Power is off all day for us so a swap/buy/exchange market up the road for us, then the beach – not bad practice for the times ahead where fun and experience will be had closer to home and closer to hand.
Capitalist extremist identifies homelessness as democracy.
During the Cold War, terms like ‘Democratic Society’, ‘The Free World’ became synonymous with capitalism. These terms were often used interchangeably, (and opportunistically, IMO), as antonyms in reference to Communist societies like Soviet Russia.
In an extraordinary blast from the past, this cold war dog whistle is being dragged up to justify keeping families in cars, on the streets, or bunked up in motels at huge expense to the taxpayer, while tens of thousands of perfectly good houses stand empty.
The problems of homelessness, housing stress, and the housing crisis in this country have been laid at the feet of the past National Government by the current Housing Minister, Phil Twyford. But that we should reverse this policy has been labeled, “Extremist nonsense” by Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive Ashley Church
The notion that people should be penalised for owning empty homes is “extremist nonsense” in a democratic society, he says.
Stuff.co.nz reporters Rob Stock and John Anthony debunk Ashley Church’s fallacious and self serving justification, noting that other democratic societies have implemented measures to crackdown on empty home owners.
Vancouver in Canada recently introduced a tax on empty homes expected to bring in C$30m (NZ$32.8m) of revenue in its first year.
I would encourage the current housing minister to push past the nasty bed baiting spin of Ashley Church, and other self interested parties, and copy Vancouver’s courageous, (and dare I say it, socialist) example.
New Zealand’s Housing Minister Phil Twyford blames the National Government for the proliferation of ghost houses but has stopped short of offering up any measures to discourage the practice.
See that? It’s the invisible hand of the market giving we the people the invisible finger…
Anthony Robins – June 16, 2015
To which I would add Anthony Robins’ invisible hand is attached to the very visible and self interested wrist of Ashley Church and the Property Institute, and the landlords and speculators whose interests his organisation exists to protect.
The notion that people should be penalised for owning empty homes is “extremist nonsense” in a democratic society, he says.
Proof, if you needed it, that capitalists don’t give a shit about anybody but themselves.
In a democratic society we’d ensure that everyone had a place to live and food on the table. It’s only in capitalism that we start accepting excuses from the capitalists as to why people need to be poor and oppressed.
That data doesn’t really tell us much Jenny. What we don’t know is how many of those 33,360 vacant homes are potentially available for rental/sale.
At any given point in time there will always be a large quantity of vacant properties and the reasons they’re empty are many & varied as is the duration of their vacancies. That 33.36k were only vacant at the time of the census, it didn’t mean they were permanently vacant.
Stats give this info;
“An unoccupied dwelling is classified as ’empty’ if it clearly has no current occupants and new occupants are not expected to move in on or before census night. Unoccupied dwellings that are being repaired or renovated are defined as empty dwellings. Unoccupied baches or holiday homes are also defined as empty dwellings.
A dwelling is classified as having ‘residents away’, where occupants of a dwelling are known to be temporarily away and are not expected to return on or before census night.”
The data table for the census unoccupied dwelling count has this at note 1;
“1. Unoccupied dwelling count is made up of ‘residents away’ and ‘empty dwelling’. ”
Anyone on holiday at the time of the census would be ‘residents away’ if they left the house vacant (no-one left behind)
The census recorded 36,597 cases of overcrowding, affecting 203,820 people.
There were two main classifications for unoccupied homes in the census “empty dwelling” and “residents away”. Just as you say, it seems that there was no further breakdown.
We can argue around the margins about how many houses might be empty for valid reasons, And I admit that I may be making a subjective call here, but I the sheer numbers, “empty dwellings” recorded, 141,366 nationally and 33,360 in Auckland, tells a story of unaffordability, in rents and house prices, that puts the majority of these “empty dwellings” out of the reach of many of the people captured in this survey suffering from housing distress.
Maybe when we can get to compare the 2013 figures, with the latest 2018 census figures for housing we might be better informed.
In the meantime we will have to go to other sources to get a handle on the problem.
Figures from the last census showed there were 141,366 empty dwellings in New Zealand, which are separate from houses that are vacant because their owners are away around census time.* More than 33,000 houses in Auckland were officially classified as empty in 2016.
Colleen Hawkes – May 16, 2018
*(My emphasis) J.
Minister of Housing Phil Twyford stated earlier this month that New Zealand will not be following Vancouver’s example in introducing taxes on empty houses.
“The Labour-led government has a comprehensive plan to address the housing shortage including cracking down on offshore speculators and changing rules around negative gearing,” Twyford said.
Christchurch Progressive Network convenor John Minto, who is advocating such a scheme, has criticised the government’s “poor use of money”. “It is stupid for the government to spend tens of millions on motel accommodation for homeless families when we have 33,000 empty homes in Auckland (2016 figures).”
I might ask Phil Twyford and Phil Goff both: is the suffering of middle and upper class bach owners, and housing speculators really comparable with the suffering of families living with overcrowding, insecurity and homelessness?
I don’t dispute the seriousness of the lack of housing Jenny. I was just making the observation that the numbers look to be wrong on the empty houses and it may be a dead duck. Wrong numbers lead to wrong decisions.
I honestly can’t see that many investors sitting on property like that, they exist for sure but my expectations are that it occurs in the high-wealth areas mostly. You’d need to be pretty cash rich to not need rental income, interest on borrowing chews capital and eats up profits real fast.
Kia ora DH, I strongly suspect that your expectations that many of the 33,360 “empty houses” recorded in Auckland in the census are at the high end of the market. (Of course it would be good to know for sure). But anecdotal evidence seems to back up this expectation.
But forcing these houses back onto the rental or housing market should free up more houses further down the housing ladder. The sheer numbers guarantee it.
Vancouver thought it was worth it.
Vancouver’s tax on empty homes will bring in $30-million of revenue in its first year, but that will come from only a tiny proportion of homeowners.
More than 5,000 properties out of 8,500 deemed vacant by city staff received exemptions under rules of the new tax bylaw, which is a first for Canada and is being watched closely around the world.
Nearly 61% of the homes declared empty in Vancouver were condos, and other multi-family properties made up almost 6%, according to the city government. More than a quarter of the empty properties were in downtown Vancouver.
