Open mike 19/03/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 19th, 2025 - 77 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

77 comments on “Open mike 19/03/2025 ”

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  1. SPC 1
    19 March 2025 at 9:15 am

    India – 80% Hindu, 15% Moslem over 2% Christian and under 2% Sikh and 1% Buddhist or Jain.

    90% follow cricket and 95% support India to beat Pakistan when they have test matches.

    The chances of a comprehensive trade deal – negligible (Groser says do not waste time trying).

    The advice is to to go for a modest in scale arrangement.

    India has FTA with

    Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius and UAE

    ASEAN and 3 of its members (Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia)

    EFTA – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland (this took 16 years)

    South Korea

    Japan

    Australia (two years ago)

    India is not part of RCEP TPP+. And has no FTA with the EU, China or USA.

    It is negotiating with NZ, United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada atm.

    A deal would likely cover non controversial areas like pharmaceuticals, minerals and forestry, fish and sheep/goat, and they do import milk powder, whey protein, cheese, butter and yoghurt.

    • Barfly 1.1
      19 March 2025 at 5:50 pm

      We will gain bugger all and it will probably require NZ granting greater access to Indian migrants.

  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    19 March 2025 at 9:19 am

    Maybe this is under the radar, what with a NZ media buy in by centrist Right Wing billionaire, but anyway, I was kinda interested….

    The owner of one of New Zealand's biggest media companies has made a change in her shareholding, according to company records.

    CEO and owner Sinead Boucher has changed her shareholding in Stuff Digital from being the owner of the one and only share to being the sole holder of one million shares.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/545190/stuff-owner-becomes-sole-holder-of-one-million-shares

    Political leaning…

    The paper's owner, Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher, is among those who have signed up to Vision for Wellington

    Really ? I'm..sure

    Boucher said everyone in the group was firm that it was apolitical.

    Some exposure…a good thing

    The Post's reporting of civic and council issues and the activities of Vision for Wellington are sure to be scrutinised closely now that the group – and Boucher's backing of it – have been made public.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/mediawatch/532686/the-post-s-owner-signs-up-to-new-wellington-pressure-group

  3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3
    19 March 2025 at 9:44 am

    Who knew?

    Council quits Local Government New Zealand calling it 'far left'

    Local Councillors "beliefs". I wonder…

    Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge claimed LGNZ had "swung so far left" it was no longer a fair and open environment where decisions represented local councillors' beliefs.

    Councillor Tracey Coxhead on..climate change. (I wonder..what her preferred narrative would be?)

    in her view, presentations at its 2024 conference were "largely, although not entirely, pushing a certain agenda, for example, only one narrative on climate change".

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/545267/council-quits-local-government-new-zealand-calling-it-far-left

    LGNZ.

    https://www.lgnz.co.nz/about-lgnz/who-we-are/

    Specifically Climate Change.

    https://www.lgnz.co.nz/policy-advocacy/key-issues-for-councils/climate-change/

    Far Left? What fucking BS. Reality this just highlights the denier component of some Councils

    • Matiri 3.1
      19 March 2025 at 10:14 am

      Margaret Murray-Benge is Don Brash's partner.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1.1
        19 March 2025 at 11:25 am

        Ah there you go. That I didnt know….and Cheers. Gives some perspective to her "thoughts" : )

    • Obtrectator 3.2
      19 March 2025 at 11:08 am

      Seeing it's "Toedunger" and environs, it's a wonder they didn't quit LGNZ years ago on those grounds.

    • Barfly 3.3
      19 March 2025 at 11:47 am

      "in her view, presentations at its 2024 conference were "largely, although not entirely, pushing a certain agenda, for example, only one narrative on climate change".

      King Canute would like a chat….

  4. Tiger Mountain 4
    19 March 2025 at 10:16 am

    The world seems to have abandoned Palestinians-yes you EU, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia. The power is off in Gaza, no food allowed in, virtually no infrastructure while the Israeli butchers will continue until the last Gazan is slaughtered.

