With the Fonterra stuff going on at the moment and the way China is reacting do they honestly believe this is a great time to be putting out this sort of nonsense.
One gets the feeling they really don’t care too much about the NZ economy.
With the Fonterra GCSB stuff going on at the moment and the way China John Key is reacting do they honestly believe this is a great time to be putting out this sort of nonsense reminder of forward-looking, equitable, and international accepted policy.
One gets the feeling they David Shearer and Russell Norman really don’t care too much about the NZ economyyoung people who want a real place in Aotearoa rather than becoming tennants in their own land.
Let’s say hypothetically that Key publicly sends out feelers to Peters to try to get him onside as a coalition partner. There’s no guarantee that the Conservatives, or any of the thinly-veiled Bigot Brigade parties of that ilk, will get into Parliament while the chances of both of UF (or just Dunne on his lonesome) and ACT getting back in are remote, at best.
One thing that doesn’t really get brought up enough is whether or not Key and Peters would even be compatible or remotely functional as coalition partners. That’s not to mention the likelihood of Key’s definitive statements on ruling out the possibility of Peters being in a Key-led government prior to the 2008 and 2011 elections being thrown in his face.
I’m also fairly sure that Key outright stated Peters is synonymous with unstable government during the debates with Goff a couple of years ago too.
Peters also stated categorically on TV that buying back the power companies would be a non negotiable requirement for NZFirst to go into coalition with National. I can’t see Key doing that, he’s way to proud.
If they want to know what being a tenant in your own land is like, they should have a chat to Raymond Huo. I believe he has a strong interest in multiple tenants. He may be one of those people at those house auctions russel and David seem so concerned about
They do care about NZ but they are not going to bend over to the highest bidder, quality is what counts and living in China. They care about the people in NZ, not just the select few. I can assure you if you want NZ to end up like the hell hole this place is and garbage that they eat that is where NZ is heading and China already has the KEY to get in. Chinese show you respect when you stand up for want your about and will walk over you if you do not. NZ will always have plenty of markets to sell its milk products to and China has no choice but to take what they can.
Its interesting that Fonterra sat on the information for 5 months and then decided to do something about it? Were they thinking about the NZ economy or themselves and their mates?
Hahahahaha!! Excellent and exact literal interpretation of BuM’s brainfart. Or was it a parapraxis, an unconscious admission of the self-loathing sustained cognitive dissonance creates. Must have been a real fright to see 62% of New Zealanders think limiting non-productive financial speculation in housing is a good idea.
Must be good to get you so riled up, lived overseas for awhile now, try and buy property in most non-west nations, they won’t allow you or put stipulation on it. Look what’s happening to Fonterra when you prostitute yourself to the highest buyer and forget about your quality control -pure 100% What’s your BS on that AH?
I pick this will be dropped just like the great idea of GST on fruit and vegs (didnt they have a simpliar poster about that XX% want gst dropped etc ??).
It wont work, it wont make a difference, and labour dont really believe in it.
they wont win, and will try to drum up another populist policy for the following election.
The proof will be when Labour gets into power after the next election.
If they don’t believe it, they will assign it to the Overseas Investment Office, who’s sole role in life is to act as a rubber-stamp for the approval of foreigners’ purchases of NZ land.
If they do believe it, they will ditch the OIO and come up with a regime that really does act to prevent New Zealanders from becoming tenants in their own country.
I really hope this is part of a series. Tommorow; 62% of New Zealanders thought I had already been rolled by Grant Robertson (the other 38% had no idea who I was).
And I bet lots support the right of any NZ to get up on his or her roof, though taking due caution, and inspect or clean it, or patch it, or paint it, or clear out starling’s nests, or check for wasp’s nests or any or all of the aforesaid measures or any other that might be deemed to be necessary in the opinion of such resident, householder or other party with rights or interest in thereof, without the need to get an RMA or an OK or a RSF (Right said Fred) from any political leader.
