We are all socialists now

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, March 26th, 2020 - 131 comments
Categories: capitalism, Economy, health, jacinda ardern, Media, socialism, tenants' rights, uncategorized - Tags:

Apologies I have not posted much lately.

My small business has demanded my attention.  The four week stay at home order and the lead up has had a profound effect.  Existing work has to be finished.  Cruicial work has to continue.

The Courts, normally thriving vibrant hives of activity are now eerily quiet.  Cashflow and reserves have had to be carefully assessed to make sure there is enough to pay wages and the essential bills.

I am sure most small business owners are going through the same process.

And there will be carnage.  Some will not have the resources to get through what is a pretty severe dislocation.

Travel and tourism will be particularly affected. Air New Zealand is now a basket case. It seems inevitable that the Government’s fiscal lifeline is going to be converted into equity and it will be renationalised in part or in full. The airline will survive but for strategic not economic reasons.

The economic trend is clear and pretty worrying.  Many businesses will not survive this and others will have dramatically changed.

Which brings me to the topic of this post.

Imagine if a society used pure market forces to respond to Corvid-19.

Imagine that the Government did not offer up $5 billion for businesses to access to keep employees in work.  Imagine if the Government did not effectively double the amount a week later as the trends became clear.

It is not only in the area of business support that a pure market approach is doomed to fail.

How about for renters.

Quinovic has received justifiable ire by saying that rent had to be kept up to date  otherwise “unfortunately you may be jeopardising your tenancy”.

Imagine preparing for a lock down by terrorising your tenants.

Thankfully the relevant Ministers responded quickly and appropriately.

And the law has been urgently changed so that tenants cannot be evicted for not making a reasonable effort to pay rent for 60 days.

Medicine is the other area where a collective public system is running rings around the private system. The United States is showing that it is the basket case of medical systems. Charging $3,000 for a Covid-19 test is what you do if you do not want to find out what is happening.

It seems that turning your back on collectively funded medicine and choosing instead to have a system where the medical profession and the insurance companies made a killing is the worst thing you can do in a pandemic.

And the orange orangutang and other Republicans are asking whether the death of huge numbers of elderly citizens is worth it just to save the economy. And similar Darwinistic thinking must have driven Boris Johnson’s earlier herd immunity proposal.

From Daily Kos:

Donald Trump is suggesting that we should rescind efforts at coronavirus suppression in order to “save” the economy, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas calls on patriotic grandparents to sacrifice themselves to drive up the Dow. Across the pond, the U.K. government already mulled over the idea of allowing that nation to become a viral incubator until it reached the level required for “herd immunity”—though at least their plan called for sequestering the vulnerable while the nation sweated things out, rather than tossing them all into the Save the Stock Market National Patriotism Volcano.

There’s another name for the daring plan now being promoted by the right: It’s called “doing nothing.” It’s called letting the disaster play out, or allowing the disease run to its course, or simply permitting the wildfire to burn unchecked. But the problem is that when it’s done, what they get would not be a nation going “back to normal.” It would be ashes.

Such thinking is going to mean that the right in the future is going to be treated with contempt. We are facing a 1930s intensity depression and a pandemic, all at the one time.

There are two ways out of this.  Either we crash and burn.  Or we help each other, minimise the effects, and learn to live our lives differently so that we are more resilient in the future.

The second option sounds a lot better.

But dare I say it, this sounds a bit like socialism to me.

131 comments on “We are all socialists now ”

  1. Sabine 1

    What about those that don't get help with their mortgages?

    We now have something for renters and something for commercial landlords however we still have nothing for those that are on commercial leases or those that have to pay their mortgages on the wage subsidies?

    Will there be anything forth coming, or are these New Zealanders expected to 'privately negotiate ' with the banks?

    • Muttonbird 1.1

      Renters are being left to 'privately negotiate' with their landlords. What has been done for renters is the less than the bare minimum.