    The only credit goes to the Houthis, Iran and the international solidarity movements, all of whom have paid the price too to varying degrees

    • SPC 4.1
      19 March 2025 at 11:03 am

      The smart move would be for someone to manage a deal whereby the remaining hostages are released as soon as Israel accepts Egypt's Gaza rebuild plan.

    • Subliminal 4.2
      19 March 2025 at 12:58 pm

      Israeli policy in Syria, and by extension the US, is to nurture chaos:

      The former head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate has voiced his support for the "power struggle" in Syria, adding that the "chaos" benefits Israel.

      The chaos in Syria is beneficial. Let them fight each other. But Israel should remain silent on this matter and not make any public statements. It should act calmly," Tamir Hayman said in an interview with the Israeli Army Radio.

      This chaos is not just some "happy" coincidence. It is planned with it long being known that both Israel and the US pumped huge amounts of arms to the opposition in the full knowledge that most would end up being dominated by Al Quaeda and HTS.

      The same chaos is delivered to Lebanon and Gaza by US/UK made war planes and intelligence.

      Given this, it can only be that any ceasefire is for the benefit of the agressor to fortify, rest, or reposition troops. It is axiomatic that ceasefires will be broken and hostilities restarted with the associated further destruction of the already destroyed civilian infrastructure and the associated loss of life.

      The US is not to be trusted in anything except the relentless destruction of the weak and dispossessed.

      • Psycho Milt 4.2.1
        19 March 2025 at 6:45 pm

        The idea that people in Syria and Lebanon kill each other because wicked foreign agents stir up chaos requires an astonishing level of ignorance about the culture and history of those places, as well as a hefty dose of motivated reasoning.

        • roblogic 4.2.1.1
          19 March 2025 at 8:50 pm

          Maybe the Yanks don't "intend" their $444 billion arms trade to have a destabilising effect, but it does.

        • Subliminal 4.2.1.2
          19 March 2025 at 9:19 pm

          Libya smashed into tiny pieces by a US and western backed coalition which then aided religous fundamentalists to join with the US in funneling a major part of the Libyan armoury into Syria, with the collateral damage of one dead US ambassador was pretty much done in the open.

          The "intelligence" report emailed to then Sec of State Hillary Clinton by Jake Sullivan that "al Quaeda is on our side", released by wikileaks is also by now pretty common knowledge.

          https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/23225

          https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/12/06/al-qaeda-rebels-syria-israel-usa/

          • Psycho Milt 4.2.1.2.1
            20 March 2025 at 5:21 am

            Again, the idea that Libyans rose up against Gaddafi and turned Libya into a failed state because wicked foreigners stirred up trouble requires a woeful ignorance of the people, their religion and their history.

            • Subliminal 4.2.1.2.1.1
              20 March 2025 at 5:39 am

              Oh.I didnt realise the Libyan people had access to the Nato airforce. Nor that they had the ability to enforce a no fly zone.

              • weka …
                20 March 2025 at 5:55 pm

                maybe people should start explaining their thinking instead of talking in sound bites. That way we might learn something.

                • Subliminal …
                  20 March 2025 at 9:05 pm

                  The UK conducted a parliamentary enquiry into the destruction of Libya.

                  It should be noted that this was a NATO operation and as such, under the supervision of the US.

                  There has been no equivilent enquiry conducted by the US that I am aware of.

                  From the enquiry:

                  The Libya inquiry, which was launched in July 2015, is based on more than a year of research and interviews with politicians, academics, journalists and more. The report, which was released on Sept. 14, reveals the following:

                  • Qaddafi was not planning to massacre civilians. This myth was exaggerated by rebels and Western governments, which based their intervention on little intelligence.
                  • The threat of Islamist extremists, which had a large influence in the uprising, was ignored — and the NATO bombing made this threat even worse, giving ISIS a base in North Africa.
                  • France, which initiated the military intervention, was motivated by economic and political interests, not humanitarian ones.
                  • The uprising — which was violent, not peaceful — would likely not have been successful were it not for foreign military intervention and aid. Foreign media outlets, particularly Qatar's Al Jazeera and Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya, also spread unsubstantiated rumors about Qaddafi and the Libyan government.
                  • The NATO bombing plunged Libya into a humanitarian disaster, killing thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands more, transforming Libya from the African country with the highest standard of living into a war-torn failed state.
                  • Morrissey …
                    20 March 2025 at 9:15 pm

                    The uprising — which was violent, not peaceful — would likely not have been successful were it not for foreign military intervention and aid.

