cosy inside the tableman's imagination.

          • The Chairman 12.4.2.2.2

            He's known since the Government publicly announced what the new criteria would actually be.

            Probably sound business practice to take steps to ensure that your assets are compliant well in advance of deadlines, with a healthy cushion against unforseen circumstances, don't you think?

            Yes, but sometimes contingencies fail to be sufficient as none of us really have a crystal ball for what life is going to throw at us.

            He is likely to sell up. Which will solve his problems, but will be creating his tenants problems. They don't care about the minor current flaws and are more than happy to stay on despite them.

            • arkie 12.4.2.2.2.1

              Well the new rules only apply to new tenancies so if the current tenants remain on the same tenancy then the Landlord doesn't have to make the repairs by 1 July. It's all here: https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/insulationdeadline/

              Don't really understand why you're asking us here if you're capable of doing an internet search.

              • WeTheBleeple

                He's searching for bites – bad govt! Naughty govt! That kinda stuff.

              • The Chairman

                The following below is from your link

                Rental homes must meet the insulation standards by 1 July 2019 to avoid $4,000 fines.

                And by the way, the house we are discussing is fully insulated. It's the rangehood etc that it is lacking.

                • arkie

                  Then you aren’t at risk of a fine, are you? The house meets the insulation standard. There are no other new standards that are coming into effect on 1 July 2019. Faux concern as per usual.

              • Gabby

                So he better make nice and hang onto those tenants then? Could work out well for them.

            • McFlock 12.4.2.2.2.2

              My pensioner mum does volunteer work. They provide transport reimbursement which basically comes down to $2 an hour. She's more than happy to take that but minimum wage regs mean that other people aren't forced to.

              Given that the property is not let out at a sustainable amount, maybe he should hike the rent just a touch so after the vents and drainage and guttering are dealt to, there's actually a reserve if the roof springs a leak?

            • Drowsy M. Kram 12.4.2.2.2.3

              If the "minor current flaws" mean that the rental property doesn't comply with the The Healthy Homes Guarantee Act (2017), then they're hardly minor, are they? Do the current tenants include children/elderly, or are they all vigorous middle-aged types with no serious ailments?

              And what about the landLord – he's no spring chicken, how’s his health holding up under the stress? Does he perhaps have dependent children, or elderly parents relying on him?

              Your 'scenario' is looking decidedly "soggy", if not fictional. Bit like a home grown Nigerian email scam (apologies to Nigerians).

              Are you, The Chairman, being "more left than most", a supporter of the Healthy Homes Guarantee Act (2017)?

              Would you have voted for it? National and ACT MPs didn't.

        • dv 12.4.2.3

          Chairman if you Need advice, more info is needed.

          What are the current valuations of the properties he/she owns?

          What are the mortgages on the owned properties?

          What are the current rentals?

          What are the current outgoings, rates insurance etc.
          What are the quotes for the repairs?
          Is there any history of bad debt/credit?
          Any other relevant info?

    • McFlock 12.5

      Fucking typical. Small business owner makes multiple poor business choices, borrows shedloads of cash (either to subsidise a business that isn't making its money back, or because the owner is putting the business into debt to provide short term gain), leaves zero margin for unexpected costs/income gap, waits until the last minute to ask for advice, and then pretends it's the fault of the regulations.

      What if the tenants died? He'd still have to refit the place, and would have no rental income, and still not qualify for a loan.

      Oh, and what WeTheBleeple said.

      • The Chairman 12.5.1

        What a load of rubbish. He doesn't own a business

        Life through him a few nasty curveballs at once. It can happen to the best of us at times.

        But that doesn't fit with your narrative of course.

        • McFlock 12.5.1.1

          His rental is his business.

          You said he's highly leveraged to the point that he can't get a loan, despite owning at least one rental and probably his own home. This isn't the fault of a regulation change that had months of notice. If he can't maintain it himself or afford to pay others to do so with the income from his investment property, it's not a good investment, is it.

          Curveballs or not, if he's not in a position to install three extractor fans (plus a few hundred for the electrician labour) then he is not in a position do deal with a burst pipe or rats chewing through wiring.

          • The Chairman 12.5.1.1.1

            Yes. In that respect the rental is his business. But he has no other businesses and isn't negatively geared.

            I'm not claiming his fiscal position is due to the new regulations, but we do need to ask if the Government gave enough lead in time for landlords? Especially when (as Drowsy M. Kram noted above in their link) there is likely to be around a 100,000 of them.

