Spinoff series – rent week

Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 58 comments
Categories: class war, housing, journalism - Tags: , , , ,

While much of the coverage of the housing crisis focuses on buyers, the situation facing renters is just as bad. Last week The Spinoff ran an excellent series on renting in NZ. Editor Duncan Greive summed up:

After rent week: we know renting in NZ is a disaster. But it can be fixed
…
We first mooted a Spinoff ‘rent week’ in late 2016. It was based on the idea that the stories of home ownership were being told constantly, but the challenges and evolving reality of renting were being covered far less frequently. Additionally, because a number of our young staff were looking for flats at the time, we had a sense that the market was getting pretty freaky out there. Fifty or 100 people turning up to look at properties, letting agents mysteriously renegging on agreements, secret bidding wars which saw potential tenants offering $20-$100 more than the weekly asking rent to secure a property – all this appeared to be bedded in.

That was just to secure a tenancy. The dismal realities of renting on this country also felt ripe for appraisal, in blackly comic style. It seems everyone you know has lived in multiple properties featuring some combination of damp, mould, cold, rodents, intrusive landlords and terrifying flatmates. We felt that would be fertile ground to explore from a writing perspective.

While those might seem like quite different angles in, they stem from the same place: renting in New Zealand is one of the most lightly regulated activities in this country. When you go out for dinner or a drink, put a car on the road or keep livestock in the city, those activities are covered by some combination of law, regulation and licensing. For whatever reason, your home escapes such scrutiny.
…
Last week was the second-biggest for pageviews in Spinoff history. Over 30 different stories had 3,000 or more views. Peter Newport’s shocking report on the situation in Queenstown (more on that later) was read 25,000 times, and led the Herald online for hours after they syndicated it two days later.It was less the numbers than the emotion which overwhelmed, though. We’ve never had such a barrage of emails and comments from readers. We ended up publishing a record number of reader submissions, from bleak stories of bad rentals, to a landlord decrying other landlords’ callousness, to the venerable Citizens Advice Bureau informing tenants of what rights they do have, and followed up on a half-dozen more.
…
But even a cursory engagement with what rent week became will have made it clear that our current laws around tenants and tenancy are not fit for purpose. They were designed in a different era, one which fundamentally assumed that renting is a brief weigh station en route to ownership.

As Core Logic data released just yesterday shows, that’s just not a reality any more. In the first three months of this year, 44% of Auckland property was purchased by investors. Over half of our 15+ population live in rentals. And while the inaccessibility of purchase remains a major problem and contributor to our housing crisis, it’s also a pernicious one which will take years if not decades to resolve.
…
It’s getting desperate out there.
…
Which is why, over the next six months, we’ll be asking our politicians what they intend to do about renting. Like the housing crisis, this is a problem with many authors. It’s been brewing for decades, but a combination of an ageing housing stock, a national fear of investing in shares or businesses and the over-crowding the housing crisis has wrought has brought it to a boil.

Now that we have a sense of just how much it means to our readers, we’ll dedicate part of our election coverage (the shape of which we’ll announce in the next week or so) to following this issue. In so doing we’ll find out which parties care about it sufficiently to deserve your vote.

Read all The Spinoff’s Rent Week coverage here

Read the series on The Spinoff – great work from the team.  Look out for coverage of responses from the political parties…

58 comments on “Spinoff series – rent week ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. AsleepWhileWalking 1
    27 March 2017 at 2:25 pm

    I appreciate all coverage of our housing crisis, the thought being if housing issues saturate our media then it becomes impossible to deny.

  2. Keith 2
    27 March 2017 at 3:52 pm

    Okay, it’s undeniable that there is serious problems with our housing market that are growing, be it availability, ownership or renting. This is obvious.

