John Campbell does such a fine job bringing the realities of this tragedy into the living rooms of everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear. Those who live on the benefits of escalating house prices however will have neither.
Look saying shit like that is simply not credible. It is ridiculous. What is neoliberal about this government? It is a Centre left government and it has the policies to match. You come across as totally mental.
Don’t be obtuse – stealing and privatising public anything is neo-liberal. Serco. Charter schools. State house sell-offs.
This is a failed, corrupt, extreme right government – if it were working it’d’ve used market mechanisms to address the housing crisis instead of pretending it didn’t exist.
It’d’ve rebuilt Christchurch to prove the validity of its economic preferences – the rubble proves the converse. The market simply does not work under lame-assed regulation like this.
Brian Rudman: Blaming others won’t build homes, Mr Key
If April 1 hadn’t been long gone, I’d have said Prime Minister John Key and his housing Sancho Panza Nick Smith were taking the mickey when responding to reports of dozens of families reduced to living in cars alongside a South Auckland sports ground.
Dr Smith chose to appear on television before a huge roaring fire, like the Queen delivering her annual Christmas message, first tut-tutting gravely, before launching into yet another attack on local councillors and anyone other than himself.
The next day, Mr Key was on radio blaming the dumb victims. He suggested they be good folk and pop along to the local Work and Income office and all, it seemed, would be sorted out. “People often don’t understand what’s available to them.” He said the bureaucrats would “do their very best to support people in those situations, especially when children are involved”.
Emergency houses are only available to them for a couple of weeks – and only if they are prepared to pay WINZ back the $2000 odd it cost them to live in some overpriced room.
“Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday”
+1 Steve. Not only does the government need to address homelessness and low wages/high rents/house price ratio as a major issue, but also the price of running a home these days with the cost of power.
If most new builds were all designed to be on solar and there were a lot more incentives for conversions to solar then the again people have more money in their pockets to enjoy their lives, not spend every cent of food and utilities and every other essential cost in this country that is out of line with the average wage.
Also the same for new build businesses. Westgate mall, Auckland for example was built and opened this year, no sustainability in design for water or power – so no savings for businesses operating in this mall… It doesn’t look too bad inside, but in NZ developers are only focused on the appearance, not what is happening underneath.
Also had corporate welfare given to it by Auckland council, of course not bothered to make it easier for ratepayers for water and power, public transport etc….
It is also not doing too well, the businesses have no clients and are going broke.
Could have been another IronBank but no, so short sighted.
but also the price of running a home these days with the cost of power.
Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll find that the government is quite concerned about the price of power and is doing all it can to ensure that the new owners keep getting massive profits.
Thanks Steve. Because NZ is mostly run on renewable Hydro, the urgency is not upon us. Sadly, the Mum and Dad shareholders must get a dividend from our companies like Genesis so up go our costs. Pity our Government treats Solar with contempt.
An interesting discussion on Pundit re Solar started by Mike Williams.
Alfie West Wrote a rebuttal for another commentator:
“I invite you to consider solar in a slightly different way… as an energy saving appliance.
Say you fitted a couple of low energy appliances, or added better insulation and maybe changed your lighting to LED throughout your home. Would you consider it fair if your power company said, “Your usage has dropped. You were using $x of electricity per month but now it’s only $x, our profits have dropped therefore we’re going to tax you the difference.” Would you happily pay that extra tax? Of course you wouldn’t. What you are advocating is a little like anyone buying a Prius being “taxed” by petrol companies because they’re using less of their product. ”
“I was astounded to learnt the Hawke’s Bay power lines company, a monopoly called Unison, has announced increased line charges for households generating their own electricity. This “solar tax” runs counter to New Zealand’s attempts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the most stupid business decisions I’ve heard of in a very long time.”
Fascism is upon us.
But no mention of the Nanny State from the media…. installing low energy bulbs is nanny state, but companies putting up power for individuals based on their usage is fine….
You can also beat the power companies by going totally off grid – but maybe not so easy in urban areas as you need fire to heat generally and you get caught up in planning regs.
+100…obviously those outside corporates and businesses who have bought formerly NZ State- owned NZ electricity are desperate to hold on to their profits…
jonkey Nact needs to be held to account for this rorting of New Zealanders
…there needs to be some analysis and sunshine on the facts here and who is making profits out of New Zealanders
…Yes mainstream media is generally pathetic on this..i think Kathryn Ryan may have covered some debate on this issue though ( unfortunately I wasnt listening properly)
In the past year, at least nine of my close friends have been without their own home – “homeless”. They happen to all be Māori women with children. They have lived in garages, have been taken in by other families to overcrowd their homes or have endured spirit-breaking emergency accommodation.
They are some of the thousands of families without stable housing in this country. They are not just Māori and they aren’t just in Auckland. This problem is impacting disproportionately on Māori and Pacific families but also on lower income people including those in paid employment, from all backgrounds and across the entire country.
Real political leadership would put families first. Real leadership would discourage the buying up of houses as a speculative business; homes are for people to live in, not for profit at the expense of all else. Real leadership would actually invest in building more state homes. Real leadership would be to go and see for yourself what exactly is going on with our families, our children, and our elderly – our New Zealanders.
Real leadership would acknowledge the absolutely vital role of government in implementing a whole of system approach to end homelessness; ensuring that government agencies, local government and the community sector are offering a coordinated response to the complex structural issue that is homelessness.
Key doesnt see this as failure just the market doing what it does and those ‘choices’ folk make.
The fact that he created the market conditions with immigration, tax havens and no cgt needs to be pinned on the likes of nick smith who is an accident waiting to happen.
Yep – now that Labour has skinned Nationals’ red herring we can deal to the real causes of the housing crisis.
Excessive immigration, foreign buyers, out of control speculation and Nationals’ failed social housing policy.
[You appear to have misunderstood the meaning of either the comment, the word xenophobia or both. Instead of failed one liners, how about trying to contribute to the discussion meaningfully? TRP]
OK – some one should be able to answer this – how many homes need to hit the market at the same time to have a big enough effect on demand that slows prices down?
or are we talking forcing the savings through to the purchaser?
opening land will mean more houses – sure, but there is nothing in that that means any kind of impact on prices – all that will happen is a drip feed with each house being priced to the max the market will bear – and in AK we have ever growing demand
Well think of it like this, its still a long way to go but since there seems to be agreement over one of the causes and that cause is looking like may be on its way out then its a step towards where Auckland needs to be going
Of course I also tend to be somewhat of an optimist
that ignores pretty much all the far greater causes and ignores new issues created by sprawl
anyone pushing the “free up land” argument should be able to show how it leads to better house prices, better value for ratepayers (infrastructure costs etc) and an affordable life style for those that purchase that far out (transport and de-centralisation) – so far not one person actually has
” looking like may be on its way ”
its already gone anyway – both nat and lab are talking about a boundry that has already been done away with in the upcoming plan (according to RNZ interview this morning)
the whole thing is really weird and has more of an aspect of voter PR than anything actually meaningfull
That’s not the solution. In fact, IMO, that seems to be a large of the problem. We need large, dense cities to develop high tech and better education. What we don’t need is massive amounts of sprawl that damages the environment and causes cost of living to skyrocket.
In other words, we’d all be better off if we developed our regional cities to do the high tech and education as well as Auckland.
And next year you’ll say the same thing and the year after that. End result is that the correct thing to do, the thing that needs to be done, will never be done.
Listening to stupidity like yours is what’s caused so much poverty and heartache in our society.
True, but that doesn’t mean that he’s wrong about everything.