            • McFlock 12.5.1.1.1.1

              No, we really don't.

              Your anecdote is about a guy who owns at least one rental property yet cannot get a small loan to cover some basic maintenance. In addition, he's been renting it out at not just below market rent but below basic maintenance costs for many years.

              Your example is actually almost on the cusp of me suggesting that his tenants have been exploiting his financial naivety (even incompetence) and deserve to be evicted, which is something I never thought I'd say about a landlord.

              And a hundred thousand of those properties coming onto the market would be a good start for lowering housing costs.

              But it's all moot, because as arkie pointed out the 1 july deadline doesn't apply to existing tenancies.

              Get a life.

              • The Chairman

                Despite renting it out at below markets rents, it is profitable while taking into account maintenance and contingency costs. Like I said, life threw him a few nasty curveballs at once, eating into his profit, contingency and maintenance funds. Also his ability to borrow more.

                Shit happens to people at times. Moreover, I'm sure he's not the only one to have shit going on in their lives. Therefore, the Government can't expect everybody to be ready to adapt to new regulations in a short time-frame.

                Jacinda once said Government need to ensure they take people with them. A 100,000 not complying suggests there is an argument they moved to fast this time.

                • The Al1en

                  Fuck the 100,000. My thoughts are with the 2,3,400,00 who have to live in homes not up to scratch because landlords can't provide fit for purpose decent housing.

                  • The Chairman

                    My thoughts are with the 2,3,400,00 who have to live in homes not up to scratch because landlords can't provide fit for purpose decent housing.

                    Fine. But while you are thinking of them, think how many of them are going to be pissed off if they face big rent increases and perhaps flat hunting as a consequence.

                    Everyone I've seen in the media complaining about their poor quality rental have all said they can't afford to rent somewhere better.

                    So what do you think will happen to their quality of life? Diets tend to be the first place where people make cut backs. Which tends to lead to poor health.

                    • The Al1en

                      Yeah, that's the nat line you've been wanting to push all day. Objective achieved, though a bit shit to use tenants to make your point for you, when you know as I do there just pawns in your game plan. Typical nat.

                  • The Chairman

                    Saying it's a Nat line doesn't invalidate it. In fact, the fact that the concern is valid (well, perhaps not for the Nats but for us on the left) is what gives it strength.

                    Moreover, if you genuinely cared about the tenants well-being you would have acknowledged the potential plight they face as a result.

                    Kiwibuild freeing up rentals and state housing were said to help offset soaring rents. But as we've seen, the Government is struggling to get any decent traction on Kiwibuild and state housing can't even keep up with past demand, let alone the flood this is expected to create.

                    Removing cheap rentals from an already overheated market while driving up the cost of decent ones is pouring fuel on the fire. It's like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. Meanwhile, you and the Government look the other way. With you, putting it down to being just a Nat line.

                    • Muttonbird

                      Three years for ceiling and underfloor insulation is plenty of time in anyone's language and this was set by the previous government. One of the only forward thinking things they did.

                      If amateur landlords can't organise a 3K 50% subsidised spend over three years they they shouldn't be in the market.

                      Further, you don't help tenants by artificial setting their rent well below market rate. A decent landlord would have done the responsible thing and had it close to market rent and if that was not achievable by the tenant, encouraged them to go on the HNZ list.

                    • The Al1en

                      It invalidates you all right, though, easy as.

                      You can blab on about the plight of the tenants, but all you seem to have done is whine about the expense of getting houses fit for purpose. Simple point is, if you can't make homes available to rent, then get out of the way.

                      Speaking to your Nat agenda, yes, some renters will have to pay more, a lot renters if the owners are unscrupulous wankers who have already been charging too much for what are, for all intent and purpos, sub standard dwellings.

                      That doesn't make labour wrong, the policy a bad one or cause to toss off on others misfortune… Like you do. So what now? The people here have spoken and you are, unsurprisingly, an army of one.

                      Next shill, please.

                    • The Al1en

                      On a slow tablet and the spelling errors and missed words can't be edited away. Suck it grammar nazis lol

                    • The Chairman

                      With soaring rents being a driver of poverty, you don't believe below market rents helps tenants live a better quality of live?

                      Just about everybody is complaining about the high cost of rentals and here I highlight a landlord who is charging below market value and a number of you claim he should be charging more. Then, I expect they will go back to chanting greedy landlords.