    What is not obvious is in this building boom is even big building companies are losing money, namely Fletchers, and worse, small companies are going broke. This is in part because of rampant speculation and the time delay between the agreed to price of a home and its completion date. Building firms have to cope with a shortage of tradesmen and equipment that means completion dates blow out and blatant profiteering by suppliers which means substantial differences in costs.

    This is leading to some projects stalling and is seeing situations now where the buyer cannot buy off the plans and know the end price, which is eye watering anyway. It is cowboy shit and very risky.

    This boom does not address infrastructure problems and Auckland is currently groaning under the shortage of road space and raw sewer contaminating everything including our harbours. Councils are losing the battle to do anything to address these problems from Nationals lassez faire – nonchalant approach to this nightmare.

    It is exactly the kind of thing that happens when there is NO planning for large scale housing projects. It is exactly what you would expect if your pet cat planned a housing development boom for New Zealand. This is exactly what you get from the invisible hand of the market and fuckwits like Nick Smith!

    It is obvious National have:
    A) No plan to fix it
    B) No will to fix it
    C) No idea how to fix it

    In respect of C, many of the issues are its making, no planning, immigration & low pay, the two are intertwined, no will to regulate the rental market, no will to tax speculation ruthlessly and virtually no will to deal to speculating anyway so it most likely goes back to points A and B.

    So with so many people negatively affected why is this not showing up in polls?

    • saveNZ 2.1
      27 March 2017 at 4:23 pm

      Q, So with so many people negatively affected why is this not showing up in polls,

      A, because 65% of people are temporarily better off as their house outstrips their wages and of the 35% affected only about 30% of them vote. Don’t think just because people are young, they vote Green or left.

      Gen x and Y are the generation brainwashed by neoliberalism from Labour and National.

      And the second reason is that Labour and Greens liberal views don’t want to acknowledge the real reason for the housing shortage or take any heavy action on the real cause.

      After that big demand issue, there is the investment issue, to do with wages, gig economy and how piss poor NZ is on encouraging investment outside of construction post 1990’s.

      Likewise now we have opened our country up to foreign ownership in a huge way and also encouraged tax havens and easy gambling flights into SkyCity where you can also pick up a property or 2.

      I’m sympathetic to how awful it is to be renting and have little hope of a house or rental on NZ wages, but if you want to avoid making it worse, then vote Natz out.

    • JanM 2.2
      27 March 2017 at 6:02 pm

      I have no sympathy at all for developers – they sent the best builders to the wall years ago with their lying, cheating ways. I wouldn’t encourage my family to go anywhere near the building industry – being deliberately bankrupted over and over is too much for most people to bear 🙁

    • Antoine 2.3
      27 March 2017 at 11:02 pm

      > It is exactly the kind of thing that happens when there is NO planning for large scale housing projects. It is exactly what you would expect if your pet cat planned a housing development boom for New Zealand. This is exactly what you get from the invisible hand of the market and fuckwits like Nick Smith!

      Actually, it’s what you get from Auckland Council (among others).

      A.

      • Richard McGrath 2.3.1
        28 March 2017 at 9:53 am

        It’s what happens when new supply is choked off by council bureau-rats and the RMA

        • One Anonymous Bloke 2.3.1.1
          28 March 2017 at 10:11 am

          If that were true (and it isn’t – why do you tell so many lies?), how would it prevent central government building houses?

        • saveNZ 2.3.1.2
          28 March 2017 at 1:18 pm

          Yep keep that right wing discourse going Richard McGrath…

      • Keith 2.3.2
        28 March 2017 at 11:18 am

        You will not deal with the fundamental problems blaming straw men like the RMA or bloody councils. Go to the source to fix it!

        I don’t recall Auckland Council wanting to cling to power by promoting what is in essence open immigration and tourism for “growth” without first having the infrastructure to deal with it. No, it was your National Party blundering fuckwittery that is the reason for that.