The City of Vancouver released a heat map Thursday showing the distribution of residential properties where owners haven’t yet made a declaration to avoid its new empty-homes tax, and the highest concentration is in condo-rich Yaletown.
The city says about 182,000 residential property owners — about 98 per cent — have submitted their declarations but another 4,000 still haven’t. Most of the undeclared properties are in the downtown core and the highest concentrations are in Yaletown, Coal Harbour and the West End.
Homeowners in the three condo-dense neighbourhoods who have not declared occupancy risk paying a one per cent tax on their properties’ assessed values. Assessed values of residential strata units — such as condos — in Metro Vancouver skyrocketed this year by five to 35 per cent.
Residential property owners had until Feb. 2 to declare occupancy, however, the city extended the deadline to March 5 in order to give the 4,000 who had not declared a chance to avoid penalties and fines.
The empty-homes tax, a nationwide-first, was approved by councillors in 2016 as a tool to spur owners to rent out their empty homes. Any property owner that fails to declare by March 5 is subject to the tax plus a $250 fee. Declarations will be subject to an audit process and false declarations could result in fines of up to $10,000 per day, according to the city.
“With a near-zero vacancy rate in Vancouver, our key goal is to shift empty or under-used housing into the rental market. The city has done extensive advertising and notifications about the Empty Homes Tax for more than a year — all homeowners should know that they have to file a declaration, or their homes will be considered empty by default,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a news release.
Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, who has been researching the distribution of empty homes in Vancouver, said the city’s heat map matches well with a map he generated from city data identifying private dwellings not occupied by usual residents. It also matches closely with a map of population density he prepared based on 2016 census data.
I was moved to make my original comment about this issue by the Stuff.co.nz report yesterday that mentioned Ghost Houses. And also because I had followed Victoria Crone and Phil Goff’s debate on this issue with keen interest. I was hardly aware of what was going on in Vancouver.
However, the more I read yesterday about the Vancouver example, the more fascinated I became. It’s incredible really, Many of the exact same arguments, for and against, that were made by Goff and Crone during the Auckland Mayoral debate were shadowed by the opponents and supporters of this scheme in Vancouver.
One of the arguments made by opponents of the scheme in Vancouver was that it would penalise owners of two homes.
Yes it would, that’s the point, you will be penalised if you keep one of them empty, while other people are struggling to find accomodation.
The lack of self awareness of the ridiculous nature of this objection, as seen by families without any home at all, is breathtaking.
One of the biggest criticisms made here by Goff of Crone’s proposal, was that there would be no method of telling which homes were being left empty.
In reply Crone suggested that water usage would give a good indication of which houses were being left idle and unused.
In opposition to Crone’s suggestion that water use would give a good indication of whether a house was being parked up, I remember one numpty commenting at the time on this website, criticising Crone’s suggestion, writing that this would just encourage absent owners to leave the taps running.
In the end, it seems that Vancouver settled on using the lack of electricity consumption as an indicator of an empty address.
More Innovatively Vancouver also did a poll on property owners asking them to declare whether their properties were empty or not.
This gave some very interesting results, for instance the first thing revealed was that contrary to the racist scape goating of Asians and immigrants as being behind the Ghost House problem, many of the owners of these empty houses were revealed as being Canadians or Americans from across the border. Another thing revealed was that most of the empty properties were in condominiums.
Revealed by the tax itself, was that (in line with DH’s expectations above) many of these empty homes were higher valued properties. Another thing revealed is that the owners of these high end properties were prepared to pay the tax rather than let them out, or put them on the market. (Some paying as much as $250,000 for the 2018 tax period.)
In total the owners of the these properties paid the city $30 million for the privilege of keeping these properties empty.
But Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is pleased with the results anyway.
“Thank you for contributing to Vancouver’s affordable-housing fund,” the mayor said wryly at a news conference outlining the details of the new tax. He acknowledged it’s not clear yet whether the tax has caused any owners to rent out their apartments or houses, which is one of the city’s goals.
But, he said, the city needed to do something to ensure that desperately needed housing is available.
“It’s unacceptable to have homes sitting empty when so many people are looking for a place to live.”
The 1,200 to 2,300 homeowners who may eventually pay the tax are far less than the numbers that have circulated for years about empty units.
Two years ago, the city said 10,800 units were unoccupied for a year or more, after a comprehensive study of electrical use.
At last count, 7 per cent of Auckland’s homes sit empty.
New Zealand’s Housing Minister Phil Twyford blames the National Government for the proliferation of ghost houses but has stopped short of offering up any measures to discourage the practice.
Maybe Phil Twyford instead of stopping short of offering up any measures to discourage the practice, could take a leaf out Victoria Crone’s mayoral campaign
In 2016 Independent Mayoral Candidate, Victoria Crone championed action to address Ghost houses as part of her Mayoral campaign.
Labour Party candidate Phil Goff vehemently opposed Crone over this policy, characterising it as unfairly affecting “bach owners”.
(For God’s sakes, as if bach owners hardships could be anyway comparable to the hardships faced by families with out any home at all, let alone a spare one to go to on for holidays.)
Instead Phil Goff, echoing the Trump Presidential campaign, chose a more traditionally Right Wing strategy; scapegoating immigrants for the housing crisis.
Not only was Goff’s anti-immigrant strategy Right Wing, it was dishonest – immigration policy is set by central government not by the Auckland Region, a fact which he well knows.
* (Except it seems, the interests of property developers, landlords and speculators and other wide boys. A fact we may all come to regret when the housing market is flooded with even more empty and unaffordable houses.)
‘A collection of research published last week in a special edition of the major scientific journal Nature showed that Antarctica has lost 3 trillion tonnes of ice over the past 25 years. Half of that melting has happened in the past 5 years. Professor Tim Naish is from the Victoria University of Wellington’s Antarctic Research Centre says we have less than a decade to stop a catastrophe.’
Top work Ireland taking out Australia in their Rugby series.
I’m really, really sorry about the last-minute decision by the ref.
Really, really sorry not.
Q&A (TV1) had a very good panel this morning.
I’m hopeless remembering names so you will need to link through yourselves.