                    • The Al1en

                      Yeah yeah, keep spinning, tory.
                      You’ve highlighted an owner letting a place with ventilation, kitchen, bathroom and laundry issues. If the tenants want to accept below reg housing, they can, but it doesn’t make it correct and soon, not legal.

                    • Muttonbird

                      Charging well under market rent is not sustainable for landlord or tenant – clearly, as your fictional scenario shows.

                      This is the free market world we are all forced to live in and unless you are proposing that is all torn down then that is the way people are forced to live.

                      What is being done is to try to ensure children are not brought up in cold, damp conditions. Something, strangely, which you promote.

                      I suspect you lack empathy, and this is further proved by your heavy smoking, dismissive as it is of the cost you will inevitably burden society with.

                      Shame on you.

                    • The Al1en

                      Tears for a clown

                  • The Chairman

                    Simple point is, if you can't make homes available to rent, then get out of the way.

                    That's the most likely out come for him. And no doubt others. Which was the reason behind the thread. It's not that he will have a problem once he's sold up, it's the tenants that will.

                    Once he sells, the rent on the place (if relet) will soar.

                    You say:

                    Some renters will have to pay more, a lot renters if the owners are unscrupulous wankers…

                    Then go on to say:

                    That doesn't make labour wrong

                    Removing cheap rentals from an already overheated market and driving up the cost of decent ones while having no plan (or in this case having the wheels of the plan fall off) to deal with the mess is all good in your eyes?

                    As for what now, we await to see what the Government is going to do about it. If they can't foresee the train wreck happening, then we are all in big trouble as society continues on that than downward spiral which Labour can't seem to stem.

                    • marty mars

                      lol give it up idiot – YOU are the landlord – own up there laddie

                    • The Al1en

                      Well you appear to want to let tenants live in broken homes if they don't mind paying less. Why would I give a crap about your relentless anti government propaganda?

                      Some people also accept living in garages. I guess you find that okay too, if they're prepared to do it for the outlay.

                      Two faced double speak, sacrificing renters, to take pot shots at labour. Any left leaning voter would welcome the work done by the greens and labour on this issue, but not you, you're worried about the owners expenses and the 'trouble down the line'.

                      You make civility difficult to practice, especially as you claim to be more left than most, but unlike you, I'm cut from a tougher, different cloth – more denim than Nat blue taffeta.

                  • The Chairman

                    If the tenants want to accept below reg housing, they can, but it doesn’t make it correct and soon, not legal.

                    Robbing struggling tenants of that option. Yeah, I guess that fits with Labours deserving attitude when it comes to who they look after. Where those on the bottom don't seem to count.

                    This will however result in Landords with decent properties seeing their cheaper competition removed.

                    Highlighting who Labour is really looking out for.

                  • The Chairman

                    When it comes to rental options, I want tenants to remain to have the choice.

                    As for more people staying in garages, well, that along with overcrowded housing and more people living in cars is a likely result of removing cheap rentals from an already overheated market.

                    Therefore, it seems that's what you actually want.

                    As for any left leaning voter welcoming the work done by the Greens and Labour on this issue, yes most would. However, there are two related issues here not one. Better quality rentals and soaring rents. So while the Government has addressed one, its wheels have fallen off to address the latter. Yet, that hasn't deterred them from charging on, thinking people must have good quality rentals regardless if they can afford them.

                    • McFlock

                      Thanks for your concern.

                    • The Al1en

                      Like most of his nat talking points he, for one more left than most, has been all over the place on this one. Quite frankly it's embarrassing. Preserving the right of tenants to get ripped off for sub standard accommodation by landlords willing to take advantage and exploit them 🙄

                      Absolute zero credibility.

                    • The Chairman

                      Preserving the right of tenants to get ripped off for sub standard accommodation by landlords willing to take advantage and exploit them

                      What total rubbish. I'm not advocating that. Hence, it's you that has absolutely zero credibility.

                      Seems you like to appeal to the ignorant. I'm advocating allowing tenants to maintain having a choice. If someone is happy to stay in a cheaper rental, that should be their choice.

                    • The Al1en

                      And if the cheaper rental is substandard, by not meeting totally acceptable legal requirements, then "Preserving the right of tenants to get ripped off for sub standard accommodation by landlords willing to take advantage and exploit them" is 100% an accurate summary of your position and exposes you to rightful ridicule.

