Is the Minister of Police on leave? Do we even have a Minister of Police? Who might that be? Can somebody please tell Simon Bridges and the National Party for that matter on whom to aim his callous attacks? Is he trying to seed discord between the Minister and the Commissioner?
Leaked documents exposes UK government propaganda campaign against Russia.
"After The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal reported on newly leaked documents exposing a massive UK government propaganda campaign against Russia, Twitter added an unprecedented warning label that the material "may have been obtained through hacking." Although Twitter may have intended to restrict the article, the warning had the opposite effect: it quickly went viral."
"And of course butter wouldn't melt in that nice Mr Putin's mouth."…are you just an actual idiot or are you just trolling? Let us just settle this once and for all…you go find one time when I have said anything that is in support of Putin or his government, if you can then I shut up about all this anti Russian/Putin propaganda…if you can't, then you stop pushing western anti Russian/Putin propaganda on this site…or if you are not willing to put your money where your mouth is, knowing full well that you are going to lose that challenge (just as your fellow Russiagate friends have already lost similar challenges ) then how about countering the actual substance of the leaked documents….if not any of the above, then how about you just don't comment to me in future.
I am in fact very concerned by your incessant spreading of material in support of this murderous and invasive regime. As you put it:
are you just an actual idiot?
Never mind the western propaganda – there is nothing to admire or support in Putin's Russia.
So what's your deal? Why circulate Putin's side of every story? Isn't a genocide and the poisonings and assassinations of multiple political opponents and journalists enough to make you reflect even briefly on your invariable choice to repeat his disinformation campaigns?
Aside from your pathetic groveling to Russia you certainly give the impression of being progressive.
How do you reconcile this behaviour? Are you simply a romantic, endlessly open to these risible conspiracy theories? Like the Covidiots?
"there is nothing to admire or support in Putin's Russia."
That is a little bit harsh Stuart. I think there are some things. Alexei Navalny for example. He may not be perfect but, by returning to Russia as he has done, he is certainly displaying incredible courage and deserves our admiration for that.
"So what's your deal? Why circulate Putin's side of every story? Isn't a genocide and the poisonings and assassinations of multiple political opponents and journalists enough to make you reflect even briefly on your invariable choice to repeat his disinformation campaigns?"
This seems a very ethnocentric sort of comment. But, without wishing to condone the assassinations, etc, I should point out that Russia is a very different country from Britain, and one that has not enjoyed the many centuries of democratic development that the latter has enjoyed.
There are, you know, some truths to be derived from culture.
One of them is that organized crime has culturally bound tropes – Japanese criminals during their world cup were disproportionately involved in minor frauds like ticket scalping, and German and English offenders were overrepresented in brawling. Cocaine is a staple of Central American crime gangs, petrol thefts or swindles are characteristic of Russian crime gangs, and kidnapping of the original Sicilian mafia.
Murders of journalists and opposition party members are almost routine in Russia; thus far NZ political culture has not added them to its repertoire.
Metaphorically speaking, ethnocentricity is a form of blindness.
Yes of course – we must immediately embrace the culture of murderous authoritarians instead of defending the principles to which our society aspires. Does your moral relativism extend to Xi and the Uyghurs, or is China a bridge too far for you?
Should we punish innocent Russian citizens by declaring war on Russia, imposing trade sanctions, or whatever, simply because we disapprove of its government's alleged crimes. Or are the people to be considered simply as collateral damage.
The "Russians", whom you seem to be obsessed with badmouthing, haven't committed any crimes.
Do you know, I haven't decided what should be done about Russia. But what we should not do, is pretend that a routinely dishonest and murderous regime is not dishonest and murderous.
He represents a fatal danger to the progressive enterprise.
He has no progressive merits, but readily suborns shallow, weak-minded people to his cause, who then proceed to choke Left discourse with apologies for his most recent atrocities.
For my part ..the problem with the Anti Putin rhetoric is that it dominates western media for absolutely no practicable purpose,…leaving the stories, the issues and the political intrigue we should be occupied with entirely sidelined.
Just one aspect of this is the narrative around Russias supposed involvement/meddling in foreign elections. Sure, I have no doubt they do some of that, as do Western nations intervein in Russian politics…but just imagine if we had had daily updates from RNZ on the corruption and manipulations of the American political process by Americans(and not just Trump Bad) rather than the existential threat of Putin.
Same with our coverage of UK politics…our news sources on a daily basis told us we are interested in skripal poisoning and Russian interference ..though apparently not the actual workings of the UK election. (..beyond some coverage Corbyn being an appalling prospect)
And in all of these examples…our apparent interest seems to conveniently wain just around the time officials have to conced there is a total absence of viable, significant legal evidence to suport their terribly exciting narrative.
Meantime us Western nations are left with our two major influencers (ie UK and America) in absolute self inflicted disarray, ill equipped to deal with the actual threats to peacful life on the planet
I put it to you that our Democratic process would be far better served critiquing our Wester partners than obssesing about the existentialist threat of a sidelined nation such as Russia.
This clip has been posted many times before..but I shall do it again ..remember this is something we would have laughed at a few years ago ..and I know this was about "policy"…yet here we are ..in effect…still worrying about this supposed terrible threat to our way of Life!!
It says much for the relevance of your argument that you have to go back to 1975 for your example of anti-Russian propaganda. Perhaps it is not as significant a trend as you assert.
The fact is that Russia indulges in activities that are newsworthy. So does Kim Jong Eun. When that leader executes someone with an antiaircraft weapon, or Putin has someone assassinated, or funds trolls to support extremists in other countries, it tends to get reported. Moreover, Russian intelligence, being used to operating in countries with limited forensic resources and significant endemic corruption is readily detected when it carries out operations elsewhere.
Oh of course – of course Russia seeks to impugn the most prestigious and professional news organization on the planet – its very existence threatens every dishonest narrative they publish.
The only reliable source must be those RT folk eh – no-one ever caught them lying through their teeth, or requiring a dishonest political line. Liz Wahl – Wikipedia
Well yes, but you have already refused to look at any of the article, video or even their summaries and related materials, so I can't really help you with that.
you have already refused to look at any of the article, video or even their summaries and related materials
I have refused to trawl through an hour of RT bullshit – and you and your fellow dupes have declined to provide anything else – no doubt due to the paucity and flimsiness of your case.
Um…thats entirely my point…we haven't moved on since 1975…
but anyway…google 'DEMOCRATS MUELLER PROTESTS" (heaps, right?) now google this mix or variation thereof … 'DEMOCRATS TAX CUTS FOR RICH & CORPORATIONS COVID-19 RELIEF BILL PROTEST" (clue…never happened, though you might get some old shots of Bernie and Warren from way back))…
Thats your example ..people on the streets with their leaders basicaly against Putin…not against political corruption by their own leaders..
Though this could lead to a conversation about the American (and world wide)protests that do happen, but don't get covered for obvious reasons…but I'll save that for another day ..with Biden and co. in charge I'm sure that will be a major topic….
Your results my be completely different to Stuart's.
BTW the Covid Stimulus relief package is still making its way through congress, and recent polling shows that the majority of Americans support what's in it – so why would there be protesting?
For your info: here is an explainer of what Democrats propose. You need to understand however that this will not be an easy package to pass through the Senate given that Republicans will not vote for it. Just one Democrat Senator could sink this Bill. Looking at you Joe Manchin.
The film clip Adrian supplied is over an hour long, but it is the work of one Blumenthal, a paid regular contributor to RT, the propaganda arm of the Russian state. He's not worth anyone's time.
If you would care to present a brief summary of his allegations, I will happily check them out.
Of course he will not address the actual evidence of BBC,Reuters,Bellingcat being an active part of a coordinated British government covert operation to undermine Russia's sovereignty…so in other words, our Russiagate friends are outraged when Russia is accused if interfering in US/UK domestic affairs (though that has yet to be proven that this even happened on the scale Russia is accused of), yet when there is actual proof of the UK doing exactly that to Russia, suddenly it is fine..the hypocrisy of you lot is jaw dropping.
As I have said many times, after watching and observing you guys for a while, it becomes very easy to see just how easy it was to recruit the proverbial 'camp guards'
If an RT shill said they weren't gulags they were butlins-style holiday camps filled with fun activities, you'd be singing the praises of Putin's outdoor recreation program.
And posting hour long videos of a dude in a room telling the camera how awesome the camps are.
A pile of mid fifties war comics just arrived in the shop, was flicking through them at lunch..man these thing are hard core cold war propaganda…would suit you and your fellow dumb headed cold war warriors perfectly,.
And here I was thinking that human kind was evolving upwards ever so slowly, you just blew that theory out the door, well done.
I can just see you and your up standing pals doing your civic duty and reporting fellow citizens to the authorities..yeah right up your ally, as I said you are born camp guard.
Turns out you and Ayn Rand have more in common than you probably thought…it comes as no surprise to me though.
I mean, you could actually use something other than an hour-long rant as supporting evidence for an explicit claim that you, yourself, make with your own words.
Heck, one day you might manage to make a comment that is:
more coherent than a meth-head on magic mushrooms; and
not accompanied by a random video.
To be fair, a lot of your comments don't have videos.
Well I would rather be on mushrooms every now and then, than be some sort of crazy old cold war warrior who obviously has never been bothered with an original thought in their entire life time.
I have never made any claims regarding Putin, so I don't see why I should provide "evidence". I accept that Putin is pretty ruthless when it comes to retaining power, but I also see this as rather beside the point.
I'm always surprised that no one brings up the undisputed fact of the United States "intervention" in the 1996 Russian elections…and the American lead IMF loan of US$10.2 billion that Boris and his mates squandered ..quite blatantly…and this is just one aspect of that involvement that is so undeniable it is allowed to exist on Wikipedia …. the idea that anything the UK or America does now is "okay", as if its the first retaliatory blow against an interfering regime in some new battle..is quite ridiculous.
(and yes, that was American lead interference …but as everyone knows ..the UK is the money laundering hub for Russian elites and needs to be careful how it deals with and investigates Russian interference and, equaly manages its own covert operations.)
I understand your reluctance Adrian, to get into the factual (or otherwise) basis of your claim. It must be so deflating watching RT's tawdry lies shrivel in the sunlight.
Last night I suppose Simon Bridges got about his business doing what he usually does.
Cops all over the country were too. Like in Papatoetoe, many of them over quite some hours. Will he find something to complain about with their 'nuanced' policing?
Auckland has risen from number 6 in this Housing survey in 2020 up to number 4 in 2021 report. Go team! Why, with the great strides being made by the current Government we will get up to Number 1 before this term is up. I'm sure that Megan Woods is in raptures.
Well John Key wanted to make NZ an Island for the very rich and i guess he has achieved that.
Oh, we are not to mention that the unaffordability of housing in NZ has been borne and has been fostered by the various National and Labour governments? My bad.
Why on earth shouldn't you mention it? As far as I know Andrew Little hasn't put his hate speech laws through yet so you can't be prosecuted for saying something that causes unhappiness in one of our Lords and Masters.
I just fixed your comment honey, if you want to put blame about the fact that Kiwis can't afford houses – be it to sell or to rent then you must put the blame on both parties.
The National party for selling statehouses, their refusal to build state houses and such and the timidity of Labour to put a CGT, and other reforms.
So yeah, you should have mentioned both parties. Bye now.
Of course previous Governments headed by both major parties have stuffed up. However for the last three and a half years we have had a Labour led Government. The article I linked to covered the way things have got even worse this year than they were last year.
National have not been in Government recently so you can't really expect them to do much about the situation. And John Key resigned as Prime Minister on 6 December 2016. Are you really suggesting he is responsible for things that are happening four and a quarter years later?
"are you really suggesting he is responsible for things that are happening four and a quarter years later"? yes, those many thousands of new New Zealanders he let in to try and prop up his version of responsible economic management will continue to put severe pressure on all of our infrastructure(not just housing) for many years to come. just as the deregulation in the building industry in the nineties has led to 25 yrs of problems with leaky homes. just as max bradfords disasterous phuckups while trying to reform the electricity industry 25 yrs ago ,still are causing long term damage. perhaps you need to do less trolling and more reading and learning.
