Some time back I gave a tip about the price National were selling off the state houses in Tauranga for. It wasn’t an opinion or gossip, it was stated in black and white in Housing NZs annual report which was released in November last year. I can’t have been the only person to have noticed it and yet I’ve heard nothing from the media or any politlcal party about it. What’s going on, do the opposition parties think it so trivial they won’t even make a noise over it?
For those who don’t know. The 1140 Tauranga state houses being sold were independently valued at $364 million as of March 2016. Housing NZ (appear to have) been instructed by Treasury to write down the value of those houses in preparation for their sale. HNZ accordingly wrote off $224 million and earmarked the houses to be sold for around $137 million. That’s an average sale price of $120,000 in a market that today doesn’t have a single house for sale under $320,000.
Since that revaluation the value of houses in Tauranga has gone up another 10-20% so it’s even worse than it looks. The actual sale price is still being kept under wraps but the HNZ report should have been enough to trigger strong protests.
Now the issue here is not the sale of state assets, it is the gifting of state assets. Governments might claim a mandate to sell assets but none can claim a mandate to give them away to private interests like they’re doing with the Tauranga deal and plan to do with the sale of 2500 more state houses in ChCh
I feel pretty aggrieved about the lack of action on this because I’m 100% convinced that the opposition could have halted this asset sale if they’d actively and strongly opposed the huge discounting. It’s no good complaining after the deal is done, National can’t back out of the contract when the ink is dry.
So what can we expect from the opposition on this ongoing state house looting? Do they really care?
+1 DH -The blame is 100% National, ACT, United Future and The Maori Party for being in coalition with each other and destroying our assets in particular State houses while selling them cheap to cronies.
However I also agree that the opposition has been very weak on this. I hear more about Flags, insulation and property prices than actually real action on our assets being stollen from Kiwi’s AND the eviction of the most vulnerable due to this in a time where housing seems to be coming out of politicians mouths daily.
This seems to be some sort of strategy to have so many disgusting issues going on from the Natz that the opposition gets stretched and weakened on their opposition and there are the trivial distractions like weddings and trite racism/sexism scenarios being played out for weeks on the MSM and non MSM sites….
And the charities (who are already compromised by needing funding from the government) that got side tracked/tricked (who knows) into a ‘market driven’ approach to housing with the unitary plan and spent valuable air time on supporting that approach aka unitary plan, a market driven approach, than the State houses being sold and tenants being evicted right under their noses.
That’s how the Natz are still in power, by burying the real issues and turning groups that should be fighting against them, to fight against themselves and against the voters or be championing Natz vision of solving housing issues in NZ.
I think it is part of a larger picture of what is going wrong with the opposition and their messaging…. surely it would be a win win scenario to champion NOT privatising government assets, while pointing out that National is destroying State housing for the vulnerable while Natz are pretending a housing crisis doesn’t exist or they have a market solution.
Pretty easy message for the opposition, Don’t privatise our State Houses!!! I would say that at least 75% of Kiwis would support that.
But as soon as they get into weakly supporting Natz unitary plan they probably start haemorrhaging support down to 30% who think that is the way to go…. somehow turning a golden opportunity to catch out the government and be popular with Kiwi voters….Somehow they miss it and then turn their housing attentions into a complicated web of supporting unproven market driven Natz speak with unitary plan scenarios…
In addition unitary plan was a regional solution, again turning non Aucklanders off (as well as Aucklanders who did not agree with them). But selling State houses is happening all over NZ so it was always an issue that was important across NZ.
Who advises Labour and Greens… they are not doing a good job….. or is it the politicians themselves getting distracted… who knows…
Let’s be fair about this.
10:19 AM Wednesday Apr 27, 2016
“Public meeting to address Tauranga’s housing crisis
Four senior Labour MPs will be in Tauranga today to address the city’s housing crisis.
Housing spokesman Phil Twyford, plus David Parker, Nanaia Mahuta and Rino Tirikatene are holding a public meeting at the Wesley Centre on 13th Ave at 11am.
None of those links are addressing the substance of my post Tautoko Mangō Mata, which is the massive discount on the price of the houses.
The NBR article of August 2016 had this;
“On Friday, it was announced that Accessible Properties — which outbid two other companies — would buy 1124 state houses in Tauranga. Neither Accessible Properties nor Housing NZ would put a dollar value on the deal.”
Well in November 2016 Housing NZ did put a dollar value on the deal, which revealed a mammoth 62% discount, a “buy one house and we’ll give you two for free” deal, and I haven’t heard a peep out of anyone over it.
I’ve commented about Accessible Properties, Idea Services and IHC before.
I’d strongly recommend interested folk to spend a few hours searching the MSM reports involving this organisation and it’s ”officers”. The Charities Commission is a good start. And the companies register. Because there’s no law that says you can’t be involved in “charitable” housing development AND do private property development too. Is there?
And it seems that certain folk individuals are, kind of, above reproach…in fact get rewarded with plum positions even when they have already stuffed up.
DH…you are on the money (pun intended) on this. The whole deal stinks link a dead possum in the sun.
Disability Funding…there’s GOLD in them there ‘ills.
That was darned hard to read Graeme, but I think I got the gist of it.
It’s hard to see what kind of public benefit Accessible Properties will actually be providing. The deal with social housing is they charge full market rents and the Government pays part of that rent, the amount determined by the needs of the tenant. I’d think it the Govt providing the public benefit there, not the landlord.
Sorry about that DH, but it’s the only thing I could find that actually explained why the Trust lost it’s charitable status, all the press reports just said the Charities Act needed amendment (which is probably right)
That judgement will be having a chilling effect on any entity wanting to get involved in social housing ownership and development in desirable and expensive areas. This may go some way to explaining the difference between the pre sale valuations, which may have been a crock of shit depending on the basis of the valuation, and the offers received.
The Queenstown Trust is a bit different with it’s shared ownership model, but there are very valid reasons for that in a Queenstown context. The objective was to provide security for the grantees so living in Queenstown would be sustainable and reduce our horrendous turnover of mid / lower level workers.
The objective definition of poverty and associated charitable requirements conflicts with the subjective nature of un-affordability and depravation. The way I see it, if an entity wants to do social housing in Tauranga, under a charitable status, the housing would have to be in in the cheapest possible place, say Kawarau
That has nothing to do with the pre-sale valuations or the sale price Graeme.
The sale price was all about the fact that no charity has the cash to buy the state houses. They have to borrow the money and the interest cost on 100% borrowed money is about 2.5x the nett yield from rents on a newly purchased investment property. To make it immediately financially viable the charity either needs cash reserves of its own or it needs a (roughly) 60% discount on the price.
The problem for National is that a 60% discount completely rebuts every possible argument advanced for selling the houses.
Housing NZ housing portfolio in 2015 market value $20,900 million.
Housing NZ rental income for 2015/2016 year $1,076 million. That’s a gross yield from rents of 5.15%
Expenses for Housing NZ were;
Repairs and maintenance $289 million
Rates on properties $115 million
Water rates $34 million
Personnel costs $94 million
Other expenses $113 million
Total expenses $645 million which leaves a nett rental income of $431 million, a rental yield of 2.06%. Housing NZ charges market rents and the social housing providers will also charge market rents and have similar expenses to Housing NZ.