      By contrast businesses and homeowners have everyone bending over backward for them.

      Some tenants and their families could be facing several thousand or tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt at the end of this…with no job to pay for it.

      • Sabine 1.1.1

        not this business Muttonbird. I too am expected to 'negotiate' with the Landlord for the lease (he will get the bail out and the lease 🙂 ) and i am to negotiate with the Bank for the lease that i will have to pay to the land lord.

        As i posted in the thread two days ago, the 'mortgage holiday' applies to businesses 'solvent businesses' with an annual turn over of 250.000 + – let me assure you there are a lot of family businesses that don't make that much.

        So we can not only lose our business but also our homes. And some of us small business owners do rent.

        Essentially so far anyone not a waged worker, not a beneficiary and not a very rich person has been ignored.

        I have applied for the wage subsidy, so far crickets.

        Some are in the boat, some row the boat, and some of us are hanging on to wooden planks waiting from someone to row by in a boat that still has place for us.

        But surely any day now someone will tell Grant Robertson about us under 250.000 dollar businesses. Any day.

        • Muttonbird 1.1.1.1

          I too have applied for the self-employed wage subsidy. It was a one-pager asking name, address, IRD number and that's about it!

          They say they’ll make contact when the payment is proceeding, supposedly within 5 working days.

          Reading between the very few lines it looks like anyone who applies (and has actually been in business proved by IRD records) will receive.

          There was this piece today that indicated some commercial tenancy agreements might have a clause that says if you can't access the premises you are not liable for rent payments.

          https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/120548257/no-access-clauses-in-commercial-property-leases-may-offer-rent-relief-during-an-emergency

          Might apply to you?

          • Sabine 1.1.1.1.1

            we are looking at everything.

            Essentially, i want to pay the guy. He is young, he threw himself into this 'real estate business' as a way to make a living – and know has the same issues we all have.

            I still think the best the government could have done is either call for a full Bill/Mortgage/Lease/Rent holiday – and bugger the banks not making money for three month – they got their cheap lending rates from the Fed which so far they are not passing on to their customers, or a free government loan (instead of shoveling money up the arse of some OZ banks) that mortgage holders and lease holders can apply for and then re-pay in the future.

            This cherry picking of businesses and people who get help or don't is bullshit, and there will be a lot of people that are gonna wake up next week and realise that two wage subsdies ain't even gonna cover regular mortgage payments for the house they are self isolating in.

    • JanM 1.2

      Less than an hour ago there was more information on the Covid 19 business site which talks about this. Sorry my technical skills are not up to a direct referal but it is not hard to find

    • RedLogix 1.3

      From what I can see at present the idea is this; the tenant is expected to communicate their changed circumstances to the landlord as early as possible, and offer a 'best effort' to contribute to the rent.

      Then the landlord looks at their situation and negotiates with their providers, banks, insurance companies, property managers etc to put their costs on hold.

      In the case of a mortgage it makes far more sense for the landlord to negotiate a 'mortgage holiday' that simply extends the term of the mortgage, than for a tenant to stack up a debt they will never likely pay.

      In effect the landlord is in a far better position to push the cost of the lockdown forward into the future, than the tenant is. And to me logically this is where the responsibility for managing this event should lie … with the landlord.

      • Sabine 1.3.1

        I truly believe that you are a 'nice' landlord, but frankly see the post above from MIckey with the Landlord threatening tenants? that is the reality in NZ. Not nice landlords, and that is simply due to government inactions over many many years – irrespective of being Labour or National – and now we have the landlords we have. And i don't blame capitalism, i blame government for not putting up sensible rules and regulations.

        Also try reaching and negotiating with an overseas landlord who only come into NZ once or twice a year. 🙂 Its a special kind of fun in the good days.

        But you could write a little letter to Labour to let them know that the 'onus' should be put on the landlord rather then the tenant. Because so far, the onus is on he tenant – who is not offered cheap government negotiated bank loans of up to 500.000 if they have a business with 250.000+ turn over a year.