                    That "aid" (i.e. weapons for Al Qaeda) came from American politicians such as this cackling psychopath…

                • Subliminal …
                  20 March 2025 at 9:47 pm

                  And, as Phillip alludes to below and from the same Salon article:

                  Before the 2011 NATO bombing, on the other hand, Libya had been the wealthiest nation in Africa, with the highest life expectancy and GDP per capita. In his book "Perilous Interventions," former Indian representative to the U.N. Hardeep Singh Puri notes that, before the war, Libya had less of its population in poverty than the Netherlands. Libyans had access to free health care, education, electricity and interest-free loans, and women had great freedoms that had been applauded by the U.N. Human Rights Council in January 2011, on the eve of the war that destroyed the government.

                  Yes, you read that right. Lower levels of poverty than the Netherlands…

            • Phillip ure 4.2.1.2.1.2
              20 March 2025 at 11:51 am

              @ pm..
              You are displaying a 'woeful ignorance' of the realities of the regime change driven by America/CIA….

              And as you say you know so much about Libya..

              ..you will know how well gadaffi looked after his people..

              ..free healthcare..free education to post grad level..

              ..free childcare ..newly married couples given a big wedge of money..to get them started..

              Subsided housing..

              ..and Libya under gadaffi had had a literacy rate in the 90 somethings ..

              Obama turned all of that into the fundamentalist hellhole it is now…

              But you would already know all that..eh..?

              • Psycho Milt …
                20 March 2025 at 2:38 pm

                I know that horseshoe-theory leftists can take any conflict among people of any ethnicity and somehow have it caused by the US govt, and that they'll cheerfully support any dictator as long as he's an enemy of the US govt, yes.

                • Morrissey …
                  20 March 2025 at 5:16 pm

                  "Horseshoe theory." Someone's been listening to talking heads on CNN and taking them seriously. no

                  • Incognito …
                    20 March 2025 at 5:32 pm

                    That’s not even a reasoned argument but simply shooting messengers, which is your idiosyncratic MO. When you have nothing to say then please say nothing.

            • SPC 4.2.1.2.1.3
              20 March 2025 at 6:40 pm

              In the beginning NATO enforced a no fly zone over south (Shia) and north east areas of Iraq (Kurds) as part of a cease-fire after the liberation of Kuwait.

              Then there was a NATO no fly zone over Libya to prevent use of the Libyan air force against regime opposition/civilian areas held. When they went beyond this mandate to attack the government’s army, they decided the outcome.

              This was one reason NATO was not given a no fly mandate in Syria – loss of trust (a lot of government bombing of civilian areas ensued, some by Russian allies of the regime).

        • Morrissey 4.2.1.3
          20 March 2025 at 6:46 am

          "Kill each other"?

          The mass murder in Syria and Lebanon has been, and is, financed and diplomatically backed by what the Chinese government rightly calls the Empire of Chaos and Deceit: the United States, and its vassal regimes in London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin.

    • Psycho Milt 4.3
      19 March 2025 at 6:37 pm

      "The world" has no more interest in Hamas continuing to rule Gaza than Israel does, so this is unsurprising. The fact that Hamas' allies are Iran and the Houthis tells a casual observer everything they need to know.

      • Subliminal 4.3.1
        19 March 2025 at 9:06 pm

        You liive in a very small sheltered world with a very high fence so you can't see out

    • Morrissey 4.4
      20 March 2025 at 6:42 am

      yes

  5. Ad 5
    19 March 2025 at 10:21 am

    Well, they can tilt the legislation and the politics as far as possible in favour of developers, strip the RMA to a skeleton, accelerate all their mates proposals, write off anything to do with climate change mitigation …

    … and still they can't get a massive wind farm going.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/545218/consent-for-southland-wind-farm-declined-due-to-potential-impact-on-local-environment

    Shoutout to everyone who stood up to support the skinks and birds on Southland's Jedburgh Plateau.