The weekend’s revelation that some in National are reportedly attempting to torpedo their own potential candidate in Auckland Central by claiming she’s a former stripper, is by now about par for the course for the party. It’s hardly a ‘new low’ – really more of a ‘new middle’.
And pretty emblematic all-up of where the National Party is at at this point in the campaign. Quite a number of them are so focused on scrabbling for their own individual simulacrum of success that they’re doing ridiculous things which don’t help the party – and therefore, in the real sense, undermine their own potential future prospects.
Rumours, muckraking, and invented attacks on rivals – internal to your own party or otherwise – are part and parcel of party politics, unfortunately. Although it’s rare that they ever serve anything other than the most petty and personal of motivations.
Not yet baby, not yet. That is why I suggested that she say whatever she wants to.
However not having any say now doesn't affect the fact that he would like to have control in the future, when he can decide that anything he doesn't like being said is hate speech and can be punished. After all, when your skin is as thin as his seems to be he can be hurt by anything that isn't totally admiring of anything he does.
However not having any say now doesn't affect the fact that he [Little] would like to have control in the future, when he can decide that anything he doesn't like being said is hate speech and can be punished.
Oh look, another 'alwyn fact' – keep up the good work, while you still can
Partially yes, but frankly it was bad before covid.
And how bout Rotorua? Where houses now also cost over a million? And Taupo, which can't attract enough trades people for lack of housing? And Tauranga? Where expensive houses are literally build on sand?
Our housing crisis is bad not because of people coming home, our housing crisis is bad because Government is missing in action at best, at worst they are refusing to implement meaningful policy and legislation that would allow for a cooling of the housing market.
But so long as banks are ok to offer mortgages at 2.99% and less for a loan over 500.000 grand speculators who have cash flush or equitiy will buy and buy and buy.
Btw, there is borded up empty houses where i live. The landlord can't be bothered to rent, he will sell for Captial Gain…….untaxed in a few month.
Regarding the borded up houses – It may cost him a considerable amount of money to rent them as he would probably need to upgrade the insulation, install heat pumps / air con units and various other requirements to meet the new rental standards. This is an unintended consequence of the new rental laws. He may or may not have the funds to do that, so better to leave empty.
that is the saddest excuse i have ever heard. The house was rented before it was borded up.
So what you are saying is he extracted as much revenue as he could without having to bring the house up to any standards, and now he waits a few more month before unloading it on a buyer.
Slumlandlord, and i have no pity with him. Never mind there is a borded up house in the road and we have homeless up and down the country.
Btw, i bought a rental property to live in, it cost me 3 grand to put roof insulation in, two hundred bucks for a fan/light/heat in bathroom, and 4 grand for a small heat pump.
If a landlord does not have the money to spend 5 – 8 grand to get the house to the min standard required to rent it out, while being able to extract at the median 460.00 per week nigh on 2 grand per month, or around 22.000 grand per year, then the dude needs to get out of business.
Like I said, it's an unintended consequence. A lot of landlords have mortgage payments higher than the rent they receive. They may be "equity rich" but are cash poor. And it would not surprise me that some do not have a spare $7k sitting around to bring the property up to the renting standard. Ironically, it would be fine for them to live in themselves without heat pump etc. or spending on it. But I agree that maybe its time for this particular landlord to get out of the renting market and sell the property (which as you said may be the intention).
if they are equity rich, and have a rental that is currently rented, then any bank will happily loan them the 5 – 8 grand needed. Besides they knew now for about 4 years that this date was coming.
This is still the dumbest excuse. Sorry, i am letting my property fall even further into disrepair by not doing anything cause i am broke as fuck, but in a few month when the value has gone up another few thousand dollars (according to the paper that i received from the council in my area house prices have doubled in the last three years) i will sell, cause money for nothing and stuff for free. Right?
Seriously, that should not even count as an excuse. No the house stays empty because a. he don't want to upgrade, and b. he wants to sell. For a handful of more dollars.
absolute bollocks. poor landlord cant raise $7 grand on a property worth anywhere from 300,000 upwards, to be able to earn 15 grand upwards. sounds like a tui ad.
A lot of landlords have mortgage payments higher than the rent they receive.
It is not the tenant's job to pay his landlord's mortgage. It's not the tenant who will own the house after the final mortgage payment is made. The landlord is already benefiting from the rort that interest deductibility represents. If he can't make ends meet from his business he should cut his losses a sell up; and perhaps in the process, liberate another house for some first home buyer.
I think you are missing the point. By offering accommodation a landlord is providing a service. and he should charge whatever that accommodation is worth. But whether or not that charge is sufficient to cover mortgage payments as well has his normal outgoings is irrelevant.
Perhaps you might to do another little calculation. How much did the property cost? Does a property of that price where you live cost $460 to rent? If not recalculate the theoretical rental.
How many weeks/year can you actually rent the property? It is unlikely to be 52.
What does an agent charge to look after the rental? Deduct that from the $22,000
What are the rates on the property? Deduct that from the $22,000.
What is the Insurance on the property? Deduct that from the $22,000.
What is the Interest you would have to pay for a mortgage on a sum equal to the entire cost of the property? Deduct that from the $22,000
What is the annual maintenance you will have to do? Deduct that from the $22,000.
He should not be deducting interest. Interest is part of the cost of owning the property, not a part of the rental process. It is the renting out of the property that earns taxable income. Interest does not contribute to that.
Interest is the payment you have to make in order to own the property and without that you would have nothing to rent out. I wasn't counting any part of the capital amount of an assumed mortgage as that is going to provide you with something of value even if you don't get any rental income.
The Tax Department certainly allows you to deduct them from your rental income.
The following expenses can be deducted from your rental income.
Rates and insurance
Interest paid on money borrowed to finance your property
Agents fees and commission relating to the rental of the property
Repairs and maintenance (except if they substantially improve the property)
If a business borrows $500k from a bank, goes out and buys $500k of earth moving equipment and rents out those earth moving machines out, the interest on the loan to buy the equipment is deductible. Is that really any different to borrowing $500k to buy a property, and renting it out?
Of course not. There would be no problems with the same business borrowing/buying/leasing a second set of earth moving equipment and a third……
The narrative has been framed though that a business whose business is the acquisition, borrowing and leasing (renting) of residential property is worthy of opprobrium.
There is something wrong with the mindset that says it is a feasible/laudable idea for a first home owner to go head to head with home owners who are moving up the ladder and perhaps moving closer to town, and businesses who buy to rent in the desirable inner city suburbs of any city. Never has been.
Of course in the Wellington scene as an example it would be great for a first home owner to aspire to live in Wadestowns, Oriental Bays and other 'leafy' suburbs. It is not realistic though.
There are suburbs further out where a more realistic selection can seen. And these may be areas where a first home aspiree may not go head to head with existing home owners moving up closer to town or renting businesses.
Thankfully there are purpose built apartment dwellings being built close to the city that can fulfill a need for first home owners. These may not have an ensuite for every bedroom or a separate media room but they are warm, comfortable places to get a foot on the ladder.
'renovations' – for the most part deductible – thus cost nil
and all of this is generally described as cost of doing buisiness.
Now what is charged to the tenant?
460 – in my sample, now that is the median rent in rotorua so really i am lowballing it. The boarded up property is a three bedder on a full section so would easy rent 500+. Never mind.
All the above mentioned costs are included in the rent. So let me spell this in plain english, the landlord does not pay any of the above mentioned costs, the tenant do.
And in the end of the year tax accounts all of the above listed costs will be deducted as an expense on any tax burden he/she may have.
As said before, if they can't make money out of rentals in NZ – the only most unregulated business in NZ – they should not be in the business.
I am currently saving per medium rent in Rotorua 260 NZD every week by not paying rent but a mortgage. Or if i rent this property for the median rent, I make about 110 profit before tax every week. And i get to keep the property and sell it for double the price i paid 3 years ago. Tax free.
Go cry a river about the hard done by landlord elsewhere.
You do not really have a head for business Sabine. Yes the mortgage interest is deductible to the landlord as is the other costs etc. But the tax rate is probably around 33%. The cost to the landlord is not Nil.
Best you speak to an accountant or financial advisor.
if you can write of expenses and losses on investment against your taxable income than this will reduce your taxes.
Hence why in NZ we have very rich people only paying tax on 70.000 NZD (which has been given many a write of in the Herald/Stuff, or why dear Gareth Morgan is on record saying he pays no tax at all).
Ask your accountant if you find this to hard to understand.
But you don't get to claim that the costs of doing business is paid for by the landlord/investor when they are a. paid for by the tenant, and then are used to reduce the taxes a landlord may has to pay on the INCOME he made with his business before taxes. Its called double dipping.
So yeah, you are still making shit up as you go along.
Oh really? probably? So you don't even now, but just go for the higher end of taxes?
You do realise that in order to pay that 33% tax rate you have to have a certain income? Below that the tax rate is 22% and 17.5%%.
Just d on't be an accountant Jester. And if you don't have one get one, lest you pay 33% tax on your earnings even if you don't make enough.
Oh and if you have a property that is borded up and empty because you are tired of playing landlord you can even write of that 'loss of income' against your tax balance. 🙂 But you are not an accountant, aren't you?
You have made me very curious. You say that the tax rates are "to pay that 33% tax rate you have to have a certain income? Below that the tax rate is 22% and 17.5%%."
Can you please tell me the bracket where a 22% rate applies?
What happened to the 10.5% and 30% levels?
Are you really sure about the numbers you are quoting?
Alwyn, I'm not sure about the tax rate of 22% that Sabine is talking about but currently:
Income up to $14k is taxed at 10.5%; then between $14k and $48k its 17.5%; between $48k and $70k its 30% then after $70k its at 33%, which is currently the top rate. But from 1st of April there will be a new 39% rate for income over $180k.
Yes. Those are the rates I, and I hope everyone who puts in a return, uses.
I was merely curious as to how Sabine, who lectures us on what she considers our errors, could dare to do so when she is so spectacularly wrong with her claims.
If your property is boarded up because you are tired of "playing landlord", then none of your expenses are deductible. And the loss of of income is certainly not deductible.
the Income Tax Act is pretty clear: An expense is deductible if it is incurred for the purpose of gaining taxable income. So, no rents, no deductions.
Yes Mikesh you are correct that if a property is boarded up, it is unavailable to rent and expenses would not be deductible. I think Sabine's accountant was having a bad day.
There are ownership structures available to asset owning businesses where the tax rate is a straight 33%, they don't have the structured PAYE rates available to them.
So if they are a Trust and have income of $10,000 and have claimable deductions of $2000 they pay tax on $8000 at 33%. If they are a business and earn $10,000, have claimable deductions of 2000 they pay tax on $8000 at 28%.
I am not sure that you are quite correct re boarded up houses. You are able to claim deductions going forward if your property is available for renting. If it is boarded up it is arguable that it is 'available for renting'. The provision enables a person to claim expenses, say for maintenance if the aim is to continue renting.
According to some commenters here it is the landlord's unalienable right to do with his property what he wishes, and we should do nothing lest we scare them off their valuable social service.
Even if their valuable social service is either an empty dwelling or one that makes its occupants sick.
Anyone who bitches about rental housing standards is in favour of festering slums. Inadequate housing kills – at least empty homes make the issue obvious.
With wisdom like yours no wonder the problem has got worse🤷♀️
nothing to do with low interest rates flooding of money by the reserve bank, no counter measures for the obvious consequence of this flood of money, labour not wanting to do anything but ask for a review on the tax system etc . But go ahead and think that with labour you 🙈🙊🙉
Of course I was referring to the spike in the last 12 month which was referred to. You may wish to ignore the effects of the flood of returnees, many with lots of cash, but any decent analysis would recognise the difference between this year and last.
This link shows that our net migration spike commenced from Aug 19 peaking Mar 20 pre Covid times.So what was the plan to accomodate these new arrivals to an already stressed situation ? As of Dec 20 returned back to 2014 levels, and I would not be surprised if the 12 month trend dramatically falls in the coming months. I picked u from you r comment that it is "only" immigration that has impacted on property prices – Which many would think as very limited in cause.