Subjects: Business confidence taking a dip… the Mexican Border fiasco fallout… and EU Trade negotiations. No babies.
An inherent message to the Labour-led government:
You will need to do a much better job explaining your policy positions/decisions if you want to avoid confusion among voters and mischievous spin from your political opponents gaining traction.
Could not agree more. At the moment those opponents are having a free run on misrepresentation because ministers (with a few exceptions) are not stepping up to properly counter them. If they can’t do the political side of the job, then they need to be replaced with those who can. My cent-worth for the day.
Q&A (TV1) had a very good panel this morning.
I’m hopeless remembering names so you will need to link through yourselves.
Subjects: Business confidence taking a dip… the Mexican Border fiasco fallout… and EU Trade negotiations. No babies.
An inherent message to the Labour-led government:
You will need to do a much better job explaining your policy positions/decisions if you want to avoid confusion among voters and false spin from your political opponents gaining traction.
Could not agree more. At the moment those opponents are having a free run on misrepresentation because ministers (with a few exceptions) are not stepping up to properly counter them. If they can’t do the political side of the job, then they need to be replaced with those who can. My cent-worth for the day.
Yes, an interesting Q & A. Not one of Grant’s better performances. Very monotone, he looked tired and listless.
On business confidence, and in fact on forward spending/investment plans, as mentioned by Barnett, I can’t think of one thing the government has done to encourage business.
But I can think of plenty of government decisions that will increase regulatory burdens, that look capricious (oil and gas virtually out of the blue) and which will increase costs (fuel taxes, $20 min wage, a lot more union control, proposed CGT).
In these circumstances, it is not surprising that business are not making new investments, it looks too risky. Safer to keep spare capital in passive investments (either in NZ or offshore) or alternatively not borrow. The business will operate at a lower but safer level.
The cost is lower growth, lower taxes, less employment growth.
Why should business expect to be led by the government?
New Zealand business has had oblique and small policy markers from central government under National’s 9 long and directionless years.
Under Labour’s government, they are being led by the public sector through construction and transport funding, which are the economic policy areas this government really care about anyway. Those areas will continue to boom under this government for the foreseeable future.
Unless your business is rent, housing rent, in which case you are about to be shown the door. The Productivity Commission would firmly encourage landlords to find something else more productive to invest in.
Broadly speaking, this government seeks to tilt real estate capitalism, and that’s about it.
Business organizations in New Zealand don’t want to be led. They’ve been clear about that for a while. They are virulently and relentlessly anti-Labour and they don’t care who knows it, and it won’t change. It’s on business to determine if they want to make something useful out of this Labour-led government.
Meanwhile, headline unemployment is great, property prices are stabilizing, the governments’ investment direction and savings culture are fantastic, and the government is really popular.
”(fuel taxes, $20 min wage, a lot more union control, proposed CGT).””
How dare a govt actually do shit . And try make the country function ,I long for the days we had a bunch of greasy middle management tossers doing fuck all other than tell us how good they are.
On business confidence, and in fact on forward spending/investment plans, as mentioned by Barnett, I can’t think of one thing the government has done to encourage business.
How could you say that, Wayne? This Government signed TPPA-11!
And there are proposals for an ‘Amazon Tax’ and for R & D tax loss credits for companies that spend more than $100k pa on R & D.
CPTPP 11I will concede, although it has a sting in the tail with the new restrictions on foreign investment. The R& D tax credit is essentially the Callaghan growth grant repackaged (though expanded somewhat).
The furore over the Te Arai exemption just illustrated the problems. Quite a few proposed tourist resort projects had the intent of selling the units to overseas investors as a means of raising the capital.
Not one of Grant’s better performances. Very monotone, he looked tired and listless.
And there’s the standard RWNJ ad hominem.
I can’t think of one thing the government has done to encourage business.
The government isn’t actually there for business – it’s there for the people.
But I can think of plenty of government decisions that will increase regulatory burdens
That’s good. A market system can’t work without proper regulation. It was the lack of regulation and then followed by bad regulation that brought us the ‘legal highs’ fiasco.
and which will increase costs (fuel taxes, $20 min wage, a lot more union control, proposed CGT).
You don’t seem to be concerned with the rising costs of living that needs to be covered by wages. Costs that the capitalists almost always ignore which is why we need a minimum wage in the first place. It would actually be better to have a universal income rather than a minimum wage to ensure that everyone has a good living standard. Although, considering how greedy the capitalists are, I think we’d still need a minimum wage to ensure that they actually paid.
The cost is lower growth, lower taxes, less employment growth.
Which is, of course, a load of bollocks. We’ve been cutting taxes and regulations for the last thirty years and it’s made us all worse off. It’s cut productivity increases and wages while rewarding the bludging shareholders and speculators.
Maybe Grant Robertson needed a Redbull drink to pep him up before the interview. I have seen him give plenty more energetic and therefore more engaging interviews than this mornings on Q & A.
Saying grant looks tired listless is not at an ad hom. You throw it round so often I am beginning to think you don’t know what words mean.
An ad hom would be “Grant is fat/lazy/stupid therefore his argument is invalid”. Ad hom means to attack the person to denigrate the argument or point they are putting forward. Saying someone looks tired and listless is not an ad hom.
This is the second time I have had to point this out to you. Please try harder
“In these circumstances, it is not surprising that business are not making new investments, it looks too risky. Safer to keep spare capital in passive investments (either in NZ or offshore) or alternatively not borrow. The business will operate at a lower but safer level.”
There’s also the actions of a lot of New Zealand business that are causing these reactions as well. Take the actual and perceived losses of around 4 billion from Fletcher Building and Fontera, along with the M. Bovis debacle and there’s more than enough to give business the willies. This occurred under the leadership of the previous National government.
I look around Queenstown and see a lot of similarity to the situation in 2007 with a lot of developments that are unlikely to be profitable first time around. This has a chilling effect on business confidence.
Maybe New Zealand business, and the National Party, should look at their own actions and leadership before trying to blame someone else for their problems.
Unfortunately our “business leaders” and National politicians won’t be terribly affected by the fallout from the fuck-ups above, that will fall on the workers, subcontractors and share-milkers who will have their lives destroyed.
