Open mike 24/05/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 24th, 2024 - 57 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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

Step up to the mike …

57 comments on “Open mike 24/05/2024 ”

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  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    24 May 2024 at 7:58 am

    Nothing to see here….except

    a report prepared by Impact Lab, a company co-founded and chaired by former National leader Sir Bill English.

    “While Impact Lab is a reputable company, it’s even more important for the Minister to at least seek advice from officials and show that some attempt has been made to verify the figures, when that company is synonymous with a former National Party PM Bill English,” Leary said.

    Oh and there is this connector to Ol' Double Dipper himself

    “Even more so at a time when the Government has authorised payment of $500,000 that would have been used for transitional housing to pay for the controversial Kainga Ora review to: Bill English.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350288339/govt-accepts-charity-commissioned-report-its-own-worth-face-value-prime-minister

    scumbags.

    • Traveller 2.1
      24 May 2024 at 2:06 pm

      The left seem really triggered by money going to Gumboot Friday. Is it the charity itself? Or Mike King? Or perhaps, it's own failures:

      On Tuesday, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission released its new report for 2022, finding there has been no change in access to specialist mental health services in five years, despite the Government's $1.9 billion cash injection in 2019.

      Health Minister Andrew Little defends Government's billion-dollar mental health boost, despite report finding little has changed | Newshub

      Maybe they should have given GF more than the $600k in 2022.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 2.1.1
        24 May 2024 at 7:26 pm

        Well….you seem pretty triggered yourself there…what triggered you?

        Mention of Ol' Double Dipper..double dipping…again?

        Cmon, we all know.

    • I Feel Love 2.2
      24 May 2024 at 3:37 pm

      Yesterdays story about English makes me so sad (getting funds from the emergency housing fund)when there's people really struggling out there, "cost of living" etc (which doesn't seem to be in the news anymore) & the likes of millionaires like English sponging off the Govt just seems so unfair, he doesn't need to do this, just unempathetic greed pure & simple (& those that troll & use slippery words to justify these policies are just cruel & nasty).

      Also I was able to get the First Home Grant & was very thankful for it.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 2.2.1
        24 May 2024 at 7:29 pm

        You cant take the Double Dipper out of Blinglish. Its in his DNA…

        • Incognito 2.2.1.1
          24 May 2024 at 8:48 pm

          His DNA made him do it, again, and again, and again; he’s got no free will.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 2.2.1.1.1
            24 May 2024 at 9:07 pm

            Sad..but true. All those years of Catholic Morality ?,,,counted for sweet FA.

            And I am glad for Standardista I Feel Love to have got their chance at a Home.

            NZ is going in a very bad direction. I hope we can turn around.

  3. Descendant Of Smith 3
    24 May 2024 at 8:46 am

    Just business as usual. Nothing to see here.

    Maybe we could pay Bill English to report independently on the success of the parenting courses.

    THE EMAIL EXCHANGE

    MID-MARCH
    Bill English’s office emails Treasury to inform it of decision to give $4.8m over four years to Peda.

    TREASURY EMAILS THE MINISTRY OF PACIFIC ISLAND AFFAIRS
    “We don’t know a great deal more about this initiative…presume someone in [Pacific Island Affairs] must know about it?”

    MINISTRY REPLIES
    “The information we have over here on this is very sketchy. Are you able to send us or point us in the direction of the Cabinet papers so we can proceed?”

    TREASURY ANSWERS
    “We are even more in the dark on this one – there are no Cabinet papers or anything else…Maybe worth asking your minister’s office.”

    MARCH 25
    Ministry advice on Peda says it is untested, unproven, does not work well with others and is proposing programmes that would overlap with existing ones.

    https://thestandard.org.nz/inquiry-needed-into-english-peda-scandal/

    In last year’s budget, the Nats awarded a $4.8m contract to an unknown organisation called PEDA without tender and against official advice. The people behind PEDA were apparently tied to Bill English via his wife. The full truth still hasn’t come out. Now, the Nats are up to the same trick with Parents Inc.