Interest on a loan to buy the housing portfolio would be 5.5-6%, meaning the deal can’t fly unless the price is discounted by a good 60% OR the buyer has substantial cash reserves to tide them over until inflation-driven rent increases improves the cash flow. The would-be buyers don’t have any spare cash.
The issue there as I read it is that the Queenstown charity was selling the houses and the court was not convinced of that as a charitable purpose.
Investing in private development to raise cash for charitable purposes is a different proposition since the purpose is not the property development, it’s to raise money.
More generally, Social housing would fall under relief of poverty, which is one of the charitable purposes in the Statute of Elizabeth. Building houses to rent them very cheaply to the impoverished would count, for example.
It might be more successful if Labour were to package up all the state houses being sold off as an issue they are fighting and publicise it on social media, MSM and non MSM media, rather than do it regionally…. better still work with the Greens and NZ First on it as a joint policy that you all agree on…
Make it the first thing, crystal clear, and point of difference between Labour and National housing policy!
I dunno. They were fighting the good fight but until now they were a bit toothless, there really isn’t much the opposition can do to stop asset sales as such. But this isn’t about just asset sales, it’s about selling assets for only a small fraction of their worth and that does give the opposition some teeth.
What people don’t seem to be grasping is that the Tauranga deal can’t proceed without the massive discount. It may not be possible to stop National selling assets but it should be possible to prevent them giving assets away for nothing. Stopping the discount should therefore logically stop the sale of the state houses. But now it may be too late because the deal has recently been signed and takes effect in April.
I disagree, the opposition could stop asset sales by jointly opposing them and doing a big advertising campaign about what the Natz are up to. The Natz are very concerned with focus groups and the like and they are already close to the wind on the Sky City deal that 95% of people opposed.
The opposition are not really banging home on the real issues that MOST members of the public are opposed to.
If Labour, NZ First and Greens are really serious about working together to form a new government and get the Natz out, that is a way to prove they can work together on point issues such as saving state housing state assets, even if they don’t agree on other issues.
Much debate on the Daily Blog at the moment on the Mt Albert by election.
Yet hardly any here.
Are people on this site as concerned as Chris Trotter and Martin Bradbury about the potential for damage caused by the Mt Albert by election?
Or do you agree with Keith Locke?
Or do you have a different opinion?
Our focus should be on changing the government in 2017 to a government that offers a real alternative to neo-liberalism.
33 years since the Douglas coup d’etat .
33 years since the working class in New Zealand were represented.
Time for that to change.
Bradbury has been attacking the Greens for a year or so. Trotter often attacks Labour. They’ve been stirring up opposition re-the by-election.
My impression here is that people are not so upset about the Greens standing along side Ardern.
Myself, as I work for Auckland Council, there are policies about workers public endorsing a political party in elections. So I don’t say a lot about elections, especially with Auckland elections..
I think Bradbury is right, the Greens should not be contesting the by Election. I was a bit on the fence at first, but if the big picture is to get votes in the General Election and present Labour and Greens as working together, then fighting it out in a by-election where anything other than a Labour victory would help National the most is another type of repeat of Te Tai Tokerau… a hollow victory.
Natz are not smart people, but their advisors are….
“What happens if Bill English tells National Party voters that they could damage Labour’s election chances if Jacinda lost and they vote for Julie Anne Genter instead?”
“What if he was more subtle and says, ‘National could work with the Greens, you should vote for Julie Anne Genter”.”
This could be a highly amusing election, which candidate is going to court the National voters 🙂
That could possibly be the most brilliant thing that could ever happen in NZ politics
To give you an idea of how good that idea is I would chose that option over John Key not retiring from politics
This is a thing, I’m going to email Bill Englishs office to help make this a reality…nope on second thought I’m going to take this higher, I’m going to my paymasters (the ones who really run this planet) and see if I can’t ask a favour from them
Paymasters don’t deign to grant favours, Pucky! Just continue doing as you are told.
*Still hurting from being abandoned by Key, I see. That burn will last a lifetime; how could he have done that to us??? The question of why Key jumped ship is going to provide entertainment for us for a long to to come.
After a (much deserved) Christmas break and through deliberation the only reasonable conclusion is that Sir John Key thrives on a challenge and because there was no challenge he couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to run another campaign
I heard yellow belly Key ran away because polls were showing that woman in particular were seeing him in his true colors …. that is a cheating, greedy, liar with a creepy hair fetish …..
Places where he has previously worked have a history of going bankrupt or facing some kind of speculative crisis not long after he has left ..
Lets hope his wrecker ball ways are confined to the National party and not NZ …..
…………………..
Personally I think he has a obvious drinking problem…. with a bar in his office, slurred words, liquid lunches, pissed in Parliament and getting to drunk to hammer a nail into soft pine …..or understand simple questions ….
He’s a belligerent snarky sneaky drinker as well….Tory to the core
Merrill Lynch was known as a piss-heads paradise…. in between all the cheating and derivatives scamming they did on their way to going bankrupt … …. with their company called the ‘blundering herd’.
But Bill English will put on the boxing gloves again for Puckish … although he punches like ruth richardson
Had another senior Grey Power member call me and offer support regarding the need for transparency in spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors.
You may be surprised just how widespread the appeal is for such transparency?
Bradbury loves to think up cunning plans that aren’t really feasible. It’s one thing for National to ask its supporters to vote for whatsisname who looks like Rimmer or Peter Dunne, it’s quite another to ask them to vote for someone as obviously antipathetic to their interests as Julie-Ann Genter. It would be like Labour asking its supporters to tactical-vote for their local ACT candidate. If National did look at it, they’d probably conclude that most of their supporters in the electorate would file the request under “You must be fucking joking pal” and that the cynicism involved would be so blatant the media would certainly cover it.
I am pretty sure you are right on this. While these sorts of games might be beloved by political theorists, in the real world people are not so malleable.
As you note, it is one thing to encourage supporters to vote for someone they know to be aligned with their own party for the specific purpose of gaining the Treasury benches. But they would balk at this. It goes against their basic political beliefs.
In fact it would be hugely damaging for National to give this sort of direction, not just among supporters, but more generally. It would effectively be holding our democratic system in contempt. Most people expect political parties to be true to themselves, not play games of this order.
So I am pretty sure the next MP for Mt Albert will be Jacinda Arden. The only way she won’t be is if National voters spontaneously decide otherwise. They might do so, but it is pretty unlikely. Most people are just not that engaged with politics.
Interesting comment. Mt Albert has thousands of Nat voters and most will turn out and vote. Who will they vote for? Will they plump for the Labour candidate or will they choose to give Labour a bloody nose and elect Genter?
It is why it is so hard to win back seats at the next election that have gone to third parties. Many voters will not immediately reverse their votes, since they don’t like to admit they made a mistake.
errr …. why would the good people of Mt Albert vote for their MP someone who is already an MP?
Both Jacinda Adern and Julie-Anne Genter are already MPs.
How about a really decisive protest vote against the rorts, ripoffs and corruption, which have helped transform New Zealand into a corrupt, polluted tax haven, and vote into the House the proven anti-corruption (and anti-privatisation) campaigner, who has ‘blown the whistle till her eyeballs bled’ (as it were), persistently and consistently against corruption for the last TEN years?
I’m not an MP (yet).
But what better way to help make a fuss about corruption than to vote Independent candidate Penny Bright MP for Mt Albert?
I’m not a member of ANY political party.
I’ll ‘hit the ground running’.