The exception tho being Australian speculators who by dint of higher wages and a higher valued dollar already have 2 advantages over the average Kiwi home buyer,
So, what may well occur is that having barred everyone else from speculating in the New Zealand market the upper layers of monied speculation are removed leaving the Australian speculators, who may well have been constrained by the Brits and others having even higher earnings and better valued currencies, who might just pour more money into the New Zealand market filling the gap left by those who are barred,
A 1-4% lessening of demand tho is still a positive move no matter how slight, but, hardly a magic wand of comprehensive housing policy which i suggest will fail to move the polls just as the KiwiBuild announcement was an abject failure in terms of political poll movement for Labour,
The whole thrust of Labour’s present housing policy seems to me to be firmly fixated upon middle class home ownership and Labour have failed abysmally to bring forward any policy that would effect the lives of the tens of 1000’s of Mene Mene’s who provide their labour to the economy for scant reward,
Mene Mene a hard working stiff who’s hours of work and low wages confines Him, Wife, and 3 children to 1 room in a boarding house can expect what from Labour as the major partner of the next Government, to stay right where He and the whanau are right now???…
A CGT is a necessary but insufficient step in holding back house price increases. If you were being cynical, you might predict that neither Labour nor National will ever take sufficient steps to effectively stop residential housing from being a speculative investment asset.
If they were really serious about taking sufficient steps they would ban foreigners, trusts and companies from buying residential property and make a law which allows individuals to own a maximum of 2 or 3 (a home and holiday home and a rental maybe) residential properties. Or they could legislate maximum rents and base them on the minimum wage, etc.
Not saying I think these are a good thing to do, just commenting that if they were serious instead of just politicking they would come up with some serious (controversial) policies.
I think the main advantage of a CGT is not that it will stop speculation but at least ensure that speculators pay their share of tax on the income they earned from speculating.
Speculation tho is only one small part of the housing affordability issue, a far greater problem in terms of numbers is the second house that has become extremely fashionable as a long term investment for the middle class in this country,
It’s a simple supply and demand situation where successive Governments have paid scant attention to State housing numbers as the population grew from 3.3 million to 4.4 million in a short compressed time-frame when compared to previous population growth,
The simple arithmetic tells us that the same percentage of the population whatever that populations number at any given time will need the same percentage of State Housing, because of a lack of building of these State houses we can see in the numbers the root cause of today’s housing affordability issue,
For a population of 3.3 million there were 75,000 State Houses of various sizes, with the population at 4.4 million there are now only 67,000 State Houses and that number is continuously being whittled away, these numbers suggest that the number of State houses should be at least 100,000,
Therein lies the root cause of the housing affordability crisis, restricting the number of State Houses has created demand for rental property and the middle class with cheap money to borrow and tax breaks on interest payments have moved into aquiring second and third property’s to hold for the medium to long term renting these out to those who cannot buy property themselves for sums 50+% of their tenants incomes,
Once this body of monied middle class landlords created demand in the market along came the speculators after the quick buck pushing prices ever higher in a 3 way tussle between the new home buyers, the newbie landlords and themselves over the shrinking amounts of property for sale,
My point is that little will be achieved by driving out the speculators from the market as the demand from the would be Landlords will only increase if house price rises stop or a decrease occurs in the market price of property,
In having a policy which shoe-horns the children of the middle class into property ownership Labour is simply ensuring that the affordability of housing, on the negative side, is then resting soly on the shoulders of the low waged workers who will never own their own home,
The kids of today’s middle class will become the landlords of tomorrow, following in their parents footsteps, once gaining enough equity in their homes kindly provided by a Labour Government they will simply in 5 years use the growing equity they possess in these new homes to go on to buy a second and third property as medium to long term rental investments thus the Government will have simply added to the housing affordability issue in the medium term…
Good points and CV is right about CGT alone not being enough but it does mean the deliberate wealth creation is taxed rather than tax free which is alot of the fuel behind escalting house prices …..a low risk tax free kaching.
Another big factor in affordability is the cost of building, fletchers, CHH etc profiteering due to market dominance.
I was surprised to see how low our public housing rates are even before the NACT sell off of stock that’s being currently indulged in which makes a bad sitaution even worse.
Our PM traded bigtime off his state house childhood another ladder they are pulling up behind them.