"Annual net migration ramped up before border closures and travel restrictions in March 2020 and has been falling away since then,” Mr Islam said.
Your comment only covered this aspect without any mention or reference to any other factors, or even giving the impression that you believe that there are other factors. And that was before your comment was censored
The 94k peak is a 12 month rolling average so it covers May 19 to April 20. Most of which the period was Pre Covid. + Where was the governments policies to cater for this influx so as not to have the dire situation we are now in?
"many offshore buyers having friends and family buy by proxy with the intention of returning home when they are able." And why would NZ citizens/residents use proxy buyers ?
Nah, you're either being ignorant or disingenuous in trying to pretend the 94K peak was nothing to do with Covid.
Of course it was to do with Covid as overseas panic was in full swing in the three months immediately preceding our border closure, particularly in China. The stats you link to clearly show that, and importantly that more than usual were returning citizens and residents.
And if you are going to use full quotation marks, please make sure the person has actually said that verbatim. It is just plain good forumming.
You seem to be developing the habit of having one name in your pseudonym and then finishing your comment with another. I assume they are your family name and your first name.
In order that I can correctly address you can you tell me which is which? Are you known as "Muttonbird Moron" or are you more correctly referred to as "Moron Muttonbird"?
we have a Progressive government that …. waits and the issues progressively deteriorate . Perhaps that is why our pm describes her govt as progressive🤔
It looks as though Max's friend Jake Millar has run off with some of John Key's money. Oh dear, how sad, the old con-man has been taken in by a young upstart 'entrepreneur'.
An Aucklander who spent six minutes at a store where a Covid-19 case was working had to wait nearly eight hours on the phone to get advice from Healthline.
Even if this item isn't correct in every detail it illustrates cracks in the Covid management policy widening. Are front-line workers being properly paid and rested? Are investigators really on top of their job keeping up with the urgency needed, that was shown earlier on? NZ can't afford to be complacent. Recently one student was phoned a number of times without success, and a visit to the house wasn't made. In the meantime the virus was being spread.
The standards of effectiveness must be maintained in checking Covid, also the funding must be adequate. The effects on business, and people's ability to make a living, have a life and carry out responsibilities even, must be faciltated by a responsible and not cheese-paring government or private agencies.
At present I am waiting for a reply from the blood test laboratory to whom i made a call yesterday afternoon, which required that a message be left. I am asked to go on-line to make a booking, but I want to ask questions, and I don't want to have my computer as the centre of my life, and so be forced to commit money to have one or an expensive cellphone, tablet etc. Low cost wages and high-cost demands from government doesn't augur well for the future.
Is this an example of withdrawal of responsibility to the citizen and interaction with us, which crops up more regularly unfortunately, with a default position of using a computer for contacts and providing information. Or 'put it on facebook' and that's complied with our requirements for public notification or such.
Devices are coming between interaction from government and business and the people. Don't allow this to continue! Complain bitterly and don't swallow inevitability without a murmur as government withdraws from its traditional role in a democracy. Don't allow convenience to rule the day. First govt will drop this, then that, then it will be up to you, then it will be more efficient if you are always on tap, then there will be a nano-sized device inserted in your earlobe (in different art shapes picturing famous stars etc.)
Heh my first job was as a sales clerk taking incoming calls ….the standard was to answer the phone in three rings or less……..these days well not so much
Well said GW. The overwhelming attitude that everyone has a computer, broadband and an online bank account or a phone where they can eat up paid minutes on hold and that is sufficient is the default position and using covid to introduce further restrictions is manipulative. Private companies are bad enough but the government needs to pull it's head in.
I am renewing my passport at level 1. In the past I could drop the form in at the wellington office, pay by eftpos and then drop back to collect it.
Now an appointment is required where I sat on hold for about 10 minutes (which is a lot of dough if some one is using pay as you use) and then a time is allocated supposedly because of covid. I was also asked to come by myself – which would be an issue for some people. Heavens knows if I will be able to collect it – which feels a great deal more secure than trusting it to couriers who leave the wrong parcels at my house and don't get signatures even when required. Payment options are also limited.
There is a real accessibility issue for the filing and payment of a lot of government services which needs to be dealt with. They are also tying themselves to technology like email addresses which will become less common.
Yes I get the feeling that email is passe' now. Heaven help us – the technocrats want to replace every useful personal and reliable service.
I think 'they' don't care if things go wrong provided they have had a first flush of profit. They might have to pay some of that back when some egregious error is found. But what-the-hell it will all be profitably replaced in six months, at extra cost to the citizen (ahem consumer) so keep the pressure on to innovate, innovate, innovate. (A hat-tip to the cry of the vacuum cleaners – Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate.)
As a side issue I saw on Stuff news yesterday an article giving an explanation of the Covid-19 exposure categories people fit into, the testing and the isolation required. I was left feeling a bit confused.
The Covid advice line is not meeting the needs of the people in a timely manner when it is essential to do so.
The Covid bloody phone call program prioritised calls wrongly and kept people waiting for hours. One woman's phone showed a call time of seven hours, 44 minutes. How can people organise their lives and their family's health status and comings and goings. The government has made life so unstable for ordinary people, has not mentioned recompense to those pushed around like pawns, and yet appears to consider this is a clever modern system that can't be bettered.
They were dealing with huge call volumes – the Health Ministry says after the announcement of a new community case linked to Papatoetoe High School call volumes spiked – most of that day they had had average wait times of under a minute but that jumped to 36 minutes…
The ministry said Healthline had since increased the number of staff they have rostered on by 8 times – and call wait times are now mainly under 20 minutes. (That is a long time still! Is this the best that govt can do with the pandemic continuing so long?)
Another problem caused 92 people between lunchtime Tuesday and midnight Thursday to be cut off after waiting on the phone for two hours. This affected people who were on hold or even mid conversation.
…The ministry said this problem was "being addressed".
However they didn't say they would reimburse the people who had their phone payments diminished while they were waiting. This is what a good, responsible government service, or contractor, would do in this age of deliberate low wages and erratic work hours.
There should be an Expediter group who work shifts, looking to where the known hot spots are, assesses needs, and has staff able to work extra hours at short notice (with extra pay of course) to be called in, perhaps using police helicopters if available to pick up stafff.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi is telling those who have relied on migrant workers in the past to "think differently about how to do that in the future".
The government had "made it a priority to put resources into upskilling New Zealanders," he says, "and we'd prefer that if we're going to do that, obviously, the jobs that we've relied on with migrant labour in the past would be able to be filled by New Zealanders".
I was wondering if someone else had picked up on this. This is a HUGE change, and it will be fought tooth and nail by affected sectors that have grown addicted to ready access to a stream of easily exploitable, low wage foreign workers. Look out for accusations of racism, bitter mocking from the usual media suspects of Ardern's appeal to inclusivity, scare stories about unpicked crops, fallow fields and the unaffordable cost of restaurant meals with a crippling inability to hire chefs.
More to the point, it shows the government is walking away from the ideology of the globalised, laissez-faire labour market in favour of greater controls on the inflow of foreigners. I see the impact of Labour's Maori caucus in this, it seems they are replacing NZ First as the voice of the working poor on the struggle street of the low wage, unskilled economy – because make no mistake this will push up wages for low skilled locals.
In the absence of any political or societal will to use NZ's wealth to invest in critical infrastructure and then housing, there is no other option than to stem the flow of people.
And, as you point out, a major offensive on cheap imported labour will have the benefit of encouraging employers to upskill local workers rather than ignoring them.
I knew we had a fair bit of cheap labour in NZ, but I'll be the first to admit my middle class ass had no idea exactly how much we were relying on cheap Brazilians to run of tourist centre bars and cafes, how much we relied on cheap, deeply exploited Indians on dubious "study" visas to work in menial tasks, how much we needed cheap labour from the Pacific and Asia to provide labour for our rest homes and pick our crops and clean our toilets and all that sort of thing. We had created and enabled a studiously ignored third world economy where the worst exploiters were from the same ethnic groups and set it to run parallel to, and largely for the benefit of, our comfy Pakeha first world one. It has to stop.
"… for the benefit of our comfy Pakeha first world…"
Might pay to take the racist blinkers off. Maori for decades resisted foreign owned charter fisheries vessels that they employed being subject to NZ laws and conditions of employment. These vessels were repeatedly described as 'slave ships' and a form of colonisation. Not for the benefit of Pakeha, but for the benefit of the coffers of Maori .
And the appalling exploitation you rightly refer to is for the benefit not just of Pakeha, but also of our Chinese, Indian and other immigrants, alongside of course Maori. Wander down to the local Warehouse. Plenty of non-Pakeha sure happy to buy cheap stuff made in Asian sweatshops. Or do you consider it OK to exploit others if the beneficiaries of that exploitation are not white?
Peter CH You are making a sweeping generalisation. Sealord was set up as a business that had to compete with other businesses. A large share in it, maybe half, was sold to I think a Japanese firm that had experience – so half Maori business interests and half foreign. There was a threat from I think Sandfords, a chap Gilchrist from memory, to sue the Nelson Polytechnic when they set up a dedicated course for training Maori seamen. Nelson Poly stepped back from Court costs under this threat.
So there were barriers to overcome by Maori as to what way things would be done. Give them some slack will you. So many pakeha know just how things should be done, it is a surprise that so much of NZ business is owned or been sold to overseas corporations. Where are all you smart people standing tall and successful and determined on NZ ownership, as NZ 'captains of business'??
The foreign involvement predated the Maori interest. There's an explanation here: essentially a large chunk of NZ fisheries had been illegally offshored when Carter Holt Harvey went above a certain percentage of foreign ownership. Instead of confiscating CHH's quota, government cobbled together a deal whereby a Maori entity obtained a company and a large parcel of quota.
Inexperience cost Sealord dearly early on, and neither foreign charters nor locally based catcher contractors did them any favours. A habit of overcapitalisation remains, but the worst of their excesses have mostly ground to a halt. During this time they lost ground, going from NZ's largest fishing company to about number three. Meanwhile the contemporaneous rise of Southern Clams showed that growth and profitability were quite possible in the then market conditions – and without slave crews.
I wouldn't have known either, until I began to see foreign students who have finished a diploma or degree in NZ's tertiary sector (both established academic institutions and the new generation of private providers). I do what little I can to help them escape two equally invidious paths – go into the swamp of low-wage exploitation, or lose their visas and go home. From what I've seen, it all looks a bit like a sophisticated, vertically integrated scam.
They used to call these jobs "kiwi experience' and any migrant into NZ had to content with these jobs. Heck i knew people that worked for free to gain that mythical kiwi experience even if they very educated.
I would assume that the aged care sector would fall apart if it had to employ only locals.
Yes I see this as generally a good call but agree it will be fought hard. Too many employers love it for the power it gives them. I did wonder if the government would ever say this although there seemed to be some foot dragging around visa's.
Will they also look at the 18-30 working holiday visas with about 45 countries with the USA and Canada being eligible for 2 years rather than one and those two countries plus the UK having an uncapped limit plus possibly others
. Also the au pairs where they can be worked for up to 40 hours for a pittance (plus I assume no tax on the free board and lodging).
It floods the market as our young people are trying for their first jobs and undermines their ability to get that early training. And it's not like we have the same numbers of young people taking advantage of reciprocal arrangements.
And I assume future working tied to student visas will be post grad or undergrad exchanges for state universities.
I would like to see some continuation of access from the islands though but on far better terms and conditions so there is no exploitation. It seems to be a good way of putting some money into small fragile economies from the bottom up rather than top down type overseas aid.
Hope they slug the investor visa too. i don’t see too many factories from these and I think there was a survey that showed most just stuck the money into something secure then took it back at then end of the period.
Plus I would want the income limits lifted to really high ones. Why should the good paying jobs we have be inspire foreign competition.
The first thing which strikes me about this policy is the age of the workers who do seasonal work. Due to tourism and the hospitality industry not being what it used to be, there possibly is an expectation that a person who worked in hospitality now looks for seasonal work or upskills.