Wayne increasing wages means more money in businesses where this money is spent.
$880 million to bail out farmer’s.
Business confidence is over 50 which means business ha got over National loosing the election.
Just business leaders doing their expected “it’s a Labour government” hissy fit.
Saw it in 2000, same again.
Put Thompson & Clark onto them as they clearly need monitoring as a threat to the democratic process.
the Prime Minister’s baby name just announced: Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford. I am so proud of this Kiwi family, with both Jacinda and Clarke new role models of how men and women can be in the world – in my life time.
It has finally been revealed. Little Prime Miniature’s real name is – Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford. (Snap -I now see Venezia has already announced the name.)
An uncommon first name which apparently is ( or maybe from) from an Old Irish feminine name “Niamh” pronounced Neev, meaning “bright” or radiant”, according to Wikipedia.
The first part of this bit in the Wikipedia entry made me laugh vis a vis the proud new father – ” In Irish mythology, Niamh is the daughter of the god of the sea, Manannán mac Lir and one of the queens of Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. She was the lover of the poet-hero Oisín” .
As mentioned by Jacinda Ardern in the press conference at 11am at the hospital before the Ardern Gayford family left for home, “Neve” also means “snow” in some languages – eg Latin, Italian and Portuguese.
Here is a link to the TVNZ article which includes video of the short press conference.
Mum looked radiant and not at all like someone who had had very little sleep over the last few days; and Dad is as proud as punch. Baby slept …
For the fashion conscious:
Neve was wearing a soft green home knitted hat, which virtually matched the jacket (and shoes) of one of their DPS minders. (LOL)
Mum wore a white top and black pants and white sneakers.
Dad wore his “trial father’s cardigan” as it was described in a (rather funny double act) video some months ago when he wore it for the first time. According to JA it was bought in an op shop.
I wondered who would bite when I submitted my comment – and sure enough … LOL.
Just the usual One Two type of shitty comment. He/she thinks they are soooo clever. I gave up reading his/her comments a long time ago and just pass over them so did not see this one until someone pointed it out to me.
As for knowing JA, I am pretty sure that you and I are in the same position there if I correctly remember a comment of yours some months ago – but I am not going to say what that was. LOL
The Dad cardie is getting a lot of air time – apparently from the Sally’s op shop in Gisborne according to JA in her latest Facebook video.
Jacinda and Clarke with their daughter, showed wonder grace happiness and kindness.
In her speech and answers she acknowledged all the kindness they had received, mentioning some had come from loss and sadness as well as open acceptance from NZers who had given love freely, from home made gifts to names, to the offer of placenta burial by Ngapui.
They looked a lovely wee family we can be proud of. I have had the good fortune to meet her prior to the election. She has gone from strength to strength and does us all proud, along with her clearly loving supportive partner.
Their selection of names shows a nod to their own choices coupled with a strong connection to love. “Love and happiness” the expectations for their daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, are simple but profound.
OK, it SAYS “Flying car”, but it functions more like a human carrying drone. A car would surely be a more apt description if it had wheels and used the air current to lift about a meter or so off road so to speak.
Even so the Kitty Hawk is cool. Needs a roll bar type device.
It will be interesting to watch how this all develops. Safety will be a big concern I’d think, the potential for midair collisions will magnify very quickly if/when they become mainstream. Lots to think about.
I can imagine the rozzers scratching their heads wondering how they’ll get speed cameras up there…
Abstract:
Low Flying Aircraft (LFA) may be used to smuggle illicit drugs or illegal immigrants across borders. Sound radiated by LFA was used for their detection, tracking and classification by the developed Acousto Seismic Air Detection (ASAD) system. ASAD consists of several nodes, where each node has five microphone clusters and three geophones. Single ASAD node can detect aircraft sound, determine their bearing, and classify the target. Two or mode nodes provide target localization. Extended tests of various small aircraft flying according to planned test patterns were conducted in difficult mountainous areas. The comparison of acoustic detection and tracking with ground truth from the GPS carried by the targets allowed the estimation of acoustic detection, bearing and localization distances and their accuracy.
Weka disappeared at least two months ago. I recall ‘tracey’ responding to the same question with words to the effect “Weka is fine”.
I don’t know why she has left TS but suspect it might have something to do with some stoush in what is termed “the backend”. But that is no more than a guess and could be wrong.
Pile your firewood inside so you don’t have to go out.
Next three days is going to be incredibly cold; snow between 100 and 200 metres above sea level from Stewart Island and Fiordland right through Otago, and a long cold snap all the way up the centre and east of the North Island.
We’ve already had it pretty cold lately Ad. Highs of 4 or 5 and lows of -5 to -6 at my place most of last week. Ice has been building up in shady areas of the garden. The woodburner has been running day and night.
A snow laden southerly usually means temps around 0 to 2 across the board so a bit of a relief really.
Good morning The Am Show one should not count there chickens Peter Burling came second .
Loyd would have still celebrated as a Kiwi salior won the race on Chinese boat Dong Fang and Blair Tuke came 3rd Ka pai.
Duncan everyone knows that buildings construction slow down in the winter one just makes a mess when you dig holes in the rain also the timber framing don’t pass there moisture test so there cladding cannot be installed many other reason that construction slows in winter less day light hours. Thats were prefab house increase house building productivity . These prefab building could target using the renewable resource we have a lot of laminated timber this product is alot less energy in producing this laminated timber products
The Kiwi Rugby League team and management are in rebuild mode you wait and see they will get back to there best form .
With the Roseanne Show in the USA that shows that te Papatuanuku has had enough of the racial discriminating slander Ka pai but the show gives US a view into the reality’s of common tangata in the USA and how hard they have it just to survive in the USA the big picture is we were heading in that direction till the changes we have had with the new Labour lead Coalition Government. Duncan Te kumara never tells how sweet it is
Ka kite ano P.S it is a super food loaded with good minerals good for the mokopunas
Many thanks to Saudi Arabia for granting the rights for ladies to drive cars this is a win for Ladies Equality around Papatuanuku as Saudi ladies have won the right to drive there are many more rights these ladies need to be granted to get to Equality its all about a bright healthy future for all Tangata link below.
