And I hate to have to say ,… ‘ I told you so ‘ . And all the other petulant , far right wing deniers who couldn’t see the obvious when it was so patently obvious the man and his Mont Pelerin / NZ Initiative policy’s are cancer to New Zealand and its people.
So good riddance. One more rabid , callous neo liberal walks the plank. We don’t want your sort around here as the nation heals .
National Party preparing plans for Bill English’s successor: Barry Soper http://www.nzherald.co.nz › New Zealand
I won’t be sorry to farewell Bill English. Interesting to note the role of Simon Bridges, though. He may have got a bit of a bump from boxing clever on numbers and forcing the issue of select committees on day one, but he’s not one of the established big hitters. I guess they want to seem like they’re renewing.
They’ve got a lot of clowns lined up to replace Blinglish.
Either they are bland personality’s – or ones tainted with past skeletons in the closet. Not a lot to choose from for the popular appeal.
Would we really want a high pitched screaming under confident Simon Bridges or an aggressive , oafish Judith Collins ? … forget Bennett – shes a joke and a destructive laughing stock , and castings ones mind back over the last decade… all of their inner circle were shown to be bumbling sociopaths…
Good morning Jack and the rest of the Breakfast crew . This is the first time Iv watched the new show your new set is excellent . I will be watching the skies at 2 am to see the SUPER BLUE MOON an the eclipse TE-NGANGANA is a beautiful part of our environment Ka pai . Jack it’s not nice making Matty blush lol you people show our kiwi culture using maori words whenever can .I have seen the eco maori effect when I turned on my computer to the Breaks show lol .
Many thanks to all OUR MPs that are going to vote for the GREEN PARTY’S version of the Medical bill this is a logical intelligent bill to lead US all to a bright prosperous future for all OUR MOKOS .
Many people have miss judge my Intelligence because I’m brown they end up regretting this discrimination of my Maori culture in the end .I feel for all OUR Mokos who go through this bad part of NZ CULTURE .Ka kite ano
The only thing people here have got to judge your intelligence on EC is your comments. As I’ve commented before many would enjoy some of your website videos in open mike.
The report said many of the comments were from face-to-face interviews with 144 mostly Māori students who were not well served by the education system, though some also came from an online survey of 1534 students.
It said 26 percent of the respondents “really like going to school”, 67 percent thought school was “okay”, and seven percent would rather be anywhere else.
The report said students wanted their teachers to understand them and have good relationships with them. They wanted education to fit their needs and interests, and they needed to be happy and comfortable at school.
I enjoy reading your comments eco maori – always interesting, and informative.
ecomaori
You express your feelings in your own way which has a particular Maori openness, directness, plain speaking, a bit of te reo and you like to finish with ka pai leaving on a positive note.
Once people write in a number of times you can tell how their mind works, and what they are on about so we generally get your drift ecomaori. Kia kaha.
Eco Maori (2) … Intelligence comes in many forms. Spirituality being one form and from what I’ve learned from your posts, you have plenty of it.
Also like many contributors here Eco, in my opinion you are an asset to this site, continually contributing and sharing worthy information. Much appreciated.
These poverty measures are going to make Budget 2018 quite interesting:
There are four primary measures:
1. Low income before housing costs (below 50 % of median income, moving line)
2. Low income after housing costs (50% median, fixed line)
3. Material hardship (using the EU’s standard threshold)
4. A persistence measure (for low income, material hardship or both)
In addition there are six supplementary measures, which help build a deeper understanding of the impact on child wellbeing. These are:
low income before-housing-costs (60% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (60% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (50% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (40% of median, moving line)
severe material hardship
both low income and material hardship (using 60 percent AHC moving line and the material hardship measure from the primary list).
Can I state the obvious that it is gutsy for any government to put anything so clear out there that enables a government to be held accountable , not only every three years, but every budget.
May not feel like it yet, but it’s a rolling political earthquake.
Number 2’s going to be the one to watch – it’s housing costs that are fucking people over, so there’s not just poverty to deal with, there’s housing. The inter-relationship’s going to make fixing it a real prick.
Once Isis had established its authority in Mosul, it administered the city using a two-tier system – privileges for ‘brothers’, hardship for everyone else.
Same Wahhabist inspired Jihadists occupied and ran areas of Aleppo (eastern), Eastern Ghouta, Raqqa, Deir al Zour and other places in Syria.
Yet for “some reason”, reports from those places are about government sieges (causing loss of life, stopping aid deliveries etc) and cities “falling” (to the country’s army).
There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the wildly different behaviour of the Jihadists who occupied cities across those two countries, yes?
Assuming that your summary of the coverage is perfectly fair and balanced, the immediate response is that one would expect a different emphasis in coverage if one army attacking a bunch of pricks is itself a massive bunch of pricks, whereas the other army attacking a bunch of pricks has a substantially lower number of pricks in its ranks, particularly the higher echelons.
FWIW, the kurds have also come under criticism for levelling villages that demographically are more Arab and leaving the kurdish-majority villages intact (using UXDs as an excuse), but they also wait for civilians to leave before demolishing the place.
“FWIW, the kurds have also come under criticism for levelling villages that demographically are more Arab and leaving the kurdish-majority villages intact (using UXDs as an excuse), but they also wait for civilians to leave before demolishing the place.”
In Syria? The YPK or YPP? Are you trying to tar them with the same brush as the KRG? .
Pretty much all of the above, but especially in Iraq. ISTR an international investigation into the Syria-based Kurdish TLAs said that there wasn’t evidence of anything that amounted to an accusation of ethnic cleansing, but they did get criticism for displacing the residents without adequate welfare provisions. And they did it a lot.
But it’s to fucking hot and late to go through war crimes stats for links. Google it..
McFlock my “summary” as you want to call it has got nothing to do with it. You’ve read the reports from Aleppo and other Syrian cities, and you’ve read the reports from Mosul.
If the Wahabists installed brutal forms of governance in one area but not others, what accounts for that?
It can’t have anything to do with the army they were fighting, and it can’t have anything to do with Kurds or whatever. (If you think it does, I’d be keen to hear your explanation running along those lines)
If the Wahabists installed brutal forms of governance in one area but not others, what accounts for that?
The fog of war? People telling lies? It’s 100% true no shit I seen it! Wahhabists are people and may not all follow the party line?
The various administrative cohorts were small (and beset by ridiculous god-bothering dogma) and the individual ethics of those involved resulted in different outcomes?
It’s so hard to get good henchpersons these days?
[You previously spent a number of days running interference across a range of comments. I won’t be indulging that behaviour again. If your comments come across as being designed to derail discussion, or close down discussion or clutter discussion with noise or pointless smart-arsery, I’ll be treating it as deliberate trolling. This is your only warning.] – Bill
Interested that although you seem to be indicating that both things are/were the same, you suggest the perception of difference is/was solely down to the national armies that were opposing them.
It was “our” media that tirelessly promoted that illusory difference. And it was “our” media that put anyone who might have challenged that promotion through the wringer.
People who bought into “our” media’s narrative (and a huge number of people did)…I wonder how many unwittingly, and out the goodness of their hearts, donated money to Jihadist orgs that “our” media were promoting as good guys and heroes?
I’m saying simply that if, as your position seems to be, the occupiers of Aleppo and Mosul were exactly the same sorts of folks, the armies attacking them were definitely not the same sort of folks.
More time spent on talking about the attackers’ faults might apparently diminish the faults of the occupiers, but it’s simply a fact of edited column inches.
Even on the ground, while being occupied by the same bunch of people one group might be more scared of the occupiers than the attackers and the other group might be the opposite.
There might be actual difference between the occupiers. There might not. Even if there aren’t, your observations about differences in reporting could well be the result of balanced reporting just as much as it could be the result of biased reporting.
Jesus wept. In case you missed it, the people (ie, radical Sunni Jihadists) who occupied and ran eastern Aleppo were lauded as heroes. The same radical Sunni Jihadists who occupied and ran Mosul were condemned as radical Sunni Jihadists.
That’s not simply “diminishing the faults” of one set of occupiers because of a focus on one country’s national army as a supposedly evil aberration.
It’s straight up propaganda of a deeply cynical and hypocritical nature that was/is fed by the simple fact that in one country, there is a government that many western governments want removed for openly stated economic and political reasons.
Why ignore the simple uncoverable facts of the matter, and skitter dance on homespun psychology to the tune of a thousand and one “ifs, buts and maybes”?
Simply because I think you’re also incredibly biased in the matter and therefore I take your “uncoverable facts” with as much scepticism as I take MSM news reports. Which actually is a fair amount of scepticism.
Beats me. Media coverage of Raqqa’s suffering under Da’Esh in Syria has been pretty extensive. I think it’s an implied premise that Aleppo was occupied by Da’Esh (or a group effectively equivalent) without media reporting on how awful that occupation was. If you accept that implied premise, Bill’s comment makes sense. “If you accept the premise” being the sticking point…
Robert Fisk went to Aleppo province as it was being cleared of Jihadists. (You’d maintain they were rebels if my recollection of previous discussions is right)
Robert Fisk, whatever anyone may think of his analyses, is a seasoned journalist who, I’d suggest, is unlikely to be “taken for a ride”. Of course, plenty of other independent journalists wrote plenty of similar stuff – stuff that western media in general “declined” to pick up on.
Here’s two pieces from Fisk, writing from Aleppo province, that appeared in The Independent. And a third from the evacuation of Homs.
And sure, you may still not accept the premise that the same people (ie –
Jihadists) occupied the cities in Syria and Iraq and installed brutal forms of governance.
Not seeing anything in those Fisk stories that suggests east Aleppo was occupied by Da’Esh or an equivalent group. He does show a commendable ability not to think in terms of good guys and bad guys though, as usual. I expect the answer to the question of whether the citizens of east Aleppo suffered a “brutal form of governance” via a multi-year siege and bombardment or via the rebel groups resident there will continue to depend on whether one has a liberal or illiberal outlook.
Not seeing anything in those Fisk stories that suggests east Aleppo was occupied by Da’Esh or an equivalent group.
The first link above begins…..”You can’t mistake the front line between the Syrian army and Turkey’s occupation force east of Aleppo. The Syrians drove Isis out just a month ago…”
And later in the same article…
“Remarkable, too, was the way in which the largely Islamist forces – “terrorists”, as the Syrians insist on calling them, of course – had used precisely the same underground tactics in open countryside as they had used beneath the streets of Aleppo and Homs”
But you could see nothing in the article to suggest any such thing?
And I “like” how you expect the answer to what went on in Aleppo to not be provided by the citizens of East Aleppo.
Er, yes. Da’esh were operating east of Aleppo. Raqqa, for instance, is “east of Aleppo.” That says nothing about who Assad and Putin were besieging within Aleppo, however my money would be on “the people who lived there.”
Re the practice of building tunnels, you’re reading way too much into it. The Viet Cong also built tunnels, it’s a fairly obvious practice if you’re completely defenceless against observation and attack from the air. I’d be surprised if any urban-based rebel groups didn’t build tunnels.
And I “like” how you expect the answer to what went on in Aleppo to not be provided by the citizens of East Aleppo.
People living under a regime like Assad’s give whatever answer they think the government minders observing them would want them to give, so yeah, until there’s a change of regime I wouldn’t be much interested in hearing from them. No doubt there are some who successfully fled Syria and don’t have family remaining there they need to worry about – their comments would be interesting.
People living under a regime like Assad’s give whatever answer they think the government minders observing them would want them to give, so yeah, until there’s a change of regime I wouldn’t be much interested in hearing from them.
Which goes back to the original guardian story – a retrospective on life in Mosul when daesh were around. They sure as shit weren’t telling reporters all that at the time.
There have been interviews of people with very critical opinions aired on Syrian state TV. Which flies somewhat in the face of this Stalinist set-up you seem keen to present PM.
And BBC journalists have been openly and spontaneously challenged by ordinary people in the street for their bias reporting. (ie – no government minders or any such clap-trap around).
Meanwhile, independent, english speaking journalists have interviewed people from eastern Aleppo. Do their stories run on the BBC and such like? Of course not.
But sure, I get it. You have a line. The line is known. And you will follow that line for as long as it can be followed.
McFlock. There was little to no reporting from Mosul (bar the very illuminating propaganda videos from kidnapped journalist John Cantlie) in contrast to all the supposed “citizen journalists” (who were all aligned with the so called rebels, all with very good communications equipment, levels of media savvy and rather excellent access to western media) in Aleppo.
The links to western governments funding (the ‘correct’) “peoples’ media” operations and such like in Syria has been linked to before (eg- a surprisingly informative Guardian article that ran off the back of UK government papers.)
There’s hardly a country in the Middle East where state TV gets to air stuff the government doesn’t want aired. Not Stalinist, just authoritarian, and Syria’s more authoritarian than most in a richly contested regional field.
I bet BBC journalists have been publicly and “spontaneously” accosted by people in east Aleppo, but it’s unlikely that these journalists were walking around without a government minder. That’s been a feature of reporting from Syria for decades.
I’m familiar with the “independent,” English-speaking journalists you refer to, and there’s a reason the Syrian government trusts them out without a minder.
Sue Bradford on twitter does not pull her punches on what she thinks about the current Green Party leadership…
“How dishonourable of the Greens to support the waka-jumping bill; if Rod & Jeanette hadn’t been able to leave the Alliance, Greens would never have entered Parliament in 1999”
To deny other MP’s to follow the same path the Green Party were able to take to come into existence is, to put it mildly dishonorable.