On 28 April 1964 (date of the postmark), Bob Dylan wrote a prose-poem letter to Lawrence Ferlinghetti after calling on him a couple of months earlier (20 February 1964) and finding him not home.
deare larry.
have no sports car.
weather., good.
traffic moving slowly thru tunnel.
breeze is from the west an I ahah am goin
t france tomorrow. have t look thru all my pants pockets an collect things t send t you.
as of now I am in the midst of destroyin all I’ve
done (I’ve even crashed my old typewriter t pieces an have burned my
pens into little tiny plastic statues)
I know I will send you something one of these days.
all I have t do is finish something t send you.
in any case, if I am poisened or framed or kilt orratted on
I will will will you some edgar lee masters?
type (bob dylan written) poems of grand embarassment.
thelonius monk grand style grand (me upright)
the world’s fair begun down there.
I’m gone.
Sailin on (across the sone) son,
sawn. dawn. anyway I’m gone.
I’m up here.
my adress is me-bearsville. just got back from trip t boston area.
sung songs at providence.
amhearst.
arrived in amhearst with 15 friends from cambridge.
left providence with 15 friends from providence.
ditched them on highway tho. (yes I pledge alliegence t the luckyness of havin
some so many friends.)
an here’s t the republic.
up the irish.
ah yes my flag has turned into one color.
who fast?
me fast?
choking?
ha you must be joking. I’m not turnin. burnin. maybe smokin.
not running cunning.
not me.
I aint none of them things.
not me.
yes most deffinately would like t borrow cabin at big sur. cant say when.
sometime.
wham.
it just hit me.
I do got things of songs an stories for you.
my hangup is tho that I know there will be more.
I want t send the more more then I want t send the got.
yes I guess that’s it.
that’s it in a nutshell pruneskin.
that’s the whole story.
nothin but the truth.
nothin but the nothin.
would’ve liked t spent more time in san francisco.
would like t spend more time in many places.
sometime I will.
someday I will.
tomorrow. yeah tomorrow.
I a, in a strange light alright.
I remember a few years ago.
tramping. bummin.
ridin the rods all wrong.
hitchhiking (pretending stock markets crashin all over me) thru the ever ready
usa. guitar on my back.
my thoughful tool.
yes an the only thing I wished was that someday I’d be able t come back
t these fucked up shootin gallery pay me for my playin coffee houses.
coffee bars.
oh how I used t hope that someday if nothin else. I’d have enuff friends or
know the right people t survive with my head at least as groovy as
theirs … man.
I never got a chance.
I got a motorcycle tho.
but unlike the last ones I had on south dakota an minnesota roads,
this one’s for the fields.
so you see, after all, I’m not really going all that fast.
you cant go too fast in the fields you know.
the only thing that’s wrong is that there’s no fuckin motels.
absolutely no advertising. I’m the first one hit by the forest fires an god knows that a fallout
shelter’d be insane.
terrible buzzard flies an my front steps all loaded with killed dear
hit by cars … yet I still wave t airplanes
an shit like that (what whit like that?) so I’m not all bad.
all good.
would?
yes I’ve chopped much wood.
I’ll write you later an send clippings from my head.
as for now there’s a horn honkin.
must be for me.
hhhmmmmmmmmm.
or however you spell that.
will be in france for awhile.
someplace where they dont read life magazine.
of course I’ll be back tho.
an will be out in sanfrancisco again.
I have nothin t do.
an no place t go.
faretheewell.
faretheegoodbye.
say hi for me.
say hi t anybody
see you then
comemoratin figitatin
agitatin satined
positivelyated
homogenized. egg creamed. pie in the faced
egg in the eyed
untied. complyed. plywooded. do-gooded. hooded.
lamp shaded understated hated backdated
muscatelled. muscatold musca went wrong someplace
displaced. cock traced
embraced umbraced ohbraced
church laced
straight faced
an all that
yes
I see the yankee war machine back in action in Syria where they are neither wanted or invited, same as Iraq, yankee go home, but no, they stay like the invaders they are. They along with the other warmonger State, the UK, spread hatred and lies against their Russian and Chineese Capitalist rivals as a smokescreen for their own putrid deeds, I see that seems to work for many on this rightwing site.
And what do you think of the memorial? Looks as if it has been designed by an accountant fully into materialism. It is all hard edged even with a curve. A good design for a shared pathway for skateboarding and mountain bike racing. The insolence of the young males won't be limited by thoughts of family grief and the tragedy of it all. Utilitarianism rules OK.
Mr Hickey is speaking out both sides of his mouth.
On one side he's saying that governments don't want to force housing prices down because they will loose votes.
On the other side he's saying that governments should pour heaps of money into urban infrastructure. The unsaid part of this is that infrastructure spend will push up urban housing prices.
im not sure Mr Hickey is 'speaking out of both sides', I suspect he believes his analysis but imo he has miscalculated the underlying reasoning…it isnt a political fear per se but rather an economic one and therefore his prescription fails to account for the outcome.
Pouring money into infrastructure will not automatically increase housing costs if the money available to support housing is reduced, indeed what is supporting the housing inflation currently is the amount of credit (and explicit underwrite by govs) banks have to invest…..it is the ratio of money available to stock and that ratio is not necessarily changed by increasing or decreasing stock.
The problem any government faces is the stability of the financial system as it requires ever increasing credit…..the business cycle was never tamed, rather it was replaced
You're (and Mr Hickey) are repeating the distortions of the property sector in saying that government infrastructure spend doesn't increase 'housing costs'. This is correct from the developer's pov, they don't have to pay for the infrastructure and can offer a housing unit at a reduced price / make more profit, generally the latter.
But from the pov of the surrounding properties capital values go up, often dramatically, because the owners don't have to pay for their portion of the infrastructure in their rates. So overall housing prices get dragged up.
Totally agree about the problems of taming a financial system that's totally dependent on the value of housing. But the real issue isn't the loss of value to individuals if there's a fall in the market, it's the economic chaos that will result if there's a property 'correction'. A dramatic fall in house values (say 20%) won't make them more affordable because the would be a corresponding reduction in liquidity and employment. People will find it even harder get a loan when they haven't got confidence in their income. And that is what destroys governments.
It does more than destroy governments ….the self reinforcing downward spirals it can create cause depressions…..that is the economic fear I reference.
Keynes showed us how to deal with depressions but we risk being permanently removed from the ‘club of advanced nations’ if we move ahead of the major players.
As to infrastructure spends creating property inflation I beg to differ….it depends upon the funding mechanism….history shows that central government can provide the infrastructure without creating the (specific) property inflation we are experiencing….there is no problem with property inflation that matches broader (esp wage) inflation.
After the OM topics have been done to death, it is an opportunity for very recent developments to be introduced and it also opens up the conversation for other commenters to take part who may not have the inclination or the time during the day.
I know that DR patronage is a bit up and down but it presents an opportunity for wider coverage of the day's events and is often quite jocular which makes for a nice change.
It's the old story, though – it'll be ignored until it becomes a palpable problem, at which point billions will be thrown at the problem. I don't think it will get to Children of Men levels. Maybe Handmaid's Tale, but we also see other elements of that happening…
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Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
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Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
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I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
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Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
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This is big news! Mr Potato Head is going gender neutral!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/a-mister-no-more-mr-potato-head-goes-gender-neutral/G76OXQM5422ZUNZGDAOQOXN7FE/
Just remembering the part in Toy Story where the toys are joking that Tommy has unboxed a Mrs Potato Head.
I don't see what problem this is supposed to solve.
Is a ban effective when the poster who gets handed the ban only finds out about it after the ban is over?
"I don't see what problem this is supposed to solve." Do you mean problem that Mr Potato head is no longer a Mr?
It appears that Bridges wants to debate gangs with Coster and not with the minister of police.
Is this going to be the tactic that National now use going after the top public servants?
Well the civil servants aren't allowed to fight back – probably the only fight National might manage to "win" – though even that is in doubt.
Is the Minister of Police on leave? Do we even have a Minister of Police? Who might that be? Can somebody please tell Simon Bridges and the National Party for that matter on whom to aim his callous attacks? Is he trying to seed discord between the Minister and the Commissioner?
Is the Minister of Police on leave?
I would put this question to Bridges.
Spot on.
Leaked documents exposes UK government propaganda campaign against Russia.
"After The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal reported on newly leaked documents exposing a massive UK government propaganda campaign against Russia, Twitter added an unprecedented warning label that the material "may have been obtained through hacking." Although Twitter may have intended to restrict the article, the warning had the opposite effect: it quickly went viral."
And of course butter wouldn't melt in that nice Mr Putin's mouth.
"And of course butter wouldn't melt in that nice Mr Putin's mouth."…are you just an actual idiot or are you just trolling? Let us just settle this once and for all…you go find one time when I have said anything that is in support of Putin or his government, if you can then I shut up about all this anti Russian/Putin propaganda…if you can't, then you stop pushing western anti Russian/Putin propaganda on this site…or if you are not willing to put your money where your mouth is, knowing full well that you are going to lose that challenge (just as your fellow Russiagate friends have already lost similar challenges ) then how about countering the actual substance of the leaked documents….if not any of the above, then how about you just don't comment to me in future.
I am in fact very concerned by your incessant spreading of material in support of this murderous and invasive regime. As you put it:
are you just an actual idiot?
Never mind the western propaganda – there is nothing to admire or support in Putin's Russia.
So what's your deal? Why circulate Putin's side of every story? Isn't a genocide and the poisonings and assassinations of multiple political opponents and journalists enough to make you reflect even briefly on your invariable choice to repeat his disinformation campaigns?
Aside from your pathetic groveling to Russia you certainly give the impression of being progressive.
How do you reconcile this behaviour? Are you simply a romantic, endlessly open to these risible conspiracy theories? Like the Covidiots?
"there is nothing to admire or support in Putin's Russia."
That is a little bit harsh Stuart. I think there are some things. Alexei Navalny for example. He may not be perfect but, by returning to Russia as he has done, he is certainly displaying incredible courage and deserves our admiration for that.
Admiration of Navalny must be tempered by the history that has made Amnesty drop his cause like a hot potato.
Hillarious, did you know the same group of journalists are behind both this story and the one your claiming is Russian disinformation.
You know what's really hilarious? Self-styled progressives with a crush on a murderous authoritarian kleptocrat.
Please do link to my statements supporting Putin. LPrent will definitely want to look into however people are impersonating logins.
"So what's your deal? Why circulate Putin's side of every story? Isn't a genocide and the poisonings and assassinations of multiple political opponents and journalists enough to make you reflect even briefly on your invariable choice to repeat his disinformation campaigns?"
This seems a very ethnocentric sort of comment. But, without wishing to condone the assassinations, etc, I should point out that Russia is a very different country from Britain, and one that has not enjoyed the many centuries of democratic development that the latter has enjoyed.
a very ethnocentric sort of comment
There are, you know, some truths to be derived from culture.
One of them is that organized crime has culturally bound tropes – Japanese criminals during their world cup were disproportionately involved in minor frauds like ticket scalping, and German and English offenders were overrepresented in brawling. Cocaine is a staple of Central American crime gangs, petrol thefts or swindles are characteristic of Russian crime gangs, and kidnapping of the original Sicilian mafia.
Murders of journalists and opposition party members are almost routine in Russia; thus far NZ political culture has not added them to its repertoire.
" genocide and the poisonings and assassinations of multiple political opponents and journalists "
You need to provide some evidence of this or one may think you are " simply a romantic, endlessly open to these risible conspiracy theories"
I have provided you with such evidence before, but you have chosen to ignore it. But, lest your double standards sway casual observers:
Murdered Russian journalists.
Murdered Russian opposition figures.
The Herald list is by no means exhaustive.
Is it not obvious to you how biased you are?
Obviously not
I'm suppose to except your articles from granny Herald and wikipedia while you refuse to read RT articles.
You do know what the 'wiki' in wikipedia means don't you?
I just cant be bothered with you.
You do know what the 'wiki' in wikipedia means don't you?
Yes. But when we're discussing state sanctioned murder, I expected that you would have enough grace not to try to split hairs. Evidently not.
Metaphorically speaking, ethnocentricity is a form of blindness.
Incidentally, I see the British have now passed a law authorising their agents to commit crimes without having to face prosecution.