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1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
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Watched “The Old Curiosity Shop” last night. Daniel Quilp shoulda let go those money bags!
Power is off all day for us so a swap/buy/exchange market up the road for us, then the beach – not bad practice for the times ahead where fun and experience will be had closer to home and closer to hand.
Capitalist extremist identifies homelessness as democracy.
During the Cold War, terms like ‘Democratic Society’, ‘The Free World’ became synonymous with capitalism. These terms were often used interchangeably, (and opportunistically, IMO), as antonyms in reference to Communist societies like Soviet Russia.
In an extraordinary blast from the past, this cold war dog whistle is being dragged up to justify keeping families in cars, on the streets, or bunked up in motels at huge expense to the taxpayer, while tens of thousands of perfectly good houses stand empty.
The problems of homelessness, housing stress, and the housing crisis in this country have been laid at the feet of the past National Government by the current Housing Minister, Phil Twyford. But that we should reverse this policy has been labeled, “Extremist nonsense” by Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive Ashley Church
Stuff.co.nz reporters Rob Stock and John Anthony debunk Ashley Church’s fallacious and self serving justification, noting that other democratic societies have implemented measures to crackdown on empty home owners.
I would encourage the current housing minister to push past the nasty bed baiting spin of Ashley Church, and other self interested parties, and copy Vancouver’s courageous, (and dare I say it, socialist) example.
Related:
The hidden homeless and the speculators
Ashley Church gives the finger to the homeless
To which I would add Anthony Robins’ invisible hand is attached to the very visible and self interested wrist of Ashley Church and the Property Institute, and the landlords and speculators whose interests his organisation exists to protect.
Proof, if you needed it, that capitalists don’t give a shit about anybody but themselves.
In a democratic society we’d ensure that everyone had a place to live and food on the table. It’s only in capitalism that we start accepting excuses from the capitalists as to why people need to be poor and oppressed.
In another context, it was Edward Snowden who once said he regarded meta-data as more valuable than personal data.
The raw data tells the story.
According to the 2013 census, New Zealand’s usually resident population count at 5 March 2013 was 4.242048 million.
In Auckland, the 2013 census counted 33,360 vacant homes.
Nation wide the census counted 36,597 overcrowded residences*
Nation wide 203,820 people in total were recorded as living in these overcrowded residences
Source: Statistics NZ, Census 2013
last updated 26 February, 2018
*Overcrowded means more than two people per bedroom, or bedrooms shared by adults other than couples or by opposite-sex children.
That data doesn’t really tell us much Jenny. What we don’t know is how many of those 33,360 vacant homes are potentially available for rental/sale.
At any given point in time there will always be a large quantity of vacant properties and the reasons they’re empty are many & varied as is the duration of their vacancies. That 33.36k were only vacant at the time of the census, it didn’t mean they were permanently vacant.
Stats give this info;
“An unoccupied dwelling is classified as ’empty’ if it clearly has no current occupants and new occupants are not expected to move in on or before census night. Unoccupied dwellings that are being repaired or renovated are defined as empty dwellings. Unoccupied baches or holiday homes are also defined as empty dwellings.
A dwelling is classified as having ‘residents away’, where occupants of a dwelling are known to be temporarily away and are not expected to return on or before census night.”
The data table for the census unoccupied dwelling count has this at note 1;
“1. Unoccupied dwelling count is made up of ‘residents away’ and ‘empty dwelling’. ”
Anyone on holiday at the time of the census would be ‘residents away’ if they left the house vacant (no-one left behind)
Kia ora DH,
The census recorded 36,597 cases of overcrowding, affecting 203,820 people.
There were two main classifications for unoccupied homes in the census “empty dwelling” and “residents away”. Just as you say, it seems that there was no further breakdown.
We can argue around the margins about how many houses might be empty for valid reasons, And I admit that I may be making a subjective call here, but I the sheer numbers, “empty dwellings” recorded, 141,366 nationally and 33,360 in Auckland, tells a story of unaffordability, in rents and house prices, that puts the majority of these “empty dwellings” out of the reach of many of the people captured in this survey suffering from housing distress.
Maybe when we can get to compare the 2013 figures, with the latest 2018 census figures for housing we might be better informed.
In the meantime we will have to go to other sources to get a handle on the problem.
From an attached link to the main report, Stuff.co.nz reporter Colleen Hawkes asks; “Is it time to address the question of empty ‘ghost houses’?”
*(My emphasis) J.
I might ask Phil Twyford and Phil Goff both: is the suffering of middle and upper class bach owners, and housing speculators really comparable with the suffering of families living with overcrowding, insecurity and homelessness?
I don’t dispute the seriousness of the lack of housing Jenny. I was just making the observation that the numbers look to be wrong on the empty houses and it may be a dead duck. Wrong numbers lead to wrong decisions.
I honestly can’t see that many investors sitting on property like that, they exist for sure but my expectations are that it occurs in the high-wealth areas mostly. You’d need to be pretty cash rich to not need rental income, interest on borrowing chews capital and eats up profits real fast.
Kia ora DH, I strongly suspect that your expectations that many of the 33,360 “empty houses” recorded in Auckland in the census are at the high end of the market. (Of course it would be good to know for sure). But anecdotal evidence seems to back up this expectation.
But forcing these houses back onto the rental or housing market should free up more houses further down the housing ladder. The sheer numbers guarantee it.
Vancouver thought it was worth it.
This is how you do it.
I was moved to make my original comment about this issue by the Stuff.co.nz report yesterday that mentioned Ghost Houses. And also because I had followed Victoria Crone and Phil Goff’s debate on this issue with keen interest. I was hardly aware of what was going on in Vancouver.
However, the more I read yesterday about the Vancouver example, the more fascinated I became. It’s incredible really, Many of the exact same arguments, for and against, that were made by Goff and Crone during the Auckland Mayoral debate were shadowed by the opponents and supporters of this scheme in Vancouver.
One of the arguments made by opponents of the scheme in Vancouver was that it would penalise owners of two homes.
Yes it would, that’s the point, you will be penalised if you keep one of them empty, while other people are struggling to find accomodation.