Bad12
Really good to see figures on state housing. I didn’t know how many but that there wen’t enough, and the figures just knock you over. The pollies just abandoned this powerful stabilising supportive part of the welfare system, one that if properly financed and accounted, could have almost paid its way. And they would have encouraged more to shift into low-cost houses with a mortgage and a caveat that the house would be sold back into the government housing stock with a small return to the departing owners. There was no reason for the well built houses to be lost into the profit-making private industry.
He has been getting more consistently better recently. Looks like he finally accepted some advice about his wee communication problem.
It is almost boring the art of getting stubborn and quite unready politicians ready for the fray. Still I guess that is a whole lot better than having the glib unthinking hand-puppets who wind up dragging the country into the mire through inattention to their task (Key and Lange come to mind).
Sure, his reading from the notes was better and the message was great (the message and policy was very good indeed). But the reaction to questions for which one cannot prepare could be better
After repeatedly ripping into Labour for not rising much in the polls, claiming this was because nobody gave a damn about the spying debacle or supported Labour’s housing policy, Cameron Slater hasn’t posted anything about the 62% of Kiwi voters polled by Culmar Brunton who support Labour’s plan to limit foreigners purchasing New Zealand homes. Twenty odd posts later and the oily propagandist cannot bring himself to even acknowledge that Labour is onto a winner.
People were overwhelimingly against asset sales, but despite the No Asset Sales policy Labour got 28% at the election. Support for a single policy doesn’t necessarily translate into anything else.
It’s not just a single policy though CV…it’s most of Labour’s policy. You seem to be saying the difference is due to the cult of personality and a majority of people are supporting Labour policy but voting National because they’re blinded by all that Teflon glowing. Personally I don’t see the appeal and think this difference is just another indication that the polls are unreliable.
Yep, people seem to like alot of labour policy yet National still thrashes them in polls. Either the polls are way way out which they could be, or people just can’t see Shearer as PM.
I love the policy, but oh God, Jesus and Cthulhu, It makes my eyes bleed. Can someone please find a more convincing mascot? How about a hedgehog or a jar of marmalade?
Put his head in a glass jar and he would look more attractive and interesting…or put Black Adder’s black, bell- curve, Miiddle Ages hat on him …even have him prancing on a horse….all would add to his appeal
Why doesn’t shearer have a chat to chris hipkins about the difficulties young kiwis find getting onto the housing ladder. Chris has said himself that he was near penniless six years ago when he got back to nz and now look at him- still struggling with only three houses and a family trust.
We need to learn from examples like chris. Hopefully his story is informing his labour colleagues of challenges faced in building a portfolio in the face of rapacious overseas investors . If it weren’t for patriots like chris, we’d be running out of houses
Advice to DS: Do NOT lean on that 62 per cent letter box, thanks, you are the last one to lean complacently on anything! Do NOT LEAN on anything, please. It transmits the wrong image.
That is part of the image I see of DS, he is “leaning” and sitting back too much, that is not what NZ needs, we need ACTION, a resolute person, a leader of sorts that can connect, not by just patting heads of kiddies and smiling, we are in damned difficult times, we need one that can put the helmet on, to step into a fighter plane sort of (excuse my comparison).
It is beyond tolerance and appreciation to just continue asking about stuff ups re GCSB, we want and need real challenge and action ACROSS THE BOARD now!
Action, resolute words and messages are just the start of what NZ needs.
Tomorrow afternoon, if things go really really badly, I may find myself down to one eye. People who used to sneer at me on Twitter will no doubt say So what's changed? Nothing, that's what, you one-eyed lefty.I don’t mean to be dramatic, it’s just a routine bit of cataract ...
A few weeks ago an invitation dropped into my email inbox to attend a joint Treasury/Motu seminar on recent, rather major, changes that had apparently been made to the discount rates used by The Treasury to evaluate proposals from government agencies. It was all news to me, but when ...
All your life is Time magazineI read it tooWhat does it mean?PressureI'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationaleBut here you are with your faithAnd your Peter Pan adviceYou have no scars on your faceAnd you cannot handle pressureSongwriter: Billy Joel.Christopher Luxon is under pressure from all sides. The reviews are ...
After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing ...