Metaphorically speaking, ethnocentricity is a form of blindness.
Yes of course – we must immediately embrace the culture of murderous authoritarians instead of defending the principles to which our society aspires. Does your moral relativism extend to Xi and the Uyghurs, or is China a bridge too far for you?
Should we punish innocent Russian citizens by declaring war on Russia, imposing trade sanctions, or whatever, simply because we disapprove of its government's alleged crimes. Or are the people to be considered simply as collateral damage.
The "Russians", whom you seem to be obsessed with badmouthing, haven't committed any crimes.
Should we punish innocent Russian citizens…
Do you know, I haven't decided what should be done about Russia. But what we should not do, is pretend that a routinely dishonest and murderous regime is not dishonest and murderous.
" there is nothing to admire or support in Putin's Russia."
I think you may be a little obsessed with Putin.
Why is that?
He represents a fatal danger to the progressive enterprise.
He has no progressive merits, but readily suborns shallow, weak-minded people to his cause, who then proceed to choke Left discourse with apologies for his most recent atrocities.
Its not Romantasism..its a desire for truth…
For my part ..the problem with the Anti Putin rhetoric is that it dominates western media for absolutely no practicable purpose,…leaving the stories, the issues and the political intrigue we should be occupied with entirely sidelined.
Just one aspect of this is the narrative around Russias supposed involvement/meddling in foreign elections. Sure, I have no doubt they do some of that, as do Western nations intervein in Russian politics…but just imagine if we had had daily updates from RNZ on the corruption and manipulations of the American political process by Americans(and not just Trump Bad) rather than the existential threat of Putin.
Same with our coverage of UK politics…our news sources on a daily basis told us we are interested in skripal poisoning and Russian interference ..though apparently not the actual workings of the UK election. (..beyond some coverage Corbyn being an appalling prospect)
And in all of these examples…our apparent interest seems to conveniently wain just around the time officials have to conced there is a total absence of viable, significant legal evidence to suport their terribly exciting narrative.
Meantime us Western nations are left with our two major influencers (ie UK and America) in absolute self inflicted disarray, ill equipped to deal with the actual threats to peacful life on the planet
I put it to you that our Democratic process would be far better served critiquing our Wester partners than obssesing about the existentialist threat of a sidelined nation such as Russia.
This clip has been posted many times before..but I shall do it again ..remember this is something we would have laughed at a few years ago ..and I know this was about "policy"…yet here we are ..in effect…still worrying about this supposed terrible threat to our way of Life!!
https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/35759/dancing-cossacks-1975
It says much for the relevance of your argument that you have to go back to 1975 for your example of anti-Russian propaganda. Perhaps it is not as significant a trend as you assert.
The fact is that Russia indulges in activities that are newsworthy. So does Kim Jong Eun. When that leader executes someone with an antiaircraft weapon, or Putin has someone assassinated, or funds trolls to support extremists in other countries, it tends to get reported. Moreover, Russian intelligence, being used to operating in countries with limited forensic resources and significant endemic corruption is readily detected when it carries out operations elsewhere.
Umm, Stuart the youtube link is discussing the very latest examples of UK governments anti-Russia propaganda.
We must be wary of such dubious sources. Putin's Russia has a lot of astroturfing form: Duped by Russia, freelancers ensnared in disinformation campaign by promise of easy money | Reuters
Reuters is one of the organisations implicated as involved by the leaks.
Oh of course – of course Russia seeks to impugn the most prestigious and professional news organization on the planet – its very existence threatens every dishonest narrative they publish.
The only reliable source must be those RT folk eh – no-one ever caught them lying through their teeth, or requiring a dishonest political line. Liz Wahl – Wikipedia
So your saying the leaked documents have been fabricated then?
@ Nic – I have no idea what documents you are referring to.
And I'm not about to wade through an hour of RT tripe to find out.
Yes, well clearly your self inflicted ignorance is getting in the way of your ability to justify the position your defending.
Yes, it's a great handicap – but not on a par with the mindless regurgitation that characterizes Putin dupes.
Do you have an actual case to make?
If so, present your evidence.
Your inability to deal with the claim about Reuters doesn't invalidate those claims.
Your refusal to produce evidence suggests that you have no confidence in its validity – or that you are persuadable sans evidence.
Well yes, but you have already refused to look at any of the article, video or even their summaries and related materials, so I can't really help you with that.
you have already refused to look at any of the article, video or even their summaries and related materials
I have refused to trawl through an hour of RT bullshit – and you and your fellow dupes have declined to provide anything else – no doubt due to the paucity and flimsiness of your case.
Um…thats entirely my point…we haven't moved on since 1975…
but anyway…google 'DEMOCRATS MUELLER PROTESTS" (heaps, right?) now google this mix or variation thereof … 'DEMOCRATS TAX CUTS FOR RICH & CORPORATIONS COVID-19 RELIEF BILL PROTEST" (clue…never happened, though you might get some old shots of Bernie and Warren from way back))…
Thats your example ..people on the streets with their leaders basicaly against Putin…not against political corruption by their own leaders..
Though this could lead to a conversation about the American (and world wide)protests that do happen, but don't get covered for obvious reasons…but I'll save that for another day ..with Biden and co. in charge I'm sure that will be a major topic….
Siobhan, you do realise that the results given by a Google search differ for individuals, dependent upon their recent internet and search history?
Your results my be completely different to Stuart's.
BTW the Covid Stimulus relief package is still making its way through congress, and recent polling shows that the majority of Americans support what's in it – so why would there be protesting?
For your info: here is an explainer of what Democrats propose. You need to understand however that this will not be an easy package to pass through the Senate given that Republicans will not vote for it. Just one Democrat Senator could sink this Bill. Looking at you Joe Manchin.
This is a common tactic of yours Stuart isn't it.
You wont/can't debate the issue of UK government propaganda campaign against Russia so you make childish statement to deflect from the issue.
Read the article and present a concise argument against it, if you can.
The film clip Adrian supplied is over an hour long, but it is the work of one Blumenthal, a paid regular contributor to RT, the propaganda arm of the Russian state. He's not worth anyone's time.
If you would care to present a brief summary of his allegations, I will happily check them out.
Of course he will not address the actual evidence of BBC,Reuters,Bellingcat being an active part of a coordinated British government covert operation to undermine Russia's sovereignty…so in other words, our Russiagate friends are outraged when Russia is accused if interfering in US/UK domestic affairs (though that has yet to be proven that this even happened on the scale Russia is accused of), yet when there is actual proof of the UK doing exactly that to Russia, suddenly it is fine..the hypocrisy of you lot is jaw dropping.
As I have said many times, after watching and observing you guys for a while, it becomes very easy to see just how easy it was to recruit the proverbial 'camp guards'
If an RT shill said they weren't gulags they were butlins-style holiday camps filled with fun activities, you'd be singing the praises of Putin's outdoor recreation program.
And posting hour long videos of a dude in a room telling the camera how awesome the camps are.
Aaahh..McFlock head camp guard..and who of course and as per usual doesn't address the actual issue…
The actual issue is between you and your medical professionals, in my opinion.
A pile of mid fifties war comics just arrived in the shop, was flicking through them at lunch..man these thing are hard core cold war propaganda…would suit you and your fellow dumb headed cold war warriors perfectly,.
And here I was thinking that human kind was evolving upwards ever so slowly, you just blew that theory out the door, well done.
I can just see you and your up standing pals doing your civic duty and reporting fellow citizens to the authorities..yeah right up your ally, as I said you are born camp guard.
Turns out you and Ayn Rand have more in common than you probably thought…it comes as no surprise to me though.
I mean, you could actually use something other than an hour-long rant as supporting evidence for an explicit claim that you, yourself, make with your own words.
Heck, one day you might manage to make a comment that is:
To be fair, a lot of your comments don't have videos.
Well I would rather be on mushrooms every now and then, than be some sort of crazy old cold war warrior who obviously has never been bothered with an original thought in their entire life time.
Long on pejoratives – short on evidence.
When was the last time you had a thought that hadn't been facilitated by RT?
Nobody on RT would be so dumb as to imply that 'The Standard' is a butlins style holiday camp.
I worked at a Pontins in Brixham for a few years.
Gulag/Holiday park – Same difference lol
Summarize your claim – I'm not giving RT 10 minutes of my life, much less an hour.
The confession of a closed mind. All credit to you for your willingness to admit it.
You've yet to present any evidence of anything whatsoever – whatever suits your laughable "Putin is Jesus" thesis I suppose.
But this is supposed to be a forum for serious political discussion. You claim you have evidence of something? Present it.
Don't expect me to spend hours trawling the intellectual sewer that is RT.
I have never made any claims regarding Putin, so I don't see why I should provide "evidence". I accept that Putin is pretty ruthless when it comes to retaining power, but I also see this as rather beside the point.
I don't see why I should provide "evidence".
Quite – rational discussion is for the sheeple eh.
Standing alone is fine, unless one is some crazy obsessive.
I'm always surprised that no one brings up the undisputed fact of the United States "intervention" in the 1996 Russian elections…and the American lead IMF loan of US$10.2 billion that Boris and his mates squandered ..quite blatantly…and this is just one aspect of that involvement that is so undeniable it is allowed to exist on Wikipedia …. the idea that anything the UK or America does now is "okay", as if its the first retaliatory blow against an interfering regime in some new battle..is quite ridiculous.
(and yes, that was American lead interference …but as everyone knows ..the UK is the money laundering hub for Russian elites and needs to be careful how it deals with and investigates Russian interference and, equaly manages its own covert operations.)
I understand your reluctance Adrian, to get into the factual (or otherwise) basis of your claim. It must be so deflating watching RT's tawdry lies shrivel in the sunlight.
Good one Putin get some of his own back.
@Tricledrown..see my comment to Stuart Munro above..that goes for you too…put up or shut up.
Last night I suppose Simon Bridges got about his business doing what he usually does.
Cops all over the country were too. Like in Papatoetoe, many of them over quite some hours. Will he find something to complain about with their 'nuanced' policing?
The Minister of Housing will be very happy.
Auckland has risen from number 6 in this Housing survey in 2020 up to number 4 in 2021 report. Go team! Why, with the great strides being made by the current Government we will get up to Number 1 before this term is up. I'm sure that Megan Woods is in raptures.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/124367729/auckland-fourth-least-affordable-city-for-housing-among-world-cities–2021-demographia-report
Well John Key wanted to make NZ an Island for the very rich and i guess he has achieved that.
Oh, we are not to mention that the unaffordability of housing in NZ has been borne and has been fostered by the various National and Labour governments? My bad.
The rich love exclusivity; it makes them feel … rich.
"we are not to mention".
Why on earth shouldn't you mention it? As far as I know Andrew Little hasn't put his hate speech laws through yet so you can't be prosecuted for saying something that causes unhappiness in one of our Lords and Masters.
So go to it, while you can.
I just fixed your comment honey, if you want to put blame about the fact that Kiwis can't afford houses – be it to sell or to rent then you must put the blame on both parties.
The National party for selling statehouses, their refusal to build state houses and such and the timidity of Labour to put a CGT, and other reforms.
So yeah, you should have mentioned both parties. Bye now.
Of course previous Governments headed by both major parties have stuffed up. However for the last three and a half years we have had a Labour led Government. The article I linked to covered the way things have got even worse this year than they were last year.
National have not been in Government recently so you can't really expect them to do much about the situation. And John Key resigned as Prime Minister on 6 December 2016. Are you really suggesting he is responsible for things that are happening four and a quarter years later?
"are you really suggesting he is responsible for things that are happening four and a quarter years later"? yes, those many thousands of new New Zealanders he let in to try and prop up his version of responsible economic management will continue to put severe pressure on all of our infrastructure(not just housing) for many years to come. just as the deregulation in the building industry in the nineties has led to 25 yrs of problems with leaky homes. just as max bradfords disasterous phuckups while trying to reform the electricity industry 25 yrs ago ,still are causing long term damage. perhaps you need to do less trolling and more reading and learning.
Yes , no doubt about that one, at the time and now four and a half years later.
Lol…many people on this site will be blaming John Key (alias the devil) still in 10 years time!