The lack of self awareness of the ridiculous nature of this objection, as seen by families without any home at all, is breathtaking.
One of the biggest criticisms made here by Goff of Crone’s proposal, was that there would be no method of telling which homes were being left empty.
In reply Crone suggested that water usage would give a good indication of which houses were being left idle and unused.
In opposition to Crone’s suggestion that water use would give a good indication of whether a house was being parked up, I remember one numpty commenting at the time on this website, criticising Crone’s suggestion, writing that this would just encourage absent owners to leave the taps running.
In the end, it seems that Vancouver settled on using the lack of electricity consumption as an indicator of an empty address.
More Innovatively Vancouver also did a poll on property owners asking them to declare whether their properties were empty or not.
This gave some very interesting results, for instance the first thing revealed was that contrary to the racist scape goating of Asians and immigrants as being behind the Ghost House problem, many of the owners of these empty houses were revealed as being Canadians or Americans from across the border. Another thing revealed was that most of the empty properties were in condominiums.
Revealed by the tax itself, was that (in line with DH’s expectations above) many of these empty homes were higher valued properties. Another thing revealed is that the owners of these high end properties were prepared to pay the tax rather than let them out, or put them on the market. (Some paying as much as $250,000 for the 2018 tax period.)
In total the owners of the these properties paid the city $30 million for the privilege of keeping these properties empty.
“Nothing is sacred…..”*
And it seems that nothing is profane, either.
Maybe Phil Twyford instead of stopping short of offering up any measures to discourage the practice, could take a leaf out Victoria Crone’s mayoral campaign
In 2016 Independent Mayoral Candidate, Victoria Crone championed action to address Ghost houses as part of her Mayoral campaign.
Labour Party candidate Phil Goff vehemently opposed Crone over this policy, characterising it as unfairly affecting “bach owners”.
(For God’s sakes, as if bach owners hardships could be anyway comparable to the hardships faced by families with out any home at all, let alone a spare one to go to on for holidays.)
“Crone would up rates on empty baches”
Instead Phil Goff, echoing the Trump Presidential campaign, chose a more traditionally Right Wing strategy; scapegoating immigrants for the housing crisis.
“Phil Goff: Limit immigration to fix housing crisis”
Not only was Goff’s anti-immigrant strategy Right Wing, it was dishonest – immigration policy is set by central government not by the Auckland Region, a fact which he well knows.
* (Except it seems, the interests of property developers, landlords and speculators and other wide boys. A fact we may all come to regret when the housing market is flooded with even more empty and unaffordable houses.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531852/Exorcising-Irelands-ghost-estates-Demolition-begins-housing-projects-built-economic-boom-left-country-300-000-homes.html
This TED talk is inspiring as hell. Ft. Curtis “Wall Street” Carroll. *must watch* (although best bits 3 or 4 mins in)
https://youtu.be/F89eycANUrQ
‘A collection of research published last week in a special edition of the major scientific journal Nature showed that Antarctica has lost 3 trillion tonnes of ice over the past 25 years. Half of that melting has happened in the past 5 years. Professor Tim Naish is from the Victoria University of Wellington’s Antarctic Research Centre says we have less than a decade to stop a catastrophe.’
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018650659/tim-naish-says-we-can-still-save-antarctic-ice
a timely and well conducted interview on RNZ this morning.
Top work Ireland taking out Australia in their Rugby series.
I’m really, really sorry about the last-minute decision by the ref.
Really, really sorry not.
Ireland! Celebrate long and hard!
Spiritual sunday tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzEwCc4WVKs
another
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E
3rd uplifting hymn from the good oils
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9eap_cKLP4
Q&A (TV1) had a very good panel this morning.
I’m hopeless remembering names so you will need to link through yourselves.
Subjects: Business confidence taking a dip… the Mexican Border fiasco fallout… and EU Trade negotiations. No babies.
An inherent message to the Labour-led government:
You will need to do a much better job explaining your policy positions/decisions if you want to avoid confusion among voters and mischievous spin from your political opponents gaining traction.
Could not agree more. At the moment those opponents are having a free run on misrepresentation because ministers (with a few exceptions) are not stepping up to properly counter them. If they can’t do the political side of the job, then they need to be replaced with those who can. My cent-worth for the day.
Q&A (TV1) had a very good panel this morning.
I’m hopeless remembering names so you will need to link through yourselves.
Subjects: Business confidence taking a dip… the Mexican Border fiasco fallout… and EU Trade negotiations. No babies.
An inherent message to the Labour-led government:
You will need to do a much better job explaining your policy positions/decisions if you want to avoid confusion among voters and false spin from your political opponents gaining traction.
Could not agree more. At the moment those opponents are having a free run on misrepresentation because ministers (with a few exceptions) are not stepping up to properly counter them. If they can’t do the political side of the job, then they need to be replaced with those who can. My cent-worth for the day.
Anne,
Yes, an interesting Q & A. Not one of Grant’s better performances. Very monotone, he looked tired and listless.
On business confidence, and in fact on forward spending/investment plans, as mentioned by Barnett, I can’t think of one thing the government has done to encourage business.
But I can think of plenty of government decisions that will increase regulatory burdens, that look capricious (oil and gas virtually out of the blue) and which will increase costs (fuel taxes, $20 min wage, a lot more union control, proposed CGT).
In these circumstances, it is not surprising that business are not making new investments, it looks too risky. Safer to keep spare capital in passive investments (either in NZ or offshore) or alternatively not borrow. The business will operate at a lower but safer level.
The cost is lower growth, lower taxes, less employment growth.
Why should business expect to be led by the government?
New Zealand business has had oblique and small policy markers from central government under National’s 9 long and directionless years.
Under Labour’s government, they are being led by the public sector through construction and transport funding, which are the economic policy areas this government really care about anyway. Those areas will continue to boom under this government for the foreseeable future.
Unless your business is rent, housing rent, in which case you are about to be shown the door. The Productivity Commission would firmly encourage landlords to find something else more productive to invest in.
Broadly speaking, this government seeks to tilt real estate capitalism, and that’s about it.
Business organizations in New Zealand don’t want to be led. They’ve been clear about that for a while. They are virulently and relentlessly anti-Labour and they don’t care who knows it, and it won’t change. It’s on business to determine if they want to make something useful out of this Labour-led government.