                    • The Chairman

                      More rubbish.

                      Seems you can't stop yourself from lying.

                      If the cheaper rental is in such a substandard state that the potential tenant doesn't want it, then like I said, it's their choice. They can simply walk away.

                      You are exposing yourself to ridicule.

                    • The Al1en

                      "Preserving the right of tenants to get ripped off for sub standard accommodation by landlords willing to take advantage and exploit them"

                      And you want this to happen if the tenants want to stay, never mind the property isn't up to code.

                      "If the cheaper rental is in such a substandard state that the potential tenant doesn't want it, then like I said, it's their choice. They can simply walk away."

                      Obviously you won't admit how in just a few back and forth posts, you're denying exactly the point I've made by offering the same point as your defence.

                      I'm not gonna call you an idiot, but I can't help it if other people reading think it. Crikey 🙄 😆

                    • The Chairman

                      And you want this to happen if the tenants want to stay

                      No. That is incorrect. Because if the tenant decided to stay, then they would have weighed up the cost and condition of the property. Meaning, they haven't been "ripped off", taken advantage of or exploited.

                      I'm not only denying your point, I've shown it to be wrong.

                    • The Al1en

                      I think the hole you've found yourself in is deep enough already without me throwing more spade work at it.

                      Good work, champ, your best yet. yes

                    • The Chairman

                      You're the one digging holes and falling into them.

                    • The Al1en

                      Given the weight of evidence in my favour, I reject the premise of your observation.

                • McFlock

                  If shit happened to the level that he can't even use his speculative income property as collateral for a couple of grand, he's probably only kept afloat by our low interest rates.

                  This has nothing to do with housing regulations and everything to do with people getting up to their neck in debt to stay on the property ladder while not treating it as a business.

                  He needs to sell the house and pay off his current debts, or figure out how to keep the tenants from dropping a dime on him before he can upgrade the property to spec.

                  Hell, he might even consider selling the property to the tenants..

                • Drowsy M. Kram

                  The Chairman, who described themself as "more left than most", has chosen to suggest that there is an argument that the current coalition Government has "moved to [sic] fast this time."

                  After 20+ comments submitted to bolster that “soggy” thesis, would The Chairman care to comment on the National party's 'performance' on this issue over the last decade – not enough action, too much too fast, or about 'right'?

                  Don't trouble yourself too much – given the evident importance of this issue to you, it should be a simple matter to link to your critical analysis of the National party's performance in government.

                  as transparent as a transparent thing.

                  • McFlock

                    I do wonder whether TC, had the government declared a date later than 1 July, would be praising the government's sensible caution, or would he instead be saying it doesn't go far enough and it's not a good look.

                    Just one of life's mysteries, I guess, to which we will never know the answer…

    • AB 12.6

      The bank should forgive the loan to the landlord and the landlord should give the house to the tenants. That gets that landlord out of the rental-owning game without going bankrupt but with zero tax-free capital gain, the tenants get a nice house and the bank pays. If it's the ANZ all the better. Seems like justice all round.

    • Brigid 12.7

      Jesus christ if said landlord cannot afford to retrofit these houses as the law demands he must simply sell them. But he will have difficulty selling them with substandard insulation.

      So damn. Sucks to be him.

      You could remind him that he can be fined $4000 for NOT retrofitting with insulation that the law requires, and still be required have the insulation installed.

      I have not a shred of sympathy for him, but loads for the tenant who he expects to put up with his nasty cold house.

      Has it occurred to him to buy the insulation from the nearest hardware outlet and do the damn job himself?

    • Sabine 12.8

      highly leveraged you say?

      Poor thing, what did you do? get a second mortgage for a boat? a few overseas holidays? a new car? some fancy schnick schnack for the missus? a few others houses? Who cares. Only an idiot would still be 'leveraged ' on a property where he had tenants in for the last twenty years paying the mortgage.

      So really, sell your property if you can't be a law abiding landlord and leave it to those who can.

      Any thoughts?

  12. Observer Tokoroa 13

    "Our child the Chairman"

    Tell your friend to send his wife to work and earn a few bob.

    Just like you do. Lazy Chairperson.

    Making fun of people who are at the mercy of NZ Landlords Mr Chairman, is not funny any more. You piece of National Scum.

  13. Morrissey 14

    Found him! The world's worst TV interviewer.