  6. Incognito 6
    19 March 2025 at 10:35 am

    Rob Campbell could rightfully coin this a trade deal ram-raid.

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/19/luxon-bristles-when-asked-about-his-deadline-for-india-trade-deal/

    The Coalition has already shown great haste in passing a record level of law changes under urgency. I suppose this stems from their productivity & efficiency mantra and the motto ‘time is money’. The least worse outcome of this is one of ‘false economy’’.

  7. gsays 7
    19 March 2025 at 11:04 am

    Baby steps, possibly flawed and may not last.

    Regardless of what you think of the players involved, it's worthy of celebrating if folks are going to stop being killed.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/545244/trump-putin-agree-to-limited-30-day-ceasefire-in-ukraine

    • joe90 7.1
      19 March 2025 at 1:31 pm

      it's worthy of celebrating if folks are going to stop being killed.

      nope

      @ukraine_map

      Two hours after the announcements, Russian ballistic missiles and drones struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure targets across the country, as well as in the city of Slovyansk in Donetsk Oblast, leaving half the city without electricity

      Russia broke the ceasefire within 2 hours!

      https://x.com/ukraine_map/status/1902119636801351741

      But that clearly isn’t what Russian President Vladimir Putin has in mind, as he demonstrated by withholding his agreement to a full 30-day ceasefire in his 90-minute phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Shortly after the call, Russia launched a drone assault over Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

      https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-phone-call-war-in-ukraine-ceasefire-talks/

      • Morrissey 7.1.1
        20 March 2025 at 5:20 pm

        So how long do you want this proxy war to continue? How many more Ukrainian lives do you want to eliminate in order to irritate Russia? And irritate Russia is all that NATO is capable of, in spite of lame quips such as Biden's one about the rouble turning into rubble.

        • Drowsy M. Kram 7.1.1.1
          20 March 2025 at 6:06 pm

          How many more Ukrainian lives do you want to eliminate in order to irritate Russia?

          That's up to Ukrainians defending their country's independence – maybe they know something we don't.

          NZ and Australia recognised the Independence of Ukraine on Boxing Day 1991, one day after the US and 24 days after Russia.

          Are Ukrainians ready for ceasefire and concessions? Here’s what the polls say [15 March 2025]
          But survey responses make clear that the country’s political independence is a red line for the public – even if defending it comes at a very high cost.
          …
          Poll findings in the past month from KIIS reveal that 66% of Ukrainians interpret Russia’s war aims as an existential threat, comprising genocide against Ukrainians and destruction of its independent statehood. And 87% believe Russia will not stop at the territories it already occupies. Negotiating with an enemy bent on Ukraine’s destruction appears delusional to many Ukrainians.

          https://theconversation.com/are-ukrainians-ready-for-ceasefire-and-concessions-heres-what-the-polls-say-252025

          • Morrissey 7.1.1.1.1
            20 March 2025 at 7:10 pm

            So you support Boris Johnson's mission of mayhem in the spring of 2022? You don't think there should have been a peace agreement three years ago?

            How long before you come to the same realisation that this young Ukrainian soldier has?

            https://x.com/JPfaff1028/status/1871675750593794513?lang=pt

            • Drowsy M. Kram 7.1.1.1.1.1
              20 March 2025 at 10:09 pm

              So you support Boris Johnson's mission of mayhem in the spring of 2022?

              Do I? Never much cared for Boris or his mission(s), nor Putin for that matter.

              You don't think there should have been a peace agreement three years ago?

              I would prefer that Russia's special military operation had never begun – tbh I'm not even sure the invasion was necessary.

              How long before you come to the same realisation that this young Ukrainian soldier has?