And his preferred political system is, I suspect, only tangetially (at best) related to his ideas on urban architecture.
It seems to me that the idea of vertical expansion, which you seemed to regard as a reasonable long term solution, would lose its investment appeal if urban sprawl were allowed to expand. So your short term solution inhibits, if not outright stalls, developing reasonable long term solutions.
I’m thinking that the short term solution, that might stall the long term solution, will offer quicker easing of the housing market then the longer term idea mooted
Yeah its not ideal but sometimes you have to work with what you have not what you want.
If National and Labour both agree on this then this is whats going to happen
But the longer term idea might create more sustained and extensive easing of the housing market than the shorter term idea. See how that works?
It might or it might not so I’d rather have short term relief followed by the long term solution taking longer then no short term relief and the long term relief (which may or may not work)
And just dropping the discussion to holler “commie!” is about as interesting as your fatalistic attitude to policy development
About as interesting as believing communism is the cure for the worlds ills
But the discussion wasn’t about all the world’s ills, or communism.
The discussion was about vertical versus horizontal sprawl in Auckland, and short term patches versus longer term solutions, and you just randomly started on about communism.
Did the fear of being asked to show some intellectual depth make you leap for the derail? Or was it just tory-tourettes?
Nothing quite like that, its more like certain posters because of what they’ve posted before bring out a certain response in me.
So like when I post something on here posters immediate reactions are it must be tory-speak or something (quite understandable) and rather then look at what was posted its immediately put into the tory trash bin
So with Draco my immediate thought is that sooner or later hes just going to come out with something about communisim
Although I do note my original post was positive and complimentary towards Labour
It might or it might not so I’d rather have short term relief followed by the long term solution taking longer then no short term relief and the long term relief (which may or may not work)
The big problem is that your short term solution isn’t a solution at all but a kicking the can down the road action.
The long term solution, higher density urban areas, can be implemented just as fast and probably better and cheaper than your short term solution that isn’t.
Although I do note my original post was positive and complimentary towards Labour
Because they were supporting stupid Tory policies.
Except we don’t know your idea will work any better
Well, what are the advantages or disadvantages?
Sprawl requires more infrastructure development like streets, sewers, drains, power, comms, high volume public transport.
Blocks require larger capital outlay initially, higher value property/public works purchases, and small design or construction failures can have repercussions on social and structural safety for hundreds or thousands of people.
Sprawl simply delays the inevitable and increases pollution and energy inefficiency. Blocks can extend the solution by acting as testbeds for even larger blocks, and can be much more resource efficent than distributed housing.
However, sprawl is harder to fuck up catastrophically. This is a major factor because, sooner or later, tories will be involved in the process.
I’d rather have cross-party consensus in trying to deal with this issue
Why? You’re always one for saying shit like “oh, but X have the votes, it’s a done deal”. Now you want consensus within the confederacy of dunces (of greater and lesser degree)? Given that the discussion here is unlikely to change government or opposition policy, why not actually talk about what you think is the best option, not the option you think is politically most likely?
Except we don’t know your idea will work any better…
Except for the fact that we, you know, do. All we have to do is look to the higher density cities in Europe, the US and other nations across the world.
Well you know PR, the DTB comes across way more caring and compassionate than you. Which means he sees common weal. Seems you don’t. Seems common weal is like unintelligible to the articulate PR. Which is a shame of course.
You are a barometer. Whatever you say, the Government should do the opposite. i.e you seem to be wrong on everything.
The future of the world is in the suburbs. The current urban limit in Auckland has pushed up housing policies and hurt the poor. There are two big factors that have caused child poverty. 1. Housing costs. 2 Tobacco costs.
I suggest you read this excellent essay on the future of cities.
Suburban households drive about three times more than households close to the city centre. All that extra driving has a big impact on household budgets, family stress, and personal health. Extra car ownership and fuel cancel out much of the household budget savings from lower home prices, bringing the real cost of a suburban house closer to the sticker price of an urban residence.
An abundance of credible research indicates that sprawl significantly increases per capita land development, and by dispersing activities, increases vehicle travel. These physical changes impose various economic costs including reduced agricultural and ecological productivity, increased public infrastructure and service costs, plus increased transport costs including consumer costs, traffic congestion, accidents, pollution emissions, reduced accessibility for non-drivers, and reduced public fitness and health. Sprawl provides various benefits, but these are mostly direct benefits to sprawled community residents, while many costs are external, imposed on non-residents. This analysis indicates that sprawl imposes more than $400 billion dollars in external costs and $625 billion in internal costs annually in the U.S.
PLANS to build thousands of homes on Melbourne’s fringes will cost Victorians around $40 billion more than if they were built in existing suburbs, a new State Government report shows.
In an embarrassment for the Government on the day that submissions close on its plans to further expand Melbourne’s urban growth boundary, the report released on Wednesday shows the total cost of building homes in new outer suburbs is more than double that of building in existing areas.
The added costs include extra infrastructure such as power, water and transport, as well as higher health costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The report, commissioned by the state Department of Planning, cites research that found “for every 1000 dwellings, the cost for infill development (in existing suburbs) is $309 million and the cost of fringe developments is $653 million”.
The Economist, like you, wouldn’t know what an economy was they fell over one.
I get the trifector here today, srylands slow learner son. Mcflock and DTB, you wipe the floor with Puckish rogue, he smears half thought out ideas so few see.
Agree. Affordable housing needs to mean affordable to live in and run, not just affordable to buy or rent.
If people have to use their car to travel to work, services and activities then the cost of living in those houses is higher, and is prone to increases in travel costs. Not only that, it takes time to travel – more time away from already time poor households.
The social costs of commuter households is also high. There is very little opportunity for connection when residents are always going somewhere else to shop, work etc. The financial benefits of good social cohesion can be found in reduced crime, better quality of life etc.
IMO, only allow greenfields development if that development is created with these features:
Access to public transport within 5 minutes
Roads/lots developed with passive solar orientation in mind,
All stormwater processed on site,
All new homes installed with alternative energy source – either individually or as a collective,
Also, plan community spaces and linkages with buildings that can be adapted for use as small commmercial or retail spaces.
Public transit would still be more viable than private cars and you’re wrong anyway:
Myth: Viable public transport requires high population densities
Fact: Public transport runs successfully in many cities with similar or lower population densities than Melbourne. Any city with sufficient population density to cause traffic congestion has sufficient population to support a first-rate public transport alternative.
It’s not the average density of a city that’s the issue – only particular areas like sprawling fringe suburbs. Ever seen a bus route try to service all of Massey or Flatbush? Gee, I wonder why so many of their inhabitants drive ..
Part of the explanation could be contained in a recent YouGov Poll (conducted Late-April) which found that …
(2) Clinton’s lead over Sanders as preferred nominee (specifically among Democratic Primary voters) had shrunk from double digits earlier this year (as high as a 58%/33% split in Clinton’s favour in January) to just 4 points at the end of April (47%/43%). (Among all voters, Sanders is preferred over Clinton by 41%/30%)
Importantly, the opinions that Sanders Voters have of Clinton have changed dramatically. More than 60% held a Favourable view of her late last year, now just 44% do (with 56% holding an Unfavourable view).
Just over half (54%) of Sanders supporters say they’ll vote for Clinton in November (although that rises to 63% when Trump is specified as the GOP candidate). That still leaves 37% of Sanders voters unprepared to go Clinton.