        As a ratepayer and plenty of people like me I have to pick up the tab on Nationals last brain fart, deregulated building and leaky homes, that councils have somehow had to cover the cost of because they did not comply with the rules. So if you think councils are a little sensitive about obeying the laws parliament set them then there’s a good place to start.

        But obfuscation is the way of the world nowadays isn’t it.

  3. saveNZ 3
    27 March 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Isn’t the Spinoff the Herald’s faux little sister to preach right wing ideology to the new generation of liberals?

    I bet they never mentioned what is causing the ‘demand’ factor that has led to the rental shortages.

    I still remember Granny right before the election leading a huge furore about poor first home owners – Labour took the bait, put up super and put in capital gains and we got stuck with the Natz fuckers for 3 more years.

    Spinoff also advised voters to vote in the Auckland council elections against lefty Mike Lee and tick Ralston instead. The unitary plan was a must to solve the housing affordability issue according to the Spinoff as unregulated development is the only way to solve the housing crisis, however no affordability criteria let alone sustainability was even in the unitary plan.

    So fuck off Spinoff and stop stirring to keep the Natz in power.

    I’m sure everybody understands there is a rental crisis and when you push in 100,000’s of extra people into a city and country that is when you run out of houses.

    • Antoine 3.1
      27 March 2017 at 11:01 pm

      I think you’re mixed up, the Spinoff is pretty consistently left.

      A.

      • adam 3.1.1
        27 March 2017 at 11:36 pm

        I think you need to put your crack pipe down Antoine. The spinoff is liberal, so pretty much labour or the national party. And neither of those are left.

      • saveNZ 3.1.2
        28 March 2017 at 1:20 pm

        Spinoff’s more centre right. It’s the herald for younger people with ‘funky’ look but the same propaganda for it’s right wing advertisers… In fact Spinoff is more about paid promotion than news… but I guess they are open about it in most cases…

        • Antoine 3.1.2.1
          28 March 2017 at 1:30 pm

          All I can say is that it seems like Pravda to me

          Why would a right wing rag be doing an expose of bad rental conditions??

  4. Sabine 4
    27 March 2017 at 6:50 pm

    behind the shop that i used to occupy in AKL lives a young pacific islander family. two adults one three year old.

    In the last floods in West Akl they too were flooded. Badly.
    No it took them about a week for the Agent to come around and inspect the property. A carpenter duly came and took out the carpet and underlay, hung both over the fence to dry and he told the women to run the fan/heater to dry out her flat.
    She is on a glow bug. So that did not happen, and she asked the dairy lady for help. Together whith the dairy lady they emptied up the house, cleaned everthing out, streched out the carpets and underlay for proper drying and that was it.

    She now lives with her husband and her child in a flat that is semi dry, with flood damaged underlay and carpet and is too scared to say anything lest she ends up homeless.

    Brigther futures.

    • weka 4.1
      27 March 2017 at 9:58 pm

      yikes. Auckland, isn’t that now a mould incubator?

      What’s a glow bug?

      • Antoine 4.1.1
        27 March 2017 at 11:00 pm

        Prepay electricity meter. Key point being she couldn’t afford the power to run the fan heater to dry the place out.

        I will speak for myself, If I was the landlord above I would be happy for the tenant to contact me, and I would pay the power bill myself to get the place properly dry. And do whatever else was necessary for their comfort during the drying process. (I would also try to get a real drying firm in, not just a carpenter with a blow heater, but I don’t know if it would be possible to obtain one promptly when so many other houses were affected. Further I would have made sure that someone was around there well before a week was out.)

        If however I found out that the tenant had been keeping the property in a wet and water damaged condition for an extended period without telling me, I would have them chucked out and try to use the bond to repair the damage.

        Both tenants and landlords have responsibilities.

        A.

        • Sabine 4.1.1.1
          28 March 2017 at 7:23 am

          you try contacting a landlord who lives in india.