No sitting in the House quietly ‘breathing in through my nose’.
Having made an initial (and somewhat grumpy) comment on the matter here in late December ( /open-mike-27122016/#comment-1280032 ) , I’ve been working on a post for my Blog entitled Mt Albert Mousetrap. I just knew that if I left it too long someone else would have similar thoughts … and they have … Brads and Trots anticipating most (but not quite all) of my argument.
Bugger, Bugger Bugger !!!
As I already wrote in my draft … “In trying to win a relatively trivial battle for their own Party, the Greens are in danger of losing the entire War for the Left.”
On the one hand, I think – with no candidate – a disproportionate number of Mt Albert Nats will stay home on By-Election day. But I suspect that at least a reasonable minority of the maybe 30-35% of Tories who do get out and vote will be the kind of Party loyalists who are more than prepared to hold their noses and do what’s best for the Nats (vote Genter to embarrass Labour and sew division on the Left). Not necessarily a majority of Nat voters (I agree that for many it will just go too much against the grain) but quite possibly a large minority.
But perhaps even more importantly – and I don’t think Brads or Trots entirely got to the heart of this (they certainly haven’t spelt it out in any way) – an overwhelming 73% of Green Party-Voters backed Shearer in the Candidate-Vote at the last Election. That was way ahead of the average Labour MP – in the Country as a whole, just 47% of Greens Candidate-Voted Labour.
Indeed, Shearer was one of those rare Labour MPs whose Candidate-Vote was derived, first and foremost (ie more than half), from non-Labour voters.
So, in a one-vote By-Election, where voters can’t enjoy the (General Election) luxury of being able to separate out their core political allegiance (as expressed in the Party-Vote) from their favoured personality (Candidate-Vote), it’s reasonable to assume that a significant chunk of that 73% of Greens (5810 voters to be precise) are going to reaffirm their primary political allegiance and chose Genter. All the more so when there is no National candidate to scare them into strategically voting Ardern.
It’s important to avoid being too alarmist, though. I doubt that Ardern is any great danger of actually losing the seat …
… But – with a potential majority of 2014 Green-Shearer voters combining forces with a potential large minority of Nats – it’s quite possible Genter will slash Labour’s majority. And in a seat that Farrar has already loudly proclaimed one of “Labour’s” safest (in fact, it’s a Shearer stronghold, not a Labour one. Labour received just 29% f the Party-Vote at the last Election).
So you can imagine the headlines in a media where senior journalists are often subtlely influenced (to put it generously) by Farrar et al.
I’ve got a few other points to make … so may still do the post … but it’s a real bugger when someone (in fact 2 geezers) beats you to it, especially after I’d done quite a bit of work on it.
Yeah, but with no National candidate, most Greens will assume there is no need to vote tactically. For them, it’s between Ardern and their own candidate … so they’ll assume it’s a win-win situation and hence why not vote Genter. And the Greens will presumably be going all out to win. I don’t think we can rely on ordinary Green voters in Mt Albert getting the message that a slashed Labour majority will generate enormous hostility within the Left and dire headlines in the media.
Greens have certainly strategically voted for the Labour candidate in other recent By Elections (ie those where a Green candidate also stood). But we now find ourselves in a unique situation where there is no National candidate to scare them in Labour’s direction.
I’m sure plenty of Greens will, indeed, vote Ardern … but I doubt it’ll be anything like the 73% who chose Shearer at the (two-vote) General Election.
* 75 more ‘hot days’ a year
* Up to 3.3C hotter in summer
* Double the time spent in drought
* Increased flood risk
* Coastal erosion
* Risk of salmonella, dengue fever, Ross River virus
* Increased biosecurity threat from invasive pests
* Uneconomic crops, kiwifruit (by 2050)
From the local store and the who owns the store could have exploited the situation by putting up the price of bottled water…he didn’t, he’s selling it at cost.
No offence but I really don’t think that Jacinda is the closest we have to a political celebrity…. nor do I think true right wingers will vote for her…
Swimmable rivers and lakes, sustainable farming. TOP’s default goal is for swimmable rivers, unless local communities decide otherwise. We want intensification of land use to cease unless the impacts can be offset. TOP will invest in monitoring, research, improving water quality and resolving Treaty claims. This will be paid for by a levy on commercial water users and polluters, paid into regional Nature Investment Funds (NIFs).
Protect and restore our oceans. TOP will use spatial planning to ensure all ocean users have fair access to the resources in our Exclusive Economic Zone. This would also ensure that at least 10% of all ecosystems is set aside as no-take reserves, with compensation for existing users where appropriate. This process would be funded by a resource rental on all commercial ocean resource users.
Enhancing our natural assets. TOP will impose a $20 levy on all tourists entering the country. This revenue will be used to improve local infrastructure and placed in an independently managed fund that can be invested with partners to get the best biodiversity return (which may include the Regional Council NIFs).
Resource Management – Less paperwork, more protection. TOP will ensure that development which delivers no net loss of natural capital can proceed in a timely fashion. Any use of biodiversity offsets will be quality assured. RMA fines will be directed to restoring the damage caused by the breach.
”TOP is promoting tradeable pollution rights, similar to the Emissions Trading Scheme, when there’s little evidence that allowing polluters to trade the right to pollute will improve water quality and a high risk that tradeable pollution rights will make water and land use management more complicated. The Emissions Trading Scheme has greenhouse emissions trending up when we want them going down, so we hardly want its equivalent to prevent nitrates, sediment and other contaminants going into our rivers, oceans, soils and atmosphere.”
I note she makes no mention that top propose a lowering bar on pollution.
ets will never work because it’s global so to prone to crooks, but an in house nz one could work as long as scum like key is never in charge of it.
best case scenario is the greens at least hold their % and top get over the 5% mark , they seem to have a lot in common.
From the policy announcements so far they seem a bit vague, and I don’t think that’s great if you’re trying to attract voters to you. Case in point was their first policy launched, taxing property owners more. But I can’t tell you how much they will taxed, which is fairly important.
They also want to force elderly people with a mortgage-free home and low income to mortgage their house to pay a property tax. That alone would stop me voting for them. Morgan has some good ideas but when he gets to the detail comes across as clueless about what matter. Same with his UBI model which ignores the supplementary benefits that most beneficiaries are dependent on.
Fair comment. I was going by the title only, and ignored the fact that this is a song with no passion.
However, when you stop to think about it, it’s entirely appropriate for a president with no passion. He couldn’t even sigh convincingly during his farcical performance on Robben Island….
Seriously – Labour need to find a good way to differentiate from National. Sale and privatisation of NZ assets like State houses are a good place to start to show the difference in policy!
I’m thinking of starting up a petition to bring back John and make him be president for life and it doesn’t even bother what party hes leader of, in fact he could take turns being leader of the rest of the parties
Wonderful idea, Pucky!
Let me help: Calling all readers of The Standard. Puckish Rogue is inviting you to sign his petition to Bring Back John Key! Show your support for Pucky, and for “Sir John” by leaving a supportive comment below. With your support, Pucky believes he can Bring Back John!