Meanwhile, headline unemployment is great, property prices are stabilizing, the governments’ investment direction and savings culture are fantastic, and the government is really popular.
”(fuel taxes, $20 min wage, a lot more union control, proposed CGT).””
How dare a govt actually do shit . And try make the country function ,I long for the days we had a bunch of greasy middle management tossers doing fuck all other than tell us how good they are.
How could you say that, Wayne? This Government signed TPPA-11!
And there are proposals for an ‘Amazon Tax’ and for R & D tax loss credits for companies that spend more than $100k pa on R & D.
CPTPP 11I will concede, although it has a sting in the tail with the new restrictions on foreign investment. The R& D tax credit is essentially the Callaghan growth grant repackaged (though expanded somewhat).
The furore over the Te Arai exemption just illustrated the problems. Quite a few proposed tourist resort projects had the intent of selling the units to overseas investors as a means of raising the capital.
And there’s the standard RWNJ ad hominem.
The government isn’t actually there for business – it’s there for the people.
That’s good. A market system can’t work without proper regulation. It was the lack of regulation and then followed by bad regulation that brought us the ‘legal highs’ fiasco.
You don’t seem to be concerned with the rising costs of living that needs to be covered by wages. Costs that the capitalists almost always ignore which is why we need a minimum wage in the first place. It would actually be better to have a universal income rather than a minimum wage to ensure that everyone has a good living standard. Although, considering how greedy the capitalists are, I think we’d still need a minimum wage to ensure that they actually paid.
Which is, of course, a load of bollocks. We’ve been cutting taxes and regulations for the last thirty years and it’s made us all worse off. It’s cut productivity increases and wages while rewarding the bludging shareholders and speculators.
Maybe Grant Robertson needed a Redbull drink to pep him up before the interview. I have seen him give plenty more energetic and therefore more engaging interviews than this mornings on Q & A.
He likes rugby and beer I believe .
Dissapointed to see you advocate for such lowlife company.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39427291
Saying grant looks tired listless is not at an ad hom. You throw it round so often I am beginning to think you don’t know what words mean.
An ad hom would be “Grant is fat/lazy/stupid therefore his argument is invalid”. Ad hom means to attack the person to denigrate the argument or point they are putting forward. Saying someone looks tired and listless is not an ad hom.
This is the second time I have had to point this out to you. Please try harder
Within context, within the opening statement, yeah it is. It was a declaration that he can’t handle the job.
No, it was a comment on how he appeared in the interview. Maybe you disagree with the statement but it was a statement, not an argument.
It was not an ad him however much you want to believe it was.
“In these circumstances, it is not surprising that business are not making new investments, it looks too risky. Safer to keep spare capital in passive investments (either in NZ or offshore) or alternatively not borrow. The business will operate at a lower but safer level.”
There’s also the actions of a lot of New Zealand business that are causing these reactions as well. Take the actual and perceived losses of around 4 billion from Fletcher Building and Fontera, along with the M. Bovis debacle and there’s more than enough to give business the willies. This occurred under the leadership of the previous National government.
I look around Queenstown and see a lot of similarity to the situation in 2007 with a lot of developments that are unlikely to be profitable first time around. This has a chilling effect on business confidence.
Maybe New Zealand business, and the National Party, should look at their own actions and leadership before trying to blame someone else for their problems.
Unfortunately our “business leaders” and National politicians won’t be terribly affected by the fallout from the fuck-ups above, that will fall on the workers, subcontractors and share-milkers who will have their lives destroyed.
“The cost is lower growth, lower taxes, less employment growth.”
Did you ever stop and consider that the problem may be growth?
Wayne increasing wages means more money in businesses where this money is spent.
$880 million to bail out farmer’s.
Business confidence is over 50 which means business ha got over National loosing the election.
Just business leaders doing their expected “it’s a Labour government” hissy fit.
Saw it in 2000, same again.
Put Thompson & Clark onto them as they clearly need monitoring as a threat to the democratic process.
QFT
the Prime Minister’s baby name just announced: Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford. I am so proud of this Kiwi family, with both Jacinda and Clarke new role models of how men and women can be in the world – in my life time.
Aww that’s nice.
Irish and Maori – love pure as snow
You’ve made that comment entirely about yourself…Despite the vicarious nature of the comment…
Focus on your own journey, family and personal development…
Don’t look outward for inward inspiration…
Don’t shit on someone else’s inoffensive happiness just because your ego wants you to be Buddha.
Thank you One Two. Food for thought.
Sadly lacking you are sad it is
Millsy came 2nd in the Sweep, they guessed Aroha a few days ago.
It has finally been revealed. Little Prime Miniature’s real name is – Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford. (Snap -I now see Venezia has already announced the name.)
An uncommon first name which apparently is ( or maybe from) from an Old Irish feminine name “Niamh” pronounced Neev, meaning “bright” or radiant”, according to Wikipedia.
The first part of this bit in the Wikipedia entry made me laugh vis a vis the proud new father –
” In Irish mythology, Niamh is the daughter of the god of the sea, Manannán mac Lir and one of the queens of Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. She was the lover of the poet-hero Oisín” .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niamh
As mentioned by Jacinda Ardern in the press conference at 11am at the hospital before the Ardern Gayford family left for home, “Neve” also means “snow” in some languages – eg Latin, Italian and Portuguese.
Here is a link to the TVNZ article which includes video of the short press conference.
Mum looked radiant and not at all like someone who had had very little sleep over the last few days; and Dad is as proud as punch. Baby slept …
For the fashion conscious:
Neve was wearing a soft green home knitted hat, which virtually matched the jacket (and shoes) of one of their DPS minders. (LOL)
Mum wore a white top and black pants and white sneakers.
Dad wore his “trial father’s cardigan” as it was described in a (rather funny double act) video some months ago when he wore it for the first time. According to JA it was bought in an op shop.
https://www.facebook.com/1NEWSNZ/videos/10155101511151218/
Ooops, forgot to put in the link to the TVNZ video of the press conference.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/name-pm-jacinda-ardern-and-clarke-gayfords-newborn-baby-announced
Here is also the RNZ article with videos, photos, live blog.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360285/watch-pm-jacinda-ardern-leaves-hospital-with-neve-te-aroha
VV, are you as passionate and expressive about and towards people you know personally?