          I had rented a shop of him and saw him once in three years – He handed us over 10 grand worth of ‘invoices’ that he forgot to oncharge us over the three years we rented the place – and did so to the other three shops in the same block. Two days before christmas. We had a good laugh, and reminded him that he has certain responsibilities under NZ law.

          It really is about time that people pull their head out of their backside, cause shit does not smell like roses, no matter how deluded one might be.

          50% of all of AKL rentals is rubbish, and this i was told by a person from Akl Council when i called years ago in regards to a rental that had duct tape where it should have had pitch flashing. The roof was so waterlogged that the water came through everywhere at once, the door frame moved from the wall and cracks appeared all over the walls (this literally happened within one week, the roofer that i called went up, laughed, and told me to move out pronto before that roof came down on me) . That was a 300$ plus rental over 10 years ago. i still have the pictures of this house. I was told by that housing guy (inspections ) that to have this house condemned it literally needed to fall down on me, his words, if we were to condemn every house in AKL that needed condemning we would loose over 50% of our rental housing overnight.

          I really wish that the ‘landowners’ that are doing the right thing would actually understand that you are the minority. You are not the standard setters.

          And again, try contacting your Landlord who lives in India, and who will tell you to move on if you don’t like it.
          She, her hubby and the child do not have the luxury to move on, they have no where to move.

          Brighter futures for some, mold, disease and rheumatic fever for others.

          • Antoine 4.1.1.1.1
            28 March 2017 at 7:47 am

            More fool this landlord, his house will be badly damaged by the moisture from the sound of it

            • Sabine 4.1.1.1.1.1
              28 March 2017 at 8:00 am

              you don’t get it?

              his ‘house’ will be demolished and the land will be onsold for a lot more money than he ever paid for thanks to the unitary plan.

              Again, do not look at this from your perspective, look at it from an investors point of view.

              He rents the place until it kills someone, then mea culpa who would have thought, he might gets slapped with a hundred dollar fine, the block of flats will be demolished and a new block of flats will be build by a new developer. Landlord smiles all the way to the bank.

              Rinse fucking repeat.

              The only ones paying for this type of shit is the tax payer via Accommodation Supplements for people to rent these shit holes, and the admission to emergency departments when people are so sick that literally they can’t breathe anymore.

              These guys are not landlords, they are slum lords. And over half of AKL and the rest of NZ are legal slums.

              But go on waxing lyrically about how this Landlord is stupid to feel better about yourself or something.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                28 March 2017 at 8:10 am

                +111

              • Antoine …
                28 March 2017 at 8:17 am

                Let me get my head round this. You’re saying this guy is honestly unworried about his place being physically destroyed because he’s simply going to demolish it anyway?

                Hard to know what to do about that (apart from opening up lots more housing in Auckland so that investors can’t count on the price of land going ever upwards). A housing WOF wouldn’t help as he’d presumably be quite happy to take the place off the market…

                • Sabine …
                  28 March 2017 at 8:28 am

                  Yes.

                  And if you were to drive around the country, and you would remove your own bias for a moment, you would be surprised to see how many shacks are masquerading for houses and even worse, you would feel nothing but pity for the people trying to live in it, cause they can’t afford anything else, or literally there is nothing else there.

                  Welcome to New Zealand, where every pile of wood can be sold for a million dollars and rented for 500+ a week cause Accom supplment and a lazy do nothing but posture cant’ give a fuck government refusing to see the issue make it possible. Thanks fucking National.

                  And last but least, in any City of NZ the ‘shacks’ are worth nothing, its the section that is worth money, especially if you have a legal frame work that allows you to knock down the shack to build a three story shack in its place.

                  its called land banking ,and there are a lot of people in NZ that do that instead of working. And yeah, like the cow for the dairy industry the tenant for the slumlord is nothing else but a resource to be extracted until the beast falls dead.

                  New Zillind, brighter futures, fuck yeah!