That's 'Sir John Key' to you, Jimmy.
Whatever happened to "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear"?
Senior National Party figure accused of using secret alter ego 'Merv' to derail Auckland Central candidate
is there a time limit on phuckups and their effects? or do you want to push the reset button?
Yeah, take a leaf out of Alwyn’s book and let rip. FYI, Andrew Little has got no say over TS.
"Andrew Little has got no say over TS.".
Not yet baby, not yet. That is why I suggested that she say whatever she wants to.
However not having any say now doesn't affect the fact that he would like to have control in the future, when he can decide that anything he doesn't like being said is hate speech and can be punished. After all, when your skin is as thin as his seems to be he can be hurt by anything that isn't totally admiring of anything he does.
https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-opinion/strengthening-hate-speech-laws-or-attacking-free-speech
Oh look, another 'alwyn fact' – keep up the good work, while you still can![laugh laugh](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
Edit: Maybe Newman’s opinion pieces are on Little’s ‘little list‘. They never would be missed.
https://www.nzcpr.com/author/mn/
It's because of Covid returnees, [RL: Abuse deleted]
Partially yes, but frankly it was bad before covid.
And how bout Rotorua? Where houses now also cost over a million? And Taupo, which can't attract enough trades people for lack of housing? And Tauranga? Where expensive houses are literally build on sand?
Our housing crisis is bad not because of people coming home, our housing crisis is bad because Government is missing in action at best, at worst they are refusing to implement meaningful policy and legislation that would allow for a cooling of the housing market.
But so long as banks are ok to offer mortgages at 2.99% and less for a loan over 500.000 grand speculators who have cash flush or equitiy will buy and buy and buy.
Btw, there is borded up empty houses where i live. The landlord can't be bothered to rent, he will sell for Captial Gain…….untaxed in a few month.
Regarding the borded up houses – It may cost him a considerable amount of money to rent them as he would probably need to upgrade the insulation, install heat pumps / air con units and various other requirements to meet the new rental standards. This is an unintended consequence of the new rental laws. He may or may not have the funds to do that, so better to leave empty.
that is the saddest excuse i have ever heard. The house was rented before it was borded up.
So what you are saying is he extracted as much revenue as he could without having to bring the house up to any standards, and now he waits a few more month before unloading it on a buyer.
Slumlandlord, and i have no pity with him. Never mind there is a borded up house in the road and we have homeless up and down the country.
Btw, i bought a rental property to live in, it cost me 3 grand to put roof insulation in, two hundred bucks for a fan/light/heat in bathroom, and 4 grand for a small heat pump.
If a landlord does not have the money to spend 5 – 8 grand to get the house to the min standard required to rent it out, while being able to extract at the median 460.00 per week nigh on 2 grand per month, or around 22.000 grand per year, then the dude needs to get out of business.
Like I said, it's an unintended consequence. A lot of landlords have mortgage payments higher than the rent they receive. They may be "equity rich" but are cash poor. And it would not surprise me that some do not have a spare $7k sitting around to bring the property up to the renting standard. Ironically, it would be fine for them to live in themselves without heat pump etc. or spending on it. But I agree that maybe its time for this particular landlord to get out of the renting market and sell the property (which as you said may be the intention).
if they are equity rich, and have a rental that is currently rented, then any bank will happily loan them the 5 – 8 grand needed. Besides they knew now for about 4 years that this date was coming.
This is still the dumbest excuse. Sorry, i am letting my property fall even further into disrepair by not doing anything cause i am broke as fuck, but in a few month when the value has gone up another few thousand dollars (according to the paper that i received from the council in my area house prices have doubled in the last three years) i will sell, cause money for nothing and stuff for free. Right?
Seriously, that should not even count as an excuse. No the house stays empty because a. he don't want to upgrade, and b. he wants to sell. For a handful of more dollars.
absolute bollocks. poor landlord cant raise $7 grand on a property worth anywhere from 300,000 upwards, to be able to earn 15 grand upwards. sounds like a tui ad.
I know, right – I have relatives building an extension enabled by their inflating property valuation.
A lot of landlords have mortgage payments higher than the rent they receive.
It is not the tenant's job to pay his landlord's mortgage. It's not the tenant who will own the house after the final mortgage payment is made. The landlord is already benefiting from the rort that interest deductibility represents. If he can't make ends meet from his business he should cut his losses a sell up; and perhaps in the process, liberate another house for some first home buyer.
Could the landlord downsize?
Probably would charge the same rent so the tenant always pays the mortgage.
I think you are missing the point. By offering accommodation a landlord is providing a service. and he should charge whatever that accommodation is worth. But whether or not that charge is sufficient to cover mortgage payments as well has his normal outgoings is irrelevant.
Perhaps you might to do another little calculation. How much did the property cost? Does a property of that price where you live cost $460 to rent? If not recalculate the theoretical rental.
How many weeks/year can you actually rent the property? It is unlikely to be 52.
What does an agent charge to look after the rental? Deduct that from the $22,000
What are the rates on the property? Deduct that from the $22,000.
What is the Insurance on the property? Deduct that from the $22,000.
What is the Interest you would have to pay for a mortgage on a sum equal to the entire cost of the property? Deduct that from the $22,000
What is the annual maintenance you will have to do? Deduct that from the $22,000.
Still making a real profit?
It's a wonder anyone even bothers – maybe land lords are in it for charity?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/426054/landlords-expected-to-act-quickly-after-rent-freeze-ends
He should not be deducting interest. Interest is part of the cost of owning the property, not a part of the rental process. It is the renting out of the property that earns taxable income. Interest does not contribute to that.
Interest is the payment you have to make in order to own the property and without that you would have nothing to rent out. I wasn't counting any part of the capital amount of an assumed mortgage as that is going to provide you with something of value even if you don't get any rental income.
The Tax Department certainly allows you to deduct them from your rental income.
The following expenses can be deducted from your rental income.
https://www.propertytaxreturns.co.nz/property-tax-returns-faqs/
There are others but I was just giving an illustration.
Interest is the payment you have to make in order to own the property and without that you would have nothing to rent out.
In that case the problem would not arise.
The Tax Department certainly allows you to deduct them from your rental interest.
I do know what the Income Tax Act provides, but I believe that interest deductibility is an anomaly which should be removed from that act.
I see that someone seems to agree with me regarding interest deductibility:
There could be a change soon so that “rental property investors can’t claim interest on the mortgage as a taxable expense”, Hickey said.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-doesnt-want-push-house-prices-down-fearing-loss-votes-bernard-hickey
It would be an interesting world if rents were based on the size of the landlord's mortgage.
If a business borrows $500k from a bank, goes out and buys $500k of earth moving equipment and rents out those earth moving machines out, the interest on the loan to buy the equipment is deductible. Is that really any different to borrowing $500k to buy a property, and renting it out?
Of course not. There would be no problems with the same business borrowing/buying/leasing a second set of earth moving equipment and a third……
The narrative has been framed though that a business whose business is the acquisition, borrowing and leasing (renting) of residential property is worthy of opprobrium.
There is something wrong with the mindset that says it is a feasible/laudable idea for a first home owner to go head to head with home owners who are moving up the ladder and perhaps moving closer to town, and businesses who buy to rent in the desirable inner city suburbs of any city. Never has been.
Of course in the Wellington scene as an example it would be great for a first home owner to aspire to live in Wadestowns, Oriental Bays and other 'leafy' suburbs. It is not realistic though.
There are suburbs further out where a more realistic selection can seen. And these may be areas where a first home aspiree may not go head to head with existing home owners moving up closer to town or renting businesses.
Thankfully there are purpose built apartment dwellings being built close to the city that can fulfill a need for first home owners. These may not have an ensuite for every bedroom or a separate media room but they are warm, comfortable places to get a foot on the ladder.
as you have listed yourself below
interest – deductable – thus cost nil
rates – deductible – thus cost nil
insurance – deductible =- thus cost nil
property manager – deductible – thus cost nil
'renovations' – for the most part deductible – thus cost nil
and all of this is generally described as cost of doing buisiness.
Now what is charged to the tenant?
460 – in my sample, now that is the median rent in rotorua so really i am lowballing it. The boarded up property is a three bedder on a full section so would easy rent 500+. Never mind.
All the above mentioned costs are included in the rent. So let me spell this in plain english, the landlord does not pay any of the above mentioned costs, the tenant do.
And in the end of the year tax accounts all of the above listed costs will be deducted as an expense on any tax burden he/she may have.
As said before, if they can't make money out of rentals in NZ – the only most unregulated business in NZ – they should not be in the business.
I am currently saving per medium rent in Rotorua 260 NZD every week by not paying rent but a mortgage. Or if i rent this property for the median rent, I make about 110 profit before tax every week. And i get to keep the property and sell it for double the price i paid 3 years ago. Tax free.
Go cry a river about the hard done by landlord elsewhere.
You do not really have a head for business Sabine. Yes the mortgage interest is deductible to the landlord as is the other costs etc. But the tax rate is probably around 33%. The cost to the landlord is not Nil.
Best you speak to an accountant or financial advisor.
I'm glad I read on after Sabine's comment before I replied. You have saved me the trouble.
It is quite amazing how many people seem to think that deductions come of your tax, rather than off your taxable income.
I wish it was true.
taxable income decides the tax that you will pay.
if you can write of expenses and losses on investment against your taxable income than this will reduce your taxes.
Hence why in NZ we have very rich people only paying tax on 70.000 NZD (which has been given many a write of in the Herald/Stuff, or why dear Gareth Morgan is on record saying he pays no tax at all).
Ask your accountant if you find this to hard to understand.
But you don't get to claim that the costs of doing business is paid for by the landlord/investor when they are a. paid for by the tenant, and then are used to reduce the taxes a landlord may has to pay on the INCOME he made with his business before taxes. Its called double dipping.
So yeah, you are still making shit up as you go along.
Oh really? probably? So you don't even now, but just go for the higher end of taxes?
You do realise that in order to pay that 33% tax rate you have to have a certain income? Below that the tax rate is 22% and 17.5%%.
Just d on't be an accountant Jester. And if you don't have one get one, lest you pay 33% tax on your earnings even if you don't make enough.
Oh and if you have a property that is borded up and empty because you are tired of playing landlord you can even write of that 'loss of income' against your tax balance. 🙂 But you are not an accountant, aren't you?
Yes I am well aware of the lower than 33% tax rates for income under $70k which is why I used the word "probably".
I really have touched a nerve!
You have made me very curious. You say that the tax rates are "to pay that 33% tax rate you have to have a certain income? Below that the tax rate is 22% and 17.5%%."
Can you please tell me the bracket where a 22% rate applies?
What happened to the 10.5% and 30% levels?
Are you really sure about the numbers you are quoting?
Alwyn, I'm not sure about the tax rate of 22% that Sabine is talking about but currently:
Income up to $14k is taxed at 10.5%; then between $14k and $48k its 17.5%; between $48k and $70k its 30% then after $70k its at 33%, which is currently the top rate. But from 1st of April there will be a new 39% rate for income over $180k.
Yes. Those are the rates I, and I hope everyone who puts in a return, uses.
I was merely curious as to how Sabine, who lectures us on what she considers our errors, could dare to do so when she is so spectacularly wrong with her claims.
I certainly hope she isn’t a tax accountant.
If your property is boarded up because you are tired of "playing landlord", then none of your expenses are deductible. And the loss of of income is certainly not deductible.
the Income Tax Act is pretty clear: An expense is deductible if it is incurred for the purpose of gaining taxable income. So, no rents, no deductions.
Yes Mikesh you are correct that if a property is boarded up, it is unavailable to rent and expenses would not be deductible. I think Sabine's accountant was having a bad day.
There are ownership structures available to asset owning businesses where the tax rate is a straight 33%, they don't have the structured PAYE rates available to them.
So if they are a Trust and have income of $10,000 and have claimable deductions of $2000 they pay tax on $8000 at 33%. If they are a business and earn $10,000, have claimable deductions of 2000 they pay tax on $8000 at 28%.