        And if this gives you a sad, please understand that so far over these last weeks i have not said a single thing that was not the truth and has come true.

        • A 1.3.1.1

          Good idea. Most LLs are more likely to accept the benefits and leave it at that.

        • David Mac 1.3.1.2

          Sabine a few days ago you said that you have not taken any money out of your business since January. When I read that my mind jumped to the thought that you are operating a not for profit charity. Am I wrong to think that?

          • Sabine 1.3.1.2.1

            nope. I operate a small business that usually pays wages to my staff and me.

            But Rotorua has been hit very hard by the lack of tourists this year. And i mean lack – non of the usual crowd of Asians that come. It was as if the season never actually started.

            I do quite well with the local population – when they work and earn money – and i have tailored my business to the population size of the town, and it has worked well for a few years. I also have no real competition in the town, bar two shops that sell artisan chocolate from a company in Auckland and Wellington, while i am the sole direct producer in Rotorua.

            Easter however is my big 'make money' weekend, this year totally cancelled. 🙂 So in order to continue i have not paid myself in Jan and Feb, thinking that business will pick up in March/April due to Easter. We hada few trade shows planned in, good for us every year – now cancelled but not refunded. We did not get the orders from the Hotels this year either, but hey, no tourists. right? And this is the story for all of us businesses in Rotorua.

            I have been following this disease since China welded people into Apartment blocks and shut down. Initially i thought we – the world may ride it out with a few shortages of chinese produced goods here and there, but when it became clear that that was not gonna happen i was essentially just hoping for a Bill/Lease/Rent/Mortgage Holiday to all of us plebs to get us through this. Little did i know that we are all destined for the dole.

      • Sabine 1.4.1

        you don't understand,

        i want to pay my lease

        i want to pay my utilities

        i want to pay my suppliers

        and i want to keep my business.

        I want a government that works for me as it does for those rich arseholes like the real Estate company that dares threaten poeple in lock up with no income and on a 'wage subsidy' with eviction. After all, come election time these guys will have no shame in demanding donations and time and votes.

        That is all i want, and from where i stand, there are a lot of people that want the same.

        In a week or three people will run out of funds on credit cards, they will run out of savings and the wage subsidy will not be enough for anyone to keep up with the cost of living.

        And then we all file for bankruptcy and go on the dole. Yuppie. 30% + unemployment. How can that work?

        • Climaction 1.4.1.1

          Vote for a government that wouldn’t have sold the country out economically for the health and safety of those already at risk.

          it was a hard choice. Did they make the right one? Hard to say. I would have preferred over 60 and vulnerable isolation and let the rest get on with it

  2. Wensleydale 2

    Quinovic have been scum for years. This latest attempt to shit on their tenants isn't surprising. Remember their "Landlords, you'll love us! Your tenants will hate us!" and "Are you financing your tenant's social life?!" ads? Amoral bastards who should be treated with the contempt they deserve.

    • Sabine 2.1

      qeustion:

      can they evict people after the lock down is over?

      So essentially, they have to keep people in their properties but once this lock down is done they can start eviction procedures for non payment?

      Because that is what i understand. If you get behind, once this is over we gonna kick yo out. Has Labour done something to prevent that, or just for the next 4 weeks?

      • RedLogix 2.1.1

        I honestly can't see the rationale for that. If they were reliable tenants before this lockdown, then they will be afterward. No sane landlords gets rid of good tenants for no reason.

        • Muttonbird 2.1.1.1

          They will if the tenant can't pay the debt.

          • RedLogix 2.1.1.1.1

            As I explained above, the landlord is effectively running a business, and that business like all others affected by a loss of customers, can apply for a 'pause' on some of their costs during this lockdown.

            And it will be relatively uncommon for tenants not to be able to negotiate to pay at least some of their rent given the extra level of social support available.