                  A housing WOf at least would make a minimum standard legally enforc able. This women if she were to go the Tenancy Tribunal might get 300 bucks for her misery and would need to find new digs. so yeah, lets not change this…..ey, casue a WOF would give Landlords a sad.

                  • Antoine …
                    28 March 2017 at 8:31 am

                    I support a WOF for rental housing, but maintain it wouldnt be enough to solve this problem (for the reason above, the property would be taken off the market leaving the tenant without a home).

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      28 March 2017 at 8:41 am

                      If only there were some central body that could take note of this and build more houses in response.

                      Don’t worry Antoine, no-one will expect you to be capable of doing anything about it.

                    • Antoine …
                      28 March 2017 at 8:49 am

                      I’m still not convinced that central government is the best placed party to solve the housing shortage. Can’t help thinking the best solution is for the councils to heavily relax planning restrictions. Don’t understand the problem well enough to be sure though

                      PS one thing i’m sure of is that if we had a left wing central government and a right wing council, the likes of you would be blaming the council!

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      28 March 2017 at 8:52 am

                      Thank you for illustrating my point so clearly. The next local body elections are more than two years away, and people need houses right now.

                      You are incapable. Get out of the way.

                      PS: no, I’d be blaming the government, because councils are bound by the RMA, and in the case of Auckland, Rodney Hide’s witless and destructive fantasies.

                    • Antoine …
                      28 March 2017 at 8:54 am

                      Are you saying that getting rid of Goff is part of the solution?

                    • weka …
                      28 March 2017 at 10:11 am

                      “Can’t help thinking the best solution is for the councils to heavily relax planning restrictions.”

                      Problem there is that private developers are part of the driving force behind property costs, so giving them more latitude will just lead to higher housing costs across the board. I know you don’t like this, but the biggest thing that can help now is authorities who have no financial motive to intervene (I’m good with national govt and local body). And as OAB points out, not waiting for the market to sort it out, acting now. It’s not that hard, houses can be built very quickly these days. The thing that’s stopping that is the number of people prevaricating over abandoning the neoliberal model and going social democracy instead. In other words, people like you are responsible.

                    • Antoine …
                      28 March 2017 at 11:35 am

                      I agree there is merit in central Govt funding more social housing now.

                      I am still of the view however, that freeing up planning restrictions would also help. Agree to disagree on that one.

                      A.

                    • Draco T Bastard []
                      28 March 2017 at 12:16 pm

                      I am still of the view however, that freeing up planning restrictions would also help.

                      Considering that’s what’s brought about the present crisis what makes you think that it’s suddenly going to start working now?

                  • Richard McGrath …
                    28 March 2017 at 10:02 am

                    You have a good point. Accommodation subsidies are just a means for transferring wealth from middle class taxpayers to the rich pricks who own rental property

                    • Sabine …
                      28 March 2017 at 10:15 am

                      you might not like it mate, but poor people pay tax.

                      It is only the working class that is fleeced. And there is not one National Party member or supporter that really gives a flying kite about workers in this country.

                  • weka …
                    28 March 2017 at 10:17 am

                    “Welcome to New Zealand, where every pile of wood can be sold for a million dollars and rented for 500+ a week cause Accom supplment and a lazy do nothing but posture cant’ give a fuck government refusing to see the issue make it possible. Thanks fucking National.”

                    And previous Labour. The accommodation supplement issue is a thorny one and I’ve yet to see a credible proposal for how to remove it without harming people.

                    btw, in lots of places in NZ AS is fuck all and not going to make much of a dent in $500/wk.

                    For those that don’t know much about AS, you can see the rates here

                    https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/deskfile/extra-help-information/accommodation-supplement-tables/jobseeker-support-current-01.html

                    And the areas here,

                    https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/deskfile/extra-help-information/accommodation-supplement-tables/definitions-of-areas.html#Area45

                    • Sabine …
                      28 March 2017 at 10:26 am

                      i don’t have an issue with the Accommodation supplement per se.
                      I don’t have an issue with using Motels as ’emergency housing’ per se.
                      both are tools in a social market society to help make that society fairer and more equal for all citizens.