The YouGov highlights an interesting split between Democrat-identifiers and Independents who have voted (or intend to vote) in the Democratic Primaries. It’s a split that’s been evident in the Primaries conducted so far and in a number of recent Polls. Clinton’s been winning the majority of Registered Democrats / Sanders has been taking the lion’s share of Independents (a long with the relatively small % of GOP identifiers).
And it’s these Independent Sanders voters who are most dissatisfied with Clinton – a large majority hold an Unfavourable view of her, 61% agree they will be “Upset” if she wins the nomination (compared to only a quarter of Sanders’ Registered Democrat supporters), and while 74% of Sanders’ Democrat supporters are prepared to vote for Hillary in November, less than half (just 45%) of his Independent voters say they will.
(Independents in general – regardless of whether or not they’ve voted in the Democratic Primaries – prefer Bernie over Hillary by 49% to 20% and 60% hold an unfavourable view of Clinton)
(3)YouGov (which is, of course, a UK-based Pollster) has also been polling UK Labour Party members on their attitudes towards Corbyn and finds support for his leadership has solidified and grown, with 64% now saying they’d vote for him in another Leadership ballot / against 33% who wouldn’t. Party members are now also more likely than not to believe he’ll become PM – a reversal of the findings in the previous (November 2015) Poll.
His overall Approval ratings are also up among Party members – in Nov 2015 66% though he was doing well / 32% thought his performance was poor. Now the split is 72% / 27%. (Corbyn appears to have won over large minorities of those members who supported Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham in the leadership contest – 43% in both cases now believe Corbyn is doing well, whereas only 17% of the staunch Blairites who supported Liz Kendall approve of his performance).
All of which is bad news for his Blairite/Brownite adversaries.
The “Anti-Semitism” Witch-Hunt (which leading operatives in Labour’s new and old Right factions played a central role in fuelling (eg Labour First leader and Israel lobbyist, Luke Akehurst) was supposed to bring Corbyn and McDonnell down – both directly through a manufactured “crisis” and unbearable MSM pressure and indirectly by ruining what they already hoped would be a particularly dismal Local Election result for Labour – there was a lot of talk of the Party losing a few hundred council seats, thus creating a Leadership crisis in which they envisaged Party members turning to a more “Centrist” leader . In the event, Labour did a lot better than expected.
Which makes the following YouGov result important …
(4) Labour Party Members Anti-Semitism is:
A bigger problem in Labour than in Other Parties 5%
A problem in Labour but no worse than in Other Parties 47%
Not a problem in Labour but is a problem in Other Parties 16%
Not a problem in any Party 22%
And The Labour Party:
Has a problem with Anti-Semitism and it is right that the Media report it 10%
Has a problem but is being used by the Press and Corbyn’s opponents to attack him 35%
Does not have a problem and it has been created by the Press and Corbyn’s opponents to attack him 49%
Leading journo with The Independent, John Rentoul, thinks these figures show Labour Party members are “out of touch” with the rest of UK society (his tone suggests woefully so). That’s not entirely surprising – Rentoul has been one of Corbyn’s most vehement critics in the MSM since that June 2015 YouGov revealed the veteran MP for Islington was the frontrunner in the Leadership contest.
But if you look at a YouGov carried out in the immediate wake of the witch-hunt, you’ll find that the UK public in general hold very similar views to Labour Party members on the “scandal”. 45% of voters in general believed Labour had either “No” or only a “Very Small” Anti-Semitism problem, with just 22% agreeing it has either a “Fairly Big” or “Very Big” problem. This despite the fact that the MSM have consistently and uncritically portrayed the crisis as symbolising a Very Serious problem of Anti-Semitism.
Suggesting that, for Rentoul, it’s all about being “in touch” with the views of the tiny UK Establishment and its various enablers and bottom-feeders, rather than with the outlook of British voters in general.
If you ran a ‘find replace’ of Clinton->Obama and then Sanders->Clinton, you’d have the exact same story at this stage in the ’08 democratic primary.
There’s, understandably, a lot of passion in the Sanders camp, but I really struggle to see many of those people moving over to Trump in the general election.
But you forget, Phil, that crucial attitudinal divide I highlighted between Sanders’
(1) Registered Democrat supporters and (2) Independent supporters. The former are already suggesting they’re prepared to vote Clinton in November in overwhelming numbers (74%), but most of the latter (who comprise a clear majority of Sanders’ voters) say they won’t (only 45% will vote for her).
Back in 2008, Obama was the one who was winning the Independents in the Democratic Primaries, not Clinton (the ratio was more than 2 to 1 in Obama’s favour – quite similar to Sanders’ advantage among Independents today).
in other words, Clinton’s 08 supporters were overwhelmingly Registered Democrats (as they are today) – so it was entirely predictable that they’d ultimately get in behind Obama in November 2008. Sanders supporters today are largely Independents and they’re a whole different kettle of fish. Far less certain to back a candidate that many (quite correctly) see as running to the ideological Right of Trump on certain key policy areas.
Independent voters in general are as Unfavourable towards Clinton as they are to Trump (in terms of Very Unfavourable ratings – both candidates are on 49% among all Independents).
“There’s, understandably, a lot of passion in the Sanders camp, but I really struggle to see many of those people moving over to Trump in the general election.”
You are working on the assumption that voters decide based on reason instead of feelings (passion). If you assume they vote based on feelings, it becomes easy to imagine many angry voters shifting from angry Sanders to angry Trump.
Dude if you are going to shit on the Fox Poll then you better ignore the other result it came out with which was that Bernie Sanders would win the Presidency ahead of Trump and Clinton, easy as.
Sanders has an historic capacity to defeat Trump if he directs his supporters to do so at Dem Convention to align with Hillary.
Otherwise Sanders risks being a graceless spoiler who -unlike Cruz – knew when to enable just one candidate to command the media field.
His movement must also evolve to become a Superpac that focuses on Sente, Congress and Governorships – where Republicans have made massive gains for three decades straight. Feel The Bern can’t be wasted into another defeated and directionless Occupy.
See Paul Buchanan: He feels Sanders is “playing his cards correctly” by following a moderate-militant strategy – playing hardball in order to force significant concessions from the Clinton camp.
Buchanan rightly argues that: “Given her own negatives, she can no longer rely on loathing of Trump as a guarantee of a defensive vote turnout against him.* She needs Bernie more than he needs her, and his playing tough all the way to the convention is a way of underscoring that point … The worst thing that Sanders can do is concede or pull out of the race before the convention. Were he to do so he would lose any bargaining position he might have had …”
What the Clinton camp must understand most “is that the chances of a Clinton victory in November rest as much on gaining his support as they do on her own qualifications and experience.”
* Phil rightly highlights Trumps Sky High Unfavourability ratings but ignores the fact that Clinton isn’t too far behind him in this regard. She is strongly disliked by the all-important Independents.
Personally, if I was American there’s no way I’d vote for an Establishment/Status Quo Uber-Hawk like Clinton. But I’d be unable to bring myself to go for Trump either. Head, instead, I think in the direction of the Green candidate Jill Stein (which seems to be what a significant swathe of Sanders’ Independent supporters are thinking of doing).
At this point in proceedings it’s not the Clinton camp that need to understand what to do next. His legacy relies a whole bunch more on persuading her, then her persuading him. And he’s got just over a month to figure it out.
I can understand the desire for staying clean of it all by voting Green. Kind of.
From New Zealand, with the campaign attack ads and accusations to come, it’s filthy.
Your last sentence at 6.2 says it Ad. The Bern is actually part of the notableness of this run up to the US election. Incongruously Sanders and Trump occupy a very limited common ground.