Matt J. Whitehead @MJWhitehead
Replying to @suebr
Technically you’re wrong Sue- neither the old law (which is quite different) nor the new law would have prevented the Greens entering Parliament in 1999. Neither of those laws deal with electing parties that split in a general election. They deal with mid-term splits.
Matt J. Whitehead @MJWhitehead
Replying to @MJWhitehead @suebr
The old law would have kicked them out of parliament in ’97, but let them return in ’99. The new law would potentially have allowed them to stay in Parliament, as they did honour their commitment to support the Alliance until the election.
A list seat belongs to the party, an electorate seat to the individual MP who won it. I have no issue withan electorate MP taking their seat elsewhere but I do with a list MP.
This is another one of those issues that I vacillate over – what if the caucus diverts from the party principles, e.g. Lab4 or the Alliance supporting the invasion of Afghanistan?
Maybe a party membership ostracism vote is more the go for list mps…
“The Hapua St house was the most expensive standalone home but the most valuable property was a 8082sq m tranche of vacant land, valued at $3.5m on Garus Ave in Mangere.”
Seems to me the most obvious solution would be to sell the 3 million dollar house and build some new houses (could probably fit a few) on the vacant land
PR, there was a longish discussion on this article yesterday under 6 on Open Mike 30/01/18, albeit more focused on the tone of the original commentator towards the longterm tenant. /open-mike-22-01-2018-2/#comment-1441182
As the tenant appears to be interested in moving, it would indeed seem sensible to move him to appropriate accommodation elsewhere and I suspect that this may well be on the cards.
However, I also note that your suggestion is to sell the house and build new houses on the vacant land. I am sure that you know/realise that it is the land that is worth the money – not the house (see the photo in the article).
So (LOL) is this you stirring in an aroundabout puckish way or really aimed at heading the discussion towards the outraged and outrageous article in the Herald this morning on this property by that icon of intelligentsia, Mike Hosking?
Well, he’s still there so obviously they haven’t offered him a better home.
If the house is vacant, then we get into the debate about whether selling state houses in more expensive areas merely increases ghettoisation and alienation.
But all this is irrelevant until the tenant chooses to move to another home.
Otherwise it’s just another case of tories wanting to treat people like shit and pretending it’s for their own good.
EDIT: “He said if he had a choice he wouldn’t live there – the area had become too busy for his liking.”
Why do I feel that this issue is about poor folk living where rich folk want and can afford to live? Poor folk don’t deserve to enjoy a view. Let them live amongst their own down in the valleys.
It’s similar to former state housing areas that became gentrified.
The old state housing ideal was predicated on some important factors. First, that it not only for the poor. Second, that the pepperpot policy meant that some social mix was achieved.
The man who has lived in the same house for 37 years would have moved into that house under those factors.
Now, some want that he move after a lifetime of building his life, friendships and all those ties which link us to our homes.
Relocating or ‘downsizing’ has a similar effect and an Auckland advisory group toured the country pointing out the social upheaval caused by people persuaded often ill-advisedly to downsize into smaller houses or ‘units’ for financial reasons in unfamiliar localities.
I live in a small town and the mixing of state and private housing was quite prevalent. There is less social stigma in that, even though certain streets are still seen as ‘over the tracks”.
However, certain streets here enjoy possible fine river views and I will be watching that these don’t become purely the preserve of the wealthy.
So say 300 grand to build a house (rough figure) and you sell the property for 3 million you could build ten houses on the spare land and you still think it shouldn’t be done
when we let the property market determine people’s human rights to a home, we end up with the housing crisis we have now. The crisis has nothing to do with money and everything to do with values (and I don’t mean property values).
that there is a principle that the market value of a property alone shouldn’t be more important than someone having a *home.
When we treat people as stock units, or as McFlock said, housing as storage units for the poor, then we break community. Some people look at a property and see dollar signs, others look and see the person/people who live in the house, the relationships with the people around them, the years put into the verge garden or trees, the sense of place etc.
If the guy who wants to live there wants to move, then help him move, not a problem. But moving someone from their home just because of perceptions of money, that’s fucked up.
Not his home and for the 37 years hes lived in the house is it that unreasonable to expect him to move to another property so that another family can live in it
When you say ‘home’ you mean ownership. When I say home I mean the place that someone live that supports them on all levels not just the survival one. Reread what I said in that context. Treating all rentals as storage units kills community.
I know that fuzzy hu-mon emotions can be difficult for tories to understand, but if you live 37 years in a place, it’s you’re home regardless of who holds the deed.
It’s pretty simple: if you want him to move, offer him a residence more suitable to his current and future needs. If he refuses, make him a better offer.
But just going ‘you move to address X in 40 days or you’re on the street’ is indeed very unreasonable.
It’s pretty simple: if you want him to move, offer him a residence more suitable to his current and future needs. If he refuses, make him a better offer.
I agree, up to a point.
But just going ‘you move to address X in 40 days or you’re on the street’ is indeed very unreasonable.
I never said that at all. I’d expect he gets moved to a place that caters to his needs but I’d expect him to be moved
TRC housing general manager Neil Porteous said it had been in discussions with Rauti about moving to an alternative home in Tamaki since July last year.
She had been offered five properties over the past four months and a “new warm, dry home” nearby was being held for her.
“We have not received any feedback from Ms Rauti on the houses we have offered her. We are hoping she will contact us so that we can discuss her specific needs and assist her in moving to the property we are holding for her. In the meantime, we will be following the legal process. “
Sure seems unreasonable that they need to demolish every single house all at once.
Sure seems unreasonable that “transparency about the plan” doesn’t mean they were willing to make any allowances to it.
Sure seems unreasonable that they had to say “warm and dry” as if that’s not the minimum expectation – what if she’s happily “warm and dry” where she is?
Sure seems unreasonable that it was some sort of private developer tearing down the state houses. How did that happen?
Sure seems unreasonable that polite people going to visit her and find out what she wants couldn’t get any “feedback”. Unless that approach wasn’t made, in which case that is also unreasonable.
“Because if HNZ needs three million for new homes, it should come from progressive taxation rather than taking people’s homes.”
Ok, I understand what you are saying with the above comment, no sale of land.
However, the land the current house is on could be developed to allow additional people/families a place to call home would that not be a good outcome?
This still requires the current guy to be moved, at least until the section has been redeveloped.
Do not take someone’s home unless, for example, you can satisfy all the requirements for eminent domain appropriation. Not just to make your ledger look better.
Offer them money or a better home, wait for them to die, whatever.
But don’t take someone’s home simply because the government has run state housing for a profit and completely bollocksed the housing market over decades.
Compulsory purchase where the highway gets built over people’s land despite refusal to sell, sort of thing.
Requires a bit of work in NZ – has to justify not just necessity but also why that exact thing needs to be taken. Can’t be done on whim.
In a state house rental, obviously it’s owned by the state, but if it’s also a home then the tenant should need to be compensated for that fact, in my opinion.
I do understand its someone’s home, who has lived there for a long period of time.
All over the country people who own their own homes have for various reason had to sell the family home (too big, move out of the area etc.) Their children may have been born and grown up in the house. It’s tough no matter if you own or a state house tenant.
In this particular situation, the size of the section could house vastly more people, in an established suburb.
Should one person hold up 50 more getting into a home?
I agree completely a suitable new house must be provided, and done in a way that mutually respects both the tenant and the state.
If it’s not about “profit” rather making the best use of available resources (the land) would you still have the same view?
I can’t see how Eminent Domain relates to a state house. A tenant has the use of but does not own it.
All of this stuff about the house and land allowing money or space for more homes for more people is just marsh gas.
The residency of a single home has nothing to do with HNZ’s bottom line, housing stock levels, or any of that shit. It’s a billion dollar operation – if one house is the difference between 50 people being housed, HNZ is incompetently run. What will happen in the real world is they will do whatever they want with the house, but the overall stock will vary only according to government policy.
Eminent Domain was an example of the level HNZ should have to meet to justify forcibly remove a tenant, in my opinion. Funnily enough, that might eventually include your resource efficiency problem if the “inefficiency” becomes severe enough. But in this case, it’s not.
Have you not worked out the difference between a private landlord and state landlord?
Private landlords would love to have tenants that are long term.
State landlords need to treat people as passive objects because they only provide housing for their current needs – these needs are not fixed over time. If the needs of that person is long term, then they still need to treat them as passive objects and move them around their housing stock to accommodate the people they are responsible for.
A home is where a person makes it and if you are renting, its your home only as long as the term of your tenancy. After that you need to think about where you next home is, or in the case of state landlord, where they tell you to move next.
“If you think it’s acceptable to move people around, then you are endorsing the end of community.”
That’s the harsh reality of having the State as your landlord. The State has to make a choice, move a current tenant to a dwelling that is suitable for their needs so that the needs of another state tenant can be met or preserve the community. The thing is, the State knows that communities are fluid. Some neighborhoods blossom and some degrade, the state can’t control that. If a drug gang privately purchased a house and moved in next door to a statehouse, is it the State’s responsibility to move the state tenant when their needs are being met?
The harsh reality is people’s homes (whether they, private landlords or the state owns the buildings and/or land) are a basic necessity. They should not be treated as market commodities. And people should not be treated as objects to be shunted around to suit amoral, predatory capitalists.
Eventually capitalists run out of other people’s lives and activities to appropriate and commodify, and they become extremely callous about the way they treat humans as a result of their fetish for profiteering at other people’s expense.
That’s the harsh reality of having the State as your landlord.
No, that’s the harsh reality of having right-wingers operating an Applied Misanthropy model of state housing. The solution is to not let right-wingers run the country.
“The thing is, the State knows that communities are fluid. Some neighborhoods blossom and some degrade, the state can’t control that.”
The State can protect communities though. There’s no good reason that the state can’t both run social housing fairly *and look after the community. In fact they’re dependent upon each other.
“If a drug gang privately purchased a house and moved in next door to a statehouse, is it the State’s responsibility to move the state tenant when their needs are being met?”
Not sure what you mean. If the tenants need to move for some reason then of course the government should help.
This stuff gets easier to understand if you stop seeing people as things.
BREAKING >> Greenpeace activists have boarded the Amazon Warrior’s supply ship – the Mermaid Searcher – in New Plymouth. We’re taking a stand to #EndOil exploration in New Zealand.
BREAKING >> Greenpeace activists have boarded the Amazon Warrior's supply ship – the Mermaid Searcher – in New Plymouth. We're taking a stand to #EndOil exploration in New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/CVSwnD2YcE
I was wondering does anyone know if the TU has ever proved its claim of having thousands of members. Is there any source online that proves they have thousands of members? Obviously, “supporters” can mean anyone in the world.
Also, I was wondering if the name “New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union” is something they have “copyrighted” or anything like that. In other words, do they now have sole rights to use that name or anything similar?
You mean something similar….as in the Taxpayers Onion where you peel away each layer revealing layer upon layer of vested political and economic interests up the chain each pissing the other’s pocket?
I can’t help thinking that the MSM, – calling out Stuff in particular- intentionally or not with their ongoing and more recently blanket coverage of the rental squeeze have opened another front in the “divide and conquer” campaign. Which, like their great success in turning a good section of the population against beneficiaries we are now seeing some very vitriolic tenants vs landlord nastiness emerge, in the name of “news”, but enabled by opening comments and inviting people to write in with their own stories (read: Stuff).
It’s been common knowledge for a long time there’s a severe housing shortage in much of NZ for some time now. But what’s the reason for pitting tenants against private landlords? It seems to me to be a continuation of the class warfare we’ve somehow found ourselves in, the latest front being “I’m superior to you because I own property and have secure, stable housing and you don’t.” Well that’s the dominant theme reading the comments, but knowing what we know about how certain groups of people with an agenda deliberately overload comments sections and try and influence readers with the up and down votes, who knows exactly what the majority of private landlords are thinking? But these comments, even reading them ( I know, dumb move) with a cynical mind, it’s easy to get drawn in and find myself loathing ALL landlords because of the alleged views of some very vocal ones, despite knowing from experience they’re not. From that I can conclude said campaign is working well.
But is is also designed as a scare tactic? To keep us living in a state of permanent anxiety thus keeping us distracted from what else is going on, to wear us down so much and stop participating in the democratic process?
“But is is also designed as a scare tactic? To keep us living in a state of permanent anxiety thus keeping us distracted from what else is going on, to wear us down so much and stop participating in the democratic process?”
Rosemary, I was thinking about it. Maybe after this heatwave ends (if it ever does!) My brains total mush right now. I imagine this “campaign” will still be going on into Autumn…
I notice that the NZH article that Puckish Rogue has linked, about state houses “worth” millions, carries the same snooty tone, and includes such dog whistles as a certain house’s being worth … 61 times more than the $49,588 a primary school teacher would earn in their first year of work and almost 40 times more than the $75,949 a teacher could earn after seven years’ service.
I think it’s a case of the property industry fighting back. The new government’s success or failure depends to a high degree on how well they address the housing crisis. And addressing the housing crisis threatens the Ponzi scheme that property developers and their real estate mates have been enjoying for the past nine years.
This business of state house values is likely related to putting a market price on the houses. This should not be done for state houses, except in the rare occasion of them being made available for sale.
They should instead be practically valued at land cost plus expenditure, plus a mark up each year according to the CPI. That is all the state needs to know because the houses are public property for the use of the public that need them.