                      I have an issue when these two tools are being abused to cover up the fact that we have a government in place that deliberately had let things go so bad that now we are spending billions on rent supplements as even a dog kennels is now unaffordable and we are paying motels millions more then they would do if they were to rent the rooms to tourists.

                      I am not giving any government a pass, but as far as i am concerned the current government is National led, the issue has been identified a few years ago, everyone who has to say anything on this issues be it Sally Army, our Children’s commissioner or or or has rung the storm bells and yet, the likes of these people do nothing. In fact, they are still denying that there is a problem.

                      So I am not going to talk about labour and their failings 9 years ago, i will however hold Labour to account should they get into government and not do enough to change this situation. I will also give grief to the Greens if they should get into government and not do enough to change this situation.

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      28 March 2017 at 12:19 pm

                      The accommodation supplement issue is a thorny one and I’ve yet to see a credible proposal for how to remove it without harming people.

                      Massive build in state housing. The more state housing the less subsidy.

          • saveNZ 4.1.1.1.2
            28 March 2017 at 1:24 pm

            Sounds like she has a case for the tenancy tribunal. They can rule and get her compensation (and will rule if the landlord does not show up).

            Saying that, the floods were not the landlords fault but their responsibility to fix it.

            • Sabine 4.1.1.1.2.1
              28 March 2017 at 2:11 pm

              in any sane and normal society she would not have to go to a tribunal with all the assorted stress, and the damage of the flood would be covered by insurance.

              i went to the tenancy tribunal once, and was awarded a grand total of less tehn two weeks wages for living in a contaminated house. its not worth the days of work you need to go there.

              in fact i suggest that the tenancy tribunal is set up to discourage people from using it. it is however a good tool for people that have money and lawyers.

        • Richard McGrath 4.1.1.2
          28 March 2017 at 9:56 am

          Chuck the tenant out? Where would they live? What sort of bully slumlord would you be?

          • Antoine 4.1.1.2.1
            28 March 2017 at 10:03 am

            If a landlord is a good landlord, then they absolutely can expect that the tenant notify them of major damage. I wouldnt want someone in my house who wouldn’t do that.

            Obviously the situation Sabine describes is different as that landlord made themselves uncontactable and generally failed to endear themselves to the tenant in any shape or form.

            • weka 4.1.1.2.1.1
              28 March 2017 at 10:20 am

              “Obviously the situation Sabine describes is different”

              Yes. Because this is a post about how fucked up renting is in NZ, in many different ways, and Sabine is talking about a tenant whose home was flooded. And you want to have a conversation about tenant responsibility.

              • Sabine …
                28 March 2017 at 10:27 am

                but it must be the tenants fault. It can only be the tenants fault. And no landlord has ever tenanted a block of slums. No siree. cause bullshit.

                • Antoine …
                  28 March 2017 at 11:36 am

                  > but it must be the tenants fault. It can only be the tenants fault.

                  Both tenants and landlords can do wrong things.

                  > you want to have a conversation about tenant responsibility.

                  I raised the issue because I think a tenant can put themselves at risk by knowingly concealing damage to a property (although in this case it sounds like it may have been the right thing to do).

                  • weka …
                    28 March 2017 at 1:56 pm

                    You really are clueless on this one Antoine. Even if you want to discuss the ways that tenants fuck up, this isn’t the place to do it. It’s literally got nothing to do with either the post or Sabine’s comment that you replied to.

            • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.2.1.2
              28 March 2017 at 12:21 pm

              And there’s no regulations to ensure that he’s a good landlord.

              • weka …
                28 March 2017 at 1:59 pm

                Yep. And from what I’ve seen of Antoine’s arguments on this, he doesn’t want many regulations.