              I may be some time, but then our realisations about the human costs of this conflict are neither here and certainly not there. What responses might your questions elicit from surviving Ukrainians and Russians (or North Koreans for that matter) – they appear to have more skin in 'the game' than most.

              • Morrissey …
                20 March 2025 at 10:48 pm

                Do I?

                You support this proxy war, where the U.S. and U.K. and Germany supply the weapons—at an exorbitant price— and young Ukrainian men pay with their lives.

                Never much cared for Boris or his mission(s)…

                Oh really? You've certainly changed then.

                • Drowsy M. Kram …
                  20 March 2025 at 11:34 pm

                  You support this proxy war…

                  Like all NZ govts since 1991, I recognise the independence of Ukraine (only since the beginning of Russia’s ‘special military operation’ mind).
                  I'm not even sure that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was necessary.

                  You've certainly changed then.

                  I'm surprised that you would make such a baseless assertion – what has come over you? It's not as if I've asked whether you support Putin's efforts to eliminate Ukraine as a country.

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

                  Opinion | To Really Get Peace in Ukraine, Consider Why Putin Started the War [18 March 2025]
                  My father opposed Putin and was killed. Understanding Putin’s need for domestic repression holds lessons for how to end the war he started.

                  Throughout Putin’s quarter-century as Russia’s leader, his main goal has been to stay in power until his death. This addiction to supreme power has always played an outsize role in his decisions. He has worked to eliminate any potential challenge to his position and has stifled dissent at home. Prominent political opponents, including my father, Boris Nemtsov, and Alexei Navalny, were killed. Free media no longer exists.

                  Right now, this domestic repression makes it easier for Putin to wage war — and to stay in power. Putin has always seen Ukraine, which has long struggled to separate itself from Russia, as undermining his regime at home. The existence of a democratic and prosperous Ukraine that is allied with Europe could show Russians that there is a better alternative to Putinism. That is why Putin would prefer to eliminate Ukraine as a country.

                  • Morrissey …
                    20 March 2025 at 11:49 pm

                    Like all NZ govts since 1991, I recognise the independence of Ukraine.

                    The independence of Ukraine is one thing. Ukraine joining the U.S.-run military organization NATO is another thing entirely. Ukraine's—or to be more accurate, its American handlers’—continual threats to join that organization was and is specifically stated by Russia as completely unacceptable, indeed it turned out to be a casus belli.

                    I'm not even sure that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was necessary.

                    Me too. I don't think Russia should have invaded. As Winston Churchill said, jaw-jaw is better than war, war.

                    Nemtsov junior's blather about the fear of a "democratic regime" in Ukraine ignores the dead mammoth in the room: Ukraine had a democratic and independent government in 2014 which was violently overthrown in a coup blatantly instigated and financed by the Washington regime.

                    • Drowsy M. Kram …
                      21 March 2025 at 12:12 am

                      The independence of Ukraine is one thing. Ukraine joining the U.S.-run military organization NATO is another thing entirely.

                      Yes, they are two different things – one has happened, one has not.

                      Nemtsov junior's blather…

                      Personally, I would cut "Nemtsov junior" (Zhanna Nemtsova) some slack – she believes Putin had a hand in her father's assassination, and that might affect anyone's thinking, if familial ties were strong.

                      Why have so many Ukrainians given their lives for Ukraine’s contiuning independence – maybe they know something we dont?

                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity

                  • Morrissey …
                    21 March 2025 at 6:37 am

                    Why have so many Ukrainians given their lives

                    Conscription. Merciless conscription. Do you realise how old the average Ukrainian conscript is?

                    for Ukraine’s contiuning independence

                    ???? Being forced to be pawns in yet another U.S. proxy war is the antithesis of independence.

                    – maybe they know something we dont?

                    Thanks to independent journalists—who are not tolerated at outlets like Radio New Zealand—we have been able to know, since right at the beginning of this tragic three years—what their NATO "sponsors" require of their Ukrainian "volunteers."

                    https://thegrayzone.com/2023/04/26/bellingcats-ukrainian-forces-killed/

                    https://thegrayzone.com/2022/11/03/british-spies-terror-army-ukraine/

                    The treatment of foreign volunteers like American vet Henry Hoeft was no better:

                    Hoeft went on to make a series of explosive claims, including that the passports of Westerners trying to leave Ukraine were being torn up; that foreigners were being sent to the front lines without rifles; and that the Georgian Legion was threatening to shoot those who refused.