    Paula Bennett’s Ministry of Social Development will pay $2.4 million to Parents Inc for “parenting courses for the caregivers of vulnerable children”. This contract was untendered and previously unknown.

    https://thestandard.org.nz/parents-inc-its-peda-redux/

  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    24 May 2024 at 9:03 am

    Watch live: Ministers give more detail on new social housing plans

    "The social housing waitlist is over 25,000 applicants and too many Kiwi families are living in emergency housing motels or sleeping on relatives' couches while they wait to move into warm, dry, stable housing," Potaka said.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/517704/watch-live-ministers-give-more-detail-on-new-social-housing-plans

    For those who wondered how… and what the Nats were planning? They're building..stables?! Will there be enough money left for fresh hay every day ?…. ( fyi for those lacking in a satirical sense…it maybe is )

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

    • Traveller 4.1
      24 May 2024 at 11:03 am

      You do realise the weirdness of mocking a journalists typo when we have, by one measure at least, "one of the highest rates of homelessness in the developed world"?

      NZ among world’s worst developed countries for homelessness as Chris Bishop says action on Bill English report ‘very soon’ (msn.com)

      • Drowsy M. Kram 4.1.1
        24 May 2024 at 12:00 pm

        Was it a typo though? Presumably the quote is accurate, and "stable" refers to having access to warm, dry housing for a decent period.

        Proposed law changes:
        90-day ‘no cause’ terminations for periodic tenancies without requiring a specific ground for ending the tenancy.
        https://www.hud.govt.nz/our-work/residential-tenancies-amendment-bill

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.1.2
        24 May 2024 at 12:24 pm

        So you know its just a typo? uhuh. I realise most of you right wing trolls are humourless….why I put…. satirical !

        Maybe you should address why Ol' Double Dipper English has any involvement or credo when he was quite involved in the selling off of same.

        Sir Bill, whose Government sold off thousands of state houses and promoted the establishment of non-government community housing providers, said the state housing agency had racked up debt but little fiscal discipline or accountability.

        https://waateanews.com/2024/05/22/bill-english-housing-plan-recipe-for-failure/

        Oh yeah, Ol' Bill again back in the day…

        "We'll go through a proper process; it may be that some have no value. If you're in a small town in a house that's been a P lab, it might be a wee bit hard to get rid of.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/275214/bill-english-rejects-%27free%27-state-house-bid

        Oh yea..the real manufacturing…mostly a dodgy means to empty NZ State Housing.

        • Traveller 4.1.2.1
          24 May 2024 at 2:00 pm

          Thanks to Drowsy, I now see it could have meant "having access to warm, dry housing for a decent period" (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-05-2024/#comment-2000792), in which case it's great!

          But have you thought about the irony in your criticism of Bill English, given the last government left "one of the highest rates of homelessness in the developed world"?

          • Descendant Of Smith 4.1.2.1.1
            24 May 2024 at 4:26 pm

            Given that plenty of us criticised the last government for being confusing and moving too slow (while still giving them credit for the good job they did in building some more housing and actually allowing people to get on the waitlist to better see the size of the unmet need problem) I don't see any irony at all.

            Bill English was instrumental in kicking people off the housing waiting lists and National are making it harder to get on already.

            They did the same thing last time with health as well.

            You really don’t need to make it harder for us, Minister, with your new verification processes and eligibility checks. It’s not easy to get into emergency housing. Take my case: despite the fact that a social worker at my local MSD office agreed that the danger in my home was too high for me to remain, and paid for my kids and I to move, when it came to emergency housing, a different employee from MSD’s national team decided I did not meet the criteria. I spent three nights in a hospital where medics didn’t want to discharge me because there was nowhere for me to go, and then another night failing to sleep on a hard chair in the emergency department because the hospital was full and that was the best they could provide.