The plans for the buildings that will replace the downtown carpark have been publicly notified giving us the first detailed glance at what is proposed for one of the biggest and best development sites in the city centre. The council agreed to sell the site to Precinct Properties for $122 ...
With the Reserve Bank expected today to return the Official Cash Rate to where it was in mid-2022 comes a measure of how much of a psychological impact the rate has. Federated Farmers has published its latest six-monthly farm confidence survey, which shows that profit expectations have fallen and risen ...
Kiwis Disallowed From Waiting Lists Based on Arbitrary MeasuresWellington hospital are now rejecting patients from specialist waiting lists due to BMI (body mass index).This article from Rachel Thomas for The Post says it all (emphasis mine):A group of Porirua GPs are sounding alarm bells after patients with body mass indexes ...
The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Ngāi Tahu wants to introduce contamination charges to address contamination in Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, the High Court has been told.In the second week of the two-month case against the Attorney-General over wai māori (freshwater), Dr Elizabeth Brown, the Rangatira of Taumutu, which sits on the lake’s edge, told Justice Melanie ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra ASIO chief Mike Burgess has warned that over the next five years Australia’s security environment will become more dynamic, diverse and degraded, with “more security surprises” in the second half of the decade than in ...
There is certainly plenty of room for better police training for dealing with protest activity that starts with a rights-based approach to ensuring people can fully exercise their human rights. ...
“We are thrilled that this Bill is making its way through the House and looks set to become law,” said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University Gumbariya/Shutterstock The Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time in four years has triggered a round of celebration. Mortgage holders are cheering the fact their monthly repayments are now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Housing supply in Australia will be a key battleground in the election campaign. With home ownership more and more out of reach for young and not so young Australians, red tape and low productivity are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock Sleep is the holy grail for new parents. So no wonder many tired parents are looking for something to help their babies sleep. A TikTok trend claims ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjana Gupta, Senior Lecturer, Accounting Department, Auckland University of Technology Jirsak/Shutterstock The profit made on every breakfast bowl of weet-bix is tax exempt, giving Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an advantage over other breakfast food companies. ...
A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. Increasing housing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ash Watson, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock When we’re uncomfortable we say the “vibe is off”. When we’re having a good time we’re “vibing”. To assess the mood we do a “vibe check”. And when the atmosphere in ...
What’s up with the man from Epsom? The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial letter to police on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne (written before David Seymour was a minister) to an attempt to drive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Stephenson, Deputy Director, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University Newly published research has found clear evidence that openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer+ (LGBTIQ+) Australian politicians were disproportionately targeted with personal abuse on social media at the ...
Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, even The Vampire Diaries – they’re all set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. So what is it like to actually know your neighbours? My favourite television shows are set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. Characters attend town meetings where they debate local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide IMDB On the surface, Ne Zha 2: The Sea’s Fury (2025), the sequel to the 2019 Chinese blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child, is a high-octane, action-packed and ...
Wellington travellers say their buses are so hot they’re often forced to get off early and walk. Shanti Mathias explores the impact of non-functioning air conditioning on public transport. When Bella, a young professional living in Wellington, thinks about taking the bus, her first thought is “Ugh”. The bus might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
This poster is complete shit.
Unbelievable.
‘
Did you note the 62? That’s how many seats, minimum, for the Greens-Labour coalition next year. Russell Norman for Finance Minister . . . get used it.
Only if NZFirst don’t get in.
Also I doubt RN as Finance.
Yes the poster named “BM” is complete shit, I agree.
You better ring TVNZ and inform them of your concerns, they did the poll, it was on One News last night.
With the Fonterra stuff going on at the moment and the way China is reacting do they honestly believe this is a great time to be putting out this sort of nonsense.
One gets the feeling they really don’t care too much about the NZ economy.
With the
FonterraGCSB stuff going on at the moment and the wayChinaJohn Key is reactingdo they honestly believethis is a great time to be putting out this sort ofnonsensereminder of forward-looking, equitable, and international accepted policy.One gets the feeling
theyDavid Shearer and Russell Norman reallydon’tcaretoo muchabout the NZeconomyyoung people who want a real place in Aotearoa rather than becoming tennants in their own land.FIFY. No charge.