(I’ve taken the liberty of signing up James as a matter of course, Pucky)
Edit: Oh, and fisiani
Problem for the Left is that the move from socialism is too late to stop. The TOP party will gobble their votes and then if they get 5% will want to be in government. A 4% drop means a National Government a 5% + vote means a National/TOP government
Just to squeeze Robert in beteeen 4 rwnj i also see Uk labour also are doing well (sarc) Jeremy Corbyn’s net approval rating continues to plummet, now hitting -43%. what’s going on why are the dumb ass masses not buying the hard left kool aid
“The NZ Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has increased to 140pts (up 9pts) in January with 63% (up 4.5%) of NZ electors saying NZ is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 23% (down 4.5%) that say NZ is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.”
Things are good and heading in the right direction. Bill was an architect of this. Why change the government and mess it all up.
oh – and thats got to hurt with National up with Bill in charge.
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A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jan Rivers spoke at the Abortion Legislation Select Committee in favour of the bill, but in opposition to calls from other submitters to exchange the word ‘woman’ for ‘person’ throughout the bill. Jan is a supporter of the feminist group Speak Up For Women and has recently written an excellent ...
I checked my traffic stats:I was intrigued by 'monica29' - who was this very dedicated individual? I clicked on the link, to be greeted with ...Ho, hum.Spreadin' the word, spreadin' the word. Doesn't matter who hears it, as long as it gets out there. ...
There have been three polls since the election was announced, and I will shamelessly steal YouGov / UK Polling Report's Anthony Wells' summary of them:Survation – CON 34%, LAB 26%, LDEM 19%, BREX 12%, GRN 1% Ipsos MORI – CON 41%, LAB 24%, LDEM 20%, BREX 7%, GRN 3% YouGov ...
The following article is translated from Lutte Ouvrière, the weekly newspaper of the organisation usually known by the same name in France. When, for the second time this year, Chilean President Piñera announced an increase in the price of Metro tickets from 800 to 830 pesos, students in the high ...
Today, a worker contacted me asking if she could go to the police over her employer stealing thousands of dollars from her in unpaid wages. The employer also did not pay this worker’s taxes or student loan which amounts to tax fraud. As a workers rights activist, who founded the ...
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, They're Yours: Is there any person more vulnerable than a jilted lover on the rebound? Or, anything more certain than that the charmer, the predator, the glib spinner of lies and promises will seek such broken people out? Yes, of course, he will love every one of ...
Though Jonathan Romain is a fairly high profile Rabbi, writing in several papers and popping up on TV and the radio, this story doesn't seem to have made it to the Guardian yet, so I'll take the unusual step of linking the Stephen Pollard edited Jewish Chronicle:Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain ...
There's an election afoot, and that is when noted opinion formers such as myself get to make wild fools of ourselves by pretending we have the faintest idea what will happen.So, here is my absurdly optimistic prediction:Labour - 285Conservative - 262SNP - 53Lib Dems - 20PC - 5Ireland - 18 ...
Image Credit:Increase Social Media Traffic & Website Traffic I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your ...
Belinda CridgeI was reading my son a story last night. A great tale of derring-do of five mountaineers scaling the Matterhorn for the first time. One in the party had tried six times previously and failed, this was the last attempt before winter closed another season. They tried a ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of Bede Corry as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. “The appointment of a senior diplomat to this important role underlines the significance New Zealand places on our relationship with the United Kingdom,” said Mr Peters. “The United ...
An innovative approach to boosting the number of frontline Police has seen 20 new officers graduate from one of the uncommon training wings in Auckland. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation of 20 constables today means that 1,765 new Police officers have been deployed since the coalition government took ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the 1.2 million hours of community work completed by offenders in the last financial year has helped local communities right across the country. “Community work sentences are a great way for people to pay something positive back to society. There is a massive benefit to ...
"A pathway for Police in leadership with Iwi Māori, to achieve the aspirations of Māori whānau." Police launch of Te Huringa o Te Tai, Pipitea Marae, Thorndon Quay, Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou. Hello everyone, warm greetings to you all. ...
Working New Zealanders are getting more in their back pockets under the Coalition Government’s economic plan. Stats NZ data today shows average weekly ordinary time earnings are up by $83 since the Government took office. This shows that working New Zealanders are getting higher take-home pay, and that employers are ...
'Policing' is increasingly falling to private security and citizen-led initiatives. Yet the wages and the training don't match the responsibility. So what can we do? ...
The biggest shakeup in the country’s broadcasting history looks to be looming as the Government gets serious about its options for strengthening public service broadcasting. ...
Support for the Zero Carbon Bill shows our action on climate will have to disrupt the status quo, writes Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. That will mean new opportunities - and costs. ...
Football Ferns captain Ali Riley is making the most of her opportunity to play for German giants Bayern Munich, harbouring a dream to represent NZ at her fifth World Cup ...
Yesterday, Stuff reported that the 2017 Chinese-made propaganda blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 was partially made in New Zealand. Sam Brooks watched it and – spoiler alert – found it weird as hell.About halfway through Wolf Warrior 2 on Netflix, the unnamed leader of a revolution in an unnamed African country marches up ...
Rather than get distracted by the stadium debate, we need to urgently acknowledge that unlocking this land now for future integration into the CBD is critical for Auckland’s future, aruges Paul Winstanley.Don’t be fooled. This is not just another story about the waterfront stadium. Well, not really. Like the mayor ...
The Period Poverty Solution Petition: The Health and Wellbeing Implications was presented by the Positive Periods campaign team, of which The Period Place is a part of, at a cross-party breakfast, thanks to Louisa Wall MP and Joanne Hayes MP in Parliament ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on the Great Kiwi Bake Off, it’s all about weird biscuits. Savoury biscuits. Mushroomy biscuits. Biscuits about cross fit. Who had the best biscuit art of them all? Why is Trev ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University Australia continues to experience unprecedented destruction from bushfires. Now is the time to harness our technological tools, and find innovative ways to help alleviate the problem, and also prevent future disaster. ...
The KickStart Breakfast programme will tomorrow celebrate 10-years as the only national breakfast programme of its kind in Aotearoa, serving more than 30 million breakfasts since 2009. ...
This is a rare public edition of The Bulletin World Weekly, an exclusive newsletter for The Spinoff Members that gets delivered every Thursday afternoon. Today’s edition focuses on the aftermath of Bolivian president Evo Morales being forced from office. Earlier in the week, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, was forced out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tregear, Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne Review: Platform Papers 61: Criticism, Performance and the Need for Conversation, by Alison Croggon (Currency Press) “Pay no attention to what the critics say”, quipped the composer Jean Sibelius in 1937, because “there has ...
The recent decision to allow massive amounts of Otago’s Lindis River to be extracted for irrigation and intensive farming has been labelled environmental vandalism by a national angling organization. ...
Alex Casey goes on a journey to find out all there is to know about what a “normal” vulva looks like. Spoiler alert: there are many, many versions of normal. The funniest and most embarrassing thing anyone has ever said to me in my whole life happened during my very first ...
A political communications analyst says voters may be overwhelmed by the prospect of two referendums and a general election at the same time next year. ...
Auckland's booming industrial market is paying off for Goodman Property Trust (GMT), with a more than 10-fold increase in gains on the value its portfolio. ...
A review into Corrections' mail system identified multiple "deficiencies" and has recommended the department be given more powers to read, copy, and store letters coming in and out of prison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Bushfires continue to burn across NSW and Queensland, the death toll has risen, and the damage to properties, wildlife and the environment is devastating. With conditions predicted to worsen over the summer, climate change has ...
New Chief Executive Dawn Baxendale says Christchurch City Council has moved swiftly to address concerns raised by the Chief Ombudsman about the organisation’s official information practices. ...
