Labour received some stick in comments on my previous post for its stance on the Social Welfare (Commencement of Benefits) Amendment Bill. It is unfortunate but there was some scepticism about how it would vote. I am pleased to note that Labour opposed the bill strenuously and attempted to improve the bill behind the scenes although these attempts were eventually futile.
To recap the bill’s purpose was to change the definition of stand down period in the Social Security Act 1964. The law as enacted in 1998 clearly stated that relevant benefits started on the day the stand down period ended but administrative practice started those benefits the day after.
The previous law was paradoxically also passed under urgency. A select committee process is important so that issues and mistakes in the drafting can be fixed.
The use of urgency on this occasion is, to be frank, appalling and a constitutional disgrace. The problem was discovered 18 months ago. The bill is very brief. If there was such a problem the bill could have been introduced months ago and a full select committee process gone through.
The use of urgency is especially appalling because the bill has retrospective effect. The right of beneficiaries to insist that the law be applied has been taken away from them and instead the current view of the executive on what the law should say has replaced the clear and unambiguous words of the Act.
My view could be discounted because I am a Labour aligned left wing blogger. But David Farrar agrees. His comment about the bill was:
I would have though if practice doesn’t match the law, then it is the practice you should change – no[t] the law.
Even Cameron Slater is opposed to the Bill. He said:
You might expect me to take the position that beneficiaries don’t deserve the money, and they shouldn’t get it. But that’s not on. A deal is a deal…
You can’t just legislate your way out of it when you made a mistake. What sort of example does that set?
Retrospective legislation is inconsistent with the rule of law. There is nothing especially compelling about this problem so as to justify the evil of retrospective legislation (indeed, the especially evil evil of retrospectively stripping citizens of a right conferred to them under the law). The solution to this problem is to amend prospectively, and to meet the Crown’s obligations. This is how the rule of law is supposed to work. Any attempts to present this retrospective legislation as simply clearing up a problem ought to be opposed. Waldron noted of purportedly “curative” retrospective legislation that:
Often it is a way of covering up or avoiding the embarrassment of administrative irregularity — pretending it did not happen, and depriving the citizen of the remedies that would otherwise be associated with its occurrence.
That is what the Government is seeking to achieve here. It is deplorable.
The justification for the bill, that there would be lots and lots of people claiming money, had never been tested. There was no regulatory impact statement, and the Departmental Disclosure Statement is almost completely bereft of meaningful detail.
Carmel Sepuloni attempted to have the bill amended so that a six week period would be allowed for all intending applicants to apply for arrears. Labour would then have supported the bill. It would still suck, just not as much as before. At least individuals would have had an opportunity to file their application. Instead of this the rights of an individual to be treated in accordance with the law as it existed at the time has been retrospectively taken away under urgency.
One of the roles of the opposition is to improve things and if this had been achieved then all strength to them. That this Government refused to allow even this modest change reinforces how appalling the measure is.
The really sneaky thing is that the Government tried to slip the change through under separate “remedial” legislation. Kay Brerton spotted the attempt and submitted against it. But for her vigilance and perseverance the change may have been slipped through without notice. Interestingly the drafting under that bill did not have retrospective effect. Perhaps this was to be introduced by way of SOP.
To finish here is film of some impassioned speeches by Carmel Sepuloni and Jan Logie about the bill.
The National government definitely thinks they are above the law having ignored 2 court decisions and now changing the law to be right – sounds like a dictatorship!
I have no idea why people like FJK so much, but they do.
I’m in Northland. There are plenty of people up here how love FJK. They’re generally older, wealthier and comfortable. They characterise the poor and Maori as undeserving, lazy and criminal.
“They’re generally older, wealthier and comfortable” bloody baby boomer’s who had the best of this country and there holding x and y to ransom fjk brighter future was never for x and y
Focussing on the wrong thing, Nats or JK are not that popular, it just that labour are deeply unpopular, Nats seen as the by far the better of two average options
Thanks for the invitation Micky 😀 i assume you agree with my first point but here you go
Pretty much agree with tone of blog, retrospective legislation is not just, Saying that labour has been known to use this tactic on a few occasions, electoral financing if my memorary serves me right, was not the foreshore and seabird issue of a similar ilk. Saying that two wrongs don’t make a right, national should be the party that respects property and contract rights, The left are far more comfortable in tramping over these rights.
The rest by their consistent actions of rolling over BORA tests, Crown Law advice, and reasonable time for the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office to do their job, are indeed Constitutional Morons.
But they are our morons who are less unpopular than the morons on the other side, hence jk is your prime minister and national is your government, and i suggest this will be so be for at least another 2 terms
Where was the flood of outrage when an even more despicable retraction of government promises was imposed retrospectively on the sadly cheated ratepayers of Kaipara?
Kaipara was shocking too. The government and council are making the rules to suit themselves and public are powerless within the decision making process are then powerless when the poor effects from the government or their officials poor decisions are inflicted on them and they have to reap the consequences.
The Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman has at least 500 local residents refusing to pay an estimated $1 million in rates this year because the Kaipara District Council secretly ran up an unsustainable $58 million debt building a sewage treatment scheme for about 2000 people who own homes here. The scheme has virtually bankrupted the council, which was forced to resign three months ago.
But many locals still face rates increases this year of about 40 per cent. Rates have more than doubled for some and several residents told the Weekend Heraldthey would sell if they could.
John Brown, who lives one street back from Rogan, is reeling from a 38 per cent increase in his rates bill to $3052. His five kids, now aged 13 to 25, have grown up at their Mangawhai bach over the past 24 years and Brown loves the place but he’s almost had enough.
Joel Cayford has a good history of the issue on his blog – Reflections on Auckland Planning. As he has a property in Mangawhai he has been involved in the dispute since the beginning.