Came across this on can Clinton loose?
“Hillary dislikes the media. Her impulse is to keep the press away, to only give the appearance of access and to focus her attention on friendly outlets that will engage in puffery.”
Sound familiar? Surely not the same for Key? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11640967
so a distressed Lady comes to the shop, asks me if she could use my phone to call the cops.
Why not i says, and hand her the phone.
She finally ends up speaking to a copper, and at some stage just lost it : Listen, please send a cop car up that house and arrest these guys as they are cooking Meth, and i think they have given some to my partner and hie is out of it, and i ran away from home feeling not safe. ……A minute or two later she says : Look, if you don’t go, I will go up there with a shot gun and just shoot the fuckers? Would that be enough for one or two of you to show up and do your shop?
she hangs up and hands the phone to me, shaking in her barefeet. Close to tears very distraught. I hand her a cuppa and tell her to wait.
Coppers call the shop and ask me if this is for real!!!!! So i says, why yes, she is here, she is in tears, and obviously something is up and why don’t you come and check it out? i had to repeat that at least three times.
Coppers speaks with the Lady again, and finally agrees that someone will come.
End of story, some people got arrested for cooking meth, and distribution.
The two growth sectors in NZ during the National Party Years, houses and Meth.
the dairy next to me has been robbed several times.
i have had some bloke beating the living day light out of his missus while the baby was screaming its head of.
road rage with people pulling others out of their cars and such is daily occurrence and we used to be such a lovely neighborhood, until empty houses, high unemployment and unaffordable housing came near us.
Oh and drug deals after 5 pm on our shared carpark. Sometimes you kinda just want to ask whats the quality and how much.
and fact is, the coppers are not here for us, they are here to protect the nice hoods, and give us tickets.
and fact is, the coppers are not here for us, they are here to protect the nice hoods, and give us tickets.
As proven by their raids when FJK complained about The Teapot Tapes, the raid on Nicky Hager after Dirty Politics proved how corrupt National is and Slater getting off on diversion when he wasn’t eligible.
Sabine (9) … Police quite complacent. But then they must be at the ready to jump to anything FJK demands eg harassing Nicky Hager and other whistleblowers!
“The two growth sectors in NZ during the National Party Years, houses and Meth.”
True. Now add poverty to that list and you have three major growth sectors.
an interesting read on the ‘real economy’ and the parasite economy – or the ‘free’ market economy that can not sustain itself without government handouts and subsidies.
“here are two types of businesses in America today: those that pay their workers a living wage—the real economy—and those that don’t—the parasite economy. And all of us who live and work in the real economy should be royally pissed at the way the parasite economy is sucking us dry.
Here in the real economy, we solve the problems, build the things, and pay the wages that make America great. When politicians of both parties promise to attract “good jobs” to their districts or states, they’re talking about the kind of real-economy jobs that pay a decent middle-class wage—jobs that provide the income, benefits, and security necessary to participate robustly in the economy as a consumer and taxpayer. It is the real economy that drives both production and demand, and that fills our tax coffers with the money needed to educate our children, maintain our infrastructure, invest in research and development, fund our social safety net, and provide for the national defense.
But in the parasite economy—where companies large and small cling to low-wage business models out of ignorance or habit or simple greed—“good jobs,” and the economic dynamism they produce, are in short supply. This is the economy in which tens of millions of Americans work for poverty wages with few if any benefits, often in the face of abusive scheduling practices that make it impossible to plan their life from day to day, let alone month to month.”
This gem in the comments “We have also noted that the ones interviewed about living in cars on the news were all living in nice looking vehicles. No clapped out run about for them. “
one thing that i have heard a few times, and i guess it is gallows humor
I got myself i nice van, used, but relatively new, not to expensive to run and when i loose my flat or house i can live in it for a while.
So in a sense, if one is part of the precariat, it makes sense to invest in a vehicle such as a peoples mover or a van as it will provide shelter for the days where they have no home and the Winz drone is not helping.
Yeah I’ve made this comment before: 40 years ago May 1977 transiting at Manila on the way to China our plane taxied to the end of runway. Visible 150 metres away, shacks with TV aerials, amongst the banana palms. All the jet blast and the noise. Jeezuz !
“Ooh, look, they’re meant to be poor but they can afford TV !” rang out the voice of one of the ’20 Young Workers from New Zealand’ of which I was one. There was a bit of raruraru broke out as we taxied to the terminal. Everyone shut up at the sight of armed soldiers at the bottom of the stairs.
Same thing. “What wastrels ! They’ve got a $9,000 people mover.” On which they owe 7 grand, arseholes who think like that. Really inviting the pitchfork aren’t you ?
Two-Party Preferred ALP leads in 9 Coalition leads in 1 Tie in 8
(ALP leads in 4 of the last 5 – and by 5 points in the latest)
Main concern: Significant number of key Marginals in NSW – just about the only State in Australia where the Coalition remains popular (at least at the State level). Means ALP probably need 51%+ in practice to win.
NZ Context
Coalition behind in Polls despite Turnbull remaining considerably more popular as Preferred PM than Labor’s Shorten and clearly more popular than John Key is here.
Unlike here oz have independant media who get watched in election campaigns so banksta turnbull gets doesnt get an armchair ride like shonky does here.
Murdochs papers are doing their best for malcolm but with compulsory voting he has to fool a majority not a third like here.
Unbelievable. Housing NZ has been selling its properties in Queenstown and Wanaka despite there being a serious housing shortage and a local Community housing trust offering to manage them. Source today’s ODT, not sure if it’s online.
Differing eligibility requirements between HNZ and Housing Trust, and $$$$ to be made by HNZ playing the market. I gather it’s really hard to meet HNZ requirements here as nearly all people with housing problems are from somewhere else, so it’s like go back where you came from. The local trust is a bit more realistic, just starved of capital and not getting a lot of assistance from government, yet.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
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Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
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In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
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The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
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Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, ugly and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
John Campbell does such a fine job bringing the realities of this tragedy into the living rooms of everyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear. Those who live on the benefits of escalating house prices however will have neither.
+100 Paul and Macro
Look saying shit like that is simply not credible. It is ridiculous. What is neoliberal about this government? It is a Centre left government and it has the policies to match. You come across as totally mental.
Don’t be obtuse – stealing and privatising public anything is neo-liberal. Serco. Charter schools. State house sell-offs.
This is a failed, corrupt, extreme right government – if it were working it’d’ve used market mechanisms to address the housing crisis instead of pretending it didn’t exist.
It’d’ve rebuilt Christchurch to prove the validity of its economic preferences – the rubble proves the converse. The market simply does not work under lame-assed regulation like this.
Stop talking nonsense.
If you find it acceptable to defend the government’s cruel treatment of the homeless, then you are part of the problem.
Brian Rudman: Blaming others won’t build homes, Mr Key
If April 1 hadn’t been long gone, I’d have said Prime Minister John Key and his housing Sancho Panza Nick Smith were taking the mickey when responding to reports of dozens of families reduced to living in cars alongside a South Auckland sports ground.
Dr Smith chose to appear on television before a huge roaring fire, like the Queen delivering her annual Christmas message, first tut-tutting gravely, before launching into yet another attack on local councillors and anyone other than himself.
The next day, Mr Key was on radio blaming the dumb victims. He suggested they be good folk and pop along to the local Work and Income office and all, it seemed, would be sorted out. “People often don’t understand what’s available to them.” He said the bureaucrats would “do their very best to support people in those situations, especially when children are involved”.