+1
Though one wonders whether this might be a signal to Winston Peters
Let’s say hypothetically that Key publicly sends out feelers to Peters to try to get him onside as a coalition partner. There’s no guarantee that the Conservatives, or any of the thinly-veiled Bigot Brigade parties of that ilk, will get into Parliament while the chances of both of UF (or just Dunne on his lonesome) and ACT getting back in are remote, at best.
One thing that doesn’t really get brought up enough is whether or not Key and Peters would even be compatible or remotely functional as coalition partners. That’s not to mention the likelihood of Key’s definitive statements on ruling out the possibility of Peters being in a Key-led government prior to the 2008 and 2011 elections being thrown in his face.
I’m also fairly sure that Key outright stated Peters is synonymous with unstable government during the debates with Goff a couple of years ago too.
Peters also stated categorically on TV that buying back the power companies would be a non negotiable requirement for NZFirst to go into coalition with National. I can’t see Key doing that, he’s way to proud.
If they want to know what being a tenant in your own land is like, they should have a chat to Raymond Huo. I believe he has a strong interest in multiple tenants. He may be one of those people at those house auctions russel and David seem so concerned about
They do care about NZ but they are not going to bend over to the highest bidder, quality is what counts and living in China. They care about the people in NZ, not just the select few. I can assure you if you want NZ to end up like the hell hole this place is and garbage that they eat that is where NZ is heading and China already has the KEY to get in. Chinese show you respect when you stand up for want your about and will walk over you if you do not. NZ will always have plenty of markets to sell its milk products to and China has no choice but to take what they can.
Its interesting that Fonterra sat on the information for 5 months and then decided to do something about it? Were they thinking about the NZ economy or themselves and their mates?
I reckon they were thinking about their share offer, which was being priced by investors at the exact same time.
‘
Hahahahaha!! Excellent and exact literal interpretation of BuM’s brainfart. Or was it a parapraxis, an unconscious admission of the self-loathing sustained cognitive dissonance creates. Must have been a real fright to see 62% of New Zealanders think limiting non-productive financial speculation in housing is a good idea.
Good one, Fender.
Must be good to get you so riled up, lived overseas for awhile now, try and buy property in most non-west nations, they won’t allow you or put stipulation on it. Look what’s happening to Fonterra when you prostitute yourself to the highest buyer and forget about your quality control -pure 100% What’s your BS on that AH?
I pick this will be dropped just like the great idea of GST on fruit and vegs (didnt they have a simpliar poster about that XX% want gst dropped etc ??).
It wont work, it wont make a difference, and labour dont really believe in it.
they wont win, and will try to drum up another populist policy for the following election.
The proof will be when Labour gets into power after the next election.
If they don’t believe it, they will assign it to the Overseas Investment Office, who’s sole role in life is to act as a rubber-stamp for the approval of foreigners’ purchases of NZ land.
If they do believe it, they will ditch the OIO and come up with a regime that really does act to prevent New Zealanders from becoming tenants in their own country.
If it won’t work why are you commenting on it? What are scared of, what’s your real agender?
And to be pedantic – the text is wrong.
Nearly two thirds – 62% – of poll respondents said they thought measures should be put in place to RESTRICT foreign buyers. not PREVENT them.
It was prevent, not restrict.
He does look a little creepy in that photo (I’m sure hes not in real life)
I really hope this is part of a series. Tommorow; 62% of New Zealanders thought I had already been rolled by Grant Robertson (the other 38% had no idea who I was).
90% of Nzers have never heard of Grant Robertson.
You really should get out more
90% of New Zealanders who have heard of Grant Robertson wish they hadn’t.
Most people had never heard of John Key until he became PM.
Winston forgot to put his wig on before the photo shoot again
And I bet lots support the right of any NZ to get up on his or her roof, though taking due caution, and inspect or clean it, or patch it, or paint it, or clear out starling’s nests, or check for wasp’s nests or any or all of the aforesaid measures or any other that might be deemed to be necessary in the opinion of such resident, householder or other party with rights or interest in thereof, without the need to get an RMA or an OK or a RSF (Right said Fred) from any political leader.