There should be a warning clause in big letters, stating that if any of them are sold, there should be three valuations done by separate assessor firms, and the highest of these should be compared to the recent sales of that area and they should be sold for cash obtained privately by the buyer.
Kay, you do realize while Labour was in opposition and during the election and still now while in Government they have/are demonizing private landlords?
Phil Twyford has solicited letters from prospective tenants and then plastered his MP office window with those letters. Other Labour MP’s are doing similar.
The current Government is the ones pitting landlords verse tenants.
Chuck, I’ve been renting privately for 25 years, so under National and Labour Govts. I’d much rather be in State housing for the tenure security but there isn’t any. Funny that.
What’s the vilification from Labour exactly- wanting healthy homes fit for habitation, non-extortionate reasonable rent rises? More security of tenure? How is that villifying?
What I’m seeing is an exact replay of beneficiary vilification, by politicians and the media: Find the stories of the minority extreme bad experiences with both parties (landlords and tentants) and given them the front page. Let the “other side” know just how bad landlords and tenants can be, and tar us all with the same brush.
I see (read) landlords saying they’re getting out of the market because of all the extra costs of having to do up the rentals and potential tax changes so it’s the governments fault, the implication being tenants should be greatful to have ANY roof over their heads and how dare the Govt tell us what we should do with our investment etc.
And the tenants read this and of course they interpret “greed”, especially those who have lost their leases multiple times for no reason except they legally could, or were finally priced out. Then they have no hope of finding anywhere else, especially if they’re on a low income, because the reality is there’s major discrimination going on, especially from Property managers.
Now, why are we getting bombarded with all the extreme landlord/tenants all bad, airB&B more profitable and screw society? Why aren’t the media emphasising the systematic selling off of State and Council housing over the last 20 years, and the actual reasons we’re in this mess, and the very real social problems going with it? because they get more clicks from the us vs them articles?
Not all private landlords deserve demonisation which many renters can attest to. But there are some who can for their behaviour, and certainly some just for their attitude. Like those who say if we don’t like renting then get a better job and save up for a deposit. And I have no time for tenants who don’t take care of their rental.
For me personally, I only just managed to secure a 2 year tenancy, but I’m living in the very real fear of becoming homeless, even with a disability, and I’m the perfect tenant with a perfect credit record and guaranteed income. That’s something I would never have even considered possible 10 years ago. There’s a lot of us about.
Thanks, Kay, I appreciate your considered reply. Although I beg to differ that the Labour narrative has contributed to the MSM running with these types of stories.
For the MSM it sells newspapers or gets them the clicks. Do I dare say it’s like a sports event?? demonize the other team…fill the stadium and push up the TV ratings.
Politicians know the game all too well and are happy for this to occur when it suits there agenda. Us verse them, right verse wrong, evil verse good…
Point in case; see adams reply to me @ 11.1
At the moment I am renting, on a 12-month term as a widowed father so have an understanding of the tight rental market.
I don’t think it’s a reality that property managers are discriminating Kay, well no more than if you were to decline my invitation to dance. I think it’s discernment rather than discrimination.
This doesn’t change the outcome you highlight, yes, the demand for rentals has become so strong tenant seekers can compile a short list of applicants that meet every one of their ‘Got to have’ and most of their ‘Nice to have’ pre-requisites.
I think you turned me down and accepted George’s invitation because Clooney is better looking and richer…maybe another time.
Yes Kay, like the lady who bought a teepee and lives in a camp ground because there were no or too highly priced units.
Some owners are now selling up, because they don’t wish to upgrade, even with Govt help.
They are finding they are now feeling pain losing money to sale costs and a less competitive market. They were never long term investors in housing.
Good tenants like you are like workers who find their pay cheque does not cover their living costs, and they end up with payday loans, or in your case no roof.
There is soooo much to fix. This is what we have been left by that smug lot.
You are right, the coalition has hit the ground running and they have their eyes firmly on legislation to assist.
Let us hope the 3 parties continue to work in people’s best interests.
but I’m living in the very real fear of becoming homeless, even with a disability, and I’m the perfect tenant with a perfect credit record and guaranteed income. That’s something I would never have even considered possible 10 years ago. There’s a lot of us about.
Love this, not really political. But it’s an international project with a kiwi involved. Bit how we need to start thinking, more across the borders. The stinking capitalist are internationalist, especially with their trust and offshore banking. Bugger the borders. Nationalism is just another distraction to keep you suppressed.
The Bill provides for a process that requires the Minister to regularly request and respond to reports on the state of competition in the dairy industry. Seems like an innocuous little thing to form reports, but it’s the firs time I’ve seen any evidence that any government since the 2001 legislation that formed Fonterra really want to revisit the entire dairy structure at all.
And with that review goes the future of our fresh water system as a whole.
Emma Hart
@Ghetsuhm
I have this theory that cycling is as close as a middle-class straight white guy can get to understanding Being Female. People have a reckless disregard for your safety, you have to treat everyone like they might hurt you, and if you do get hurt people will blame you for existing
Also some people will just hate you in general and call out rude and demeaning insults. Some will think they can invade your space and get as close as they want without any thought to your thoughts on the matter. The rules of the road are made to suit cars and if you break them to get ahead you are vilified, but if you try and stick with them you are abused because you are not a car.
Ha! True! Although, don’t extend the analogy too far – once we get off the roads onto cycle paths through pedestrian areas like parks, we’re back to being a potential threat (I’m not actually a threat to pedestrians, but there’s no way for pedestrians to know that).
I think if the Greens vote for this it’ll be the final nail in the coffin of the Greens holding the “moral” high ground and will start the slide of the Greens becoming just another power above all else party, it might also hurt the soft Green vote as well
I say this because the Greens tend to be strongest in , mostly,middle class suburbs
The five strongest electorates for the Greens were Wellington Central, Rongotai, Mt Albert, Auckland Central and Dunedin North – the same five electorates where its vote was strongest in the 2014 election.
“The historical profile [of a Green voter] tends to be urban professionals, tertiary educated, often in public service roles.”
So if the Greens become just another party then they’ll probably leak more votes to Labour
Getting rid of the two traitors, possibly supporting the CPTPP, MTs meltdown, support for the waka bill in exchange for concessions off the top of my head
“support for the waka bill in exchange for concessions”.
Please tell us. Except for allowing them to ride in the back of the Ministerial BMWs what concessions did they get? I can’t think of anything.
They sold out very, very cheaply didn’t they?
Another good one, for first reading to introducing a bill that would enable day: Fletcher Tabuteau puts up the KiwiFund Bill, starting the process for the state to own and operate its own Kiwisaver fund for New Zealanders, rather than the banks’ preferred providers getting all of it.
The Cabinet Files is one of the biggest breaches of cabinet security in Australian history and the story of their release is as gripping as it is alarming and revealing.
It begins at a second-hand shop in Canberra, where ex-government furniture is sold off cheaply.
The deals can be even cheaper when the items in question are two heavy filing cabinets to which no-one can find the keys.
They were purchased for small change and sat unopened for some months until the locks were attacked with a drill.
Inside was the trove of documents now known as The Cabinet Files.
The thousands of pages reveal the inner workings of five separate governments and span nearly a decade.
Nearly all the files are classified, some as “top secret” or “AUSTEO”, which means they are to be seen by Australian eyes only.
But the ex-government furniture sale was not limited to Australians — anyone could make a purchase.
And had they been inclined, there was nothing stopping them handing the contents to a foreign agent or government.
Banning letting fees and allowing landlords to only increase rents once a year are two of the ways the government is looking to make life easier for renters.https://t.co/JtlvW1eLnw— RNZ (@radionz) January 30, 2018
You wish. Tenants are people with rights and shelter is a basic human right. This Government is going to improve tenants rights and if landlords get shitty about it they can fuck off out of the market.
All Americans deserve accountability and respect — and that is what we are giving them. So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers — and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.
True, but who’s getting devastated and is it linked to media rumours re leadership changes in the opposition? About that I could raise a ‘midnight of a chuckle.”
I have a suspicion it’s going to be Peters, not that he’d care, but then again it could be Ardern.
She just starts the job, straight away gets up the duff and is going to be off for xxxx amount of time.
Maybe the voters don’t like the idea of a part-time PM?
“Devastating” is lab or nat going sub30%, or green/NZ1 going sub4%. And even then, at this stage it’s recoverable even for the leader.
I doubt either happened. It’s probably one lot or t’other has dropped slightly more than the margin for error, and the media have been hanging out for a good polling for too long.
Some party has dropped 2 to 3 points. Newshub calls it devastating because it attracts viewers. The likelihood is its National which might explain the Barry Soper item re- English’s imminent demise.
Labour up to 42%.
Labour plus Greens could form a government.
Labour leader outpolls National’s leader as preferred PM by 12%.
Friendless National need more than NZF to form a government.
50% say government doing well or better. 20% say worse. 20% say it’s too early.
Minor parties insignificant.
NZF drop but as with all minor parties they will languish between elections.
Greens bucked that trend.
I’d expect the new governments’ moves will address the problem.
What, dumping more cost onto landlords who pass those costs onto their tenants?
Renters are going to be hating Labour over the next few years, they’ll be yearning for the return of National and lower rents.
As for FPP, there will be only the Lab/Green block and National, they’re the choices, one side is left one side is right.
Will NZ want to stay left?, I don’t think so, 2020 is going to be a defining point in NZ history, whoever wins is going to have the ability to take NZ where they want, no holds barred.
Hmmm, I wonder how many ways a new left-wing, socially-committed, humane, compassionate, people-oriented government can find to solve our housing needs?
What you suggest, BM?
BTW, why do you keep mentioning FPP? We’ve not been there for twenty years, two decades, a generation. You’re not yearning for The Good Old Times, are you?
They’re a bit like National, and those good old times with poor mental health services, declining education performances under national standards, homelessness, suicide, increase in meth use, water and other infrastructure problems, drops in water quality standards, slow EQC responses, rack-renting, worker exploitation, 90 day trials with firing with impunity…….. yeah, those ol’ good ol’ days….. under National.
I am surprised that Labour is still behind National, with National not losing any support.
Why are you surprised? It’s not like the right-of-centre voter has credible alternatives available. Take-home message is that Labour/Green could govern without NZ1 on today’s numbers – the proportion of that support held by each party is irrelevant (unless there was a really massive change in the proportions).
I would have thought there was up to 10% of “soft National vote” that would have seen at least some drift off to Labour.
So I am surprised they held and even gained slightly. It does indicate 44 – 45% is a base for National.
I bet weka would like a snap election to occur tomorrow! without having to rely on NZF to govern!
The first 100 days are officially over. Labour now need to deliver… this will not help them…
“Housing rents have been picked to increase rapidly in the next two years – an issue which will overtake high house prices as a far bigger problem, according to Property Institute chief executive Ashley Church.”
National do need a support partner. Which party in the current Government is closed to the center? and is holding back Labour and the Greens from their intended policies?
If as most on this blog want to happen – English and co. get shown the door…a lot of the huff and puff from Winston will be gone and he always does better on election night taking the fight to the Government of the day (so I am suggesting he will either be fired or leave on his own accord over an issue, more so if he is still 3 – 4% in 2020).
Jacinda has perfected the art of stringing people along…
“We have set aside an appropriation, but . . . ultimately we have set our sights on the goal itself. There is no plan B. The plan is re-entry in the safest way possible.”
Hmmm… now I don’t recall Helen Clark stringing anyone along. She pretty much called a spade a spade and in doing so, made quite a few enemies along the way. In the end they ganged up on her big time. 🙂
There is apparently a Newshub-Reid Research poll out tonight at 6pm which will “delight, daze, and devastate”;
The PM is also due to give her Child Poverty speech at 5.30pm from St Peters Church in Wellington;
And
Chloe Swarbrick’s medicinal cannabis Members Bill is due for its First Reading after the current debate on Rates Rebates which on current pace is due to finish about 5.40pm. This means the introduction of Chloe’s bill may start before the dinner break (usually 6 – 7.30pm) rather than after.
Ooops – Reid poll already under discussion at 21 above. Sorry.
Another day of dishonesty from the National Party.
Wednesday 31 Jan. 2018
“No one’s going to ‘Kill Bill’. … There’s a LOT of talent in the National Party…. Amy Adams, she’s VERY bright…”—Michelle Boag, on The Panel, RNZ National, 4:20 p.m.
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Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand First are celebrating the announcement of an investment of $3.5 million into five new trapping devices. These are a range of bait and trap devices, all designed to be left unattended for long periods of time. NZ First conservation spokesperson Jenny Marcroft says that this latest development will ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Conservation New Zealand First is proud to announce the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has allocated $3.5 million to develop innovative predator control approaches which will reduce the need for repeated 1080 use. $19.5 million of PGF funding was announced for Predator Free 2050 Limited in February ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Police New Zealand First is proud to have delivered on a key Coalition Agreement commitment to adding 1800 new frontline police, with the graduation of Recruit Wing 332 in Porirua today. Law and Order Spokesperson Darroch Ball says increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Healthier waterways, better productivity and farmer wellbeing are front and centre in a new project involving more than 1000 Southland farmers and growers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor today announced that the Thriving Southland Change and Innovation Project is the first region-wide extension programme supported by the $229 million Sustainable ...
Work to look after nature and restore freshwater quality in Te Hoiere/Pelorus River catchment is getting a significant boost, thanks to new Government funding support Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage announced in Canvastown today. “Every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local river without getting sick, and ...