            Laying more obligations on people seeking emergency housing and forcing our MSD managers to check on us more frequently won’t help the problem. If there’s one bright light in the system at the moment, it’s the pastoral care offered by the MSD integrated housing managers. I’ve had two, and both have made it clear that they really, really care. They’re already doing a lot; checking on my application with Kainga Ora and fielding calls from support agencies. At a time when the public sector is facing huge cuts, why double their workload by forcing them to check on me every four days?

            https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-04-2024/theres-no-need-to-make-emergency-housing-harder-its-hard-enough-already

            • Traveller 4.1.2.1.1.1
              24 May 2024 at 6:12 pm

              Thanks DoS, I appreciate the reply and in your case I withdraw the comment about the irony. And I read Spinoff piece you linked to. Parking our political differences, it's unacceptable we have people living in transitional housing, and the "I was made to sing the “If you’re happy and you know it” song and heard the suggestion that homelessness is the result of financial irresponsibility and that a budgeting course would make us irresistible to the private sector." is downright disgusting.

  5. Sanctuary 5
    24 May 2024 at 9:30 am

    Just in: Stupid tax for coalition voters set at modest 100 million.

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/05/24/government-looks-to-scrap-tax-incentive-for-utes/

    • Mike the Lefty 5.1
      24 May 2024 at 10:03 am

      Sounds like National dumping on its own support base, if I read this correctly.

      FBT is a hangover from Rogernomics, it has more loopholes than an Instant Finance contract and costs a lot to administer compared to the amount of tax taken. Should have been retired long ago.

      It affects me because the government takes a cut of the employer kiwisaver contribution.

      Greedy b….s

      • tc 5.1.1
        24 May 2024 at 2:04 pm

        Add that to the nat supporting tesla owners etc who got simeon'd ….bet they never saw that coming.

        They're in power now so unless you have a dead rat they swallowed be prepared for more.

  6. tsmithfield 6
    24 May 2024 at 9:37 am

    I am interested in thoughts from those interested in philosophical debate.

    One of the contentious topics in philosophy for a long time is whether we have free will, or whether our decisions are completely determined by external causal factors and internal causal factors. For instance, genetic factors etc we have inherited.

    The deterministic argument essentially is that the sum of causal factors means our decisions are completely explained by those causal factors. Under that scenario, if we were able to travel back in time to before a decision is made, our decision would be exactly the same, based on those causal factors.

    My argument is that there is room for independent human agency, apart from prior causes, depending on the ambiguity of the situation.

    For example, a parent may have the option to either prevent their toddler from running out onto a busy road, or to stand back to see what will happen. In that situation, it is highly likely the parent would make the decision to prevent the child from crossing the road if faced with exactly the same circumstances again. The the deterministic argument would hold true in that situation.

    But, where information is ambiguous, it is not so clear cut.

    For example, say a person was driving down a road in Germany in the mid-1930s. The are contronted with an intersection where they must choose to go one way or the other. They both lead to the same destination, and there is no information as to which way is the best way to go. So, it is up to the person to decide which direction to take. In that situation, all the causal factors are the same. But, due to the lack of information, the causal factors have no influence on the decision to take. So, confronted with the same situation again, there is no reason to think that the same decision would be made.

    They decide to go in one direction. In that direction, they have an accident and kill Hitler. Going the other way, they avoid the action altogether.

    In this situation, it seems that the agency of the individual has started a causal chain of events depending on the decision made. That causal chain is independent of the preceding causal chain.

    So, my argument is, the more ambiguous the situation, the more likely free will is involved. Where decisions are clear cut, then deterministic causal factors are more likely to explain the actions.

    • SPC 6.1
      24 May 2024 at 9:55 am

      Incidental or scenario choice is one aspect – it is at the micro level of the decision-making.

      So, my argument is, the more ambiguous the situation, the more likely free will is involved. Where decisions are clear cut, then deterministic causal factors are more likely to explain the actions.

      Where people would make the same decision – again and again and others would decide the same, is not an important part of the free will debate because it is where instinctive behaviour conforms to deterministic causal factors decision-making.

      I would look at free will in the context of cognitive psychology as per individual choice which does not conform to the expectation of evolutionary psychology as per group (herd) behaviour. Where individuals choose to be different is an act of free will. Such actions can influence the course of human society.