A primary issue is that the Kaipara Council did NOT following council procedures when committing to this spend. And the project did not meet the council criteria for such a commitment, and the decision was made in close sessions if IRC.
John Brown, who lives one street back from Rogan, is reeling from a 38 per cent increase in his rates bill to $3052. His five kids, now aged 13 to 25, have grown up at their Mangawhai bach over the past 24 years and Brown loves the place but he’s almost had enough.
Oh, the poor fellow has a rates bill on what’s presumably his second home that’s not an awful lot more than that of an average dwelling in Whanganui.
//
@Joe90 – You’re missing the point. Whether you are a beneficiary, a prisoner on Christmas Island or someone who owns a bach, the law should be the law, and processes should be followed.
It shouldn’t be about judging who ever is effected and make it about the victims being deserving enough to have proper laws and processes given to them. Under law everyone should be treated the same in regards to what rights are afforded to them.
Whether it is about the government underpaying beneficiaries, or the Kaipara ouncil in closed sessions running up 58 million dollars of debt (which also sailed by the auditing bodies with zero red flags). Likewise on Christmas Island it is not about what the victim did or did not do, it is about what the Australian government is doing, what Serco is doing and what our government is doing about it.
By all means neck auditors and councillors who deceive rate payers but really, would Mr Brown be reeling had the expected boom eventuated and he and other land owners pocketed large tax free gains.
Bit harsh joe90. It’s always a problem for little settlements to upgrade water and sewerage from the old simple systems of rainwater off the roof into a tank and septic tanks for sewerage.
The job was too much for a small Council that I bet wanted to give the impression it knew what it was doing. It is the fault of Labour? I may be corrected here. in changing to general competency for Council’s spending. There should be a line drawn in the sand for Councils, with an overview from central govt and a local referendum explaining. This would stop Councils from building infrastructure more expensive in design than is appropriate because some pushy well connected people had big ideas. It would also limit huge dams of dubious cost effectiveness, and definite environmentally detrimental impact.
In Nelson we are getting the same architects to design a new airport terminal as designed Wellington’s leaning into the wind one. I hope they concentrate on the basics and don’t add unnecessary fancy touches that will have to be paid for by the airlines/passengers. Our present has to be changed for earthquake strengthening reasons.
A bit harsh, yup, but TBH my piss and vinegar levels are running pretty damn high.
Whanganui is close to $100 million in the hole because of an ongoing waste water treatment saga that goes back more than a decade – from mates looking after mates to design fuckups to stenches to more fuckups to delays to cost over runs to stenches with no end in sight. The ongoing rates burden on a small low wage low property value community with a high level of fixed incomes is huge and slowly strangling us.
Yet even though I’m forced to contribute to the damn saga through an ever increasing general levy I have absolutely no chance of ever ditching my own on site treatment system and connecting to the city waste water scheme.
Joe90
Sounds like a never ending saga. Awful. These problems should result for small communities in being able to draw on expertise from a university with a specialist dept handling this problem. Sounds like the wheel has to be invented independently by each community. A vicious circle. I guess you would be more resigned about paying if only the stench could be banished.
Lara
I don’t think Joe90 is thinking that it easier for you who live there all the time.
But someone who has a bach as an extra house might regard it as disposable and not complain so hard if there was a big rise in value, and a nice profit.
Unlike yourself, stuck with a rising bill for rates that sounds as if it will be high for some years. Even higher property valuations would be of little ‘value’ to a permanent home owner lumped with rocketing rates.
Last week the High Court ruled that the council acted illegally, both in starting the scheme in 2005 and increasing its cost by about $22 million the following year without telling ratepayers.
Justice Paul Heath said the council’s debts to banks which lent the money must be repaid and the court had no power to overturn a law passed in November last year which validated the council’s incorrectly set rates.
But he urged the commissioners to consider alternatives to steep rate increases to pay down the debt, including renegotiating the loans and taking legal action against those responsible.
Justice Heath referred to Auditor-General Lyn Provost’s report on the Mangawhai scheme last November, in which she apologised unreservedly for the auditing failures, and to the Local Government select committee’s report, which urged accountability for any parties found to be at fault.
Northland MP Mike Sabin – who has campaigned for the Office of the Auditor-General to pay the increased cost of the scheme instead of ratepayers – said the Auditor-General’s long delay in investigating the problem had pushed key events out of legal reach.
He said Mangawhai property owners had alerted the Auditor-General to the problem in 2009 yet it took three years to start an inquiry in late 2012. The inquiry, which was supposed to take six months, dragged on for 20 months and the final report was made public on December 3, days after the expiry of the statute of limitations for the council’s November 2007 decision.
———————————————————————————————————–
so it really has got nothing to do with ‘increasing values of the properties’ n such, it has all to do with people overstepping their powers, racking up debt and then expecting others to pay them, in this case the rate payers and the tax payer.
What happened after that to Kaipara… Did they call in government cronies to run the council and what happened to the rate payers … it has all gone quiet on the media front?
AFAIK there are still government appointed commissioners in charge up here.
We have not had local body elections for years.
Those who were in power when the debt was racked up have never been bought to justice. They resigned I believe. The whole thing was swept under the carpet.
They broke the law, but because they did it to the tune of millions of dollars (not for their own benefit but still, it was done illegally) they get off.
See if you run up debt as a government or council official you are not charged with misuse. If you were an employee such as a money trader and go awol and run up massive company liabilities for shares, guess what they prosecute you under the law.
Big double standard for workers against government.
In my view those in government or council office should be asked to have a higher standard – they have a lot more resources afforded to them and more innocent people are effected by their bad decisions.
i would like to know how Winz calculated the amounts that beneficiaries have to re-fund, whenever WINZ is of the opinion that they mis-calculated the benefit.