                    Once it became clear that Hoeft’s account was undermining Kiev’s public relations campaign, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine denounced him on its official Twitter account, branding the American as a stooge of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and posting his photo beside the caption “Made in Russia.”

                    https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/30/us-veteran-fight-ukraine-suicide-mission/

  8. dpalenski 8
    19 March 2025 at 11:58 am

    Let's hope Australia does pull out of AUKUS. Also everyone who stands up to Trump goes up in the polls anyone who cucks to him goes down

  9. SPC 9
    19 March 2025 at 1:04 pm

    Oh dear, what will they do – so few of the public want the company tax to be reduced.

    A better move would be a 25% rate for small companies that hired employees. 28% as is for medium sized companies and non qualifying companies (maybe some assistance with investment/deprecation). And a higher rate, 33% for Oz banks/larger more profitable companies to afford this.

    https://www.tickaroo.com/e/FNBEIme8y88iH5kd

    The most popular tax policy

    45% (1,747,000 adults) the government should increase the amount of personal income before it starts getting taxed

    All income is currently taxed. I'd increase the low income earner rebate IETC, from $10 to $20 a week.

    https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/tax-codes-and-tax-rates-for-individuals/tax-rates-for-individuals

    Support for other changes is around a third.

    32% (1,237,000 adults) think personal income tax brackets should be adjusted.

    The 30 cents threshold from 76,000 to $100,000. This could be afforded by higher rates above this level – as Oz does.

    31.3% (1,210,000 adults) think the government should introduce a wealth tax.
    31.1% (1,202,000 adults) think Capital Gains tax should be introduced.

    They should look at stamp duties on property over $2m – at 5%.

    And a 1% mortgage surcharge on existing (not new build) rental property mortgages.

    Any wealth tax accepted as a prepayment on future estate tax liability.

    And CGT introduced on investment property and non residential property, gold, bitcoin

    https://www.tickaroo.com/e/FNBHpkdm6NQ6xB2k

    • alwyn 9.1
      19 March 2025 at 1:19 pm

      I guess we must look at these results and we can say.

      68.7% are opposed to the Government introducing a wealth tax

      68.9% are opposed to the Government introducing a CGT.

      Overwhelming votes aren't they?

      • Barfly 9.1.1
        19 March 2025 at 6:02 pm

        Jeez Alwyn are there zero undecided /zero no opinion/ zero refused to answer living in your survey world?

        IMO your desire to present a particular point of view is not helping your comprehension here.

        • alwyn 9.1.1.1
          19 March 2025 at 8:57 pm

          I suggest that you look up the results they publish. The only number they give for those questions are the values of 33.1% and 33.3%.

          In the situation where nothing else is said I am entitled to my opinion.

          Incognito at 9.2 below has linked to the only published material that I could find. Not very useful is it? Given the wording it is reasonable I would suggest to say if they didn’t want the tax they are not in favour of it.

          • Incognito 9.1.1.1.1
            19 March 2025 at 9:26 pm

            Your opinion is overwhelming.

            • alwyn 9.1.1.1.1.1
              19 March 2025 at 11:13 pm

              My considered opinion.

              It really is a terribly worded survey isn't it?

              • Incognito …
                20 March 2025 at 6:32 pm

                Your opinion is “terribly worded survey” and “[o]verwhelming votes”. If that’s your opinion, then argue for it with reason, don’t just give us your unqualified judgment, as usual, especially “[i]n the situation where nothing else is said”.

                If the survey was so poorly worded that the results were next to useless then your first judgment makes no sense whatsoever.

                On the other hand, one could take the survey result as a snapshot and starting point for where political agreement is most likely to be found and between which parties and where campaign ‘powder’ is best utilised.