                • Antoine …
                  28 March 2017 at 2:00 pm

                  Dunno, I could maybe be persuaded, what regulations did you have in mind?

                  • weka …
                    28 March 2017 at 2:16 pm

                    How about if the landlord lets their rental go mouldy from neglect the govt confiscates it* and they’re banned from ever renting out a property again? 😈

                    *then the govt repairs it and adds it to the HNZ stock.

                    Ok, just kidding 😉 Kind of. I think certainly that something like that should be happening with repeat offenders (give them the GV price for the property).

                    But go have a look at the GP housing policies for an idea of a what a centre left govt could do in terms of regulating. Best approach is to look at the interwoven policies rather than in isolation.

                    • Antoine …
                      28 March 2017 at 11:11 pm

                      Their policies are too full on.

                    • weka …
                      28 March 2017 at 11:18 pm

                      For you I’m sure. For tenants, not so much.

                    • Antoine …
                      28 March 2017 at 11:27 pm

                      Well, let me qualify that. I think the home WOF policy is pretty good. I don’t agree with the security of tenure policy and I don’t think it would leave tenants better off (because of the way in which landlords would react).

                    • weka …
                      29 March 2017 at 12:10 am

                      “I don’t agree with the security of tenure policy and I don’t think it would leave tenants better off (because of the way in which landlords would react).”

                      And yet the people working with tenants have worked out the policy. Given you often side with the landlords, I’m not sure that your concern weighs up.

                      I don’t care about the scare stuff with changes. Let the bad landlords have a fit and sell their houses or whatever. The whole point is that we shouldn’t be beholden to them and the state needs to step up e.g. build some houses. The only reason that is not happening is because the right are ideologically opposed to state intervention even when it’s blatantly obvious that it’s needed and the market has utterly failed to provide a solution. Of course one could use National as an example of state incompetency, but that’s a reason to change the govt not give up.

                    • Antoine …
                      29 March 2017 at 12:35 am

                      Honest question, I looked for the green policy on building more houses and didnt find it, could you give me a quick pointer?

  5. AsleepWhileWalking 5
    27 March 2017 at 7:36 pm

    Just want to put in a word for all the people who have medical issues and need specific housing such as modified access, transport/location specific, low noise/intrusion.

    Many of these are not being catered to in either social housing (who are going for volume) or the private market.

    • weka 5.1
      27 March 2017 at 9:56 pm

      Thanks for that.

      One of the things that makes me nervous about the top down ideas about housing is that if we fix social housing in such and such a way then poor people will all be alright. Which might be true when you think about people being homeless or not (although I think there are still issues there based on individual need). And it’s true-ish at a population level. But people need homes for wellbeing, and that means a lot of different things to different people.

      I would add closeness to family, friends and community to that list.

  6. greg 6
    28 March 2017 at 6:54 am

    in end we will need to build thousands of social housing projects that is income assessed the home owner route is dead on NZ wages the other reason is if technology is set to displace thousands of jobs then there is no way a mortgage can be paid without stable income

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    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 11:10 am on Thursday, May 2:Scoop: Government sits on official advice on fast-track consent. The Ombudsman is investigating after official briefings on the contentious regime were held back despite requests from Forest ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 hours ago

  • The Art of taking no Responsibility
    Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 hours ago

  • The shabby “Parliamentary urgency” ploy – shaky foundations and why our democracy needs trust
    Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust.  The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 hours ago

  • Jones has made plain he isn’t fond of frogs (not the dim-witted ones, at least) – and now we lea...
    This article was prepared for publication yesterday.  More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written.  We will report on these later today ….    Buzz from the Beehive  There we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 hours ago

  • Infrastructure & home building slumping on Govt funding freeze
    New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 hours ago

  • Brainwashed People Think Everyone Else is Brainwashed
    Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    8 hours ago

  • Peters’ real foreign policy threat is Helen Clark
    Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    9 hours ago