The day from the stand down period, or the day after that. 🙂
Lovers of the Key govt will simply claim that ‘those deadbeat dopey unemployed don’t deserve any better’. So hit them harder. Wonder how many of their children have been unemployed at some time. Bet there would be plenty who have been affected by this.
Annette King made an outstanding speech too. It was so good I thought it might actually have an effect on Tolley, but she had left the chamber. It put everything in perspective. Can’t link to it ,sorry.
MS I’m pleased Labour fought the bill but they still deserved all the stick they got in your previous post. And they will continue to get it until it becomes clear (via consistent advocacy and fighting for beneficiary rights, both in the House and in policy) that they do truely give a damn and aren’t just using us for political point scoring when it suits them.
Politicians can do almost nothing that serves to undermine democracy and the rule of law than to pass retrospective legislation.
Even sending in the tanks and killing protestors is, in the big picture, less harmful to the fabric of society than what this government is now doing on a regular basis.
In the trials that followed WW II the morality of the proceedings was dictated by who had won. A very courageous woman philosopher, Hannah Arendt, a Jewess who had herself had to escape the pogroms tried to point out, in reporting on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, that inventing a crime that did not exist in order to be able to send Eichmann to the gallows, put the so-called western democracies on the same page as the National Socialists.
Canada and UK have judiciaries that are much more courageous and independent than ours, which is a pusillanimous gaggle of brown-noses sucking up to power, and those countries are having serious discussion about assaults on the rule of law. High on the agenda is the repugnancy of retrospective legislation.
Retrospective legislation is the ultimate counsel of despair. It is the device of the caliphate, of the totalitarian, of the bully, of the bigot, of the terrorist who has come to power. It is synonymous with Zimbabwe, Myanmar, former South Africa, Republican America, modern Russia, and now, New Zealand. One thing that must be said for Key, once it was determined that we were in a race for the bottom, he was the perfect choice for leader.e
Being a simple cheater or liar is not usually considered a desirable feature in a political leader.
But changing the clear, printed black-and-white rules after the game has been played, and redistributing the winnings and losses so your friends take all and the trusting fools who relied on laws, promises and rules lose all – that is light-years beyond simply being a cheater or liar.
Such are the people now in power in our country.
It was such a lovely country. How did this happen?
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Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...
How corrupt are the New Zealand Police? This corrupt: On 10 February 2019, Police attended a family harm incident. The suspect attempted to run the attending officers over in a driveway with his car, narrowly missing them, before fleeing the scene. A short pursuit followed, ending when the suspect stopped ...
Parliament's triennial Review of Standing Orders was released today, and it contains a number of welcome, if minor, improvements. The ones that caught my are: A move to encourage "pre-legislative engagement" - the government consulting widely on legislation before it is introduced - by promising easier passage (e.g. with ...
The Auckland region moved to Alert Level 3 on 12 noon on Wednesday 12 August. The rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2. Visit covid19.govt.nz for the latest information on alert levels, including an overview of restrictions in your area. ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
It's campaign time! The official countdown to Election Day is underway, with Labour supporters crowding into Auckland's Town Hall for our 2020 Campaign Launch. We recap some of the highlights below ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Following the success of the phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags, the Government now has plans to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment announced Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage. The proposals are to phase-out: some hard-to-recycle PVC and polystyrene ...
After 102 days we have our first cases of Covid-19 outside of a Managed Isolation or Quarantine facility in New Zealand. Shortly I will ask Dr Bloomfield to set out the details of the case. While we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned ...
An iwi-Crown approach programme to restore the Raukūmara forest on the East Coast of the North Island and boost employment opportunities for whānau, particularly rangatahi/young people, will receive $34 million funding, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced. “Raukūmara Pae Maunga is a partnership with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, and ...
Government agencies and partners are working closer together to provide more Māori Housing through the Te MAIHI o te Whare Māori – the Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation Framework for Action (MAIHI). MAIHI is a kaupapa Māori approach that drives a system change to give effect and impact on Māori ...
Site work is soon to begin on Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway, the project to replace the former SH3 route through the Manawatū Gorge, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Phil Twyford was today in Woodville at the signing of a formal agreement by members of the Alliance ...
The Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) begins today and will focus on the major economic and social impacts of COVID-19 on the Pacific. FEMM is an important congregation of Economic Ministers and senior officials from around the region, and for the first time, the annual meeting will be ...
Cabinet has approved a formal apology and ex gratia payment to former soldier George Nepata, announced Defence Minister Ron Mark. This payment is to recognise the New Zealand Defence Force’s failure to provide Mr Nepata with a safe system of work in April 1989 when, as a result of an ...
A report undertaken by Ministerial Services into Iain Lees-Galloway’s ministerial expenditure has found no evidence of any inappropriate transactions or spending. Ministerial Services undertook a line by line review of all his expenditure, including staff and spouse expenses for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020. “I commissioned ...
Managed isolation charges for returnees will come into force from 12.01am Tuesday 11th August, after they passed their last cabinet milestone today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. “The new charging system balances the rights of New Zealanders to return home and helps reduce pressure on the managed isolation and quarantine ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Henry Puna have welcomed the completion of phase one in the establishment of a travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Island. Negotiations on the text of an ‘Arrangement to Facilitate Quarantine-Free Travel ...
The Government has launched a new online, phone and onsite service to help New Zealanders connect to a range of employment support and products for workers and businesses affected by COVID-19, announced Minister of Education Chris Hipkins and Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. Connected.govt.nz is a one-stop-shop for jobseekers, ...