Eight Queen’s Counsel have been appointed under a process that includes the new criterion of a commitment to improving access to justice, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. “The new criterion was included this year. It emphasises that excellence and leadership in the profession can be seen through a wider, community ...
Onslow College in Wellington will get 20 new classrooms for more than 400 students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The much-needed investment will relieve growth pressure the school has been experiencing for some time. Seven existing classrooms which have deteriorated over time will also be replaced, bringing the total ...
More than 250 young New Zealanders will add international experience to their education, thanks to the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA) and Latin America (PMSLA), Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This round of scholarships supports 252 recent graduates or current students to undertake study, research or internships ...
Consumers will benefit from a more competitive, transparent retail fuel market as a result of changes the Government will be making in response to the findings of the Commerce Commission’s study of the fuel sector. “We accept the Commission’s findings and, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re ready to ...
Five new cancer medicines have now been funded this year, meaning thousands of people have more treatment options PHARMAC has today announced that it has approved two new medicines for funding – fulvestrant for breast cancer and olaparib for ovarian cancer. This follows earlier decisions on advanced lung cancer treatment alectinib, ...
The Minister of Local Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will consider making changes to local electoral legislation before the 2022 elections to fix the problems that have arisen where elections are settled by a coin toss. The Minister says the recount process in the Murupara- Galatea ward at ...
New Zealand will sign up to new international maritime regulations to reduce ship emissions and lift air quality around ports and harbours, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary treaty examination process, New Zealand will sign up to Annex VI of MARPOL, an ...
New legislation to transform our urban areas and create sustainable, inclusive and thriving communities will tomorrow be introduced to Parliament, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said. “The Urban Development Bill gives Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities the tools it needs to partner with councils, communities, mana whenua and private developers to ...
Today’s launch of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 provides the foundation for long-lasting changes to early learning, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Early learning will be one of the Government’s top education priorities going into 2020,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
Major decisions made by the Government will now be considered under a climate change lens, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. “Cabinet routinely considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender – now climate change will ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced the appointment of Māori education specialist Dr Wayne Ngata and Business NZ head Kirk Hope to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). Dr Alastair MacCormick has been reappointed for another term. “Wayne Ngata, Kirk Hope and Alastair MacCormick bring a great deal ...
The next phase of the Pike River Re-entry project is underway, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little says. “Fresh air will be pumped into the Pike River Mine drift this week, following acceptance of the plan for re-entry beyond the 170m barrier by New Zealand’s independent health and ...
New Zealand consumers will have greater certainty about their insurance cover when they need to make claims as a result of proposed government changes. “Insurance is vitally important in supporting consumers and businesses to be financially resilient when unexpected events happen,” Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi said. ...
The Crown is providing an opportunity for the hapu of Ngāpuhi to rebuild its framework from the ground up for collective negotiations to deal with its historical Treaty claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The Crown is also ...
A Bill enabling referendums to be held with the 2020 General Election has passed its third reading. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Act is important for upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s electoral process. “The Government has committed to holding a referendum on legalising recreational cannabis at the next ...
The first release of public information on the two referendums to be held at next year’s General Election was made today with an informative new Government website going live. Additionally, the draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill has been released, showing the strict controls on cannabis that will apply if ...
The Government is taking action to protect New Zealand from foreign interference in our elections by banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament this afternoon and passed under urgency. “There’s no need for anyone other than New ...
Governments and tech companies are holding a two-day workshop, hosted by YouTube/Google in Wellington, to test the Christchurch Call Shared Crisis Response Protocol. The workshop aims to refine and strengthen the response in the event of a terrorist attack with online implications. Companies, governments, civil society experts and NGOs will ...
The new independent Cancer Control Agency has formally opened today, delivering on the Government’s plan to improve cancer care in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Health David Clark marked the occasion by announcing the membership of the Advisory Council that will be supporting ...
Small businesses who deal with government departments are set to be paid faster and have improved cash flow as a result, under a new strategy released today. The Government is backing recommendations from the Small Business Council (SBC) and has agreed to implement three initiatives immediately to support business and ...
The Education and Training Bill 2019, introduced in Parliament today, proposes the biggest education changes in decades and is an important step towards improving success for all our learners, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The Bill’s rewrite of education legislation is long overdue. Indeed one Education Act, parts of which ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Bali to represent New Zealand at the 12th Bali Democracy Forum that will be held on the 5-6 December. “The Forum is a valuable opportunity for Asia-Pacific countries to share experiences and best practice in building home-grown democracy and fostering ...
A package of new and expanded technology and other tools will encourage responsible camping and help communities and local councils better manage freedom camping this summer, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. “Our Government has been investing to improve the freedom camping experience for everyone because we want to support ...
The government is laying the groundwork to understanding our genes – work that can help us tackle some of our biggest health challenges, like heart disease and diabetes, says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. $4.7 million has been invested in the Genomics Aotearoa Rakeiora programme. The programme will ...
Nearly every state schools will receive a capital injection next year valued at $693 per student to bring forward urgent school property improvements, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The one-off cash injection is the first project to be announced from the Government’s infrastructure package ...
The Government has decided to bring forward major investments in New Zealand’s infrastructure to future proof the economy. “Cabinet has agreed to a significant boost to infrastructure investment. I have directed the Treasury to help bring together a package of projects that can be brought into the Government’s short and ...
It is a great pleasure to be with you today in Whanganui. Like the Prime Minister I grew up with the TV clip of Selwyn Toogood booming “What do you say Whanganui, the money or the bag?” to an unsuspecting ‘It’s in the Bag’ audience. For those under the age ...
New Zealand’s newest Great Walk, the Paparoa Track, was officially opened in Blackball today by the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage alongside the family members of the Pike 29 and Ngāti Waewae. Local mayors and MP for the West Coast Hon Damien O’Connor were also in attendance. “Paparoa National Park ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark turned the first sod of earth on the infrastructure works for the new P-8A Poseidon fleet at RNZAF Base Ohakea today. “The Coalition Government’s investment in Ohakea will ensure the Royal New Zealand Air Force can manage, maintain and task the new fleet efficiently ahead ...
Civil Defence Minister Hon Peeni Henare today announced the establishment of the new National Emergency Management Agency from 1 December 2019. The National Emergency Management Agency will replace the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. It will be an autonomous departmental agency, hosted by the Department of the Prime ...
New Zealand tertiary students with top grades and a passion for space will once again be offered the opportunity to work with the world’s best and brightest at NASA, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Recipients of the New Zealand Space Scholarship are nominated by the Ministry of Business, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further support to Samoa in the wake of an ongoing measles outbreak in the country. Additional medical supplies and personnel, including a third rotation of New Zealand’s emergency medical assistance team (NZMAT), further nurse vaccinators, intensive care (ICU) specialists and Samoan-speaking medical professionals, will ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new data showing a sharp drop in the number of people who can’t afford to visit their GP is a sign of real progress. One year after the Government made it cheaper for about 600,000 Kiwis to visit their doctor, results of the New ...
The Trade for All Advisory Board has released its recommendations for making New Zealand’s trade policy deliver for all New Zealanders. The report was today welcomed by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. “Trade is crucial to this country’s economy and well-being, and the benefits need to flow to all ...
Analysis - The government's first crack at cannabis legislation runs into trouble, a foreign donations bill is rammed through Parliament and a select committee refuses to listen to former NZ First officeholders. ...
Dr Ben Jansen is Oceania's leading prescriber of cannabis medicines, and a co-founder of the Hemp Foundation.org.nz “I’d like to thank the Labour Party and Chris Woodney. Thanks to his policy remit at Labours national conference, and Labours full support, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education Practice, School of Education, University of South Australia Australian 15 year olds were around three and a half years behind their counterparts in China in maths, according to the OECD’s latest results for education systems ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitri Perrin, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology More than a year ago, the world was shocked by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui’s attempt to use CRISPR technology to modify human embryos and make them resistant to HIV, which led to the birth ...
Cabinet minister Kris Faafoi has apologised to the Prime Minister for his messages to Jason Kerrison regarding an immigration case, but will not lose his job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Flinders University The decision to merge the Department of Communications and the Arts with Transport, Infrastructure and Regional development (dropping the “Arts” entirely) ends a year in which Australian politics has been deeply confused over its ...
A historic referendum on independence has been completed in Bougainville. Johnny Blades of RNZ was there. People in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville have voted in an historic independence referendum. The long-anticipated referendum is the ultimate provision of 2001’s Bougainville Peace Agreement, which followed a brutal, protracted ...
Dairy farmers had some Xmas cheer this week, as dairy giant Fonterra told them the forecast payout would be the fourth-highest-ever, at the mid-point of its farmgate milk price range. The $7.30kg/ms means the cash payout for the season will reach $11.2bn, a rise of about $400m from the earlier forecast. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland When you find dinosaur skeletons, how can you tell how old the dinosaur was? Like, if the skeleton is from a child dinosaur or an adult dinosaur? – Henry, aged 8. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) has had to clarify the law with Police and receive their reassurance that while the amnesty for ammunition was not extended to 20 December, Police will act as if it has been. ...
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 We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall & Tim Denee (Massey University Press, $70)Superlative ...
This week a petition with more than 15,000 signatures was presented at parliament to Nicola Willis, MP and opposition spokesperson for Early Childhood Education. Also attending were Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick and Hon Nikki Kaye. ...
It’s that time of year again when, for the third year running, a new A Christmas Prince movie is released. Sam Brooks was in front of a TV screen for the latest instalment’s debut on Netflix last night, and here catalogues the many stupid, wild, and wildly stupid things he ...
One of the most highly rated members of Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet is under pressure over assurances given in relation to an immigration case. How bad could it get, asks Toby Manhire.There has never been a New Zealand prime minister more engaged with contemporary homegrown music than Jacinda Ardern. She’s forever ...
Kris Faafoi, Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media; Minister ofCommerce and Consumer Affairs;Minister of Government Digital Services; Associate Minister forHousing; MP for Mana.The latest allegations of a corruption scandal involving a Cabinet minister suggests this government is far too loose when it comes to providing access to power ...
The National Party cannot credibly critique the Government’s hikes to fuel tax while it refuses to commit to reversing these hikes, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Simon Bridges has lambasted ...
Newspaper staff were among those to express dismay and fury during the frenzy of denunciations that followed publication of an ill-considered cartoon about Samoa and the measles epidemic. The Spinoffrecorded their reactions under the heading ODT cartoonist infuriates his colleagues with Sāmoa measles epidemic ‘joke’. It also reproduced the ...
New Zealand Police Association condemns comments made by People Against Prisons Aotearoa following the fatal police shooting of an armed man who had made threats of suicide. ...
A new poem by Harry Ricketts. The Writing Life You want to write.You want to be published.You want to be read. You want to be a cult figure.You want to be reviewed.You want to write. You want to win prizes.You want to be anthologised.You want to be read. You want to be taught in schools ...
As Christmas is near, it’s time to set the record straight on some of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of employment law that apply to the festive season. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Kris Faafoi immigration case Fiona Connor and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): ‘I’m on it bro’: Messages show Kris Faafoi offering help to ...
The Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta has announced changes to prevent Māori wards being voted down by referendums are off the table, saying she believes such a change is not possible within the coalition. ...
It’s officially the festive season, and what does that mean? An office Secret Santa with a budget of $20 and you’ve picked your boss. Instead of settling for a bottle of average wine and a ribbon, follow our essential guide on what to get those unique workmates.At last year’s Secret ...
The shooting of a suicidal man in Southland shows that police armament is dangerous, says criminal justice group People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The shooting comes just over a month into the controversial trial of heavily armed police teams in 3 regions ...
The Prime Minister should deal urgently with reports Cabinet Minister Kris Faafoi offered to help a friend over an immigration case, National Party leader Simon Bridges says. ...
The families of top former All Blacks are likely to donate their loved ones’ brains to research so the effect of head impacts in sport can be studied. ...
A woman who went on a Tinder date with the man who murdered Grace Millane tells her story, and issues a warning to other women to trust their instincts when something doesn’t feel right.First published on Newshub.co.nzI went on a date with Grace Millane’s killer while her body lay in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gottfried Lechner, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, University of South Australia Satellites are becoming increasingly important in our lives, as they help us meet a demand for more data, exchanged at higher speeds. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminology, Bond University According to the latest figures, homicides in Australia are at historic lows and compare well against international trends. So what do the trends tell us and why is the homicide rate in Australia declining? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy O’Rourke, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, The University of Queensland Welcome to the next article in our Designing Hospitals series, where we explore how architecture and design shape our hospitals and medical centres. Today, we look at what Indigenous people tell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results are bad news for Australian students, parents, employers and policymakers. Pretty much everyone. Australian 15-year-olds are now below the OECD average in mathematics, and our results in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Clode, Senior Research Fellow in Creative Writing, Flinders University It is only mid-November but we have to walk early to avoid the heat. A northerly wind picks up clouds of dust and pollen, sending dirty billows across the paddocks. The long ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming to fuel market, anti-vaxxer arrested in Samoa, and banks told to hold more capital.New recommendations to increase competition in the fuel market have been made by the Commerce Commission, reports the NZ Herald. Their conclusion is that it isn’t competitive ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias. ...
An alliance of top researchers is trying to keep New Zealand ahead of complex health challenges from overuse of antibiotics, threats to freshwater quality and emerging infectious diseases. ...