If you want to read more it’s here….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11640202
People often don’t understand what’s available to them
WINZ didn’t get where it is today by telling people what’s available to them.
Emergency houses are only available to them for a couple of weeks – and only if they are prepared to pay WINZ back the $2000 odd it cost them to live in some overpriced room.
Online petition at Action Stations requesting the Minister (Anne Tolley) forgive the debt for this so-called “entitlement”
please sign
Amazing achievement…sadly not NZ though 🙁
“Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/18/portugal-runs-for-four-days-straight-on-renewable-energy-alone
+1 Steve. Not only does the government need to address homelessness and low wages/high rents/house price ratio as a major issue, but also the price of running a home these days with the cost of power.
If most new builds were all designed to be on solar and there were a lot more incentives for conversions to solar then the again people have more money in their pockets to enjoy their lives, not spend every cent of food and utilities and every other essential cost in this country that is out of line with the average wage.
Also the same for new build businesses. Westgate mall, Auckland for example was built and opened this year, no sustainability in design for water or power – so no savings for businesses operating in this mall… It doesn’t look too bad inside, but in NZ developers are only focused on the appearance, not what is happening underneath.
Also had corporate welfare given to it by Auckland council, of course not bothered to make it easier for ratepayers for water and power, public transport etc….
It is also not doing too well, the businesses have no clients and are going broke.
Could have been another IronBank but no, so short sighted.
It appears in NZ that developers and councils are still focussed on what worked in the 19th century and not looking at what’s needed today.
Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll find that the government is quite concerned about the price of power and is doing all it can to ensure that the new owners keep getting massive profits.
Thanks Steve. Because NZ is mostly run on renewable Hydro, the urgency is not upon us. Sadly, the Mum and Dad shareholders must get a dividend from our companies like Genesis so up go our costs. Pity our Government treats Solar with contempt.
An interesting discussion on Pundit re Solar started by Mike Williams.
Alfie West Wrote a rebuttal for another commentator:
“I invite you to consider solar in a slightly different way… as an energy saving appliance.
Say you fitted a couple of low energy appliances, or added better insulation and maybe changed your lighting to LED throughout your home. Would you consider it fair if your power company said, “Your usage has dropped. You were using $x of electricity per month but now it’s only $x, our profits have dropped therefore we’re going to tax you the difference.” Would you happily pay that extra tax? Of course you wouldn’t. What you are advocating is a little like anyone buying a Prius being “taxed” by petrol companies because they’re using less of their product. ”
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/solar-tax-makes-its-harder-to-be-green-for-now
@imac – good link… extract
“I was astounded to learnt the Hawke’s Bay power lines company, a monopoly called Unison, has announced increased line charges for households generating their own electricity. This “solar tax” runs counter to New Zealand’s attempts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the most stupid business decisions I’ve heard of in a very long time.”
Fascism is upon us.
But no mention of the Nanny State from the media…. installing low energy bulbs is nanny state, but companies putting up power for individuals based on their usage is fine….
You can also beat the power companies by going totally off grid – but maybe not so easy in urban areas as you need fire to heat generally and you get caught up in planning regs.
+100…obviously those outside corporates and businesses who have bought formerly NZ State- owned NZ electricity are desperate to hold on to their profits…
jonkey Nact needs to be held to account for this rorting of New Zealanders
…there needs to be some analysis and sunshine on the facts here and who is making profits out of New Zealanders
…Yes mainstream media is generally pathetic on this..i think Kathryn Ryan may have covered some debate on this issue though ( unfortunately I wasnt listening properly)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201777147/solar-energy-'biggest-challenge'-to-electricity-pricing-says-ea
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/20151103
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/20150928
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201751454/new-energy-and-money-saving-technologies
Marama Davidson on the housing issue,
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2016/05/17/homelessness-national-has-failed-all-of-us/
How about some focus on the puppet party enabling the state housing flogging, the Maori party.
About time they were run out of the trough along with shonkys wrecking crew.
Of course Key has failed.
It is his biggest failure
The chief is unable to look after his villagers.
That is the epitome of failure
John Key is a wretched prick for this
Key doesnt see this as failure just the market doing what it does and those ‘choices’ folk make.
The fact that he created the market conditions with immigration, tax havens and no cgt needs to be pinned on the likes of nick smith who is an accident waiting to happen.
Well done to Labour for recognizing the problem and offering a solution, this is the type of thing voters are looking for.
Good job.
Yep – now that Labour has skinned Nationals’ red herring we can deal to the real causes of the housing crisis.
Excessive immigration, foreign buyers, out of control speculation and Nationals’ failed social housing policy.
The Xenophobia is strong with this one.
[You appear to have misunderstood the meaning of either the comment, the word xenophobia or both. Instead of failed one liners, how about trying to contribute to the discussion meaningfully? TRP]
No, xenophobia would be banning tourism.
Stopping immigration, foreign ownership and speculation is addressing the problems that those bring about.
+100 DTB
Ref: Opening up land for housing
OK – some one should be able to answer this – how many homes need to hit the market at the same time to have a big enough effect on demand that slows prices down?
or are we talking forcing the savings through to the purchaser?
opening land will mean more houses – sure, but there is nothing in that that means any kind of impact on prices – all that will happen is a drip feed with each house being priced to the max the market will bear – and in AK we have ever growing demand
That’s true, I guess it comes down getting as many houses onto the market (as soon as possible (safely of course)
But its a good step in the right direction at least
kinda points to it not working doesnt it
Well think of it like this, its still a long way to go but since there seems to be agreement over one of the causes and that cause is looking like may be on its way out then its a step towards where Auckland needs to be going
Of course I also tend to be somewhat of an optimist
Only by the fuckwits.
“agreement over one of the causes”
that ignores pretty much all the far greater causes and ignores new issues created by sprawl
anyone pushing the “free up land” argument should be able to show how it leads to better house prices, better value for ratepayers (infrastructure costs etc) and an affordable life style for those that purchase that far out (transport and de-centralisation) – so far not one person actually has
” looking like may be on its way ”
its already gone anyway – both nat and lab are talking about a boundry that has already been done away with in the upcoming plan (according to RNZ interview this morning)
the whole thing is really weird and has more of an aspect of voter PR than anything actually meaningfull
the whole thing is really weird and has more of an aspect of voter PR than anything actually meaningfull
– If so then Labours done good, turned a corner perhaps?
only if you are soothed by PR (he he) 🙂
That’s not the solution. In fact, IMO, that seems to be a large of the problem. We need large, dense cities to develop high tech and better education. What we don’t need is massive amounts of sprawl that damages the environment and causes cost of living to skyrocket.
In other words, we’d all be better off if we developed our regional cities to do the high tech and education as well as Auckland.
Well that is certainly one way of looking at it especially for the longer term but in the short term I think this is a better option
And next year you’ll say the same thing and the year after that. End result is that the correct thing to do, the thing that needs to be done, will never be done.
Listening to stupidity like yours is what’s caused so much poverty and heartache in our society.
Let me guess, your idea would be for NZ to elect a communist government, because that’s worked so well in the past
Thanks but no thanks
wow. From short-sighted deregulation to communism in one easy step.
Oh c’mon get serious, its Draco so you know that what he really wants is communism
True, but that doesn’t mean that he’s wrong about everything.
And his preferred political system is, I suspect, only tangetially (at best) related to his ideas on urban architecture.
It seems to me that the idea of vertical expansion, which you seemed to regard as a reasonable long term solution, would lose its investment appeal if urban sprawl were allowed to expand. So your short term solution inhibits, if not outright stalls, developing reasonable long term solutions.