      • tsmithfield 6.1.1
        24 May 2024 at 10:07 am

        I tend to agree with you. The problem is that determinists would argue that individuals who choose to be different have causal factors that would explain that. For, instance, they may point to genetic factors where the individual's parents had similar tendencies. Or their parents brought them up to stand up for their own beliefs despite what the crowd may think.

        My argument attempted to point out that the more ambiguous a situation becomes, the less effect previous causal factors will have.

        At one end of the scale, decisions can be explained completely by causes. For instance, it has been shown that people react to pressing their brakes to avoid a crash before the thought arises in their mind.

        But, in completely ambiguous situations, then the independent decision of the individual becomes much more of a factor.

        So, I am proposing a continuum where at one end causal factors are a complete explanation, but at the other end independent individual agency is the complete explanation, and that the mix will change depending on the point along the continuum.

        • SPC 6.1.1.1
          24 May 2024 at 10:15 am

          We learn to have instinctive reactions to situations (repetition – such as breaking without thinking) but also learn from considered experience, such as no right turn (or one term only).

          I would see the upbringing of offspring to become educated and free thinking as a deliberation to impact on the wider society a capacity for progressive change (as nurture to ensure evolutionary possibility for the group over time).

          • tsmithfield 6.1.1.1.1
            24 May 2024 at 11:19 am

            I think it does end up coming down to whether we could have done otherwise. Or else there is always an argument that whatever we do was determined by a countless number of causes, many of which we may not be aware of.

            The problem is that it is an experiment that is impossible to do because it would require travelling back in time to the exact situation that was faced back then. That is why the debate will always be at the academic level.

            My thought experiment tried to show that it would be possible to do something different, given enough ambiguity in the situation.

            • Descendant Of Smith 6.1.1.1.1.1
              24 May 2024 at 12:52 pm

              Free will ignores the impact of genetics in terms of natural skill and ability, the impact on others and their decisions on your circumstances and luck.

              None of us are where we are or where we could be by our choices alone. Being born into the right or wrong family or country, whether the wrong person got annoyed with you or the right person mentored you, whether we had an accident or a near miss, whether you were exposed to violence or poverty as a child – the cult of individualism as a means of success is just so non-sensical – it isn't funny that this gets promoted.

              • SPC …
                24 May 2024 at 2:39 pm

                The caste system and the idea of next generation rebirth to a higher status reflects the reality that in some ways full exercise of (or equal) free will has an inter-generational aspect (is constrained by generational disadvantage).

                That said providing opportunity (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and having estate taxation (and CGT on wealth privilege) are or can be the ways in which democracy works to allow greater opportunity for exercise of free will (equality) within "society".

                • Descendant Of Smith …
                  24 May 2024 at 3:34 pm

                  Even then though you can't escape genetics – I've rarely heard anyone suggesting someone born with Down's syndrome just has to change their attitude to become successful – society is at times quite accepting of highly visible disability (post institutionalisation more so) having limits on level of achievement – often to their, the person's, detriment.

                  There's far worse genetic and illness derived heath disorders. And there are plenty that are invisible and not obvious – think dyslexia. So where on the spectrum of variation amongst human beings does it become that magic point of "but you just need to get your shit together, work harder, make more effort". to be successful. What if in fact for a lot of people it just simply cannot ever happen and it isn't them that need to adapt but instead it is society and the rules, and structures we have built that are problematic for them that are the things that need to change.

                  https://listverse.com/2019/12/03/10-of-the-most-successful-people-with-down-syndrome/

                  • SPC …
                    24 May 2024 at 4:03 pm

                    That includes adverse consequences on the child in the womb of adverse factors (non genetic – such as fetal alcohol etc) and early life trauma experiences (physical and mental), early poverty diseases, accident disability, sexual violence .. mental illness.

                    It is however important to distinguish between the concept of free will and the concept of a Randian/libertarian individual centred order to society – given equality of opportunity does not exist, It is of our free will to design a better one.

    • Ad 6.2
      24 May 2024 at 9:56 am

      Propose it as a post.