The birthplace of the Labour Party is once again at the forefront of a new movement, this time harnessing the power of the collective to step away from coal towards a low carbon future.Blackball is a small place with a huge history. This week the town, 29 kilometres from Greymouth, ...
Life expectancy is increasing all the time, and now actuaries and retirement experts say young people need far more information on what they’ll need to do with their money if they live to 100. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. The message from the Retirement Income Interest Group of the New ...
German politician Joschka Fischer has had a remarkable career. From street violence and helping to set up the Green party, he matured into the foreign minister and vice-chancellor of a united Germany, serving until 2005. His understanding of power politics led him to support the use of force in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison said it with a straight face, and repetition for emphasis. “I’m very pleased, very pleased, with the performance of all of my ministers,” he declared on Thursday. This ringing if unconvincing universal endorsement ...
PARENTS AROUND THE WORLD PLEA FOR URGENT CLIMATE ACTION 222 parents groups from 27 countries have released a heartfelt joint plea calling on negotiators at this year’s UN climate summit – COP25 – in Madrid to push for ambitious and urgent ...
Government proposals to overhaul insurance contract laws should make the whole process of taking out insurance easier and simpler to understand for consumers, says Financial Advice New Zealand. ...
Despite New Zealand First lobbying hard at the Cabinet table, the Finance Minister says the case to move Auckland's port operations north has not yet been made. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Tomnay, Assoc. Professor / Director of Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health, University of Melbourne Around one in six Australian women have had an abortion by their mid-30s. These women come from all age groups and demographics: some are mothers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roslyn Petelin, Course coordinator, The University of Queensland Reports this week about the demise of the Apostrophe Protection Society may have been greatly exaggerated. The Apostrophe Protection Society was set up in 2001 in the UK by retired journalist John Richards with ...
Today the Court of Appeal released their decision to allow Helen Milner (The Black Widow) to have the last remaining body samples of the husband she murdered, in an attempt to prove her innocence by trying to see if he had an underlying heart condition. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney Federal Labor this week commemorated a dubious anniversary – a decade of climate policy failure. And it pointed the finger of blame squarely at the Greens. Labor claimed that had the Greens ...
The recent statement by Simon Tyler on behalf of the National Provident Fund and the Government Superannuation Fund, that environmental and social goals must be balanced with financial risk and reward, displays conceptual confusion about the role of ethical ...
A bill designed to deal with terrorists returning from overseas has hit its latest speed bump as human rights groups raise concerns that it could be used to stifle press freedom. ...
by David Barber “To read,” says Jim Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Politics at Otago University, “is to enter a magic realm in which people are more interesting, informed, amusing and intelligent than anyone you encounter in everyday life.” It is a realm that half of New Zealand 15-year-olds never enter, ...
Democracy in New Zealand is suffering from a Parliament which under-performs in its scrutiny of human rights. A new report says human rights oversight by select committees examining potential legislation is weak and ad hoc. Human rights obligations and ...
Children’s Commissioner, Judge Andrew Becroft, calls the Breaking Down Porn report, released today by the Chief Censor, a ‘wake-up call’ for all New Zealanders. “I welcome today’s report. It’s a wake-up call and a catalyst for a national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has announced a dramatic overhaul of the federal public service, cutting the number of departments and creating several new mega ones, while removing five secretaries. The departments will be reduced from 18 to ...
Open Mike 31/01/2018 
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...7 hours ago
Newshub last night reported that Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi had apparently promised to help out a mate with an immigration issue. While its normal for people to approach MPs for assistance in this area, when you're a Minister, the rules are different: as the Cabinet Manual says, Ministers must "at ...11 hours ago
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...16 hours ago
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Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...1 day ago
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...2 days ago
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...2 days ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...4 days ago
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It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...7 days ago
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Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...2 days ago
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by David Barber “To read,” says Jim Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Politics at Otago University, “is to enter a magic realm in which people are more interesting, informed, amusing and intelligent than anyone you encounter in everyday life.” It is a realm that half of New Zealand 15-year-olds never enter, ...1 day ago
Goodbye , Mr English. Your days are numbered.
And I hate to have to say ,… ‘ I told you so ‘ . And all the other petulant , far right wing deniers who couldn’t see the obvious when it was so patently obvious the man and his Mont Pelerin / NZ Initiative policy’s are cancer to New Zealand and its people.
So good riddance. One more rabid , callous neo liberal walks the plank. We don’t want your sort around here as the nation heals .
National Party preparing plans for Bill English’s successor: Barry Soper
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › New Zealand
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
I won’t be sorry to farewell Bill English. Interesting to note the role of Simon Bridges, though. He may have got a bit of a bump from boxing clever on numbers and forcing the issue of select committees on day one, but he’s not one of the established big hitters. I guess they want to seem like they’re renewing.
We’ll watch this space…
They’ve got a lot of clowns lined up to replace Blinglish.
Either they are bland personality’s – or ones tainted with past skeletons in the closet. Not a lot to choose from for the popular appeal.
Would we really want a high pitched screaming under confident Simon Bridges or an aggressive , oafish Judith Collins ? … forget Bennett – shes a joke and a destructive laughing stock , and castings ones mind back over the last decade… all of their inner circle were shown to be bumbling sociopaths…
Good on you , Winston.
You played the long game and won.
Agree Wild Katipo @ (1.1.1) –
Just one for the road … I wonder if the name Ashley Farrell jonjours up nightmares for Bennett! I hope it does, as it well should.
Simon Bridges represents the anti-charisma brigade.
English is a political gift.
Long may he stay in there.
The thing is, some of the others might be an even larger gift.
Maybe.
I would not be one to look a gift nat in the mouth.
Good morning Jack and the rest of the Breakfast crew . This is the first time Iv watched the new show your new set is excellent . I will be watching the skies at 2 am to see the SUPER BLUE MOON an the eclipse TE-NGANGANA is a beautiful part of our environment Ka pai . Jack it’s not nice making Matty blush lol you people show our kiwi culture using maori words whenever can .I have seen the eco maori effect when I turned on my computer to the Breaks show lol .
Many thanks to all OUR MPs that are going to vote for the GREEN PARTY’S version of the Medical bill this is a logical intelligent bill to lead US all to a bright prosperous future for all OUR MOKOS .
Many people have miss judge my Intelligence because I’m brown they end up regretting this discrimination of my Maori culture in the end .I feel for all OUR Mokos who go through this bad part of NZ CULTURE .Ka kite ano
The only thing people here have got to judge your intelligence on EC is your comments. As I’ve commented before many would enjoy some of your website videos in open mike.
Stunned Mullet @ (2.1) … have to agree.
Eco has a great website. Living by what nature and life have given him and his whanau, an environment to use and live with and not abuse.
From what I’ve seen, IMO Eco’s site would be a very good education tool for youth as well as adults.
eco maori,this morning RNZ is reporting on a study that shows there is lot of racism in our schools
It is particularly bad for Māori students.
I enjoy reading your comments eco maori – always interesting, and informative.
ecomaori
You express your feelings in your own way which has a particular Maori openness, directness, plain speaking, a bit of te reo and you like to finish with ka pai leaving on a positive note.
Once people write in a number of times you can tell how their mind works, and what they are on about so we generally get your drift ecomaori. Kia kaha.
Eco Maori (2) … Intelligence comes in many forms. Spirituality being one form and from what I’ve learned from your posts, you have plenty of it.
Also like many contributors here Eco, in my opinion you are an asset to this site, continually contributing and sharing worthy information. Much appreciated.
Off to work now I have to keep my Waka going forward kai pai Breakfast people
Ka kite ano
These poverty measures are going to make Budget 2018 quite interesting:
There are four primary measures:
1. Low income before housing costs (below 50 % of median income, moving line)
2. Low income after housing costs (50% median, fixed line)
3. Material hardship (using the EU’s standard threshold)
4. A persistence measure (for low income, material hardship or both)
In addition there are six supplementary measures, which help build a deeper understanding of the impact on child wellbeing. These are:
low income before-housing-costs (60% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (60% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (50% of median, moving line)
low income after-housing-costs (40% of median, moving line)
severe material hardship
both low income and material hardship (using 60 percent AHC moving line and the material hardship measure from the primary list).
Can I state the obvious that it is gutsy for any government to put anything so clear out there that enables a government to be held accountable , not only every three years, but every budget.
May not feel like it yet, but it’s a rolling political earthquake.
Number 2’s going to be the one to watch – it’s housing costs that are fucking people over, so there’s not just poverty to deal with, there’s housing. The inter-relationship’s going to make fixing it a real prick.
That 40% of median is good to see, too – means they can’t just nudge the “only just poor” over to “not poor” without doing anything substantial.
From the guardian –
But not in Syria…
What do you base “not in syria” on? There’s no mention of Syria except as a destination/origin for trucks. The article is about life in Mosul.
Same Wahhabist inspired Jihadists occupied and ran areas of Aleppo (eastern), Eastern Ghouta, Raqqa, Deir al Zour and other places in Syria.
Yet for “some reason”, reports from those places are about government sieges (causing loss of life, stopping aid deliveries etc) and cities “falling” (to the country’s army).
There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the wildly different behaviour of the Jihadists who occupied cities across those two countries, yes?
Assuming that your summary of the coverage is perfectly fair and balanced, the immediate response is that one would expect a different emphasis in coverage if one army attacking a bunch of pricks is itself a massive bunch of pricks, whereas the other army attacking a bunch of pricks has a substantially lower number of pricks in its ranks, particularly the higher echelons.
FWIW, the kurds have also come under criticism for levelling villages that demographically are more Arab and leaving the kurdish-majority villages intact (using UXDs as an excuse), but they also wait for civilians to leave before demolishing the place.
“FWIW, the kurds have also come under criticism for levelling villages that demographically are more Arab and leaving the kurdish-majority villages intact (using UXDs as an excuse), but they also wait for civilians to leave before demolishing the place.”
In Syria? The YPK or YPP? Are you trying to tar them with the same brush as the KRG? .
🙄
Serious question dude, you put up the FWIW. Which Kurds are the Kurds you are talking about?
Or can I expect more of you sardonic side steps?
Pretty much all of the above, but especially in Iraq. ISTR an international investigation into the Syria-based Kurdish TLAs said that there wasn’t evidence of anything that amounted to an accusation of ethnic cleansing, but they did get criticism for displacing the residents without adequate welfare provisions. And they did it a lot.
But it’s to fucking hot and late to go through war crimes stats for links. Google it..
I have googled it, it’s why I called you on it.
Sigh.
Which groups do you reckon have been fighting by Queensbury rules?
McFlock my “summary” as you want to call it has got nothing to do with it. You’ve read the reports from Aleppo and other Syrian cities, and you’ve read the reports from Mosul.
If the Wahabists installed brutal forms of governance in one area but not others, what accounts for that?
It can’t have anything to do with the army they were fighting, and it can’t have anything to do with Kurds or whatever. (If you think it does, I’d be keen to hear your explanation running along those lines)
If the Wahabists installed brutal forms of governance in one area but not others, what accounts for that?
The fog of war? People telling lies? It’s 100% true no shit I seen it! Wahhabists are people and may not all follow the party line?
The various administrative cohorts were small (and beset by ridiculous god-bothering dogma) and the individual ethics of those involved resulted in different outcomes?
It’s so hard to get good henchpersons these days?
[You previously spent a number of days running interference across a range of comments. I won’t be indulging that behaviour again. If your comments come across as being designed to derail discussion, or close down discussion or clutter discussion with noise or pointless smart-arsery, I’ll be treating it as deliberate trolling. This is your only warning.] – Bill
Actually, who they were fighting has a lot to do with it. Sometimes two equal things right next to each other look like they are different sizes because of what is around them.
Interested that although you seem to be indicating that both things are/were the same, you suggest the perception of difference is/was solely down to the national armies that were opposing them.
It was “our” media that tirelessly promoted that illusory difference. And it was “our” media that put anyone who might have challenged that promotion through the wringer.
People who bought into “our” media’s narrative (and a huge number of people did)…I wonder how many unwittingly, and out the goodness of their hearts, donated money to Jihadist orgs that “our” media were promoting as good guys and heroes?
I’m saying simply that if, as your position seems to be, the occupiers of Aleppo and Mosul were exactly the same sorts of folks, the armies attacking them were definitely not the same sort of folks.
More time spent on talking about the attackers’ faults might apparently diminish the faults of the occupiers, but it’s simply a fact of edited column inches.
Even on the ground, while being occupied by the same bunch of people one group might be more scared of the occupiers than the attackers and the other group might be the opposite.
There might be actual difference between the occupiers. There might not. Even if there aren’t, your observations about differences in reporting could well be the result of balanced reporting just as much as it could be the result of biased reporting.
Jesus wept. In case you missed it, the people (ie, radical Sunni Jihadists) who occupied and ran eastern Aleppo were lauded as heroes. The same radical Sunni Jihadists who occupied and ran Mosul were condemned as radical Sunni Jihadists.
That’s not simply “diminishing the faults” of one set of occupiers because of a focus on one country’s national army as a supposedly evil aberration.
It’s straight up propaganda of a deeply cynical and hypocritical nature that was/is fed by the simple fact that in one country, there is a government that many western governments want removed for openly stated economic and political reasons.
Why ignore the simple uncoverable facts of the matter, and skitter dance on homespun psychology to the tune of a thousand and one “ifs, buts and maybes”?