You’re an a******e One Two.
For all you know “vv” does personally know Jacinda.
Piss off and play your puerile little games elsewhere.
Well said, Anne.
I wondered who would bite when I submitted my comment – and sure enough … LOL.
Just the usual One Two type of shitty comment. He/she thinks they are soooo clever. I gave up reading his/her comments a long time ago and just pass over them so did not see this one until someone pointed it out to me.
As for knowing JA, I am pretty sure that you and I are in the same position there if I correctly remember a comment of yours some months ago – but I am not going to say what that was. LOL
The Dad cardie is getting a lot of air time – apparently from the Sally’s op shop in Gisborne according to JA in her latest Facebook video.
.
She is going to be a Green!
Absolutely! I’m sure she won’t be a neoliberal Labourite like uncle Grant or uncle Stuart.
With the need for additional workers within some sectors e.g. “While the construction sector is set to get policy tweaks to allow for more migrant workers, the aged-care sector has been lobbying Lees-Galloway for more people.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104863218/government-set-to-greenlight-skilled-foreign-workers-for-construction-sector
Can anyone out there point out if this will still be requirement ?
“Construction firms will be exempt from applying the existing labour market test to bring in up to 1,500 foreign tradespeople at any one time if employers promise to take on a local apprentice for every migrant under a new ‘KiwiBuild Visa’ proposed by Labour.”
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/88240/labours-immigration-policy-targets-kiwibuild-workers-and-apprentice-boost-aims-cut-20000
Fine to source overseas works BUT shouldn’t we also expect the same industries to “future proof” themselves and give a little back in exchange for this govt intervention ?
Jacinda and Clarke with their daughter, showed wonder grace happiness and kindness.
In her speech and answers she acknowledged all the kindness they had received, mentioning some had come from loss and sadness as well as open acceptance from NZers who had given love freely, from home made gifts to names, to the offer of placenta burial by Ngapui.
They looked a lovely wee family we can be proud of. I have had the good fortune to meet her prior to the election. She has gone from strength to strength and does us all proud, along with her clearly loving supportive partner.
Their selection of names shows a nod to their own choices coupled with a strong connection to love. “Love and happiness” the expectations for their daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, are simple but profound.
https://youtu.be/aBkHb8e3UAk
OK, it SAYS “Flying car”, but it functions more like a human carrying drone. A car would surely be a more apt description if it had wheels and used the air current to lift about a meter or so off road so to speak.
Even so the Kitty Hawk is cool. Needs a roll bar type device.
It will be interesting to watch how this all develops. Safety will be a big concern I’d think, the potential for midair collisions will magnify very quickly if/when they become mainstream. Lots to think about.
I can imagine the rozzers scratching their heads wondering how they’ll get speed cameras up there…
You can’t have flying cars while humans pilot them. Far too dangerous.
Acoustic detection, tracking and classification of Low Flying Aircraft
Yeah, not difficult.
Where is Weka? Is Weka ok?
Weka disappeared at least two months ago. I recall ‘tracey’ responding to the same question with words to the effect “Weka is fine”.
I don’t know why she has left TS but suspect it might have something to do with some stoush in what is termed “the backend”. But that is no more than a guess and could be wrong.
around the time psycho milt was banned if my recollection is correct.
Doors opening soon.
Be there, or be square
https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/auckland-fundraising-event-this-sunday/
Wrap up warm New Zealand.
Pile your firewood inside so you don’t have to go out.
Next three days is going to be incredibly cold; snow between 100 and 200 metres above sea level from Stewart Island and Fiordland right through Otago, and a long cold snap all the way up the centre and east of the North Island.
http://www.metservice.com/maps-radar/rain-forecast/rain-forecast-3-day
Its shaping up to be a significant cold event.
mean sea level pressure
http://cr.acg.maine.edu/wx_frames/gfs/ds/gfs_nh-sat6_mslp_1-day.png
500 hpa mass levels.
http://cr.acg.maine.edu/wx_frames/gfs/ds/gfs_nh-sat6_gph500_1-day.png
Jetstream (the polar night jet) coming straight from the Antarctic.
.
We’ve already had it pretty cold lately Ad. Highs of 4 or 5 and lows of -5 to -6 at my place most of last week. Ice has been building up in shady areas of the garden. The woodburner has been running day and night.
A snow laden southerly usually means temps around 0 to 2 across the board so a bit of a relief really.
what region are you?
Southern Lakes near Queenstown. It’s currently about 1c and rain has turned to a sleety mix.
Good morning The Am Show one should not count there chickens Peter Burling came second .
Loyd would have still celebrated as a Kiwi salior won the race on Chinese boat Dong Fang and Blair Tuke came 3rd Ka pai.
Duncan everyone knows that buildings construction slow down in the winter one just makes a mess when you dig holes in the rain also the timber framing don’t pass there moisture test so there cladding cannot be installed many other reason that construction slows in winter less day light hours. Thats were prefab house increase house building productivity . These prefab building could target using the renewable resource we have a lot of laminated timber this product is alot less energy in producing this laminated timber products
The Kiwi Rugby League team and management are in rebuild mode you wait and see they will get back to there best form .
With the Roseanne Show in the USA that shows that te Papatuanuku has had enough of the racial discriminating slander Ka pai but the show gives US a view into the reality’s of common tangata in the USA and how hard they have it just to survive in the USA the big picture is we were heading in that direction till the changes we have had with the new Labour lead Coalition Government. Duncan Te kumara never tells how sweet it is
Ka kite ano P.S it is a super food loaded with good minerals good for the mokopunas
Many thanks to Saudi Arabia for granting the rights for ladies to drive cars this is a win for Ladies Equality around Papatuanuku as Saudi ladies have won the right to drive there are many more rights these ladies need to be granted to get to Equality its all about a bright healthy future for all Tangata link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/24/saudi-arabia-women-celebrate-as-driving-ban-lifted Ka kite ano
Pity the rest of the laws in that country are based on a brutal and backward religion.