The Mental Health Foundation strongly opposes the introduction of armed police to Aotearoa New Zealand due to well-founded concerns that guns will disproportionately be used against individuals experiencing mental health crises. ...
The Chief Ombudsman says his latest report into official information practice at local authorities is a wakeup call for all council leaders about the importance of an open and transparent workplace culture-and their accountability for achieving ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Jade Tang-Taylor and Anna Guenther from Cheese Cartel.Cheese Cartel was the outcome of ...
An untimely leak to RNZ brought some clarity to the government’s plans for its media assets – yet left many questions unanswered. Duncan Greive analyses the latest revelations.RNZ’s flagship Morning Report programme today led its prime 7.10am slot with a bombshell about Radio New Zealand itself. Political editor Jane Patterson ...
The 2019 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards are just a few hours away and, believe it, we have reckons. Who will win? Who should win? Sam Brooks is ready for some prognosticating.It’s the biggest night in New Zealand music – the one that’s televised, the one that got (fake) Paula ...
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Some time back I gave a tip about the price National were selling off the state houses in Tauranga for. It wasn’t an opinion or gossip, it was stated in black and white in Housing NZs annual report which was released in November last year. I can’t have been the only person to have noticed it and yet I’ve heard nothing from the media or any politlcal party about it. What’s going on, do the opposition parties think it so trivial they won’t even make a noise over it?
For those who don’t know. The 1140 Tauranga state houses being sold were independently valued at $364 million as of March 2016. Housing NZ (appear to have) been instructed by Treasury to write down the value of those houses in preparation for their sale. HNZ accordingly wrote off $224 million and earmarked the houses to be sold for around $137 million. That’s an average sale price of $120,000 in a market that today doesn’t have a single house for sale under $320,000.
Since that revaluation the value of houses in Tauranga has gone up another 10-20% so it’s even worse than it looks. The actual sale price is still being kept under wraps but the HNZ report should have been enough to trigger strong protests.
Now the issue here is not the sale of state assets, it is the gifting of state assets. Governments might claim a mandate to sell assets but none can claim a mandate to give them away to private interests like they’re doing with the Tauranga deal and plan to do with the sale of 2500 more state houses in ChCh
I feel pretty aggrieved about the lack of action on this because I’m 100% convinced that the opposition could have halted this asset sale if they’d actively and strongly opposed the huge discounting. It’s no good complaining after the deal is done, National can’t back out of the contract when the ink is dry.
So what can we expect from the opposition on this ongoing state house looting? Do they really care?
+1 DH -The blame is 100% National, ACT, United Future and The Maori Party for being in coalition with each other and destroying our assets in particular State houses while selling them cheap to cronies.
However I also agree that the opposition has been very weak on this. I hear more about Flags, insulation and property prices than actually real action on our assets being stollen from Kiwi’s AND the eviction of the most vulnerable due to this in a time where housing seems to be coming out of politicians mouths daily.
This seems to be some sort of strategy to have so many disgusting issues going on from the Natz that the opposition gets stretched and weakened on their opposition and there are the trivial distractions like weddings and trite racism/sexism scenarios being played out for weeks on the MSM and non MSM sites….
And the charities (who are already compromised by needing funding from the government) that got side tracked/tricked (who knows) into a ‘market driven’ approach to housing with the unitary plan and spent valuable air time on supporting that approach aka unitary plan, a market driven approach, than the State houses being sold and tenants being evicted right under their noses.
That’s how the Natz are still in power, by burying the real issues and turning groups that should be fighting against them, to fight against themselves and against the voters or be championing Natz vision of solving housing issues in NZ.
I can’t even begin to speculate there, the relative silence is a mystery to me.
There’s a decent post on TDB worth reading too;
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/12/30/tdb-exclusive-alan-johnson-the-horrific-truth-about-bill-englishs-state-housing-privatisation/
Interestingly he mentions that private investors may be involved in the Tauranga deal which opens an even bigger can of worms if that’s true.
I think it is part of a larger picture of what is going wrong with the opposition and their messaging…. surely it would be a win win scenario to champion NOT privatising government assets, while pointing out that National is destroying State housing for the vulnerable while Natz are pretending a housing crisis doesn’t exist or they have a market solution.
Pretty easy message for the opposition, Don’t privatise our State Houses!!! I would say that at least 75% of Kiwis would support that.
But as soon as they get into weakly supporting Natz unitary plan they probably start haemorrhaging support down to 30% who think that is the way to go…. somehow turning a golden opportunity to catch out the government and be popular with Kiwi voters….Somehow they miss it and then turn their housing attentions into a complicated web of supporting unproven market driven Natz speak with unitary plan scenarios…
In addition unitary plan was a regional solution, again turning non Aucklanders off (as well as Aucklanders who did not agree with them). But selling State houses is happening all over NZ so it was always an issue that was important across NZ.
Who advises Labour and Greens… they are not doing a good job….. or is it the politicians themselves getting distracted… who knows…
Let’s be fair about this.
10:19 AM Wednesday Apr 27, 2016
“Public meeting to address Tauranga’s housing crisis
Four senior Labour MPs will be in Tauranga today to address the city’s housing crisis.
Housing spokesman Phil Twyford, plus David Parker, Nanaia Mahuta and Rino Tirikatene are holding a public meeting at the Wesley Centre on 13th Ave at 11am.
The MPs are keen for anyone with housing concerns in Tauranga to come along and talk about how they are affected and possible solution”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11628853
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11672275
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1608/S00227/state-house-sell-off-a-kick-in-the-guts.htm
https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/state-houses-being-sold-below-valuation-%E2%80%94-twyford-ck-192951
Bill puts ministers above law – Labour – FBC News
preview-www.fbc.com.fj/world/30821/bill-puts-ministers-above-law—labour
None of those links are addressing the substance of my post Tautoko Mangō Mata, which is the massive discount on the price of the houses.
The NBR article of August 2016 had this;
“On Friday, it was announced that Accessible Properties — which outbid two other companies — would buy 1124 state houses in Tauranga. Neither Accessible Properties nor Housing NZ would put a dollar value on the deal.”
Well in November 2016 Housing NZ did put a dollar value on the deal, which revealed a mammoth 62% discount, a “buy one house and we’ll give you two for free” deal, and I haven’t heard a peep out of anyone over it.
I’ve commented about Accessible Properties, Idea Services and IHC before.
I’d strongly recommend interested folk to spend a few hours searching the MSM reports involving this organisation and it’s ”officers”. The Charities Commission is a good start. And the companies register. Because there’s no law that says you can’t be involved in “charitable” housing development AND do private property development too. Is there?
And it seems that certain folk individuals are, kind of, above reproach…in fact get rewarded with plum positions even when they have already stuffed up.
DH…you are on the money (pun intended) on this. The whole deal stinks link a dead possum in the sun.
Disability Funding…there’s GOLD in them there ‘ills.
Private development is legal for charities as long as it contributes to the charitable purpose(s) e.g. as a form of fundraising.
Not necessarily, and the entity has to be really careful how and where they do it.
The Queenstown Housing Trust fell foul of the Charities Act.
http://www.taxcounsel.co.nz/Resources/NZ+Tax+and+Trusts+Case+Notes/Case+Notes+2011/Community+Housing+Trust+Not+Charitable.html
That was darned hard to read Graeme, but I think I got the gist of it.