The exception tho being Australian speculators who by dint of higher wages and a higher valued dollar already have 2 advantages over the average Kiwi home buyer,
So, what may well occur is that having barred everyone else from speculating in the New Zealand market the upper layers of monied speculation are removed leaving the Australian speculators, who may well have been constrained by the Brits and others having even higher earnings and better valued currencies, who might just pour more money into the New Zealand market filling the gap left by those who are barred,
A 1-4% lessening of demand tho is still a positive move no matter how slight, but, hardly a magic wand of comprehensive housing policy which i suggest will fail to move the polls just as the KiwiBuild announcement was an abject failure in terms of political poll movement for Labour,
The whole thrust of Labour’s present housing policy seems to me to be firmly fixated upon middle class home ownership and Labour have failed abysmally to bring forward any policy that would effect the lives of the tens of 1000’s of Mene Mene’s who provide their labour to the economy for scant reward,
Mene Mene a hard working stiff who’s hours of work and low wages confines Him, Wife, and 3 children to 1 room in a boarding house can expect what from Labour as the major partner of the next Government, to stay right where He and the whanau are right now???…
Best way to stop speculation is a CGT, just copy/paste oz’s save time. everyone treated the same.
Residential home exempt of course (as per Oz).
A CGT is a necessary but insufficient step in holding back house price increases. If you were being cynical, you might predict that neither Labour nor National will ever take sufficient steps to effectively stop residential housing from being a speculative investment asset.
If they were really serious about taking sufficient steps they would ban foreigners, trusts and companies from buying residential property and make a law which allows individuals to own a maximum of 2 or 3 (a home and holiday home and a rental maybe) residential properties. Or they could legislate maximum rents and base them on the minimum wage, etc.
Not saying I think these are a good thing to do, just commenting that if they were serious instead of just politicking they would come up with some serious (controversial) policies.
You wouldn’t want to risk alienating those all important “middle class” (read top 20%) voters.
I think the main advantage of a CGT is not that it will stop speculation but at least ensure that speculators pay their share of tax on the income they earned from speculating.
Speculation tho is only one small part of the housing affordability issue, a far greater problem in terms of numbers is the second house that has become extremely fashionable as a long term investment for the middle class in this country,
It’s a simple supply and demand situation where successive Governments have paid scant attention to State housing numbers as the population grew from 3.3 million to 4.4 million in a short compressed time-frame when compared to previous population growth,
The simple arithmetic tells us that the same percentage of the population whatever that populations number at any given time will need the same percentage of State Housing, because of a lack of building of these State houses we can see in the numbers the root cause of today’s housing affordability issue,
For a population of 3.3 million there were 75,000 State Houses of various sizes, with the population at 4.4 million there are now only 67,000 State Houses and that number is continuously being whittled away, these numbers suggest that the number of State houses should be at least 100,000,
Therein lies the root cause of the housing affordability crisis, restricting the number of State Houses has created demand for rental property and the middle class with cheap money to borrow and tax breaks on interest payments have moved into aquiring second and third property’s to hold for the medium to long term renting these out to those who cannot buy property themselves for sums 50+% of their tenants incomes,
Once this body of monied middle class landlords created demand in the market along came the speculators after the quick buck pushing prices ever higher in a 3 way tussle between the new home buyers, the newbie landlords and themselves over the shrinking amounts of property for sale,
My point is that little will be achieved by driving out the speculators from the market as the demand from the would be Landlords will only increase if house price rises stop or a decrease occurs in the market price of property,
In having a policy which shoe-horns the children of the middle class into property ownership Labour is simply ensuring that the affordability of housing, on the negative side, is then resting soly on the shoulders of the low waged workers who will never own their own home,
The kids of today’s middle class will become the landlords of tomorrow, following in their parents footsteps, once gaining enough equity in their homes kindly provided by a Labour Government they will simply in 5 years use the growing equity they possess in these new homes to go on to buy a second and third property as medium to long term rental investments thus the Government will have simply added to the housing affordability issue in the medium term…
Good points and CV is right about CGT alone not being enough but it does mean the deliberate wealth creation is taxed rather than tax free which is alot of the fuel behind escalting house prices …..a low risk tax free kaching.