                Remember what you said?

                I come here only in the wish to bring some enlightenment to the ignorant. Some are able to be reasoned with. Many are not.

                Lift your game.

      • Psycho Milt 9.1.2
        19 March 2025 at 6:41 pm

        A substantial majority always favours both tax cuts and improvements to public services. This is why representative government beats the shit out of referenda.

    • Incognito 9.2
      19 March 2025 at 6:59 pm

      Always good to link to the source/primary data without input from churnalists – they often contain more detailed information plus relevant background.

      https://www.horizonpoll.co.nz/page/715/9-support-l

  10. tWig 10
    19 March 2025 at 1:22 pm

    Wellington Council wants to increase rates to commercial for AirBnB owners.

    Great idea. AirBnB owners are crying they will have to exit the market! And increase the number of either houses or of rentals.

    'Pukehīnau/Lambton ward councillor Geordie Rogers supported the higher rates with the argument that Airbnb was a commercial activity.'

    • alwyn 10.1
      19 March 2025 at 2:20 pm

      You suggest that "AirBnB owners are crying they will have to exit the market".

      It will be a great deal more dramatic than that. What is likely to happen is that all the people who currently live in the city will have to leave. Thanks to the completely mad expenditure on useless things by the hard-left Council and the even more looney City Council staff, no one will be able to live here.

      I live in Wellington. In the 2017 / 2018 year my rates were $3,870.

      In the current 2024 / 2025 year they are $9310.

      They are predicted to be $13,960 in the 2028 / 2029 year.

      It is still the same house and land.

      That is what we have been thumped by by the left wing local Government idiots with their mad delusion that the ratepayers provide a bottomless purse for them to rifle. Who is going to use the profusion of bike lanes when no can afford to live here? Who is going to use the Town Hall they are throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at? Who is going to go to conferences in their loss making Convention Centre?

      It isn't just the AirBnB owners that are getting squashed. It is every ratepayer in the City. John Key was quite right when he said "The reality is even Wellington is dying and we don't know how to turn it around.". Unfortunately our Council took no notice.

      • tWig 10.1.1
        19 March 2025 at 2:37 pm

        Well, given that rate is far above the median rates value in the council link below, you must either live in a fancy suburb, have a large section, or a fancy house.

        Have you considered sub-dividing, or you could petition this government to update the amount of its subsidy for low-income rate-payers, which has stayed the same as rates have increased.

        Rates for 2024/2025 – Rates – Wellington City Council

        • alwyn 10.1.1.1
          19 March 2025 at 2:47 pm

          I do have a section that is larger than average. It is still the same land that I owned in 2017 though and it is not in a "fancy" suburb.

      • Ad 10.1.2
        19 March 2025 at 2:37 pm

        I am just guessing that hour property value has risen from 2017 to 2025.

        This property tax is one of the most proportional taxes New Zealand has – whether you use the library or the dog pound or not.

        • alwyn 10.1.2.1
          19 March 2025 at 2:53 pm

          The CV has risen in the period. However the rate of increase has been the average for every bit of land in Wellington and certainly doesn't resemble in any way the amount I could get were I to try and sell. I wonder if we could introduce a system where a ratepayer should be able to require the officials of the rating authority to have to buy any property at the current CV?

          • Incognito 10.1.2.1.1
            19 March 2025 at 3:05 pm

            You seem to be misinformed, so let me enlighten you.

            Our tip
            You need to pay a registered valuer to assess the current market value of your property, if you are applying for a mortgage.

            We revalue your property every three years. The capital value (CV) is the value of a property for rating purposes, not the current market value of your home.

            Never use the capital value for insurance purposes.

            https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/buying-property/Pages/find-property-valuation.aspx

            • alwyn 10.1.2.1.1.1
              19 March 2025 at 4:44 pm

              The reason I mentioned CV is because that is what the rates are based on. I am well aware that it has little to do with the real value of a property and it is, in Wellington at the moment about, 20-25% above what you could sell a property for.

              It just seems fair to me that the Council should, if it bases its rates on a fairytale figure be required to buy the property at that figure.