It’s hard to see what kind of public benefit Accessible Properties will actually be providing. The deal with social housing is they charge full market rents and the Government pays part of that rent, the amount determined by the needs of the tenant. I’d think it the Govt providing the public benefit there, not the landlord.
Sorry about that DH, but it’s the only thing I could find that actually explained why the Trust lost it’s charitable status, all the press reports just said the Charities Act needed amendment (which is probably right)
That judgement will be having a chilling effect on any entity wanting to get involved in social housing ownership and development in desirable and expensive areas. This may go some way to explaining the difference between the pre sale valuations, which may have been a crock of shit depending on the basis of the valuation, and the offers received.
The Queenstown Trust is a bit different with it’s shared ownership model, but there are very valid reasons for that in a Queenstown context. The objective was to provide security for the grantees so living in Queenstown would be sustainable and reduce our horrendous turnover of mid / lower level workers.
The objective definition of poverty and associated charitable requirements conflicts with the subjective nature of un-affordability and depravation. The way I see it, if an entity wants to do social housing in Tauranga, under a charitable status, the housing would have to be in in the cheapest possible place, say Kawarau
That has nothing to do with the pre-sale valuations or the sale price Graeme.
The sale price was all about the fact that no charity has the cash to buy the state houses. They have to borrow the money and the interest cost on 100% borrowed money is about 2.5x the nett yield from rents on a newly purchased investment property. To make it immediately financially viable the charity either needs cash reserves of its own or it needs a (roughly) 60% discount on the price.
The problem for National is that a 60% discount completely rebuts every possible argument advanced for selling the houses.
Here’s some numbers….
Housing NZ housing portfolio in 2015 market value $20,900 million.
Housing NZ rental income for 2015/2016 year $1,076 million. That’s a gross yield from rents of 5.15%
Expenses for Housing NZ were;
Repairs and maintenance $289 million
Rates on properties $115 million
Water rates $34 million
Personnel costs $94 million
Other expenses $113 million
Total expenses $645 million which leaves a nett rental income of $431 million, a rental yield of 2.06%. Housing NZ charges market rents and the social housing providers will also charge market rents and have similar expenses to Housing NZ.
Interest on a loan to buy the housing portfolio would be 5.5-6%, meaning the deal can’t fly unless the price is discounted by a good 60% OR the buyer has substantial cash reserves to tide them over until inflation-driven rent increases improves the cash flow. The would-be buyers don’t have any spare cash.
The issue there as I read it is that the Queenstown charity was selling the houses and the court was not convinced of that as a charitable purpose.
Investing in private development to raise cash for charitable purposes is a different proposition since the purpose is not the property development, it’s to raise money.
More generally, Social housing would fall under relief of poverty, which is one of the charitable purposes in the Statute of Elizabeth. Building houses to rent them very cheaply to the impoverished would count, for example.
It might be more successful if Labour were to package up all the state houses being sold off as an issue they are fighting and publicise it on social media, MSM and non MSM media, rather than do it regionally…. better still work with the Greens and NZ First on it as a joint policy that you all agree on…
Make it the first thing, crystal clear, and point of difference between Labour and National housing policy!
Not only that they are selling them way under value, ripping off the tax payers as well as enriching cronies buying them up!
Even the most ardent Natz supporter will be against corruption and poor management!
Everyone else will be against the State house privatisation in the first place!
I dunno. They were fighting the good fight but until now they were a bit toothless, there really isn’t much the opposition can do to stop asset sales as such. But this isn’t about just asset sales, it’s about selling assets for only a small fraction of their worth and that does give the opposition some teeth.
What people don’t seem to be grasping is that the Tauranga deal can’t proceed without the massive discount. It may not be possible to stop National selling assets but it should be possible to prevent them giving assets away for nothing. Stopping the discount should therefore logically stop the sale of the state houses. But now it may be too late because the deal has recently been signed and takes effect in April.
I disagree, the opposition could stop asset sales by jointly opposing them and doing a big advertising campaign about what the Natz are up to. The Natz are very concerned with focus groups and the like and they are already close to the wind on the Sky City deal that 95% of people opposed.
The opposition are not really banging home on the real issues that MOST members of the public are opposed to.
If Labour, NZ First and Greens are really serious about working together to form a new government and get the Natz out, that is a way to prove they can work together on point issues such as saving state housing state assets, even if they don’t agree on other issues.
Much debate on the Daily Blog at the moment on the Mt Albert by election.
Yet hardly any here.
Are people on this site as concerned as Chris Trotter and Martin Bradbury about the potential for damage caused by the Mt Albert by election?
Or do you agree with Keith Locke?
Or do you have a different opinion?
Martin Bradbury : How Jacinda Arden loses the Mt Albert by-election
Chris Trotter : In To Win – Responding to Keith Locke’s Post on the Mt Albert By-Election.
Keith Locke : Mt Albert by-election good opportunity for the Greens
Sadly, Paul, the preoccupation of some on this site seems to be on recycling black propaganda against dissenters like Julian Assange.
Our focus should be on changing the government in 2017 to a government that offers a real alternative to neo-liberalism.
33 years since the Douglas coup d’etat .
33 years since the working class in New Zealand were represented.
Time for that to change.
Bradbury has been attacking the Greens for a year or so. Trotter often attacks Labour. They’ve been stirring up opposition re-the by-election.
My impression here is that people are not so upset about the Greens standing along side Ardern.
Myself, as I work for Auckland Council, there are policies about workers public endorsing a political party in elections. So I don’t say a lot about elections, especially with Auckland elections..
I think Bradbury is right, the Greens should not be contesting the by Election. I was a bit on the fence at first, but if the big picture is to get votes in the General Election and present Labour and Greens as working together, then fighting it out in a by-election where anything other than a Labour victory would help National the most is another type of repeat of Te Tai Tokerau… a hollow victory.
Natz are not smart people, but their advisors are….
“What happens if Bill English tells National Party voters that they could damage Labour’s election chances if Jacinda lost and they vote for Julie Anne Genter instead?”
“What if he was more subtle and says, ‘National could work with the Greens, you should vote for Julie Anne Genter”.”
This could be a highly amusing election, which candidate is going to court the National voters 🙂
Or is this a double-bluff by Bradbury to get the Greens an electorate seat by giving the National voters the idea to vote for the Greens! 🙂
Nah, all the Nats should vote for Penny. Then neither the Greens nor Labour get the seat.
That could possibly be the most brilliant thing that could ever happen in NZ politics
To give you an idea of how good that idea is I would chose that option over John Key not retiring from politics
This is a thing, I’m going to email Bill Englishs office to help make this a reality…nope on second thought I’m going to take this higher, I’m going to my paymasters (the ones who really run this planet) and see if I can’t ask a favour from them
Penny for Mt Albert!
Paymasters don’t deign to grant favours, Pucky! Just continue doing as you are told.
*Still hurting from being abandoned by Key, I see. That burn will last a lifetime; how could he have done that to us??? The question of why Key jumped ship is going to provide entertainment for us for a long to to come.
You’d be surprised at what you can exchange ones soul for…
Yeah, but you can only do that once, Pucky, and yours went long ago…
Worked out the reason for Key’s inglorious departure yet? Love to hear your view.
After a (much deserved) Christmas break and through deliberation the only reasonable conclusion is that Sir John Key thrives on a challenge and because there was no challenge he couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to run another campaign
You spent your holiday anguishing over Slur John?