I am not sure that you are quite correct re boarded up houses. You are able to claim deductions going forward if your property is available for renting. If it is boarded up it is arguable that it is 'available for renting'. The provision enables a person to claim expenses, say for maintenance if the aim is to continue renting.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/property/renting-out-residential-property/residential-rental-income-and-paying-tax-on-it/rental-expense-deductions
@ shanreag
Thanks for that information.
The cost to the landlord is what it is. The cost to the business is nil.
AND isn't the property income ring fenced, so losses only apply to the income from the property.
Considerable notice is given to landlords to fit required chattels and loans are available.
There would be a reason for a landlord not being able to take out a loan or not wanting to.
According to some commenters here it is the landlord's unalienable right to do with his property what he wishes, and we should do nothing lest we scare them off their valuable social service.
Even if their valuable social service is either an empty dwelling or one that makes its occupants sick.
Anyone who bitches about rental housing standards is in favour of festering slums. Inadequate housing kills – at least empty homes make the issue obvious.
With wisdom like yours no wonder the problem has got worse🤷♀️
nothing to do with low interest rates flooding of money by the reserve bank, no counter measures for the obvious consequence of this flood of money, labour not wanting to do anything but ask for a review on the tax system etc . But go ahead and think that with labour you 🙈🙊🙉
Of course I was referring to the spike in the last 12 month which was referred to. You may wish to ignore the effects of the flood of returnees, many with lots of cash, but any decent analysis would recognise the difference between this year and last.
This link shows that our net migration spike commenced from Aug 19 peaking Mar 20 pre Covid times.So what was the plan to accomodate these new arrivals to an already stressed situation ? As of Dec 20 returned back to 2014 levels, and I would not be surprised if the 12 month trend dramatically falls in the coming months. I picked u from you r comment that it is "only" immigration that has impacted on property prices – Which many would think as very limited in cause.
"Annual net migration ramped up before border closures and travel restrictions in March 2020 and has been falling away since then,” Mr Islam said.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-net-migration-down-in-2020
Having put it in full speech marks, you'd better show where I said "only". Do you not think the peak in April 2020 at 94,846 net is not significant?
That is without considering the many offshore buyers having friends and family buy by proxy with the intention of returning home when they are able.
Your comment only covered this aspect without any mention or reference to any other factors, or even giving the impression that you believe that there are other factors. And that was before your comment was censored
The 94k peak is a 12 month rolling average so it covers May 19 to April 20. Most of which the period was Pre Covid. + Where was the governments policies to cater for this influx so as not to have the dire situation we are now in?
"many offshore buyers having friends and family buy by proxy with the intention of returning home when they are able." And why would NZ citizens/residents use proxy buyers ?
Nah, you're either being ignorant or disingenuous in trying to pretend the 94K peak was nothing to do with Covid.
Of course it was to do with Covid as overseas panic was in full swing in the three months immediately preceding our border closure, particularly in China. The stats you link to clearly show that, and importantly that more than usual were returning citizens and residents.
And if you are going to use full quotation marks, please make sure the person has actually said that verbatim. It is just plain good forumming.
You seem to be developing the habit of having one name in your pseudonym and then finishing your comment with another. I assume they are your family name and your first name.
In order that I can correctly address you can you tell me which is which? Are you known as "Muttonbird Moron" or are you more correctly referred to as "Moron Muttonbird"?
Meh.
So we have 2 burning issues before COVID
housing and tax/supporting those in need.
we have a Progressive government that …. waits and the issues progressively deteriorate . Perhaps that is why our pm describes her govt as progressive🤔
It looks as though Max's friend Jake Millar has run off with some of John Key's money. Oh dear, how sad, the old con-man has been taken in by a young upstart 'entrepreneur'.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018785159/kmart-shopper-waits-nearly-eight-hours-on-phone-for-covid-19-advice
An Aucklander who spent six minutes at a store where a Covid-19 case was working had to wait nearly eight hours on the phone to get advice from Healthline.
Even if this item isn't correct in every detail it illustrates cracks in the Covid management policy widening. Are front-line workers being properly paid and rested? Are investigators really on top of their job keeping up with the urgency needed, that was shown earlier on? NZ can't afford to be complacent. Recently one student was phoned a number of times without success, and a visit to the house wasn't made. In the meantime the virus was being spread.
The standards of effectiveness must be maintained in checking Covid, also the funding must be adequate. The effects on business, and people's ability to make a living, have a life and carry out responsibilities even, must be faciltated by a responsible and not cheese-paring government or private agencies.
At present I am waiting for a reply from the blood test laboratory to whom i made a call yesterday afternoon, which required that a message be left. I am asked to go on-line to make a booking, but I want to ask questions, and I don't want to have my computer as the centre of my life, and so be forced to commit money to have one or an expensive cellphone, tablet etc. Low cost wages and high-cost demands from government doesn't augur well for the future.
Is this an example of withdrawal of responsibility to the citizen and interaction with us, which crops up more regularly unfortunately, with a default position of using a computer for contacts and providing information. Or 'put it on facebook' and that's complied with our requirements for public notification or such.
Devices are coming between interaction from government and business and the people. Don't allow this to continue! Complain bitterly and don't swallow inevitability without a murmur as government withdraws from its traditional role in a democracy. Don't allow convenience to rule the day. First govt will drop this, then that, then it will be up to you, then it will be more efficient if you are always on tap, then there will be a nano-sized device inserted in your earlobe (in different art shapes picturing famous stars etc.)
Well the government could hire call takers, but i guess that is not in the budget.
Automation coming to us no matter how many of us could do the job better and faster.
Heh my first job was as a sales clerk taking incoming calls ….the standard was to answer the phone in three rings or less……..these days well not so much
They need bodies to answer these incoming calls. If you don't have them, it matters not what the policy says. Same goes for Winz btw.
Probably need to ring three times in one day today.
People at the other end need to be trained as well.
Well said GW. The overwhelming attitude that everyone has a computer, broadband and an online bank account or a phone where they can eat up paid minutes on hold and that is sufficient is the default position and using covid to introduce further restrictions is manipulative. Private companies are bad enough but the government needs to pull it's head in.
I am renewing my passport at level 1. In the past I could drop the form in at the wellington office, pay by eftpos and then drop back to collect it.
Now an appointment is required where I sat on hold for about 10 minutes (which is a lot of dough if some one is using pay as you use) and then a time is allocated supposedly because of covid. I was also asked to come by myself – which would be an issue for some people. Heavens knows if I will be able to collect it – which feels a great deal more secure than trusting it to couriers who leave the wrong parcels at my house and don't get signatures even when required. Payment options are also limited.
There is a real accessibility issue for the filing and payment of a lot of government services which needs to be dealt with. They are also tying themselves to technology like email addresses which will become less common.
Yes I get the feeling that email is passe' now. Heaven help us – the technocrats want to replace every useful personal and reliable service.
I think 'they' don't care if things go wrong provided they have had a first flush of profit. They might have to pay some of that back when some egregious error is found. But what-the-hell it will all be profitably replaced in six months, at extra cost to the citizen (ahem consumer) so keep the pressure on to innovate, innovate, innovate. (A hat-tip to the cry of the vacuum cleaners – Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate.)
As a side issue I saw on Stuff news yesterday an article giving an explanation of the Covid-19 exposure categories people fit into, the testing and the isolation required. I was left feeling a bit confused.
The Covid advice line is not meeting the needs of the people in a timely manner when it is essential to do so.
The Covid bloody phone call program prioritised calls wrongly and kept people waiting for hours. One woman's phone showed a call time of seven hours, 44 minutes. How can people organise their lives and their family's health status and comings and goings. The government has made life so unstable for ordinary people, has not mentioned recompense to those pushed around like pawns, and yet appears to consider this is a clever modern system that can't be bettered.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018785350/tech-problems-understaffing-behind-long-healthline-wait-times
They were dealing with huge call volumes – the Health Ministry says after the announcement of a new community case linked to Papatoetoe High School call volumes spiked – most of that day they had had average wait times of under a minute but that jumped to 36 minutes…
The ministry said Healthline had since increased the number of staff they have rostered on by 8 times – and call wait times are now mainly under 20 minutes. (That is a long time still! Is this the best that govt can do with the pandemic continuing so long?)
Another problem caused 92 people between lunchtime Tuesday and midnight Thursday to be cut off after waiting on the phone for two hours. This affected people who were on hold or even mid conversation.
…The ministry said this problem was "being addressed".
However they didn't say they would reimburse the people who had their phone payments diminished while they were waiting. This is what a good, responsible government service, or contractor, would do in this age of deliberate low wages and erratic work hours.
There should be an Expediter group who work shifts, looking to where the known hot spots are, assesses needs, and has staff able to work extra hours at short notice (with extra pay of course) to be called in, perhaps using police helicopters if available to pick up stafff.
A tier to immediately respond is a good idea.
Questions I would ask is do you know which category you fit into, the testing you require and the isolating period?
As for the contact tracing and tracking a 6c note book could have been supplied and used as a reference, adding people who you were out with.
Going to Level 1 from Level 2 was done too quickly.
Containing Covid-19 is about doing the basics well whenever a community case appears and not leaving anything to chance.
Some welcome policy from Kris Faafoi.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/437205/migration-will-not-return-to-pre-covid-levels-when-nz-border-reopens-immigration-minister-warns
Should allow New Zealand’s housing and infrastructure issues to be managed better.
I was wondering if someone else had picked up on this. This is a HUGE change, and it will be fought tooth and nail by affected sectors that have grown addicted to ready access to a stream of easily exploitable, low wage foreign workers. Look out for accusations of racism, bitter mocking from the usual media suspects of Ardern's appeal to inclusivity, scare stories about unpicked crops, fallow fields and the unaffordable cost of restaurant meals with a crippling inability to hire chefs.
More to the point, it shows the government is walking away from the ideology of the globalised, laissez-faire labour market in favour of greater controls on the inflow of foreigners. I see the impact of Labour's Maori caucus in this, it seems they are replacing NZ First as the voice of the working poor on the struggle street of the low wage, unskilled economy – because make no mistake this will push up wages for low skilled locals.
In the absence of any political or societal will to use NZ's wealth to invest in critical infrastructure and then housing, there is no other option than to stem the flow of people.
And, as you point out, a major offensive on cheap imported labour will have the benefit of encouraging employers to upskill local workers rather than ignoring them.
I knew we had a fair bit of cheap labour in NZ, but I'll be the first to admit my middle class ass had no idea exactly how much we were relying on cheap Brazilians to run of tourist centre bars and cafes, how much we relied on cheap, deeply exploited Indians on dubious "study" visas to work in menial tasks, how much we needed cheap labour from the Pacific and Asia to provide labour for our rest homes and pick our crops and clean our toilets and all that sort of thing. We had created and enabled a studiously ignored third world economy where the worst exploiters were from the same ethnic groups and set it to run parallel to, and largely for the benefit of, our comfy Pakeha first world one. It has to stop.
"… for the benefit of our comfy Pakeha first world…"
Might pay to take the racist blinkers off. Maori for decades resisted foreign owned charter fisheries vessels that they employed being subject to NZ laws and conditions of employment. These vessels were repeatedly described as 'slave ships' and a form of colonisation. Not for the benefit of Pakeha, but for the benefit of the coffers of Maori .
And the appalling exploitation you rightly refer to is for the benefit not just of Pakeha, but also of our Chinese, Indian and other immigrants, alongside of course Maori. Wander down to the local Warehouse. Plenty of non-Pakeha sure happy to buy cheap stuff made in Asian sweatshops. Or do you consider it OK to exploit others if the beneficiaries of that exploitation are not white?
Peter CH You are making a sweeping generalisation. Sealord was set up as a business that had to compete with other businesses. A large share in it, maybe half, was sold to I think a Japanese firm that had experience – so half Maori business interests and half foreign. There was a threat from I think Sandfords, a chap Gilchrist from memory, to sue the Nelson Polytechnic when they set up a dedicated course for training Maori seamen. Nelson Poly stepped back from Court costs under this threat.
So there were barriers to overcome by Maori as to what way things would be done. Give them some slack will you. So many pakeha know just how things should be done, it is a surprise that so much of NZ business is owned or been sold to overseas corporations. Where are all you smart people standing tall and successful and determined on NZ ownership, as NZ 'captains of business'??