Security guards contracted to the Ministry of Social Development will be paid at least the Living Wage from next month supporting the Government’s commitment towards fair pay and employment conditions, announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni. “MSD was among the first government agencies to pay its employees the living ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today launched Te Mana o te Taiao, the Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy - a way forward that envisions Aotearoa New Zealand as a place where ecosystems are healthy and resilient, and people embrace the natural world. “Many of New Zealand’s plants and wildlife species ...
“Pacific languages, cultures and identity are essential to the health, wellbeing and lifetime success of our Pacific peoples and their communities in Aotearoa. The strength and resilience of Pacific Aotearoa is not only vital to their own prosperity but integral to the prosperity of all New Zealanders, and is particularly ...
· $38 million to help schools cover unexpected costs related to COVID-19 · $69 million upgrade for online learning · $107 million contingency funding to support school construction suppliers facing additional costs due to the lockdown. The Government is releasing $214 million from the COVID-19 response and recovery fund to ...
Despite the Government installing safety upgrades around the country, people should still take care around rail crossings, said Transport Minister Phil Twyford launching Rail Safety Week. Phil Twyford said installing safety infrastructure is crucial, but we are encouraging people to be more careful around trains too. “We’re making good progress ...
The Government is providing a cash injection to help Palmerston North City Council complete a programme to provide 78 social housing units for vulnerable tenants. The $4.7 million to build 28 units in the Papaioea Place redevelopment comes from the $3 billion set aside for infrastructure in the Government’s COVID-19 ...
A pest free Banks Peninsula/Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū is one step closer with a $5.11 million boost to accelerate this project and create jobs, announced Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage in Canterbury today. “This is a game changer for this ambitious project to restore the native wildlife and plants on Ōtautahi/Christchurch’s doorstep ...
A Government grant of $6.4 million will expand the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with new indoor courts of national standard. “The project is likely to take 18 months with approximately 300 people employed through the process,” Grant Robertson said. “The expansion will increase the indoor court space up to 11 ...
The Far North tourist destination of Mangonui is to receive Government funding to improve waterfront infrastructure, open up access to the harbour and improve water quality, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. A total of $6.5 million from the $3 billion set aside in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
Criticism of the Government's Covid-19 response is far from new, and has often had merit. But the new National leadership's dark mutterings of a cover-up are taking New Zealand politics in a dangerous direction, Sam Sachdeva writes."We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, ...
Legendary press gallery doyen Ian Templeton assesses two new studies of former Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Mike Moore As the 2020 election looms, Fridays with Jim by Wellington writer David Cohen is a timely book. Three-time Prime Minister Jim Bolger's reflections on leadership are insightful. More controversial may be those ...
An announcement on wage subsidies might be needed to avoid job losses - but not everybody agrees the Government should signal its intentions sooner rather than later, writes Dileepa Fonseka Crowds of people spilled out onto the street in Mangere East as the midday deadline for Auckland's entry into Level 3 ...
What’s the science behind the changed position on mask use? Farah Hancock reports. Auckland’s Level 3 lockdown will look different to the last lockdown. This time there will be masks. They’re mandatory for people on domestic flights leaving Auckland and “strongly urged” for everyone else when in public. The Government ...
In the first of a series on Muslim girls and women in sport in New Zealand, Ashley Stanley speaks to Noha Nasef, an ocean swimmer comfortable competing under full cover, who wants women wearing a hijab to be a normal sight in sport. Noha Nasef chose to take up open water swimming because ...
It looks like the dream finale of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season before a sellout Eden Park crowd will be off-limits for fans this Sunday, leaving Jim Kayes unfulfilled. It’s not the news a bunch of middle aged, success-starved Blues fans were hoping for. “Hi Richard,” began the note from the ...
The health workers and contact tracers are out on the front lines, but in the backrooms teams of mathematicians are running scenarios to figure out exactly what needs to be done, and how bad things could get. In big picture terms, fighting a pandemic is a numbers game, but with real ...
Yesterday’s announcement by the Reserve Bank that it will increase its money creation by an extra $40 billion dollars up to $100 billion over the next two years to buy government IOU’s off banks and rich investors sets an all-time record for money ...
The peerless Policy tool returns for its third edition, and it’s better than ever – fully geared to easily compare both parties and candidates across all the important issues.Campaigning might have been suspended for the rest of the week, along with much of normal life, but don’t let that stop ...
The novel coronavirus mutates as it travels between people and around the world. By sequencing the genome, we can try to work out which case is linked with another.As Aotearoa confronted its first cases of Covid-19 community transmission in more than 100 days, the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, ...
Wellington company EightyOne has been banned from Twitter for its 'Trumbers' campaign criticising Donald Trump. To date more than 600,000 people have viewed 'Trumbers' on Twitter and it has been shared with the Republican Party and Donald Trump. As ...
Ambiguity, uncertainty and unpredictability are three key indicators for stress, and Aucklanders in particular are going through all of those right now The late-night announcement by the Prime Minister was a blow to the pit of the stomach of many. We thought we had this, and maybe some of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged Care put the Secretary of the Federal Health Department, Brendan Murphy, firmly in his place when he tried to make an opening statement to attack claims by the senior counsel ...
“Your post goes against our community standards on nudity or sexual activity” was the terse message that Professor David Robie, director of the Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre, RSF’s Oceania partner, received from Facebook whenever he tried to share an article about press freedom in Melanesia, especially the Indonesian provinces of ...
And is he about to launch a coup against Judith Collins? Just asking questions here.Jacindamania was meek by comparison. Just as Ardern captured a nation from the role of deputy leader of the opposition in 2017, so it is with Gerry Brownlee in 2020. Relentless grouchy, Gerrymania is in full ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin announced Russia was the first country to register a vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Developed by the Gamaleya Research ...