I’m thinking that the short term solution, that might stall the long term solution, will offer quicker easing of the housing market then the longer term idea mooted
Yeah its not ideal but sometimes you have to work with what you have not what you want.
If National and Labour both agree on this then this is whats going to happen
But the longer term idea might create more sustained and extensive easing of the housing market than the shorter term idea. See how that works?
And just dropping the discussion to holler “commie!” is about as interesting as your fatalistic attitude to policy development.
But the longer term idea might create more sustained and extensive easing of the housing market than the shorter term idea. See how that works?
It might or it might not so I’d rather have short term relief followed by the long term solution taking longer then no short term relief and the long term relief (which may or may not work)
And just dropping the discussion to holler “commie!” is about as interesting as your fatalistic attitude to policy development
About as interesting as believing communism is the cure for the worlds ills
But the discussion wasn’t about all the world’s ills, or communism.
The discussion was about vertical versus horizontal sprawl in Auckland, and short term patches versus longer term solutions, and you just randomly started on about communism.
Did the fear of being asked to show some intellectual depth make you leap for the derail? Or was it just tory-tourettes?
Nothing quite like that, its more like certain posters because of what they’ve posted before bring out a certain response in me.
So like when I post something on here posters immediate reactions are it must be tory-speak or something (quite understandable) and rather then look at what was posted its immediately put into the tory trash bin
So with Draco my immediate thought is that sooner or later hes just going to come out with something about communisim
Although I do note my original post was positive and complimentary towards Labour
The big problem is that your short term solution isn’t a solution at all but a kicking the can down the road action.
The long term solution, higher density urban areas, can be implemented just as fast and probably better and cheaper than your short term solution that isn’t.
Because they were supporting stupid Tory policies.
Except we don’t know your idea will work any better and I’d rather have cross-party consensus in trying to deal with this issue
Well, what are the advantages or disadvantages?
Sprawl requires more infrastructure development like streets, sewers, drains, power, comms, high volume public transport.
Blocks require larger capital outlay initially, higher value property/public works purchases, and small design or construction failures can have repercussions on social and structural safety for hundreds or thousands of people.
Sprawl simply delays the inevitable and increases pollution and energy inefficiency. Blocks can extend the solution by acting as testbeds for even larger blocks, and can be much more resource efficent than distributed housing.
However, sprawl is harder to fuck up catastrophically. This is a major factor because, sooner or later, tories will be involved in the process.
Why? You’re always one for saying shit like “oh, but X have the votes, it’s a done deal”. Now you want consensus within the confederacy of dunces (of greater and lesser degree)? Given that the discussion here is unlikely to change government or opposition policy, why not actually talk about what you think is the best option, not the option you think is politically most likely?
Except for the fact that we, you know, do. All we have to do is look to the higher density cities in Europe, the US and other nations across the world.
Well you know PR, the DTB comes across way more caring and compassionate than you. Which means he sees common weal. Seems you don’t. Seems common weal is like unintelligible to the articulate PR. Which is a shame of course.
You are a barometer. Whatever you say, the Government should do the opposite. i.e you seem to be wrong on everything.
The future of the world is in the suburbs. The current urban limit in Auckland has pushed up housing policies and hurt the poor. There are two big factors that have caused child poverty. 1. Housing costs. 2 Tobacco costs.
I suggest you read this excellent essay on the future of cities.
http://www.economist.com/suburbs
New studies measure the true cost of sprawl, and it’s more than you think
Suburban sprawl costs billions more
The Economist, like you, wouldn’t know what an economy was they fell over one.
Yup, melb has become very choked over the last 15 years with sprawl/apartments and not matching it with public transport.
Been watching a mature conversation going on over there in contrast to the stupidity of key, smith, blinglush etc here.
They will probably end up allowing multistorey blocks within x of a train stop. Something akl needs but the landed akl gentry killed in its tracks.
I get the trifector here today, srylands slow learner son. Mcflock and DTB, you wipe the floor with Puckish rogue, he smears half thought out ideas so few see.
Agree. Affordable housing needs to mean affordable to live in and run, not just affordable to buy or rent.
If people have to use their car to travel to work, services and activities then the cost of living in those houses is higher, and is prone to increases in travel costs. Not only that, it takes time to travel – more time away from already time poor households.
The social costs of commuter households is also high. There is very little opportunity for connection when residents are always going somewhere else to shop, work etc. The financial benefits of good social cohesion can be found in reduced crime, better quality of life etc.
IMO, only allow greenfields development if that development is created with these features:
Access to public transport within 5 minutes
Roads/lots developed with passive solar orientation in mind,
All stormwater processed on site,
All new homes installed with alternative energy source – either individually or as a collective,
Also, plan community spaces and linkages with buildings that can be adapted for use as small commmercial or retail spaces.
Sprawling suburbs do not contain enough people to make public transit viable.
Public transit would still be more viable than private cars and you’re wrong anyway:
It’s not the average density of a city that’s the issue – only particular areas like sprawling fringe suburbs. Ever seen a bus route try to service all of Massey or Flatbush? Gee, I wonder why so many of their inhabitants drive ..
And that’s BS as well. One bus route won’t work, multiple will.
We’re still talking suburbia here and not rural and even rural could be well served by buses.
Some recent US / UK Poll findings
(1) Clinton’s lead over Trump narrows
Nationwide polling average shows gap down to just 3 points
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiqzcruWgAAP2mC.jpg:large
New NBC Poll suggests Overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans fall into line behind their Party’s prospective nominee, but Independents split 44/36 in favour of Trump
https://politicalwire.com/2016/05/17/clinton-holds-narrow-lead-nationally-over-trump/
Part of the explanation could be contained in a recent YouGov Poll (conducted Late-April) which found that …
(2) Clinton’s lead over Sanders as preferred nominee (specifically among Democratic Primary voters) had shrunk from double digits earlier this year (as high as a 58%/33% split in Clinton’s favour in January) to just 4 points at the end of April (47%/43%). (Among all voters, Sanders is preferred over Clinton by 41%/30%)
Importantly, the opinions that Sanders Voters have of Clinton have changed dramatically. More than 60% held a Favourable view of her late last year, now just 44% do (with 56% holding an Unfavourable view).
Just over half (54%) of Sanders supporters say they’ll vote for Clinton in November (although that rises to 63% when Trump is specified as the GOP candidate). That still leaves 37% of Sanders voters unprepared to go Clinton.
The YouGov highlights an interesting split between Democrat-identifiers and Independents who have voted (or intend to vote) in the Democratic Primaries. It’s a split that’s been evident in the Primaries conducted so far and in a number of recent Polls. Clinton’s been winning the majority of Registered Democrats / Sanders has been taking the lion’s share of Independents (a long with the relatively small % of GOP identifiers).
And it’s these Independent Sanders voters who are most dissatisfied with Clinton – a large majority hold an Unfavourable view of her, 61% agree they will be “Upset” if she wins the nomination (compared to only a quarter of Sanders’ Registered Democrat supporters), and while 74% of Sanders’ Democrat supporters are prepared to vote for Hillary in November, less than half (just 45%) of his Independent voters say they will.
(Independents in general – regardless of whether or not they’ve voted in the Democratic Primaries – prefer Bernie over Hillary by 49% to 20% and 60% hold an unfavourable view of Clinton)
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/04/28/clinton-seen-likely-nominee-sanders-voters-arent-b/
(3) YouGov (which is, of course, a UK-based Pollster) has also been polling UK Labour Party members on their attitudes towards Corbyn and finds support for his leadership has solidified and grown, with 64% now saying they’d vote for him in another Leadership ballot / against 33% who wouldn’t. Party members are now also more likely than not to believe he’ll become PM – a reversal of the findings in the previous (November 2015) Poll.