Simply because I think you’re also incredibly biased in the matter and therefore I take your “uncoverable facts” with as much scepticism as I take MSM news reports. Which actually is a fair amount of scepticism.
The facts (those that can be uncovered) have nothing to do with me McFlock.
That’s what the MSM say, too.
What do you base “not in syria” on?
Beats me. Media coverage of Raqqa’s suffering under Da’Esh in Syria has been pretty extensive. I think it’s an implied premise that Aleppo was occupied by Da’Esh (or a group effectively equivalent) without media reporting on how awful that occupation was. If you accept that implied premise, Bill’s comment makes sense. “If you accept the premise” being the sticking point…
Well yes, there’s the premise.
Robert Fisk went to Aleppo province as it was being cleared of Jihadists. (You’d maintain they were rebels if my recollection of previous discussions is right)
Robert Fisk, whatever anyone may think of his analyses, is a seasoned journalist who, I’d suggest, is unlikely to be “taken for a ride”. Of course, plenty of other independent journalists wrote plenty of similar stuff – stuff that western media in general “declined” to pick up on.
Here’s two pieces from Fisk, writing from Aleppo province, that appeared in The Independent. And a third from the evacuation of Homs.
And sure, you may still not accept the premise that the same people (ie –
Jihadists) occupied the cities in Syria and Iraq and installed brutal forms of governance.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-aleppo-syria-defeated-fighters-leave-crucifixion-stands-scorched-earth-robert-fisk-a7656736.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/aleppo-falls-to-syrian-regime-bashar-al-assad-rebels-uk-government-more-than-one-story-robert-fisk-a7471576.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/homs-evacuation-syria-russia-military-supervision-bashar-al-assad-regime-rebels-a7652481.html
Not seeing anything in those Fisk stories that suggests east Aleppo was occupied by Da’Esh or an equivalent group. He does show a commendable ability not to think in terms of good guys and bad guys though, as usual. I expect the answer to the question of whether the citizens of east Aleppo suffered a “brutal form of governance” via a multi-year siege and bombardment or via the rebel groups resident there will continue to depend on whether one has a liberal or illiberal outlook.
The first link above begins…..”You can’t mistake the front line between the Syrian army and Turkey’s occupation force east of Aleppo. The Syrians drove Isis out just a month ago…”
And later in the same article…
“Remarkable, too, was the way in which the largely Islamist forces – “terrorists”, as the Syrians insist on calling them, of course – had used precisely the same underground tactics in open countryside as they had used beneath the streets of Aleppo and Homs”
But you could see nothing in the article to suggest any such thing?
And I “like” how you expect the answer to what went on in Aleppo to not be provided by the citizens of East Aleppo.
“…east of Aleppo.”
Er, yes. Da’esh were operating east of Aleppo. Raqqa, for instance, is “east of Aleppo.” That says nothing about who Assad and Putin were besieging within Aleppo, however my money would be on “the people who lived there.”
Re the practice of building tunnels, you’re reading way too much into it. The Viet Cong also built tunnels, it’s a fairly obvious practice if you’re completely defenceless against observation and attack from the air. I’d be surprised if any urban-based rebel groups didn’t build tunnels.
And I “like” how you expect the answer to what went on in Aleppo to not be provided by the citizens of East Aleppo.
People living under a regime like Assad’s give whatever answer they think the government minders observing them would want them to give, so yeah, until there’s a change of regime I wouldn’t be much interested in hearing from them. No doubt there are some who successfully fled Syria and don’t have family remaining there they need to worry about – their comments would be interesting.
Which goes back to the original guardian story – a retrospective on life in Mosul when daesh were around. They sure as shit weren’t telling reporters all that at the time.
There have been interviews of people with very critical opinions aired on Syrian state TV. Which flies somewhat in the face of this Stalinist set-up you seem keen to present PM.
And BBC journalists have been openly and spontaneously challenged by ordinary people in the street for their bias reporting. (ie – no government minders or any such clap-trap around).
Meanwhile, independent, english speaking journalists have interviewed people from eastern Aleppo. Do their stories run on the BBC and such like? Of course not.
But sure, I get it. You have a line. The line is known. And you will follow that line for as long as it can be followed.
McFlock. There was little to no reporting from Mosul (bar the very illuminating propaganda videos from kidnapped journalist John Cantlie) in contrast to all the supposed “citizen journalists” (who were all aligned with the so called rebels, all with very good communications equipment, levels of media savvy and rather excellent access to western media) in Aleppo.
The links to western governments funding (the ‘correct’) “peoples’ media” operations and such like in Syria has been linked to before (eg- a surprisingly informative Guardian article that ran off the back of UK government papers.)
There’s hardly a country in the Middle East where state TV gets to air stuff the government doesn’t want aired. Not Stalinist, just authoritarian, and Syria’s more authoritarian than most in a richly contested regional field.
I bet BBC journalists have been publicly and “spontaneously” accosted by people in east Aleppo, but it’s unlikely that these journalists were walking around without a government minder. That’s been a feature of reporting from Syria for decades.
I’m familiar with the “independent,” English-speaking journalists you refer to, and there’s a reason the Syrian government trusts them out without a minder.
Sue Bradford on twitter does not pull her punches on what she thinks about the current Green Party leadership…
“How dishonourable of the Greens to support the waka-jumping bill; if Rod & Jeanette hadn’t been able to leave the Alliance, Greens would never have entered Parliament in 1999”
To deny other MP’s to follow the same path the Green Party were able to take to come into existence is, to put it mildly dishonorable.
I haven’t looked at this in a while but didn’t the Greens leave the Alliance through a normal party splitting process rather than waka jumping?
Matt J. Whitehead @MJWhitehead
Replying to @suebr
Technically you’re wrong Sue- neither the old law (which is quite different) nor the new law would have prevented the Greens entering Parliament in 1999. Neither of those laws deal with electing parties that split in a general election. They deal with mid-term splits.
Matt J. Whitehead @MJWhitehead
Replying to @MJWhitehead @suebr
The old law would have kicked them out of parliament in ’97, but let them return in ’99. The new law would potentially have allowed them to stay in Parliament, as they did honour their commitment to support the Alliance until the election.
IMO, the bill is a time-waster.
Full thread https://twitter.com/suebr/status/958196964050415616
Next time please put the link. It’s always better to see people’s words in context.
Dam weka! I did not see the MattJ reply.
The first time I trust what Sue Bradford has to say…I get burnt 🙂
Lol, I was going to ask you about that.
A list seat belongs to the party, an electorate seat to the individual MP who won it. I have no issue withan electorate MP taking their seat elsewhere but I do with a list MP.
This is another one of those issues that I vacillate over – what if the caucus diverts from the party principles, e.g. Lab4 or the Alliance supporting the invasion of Afghanistan?
Maybe a party membership ostracism vote is more the go for list mps…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11981063
“The Hapua St house was the most expensive standalone home but the most valuable property was a 8082sq m tranche of vacant land, valued at $3.5m on Garus Ave in Mangere.”
Seems to me the most obvious solution would be to sell the 3 million dollar house and build some new houses (could probably fit a few) on the vacant land
PR, there was a longish discussion on this article yesterday under 6 on Open Mike 30/01/18, albeit more focused on the tone of the original commentator towards the longterm tenant. /open-mike-22-01-2018-2/#comment-1441182
As the tenant appears to be interested in moving, it would indeed seem sensible to move him to appropriate accommodation elsewhere and I suspect that this may well be on the cards.
However, I also note that your suggestion is to sell the house and build new houses on the vacant land. I am sure that you know/realise that it is the land that is worth the money – not the house (see the photo in the article).
So (LOL) is this you stirring in an aroundabout puckish way or really aimed at heading the discussion towards the outraged and outrageous article in the Herald this morning on this property by that icon of intelligentsia, Mike Hosking?
If you can sell the land for three million and have vacant land then doesn’t it make sense to sell and then build
Hell sell both and build even more houses then, i mean getting past the whole ideological thing doesn’t it just make sense?
No. It’s someone’s home.
Yep, the taxpayers, old guy should have been moved into a unit years ago.
Why he wasn’t is what needs to be answered.
Because state housing used to be about homes, not storage units for the poor.
Times change, housing is in short supply.
Get him out, sell home develop vacant land.
Nah. Let the person stay in their home, but fire the people who reduced HNZ stock and replace them with someone who can make it run competently.
Oh wait, we did that last year.
“He said if he had a choice he wouldn’t live there – the area had become too busy for his liking.”
Well, he’s still there so obviously they haven’t offered him a better home.
If the house is vacant, then we get into the debate about whether selling state houses in more expensive areas merely increases ghettoisation and alienation.
But all this is irrelevant until the tenant chooses to move to another home.
Otherwise it’s just another case of tories wanting to treat people like shit and pretending it’s for their own good.
EDIT:
“He said if he had a choice he wouldn’t live there – the area had become too busy for his liking.”
TL:DR Give him a better fucking choice then
🙄
Fuck yes. Why should this guy have to suffer for Tory inability to run a state housing system without adopting an Applied Misanthropy business model?
Why do I feel that this issue is about poor folk living where rich folk want and can afford to live? Poor folk don’t deserve to enjoy a view. Let them live amongst their own down in the valleys.
It’s similar to former state housing areas that became gentrified.
The old state housing ideal was predicated on some important factors. First, that it not only for the poor. Second, that the pepperpot policy meant that some social mix was achieved.
The man who has lived in the same house for 37 years would have moved into that house under those factors.
Now, some want that he move after a lifetime of building his life, friendships and all those ties which link us to our homes.
Relocating or ‘downsizing’ has a similar effect and an Auckland advisory group toured the country pointing out the social upheaval caused by people persuaded often ill-advisedly to downsize into smaller houses or ‘units’ for financial reasons in unfamiliar localities.
I live in a small town and the mixing of state and private housing was quite prevalent. There is less social stigma in that, even though certain streets are still seen as ‘over the tracks”.
However, certain streets here enjoy possible fine river views and I will be watching that these don’t become purely the preserve of the wealthy.
Yep, BM, the racist, who should have been banned from TS for what he wrote last night.
Yet here he still is.
Why?
It was a shocker last night. Surprised he isn’t ashamed to be here.
So say 300 grand to build a house (rough figure) and you sell the property for 3 million you could build ten houses on the spare land and you still think it shouldn’t be done
Because if HNZ needs three million for new homes, it should come from progressive taxation rather than taking people’s homes.
Why tax people more when you can sell one home and build ten? That makes no sense at all.
BECAUSE IT IS SOMEONE’S HOME.
(shouting because you appear to not be hearing).
when we let the property market determine people’s human rights to a home, we end up with the housing crisis we have now. The crisis has nothing to do with money and everything to do with values (and I don’t mean property values).
Human rights to a home ..what ?
“He said if he had a choice he wouldn’t live there – the area had become too busy for his liking.”
If he can be rehoused elsewhere and the property can be developed to make more housing for people in need what exactly is the point you’re arguing ?
that there is a principle that the market value of a property alone shouldn’t be more important than someone having a *home.
When we treat people as stock units, or as McFlock said, housing as storage units for the poor, then we break community. Some people look at a property and see dollar signs, others look and see the person/people who live in the house, the relationships with the people around them, the years put into the verge garden or trees, the sense of place etc.
If the guy who wants to live there wants to move, then help him move, not a problem. But moving someone from their home just because of perceptions of money, that’s fucked up.
No Weka its not his home, he doesn’t own it
Taxing people more when you have a clear cut case like this is whats fucked up
10 homes for the price of one is not about the money, its about building homes for potentially 9 families for cost of relocating one person
One person suffers a minor inconvenience and 9 families gets homes is a very good deal
It’s not his house, but it is his home.
Losing your home isn’t a “minor inconvenience”.
I doubt he’ll umderstand the diff. Life’s all about economic units.
Not his home and for the 37 years hes lived in the house is it that unreasonable to expect him to move to another property so that another family can live in it
When you say ‘home’ you mean ownership. When I say home I mean the place that someone live that supports them on all levels not just the survival one. Reread what I said in that context. Treating all rentals as storage units kills community.
I know that fuzzy hu-mon emotions can be difficult for tories to understand, but if you live 37 years in a place, it’s you’re home regardless of who holds the deed.
It’s pretty simple: if you want him to move, offer him a residence more suitable to his current and future needs. If he refuses, make him a better offer.
But just going ‘you move to address X in 40 days or you’re on the street’ is indeed very unreasonable.
It’s pretty simple: if you want him to move, offer him a residence more suitable to his current and future needs. If he refuses, make him a better offer.
I agree, up to a point.
But just going ‘you move to address X in 40 days or you’re on the street’ is indeed very unreasonable.
I never said that at all. I’d expect he gets moved to a place that caters to his needs but I’d expect him to be moved
So he’s in a place that he would maybe like to move from, you offer him a place, he refuses that specific new place, so you move him there anyway?
That seems reasonable to you?
‘moving to another place’ is what you do to cattle or furniture. As McFlock says, there are solutions that don’t involve turning tenants into objects.
Does this seem reasonable to you? There needs to be good faith, on both sides.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11787549
TRC housing general manager Neil Porteous said it had been in discussions with Rauti about moving to an alternative home in Tamaki since July last year.
She had been offered five properties over the past four months and a “new warm, dry home” nearby was being held for her.