    • AB 6.3
      24 May 2024 at 10:38 am

      IMO, the whole debate is a bottomless swamp that's best avoided altogether and often a jumping-off point for dodgy political agendas.

      I think there's something of a false binary at play. Pre-determination is usually viewed as material in nature and based on prior decisions by other people, our backgrounds and accumulated experience; while free will is seen as a non-material and essential characteristic of all human minds. The false binary is that these two are seen as completely different categories of things, and that therefore one must always be in the ascendant over the other. I would prefer to say that they are both material in nature and that we are all an admixture of both – that bad experience and bad backgrounds can partially extinguish the capacity for free will, while good experiences will enhance it. Both always exist together in tension.

      In practice we all believe something like this. As a good leftie, few things infuriate me more than the right's fondness for the "just-world fallacy" – the idea that we all have free will and therefore the rich deserve to be rich and the poor deserve to be poor – which is nothing but a self-serving lie. On the other hand, if I did not believe in the presence of free will I would not be in favour of (say) rehabilitation programmes for criminals that rely on them wanting to change. Nobody in their day to day life is a fundamentalist of either stripe – we might call that "sanity".

    • Drowsy M. Kram 6.4
      24 May 2024 at 11:00 am

      Kiwi Anthony Cashmore has some interesting ideas about free will, and published on the topic in PNAS.

      The Lucretian swerve: The biological basis of human behavior and the criminal justice system [8 Feb 2010]

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Cashmore#Human_behavior,_free_will_and_consciousness

      Cashmore's paper elicited some debate at the time, and is still being cited:

      The place of Free Will: the freedom of the prisoner [23 Oct 2023]
      After reviewing the definition of Free Will and the related literature, we conclude that the scientific evidence does not disprove the existence of Free Will. However, our will encounters several constraints and limitations that should be considered when evaluating our deeds’ personal responsibility.

      If the question is how much control an individual has over their thoughts and actions, then it's likely most people will tend to believe they are fully in control most if not all of the time, but who knows whether this is the case – certainly not me!

      My simplistic assumption is that what we consider free will is largely the outcome of stochastic processes in the brain over which we have little-to-no control, these process (in response to stimuli) dictating thoughts and actions that are largely predictable (the degree of predictability varying over time, and between individuals), but not absolutely so.

      For example, travelling at speed and faced with a possum in the headlights, an individual might react in the same way (say) 99 times out of a hundred, but possibly not 999 times out of a thousand. Another individual might react the same way 100 times out of 100, but possibly not one thousand time out of one thousand. A third individual might react in differently each time – difficult to imagine, but not impossible, although such an individual probably wouldn't last too long behind the wheel. It is challenging to conduct such thought experiments in practice, for all but the simplest living systems 'learn', and in humans it might be considered impossible to do a genuine reset after each cycle, and unethical even if it was possible.

      Hmm, in hindsight, AB said it best – it’s a rabbit hole. Thanks for the question – that's the next hour's reading sorted smiley

    • That_guy 6.5
      24 May 2024 at 11:52 am

      The question could be reframed as "Is the universe deterministic?" and quantum physics say probably not.

      ChatGPT sez:

      Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

      Whether the universe is fundamentally deterministic or not depends on the interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are several interpretations, each with different implications for determinism:

      1. Copenhagen Interpretation: This is the traditional interpretation, which embraces the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics. According to this view, the universe is not deterministic at the quantum level.
      2. Many-Worlds Interpretation: This interpretation suggests that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements actually occur in separate, branching universes. In this view, the universe as a whole is deterministic, but it contains an infinite number of parallel outcomes.
      3. Pilot-Wave Theory (Bohmian Mechanics): This interpretation posits that particles have well-defined positions and momenta, and their behavior is guided by a "pilot wave." This theory is deterministic but non-local, meaning that information can be instantaneously transmitted across distances.

      Conclusion

      The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle shows that at the quantum level, we cannot have complete knowledge of all properties of a system simultaneously, leading to a fundamental indeterminacy in predictions. However, whether this indeterminacy implies that the universe is non-deterministic depends on the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Some interpretations suggest a non-deterministic universe, while others maintain determinism in a more complex or less intuitive form.