Power Play - Warnings another outbreak was bound to happen were not enough to prepare New Zealanders for the shock of seeing the country's largest city put back into level 3 lockdown. ...
Power Play - Warnings another outbreak was bound to happen were not enough to prepare New Zealanders for the shock of seeing the country's largest city put back into level 3 lockdown. ...
At lunchtime yesterday, Jacinda Ardern was easing into full campaign mode on the main street of Whanganui. Just a few hours later, news from Auckland turned her plans, and an election campaign, on its head. Justin Giovannetti reports from Whanganui and Wellington.Jacinda Ardern’s first day on the campaign trail outside ...
One bright spot amid the grimness of the Covid resurgence: the return of our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations of the pandemic by Chris McDowall.Over one hundred days, Covid-19 slowly slipped from my attention. I was aware of new cases reaching Aotearoa’s border, managed isolation breaches, relapses in ...
By RNZ News QR app codes are now mandatory for businesses and services, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield have revealed, as they announced new covid-19 cases in New Zealand. Dr Bloomfield said there was just one new confirmed case in managed isolation recorded today, ...
Justin Latif takes the temperature of his community in South Auckland, ground zero for the latest Covid-19 outbreak.Following the prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday evening, my messenger app began pinging with pictures and videos of people at the supermarket. But it wasn’t panic buying that I was seeing, rather there ...
Odessa To’o on Selina Tusitala Marsh’s picture book Mophead, which was just named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year. I almost didn’t read this book because of the title. Mophead. Instantly recognisable as an insult for anyone with big hair, even though I’ve never been called it myself. The kids ...
Announcing the winners of the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The supreme prize of the night, the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, goes to Selina Tusitala Marsh for her super-personal picture book, Mophead.Mophead is memoir and clapback and wild doodle; it’s the story of ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Human rights activist and lawyer Veronica Koman says the Indonesian government has asked her to return scholarship money amounting to 773 million rupiah (about US$70,000) which she received to undergo her master’s degree in Australia in 2016, reports CNN Indonesia. According to Vero – as she ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW With mask wearing in public compulsory in Victoria and recommended in New South Wales, many Australians are buying, wearing or making face masks for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Webber, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Scientists have been interested in the flora of New Guinea since the 17th century, but formal knowledge of the tropical island’s diversity has remained limited. To solve this mystery, our global team of 99 scientists from ...
Photographers John Sefton, in Auckland, and Lynn Grieveson in Wellington watched the return of Level 3 lockdown and Level 2 restrictions on Wednesday, a day of masks, businesses shutting or setting themselves up for limited access, supermarket queues and people exercising their relative freedoms. As the clock ticked down, Bunnings ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Teaching Fellow, Bond University The Melbourne International Film Festival is currently running online, but one movie announced at their program launch won’t be streaming. At the end of July, Sandra Wollner’s The Trouble With Being Born was withdrawn after the ...
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says the Government will sequence the genomes of yesterday's four Covid-19 cases to help identify how the outbreak started. What does that mean? New Zealand has found itself suddenly plunged into a dire situation: Four new cases of Covid-19 in the community with no obvious link ...
Several of National's sitting MPs have been allocated list rankings from which it will be difficult or near impossible for them to gain re-election. ...
Are you trying to wander the world with your government recommended mask while wearing glasses, but can’t stop them from fogging up? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.Today, Jacinda Ardern said that Aucklanders should wear a mask (or a face covering of some kind) when they leave the house. But ...
Responding to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to expand its Large Scale Asset Purchase programme from $60 billion to $100 billion, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Economic Advisor Karan Menon says: “ The Reserve Bank has just announced ...
As New Zealand braces for a return to lockdown, and parts of Australia wrestle with a recent surge in case numbers, a new study shows how we can do better in the COVID-enforced work from home (EWFH) experience. The study, by researchers at Auckland University ...
Last night Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield announced four cases of Covid-19 in the community. Within hours the online community transmission of dumb takes was going like wildfire. It didn’t take long did it? Before the anti-Covid God squad shit the bed and started screeching about how they’ll never wear a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Geddis, Professor of Law, University of Otago The return of COVID-19 community transmission, with Auckland back in a level 3 lockdown and the rest of New Zealand at level 2, raises real questions about New Zealand’s upcoming general election. Polling day ...
Along with heightened alert levels, New Zealand has a new advisory on masks: Aucklanders should wear a face covering when outside the home, and the rest of us have been advised to wear one when in a confined public space, such as on public transport. But what kind of mask ...
As the Government mulls how the latest Covid-19 cases might affect the September 19 election, party leaders are stepping forward with their own opinions about how the news changes the campaign Political leaders have sparred over the impact of new Covid-19 community cases on the upcoming election, with claims Prime ...
The House - The dissolution of Parliament has been postponed following the discovery of Covid-19 cases in the community. What is dissolution and why is it important? ...
The Council of Trade Unions is reminding employers of their responsibilities to employees as we return to alert levels 2 and 3. "Employers need to remember that they must act in good faith with employees and their unions. Most employers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Norberg, Associate Professor in Psychology, Macquarie University As COVID-19 quarantines and lockdowns drive up psychological distress, many people have increased their screen time, including online shopping, to cope. Like alcohol use — or overeating, watching TV or surfing the internet — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Bastin, Associate Professor of English, Flinders University Finding Freedom was published on August 11.HarperCollins Publishers A new book about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is generating sensational headlines about their private life, defiance of Queen Elizabeth and how Prince ...
By The Bougainvillean Bougainville is heading to the polls today amid its first case of the covid-19 in thefourth general election of Papua New Guinea’s autonomous region since 2001. While this election is critically important in the region’s push for independence from mainland PNG, it comes at a time when ...