“We have not received any feedback from Ms Rauti on the houses we have offered her. We are hoping she will contact us so that we can discuss her specific needs and assist her in moving to the property we are holding for her. In the meantime, we will be following the legal process. “
Sure seems unreasonable that they need to demolish every single house all at once.
Sure seems unreasonable that “transparency about the plan” doesn’t mean they were willing to make any allowances to it.
Sure seems unreasonable that they had to say “warm and dry” as if that’s not the minimum expectation – what if she’s happily “warm and dry” where she is?
Sure seems unreasonable that it was some sort of private developer tearing down the state houses. How did that happen?
Sure seems unreasonable that polite people going to visit her and find out what she wants couldn’t get any “feedback”. Unless that approach wasn’t made, in which case that is also unreasonable.
Go Weka!!
“Because if HNZ needs three million for new homes, it should come from progressive taxation rather than taking people’s homes.”
Ok, I understand what you are saying with the above comment, no sale of land.
However, the land the current house is on could be developed to allow additional people/families a place to call home would that not be a good outcome?
This still requires the current guy to be moved, at least until the section has been redeveloped.
No, you failed to understand it.
That house is someone’s home.
Do not take someone’s home unless, for example, you can satisfy all the requirements for eminent domain appropriation. Not just to make your ledger look better.
Offer them money or a better home, wait for them to die, whatever.
But don’t take someone’s home simply because the government has run state housing for a profit and completely bollocksed the housing market over decades.
“eminent domain appropriation”
What’s that?
Compulsory purchase where the highway gets built over people’s land despite refusal to sell, sort of thing.
Requires a bit of work in NZ – has to justify not just necessity but also why that exact thing needs to be taken. Can’t be done on whim.
In a state house rental, obviously it’s owned by the state, but if it’s also a home then the tenant should need to be compensated for that fact, in my opinion.
I do understand its someone’s home, who has lived there for a long period of time.
All over the country people who own their own homes have for various reason had to sell the family home (too big, move out of the area etc.) Their children may have been born and grown up in the house. It’s tough no matter if you own or a state house tenant.
In this particular situation, the size of the section could house vastly more people, in an established suburb.
Should one person hold up 50 more getting into a home?
I agree completely a suitable new house must be provided, and done in a way that mutually respects both the tenant and the state.
If it’s not about “profit” rather making the best use of available resources (the land) would you still have the same view?
I can’t see how Eminent Domain relates to a state house. A tenant has the use of but does not own it.
All of this stuff about the house and land allowing money or space for more homes for more people is just marsh gas.
The residency of a single home has nothing to do with HNZ’s bottom line, housing stock levels, or any of that shit. It’s a billion dollar operation – if one house is the difference between 50 people being housed, HNZ is incompetently run. What will happen in the real world is they will do whatever they want with the house, but the overall stock will vary only according to government policy.
Eminent Domain was an example of the level HNZ should have to meet to justify forcibly remove a tenant, in my opinion. Funnily enough, that might eventually include your resource efficiency problem if the “inefficiency” becomes severe enough. But in this case, it’s not.
“This still requires the current guy to be moved,”
vs
“This still requires the current guy to move”
It would be nice if we didn’t treat tenants or poor people as passive objects.
Have you not worked out the difference between a private landlord and state landlord?
Private landlords would love to have tenants that are long term.
State landlords need to treat people as passive objects because they only provide housing for their current needs – these needs are not fixed over time. If the needs of that person is long term, then they still need to treat them as passive objects and move them around their housing stock to accommodate the people they are responsible for.
A home is where a person makes it and if you are renting, its your home only as long as the term of your tenancy. After that you need to think about where you next home is, or in the case of state landlord, where they tell you to move next.
“Private landlords would love to have tenants that are long term.”
Only when it suits them. Try talking to people who have had to move a lot and it’s a different story.
There is no reason that the state can’t provide longterm or lifetime tenancy for people, other than ideology.
If you think it’s acceptable to move people around, then you are endorsing the end of community.
“If you think it’s acceptable to move people around, then you are endorsing the end of community.”
That’s the harsh reality of having the State as your landlord. The State has to make a choice, move a current tenant to a dwelling that is suitable for their needs so that the needs of another state tenant can be met or preserve the community. The thing is, the State knows that communities are fluid. Some neighborhoods blossom and some degrade, the state can’t control that. If a drug gang privately purchased a house and moved in next door to a statehouse, is it the State’s responsibility to move the state tenant when their needs are being met?
The harsh reality is people’s homes (whether they, private landlords or the state owns the buildings and/or land) are a basic necessity. They should not be treated as market commodities. And people should not be treated as objects to be shunted around to suit amoral, predatory capitalists.
Eventually capitalists run out of other people’s lives and activities to appropriate and commodify, and they become extremely callous about the way they treat humans as a result of their fetish for profiteering at other people’s expense.
That’s the harsh reality of having the State as your landlord.
No, that’s the harsh reality of having right-wingers operating an Applied Misanthropy model of state housing. The solution is to not let right-wingers run the country.
“The thing is, the State knows that communities are fluid. Some neighborhoods blossom and some degrade, the state can’t control that.”
The State can protect communities though. There’s no good reason that the state can’t both run social housing fairly *and look after the community. In fact they’re dependent upon each other.
“If a drug gang privately purchased a house and moved in next door to a statehouse, is it the State’s responsibility to move the state tenant when their needs are being met?”
Not sure what you mean. If the tenants need to move for some reason then of course the government should help.
This stuff gets easier to understand if you stop seeing people as things.
Private landlords would love to have tenants that are long term… in some fairyland version of the “free” “market”.
On Earth, actual market conditions apply, as Mr. Augustine Lao and Mr. Peter Talley can attest.
harsh reality
Translation: I project my amygdalan fears onto everything.
Greenpeace NZVerified account @GreenpeaceNZ
BREAKING >> Greenpeace activists have boarded the Amazon Warrior’s supply ship – the Mermaid Searcher – in New Plymouth. We’re taking a stand to #EndOil exploration in New Zealand.
I was just reading a “New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union that claims it : “represents 31,000 members and supporters.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1801/S00124/taxpayers-union-responds-to-the-spinoff.htm
I was wondering does anyone know if the TU has ever proved its claim of having thousands of members. Is there any source online that proves they have thousands of members? Obviously, “supporters” can mean anyone in the world.
Also, I was wondering if the name “New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union” is something they have “copyrighted” or anything like that. In other words, do they now have sole rights to use that name or anything similar?
You mean something similar….as in the Taxpayers Onion where you peel away each layer revealing layer upon layer of vested political and economic interests up the chain each pissing the other’s pocket?
I can’t help thinking that the MSM, – calling out Stuff in particular- intentionally or not with their ongoing and more recently blanket coverage of the rental squeeze have opened another front in the “divide and conquer” campaign. Which, like their great success in turning a good section of the population against beneficiaries we are now seeing some very vitriolic tenants vs landlord nastiness emerge, in the name of “news”, but enabled by opening comments and inviting people to write in with their own stories (read: Stuff).
It’s been common knowledge for a long time there’s a severe housing shortage in much of NZ for some time now. But what’s the reason for pitting tenants against private landlords? It seems to me to be a continuation of the class warfare we’ve somehow found ourselves in, the latest front being “I’m superior to you because I own property and have secure, stable housing and you don’t.” Well that’s the dominant theme reading the comments, but knowing what we know about how certain groups of people with an agenda deliberately overload comments sections and try and influence readers with the up and down votes, who knows exactly what the majority of private landlords are thinking? But these comments, even reading them ( I know, dumb move) with a cynical mind, it’s easy to get drawn in and find myself loathing ALL landlords because of the alleged views of some very vocal ones, despite knowing from experience they’re not. From that I can conclude said campaign is working well.
But is is also designed as a scare tactic? To keep us living in a state of permanent anxiety thus keeping us distracted from what else is going on, to wear us down so much and stop participating in the democratic process?
“But is is also designed as a scare tactic? To keep us living in a state of permanent anxiety thus keeping us distracted from what else is going on, to wear us down so much and stop participating in the democratic process?”
Yes.
Your comment would make a great guest post Kay.
Rosemary, I was thinking about it. Maybe after this heatwave ends (if it ever does!) My brains total mush right now. I imagine this “campaign” will still be going on into Autumn…
I notice that the NZH article that Puckish Rogue has linked, about state houses “worth” millions, carries the same snooty tone, and includes such dog whistles as a certain house’s being worth … 61 times more than the $49,588 a primary school teacher would earn in their first year of work and almost 40 times more than the $75,949 a teacher could earn after seven years’ service.
I think it’s a case of the property industry fighting back. The new government’s success or failure depends to a high degree on how well they address the housing crisis. And addressing the housing crisis threatens the Ponzi scheme that property developers and their real estate mates have been enjoying for the past nine years.
This business of state house values is likely related to putting a market price on the houses. This should not be done for state houses, except in the rare occasion of them being made available for sale.
They should instead be practically valued at land cost plus expenditure, plus a mark up each year according to the CPI. That is all the state needs to know because the houses are public property for the use of the public that need them.
There should be a warning clause in big letters, stating that if any of them are sold, there should be three valuations done by separate assessor firms, and the highest of these should be compared to the recent sales of that area and they should be sold for cash obtained privately by the buyer.
Kay, you do realize while Labour was in opposition and during the election and still now while in Government they have/are demonizing private landlords?
Phil Twyford has solicited letters from prospective tenants and then plastered his MP office window with those letters. Other Labour MP’s are doing similar.
The current Government is the ones pitting landlords verse tenants.
Well its not exactly helped by Grant Robertson is it:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/348499/robertson-asks-students-to-dob-in-dodgy-landlords
This is a right wing tactic world wide.
Chuck, I’ve been renting privately for 25 years, so under National and Labour Govts. I’d much rather be in State housing for the tenure security but there isn’t any. Funny that.
What’s the vilification from Labour exactly- wanting healthy homes fit for habitation, non-extortionate reasonable rent rises? More security of tenure? How is that villifying?
What I’m seeing is an exact replay of beneficiary vilification, by politicians and the media: Find the stories of the minority extreme bad experiences with both parties (landlords and tentants) and given them the front page. Let the “other side” know just how bad landlords and tenants can be, and tar us all with the same brush.
I see (read) landlords saying they’re getting out of the market because of all the extra costs of having to do up the rentals and potential tax changes so it’s the governments fault, the implication being tenants should be greatful to have ANY roof over their heads and how dare the Govt tell us what we should do with our investment etc.
And the tenants read this and of course they interpret “greed”, especially those who have lost their leases multiple times for no reason except they legally could, or were finally priced out. Then they have no hope of finding anywhere else, especially if they’re on a low income, because the reality is there’s major discrimination going on, especially from Property managers.
Now, why are we getting bombarded with all the extreme landlord/tenants all bad, airB&B more profitable and screw society? Why aren’t the media emphasising the systematic selling off of State and Council housing over the last 20 years, and the actual reasons we’re in this mess, and the very real social problems going with it? because they get more clicks from the us vs them articles?
Not all private landlords deserve demonisation which many renters can attest to. But there are some who can for their behaviour, and certainly some just for their attitude. Like those who say if we don’t like renting then get a better job and save up for a deposit. And I have no time for tenants who don’t take care of their rental.
For me personally, I only just managed to secure a 2 year tenancy, but I’m living in the very real fear of becoming homeless, even with a disability, and I’m the perfect tenant with a perfect credit record and guaranteed income. That’s something I would never have even considered possible 10 years ago. There’s a lot of us about.
chunk like many Tory commentators on here, has no moral compass. To make up for that, they make fake moral crisis so they can justify their hate.
Thanks, Kay, I appreciate your considered reply. Although I beg to differ that the Labour narrative has contributed to the MSM running with these types of stories.
For the MSM it sells newspapers or gets them the clicks. Do I dare say it’s like a sports event?? demonize the other team…fill the stadium and push up the TV ratings.
Politicians know the game all too well and are happy for this to occur when it suits there agenda. Us verse them, right verse wrong, evil verse good…
Point in case; see adams reply to me @ 11.1
At the moment I am renting, on a 12-month term as a widowed father so have an understanding of the tight rental market.
How ironic, you’re the one pushing the division line you Tory hack.
“How ironic, you’re the one pushing the division line you Tory hack.”
Calling me a “Tory hack” “no moral compass” “justify their hate”, is not pushing the division line adam?
So you realise your a divisive tory hack then, at least getting in touch with yourself is a start.
And of course it is, you don’t know any other language.
I don’t think it’s a reality that property managers are discriminating Kay, well no more than if you were to decline my invitation to dance. I think it’s discernment rather than discrimination.
This doesn’t change the outcome you highlight, yes, the demand for rentals has become so strong tenant seekers can compile a short list of applicants that meet every one of their ‘Got to have’ and most of their ‘Nice to have’ pre-requisites.
I think you turned me down and accepted George’s invitation because Clooney is better looking and richer…maybe another time.
Yes Kay, like the lady who bought a teepee and lives in a camp ground because there were no or too highly priced units.
Some owners are now selling up, because they don’t wish to upgrade, even with Govt help.
They are finding they are now feeling pain losing money to sale costs and a less competitive market. They were never long term investors in housing.
Good tenants like you are like workers who find their pay cheque does not cover their living costs, and they end up with payday loans, or in your case no roof.
There is soooo much to fix. This is what we have been left by that smug lot.
You are right, the coalition has hit the ground running and they have their eyes firmly on legislation to assist.