      • SPC 6.5.1
        24 May 2024 at 11:55 am

        Or not yet … as it has yet to conclude – in flux and all that.

        • That_guy 6.5.1.1
          24 May 2024 at 2:00 pm

          Every time someone comments I am in a quantum state of both agreeing and disagreeing and as a result the universe splits in two. According to the multiple worlds hypothesis,

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 6.6
      24 May 2024 at 7:24 pm

      Free will in this case couldn't be distinguished from randomness?

      "the more ambiguous the situation, the more likely free will is involved."

      i.e. "the more ambiguous the situation, the more likely free will Randomness is involved." ?

      The existence of free will isn't clear, but the existence of randomness certainly is!

    • Traveller 7.1
      24 May 2024 at 10:59 am

      Thanks, that's an interesting piece.

      It's good to see the support for structure literacy – IMHO that is our best chance to improve literacy in NZ after decades of decline.

      Picking up on the final comments from Gail Gillon, I suspect the initial emphasis will be on changing the dynamic of literacy learning (to SL). Resources will be directly specifically to that. Reading recovery will become part of the overall picture, but in a form that integrates into the SL methodology. There will always be children for whom literacy is a challenge even with the very best practice.

      • Belladonna 7.1.1
        25 May 2024 at 2:47 pm

        And teaching reading using structured literacy, initially, in the classroom – will mean that fewer kids will need to be referred to programmes like Reading Recovery, at all.

  8. Subliminal 8
    24 May 2024 at 10:47 am

    At a time when climate change effects are all accelerating, we have predictions now for the collapse of the Thwaites glacier in Antartica in the next decade or two rather than next century.

    Thwaites, which already contributes 4% to global sea level rise, holds enough ice to raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. But because it also acts as a natural dam to the surrounding ice in West Antarctica, scientists have estimated its complete collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise — a catastrophe for the world’s coastal communities.

    https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/05/collapse-of-the-thwaites-glacier-has-accelerated.html

    It is pertinent to look at what is happening to the global effort to bring climate change into the urgent agenda now required and look at what is behind the current efforts to demonise climate change protestors.

    It turns out that most of what has been happening with criminalising protest is driven by the Atlas Network.

    But before it was a network, it was just one think tank: the U.K.-based Institute of Economic Affairs, or IEA, founded by a man named Antony Fisher..

    By this point, his work with the IEA and the Centre for Policy Studies had succeeded in getting Margaret Thatcher elected. Famed “free market” economist Milton Friedman would later say that “the U-turn in British policy executed by Margaret Thatcher owes more to Fisher than any other individual.”

    Fisher wanted to connect all the IEA-style organizations he’d started into a network so that they could more easily work with each other, and asked Hayek for introductions to his “friends in Houston”—oil executives—for funding. The Atlas Network, which launched in 1981, initially only included the first dozen or so think tanks Fisher had helped to found himself, but quickly expanded to include hundreds of like-minded member organizations, including all the Koch-affiliated think tanks in the U.S. (The Cato Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Legislative Exchange Council—some of the most influential forces shaping U.S. conservative politics—are all members.) …

    U.K.-based Atlas member think tank Policy Exchange, meanwhile, put out a report in 2019 describing Extinction Rebellion, an organization famous for shutting down parts of London to call for aggressive climate action, as “an extremist organization seeking the breakdown of liberal democracy and the rule of law.” As happened in Germany, several U.K. politicians and conservative media outlets have since repeated that framing. It wasn’t long before people began cold-cocking Extinction Rebellion activists as they blocked roads or staged other forms of nonviolent, disruptive protest…

    …during a speech at Policy Exchange’s annual summer garden party in 2023, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked Policy Exchange members for “helping us draft legislation” that significantly criminalized various forms of protest, increased police power, and created the criminal offense of “willful obstruction of the highway” to curb protests that block roads.