His overall Approval ratings are also up among Party members – in Nov 2015 66% though he was doing well / 32% thought his performance was poor. Now the split is 72% / 27%. (Corbyn appears to have won over large minorities of those members who supported Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham in the leadership contest – 43% in both cases now believe Corbyn is doing well, whereas only 17% of the staunch Blairites who supported Liz Kendall approve of his performance).
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/05/17/labour-members-increasingly-bullish-on-corbyn/
All of which is bad news for his Blairite/Brownite adversaries.
The “Anti-Semitism” Witch-Hunt (which leading operatives in Labour’s new and old Right factions played a central role in fuelling (eg Labour First leader and Israel lobbyist, Luke Akehurst) was supposed to bring Corbyn and McDonnell down – both directly through a manufactured “crisis” and unbearable MSM pressure and indirectly by ruining what they already hoped would be a particularly dismal Local Election result for Labour – there was a lot of talk of the Party losing a few hundred council seats, thus creating a Leadership crisis in which they envisaged Party members turning to a more “Centrist” leader . In the event, Labour did a lot better than expected.
Which makes the following YouGov result important …
(4) Labour Party Members
Anti-Semitism is:
A bigger problem in Labour than in Other Parties 5%
A problem in Labour but no worse than in Other Parties 47%
Not a problem in Labour but is a problem in Other Parties 16%
Not a problem in any Party 22%
And
The Labour Party:
Has a problem with Anti-Semitism and it is right that the Media report it 10%
Has a problem but is being used by the Press and Corbyn’s opponents to attack him 35%
Does not have a problem and it has been created by the Press and Corbyn’s opponents to attack him 49%
Leading journo with The Independent, John Rentoul, thinks these figures show Labour Party members are “out of touch” with the rest of UK society (his tone suggests woefully so). That’s not entirely surprising – Rentoul has been one of Corbyn’s most vehement critics in the MSM since that June 2015 YouGov revealed the veteran MP for Islington was the frontrunner in the Leadership contest.
But if you look at a YouGov carried out in the immediate wake of the witch-hunt, you’ll find that the UK public in general hold very similar views to Labour Party members on the “scandal”. 45% of voters in general believed Labour had either “No” or only a “Very Small” Anti-Semitism problem, with just 22% agreeing it has either a “Fairly Big” or “Very Big” problem. This despite the fact that the MSM have consistently and uncritically portrayed the crisis as symbolising a Very Serious problem of Anti-Semitism.
Suggesting that, for Rentoul, it’s all about being “in touch” with the views of the tiny UK Establishment and its various enablers and bottom-feeders, rather than with the outlook of British voters in general.
Re: #2.
If you ran a ‘find replace’ of Clinton->Obama and then Sanders->Clinton, you’d have the exact same story at this stage in the ’08 democratic primary.
There’s, understandably, a lot of passion in the Sanders camp, but I really struggle to see many of those people moving over to Trump in the general election.
But you forget, Phil, that crucial attitudinal divide I highlighted between Sanders’
(1) Registered Democrat supporters and (2) Independent supporters. The former are already suggesting they’re prepared to vote Clinton in November in overwhelming numbers (74%), but most of the latter (who comprise a clear majority of Sanders’ voters) say they won’t (only 45% will vote for her).
Back in 2008, Obama was the one who was winning the Independents in the Democratic Primaries, not Clinton (the ratio was more than 2 to 1 in Obama’s favour – quite similar to Sanders’ advantage among Independents today).
in other words, Clinton’s 08 supporters were overwhelmingly Registered Democrats (as they are today) – so it was entirely predictable that they’d ultimately get in behind Obama in November 2008. Sanders supporters today are largely Independents and they’re a whole different kettle of fish. Far less certain to back a candidate that many (quite correctly) see as running to the ideological Right of Trump on certain key policy areas.
Independent voters in general are as Unfavourable towards Clinton as they are to Trump (in terms of Very Unfavourable ratings – both candidates are on 49% among all Independents).
Phil
“There’s, understandably, a lot of passion in the Sanders camp, but I really struggle to see many of those people moving over to Trump in the general election.”
You are working on the assumption that voters decide based on reason instead of feelings (passion). If you assume they vote based on feelings, it becomes easy to imagine many angry voters shifting from angry Sanders to angry Trump.
Phil. Didn’t you see the latest poll giving Trump a 3% lead over Clinton?
Who did the poll? Oh wait..it was Fox News. (fair-balanced and sh*t scared)
Dude if you are going to shit on the Fox Poll then you better ignore the other result it came out with which was that Bernie Sanders would win the Presidency ahead of Trump and Clinton, easy as.
Sanders has an historic capacity to defeat Trump if he directs his supporters to do so at Dem Convention to align with Hillary.
Otherwise Sanders risks being a graceless spoiler who -unlike Cruz – knew when to enable just one candidate to command the media field.
His movement must also evolve to become a Superpac that focuses on Sente, Congress and Governorships – where Republicans have made massive gains for three decades straight. Feel The Bern can’t be wasted into another defeated and directionless Occupy.
See Paul Buchanan: He feels Sanders is “playing his cards correctly” by following a moderate-militant strategy – playing hardball in order to force significant concessions from the Clinton camp.
Buchanan rightly argues that: “Given her own negatives, she can no longer rely on loathing of Trump as a guarantee of a defensive vote turnout against him.* She needs Bernie more than he needs her, and his playing tough all the way to the convention is a way of underscoring that point … The worst thing that Sanders can do is concede or pull out of the race before the convention. Were he to do so he would lose any bargaining position he might have had …”
What the Clinton camp must understand most “is that the chances of a Clinton victory in November rest as much on gaining his support as they do on her own qualifications and experience.”
* Phil rightly highlights Trumps Sky High Unfavourability ratings but ignores the fact that Clinton isn’t too far behind him in this regard. She is strongly disliked by the all-important Independents.
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2016/05/bernie-the-spoiler/
Personally, if I was American there’s no way I’d vote for an Establishment/Status Quo Uber-Hawk like Clinton. But I’d be unable to bring myself to go for Trump either. Head, instead, I think in the direction of the Green candidate Jill Stein (which seems to be what a significant swathe of Sanders’ Independent supporters are thinking of doing).
At this point in proceedings it’s not the Clinton camp that need to understand what to do next. His legacy relies a whole bunch more on persuading her, then her persuading him. And he’s got just over a month to figure it out.
I can understand the desire for staying clean of it all by voting Green. Kind of.
From New Zealand, with the campaign attack ads and accusations to come, it’s filthy.
Your last sentence at 6.2 says it Ad. The Bern is actually part of the notableness of this run up to the US election. Incongruously Sanders and Trump occupy a very limited common ground.
Some Snowden Papers to read.
The more people are informed the better.
https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/
Came across this on can Clinton loose?
“Hillary dislikes the media. Her impulse is to keep the press away, to only give the appearance of access and to focus her attention on friendly outlets that will engage in puffery.”
Sound familiar? Surely not the same for Key?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11640967
so a distressed Lady comes to the shop, asks me if she could use my phone to call the cops.
Why not i says, and hand her the phone.