            Stop catastrophising. If this affects you contact your property manager or landlord early and negotitate in good faith. There will be a reasonable path through for almost all cases, especially if the banks are playing ball with mortgage relief.

            • Muttonbird 2.1.1.1.1.1

              Stop catastrophising

              In a catastrophe? Ok, bud.

            • Sabine 2.1.1.1.1.2

              Stop catastrophising. If this affects you contact your property manager or landlord early and negotitate in good faith.

              and you should stop minimising that what is said by others.

              They might already have negotiated to no avail.

              they might have a landlord who simply says : tough, shit happens.

              Fact is people are genuinely in fear of being homeless in 4 weeks time, in what is current an ongoing HEALTH CATASTROPHY – because let me remind you, we are at home, not working, not making money, not paying bills, desperatly trying to stay alive and not killing others.

              • Muttonbird

                I didn't say what I wanted to say to that tone-deaf, smug so-and-so.

                • RedLogix

                  You make the mistake of confusing my normal politeness for smug.

                  Edit: Also see RedBaronCV at 5.0 below. Their explanation is probably better than mine.

        • Sabine 2.1.1.2

          you don't live in NZ? do you?

          people here loose rentals because the landlords wants to put up the rent by say 50 + bucks a week.

          • RedLogix 2.1.1.2.1

            you don't live in NZ? do you?

            I have most of my life and I still run a residential rental business in NZ for almost 20 yrs now, a fact I've been totally transparent about here for years. Over the past week you've repeatedly told us about how difficult this lockdown will be for your business, and I totally get that.

            But do you imagine you are the only one concerned about their situation?

            people here loose rentals because the landlords wants to put up the rent by say 50 + bucks a week.

            We have one tenant who we regard highly and they haven't faced a serious rental increase in almost 9 yrs now. They're now paying well below the market rent, at least $150pw less. We will have to consider making small, regular adjustments over the next few years to close the gap. Their rent is barely covering our fixed costs, much less the mortgage.

            We normally wait until a tenant leaves (and the average tenancy lasts about 18 months) before adjusting to the rent to reflect the new market rate.

            I was looking at the most recent 5 years of our summarised costs last night, since 2015 they've pretty much doubled in every category. Insurance has more than doubled. The most recent insurance invoice for one of our units is now 23% of the annual rent. Then rates that come in at 18%, property management at 10%. Add in all the sundries and our fixed costs on this unit is now over 55% of rental income. And this is before maintenance, mortgage and tax.

            In this same 5 year period our 'profit before tax' has actually gone down. We will be not a lot different to the large majority of landlords out there.

            • Wensleydale 2.1.1.2.1.1

              As a general rule, I'm fine with landlords cranking the rent to cover additional costs… genuine costs. They have bills to pay, kids to feed, a voracious bank nipping at their heels, and it's completely understandable. It's when they crank the rent because 'the market' reckons people should be able to handle it, and 'just because they can' that I take issue with it. The market might be able to bear it; it doesn't necessarily mean your tenants can. No employer is going to give me an extra $40 a week to cover a rent increase. I wish certain landlords would have a wee think about that occasionally.

              • Paddington

                Hi Wensleydale. Interestingly I apply market principles to my rental properties, and end up with the same approach you advocate. The market is simply a place where people 'meet' to exchange things. Now I could approach the market by claiming the highest possible price, irrespective of the situation. But the market shows me that that leads to higher tenant turnover, less tenant loyalty and committment, and ultimately less return on my investment. So the market affirms my own moral instincts; it is far better to work with long term tenants, even when things get tough for them.

        • A 2.1.1.3

          The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

          • Incognito 2.1.1.3.1

            Doesn’t mean it is a good predictor.

            • RedLogix 2.1.1.3.1.1

              Still better than examining chicken entrails …. cheeky

            • David Mac 2.1.1.3.1.2

              It's a predictor that gains weight as it multiplies and stretches across categories. Can a tenant departing a house with 1 foot lawn be expected to keep the next lawn trim?