    It began in the UK but now has it's tentacles right through the world, as we now know in NZ. It is the propaganda and influencer at arms length from the fossil fuel and mega rich corporations which fund it and as we know here, has bought and paid for national traitors, prepared to sell their citizens down the drain in exchange for power and money.

    https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/meet-shadowy-global-network-vilifying-climate-protesters

  9. Reality 9
    24 May 2024 at 11:09 am

    Well done Willie Jackson on jointly winning the Oxford Union debate. Sounds like a well constructed speech, clever, and with a touch of humour. Wonder how much we will hear about it in the news.

  10. Drowsy M. Kram 10
    24 May 2024 at 1:52 pm

    First home grant axed: What the Government changes mean for first-time buyers [22 May 2024]
    Experts say removal of help will be devastating.

    "Devastating"? Our CoC MPs are simply putting 'self' before 'service'.
    Those simple-minded meddling experts – there’s still meat on public asset bones wink

    Earlier this week, Bishop said the Government had “significant” concerns about the financial performance and governance of the Government housing agency. Kāinga Ora, the country’s biggest landlord, had assets of $45 billion and over $2.5bn of expenditure each year, owning more than 70,000 homes.
    …
    Among recommendations [in the independent review of Kāinga Ora by former Prime Minister Bill English] was addressing barriers “in order to increase provision of social housing by CHPs (community housing providers), iwi and Maori, and other providers”, leading to concerns of privatisation by stealth.

    • SPC 10.1
      24 May 2024 at 2:27 pm

      … reducing barriers (funding) to community housing providers (some Maori), iwi (all Maori) and Maori (let's guess urban authority).

      (to Maori is OK when away fro government delivery).

      Then

      1.cancelling the role of Kainga Ora in buying places or leasing on the market to let out at income related rent.

      2.not funding new Kainga Ora developments and with natural decline from demolishing old housing and then selling land not then being built on by tender to "developers in a flat market".

      make it look like a great improvement in KO performance.

      Problem less housing, less land for affordable new housing by future governments and a decline in assets held by KO.

      The new social housing elsewhere not making up for the decline at KO (including loss of land assets).

      It's just a transfer from KO and with no total increase in social housing intended.

  11. SPC 11
    24 May 2024 at 3:02 pm

    Currently, social housing is procured from CHPs on a project-by-project basis. Around 500 new homes of the 1500 will be allocated quickly using the existing pipeline of CHP opportunities and with three objectives in mind: value for money from government investment, contributing towards the government’s target of getting people out of emergency housing motels, and a balanced approach between achievability and building capability in historically underserved regions.”

    Once again the $!40M allocated is under $100,000 for each "home".

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350282580/nz-politics-live-housing-minister-chris-bishop-outlines-how-1500-new-social

  12. SPC 12
    24 May 2024 at 3:18 pm

    The Tories promised to get rid of no fault evictions in 2019 and finally brought legislation into parliament in 2023, but it will not pass before the election.

    Here the coalition has brought in no fault evictions. Indicating a more pro landlord regime than the Tories of the UK.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11ej9n5edo

  14. Hunter Thompson II 14
    24 May 2024 at 4:48 pm

    "RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says the Government is committed to

    unlocking development and investment while ensuring the environment is protected."

    [Excerpt from media release by Minister Responsible for RMA Reform and two other ministers, 24 May 2024]

    So we can have our cake and eat it too? I don't buy that. At most, the government will only make it look as if the environment is being protected.

    Mining on stewardship land is just the start. The government is trotting out the usual "jobs or the environment" argument.

    Note too the use of the word "unlocking". It implies those nasty greenies have prevented bold entrepreneurs in the business sector from making this country great.

  15. Mike the Lefty 15
    24 May 2024 at 6:10 pm

    A teenager is stabbed to death in Dunedin 30 metres from a police station.

    The police say they have known about trouble in the area for some time but their options to fix it were security men and CTV cameras.

    They couldn't even manage a police officer to walk the beat in the area for about an hour 3-4 pm on school days even though he/she would within spitting distance of the station.

    Doesn't say much about National's promise to crack down on crime does it?