The foreign involvement predated the Maori interest. There's an explanation here: essentially a large chunk of NZ fisheries had been illegally offshored when Carter Holt Harvey went above a certain percentage of foreign ownership. Instead of confiscating CHH's quota, government cobbled together a deal whereby a Maori entity obtained a company and a large parcel of quota.
Inexperience cost Sealord dearly early on, and neither foreign charters nor locally based catcher contractors did them any favours. A habit of overcapitalisation remains, but the worst of their excesses have mostly ground to a halt. During this time they lost ground, going from NZ's largest fishing company to about number three. Meanwhile the contemporaneous rise of Southern Clams showed that growth and profitability were quite possible in the then market conditions – and without slave crews.
I wouldn't have known either, until I began to see foreign students who have finished a diploma or degree in NZ's tertiary sector (both established academic institutions and the new generation of private providers). I do what little I can to help them escape two equally invidious paths – go into the swamp of low-wage exploitation, or lose their visas and go home. From what I've seen, it all looks a bit like a sophisticated, vertically integrated scam.
They used to call these jobs "kiwi experience' and any migrant into NZ had to content with these jobs. Heck i knew people that worked for free to gain that mythical kiwi experience even if they very educated.
I would assume that the aged care sector would fall apart if it had to employ only locals.
Yes I see this as generally a good call but agree it will be fought hard. Too many employers love it for the power it gives them. I did wonder if the government would ever say this although there seemed to be some foot dragging around visa's.
Will they also look at the 18-30 working holiday visas with about 45 countries with the USA and Canada being eligible for 2 years rather than one and those two countries plus the UK having an uncapped limit plus possibly others
. Also the au pairs where they can be worked for up to 40 hours for a pittance (plus I assume no tax on the free board and lodging).
It floods the market as our young people are trying for their first jobs and undermines their ability to get that early training. And it's not like we have the same numbers of young people taking advantage of reciprocal arrangements.
And I assume future working tied to student visas will be post grad or undergrad exchanges for state universities.
I would like to see some continuation of access from the islands though but on far better terms and conditions so there is no exploitation. It seems to be a good way of putting some money into small fragile economies from the bottom up rather than top down type overseas aid.
Hope they slug the investor visa too. i don’t see too many factories from these and I think there was a survey that showed most just stuck the money into something secure then took it back at then end of the period.
Plus I would want the income limits lifted to really high ones. Why should the good paying jobs we have be inspire foreign competition.
The first thing which strikes me about this policy is the age of the workers who do seasonal work. Due to tourism and the hospitality industry not being what it used to be, there possibly is an expectation that a person who worked in hospitality now looks for seasonal work or upskills.
I've just found Lawrence Ferlinghetti RIP – poet, ex-Navy, bookseller and Artist. Here he is reading one of his poems I think.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: The world is a beautiful place
Obituary – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lawrence-ferlinghetti-obituary-0vlsllwkl
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/23/lawrence-ferlinghetti-obituary
I guess Bob's the last of the beatniks.
Letter to Larry
On 28 April 1964 (date of the postmark), Bob Dylan wrote a prose-poem letter to Lawrence Ferlinghetti after calling on him a couple of months earlier (20 February 1964) and finding him not home.
deare larry.
have no sports car.
weather., good.
traffic moving slowly thru tunnel.
breeze is from the west an I ahah am goin
t france tomorrow. have t look thru all my pants pockets
an collect things t send t you.
as of now I am in the midst of destroyin all I’ve
done (I’ve even crashed my old typewriter t pieces an have burned my
pens into little tiny plastic statues)
I know I will send you something one of these days.
all I have t do is finish something t send you.
in any case, if I am poisened or framed or kilt orratted on
I will will will you some edgar lee masters?
type (bob dylan written) poems of grand embarassment.
thelonius monk grand style grand (me upright)
the world’s fair begun down there.
I’m gone.
Sailin on (across the sone) son,
sawn. dawn. anyway I’m gone.
I’m up here.
my adress is me-bearsville. just got back from trip t boston area.
sung songs at providence.
amhearst.
arrived in amhearst with 15 friends from cambridge.
left providence with 15 friends from providence.
ditched them on highway tho. (yes I pledge alliegence t the luckyness of havin
some so many friends.)
an here’s t the republic.
up the irish.
ah yes my flag has turned into one color.
who fast?
me fast?
choking?
ha you must be joking. I’m not turnin. burnin. maybe smokin.
not running cunning.
not me.
I aint none of them things.
not me.
yes most deffinately would like t borrow cabin at big sur.
cant say when.
sometime.
wham.
it just hit me.
I do got things of songs an stories for you.
my hangup is tho that I know there will be more.
I want t send the more more then I want t send the got.
yes I guess that’s it.
that’s it in a nutshell pruneskin.
that’s the whole story.
nothin but the truth.
nothin but the nothin.
would’ve liked t spent more time in san francisco.
would like t spend more time in many places.
sometime I will.
someday I will.
tomorrow. yeah tomorrow.
I a, in a strange light alright.
I remember a few years ago.
tramping. bummin.
ridin the rods all wrong.
hitchhiking (pretending stock markets crashin all over me) thru the ever ready
usa. guitar on my back.
my thoughful tool.
yes an the only thing I wished was that someday I’d be able t come back
t these fucked up shootin gallery pay me for my playin coffee houses.
coffee bars.
oh how I used t hope that someday if nothin else. I’d have enuff friends or
know the right people t survive with my head at least as groovy as
theirs … man.
I never got a chance.
I got a motorcycle tho.
but unlike the last ones I had on south dakota an minnesota roads,
this one’s for the fields.
so you see, after all, I’m not really going all that fast.
you cant go too fast in the fields you know.
the only thing that’s wrong is that there’s no fuckin motels.
absolutely no advertising.
I’m the first one hit by the forest fires an god knows that a fallout
shelter’d be insane.
terrible buzzard flies an my front steps all loaded with killed dear
hit by cars … yet I still wave t airplanes
an shit like that (what whit like that?) so I’m not all bad.
all good.
would?
yes I’ve chopped much wood.
I’ll write you later an send clippings from my head.
as for now there’s a horn honkin.
must be for me.
hhhmmmmmmmmm.
or however you spell that.
will be in france for awhile.
someplace where they dont read life magazine.
of course I’ll be back tho.
an will be out in sanfrancisco again.
I have nothin t do.
an no place t go.
faretheewell.
faretheegoodbye.
say hi for me.
say hi t anybody
see you then
comemoratin figitatin
agitatin satined
positivelyated
homogenized. egg creamed. pie in the faced
egg in the eyed
untied. complyed. plywooded. do-gooded. hooded.
lamp shaded understated hated backdated
muscatelled. muscatold musca went wrong someplace
displaced. cock traced
embraced umbraced ohbraced
church laced
straight faced
an all that
yes
see you then
gently
https://www.needsomefun.net/bob-dylan-and-lawrence-ferlinghetti/
101!
Almost disgraceful for a beat poet to live so long
But he was still writing up to 99 years old
Amazing
America is BACK! Biden bombs his first country!
Well, that didn't take too long, now did it?
According to Al Jazerra, the US has dropped bombs on a military base in Syria.
I see the yankee war machine back in action in Syria where they are neither wanted or invited, same as Iraq, yankee go home, but no, they stay like the invaders they are. They along with the other warmonger State, the UK, spread hatred and lies against their Russian and Chineese Capitalist rivals as a smokescreen for their own putrid deeds, I see that seems to work for many on this rightwing site.
Bugger, just got a job, starting next Wednesday.
There goes the way too early semi retirement plan in self imposed exile.
… condolences? 🙂
Only in the dead 'easy life' parts of laziness inspired daydreams. lol
Actually looking forward to it, and not just the money boost from the basic dole pittance.
Outdoor work, West coast fresh air, with coastal and/or mountain views. Could be worse ways of making a living. 🙂
🙂
Meanwhile, despite the angst and gnashing of teeth over Russia and China… in the Middle East things are on the boil again…
https://thegrayzone.com/2017/04/12/isis-us-syria-sharyat-air-base/woops, sorry, wrong one….
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/02/26/biden-orders-us-airstrike-against-iran-backed-militia-target-in-eastern-syria/
At least they're moving back from assassinating Iranian generals.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/437247/parnell-locals-threaten-to-glamp-in-protest-at-erebus-memorial
Glamp?
And what do you think of the memorial? Looks as if it has been designed by an accountant fully into materialism. It is all hard edged even with a curve. A good design for a shared pathway for skateboarding and mountain bike racing. The insolence of the young males won't be limited by thoughts of family grief and the tragedy of it all. Utilitarianism rules OK.
Here we go. More misery exported to New Zealand from our 'closest friend'.
Scomo sends 'em, we shoot 'em.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/papatoetoe-police-shooting-dead-man-identified-as-tangaru-noere-turia/SYIZAHIH5COPYEXSPGUXEU2KHM/
Goodness gracious!! Danny Watson shunts Sean Plunket!
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2021/02/danny-watson-to-replace-sean-plunket-on-magic-talk-alongside-leah-panapa.html
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-doesnt-want-push-house-prices-down-fearing-loss-votes-bernard-hickey
Hickey holds out little hope
Mr Hickey is speaking out both sides of his mouth.
On one side he's saying that governments don't want to force housing prices down because they will loose votes.
On the other side he's saying that governments should pour heaps of money into urban infrastructure. The unsaid part of this is that infrastructure spend will push up urban housing prices.
im not sure Mr Hickey is 'speaking out of both sides', I suspect he believes his analysis but imo he has miscalculated the underlying reasoning…it isnt a political fear per se but rather an economic one and therefore his prescription fails to account for the outcome.
Pouring money into infrastructure will not automatically increase housing costs if the money available to support housing is reduced, indeed what is supporting the housing inflation currently is the amount of credit (and explicit underwrite by govs) banks have to invest…..it is the ratio of money available to stock and that ratio is not necessarily changed by increasing or decreasing stock.
The problem any government faces is the stability of the financial system as it requires ever increasing credit…..the business cycle was never tamed, rather it was replaced
You're (and Mr Hickey) are repeating the distortions of the property sector in saying that government infrastructure spend doesn't increase 'housing costs'. This is correct from the developer's pov, they don't have to pay for the infrastructure and can offer a housing unit at a reduced price / make more profit, generally the latter.
But from the pov of the surrounding properties capital values go up, often dramatically, because the owners don't have to pay for their portion of the infrastructure in their rates. So overall housing prices get dragged up.
Totally agree about the problems of taming a financial system that's totally dependent on the value of housing. But the real issue isn't the loss of value to individuals if there's a fall in the market, it's the economic chaos that will result if there's a property 'correction'. A dramatic fall in house values (say 20%) won't make them more affordable because the would be a corresponding reduction in liquidity and employment. People will find it even harder get a loan when they haven't got confidence in their income. And that is what destroys governments.
It does more than destroy governments ….the self reinforcing downward spirals it can create cause depressions…..that is the economic fear I reference.
Keynes showed us how to deal with depressions but we risk being permanently removed from the ‘club of advanced nations’ if we move ahead of the major players.
As to infrastructure spends creating property inflation I beg to differ….it depends upon the funding mechanism….history shows that central government can provide the infrastructure without creating the (specific) property inflation we are experiencing….there is no problem with property inflation that matches broader (esp wage) inflation.
I am sorry Daily Review has not resumed.
After the OM topics have been done to death, it is an opportunity for very recent developments to be introduced and it also opens up the conversation for other commenters to take part who may not have the inclination or the time during the day.
I know that DR patronage is a bit up and down but it presents an opportunity for wider coverage of the day's events and is often quite jocular which makes for a nice change.
Noted.
Blimey Charlie, here we go again:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/26/falling-sperm-counts-human-survival
– another story presenting a potential drop in the human population as an unmitigated disaster. When are people going to realise …. ?
A drop is fine, extinction is not.
It's the old story, though – it'll be ignored until it becomes a palpable problem, at which point billions will be thrown at the problem. I don't think it will get to Children of Men levels. Maybe Handmaid's Tale, but we also see other elements of that happening…