    His name is Jorge Ramos, and he makes Mike Hosking look like John Pilger….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9vgAZd9Rc

  14. sumsuch 15

    Not straightforward to join Kiwiblog. He's by all definition a strange man, Farrar. That these pricks get more comments than the left blogs is a tribute to reactionaryism. Or prejudices.

  15. Eco maori 16

    This is why Eco Maori backs our Aotearoa Farmers 1 they are the backbone of Aotearoa economy 2 they produce the best food in the Papatuanuku 3 you don't eat the goose that lays OUR Golden eggs the reason why we have a higher living standard than most other countries is our farmers and horticultural Aotearoa is one of a few places on Papatuanuku were you can get 2 to 3 harvest in one year we have a long natural growing season with a mild stable environment that is one advantage the other is our relatively clean environment. Yes Dairy has made a bit of a mess in some places but they are cleaning up there ACT. Eco Maori say point the finger at national for the mess we see now as before national came to power there were heaps of farmers being made example for not adhering to their local council environment laws. 2 years in national rule no one being held accountable for the mess they made on their farm and waterways. In the early days Aotearoa had the highest living standards in the Papatuanuku because of sheep beef and dairy farming that's a FACT.

    Farmers already doing their bit to reduce greenhouse gases

    Pastoral agriculture earns about half of New Zealand's merchandise exports each year. Even our politicians on the left acknowledge the value of meat, wool and milk to our economy.

    That is real productivity and monetary income. Not earned by shifting funds with changing exchange rates or shares. No other country in the world is undermining it's main export industry. No other country in the world is targeting reduction in ruminant numbers New Zealand farmers are already unfairly competing with countries where farmers rely on significant subsidies. Factoring more inequality into that equation eventually results in our products not being competitively priced. And yet our grass-based, low supplementary systems are the most efficient in the world Pastoral farmers total 2 per cent of NZ population, contribute 49 per cent of our country's merchandise exports in 2018, up from 45.4 per cent in 1991. And produced this on 24 per cent less total area as grapes, lifestyle blocks and urban spread takes over traditional pasture paddocks. New Zealanders have a high standard of living based on this productivity

    So picture this small industrious group who are a major contributor to economic stability of NZ, have already significantly reduced GHG due to lower stock numbers and created huge increases in efficiency. But yet this achievement attracts no appreciation

    Ka kite ano link below.

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/113533537/farmers-already-doing-their-bit-to-reduce-greenhouse-gases#comments

  16. Eco maori 17

    Some Eco Maori music for the minute.

    https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo

    It gives Eco Maori a sore face listening to Radio Ngati Porou and hearing all Maoridom new up and coming leaders speak their minds and reality Kia kaha

  17. Eco maori 18

    Kia ora Newshub.

    I have been on that train crossing in Te Puke it's sad to see those people who passed in the crash.

    That would have given those people on the Air Balloon a shock when the Balloon draped over high voltage power lines.

    I don't no what went wrong in North Land with the meningococcal vaccine not being given to all tamariki it should have been.????.

    The Americas Cup brings in the big punters and promotes Aotearoa to the Papatuanuku.

    Some how I think that a redneck right is throwing a spanner in the works of Kiwi rail to put people off our move to mass transport that the way I see it.

    Samantha it looks like there's something in the wai at Newshub you have 3 others who have gifts from God 4 in all ka pai ka kite ano

  18. Eco maori 19

    Kia ora te ao Maori news.

    It looks like they had a good poroporoaki and hakari for the sending off of Hupa Man Jim it's sad to see Maoridom great leaders passing.

    Eco Maori just hopes they make good informed decisions about Oranga tamariki.

    Kia ora Peter Smith you have raised a concern of Eco Maori I didn't like the way Ngataa Love was treated by the system I raised my concerns about the way he was treated one of our great Maori leaders passed because of the way he was treated its cool you are looking after your health bro.

    Nib I think it's is very important for people to have whanau tau toko when raising Pepi that's the old Maori ways .

    Yes I was listening to our rangitahi speaches in Ruatoria on Radio Ngati Porou . To much to hear Ngati Porou new up and coming leaders speak I quite proud of them all .

    Ka kite ano

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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
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    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
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    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
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    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 hour ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    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 ...
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    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    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 ...
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    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 ...
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    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    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, ...
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
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    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    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 ...
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    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    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 ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    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,” ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    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. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    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. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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