Let us hope the 3 parties continue to work in people’s best interests.
but I’m living in the very real fear of becoming homeless, even with a disability, and I’m the perfect tenant with a perfect credit record and guaranteed income. That’s something I would never have even considered possible 10 years ago. There’s a lot of us about.
Yep.
Love this, not really political. But it’s an international project with a kiwi involved. Bit how we need to start thinking, more across the borders. The stinking capitalist are internationalist, especially with their trust and offshore banking. Bugger the borders. Nationalism is just another distraction to keep you suppressed.
If you really want to get the dairy industry to listen, find a way to regularly review their entire competitive structure.
IN a really obscure little Bill now on the order paper, thye are proposing regular reviews of the entire NZ dairy industry:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-digests/document/51PLLaw24631/dairy-industry-restructuring-amendment-bill-2017-bills#RelatedAnchor
The Bill provides for a process that requires the Minister to regularly request and respond to reports on the state of competition in the dairy industry. Seems like an innocuous little thing to form reports, but it’s the firs time I’ve seen any evidence that any government since the 2001 legislation that formed Fonterra really want to revisit the entire dairy structure at all.
And with that review goes the future of our fresh water system as a whole.
I liked this one:
Emma Hart
@Ghetsuhm
I have this theory that cycling is as close as a middle-class straight white guy can get to understanding Being Female. People have a reckless disregard for your safety, you have to treat everyone like they might hurt you, and if you do get hurt people will blame you for existing
Also some people will just hate you in general and call out rude and demeaning insults. Some will think they can invade your space and get as close as they want without any thought to your thoughts on the matter. The rules of the road are made to suit cars and if you break them to get ahead you are vilified, but if you try and stick with them you are abused because you are not a car.
Ha! True! Although, don’t extend the analogy too far – once we get off the roads onto cycle paths through pedestrian areas like parks, we’re back to being a potential threat (I’m not actually a threat to pedestrians, but there’s no way for pedestrians to know that).
The full Twitter hashtag goes through all the imperfections of the analogy.
Emma has also posted on her site with more detail.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/01/30/79601/the-brendan-horan-never-again-bill?amp=1
I think if the Greens vote for this it’ll be the final nail in the coffin of the Greens holding the “moral” high ground and will start the slide of the Greens becoming just another power above all else party, it might also hurt the soft Green vote as well
I say this because the Greens tend to be strongest in , mostly,middle class suburbs
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931989
The five strongest electorates for the Greens were Wellington Central, Rongotai, Mt Albert, Auckland Central and Dunedin North – the same five electorates where its vote was strongest in the 2014 election.
“The historical profile [of a Green voter] tends to be urban professionals, tertiary educated, often in public service roles.”
So if the Greens become just another party then they’ll probably leak more votes to Labour
The final nail
🙄
What sort of coffin lid only requires one nail?
Well theres been a few so far…maybe i should have used a tipping point analogy instead?
Wondering what you think the others were.
Getting rid of the two traitors, possibly supporting the CPTPP, MTs meltdown, support for the waka bill in exchange for concessions off the top of my head
Clendon & Graham broke with the GP’s kaupapa. To abandon that kaupapa would indeed have been a nail. No nail there.
CPTPP: does your imaginary nail have a name?
I know you feel that way about Turei and I also know plenty who don’t.
Just as I thought.
“support for the waka bill in exchange for concessions”.
Please tell us. Except for allowing them to ride in the back of the Ministerial BMWs what concessions did they get? I can’t think of anything.
They sold out very, very cheaply didn’t they?
KiwiSaver “fees clock” shows how big a bite fund managers take out of returns
A few highlights from the report (link below).
The clock is spinning round at $1000 a minute.
In January alone, KiwiSaver schemes charged a combined $40 million in fees.
“KiwiSaver is now one of the most profitable lines of business for banks.”
KiwiSaver fees were “the single biggest determinant of (an investor’s) future returns”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/101034999/low-cost-kiwisaver-provider-simplicity-launches-kiwisaver-fees-clock
Another good one, for first reading to introducing a bill that would enable day: Fletcher Tabuteau puts up the KiwiFund Bill, starting the process for the state to own and operate its own Kiwisaver fund for New Zealanders, rather than the banks’ preferred providers getting all of it.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/member/2017/0007/latest/DLM7514804.html
Oops.
The Cabinet Files is one of the biggest breaches of cabinet security in Australian history and the story of their release is as gripping as it is alarming and revealing.
It begins at a second-hand shop in Canberra, where ex-government furniture is sold off cheaply.
The deals can be even cheaper when the items in question are two heavy filing cabinets to which no-one can find the keys.
They were purchased for small change and sat unopened for some months until the locks were attacked with a drill.
Inside was the trove of documents now known as The Cabinet Files.
The thousands of pages reveal the inner workings of five separate governments and span nearly a decade.
Nearly all the files are classified, some as “top secret” or “AUSTEO”, which means they are to be seen by Australian eyes only.
But the ex-government furniture sale was not limited to Australians — anyone could make a purchase.
And had they been inclined, there was nothing stopping them handing the contents to a foreign agent or government.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-31/cabinet-files-reveal-inner-government-decisions/9168442
Good news for renters:
How does that help?
1) You raise rents once a year but by a bigger amount.
2) You add the letting fee to the rent, so the tenant gets hit multiple times, longer they stay more “letting fee” they pay
Btw Kiwi build is bullshit and if it ever gets started will take 10 years at least to make a difference.
This rental crisis is what is going to sink this government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11985151
I concur the rental crisis will hurt and perhaps sink this Government.
Labour’s policies are a driving factor when it comes to rents increasing. And unfortunately, they don’t seem to see it.
You wish. Tenants are people with rights and shelter is a basic human right. This Government is going to improve tenants rights and if landlords get shitty about it they can fuck off out of the market.
Purge at nine.
All Americans deserve accountability and respect — and that is what we are giving them. So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers — and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xsLy_F0SAh0J:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-state-of-the-union-address-trump-transcript-full-text/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz&client=firefox-b
Tantalising stuff from TV3. A Reid poll out tonight. Results promised that will ‘devastate” at 6 pm.
ah, the joys of the first year of a parliamentary term, when one can not give two shits about polls 🙂
True, but who’s getting devastated and is it linked to media rumours re leadership changes in the opposition? About that I could raise a ‘midnight of a chuckle.”
Always good to get an interesting poll
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/01/newshub-poll-bill-english-has-solid-backing-as-opposition-leader.html
Well that was a bit dull but maybe this:
“Ms Ardern’s performance will be released, along with the full poll results, at 6pm on air and online”
is what will be devastating
I have a suspicion it’s going to be Peters, not that he’d care, but then again it could be Ardern.
She just starts the job, straight away gets up the duff and is going to be off for xxxx amount of time.
Maybe the voters don’t like the idea of a part-time PM?
lol
“Devastating” is lab or nat going sub30%, or green/NZ1 going sub4%. And even then, at this stage it’s recoverable even for the leader.
I doubt either happened. It’s probably one lot or t’other has dropped slightly more than the margin for error, and the media have been hanging out for a good polling for too long.
Apparently it was the NZ1 one. Meh. Too hot to give a shit.
Some party has dropped 2 to 3 points. Newshub calls it devastating because it attracts viewers. The likelihood is its National which might explain the Barry Soper item re- English’s imminent demise.
You’re probably right ref: the dropping 2-3 points but, on current polling, it would be devastating for NZFirst or the Greens to be that low
With a headline like that…TV3 is going all out for a rating winner!
This poll, in theory, should have Labour and Jacinda racing away.
The honeymoon period for the new Government, baby news, etc.
If its a drop of 2 to 3 points that would suggest either the Greens or NZF going below the 5% threshold with that TV3 headline.
Lol the best part was watching Winston being followed around by the TV3 reporter!
I am surprised that Labour is still behind National, with National not losing any support.
Labour up to 42%.
Labour plus Greens could form a government.
Labour leader outpolls National’s leader as preferred PM by 12%.
Friendless National need more than NZF to form a government.
50% say government doing well or better. 20% say worse. 20% say it’s too early.
Minor parties insignificant.
NZF drop but as with all minor parties they will languish between elections.
Greens bucked that trend.
Who’s devastated, TV3?
As Winston said, “You have a good day.”
Back to FPP.
This is as good as it gets for Labour, Nationals base is around 44 -45%.
The rental crisis, dropping house prices will take its toll, high chance of an outright win for National in 2020.
Can you imagine Collins as PM with over 50% of the vote, the left wing would be apoplectic.
Thanks BM…on a hot day when there is plenty of news of concern its nice to know that some still live in a world of delusional hopefulness….onya!
Luckily I have an imagination that tends towards the benign.
House prices are stable at the moment.
The rental crisis helped bring down the National government. I’d expect the new governments’ moves will address the problem.
I remember not so long ago a government saying there was no housing crisis.
I remember National at 23% whilst under the present leader.
FPP? National atm have one only friend with 0.3% support. They’d need FPP, gerrymandering and rotten borough all.
I’d expect the new governments’ moves will address the problem.
What, dumping more cost onto landlords who pass those costs onto their tenants?
Renters are going to be hating Labour over the next few years, they’ll be yearning for the return of National and lower rents.
As for FPP, there will be only the Lab/Green block and National, they’re the choices, one side is left one side is right.
Will NZ want to stay left?, I don’t think so, 2020 is going to be a defining point in NZ history, whoever wins is going to have the ability to take NZ where they want, no holds barred.
Hmmm, I wonder how many ways a new left-wing, socially-committed, humane, compassionate, people-oriented government can find to solve our housing needs?
What you suggest, BM?
BTW, why do you keep mentioning FPP? We’ve not been there for twenty years, two decades, a generation. You’re not yearning for The Good Old Times, are you?
They’re a bit like National, and those good old times with poor mental health services, declining education performances under national standards, homelessness, suicide, increase in meth use, water and other infrastructure problems, drops in water quality standards, slow EQC responses, rack-renting, worker exploitation, 90 day trials with firing with impunity…….. yeah, those ol’ good ol’ days….. under National.
I am surprised that Labour is still behind National, with National not losing any support.
Why are you surprised? It’s not like the right-of-centre voter has credible alternatives available. Take-home message is that Labour/Green could govern without NZ1 on today’s numbers – the proportion of that support held by each party is irrelevant (unless there was a really massive change in the proportions).
I would have thought there was up to 10% of “soft National vote” that would have seen at least some drift off to Labour.
So I am surprised they held and even gained slightly. It does indicate 44 – 45% is a base for National.
I bet weka would like a snap election to occur tomorrow! without having to rely on NZF to govern!
The first 100 days are officially over. Labour now need to deliver… this will not help them…
“Housing rents have been picked to increase rapidly in the next two years – an issue which will overtake high house prices as a far bigger problem, according to Property Institute chief executive Ashley Church.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11985151
National do need a support partner. Which party in the current Government is closed to the center? and is holding back Labour and the Greens from their intended policies?
If as most on this blog want to happen – English and co. get shown the door…a lot of the huff and puff from Winston will be gone and he always does better on election night taking the fight to the Government of the day (so I am suggesting he will either be fired or leave on his own accord over an issue, more so if he is still 3 – 4% in 2020).
Having Labour in coalition with NZF currently is a good thing for the Greens and the progressive movements. See if you can figure out why.
If I had to guess – without NZF in coalition with Labour, both Labour and the Greens would be on the opposition benches today?
Jacinda has perfected the art of stringing people along…
“We have set aside an appropriation, but . . . ultimately we have set our sights on the goal itself. There is no plan B. The plan is re-entry in the safest way possible.”
Don’t forget to get your selfie with her!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/west-coast/101024478/pike-river-recovery-agency-launching-in-greymouth
Jacinda has perfected the art of stringing people along…
I guess she learnt how to do it by watching John Key.
Which makes her smart in that shes learnt from John Key and John Key learnt from Helen Clark
Hmmm… now I don’t recall Helen Clark stringing anyone along. She pretty much called a spade a spade and in doing so, made quite a few enemies along the way. In the end they ganged up on her big time. 🙂
On top of everything else going on today:
There is apparently a Newshub-Reid Research poll out tonight at 6pm which will “delight, daze, and devastate”;
The PM is also due to give her Child Poverty speech at 5.30pm from St Peters Church in Wellington;
And
Chloe Swarbrick’s medicinal cannabis Members Bill is due for its First Reading after the current debate on Rates Rebates which on current pace is due to finish about 5.40pm. This means the introduction of Chloe’s bill may start before the dinner break (usually 6 – 7.30pm) rather than after.
Ooops – Reid poll already under discussion at 21 above. Sorry.
Another day of dishonesty from the National Party.
Wednesday 31 Jan. 2018
“No one’s going to ‘Kill Bill’. … There’s a LOT of talent in the National Party…. Amy Adams, she’s VERY bright…”—Michelle Boag, on The Panel, RNZ National, 4:20 p.m.
“Yeah, I’m feeling great! Ummmm….”—-Paula Bennett, News, RNZ National, 5 p.m.
“I’m right behind Bill and Paula, at the moment….” —National Party M.P. (female), 5:10 p.m..
“Who knows where the future goes? All I’m saying is I want Bill as leader.”—-Paula Bennett, 5:12 p.m.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie#/media/File:Zombies_NightoftheLivingDead.jpg
More shame and disgrace for another Faux News bimbo
https://deadspin.com/report-britt-mchenry-is-fake-news-1822514814