Figures.
I thought everyone did?
I heard yellow belly Key ran away because polls were showing that woman in particular were seeing him in his true colors …. that is a cheating, greedy, liar with a creepy hair fetish …..
Places where he has previously worked have a history of going bankrupt or facing some kind of speculative crisis not long after he has left ..
Lets hope his wrecker ball ways are confined to the National party and not NZ …..
…………………..
Personally I think he has a obvious drinking problem…. with a bar in his office, slurred words, liquid lunches, pissed in Parliament and getting to drunk to hammer a nail into soft pine …..or understand simple questions ….
He’s a belligerent snarky sneaky drinker as well….Tory to the core
Merrill Lynch was known as a piss-heads paradise…. in between all the cheating and derivatives scamming they did on their way to going bankrupt … …. with their company called the ‘blundering herd’.
But Bill English will put on the boxing gloves again for Puckish … although he punches like ruth richardson
The lizards will surely agree. 🙂
Had another senior Grey Power member call me and offer support regarding the need for transparency in spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors.
You may be surprised just how widespread the appeal is for such transparency?
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate Mt Albert by-election.
Bradbury loves to think up cunning plans that aren’t really feasible. It’s one thing for National to ask its supporters to vote for whatsisname who looks like Rimmer or Peter Dunne, it’s quite another to ask them to vote for someone as obviously antipathetic to their interests as Julie-Ann Genter. It would be like Labour asking its supporters to tactical-vote for their local ACT candidate. If National did look at it, they’d probably conclude that most of their supporters in the electorate would file the request under “You must be fucking joking pal” and that the cynicism involved would be so blatant the media would certainly cover it.
Psycho Milt,
I am pretty sure you are right on this. While these sorts of games might be beloved by political theorists, in the real world people are not so malleable.
As you note, it is one thing to encourage supporters to vote for someone they know to be aligned with their own party for the specific purpose of gaining the Treasury benches. But they would balk at this. It goes against their basic political beliefs.
In fact it would be hugely damaging for National to give this sort of direction, not just among supporters, but more generally. It would effectively be holding our democratic system in contempt. Most people expect political parties to be true to themselves, not play games of this order.
So I am pretty sure the next MP for Mt Albert will be Jacinda Arden. The only way she won’t be is if National voters spontaneously decide otherwise. They might do so, but it is pretty unlikely. Most people are just not that engaged with politics.
National claim they are keeping their powder dry but Labour are getting time in front of the Voters and headlines.
Interesting comment. Mt Albert has thousands of Nat voters and most will turn out and vote. Who will they vote for? Will they plump for the Labour candidate or will they choose to give Labour a bloody nose and elect Genter?
Once a National vote Green once a small percentage will vote green again in the general election.
Political science 101.
Tricledrown
This is always a risk with such games.
It is why it is so hard to win back seats at the next election that have gone to third parties. Many voters will not immediately reverse their votes, since they don’t like to admit they made a mistake.
No one gives a fuck what you think fsiassi
Please stop dissing the guy’s name. Racism is neither cute nor effective. Aren’t his often-pathetic points enough to respond to?
It would be extra amusing if nuttyanal voters remember that advice come election time.
errr …. why would the good people of Mt Albert vote for their MP someone who is already an MP?
Both Jacinda Adern and Julie-Anne Genter are already MPs.
How about a really decisive protest vote against the rorts, ripoffs and corruption, which have helped transform New Zealand into a corrupt, polluted tax haven, and vote into the House the proven anti-corruption (and anti-privatisation) campaigner, who has ‘blown the whistle till her eyeballs bled’ (as it were), persistently and consistently against corruption for the last TEN years?
I’m not an MP (yet).
But what better way to help make a fuss about corruption than to vote Independent candidate Penny Bright MP for Mt Albert?
I’m not a member of ANY political party.
I’ll ‘hit the ground running’.
No sitting in the House quietly ‘breathing in through my nose’.
I’ll be breathing out through my nose.
FIRE!
Parliament won’t know what the hell hit it 🙂
Penny Bright
Proven ‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
2017 Independent candidate Mt Albert by-election.
How would they get the overwhelming stench of cat’s pee out of the debating chamber ?
Why are you going to be in the debating chamber Stunned Mullet?
😉
The only reasonable response to this is:
Mt Albert
Ohhhh Bugger !!!
Having made an initial (and somewhat grumpy) comment on the matter here in late December ( /open-mike-27122016/#comment-1280032 ) , I’ve been working on a post for my Blog entitled Mt Albert Mousetrap. I just knew that if I left it too long someone else would have similar thoughts … and they have … Brads and Trots anticipating most (but not quite all) of my argument.
Bugger, Bugger Bugger !!!
As I already wrote in my draft … “In trying to win a relatively trivial battle for their own Party, the Greens are in danger of losing the entire War for the Left.”
On the one hand, I think – with no candidate – a disproportionate number of Mt Albert Nats will stay home on By-Election day. But I suspect that at least a reasonable minority of the maybe 30-35% of Tories who do get out and vote will be the kind of Party loyalists who are more than prepared to hold their noses and do what’s best for the Nats (vote Genter to embarrass Labour and sew division on the Left). Not necessarily a majority of Nat voters (I agree that for many it will just go too much against the grain) but quite possibly a large minority.
But perhaps even more importantly – and I don’t think Brads or Trots entirely got to the heart of this (they certainly haven’t spelt it out in any way) – an overwhelming 73% of Green Party-Voters backed Shearer in the Candidate-Vote at the last Election. That was way ahead of the average Labour MP – in the Country as a whole, just 47% of Greens Candidate-Voted Labour.
Indeed, Shearer was one of those rare Labour MPs whose Candidate-Vote was derived, first and foremost (ie more than half), from non-Labour voters.
So, in a one-vote By-Election, where voters can’t enjoy the (General Election) luxury of being able to separate out their core political allegiance (as expressed in the Party-Vote) from their favoured personality (Candidate-Vote), it’s reasonable to assume that a significant chunk of that 73% of Greens (5810 voters to be precise) are going to reaffirm their primary political allegiance and chose Genter. All the more so when there is no National candidate to scare them into strategically voting Ardern.
It’s important to avoid being too alarmist, though. I doubt that Ardern is any great danger of actually losing the seat …
… But – with a potential majority of 2014 Green-Shearer voters combining forces with a potential large minority of Nats – it’s quite possible Genter will slash Labour’s majority. And in a seat that Farrar has already loudly proclaimed one of “Labour’s” safest (in fact, it’s a Shearer stronghold, not a Labour one. Labour received just 29% f the Party-Vote at the last Election).
So you can imagine the headlines in a media where senior journalists are often subtlely influenced (to put it generously) by Farrar et al.
I’ve got a few other points to make … so may still do the post … but it’s a real bugger when someone (in fact 2 geezers) beats you to it, especially after I’d done quite a bit of work on it.
All three of you seem to be relying on an assumption that Green voters are less capable of voting tactically in a by-election than Nat ones.
Yeah, but with no National candidate, most Greens will assume there is no need to vote tactically. For them, it’s between Ardern and their own candidate … so they’ll assume it’s a win-win situation and hence why not vote Genter. And the Greens will presumably be going all out to win. I don’t think we can rely on ordinary Green voters in Mt Albert getting the message that a slashed Labour majority will generate enormous hostility within the Left and dire headlines in the media.