She finally ends up speaking to a copper, and at some stage just lost it : Listen, please send a cop car up that house and arrest these guys as they are cooking Meth, and i think they have given some to my partner and hie is out of it, and i ran away from home feeling not safe. ……A minute or two later she says : Look, if you don’t go, I will go up there with a shot gun and just shoot the fuckers? Would that be enough for one or two of you to show up and do your shop?
she hangs up and hands the phone to me, shaking in her barefeet. Close to tears very distraught. I hand her a cuppa and tell her to wait.
Coppers call the shop and ask me if this is for real!!!!! So i says, why yes, she is here, she is in tears, and obviously something is up and why don’t you come and check it out? i had to repeat that at least three times.
Coppers speaks with the Lady again, and finally agrees that someone will come.
End of story, some people got arrested for cooking meth, and distribution.
The two growth sectors in NZ during the National Party Years, houses and Meth.
That’s a big morning. Very well done Sabine. But what the hell is up with the business as usual attitude police?
the dairy next to me has been robbed several times.
i have had some bloke beating the living day light out of his missus while the baby was screaming its head of.
road rage with people pulling others out of their cars and such is daily occurrence and we used to be such a lovely neighborhood, until empty houses, high unemployment and unaffordable housing came near us.
Oh and drug deals after 5 pm on our shared carpark. Sometimes you kinda just want to ask whats the quality and how much.
and fact is, the coppers are not here for us, they are here to protect the nice hoods, and give us tickets.
So, frankly this business as usual.
As proven by their raids when FJK complained about The Teapot Tapes, the raid on Nicky Hager after Dirty Politics proved how corrupt National is and Slater getting off on diversion when he wasn’t eligible.
Sabine (9) … Police quite complacent. But then they must be at the ready to jump to anything FJK demands eg harassing Nicky Hager and other whistleblowers!
“The two growth sectors in NZ during the National Party Years, houses and Meth.”
True. Now add poverty to that list and you have three major growth sectors.
Good citizen Sabine, their are plenty of us out there, I hope that women will be all right.
A city is built of brick, Pharoah. The strong make many, the starving make few. The dead make none.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833/quotes?item=qt0469445for accusations.
an interesting read on the ‘real economy’ and the parasite economy – or the ‘free’ market economy that can not sustain itself without government handouts and subsidies.
http://prospect.org/article/confronting-parasite-economy
“here are two types of businesses in America today: those that pay their workers a living wage—the real economy—and those that don’t—the parasite economy. And all of us who live and work in the real economy should be royally pissed at the way the parasite economy is sucking us dry.
Here in the real economy, we solve the problems, build the things, and pay the wages that make America great. When politicians of both parties promise to attract “good jobs” to their districts or states, they’re talking about the kind of real-economy jobs that pay a decent middle-class wage—jobs that provide the income, benefits, and security necessary to participate robustly in the economy as a consumer and taxpayer. It is the real economy that drives both production and demand, and that fills our tax coffers with the money needed to educate our children, maintain our infrastructure, invest in research and development, fund our social safety net, and provide for the national defense.
But in the parasite economy—where companies large and small cling to low-wage business models out of ignorance or habit or simple greed—“good jobs,” and the economic dynamism they produce, are in short supply. This is the economy in which tens of millions of Americans work for poverty wages with few if any benefits, often in the face of abusive scheduling practices that make it impossible to plan their life from day to day, let alone month to month.”
Headline of the day!
Helping Out Lends a Hand to CV
(Sadly, it’s not actually about disaffected Labour Party members in the deep south, just some advice on sharpening up your resume)
You did that all by yourself, are you sure your alright, i mean to say theirs not even an apostrophe in sight, get your shit sorted fella. 👿
“Housing crisis, what housing crisis? It depends on what you mean by crisis, says the Government. And of course, what you mean by housing.”
“These are the public agencies that make Serco look good.” Raybon Kan
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11640706
This gem in the comments “We have also noted that the ones interviewed about living in cars on the news were all living in nice looking vehicles. No clapped out run about for them. “
one thing that i have heard a few times, and i guess it is gallows humor
I got myself i nice van, used, but relatively new, not to expensive to run and when i loose my flat or house i can live in it for a while.
So in a sense, if one is part of the precariat, it makes sense to invest in a vehicle such as a peoples mover or a van as it will provide shelter for the days where they have no home and the Winz drone is not helping.
Yeah I’ve made this comment before: 40 years ago May 1977 transiting at Manila on the way to China our plane taxied to the end of runway. Visible 150 metres away, shacks with TV aerials, amongst the banana palms. All the jet blast and the noise. Jeezuz !
“Ooh, look, they’re meant to be poor but they can afford TV !” rang out the voice of one of the ’20 Young Workers from New Zealand’ of which I was one. There was a bit of raruraru broke out as we taxied to the terminal. Everyone shut up at the sight of armed soldiers at the bottom of the stairs.
Same thing. “What wastrels ! They’ve got a $9,000 people mover.” On which they owe 7 grand, arseholes who think like that. Really inviting the pitchfork aren’t you ?
Also with refugees & cell phones, which I once saw a pithy commenter write – “They are escaping a war torn country, not the freakin’ 18th century!”
Momentum with ALP in Aussie Election
18 polls since the beginning of April
Two-Party Preferred
ALP leads in 9
Coalition leads in 1
Tie in 8
(ALP leads in 4 of the last 5 – and by 5 points in the latest)
Main concern: Significant number of key Marginals in NSW – just about the only State in Australia where the Coalition remains popular (at least at the State level). Means ALP probably need 51%+ in practice to win.
NZ Context
Coalition behind in Polls despite Turnbull remaining considerably more popular as Preferred PM than Labor’s Shorten and clearly more popular than John Key is here.
Unlike here oz have independant media who get watched in election campaigns so banksta turnbull gets doesnt get an armchair ride like shonky does here.
Murdochs papers are doing their best for malcolm but with compulsory voting he has to fool a majority not a third like here.
Letter from Britain:
‘Leave EU or face greater terror threat, Brexiteers warn’
https://www.rt.com/uk/343424-libya-brexit-interpol-migrants/
‘Tories will use Counter-Extremism Bill to silence their opponents – campaigners’
https://www.rt.com/uk/343461-queens-speech-extremism-bill/
‘Tony Blair lied on Iraq and will be exposed by Chilcot report’ – Corbyn’
https://www.rt.com/uk/343403-corbyn-chilcot-blair-iraq/
‘Trump blasts Tony Blair for Iraq War ‘disaster,’ says Britain should stand up to US presidents’
https://www.rt.com/uk/343295-trump-blair-iraq-khan/
‘ ‘Crime of aggression’: Alex Salmond’s quest to put Tony Blair on trial over Iraq hits legal snag’
https://www.rt.com/uk/343151-salmond-blair-iraq-impeachment/
For Lprent, no more court for you – well over this one.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/05/19/breaking-blogwatch-cameron-slater-halts-appeal-in-long-running-defamation-case/
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36315952
Good article on the need for Farmers to control emissions. From the BBC science site.
Unbelievable. Housing NZ has been selling its properties in Queenstown and Wanaka despite there being a serious housing shortage and a local Community housing trust offering to manage them. Source today’s ODT, not sure if it’s online.
Shocking!
Link to odity article on this http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/383719/state-house-be-offered-auction
Differing eligibility requirements between HNZ and Housing Trust, and $$$$ to be made by HNZ playing the market. I gather it’s really hard to meet HNZ requirements here as nearly all people with housing problems are from somewhere else, so it’s like go back where you came from. The local trust is a bit more realistic, just starved of capital and not getting a lot of assistance from government, yet.