This week, Taranaki locals stumbled across a pit full of dead dairy calves, dumped on public land nearby a waterway. Graphic images of the scene were shared with SAFE. SAFE CEO Debra Ashton says the horrific images are the reality of the dairy industry. ...
The Health Quality & Safety Commission is the latest signatory of the government Accessibility Charter - a commitment to providing accessible information and online tools to all disabled people. The charter, launched by the Ministry of Social Development ...
As Alert Level 3 restrictions come in place, please keep in mind those people who can’t leave their homes to shop or who might need help with their shopping. Do you have a neighbour you could check in with and drop items off to? Can you free ...
Tēnā koutou katoa, welcome all. The Monetary Policy Committee agreed to expand the Large Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) programme up to $100 billion so as to further lower retail interest rates in order to achieve its remit. The eligible assets remain ...
“Today’s announcement by Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, to ban seven single-use plastic items is an important step in addressing plastic pollution,” says Donna Peterson, Chair of the WasteMINZ Behaviour Change Sector ...
Our Seas Our Future welcomes today’s Government’s announcement by Minister Sage of a plan to phase out more single-use and problem plastics to reduce waste and protect the environment. Our Seas Our Future Founder, Noel Jhinku, says, ...
Auckland is now at alert level three and the rest of New Zealand has moved to level two. Here’s what you need to know about what’s happened so far. Last night, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the deputy general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, announced that four people in one ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Academic Teacher, Swinburne University of Technology Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has announced Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election — the first woman of colour to appear on a major party ticket. On the 100th anniversary ...
Latest from the Beehive While the PM has declared a renewal of the war against Covid-19 and activated the government’s resurgence plan (watch this space for more), the Greens’ Eugenie Sage is stepping up the war on plastics. The phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags had been successful, she ...
People calling New Zealand’s covid-19 healthline were facing long waits on hold today as the phone line struggles with high demand as the largest city of Auckland was poised for a three-day lockdown. This follows Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement last night of four positive cases of covid-19 outside ...
What do they do? Do I really need one? And how much do they cost? Gillian Boyes from the Financial Markets Authority breaks down the basics.When it comes to important money decisions, having someone to help can make a big difference.A financial adviser can be your money coach – they ...
The September 19 election could yet be delayed, with Parliament's dissolution put on hold as health officials track the movements of our new Covid-19 cases - including one woman who visited tourist sites in Rotorua The dissolution of Parliament has been delayed after the re-emergence of Covid-19 in the community, with the Government seeking ...
In this year’s election, a party is offering a new economic model. That party is the Progressive Party and Bruce Dyer who is both its leader and Nelson candidate, said “Both Jim Bolger when interviewed for the 9th Floor TV series and Edmund Hilary ...
Visiting a brothel for the new series of Bad News helps convince Alice Snedden that sex work should be available to everyone.Beyond my teenage obsession with the movie Pretty Woman, my knowledge of the sex work industry has always been extremely limited. Like a lot of people I saw it ...
We have a caretaker government in the middle of an election campaign. Māori Party Co-Leader John Tamihere is calling on Jacinda Ardern to be up front and honest about the latest Covid community outbreak so we can all be part of the team. Level 3 lockdown ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Mathematics, University of Canterbury Auckland, and possibly other parts of New Zealand, almost certainly have more cases of COVID-19 in the community than the four new cases confirmed yesterday. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern activated a resurgence plan late ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is urging the Prime Minister to recommend that the Governor-General delay the dissolution of Parliament. Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Islay Aitchison says, "Given the considerable uncertainty regarding ...
The Māori Affairs Committee has completed its inquiry into health inequities for Māori and has presented its final report. You can read the committee’s report here . The inquiry was initiated in March 2019 and focused on cancer care. It explored ...
Back in March 17th 2020 - WHO (world health Organisation) warned the global community test, test, test, everyone suspected of COVID 19 virus infections, today our senior epidemiologist James Baker advised to test multiple times, as he states that some ...
Today at noon, Auckland moves into alert level three while the rest of New Zealand moves into alert level two. Here’s how it will affect businesses and what you can do to help.Three days at a higher alert level may not seem like much, but for many fragile businesses still ...
Greenpeace is welcoming the Government’s announcement today of a plan to phase out more single-use plastics, but is calling for the ban to cover a wider range of products, including plastic drink bottles. "The world is drowning in plastic ...
Takeaway Throwaways applauds this morning’s announcement by Associate Minister Eugenie Sage, proposing phase-outs of a wide range of single-use plastics. Items targeted include multiple serviceware products - from bowls, plates, straws, stirrers, ...
John Bolton’s book on his time as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser – The Room Where it Happened – is worth reading. His forensic training means he sets out clearly his own actions and their motivations. His recording of the responses of others appears scrupulous, albeit disputed. Failings of omission or ...
Parliament is scheduled to be dissolved today for an election on September 19. University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis runs through how and under what circumstances the election will happen – or be delayed.No matter how, Covid-19 is now back in the community. How widespread, and with what consequences, ...
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+100
Deplorable and shady is an understatement!
You owe the government money = hounded to the ends of the earth.
Government owes you money = retrospective legislation under urgency.
These smirking villains have no shame, no honour and are unfit for the offices they hold.
Good speech by Jan Logie.
The National government definitely thinks they are above the law having ignored 2 court decisions and now changing the law to be right – sounds like a dictatorship!
There is getting to be a pattern here…
High in the polls = do whatever with impunity
One has to wonder when or if their voters will ever care about right vs wrong.
Or has NZ – defacto – become a corrupt state.
I’m not sure how accurate the polls are….. look at Northland even the conservatives have had enough.
+100…I dont think the polls are accurate at all….IN FACT DEEPLY SUS!