Another big factor in affordability is the cost of building, fletchers, CHH etc profiteering due to market dominance.
I was surprised to see how low our public housing rates are even before the NACT sell off of stock that’s being currently indulged in which makes a bad sitaution even worse.
Our PM traded bigtime off his state house childhood another ladder they are pulling up behind them.
Bad12
Really good to see figures on state housing. I didn’t know how many but that there wen’t enough, and the figures just knock you over. The pollies just abandoned this powerful stabilising supportive part of the welfare system, one that if properly financed and accounted, could have almost paid its way. And they would have encouraged more to shift into low-cost houses with a mortgage and a caveat that the house would be sold back into the government housing stock with a small return to the departing owners. There was no reason for the well built houses to be lost into the profit-making private industry.
I was at a speaking engagement Shearer was speaking at this morning and he mentioned this policy. He spoke quite well too…
He has been getting more consistently better recently. Looks like he finally accepted some advice about his wee communication problem.
It is almost boring the art of getting stubborn and quite unready politicians ready for the fray. Still I guess that is a whole lot better than having the glib unthinking hand-puppets who wind up dragging the country into the mire through inattention to their task (Key and Lange come to mind).
Sure, his reading from the notes was better and the message was great (the message and policy was very good indeed). But the reaction to questions for which one cannot prepare could be better
After repeatedly ripping into Labour for not rising much in the polls, claiming this was because nobody gave a damn about the spying debacle or supported Labour’s housing policy, Cameron Slater hasn’t posted anything about the 62% of Kiwi voters polled by Culmar Brunton who support Labour’s plan to limit foreigners purchasing New Zealand homes. Twenty odd posts later and the oily propagandist cannot bring himself to even acknowledge that Labour is onto a winner.
People were overwhelimingly against asset sales, but despite the No Asset Sales policy Labour got 28% at the election. Support for a single policy doesn’t necessarily translate into anything else.
It’s not just a single policy though CV…it’s most of Labour’s policy. You seem to be saying the difference is due to the cult of personality and a majority of people are supporting Labour policy but voting National because they’re blinded by all that Teflon glowing. Personally I don’t see the appeal and think this difference is just another indication that the polls are unreliable.
Yep, people seem to like alot of labour policy yet National still thrashes them in polls. Either the polls are way way out which they could be, or people just can’t see Shearer as PM.
I love the policy, but oh God, Jesus and Cthulhu, It makes my eyes bleed. Can someone please find a more convincing mascot? How about a hedgehog or a jar of marmalade?
Rhino
What say a nice buzzy bee?
Put his head in a glass jar and he would look more attractive and interesting…or put Black Adder’s black, bell- curve, Miiddle Ages hat on him …even have him prancing on a horse….all would add to his appeal
Why doesn’t shearer have a chat to chris hipkins about the difficulties young kiwis find getting onto the housing ladder. Chris has said himself that he was near penniless six years ago when he got back to nz and now look at him- still struggling with only three houses and a family trust.
We need to learn from examples like chris. Hopefully his story is informing his labour colleagues of challenges faced in building a portfolio in the face of rapacious overseas investors . If it weren’t for patriots like chris, we’d be running out of houses
Minimum wage of $150,000 pa plus expenses plus generous super scheme might help
Given a bit more time he might also score a $2.1M diplomatic mansion too
Ah the joys of taxpayer funding. ..
Advice to DS: Do NOT lean on that 62 per cent letter box, thanks, you are the last one to lean complacently on anything! Do NOT LEAN on anything, please. It transmits the wrong image.
That is part of the image I see of DS, he is “leaning” and sitting back too much, that is not what NZ needs, we need ACTION, a resolute person, a leader of sorts that can connect, not by just patting heads of kiddies and smiling, we are in damned difficult times, we need one that can put the helmet on, to step into a fighter plane sort of (excuse my comparison).
It is beyond tolerance and appreciation to just continue asking about stuff ups re GCSB, we want and need real challenge and action ACROSS THE BOARD now!
Action, resolute words and messages are just the start of what NZ needs.
+1…..and get your hand out of your pocket David.
Good to see you back xtasy!