  • NZ’s trans lobby is fighting a rearguard action
    Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    16 hours ago

  • Your mandate is imaginary
    This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    21 hours ago

  • 14,000 unemployed under National
    The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    24 hours ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Discontent and gloom dominate NZ’s political mood
    Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    1 day ago

  • Taking Tea with 42 & 38.
    National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • Beware political propaganda: statistics are pointing to Grant Robertson never protecting “Lives an...
    Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”. As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Winding back the hands of history’s clock
    Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
     Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    1 day ago

  • Business confidence sliding into winter of discontent
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the coalition’s awful, not good, very bad poll results
    Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 day ago

  • New HOP readers for future payment options
    Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    1 day ago

  • 2024 Reading Summary: April (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • At a glance – Clearing up misconceptions regarding 'hide the decline'
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Road photos
    Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
    The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • NZDF is still hostile to oversight
    Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Winding Back The Hands Of History’s Clock.
    Holding On To The Present: The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Sweet Moderation? What Christopher Luxon Could Learn From The Germans.
    Stuck In The Middle With You: As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • A clear warning
    The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Poll results and Waitangi Tribunal report go unmentioned on the Beehive website – where racing tru...
    Buzz  from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example.  This shows National down ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Listening To The Traffic.
    It Takes A Train To Cry: Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Comity Be Damned! The State’s Legislative Arm Is Flexing Its Constitutional Muscles.
    Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Ending The Quest.
    Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Will political polarisation intensify to the point where ‘normal’ government becomes impossible,...
    Chris Trotter writes –  New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:30am on Tuesday, May 30:Scoop: NZ 'close to the tipping point' of measles epidemic, health experts warn NZ Herald Benjamin PlummerHealth: 'Absurd and totally unacceptable': Man has to wait a year for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history
    Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Pinning down climate change's role in extreme weather
    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Serving at Seymour's pleasure.
    Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Webworm LA Pop-Up
    Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • “Feel good” school is out
    Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • 6 Months in, surely our Report Card is “Ignored all warnings: recommend dismissal ASAP”?
    Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy. Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    3 days ago

  • Bread, and how it gets buttered
    Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Justice for Gaza?
    The New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their genocide in Gaza: Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • If there has been any fiddling with Pharmac’s funding, we can count on Paula to figure out the fis...
    Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • FastTrackWatch – The case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Reti
    span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Auckland Rail Electrification 10 years old
    Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession
    Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Disability Funding or Tax Cuts.
    You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Of the Goodness of Tolkien’s Eru
    April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Pastor Who Abused People, Blames People
    Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • Vic Uni shows how under threat free speech is
    The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Winston remembers Gettysburg.
    Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • 25
    She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8.  The universe was ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Is Antarctica gaining land ice?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Policing protests.
    Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago

  • Open letter to Hon Paul Goldsmith
    Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: FastTrackWatch – The Case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • Luxon gets out his butcher’s knife – briefly
    Peter Dunne writes –  The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • More tax for less
    Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Real News vs Fake News.
    We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Another way to roll
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Share ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Simon Clark: The climate lies you'll hear this year
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Cutting the Public Service
    It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after th...
    Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious:  we live in a troubled ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • This is how I roll over
    1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • The Waitangi Tribunal is not “a roving Commission”…
    …it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisition   NOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes –  The High Court ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Three Strikes saw lower reoffending
    David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
    Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • 'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • NZ not backing down in Canada dairy dispute
    Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Stronger oversight for our most vulnerable children
    The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago

  • Streamlining Building Consent Changes
    The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says.      “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago

  • Minister acknowledges passing of Sir Robert Martin (KNZM)
    New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago

  • Speech to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Parliament – Annual Lecture: Challenges ...
    Good evening –   Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago

  • Accelerating airport security lines
    From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Community hui to talk about kina barrens
    People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Kiwi exporters win as NZ-EU FTA enters into force
    Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Mining resurgence a welcome sign
    There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

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