              However they have in the new rating year dropped the CV values by around 20%. It doesn't mean that our rate bills will drop. They will go up by 15-20% this year as is generally the case since we got the crazy Councillors we have at the moment. I think they must have fallen of their bikes and landed on their heads at some point.

              • Incognito …
                19 March 2025 at 5:06 pm

                You obviously resist being enlightened and you clearly have no understanding of the connection and mechanism of rating valuations and rates. Of course, you couldn’t help having a dig at bicycles which are the equivalent of windmills for you – were you mugged in Amsterdam?

                I wonder why the house prices have dropped in Wellington.

              • Barfly …
                19 March 2025 at 6:13 pm

                Such a pity for you Alwyn the CoCs (pronounced with hard C's) sunk Three Waters. With Wellingtons munted water infrastructure –

                Google AI view

                Wellington faces a significant water infrastructure deficit, estimated to cost $15-17 billion over 20 years,

                Looks like you Wellington ratepayers are going to cop it unless of course they sell off the water infrastructure in which case you won't cop it then instead you will be totally wrecked. Truly a "Leopards ate my face" moment

          • bwaghorn 10.1.2.1.2
            19 March 2025 at 5:33 pm

            It's a shame that while you where enjoying your low rates they went doing timely forward planned replacement of aging water infrastructure!

        • Ad 10.1.2.2
          19 March 2025 at 3:02 pm

          "your" not "hour"

  11. mikesh 11
    19 March 2025 at 5:21 pm

    If council expenditures remain the same the rates should remain the same. The rate you pay has little to do with your actual CV, but, rather, more to do with your CV relative to other CVs in the city. However since relativities probably don’t change much your rates would increase only if council’s costs increase.

    • alwyn 11.1
      19 March 2025 at 6:44 pm

      Our councils have, since the mid-1980s spent the rates income on things that can best be described as bling. The last Mayor who seemed to accept that the Council funds came from tax-payers and that it was real money and should be spent carefully was Ian Lawrence. He was Mayor from 1983 until 1986.

      Of the eight who have followed him only Wilde and Prendergast have had some merit and the ones for the last fifteen years in particular have been very bad to absolutely appalling in a steadily deteriorating line.

      None of them have ever pushed for the Council to focus on what they need to do. Instead the put all the money into flummery. Cycle lanes? Unlimited funds for them. Drainage and sewage provision? Nah, not sexy enough.

      Expenditure on things we don't really need has therefore risen rapidly while the infrastructure underpinnings have been ignored.

      • Barfly 11.1.1
        19 March 2025 at 8:11 pm

        Google AI view

        Wellington faces a significant water infrastructure deficit, estimated to cost $15-17 billion over 20 years,

        Cycle lanes unlimited funds rofl Alwyn

        Muppet ratepayers have always rewarded RW idiots who promise lower than needed increases in rates. RW local body politicians have been kicking this can down the road since forever the can is now rooted and won't be kicked anymore.

        Now if it was a Labour led government Three Waters would be alive and you wouldn't need to be crying about ruinous rate increases.

        • alwyn 11.1.1.1
          19 March 2025 at 8:52 pm

          You really can't get away with blaming RW local body politicians for Wellington's woes.

          We have had a left wing dominated Council for about 40 years now. There may have been some RW individuals but the dominant majority has been left wing since seemingly forever.

          Three Waters was never going to save us. It would have been an iwi dominated group who would have borrowed money, spent it without having any elected representative control, and when it all blew up it would still have been the ratepayers of Wellington who would have been stuck paying off the debts.

          Three Waters as a means of paying for water infrastructure was just a fairy story.

          • roblogic 11.1.1.1.1
            19 March 2025 at 8:55 pm

            Nice collection of conspiracy theories and slander, but now we will never know because Kiwis voted for racist and second rate water supplies

        • Obtrectator 11.1.1.2
          19 March 2025 at 11:50 pm

          A RW government trod on the can and flattened it (probably when they hit the ground running), so it won't be possible to kick it at all now.