              Rentals are in very short demand and the government keeps tapping up the ask with their help along.

              Why let to Iggy Pop when Florence Nightengale has applied, she's always at work.

      • Muttonbird 2.1.2

        This is a major concern and a cloud which hangs over the heads of all tenants affected by Covid-19.

        Meanwhile, homeowners have a 4 week holiday under sunny skies…

        • Sabine 2.1.2.1

          no they don't.
          Honestly no we don't.
          I have no idea how i pay my mortgage to my tiny unit in lovely rotorua.

          because i don't get bailed out by the goverment, and most mortgage holders aren't either.

          the article that you posted two days ago laid out the criteria.

          solvent businesses with turnover of 250.000 – 80 million can apply for a mortgage holiday. This would be the professional Rental Companies, Developpers, Bob Joneses etc. Not mom and pop mortgage holders, they have to try and keep their house with their wage subsidy as much as you have to try and keep your rent paid with that wage subsidy.&

          but i agree with you, unless Labour does something a bit more cutting there will be foreclosures galore, bankruptcies galore, and evicted tenats and then instead of building KeyVilles in the Domain, we gonna build ArdernVilles in the Domain. Cause homeless people will have to go somewhere.

          • RedLogix 2.1.2.1.1

            I have no idea how i pay my mortgage to my tiny unit in lovely rotorua.

            Contact your bank early and explain your changed circumstances. At least do that before telling us you "have no idea".

            The rules are changing rapidly. The critical thing is that the banks are well capitalised with govt backing and are open to negotiation according to your circumstances.

            https://www.asb.co.nz/page/covid-19-business-faqs.html

            • Sabine 2.1.2.1.1.1

              good grief you are a patronising git if ever there was one.

              Do you really think that people have not contacted, are not contacting their bank?

              Do you really think that people have not contacted or are not contacting their landlords?

              Do you really think people are gonna be happy to lose their properties because the bank ain't giving a shit, and the landlord either? Oh and the Government neither too, cause the ones that got the Mortgage Holiday aka government guaranteed loands (aka taxpayer guaranteed loans – cause we the Tax payer fund this goverment and any others ) is our professional real estate vultures/investors/speculators.

              Good grief, WE the people are the only ones that are currently negotiating taxes, rent, leases, electricity, water, rates, insurance and so on.

              Its gonna be bad next week when people on their Government Hand out of 350 – 580$ dollar will try to juggle bills, rent, and food.

              Good grief, i did not think you could get anymore tory, but you are outdoing yourself over and over again.

              • RedLogix

                First of all you say you have 'no idea' how you are going to pay your mortgage on your unit.

                I suggest, as the banks do themselves, that you go and talk to them.

                Then you get all huffy telling me that I cannot know if this is what you have already done. Well have you or have you not contacted your bank? I'm not a mind reader.

                And if so I'd be genuinely curious to know they have offered, if anything.

                Its gonna be bad next week when people on their Government Hand out of 350 – 580$ dollar will try to juggle bills, rent, and food.

                Indeed. So go and talk to your bastard landlord and negotiate a FastTrack arrangement to pay a reduced rent for the next few months until things return to something like normal.

          • pat 2.1.2.1.2

            are you a LLC or a sole trader?

  3. MartinC 3

    My landlord warned me about Quinovic a while back.

    btw my landlord is one of the good ones.

    • Carolyn_Nth 3.1

      My landlord & the estate agent property managers aren't too bad. When my tenancy was renewed at the end of last year, the landlord opted not to raise the rent. This was the first year in the 5 I have been here that they didn’t raise the rent. They left open the possibility of raising the rent during the year – that ain't gonna happen any time soon.

      • John Irving 3.1.1

        That's because he makes his money by no having to pay capital gains tax. No representation without taxation!

