The fast death of broadcast free to air TV

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, October 22nd, 2019 - 37 comments
Categories: Media - Tags:

That the media in the country and others, especially now free-to-air TV,  are getting creamed doesn’t surprise me. That TV3 is essentially being given away (or closed) having apparently been separated from the still lucrative radio doesn’t surprise me.

Blame the broadcast model, the pain of noisy advertising and the rush to bottom in taste by chasing the few remaining people who won’t change the habits of a lifetime.

What does surprise me is just how fast it is changing.

It was only in 2012 that I dropped the connection to the free to air TV. That was almost an accident – as I described in a rant at the time:-

So nearly two months ago we moved out of the larger rental we’d had for the last 3 years back into my old apartment in a flurry of concrete dust from polishing concrete and cursing from fitting storage. But I still haven’t bothered with connecting up broadcast TV. Why would I want to bother? Broadcast TV is largely mindless and endlessly frustrating.

It is really hard to think why it will ever make its way up my nearly infinite list of tasks to the point that I actually do it. And I’d have to confess on this Labour weekend that is because I’m always short of time outside of work..

It wasn’t until the end of last year, 18 months after moving into another apartment with a working aerial, that we went out to get a freeview box to attach to the old TV.

Connected it up – got every available channel.

Our television went on to the free to air broadcasts for a few hours. I managed to watch the news. Then without even really talking about it between us, the freeview box never again got used. Well – that was a waste of money.  

The problem is that the content was (to put it politely) drivel. Everything that I said back in 2012 was still applicable – but worse. It was a bit of nostalgia trip remembering when I had Sky – and I see that they have issues as well..

So back to my original point. Why would I want to revert to broadcast TV? What does it give me? This is my rough list looking at local TV (with Sky comments in brackets).

  • Mindless repeated ads with the sound mixing frequencies pushed to irritate me (and that includes Sky). All of the bullshit put out by the ad agencies is crap. They damn well mix them to be intrusive and loud.
  • Programs that are never ever on when you want to watch it in your busy time schedule (Sky is as bad).
  • Mindless TV reality shows  that I never want to watch (with Sky it is endless drivel ‘documentaries’ about military conflicts of no interest or value).
  • TV News and Current affairs that is rarely worth watching (Sky has a few channels worth watching – but I’d like to pay for them individually – like BBC or Al Jazzerra(which they don’t offer from memory)).
  • Irritating media celebrities, Te Radar comes to mind, doing travel commercials (the infomercial content is pretty high on Sky as well).
  • Shows, movies and documentaries that are repeated far too often (especially on Sky).

Ok there are a few things of real interest on TV as Brian Edwards pointed out today in “When Hone met Rachel – Now that was a surprise!“, and I agree with him that was definitely worth watching. Both Hone Harawira and Rachel Smalley were impressive.

But consider that I saw it on my iPad was the result of recommendation by someone whose opinion I value. I didn’t have to wade through the mindless drivel that broadcast TV has becoming to find a gem. Moreover, I did it strictly on my time schedule and using a direct link to the video page.

We pay for Netflix, Lightbox, Neon and Spotify. Have subscriptions to various newspapers and magazines worldwide and even a few locally. 

I’d still like to buy a subscription to a few local news and current affairs consolidations on a app for my phone. But that has been constant request since 2012…

I’d pay to have the news and current affairs programs from all NZ channels available as a service. There are usually at least 5 minutes that I want to watch in the news each night. But there is no way that I want to go back to watching bloody ads and not being able to discard the sports and other dross.

Doesn’t seem likely to happen. I may have to be content listening to bits of RNZ on skullcandy when I’m biking to and from work, and the pile of smaller news style sites. 

But what really worries me is just how fast this has been. Sure I feel some sympathy for the employees caught up in it. But that really isn’t the major focus of my concern (that was all obvious where it was heading back in 2012). Consider the last part of my rant in 2012.

I’m a pretty typical near the bleeding edge techie – I use what works. Where I go, you typically find the others follow over the following decades. And I’m so relieved that alternatives are available that I doubt that the aerial will ever go back in.  The day of mass marketing via broadcast is nearly over. The internet provides point-to-point delivery and media organisation should stop pissing around and develop a way of delivering content that way.

Well it didn’t take decades. So the really really important question arises.

I think that old age is starting to make me fall back into the pack. I’ve never been in the pack. Should I be worried?