Greens have certainly strategically voted for the Labour candidate in other recent By Elections (ie those where a Green candidate also stood). But we now find ourselves in a unique situation where there is no National candidate to scare them in Labour’s direction.
I’m sure plenty of Greens will, indeed, vote Ardern … but I doubt it’ll be anything like the 73% who chose Shearer at the (two-vote) General Election.
It was the guitar.
Just so Pete Seeger.
Climate change – Northland hotter, more droughts, floods and erosion
Climate Change Projections and
Implications for Northland
Right little cheer germs aren’t they? At least they know we exist!
And now they’re stealing water…http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11784239
From the local store and the who owns the store could have exploited the situation by putting up the price of bottled water…he didn’t, he’s selling it at cost.
Impossible to predict..
‘Projected’
Whatever the outcomes, they’re now locked in!
There are a myriad of threats which are highly likely to cull the human species well in advance of 2090
Guy McPherson has said this.
Don’t underestimate the star power of Jacinda. A lot of right wingers will vote for her because she is the closest we have to a political celebrity.
No we really won’t
You’d take one for the team Pucky.
No offence but I really don’t think that Jacinda is the closest we have to a political celebrity…. nor do I think true right wingers will vote for her…
No disrespect – but why didn’t that work in Auckland Central?
Hypocritical hand-wringing in the US over Russia meddling in the election.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39159-noam-chomsky-on-the-long-history-of-us-meddling-in-foreign-elections
Mmm – should be taught in schools in the best of all worlds
TOP’s Environmental Policy
Swimmable rivers and lakes, sustainable farming. TOP’s default goal is for swimmable rivers, unless local communities decide otherwise. We want intensification of land use to cease unless the impacts can be offset. TOP will invest in monitoring, research, improving water quality and resolving Treaty claims. This will be paid for by a levy on commercial water users and polluters, paid into regional Nature Investment Funds (NIFs).
Protect and restore our oceans. TOP will use spatial planning to ensure all ocean users have fair access to the resources in our Exclusive Economic Zone. This would also ensure that at least 10% of all ecosystems is set aside as no-take reserves, with compensation for existing users where appropriate. This process would be funded by a resource rental on all commercial ocean resource users.
Enhancing our natural assets. TOP will impose a $20 levy on all tourists entering the country. This revenue will be used to improve local infrastructure and placed in an independently managed fund that can be invested with partners to get the best biodiversity return (which may include the Regional Council NIFs).
Resource Management – Less paperwork, more protection. TOP will ensure that development which delivers no net loss of natural capital can proceed in a timely fashion. Any use of biodiversity offsets will be quality assured. RMA fines will be directed to restoring the damage caused by the breach.
the silence around top on this site is deafening , worried they are
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Eugenie Sage’s blog (Sacha’s link).
”TOP is promoting tradeable pollution rights, similar to the Emissions Trading Scheme, when there’s little evidence that allowing polluters to trade the right to pollute will improve water quality and a high risk that tradeable pollution rights will make water and land use management more complicated. The Emissions Trading Scheme has greenhouse emissions trending up when we want them going down, so we hardly want its equivalent to prevent nitrates, sediment and other contaminants going into our rivers, oceans, soils and atmosphere.”
I note she makes no mention that top propose a lowering bar on pollution.
ets will never work because it’s global so to prone to crooks, but an in house nz one could work as long as scum like key is never in charge of it.
best case scenario is the greens at least hold their % and top get over the 5% mark , they seem to have a lot in common.
From the policy announcements so far they seem a bit vague, and I don’t think that’s great if you’re trying to attract voters to you. Case in point was their first policy launched, taxing property owners more. But I can’t tell you how much they will taxed, which is fairly important.
They also want to force elderly people with a mortgage-free home and low income to mortgage their house to pay a property tax. That alone would stop me voting for them. Morgan has some good ideas but when he gets to the detail comes across as clueless about what matter. Same with his UBI model which ignores the supplementary benefits that most beneficiaries are dependent on.
Eugenie Sage of the Green party assesses Gareth’s environmental policies: https://blog.greens.org.nz/2017/01/20/tops-environmental-policy-no-threat-to-ours/
A song for the great, soon to be gone for ever, President Hopey-Changey,
from the people of Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Gaza….
Thats not a song it has no passion.
Or theatre.
And for the younger people with passion
Fair comment. I was going by the title only, and ignored the fact that this is a song with no passion.
However, when you stop to think about it, it’s entirely appropriate for a president with no passion. He couldn’t even sigh convincingly during his farcical performance on Robben Island….
another rogue poll from Roy Morgan……..
Seriously – Labour need to find a good way to differentiate from National. Sale and privatisation of NZ assets like State houses are a good place to start to show the difference in policy!
They need to shout it from the roof tops…
In case anyone is wondering, heres the link:
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7127-roy-morgan-new-zealand-voting-intention-january-2017-201701201143
For those short of time, National up and Lab/Green down
But, but John Keys has gone, what’s going on? he’s the only reason people voted National, I don’t understand?
Lol, there will be so many confused leftwingers.
His sycophantic followers haven’t realised he’s gone. They can still smell his heavenly perfume in the room. Can’t you.
I’m thinking of starting up a petition to bring back John and make him be president for life and it doesn’t even bother what party hes leader of, in fact he could take turns being leader of the rest of the parties
Wonderful idea, Pucky!
Let me help: Calling all readers of The Standard. Puckish Rogue is inviting you to sign his petition to Bring Back John Key! Show your support for Pucky, and for “Sir John” by leaving a supportive comment below. With your support, Pucky believes he can Bring Back John!
(I’ve taken the liberty of signing up James as a matter of course, Pucky)
Edit: Oh, and fisiani
Can Richie be his Vice? As it were
Nah, mate.
It’s the MoU effect.
It was a stupid idea from the day it was signed.
Wouldn’t that be “from the day it was conceived”?
You seem … confused.
Problem for the Left is that the move from socialism is too late to stop. The TOP party will gobble their votes and then if they get 5% will want to be in government. A 4% drop means a National Government a 5% + vote means a National/TOP government
I reckon National will come in around 53% at the next election, won’t be any need for coalitions.
Watch National % start to take off over the next 3-4 months.
Its ok once the voters get to know Bill the party vote will drop 🙂
Hey, triple bores! 3 in a row!
How often does that happen???
Hey, triple bores! 3 in a row!
How often does that happen???
Quite often…
A regular hate in 🙂
No – you have it wrong. Its when the people get to know Angry Andy that Labours vote will increase.
Just to squeeze Robert in beteeen 4 rwnj i also see Uk labour also are doing well (sarc) Jeremy Corbyn’s net approval rating continues to plummet, now hitting -43%. what’s going on why are the dumb ass masses not buying the hard left kool aid
Of course the important figure is
“The NZ Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has increased to 140pts (up 9pts) in January with 63% (up 4.5%) of NZ electors saying NZ is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 23% (down 4.5%) that say NZ is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.”
Things are good and heading in the right direction. Bill was an architect of this. Why change the government and mess it all up.
oh – and thats got to hurt with National up with Bill in charge.
Oh and MEGA Fail ….
Another Dotcom promise that fizzed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11786023
A terrible thing is unfolding in Melbourne.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11786021
Wishing all the best to everybody caught up in this…..
Man, what a fuckwit.