…and they are used as a PR weapon
…they put people off voting because they think it is hopeless
Polls are best ignored
I reckon they’re accurate.
I have no idea why people like FJK so much, but they do.
I’m in Northland. There are plenty of people up here how love FJK. They’re generally older, wealthier and comfortable. They characterise the poor and Maori as undeserving, lazy and criminal.
I’m surrounded by them.
“They’re generally older, wealthier and comfortable” bloody baby boomer’s who had the best of this country and there holding x and y to ransom fjk brighter future was never for x and y
Focussing on the wrong thing, Nats or JK are not that popular, it just that labour are deeply unpopular, Nats seen as the by far the better of two average options
So what do you think about the law change? Knock yourself out, let us know what you think.
Thanks for the invitation Micky 😀 i assume you agree with my first point but here you go
Pretty much agree with tone of blog, retrospective legislation is not just, Saying that labour has been known to use this tactic on a few occasions, electoral financing if my memorary serves me right, was not the foreshore and seabird issue of a similar ilk. Saying that two wrongs don’t make a right, national should be the party that respects property and contract rights, The left are far more comfortable in tramping over these rights.
This government are a bunch of constitutional morons.
Or they know exactly what they are doing and don’t care.
Only Findlayson could claim that.
The rest by their consistent actions of rolling over BORA tests, Crown Law advice, and reasonable time for the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office to do their job, are indeed Constitutional Morons.
But they are our morons who are less unpopular than the morons on the other side, hence jk is your prime minister and national is your government, and i suggest this will be so be for at least another 2 terms
The traitor Key is not my government – he disenfranchised me – he’s a crook and a tyrant and he must go.
No, They are not morons. They are white collar terrorists. They know exactly what they are doing, and the mission is to cut the balls off democracy.
Where was the flood of outrage when an even more despicable retraction of government promises was imposed retrospectively on the sadly cheated ratepayers of Kaipara?
This is SOP for National.
Kaipara was shocking too. The government and council are making the rules to suit themselves and public are powerless within the decision making process are then powerless when the poor effects from the government or their officials poor decisions are inflicted on them and they have to reap the consequences.
What happened in Kaipara?
The Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman has at least 500 local residents refusing to pay an estimated $1 million in rates this year because the Kaipara District Council secretly ran up an unsustainable $58 million debt building a sewage treatment scheme for about 2000 people who own homes here. The scheme has virtually bankrupted the council, which was forced to resign three months ago.
But many locals still face rates increases this year of about 40 per cent. Rates have more than doubled for some and several residents told the Weekend Heraldthey would sell if they could.
John Brown, who lives one street back from Rogan, is reeling from a 38 per cent increase in his rates bill to $3052. His five kids, now aged 13 to 25, have grown up at their Mangawhai bach over the past 24 years and Brown loves the place but he’s almost had enough.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10844763
Crikey, that’s a bloody mess and a half.
Joel Cayford has a good history of the issue on his blog – Reflections on Auckland Planning. As he has a property in Mangawhai he has been involved in the dispute since the beginning.
A primary issue is that the Kaipara Council did NOT following council procedures when committing to this spend. And the project did not meet the council criteria for such a commitment, and the decision was made in close sessions if IRC.
Oh, the poor fellow has a rates bill on what’s presumably his second home that’s not an awful lot more than that of an average dwelling in Whanganui.
//
@Joe90 – You’re missing the point. Whether you are a beneficiary, a prisoner on Christmas Island or someone who owns a bach, the law should be the law, and processes should be followed.
It shouldn’t be about judging who ever is effected and make it about the victims being deserving enough to have proper laws and processes given to them. Under law everyone should be treated the same in regards to what rights are afforded to them.
Whether it is about the government underpaying beneficiaries, or the Kaipara ouncil in closed sessions running up 58 million dollars of debt (which also sailed by the auditing bodies with zero red flags). Likewise on Christmas Island it is not about what the victim did or did not do, it is about what the Australian government is doing, what Serco is doing and what our government is doing about it.
By all means neck auditors and councillors who deceive rate payers but really, would Mr Brown be reeling had the expected boom eventuated and he and other land owners pocketed large tax free gains.
Spilt milk and all that…
Bit harsh joe90. It’s always a problem for little settlements to upgrade water and sewerage from the old simple systems of rainwater off the roof into a tank and septic tanks for sewerage.
The job was too much for a small Council that I bet wanted to give the impression it knew what it was doing. It is the fault of Labour? I may be corrected here. in changing to general competency for Council’s spending. There should be a line drawn in the sand for Councils, with an overview from central govt and a local referendum explaining. This would stop Councils from building infrastructure more expensive in design than is appropriate because some pushy well connected people had big ideas. It would also limit huge dams of dubious cost effectiveness, and definite environmentally detrimental impact.
In Nelson we are getting the same architects to design a new airport terminal as designed Wellington’s leaning into the wind one. I hope they concentrate on the basics and don’t add unnecessary fancy touches that will have to be paid for by the airlines/passengers. Our present has to be changed for earthquake strengthening reasons.
A bit harsh, yup, but TBH my piss and vinegar levels are running pretty damn high.
Whanganui is close to $100 million in the hole because of an ongoing waste water treatment saga that goes back more than a decade – from mates looking after mates to design fuckups to stenches to more fuckups to delays to cost over runs to stenches with no end in sight. The ongoing rates burden on a small low wage low property value community with a high level of fixed incomes is huge and slowly strangling us.
Yet even though I’m forced to contribute to the damn saga through an ever increasing general levy I have absolutely no chance of ever ditching my own on site treatment system and connecting to the city waste water scheme.
That’s a bit fucking harsh too I reckon.