…and yes to the critic in the other room  – as far as I’m concerned it really is all about me 😈

37 comments on “The fast death of broadcast free to air TV ”

  1. Free to air tv has treated its viewers with contempt for years. One example is the Graham Norton Show repeated at prime time on a Friday night.

    My parents, who are both in their nineties and have been free-to-air viewers all their lives recent got access to Youtube on their TV screen and now watch that instead.

    That's how much free to air tv has lost its audience.

    However, if there was on add-free quality government funded channel like TV7 I'm sure that would be popular

    • Dukeofurl 1.1

      Plenty of Free to air channels have small audiences…thats not the issue. During the day the main channels audiences vary widely. Same goes for the price paid for programming , segmentation is the viewers friend

  2. Ad 2

    There is real ability for The Standard to take just a sliver of this free-to-air loss and gain a slightly stronger place in political discourse, should there be the collective will.

    Scoop has shown with really purposive fundraising, left-leaning independent journalism can be sustained.

    The Standard could devote a third of its front page to Twitter feeds and other such media, without going nuts. That would see a broadening of its discursive base.

    TV3's demise is a great time to look at ourselves and see what else is possible.

    • Sacha 2.1

      Scoop has survived for years by being a neutral aggregator of media releases, of value to some organisations who will pay for that. Not clear what an equivalent would be for the Standard.

      Scoop's recent focused fundraising efforts are admirable but I doubt it's where they would rather be devoting their limited resources (and they have paid staff unlike this place).

  3. Stuart Munro. 3

    With a little ferreting, one can find all the shows NZ never gets, including those excluded from the nerfed local versions of Netflix, free and ad free. Local news is a bit iffy, but TV does little or nothing to improve that. I can live without the moron panels and he said she said presenters – and the sea level weather map gives a better local prediction than the TV presentations.

    It wouldn't hurt for government to look at a new media enterprise and model for this and forthcoming centuries, possibly including a vehicle for locally produced drama, which, if and only if production standards are kept high enough, can also be distributed offshore. Campbell of Scoop would be the man to talk to – best journalist in NZ.

  4. Anne 4

    OMG, It could have been me who wrote that post – not quite but almost. In my case, over the years I replaced my TV with bigger and better models in the hope it would encourage me to watch more of it but to no avail. It seemed to me the channels were having a race to see who could reach down to the lowest common denominator first. TV3 won.

    Having almost discarded the box full time – not quite because once in a while there is a quality programme among the mindless drivel – but Youtube supplies me with most of my needs these days.

    Anyway lprent you can tell your "critic" it might be all about you, but there's a large battlefield out there full of grumps who feel exactly the same way. 😈

    • Sacha 4.1

      a large battlefield out there full of grumps who feel exactly the same way.

      Someone alert Winston! 🙂

      • Anne 4.1.1

        He already knows. That's why he targeted TV3. And that's probably only the start. 👿

        • Sacha 4.1.1.1

          After they fire that pesky chap who always disagrees with me, TV3 should bring back Merv Smith and Aunt Mabel. And reruns of the Generation Game. #sorted

      • OnceWasTim 4.1.2

        Poor old Winnie – he’s still got an ear worm infecting his brain:

        Daisy Daisy, Give me your answer do!
        I’m half crazy, all for the love of you
        It won’t be a silent marriage [or even an arranged one for that matter]
        I can’t afford a carriage
        But you’ll look sweet
        On a bicycle seat
        On a bicycle built for two

        [ He and Shane could both do with a bit of that fragrance up his back passage as well. Anal retentiveness doesn’t begin to describe it all ]

  5. Kay 5

    Despite my generally being broke, for the time being I've been able to get an internet plan that gives me enough BB to be able to stream without breaching the monthly limit, now that the prices have finally come down. And I can afford a basic Netflix subscription now that I can't eat choclolate anymore 🙂 I haven't splashed out on a fancy TV, Chromecast is a wonderful invention.

    And before the usual bashers want to come out, for people who are housebound a lot, often starring at a screen is all we're able to do so it's a necessity, not a luxury. Once upon a time there was adequate mindless programme on free to air, but even they have become unbearable- being ill doesn't completely remove one's intelligence!

    I do find it interesting how TVNZ on demand has become a channel in it's own right, screening serious/intelligent programmes that won't even be shown on free to air, or eventually only at midnight. And while ads are included, there's so few it's possible to watch them without losing track for the interruptions. So that's become my main way to watch free-to air, often as soon as it goes up after the actual programme as just screened on free to air.