Joe90
Sounds like a never ending saga. Awful. These problems should result for small communities in being able to draw on expertise from a university with a specialist dept handling this problem. Sounds like the wheel has to be invented independently by each community. A vicious circle. I guess you would be more resigned about paying if only the stench could be banished.
Some of us live here Joe. It’s not just a wee town of holiday homes for rich Aucklanders, although there are a lot of them.
Some of us live here all year round.
Lara
I don’t think Joe90 is thinking that it easier for you who live there all the time.
But someone who has a bach as an extra house might regard it as disposable and not complain so hard if there was a big rise in value, and a nice profit.
Unlike yourself, stuck with a rising bill for rates that sounds as if it will be high for some years. Even higher property valuations would be of little ‘value’ to a permanent home owner lumped with rocketing rates.
and guess who is part of it – albeit ‘reluctantly’ our promint NZ ‘er from Northland who caused a byelection and can’t be named.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11167160
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/9494525/Kaipara-rates-bill-passed
Last week the High Court ruled that the council acted illegally, both in starting the scheme in 2005 and increasing its cost by about $22 million the following year without telling ratepayers.
Justice Paul Heath said the council’s debts to banks which lent the money must be repaid and the court had no power to overturn a law passed in November last year which validated the council’s incorrectly set rates.
But he urged the commissioners to consider alternatives to steep rate increases to pay down the debt, including renegotiating the loans and taking legal action against those responsible.
Justice Heath referred to Auditor-General Lyn Provost’s report on the Mangawhai scheme last November, in which she apologised unreservedly for the auditing failures, and to the Local Government select committee’s report, which urged accountability for any parties found to be at fault.
Northland MP Mike Sabin – who has campaigned for the Office of the Auditor-General to pay the increased cost of the scheme instead of ratepayers – said the Auditor-General’s long delay in investigating the problem had pushed key events out of legal reach.
He said Mangawhai property owners had alerted the Auditor-General to the problem in 2009 yet it took three years to start an inquiry in late 2012. The inquiry, which was supposed to take six months, dragged on for 20 months and the final report was made public on December 3, days after the expiry of the statute of limitations for the council’s November 2007 decision.
———————————————————————————————————–
so it really has got nothing to do with ‘increasing values of the properties’ n such, it has all to do with people overstepping their powers, racking up debt and then expecting others to pay them, in this case the rate payers and the tax payer.
oh well…..
@Madtom
What happened after that to Kaipara… Did they call in government cronies to run the council and what happened to the rate payers … it has all gone quiet on the media front?
AFAIK there are still government appointed commissioners in charge up here.
We have not had local body elections for years.
Those who were in power when the debt was racked up have never been bought to justice. They resigned I believe. The whole thing was swept under the carpet.
They broke the law, but because they did it to the tune of millions of dollars (not for their own benefit but still, it was done illegally) they get off.
At least, that’s the outcome.
See if you run up debt as a government or council official you are not charged with misuse. If you were an employee such as a money trader and go awol and run up massive company liabilities for shares, guess what they prosecute you under the law.
Big double standard for workers against government.
In my view those in government or council office should be asked to have a higher standard – they have a lot more resources afforded to them and more innocent people are effected by their bad decisions.
i would like to know how Winz calculated the amounts that beneficiaries have to re-fund, whenever WINZ is of the opinion that they mis-calculated the benefit.
The day from the stand down period, or the day after that. 🙂
Lovers of the Key govt will simply claim that ‘those deadbeat dopey unemployed don’t deserve any better’. So hit them harder. Wonder how many of their children have been unemployed at some time. Bet there would be plenty who have been affected by this.
Annette King made an outstanding speech too. It was so good I thought it might actually have an effect on Tolley, but she had left the chamber. It put everything in perspective. Can’t link to it ,sorry.
Was Slater in line for a bak payment?
Joking aside did the total payment affect Bill’s surplus?
MS I’m pleased Labour fought the bill but they still deserved all the stick they got in your previous post. And they will continue to get it until it becomes clear (via consistent advocacy and fighting for beneficiary rights, both in the House and in policy) that they do truely give a damn and aren’t just using us for political point scoring when it suits them.
ihc workers were striped of there back pay retrospectively as well by this fucken government
Politicians can do almost nothing that serves to undermine democracy and the rule of law than to pass retrospective legislation.
Even sending in the tanks and killing protestors is, in the big picture, less harmful to the fabric of society than what this government is now doing on a regular basis.
In the trials that followed WW II the morality of the proceedings was dictated by who had won. A very courageous woman philosopher, Hannah Arendt, a Jewess who had herself had to escape the pogroms tried to point out, in reporting on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, that inventing a crime that did not exist in order to be able to send Eichmann to the gallows, put the so-called western democracies on the same page as the National Socialists.
Canada and UK have judiciaries that are much more courageous and independent than ours, which is a pusillanimous gaggle of brown-noses sucking up to power, and those countries are having serious discussion about assaults on the rule of law. High on the agenda is the repugnancy of retrospective legislation.
Retrospective legislation is the ultimate counsel of despair. It is the device of the caliphate, of the totalitarian, of the bully, of the bigot, of the terrorist who has come to power. It is synonymous with Zimbabwe, Myanmar, former South Africa, Republican America, modern Russia, and now, New Zealand. One thing that must be said for Key, once it was determined that we were in a race for the bottom, he was the perfect choice for leader.e
Well said!
Being a simple cheater or liar is not usually considered a desirable feature in a political leader.
But changing the clear, printed black-and-white rules after the game has been played, and redistributing the winnings and losses so your friends take all and the trusting fools who relied on laws, promises and rules lose all – that is light-years beyond simply being a cheater or liar.
Such are the people now in power in our country.
It was such a lovely country. How did this happen?