    But local news- never again. I object to being patronised and spoken to like an 8 year old. All local news comes from RNZ & Scoop, international news from Aljazerra, online, and also live streams of assorted overseas channels on you tube (Euronews, DW, ABC).

  6. Sabine 6

    The only time i see tv is when going to the in laws, its either rugby on sky or some tv show on sky Mom likes. But oh my gosh, the ads. Mind numbing. So i don't, well never actually did see the reason for a dumb box.

  7. David Mac 7

    All services pass through a product life cycle. I think anyone investing in TV3 whilst in any shape like it's current form would be underwriting the Town Cryer as newspapers rose. These days….it's a brave soul that invests in the print mediums.

    If we view popular outspoken Utubers as Town Cryers with louder voices, we've gone full circle.

    Our government shouldn't be buying coal mines because the coal price is tanking.

  8. Marcus Morris 8

    I have lived and worked in the UK in recent times and holidayed regularly in Australia. How I envy the Brits with their BBC 1 and BBC 2. The ABC does an excellent job in Oz. Why can't we have something similar.

    • tc 8.1

      We can and should, culturally it's a no brainer unless we want an offshore driven reality dumb down.

      Leadership required to achieve it which is where I hold little hope.

      Be very good for the industry if it did occur.

  9. Terrestrial TV is low density information, and homogenised entertainment, on somebody else's schedule. Fast internet offers a "fat tail" of content on demand with minimal ads (or zero if you use a solution like pi-hole). Why waste time on old media. TV turns you into an inert blob.

    • Dukeofurl 9.1

      Have you seen on demand shows ?

      Apart from reality type …and they will come… mostly low budget drama formula -10 actors no ones heard of , 2 cameras, 1 scriptwriter, with a half hour story spun out to 50 mins and story lines spun out over 10 episodes to make you bing.

  10. McFlock 10

    The only channel I watch regularly as broadcast is Comedy Central (on Sky). But I have been streaming more from TVNZ lately. Whereas TV3 was pretty much 7days and Graham Norton, and that's it.

    TV3 seems to be Auckland-centric, lowest-common-denominator schlock, by and large. I also suspect they'd be more profitable if some of the "personalities" they threw money at weren't dickheads (or at least interchangeable heads). TVNZ learned that one when they poached John Hawkesby (though it might be a lesson everyone needs to re-learn from time to time).

  11. mpledger 11

    My daughter is coming up 18 and I doubt if she's watched 10 hours of tvnz or tv3.

  12. karol121 12

    It is the age old (in modern TV times) debate in relation to television broadcasting unit expectations pertaining to a break even operation or a profitable return on investment for it's stakeholders in a commercial environment.

    In relation to overall competition in recent years both in growth and in facility (including internet click on demand), you might liken it to swimming with sharks.

    Some broadcasters have the luxury of tax payer or private interest group funding, but most aren't expected to use it as an excuse to provide presentation, hand to mouth.

    Even the evangelist TV stations look to be funded by viewers, even if in part.

    Many not for profit broadcasters ultimately provide some other consideration for backers other than simply pleasing or appeasing the public for their viewing pleasure (or to their displeasure as the case may be).

    Circa 2012, the message was clearly sent to New Zealanders through Jonathan Coleman that channels providing educational or topical content are unlikely to be allowed to sustain operations without sufficient advertising revenues or subscription revenues to support them.

    Political government in NZ appears not to wish to become embroiled in a spat over whether or not tax payers should wholly fund or even subsidize certain television channels when taxpayers already fund organisations such as NZ On Air for support and provisioning in some areas.

    The loss of Channel 7 was a pity because it was a model of mainstream educational TV and was news pertinent to New Zealand and the Pacific Region. The channel also provided both a serious and a light hearted insight in to New Zealand politics, the NZ parliamentary system and various political characters.

    Some may have considered that offering strong political opinion should be the reserve of those at least paying their way in part from revenues of an entirely commercial nature by commercial entities. Hence, if you are going to have a go at a political direction or any proposed policy, get the laundry detergent manufacturers' to help fund your program directors or presenters point of view.

    So. Adverts. My viewing experience in relation to NZ "Free to Air" is that corporate (commercial product or service) adverts account for around 15 minutes per one whole hour of presentation.

    The repetitiveness (same advert played 3 minutes later) is almost inane, and you might almost believe that they are trying to turn viewers in to mind dulled, blobs with this sort of advert scheduling. To add fuel to the fire, most of the local adverts lack luster in any case.

    Compare advert scheduling to Sky TV (satellite), and it seems to be about the same for many of it's topical channels (or factual documentary channels) depending on the time of day/night. But a reasonable proportion of these adverts are self promotion adverts in relation to forthcoming programs or series pertinent to Sky. Also, the adverts are usually less frequent during the "wee" hours.

    Most news channels on Sky are corporate advertising free. This is refreshing considering that most of them provide both a wealth of insight, and most of the content is as balanced as you could expect, given the overall obligations of the stations to their respective handlers.

    Free can be confused with advert free, but shouldn't be, of course.

    If you are actually sitting down watching these adverts, you are well and truly paying (for them) with your time.

    The old; "no free lunch" adage.

    • In Vino 12.1

      It was the stupid commercialism of the 1980s (which still rules) that destroyed good free-to-air TV in NZ. If it has now strangled itself, bloody good job.

      When I was living in West Germany (1979) I was impressed with their TV. Some ad-free channels, but the channels that had ads were not allowed to interrupt any programme or film. They played all the ads between the programmes/films in sessions that went on for as much as 20 minutes, but they made it entertaining by having funny stick-figure comedy or short sketches between the ads. That lifted the entertainment value, and made the ads tolerable. The ads actually competed on a level playing field with the quality programmes – both were entertaining, and the quality programmes were never ruined.

      But that could not happen here in NZ. Quality films and programmes had to be butchered by rude interruptions at crucial moments so that sacred, holy advertisers could get their maximum punch regardless of how they ruined the film/programme.

      Barbarism. But Kiwis accepted it as normal, knowing no better.

      With the choices I now have, I will not weep if TV3 goes.

      I will weep for what NZ could have done with TV. Commercialism is a poison that corrupts all that it touches. The economy makes a good servant, but a very bad master.

      I wish I had understood all that more clearly back in the 1980s. I would have argued that way at the time.

      • Karol121 12.1.1

        I know.

        But in the "new" New Zealand reality of "open for business" for much of everything visibly for lease or sale, (and goodness knows what else), most everybody is looking at revenues for service, and this includes maximum revenues by way of commercial television advertising.

        The reflection on 80's commercial reality, mainly sentimental, but still nice.

        Government supports profitable business and the reverse is true. Taxpayer funding previously applied to state subsidies (including "teev"), now reserved for commercial consultancy firms and other specialist services lucrative free for all.

        At the risk of sounding repetitive, the catch-phrase is most assuredly that there is no free lunch, or dinner or good morning breakfast.

  13. A 13

    I think that TV3 could reform and dominate the online space IF it learns to respect the audience.

    TV 3 died for me the day they Cambo go.

  14. Alfie 14

    I spent my life working in broadcast TV and I’ve done a lot of work for TV3 over the years. I’m sorry for all those good people who are losing their jobs in a diminishing market. But most of the blame has to fall on those corporate pricks who allowed Weldon to do Key’s bidding and destroy one of the better news and current affairs operations in the country. Those guys can go fuck themselves.

    Despite working in the industry, we brought our kids up without a TV in the house for most of their lives. We spent ten years in the UK where it was a completely different experience, but here in NZ we viewed tele more as a corrosive influence. So much about local broadcast TV is intrusive. Apart from endless “reality” rubbish… there's

    * The high rotation ads using painfully high compression audio which pushes frequencies against a top wall so everything is max loudness. Or perceived that way.

    * The endless self promos which somehow don’t qualify as ads, even though they are. They even play these on the few concession-to-religious-people ad-free days we have, making sure the audience doesn’t get conditioned to actual ad-free days. As if promos for their own products are not actually ads. I’ve never noticed the distinction.

    * The crass nature of squeezing entire end credit sequences into miniature boxes, rendering them unreadable. Then filling the remaining 90% of the screen with yet more self-promotional ads.

    * And the celebrities. Oh, the celebs. The same boring, opinionated pricks who infest so much of our local media these days. A constant reminder of how small our isolated pond actually turned out to be.

    I haven’t watched TV3 since they killed John Campbell’s show and I never watch TVNZ by choice. We ditched Sky a while back. To me they’ve all become crass — poor examples of what the media world has to offer these days. The world is full of interesting media.

    Once you’ve tasted the good stuff, why would you want to go back to eating recycled bottom-feeder crap?

    </grumpy old guy rant over>

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  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
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  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
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