        [Fixed typo in e-mail address]

    • RedLogix 3.2

      We have two separate property managers; one is absolutely excellent, the other I only wish I could get rid off.

      Oddly enough I was a tenant with Quinovic for a period about 20 yrs ago, back then they were excellent. We were very reliable tenants and in return they really looked after us. Sorry to see them go so badly off the rails.

  4. Gosman 4

    Why do you need to politicise a crisis by trying to argue that the response to an massively unsual and life threatening event should be the approach in a BAU situation?

    • Exkiwiforces 4.1

      To see you NeoCon Lib Economic free marketeers whinge that a caring left wing government prop up the private sector when under a BS free market NeoCon Lib economic thinking that the state has no right to intervene in the private sector as its not the governments role and those private business should collapse without state involvement. As tax cuts, roads & individuals rights aka going jack on your community and the nationa will fix everything according to Britches.

      • In Vino 4.1.1

        Yep, dead right there Exkiwiforces – quite correct that under NeoCon Lib economic thinking, the state has no right to intervene in the private sector, as it is not the government's role… Therefore no state bailouts for Big Business because they are 'too big to fail'. They need to fail under their own theories, and be replaced by far better theories.

        (Privatise profits, and socialise losses – the same old rip-off from the Right.)

    • mickysavage 4.2

      Everything is political. Down to if you are going to throw your elderly to the wolves to keep the stock market going or if you are going to do your best that everyone is ok.

    • AB 4.3

      I'm not sure Mickey is trying to argue that. I think he is just pointing out that the best approach in what you call a "massively unusual and life threatening event" is actually the opposite of what we are told is the best approach for BAU.

      It's an interesting question actually. In fact, why isn't the best approach in a "massively unusual and life threatening event" to take the supposedly best approach in BAU and just turbo-charge it? i.e. for the government to exit entirely and leave markets to solve it in their own way – probably with a natural endpoint of literal/actual cannibalism?

      Anyway – there's real danger out there and these arguments are simply stupid.

    • millsy 4.4

      National used the impending insolvency of the BNZ to rip the guts out of the social safety net.

  5. RedBaronCV 5

    I posted about this yesterday. The IRD and others have background and sector figures available . Rental and lease income/ expenses – whether it is for property or equipment loans and leases are usually repaying both capital and interest plus possibly some other expenses ( rates -insurance).

    If we could hit a pause button, stop capital repayment and use as a starting point transfering everything to interest only.

    So for example the landlord pays only interest on the mortgage then the tenants rent drops by a standard % so they are repaying only the interest equivalent . For business the lease and equipment hire purchase payments drop to only an interest % which they pay for a period before they can reopen.

    It would save welfare dollars let small business drop their expenses drastically while they are shut and keep them going till they reopen or not. As a policy we would need to use standard %'s , its far from perfect but the existing situation isn't either. The banks can't really re lend at the moment so its not like they can whine too much as they still have a margin

    • RedLogix 5.1

      Exactly. Well expressed.

      • RedBaronCV 5.1.1

        Thanks RL and for the comments further up. There are good landlords and employers in NZ and we don't want them swamped by the lowest common denominator.

        We also want to give the businesses we need to stay afloat, whether it's lawyers or cafe's the best chance we can and finance this need at cost, not cost & sodding great profits for the 1%.

        I really don't want to go out of lockdown and find all the eating places & lawyers closed ( except for big chains) because the lease and equipment rental payments killed them in 3 months when we could could have basically subsidised the interest payments and kept them viable.

        Frankly probably nor does anyone else – do we want to have huge strings of mortgagee sales where few have the capacity to buy or restart? A world full of chain eateries only……stuff of a nightmare movie.

    • Muttonbird 5.2

      That kind of official government structure would be great, bring it on.

      But as it is tenants are being thrown to the wolves (agents and landlords) and asked to negotiate in what is, was, and always will be a power-imbalanced relationship.

      Might also stop landlords and property investors crying about how tough life is…

      • RedLogix 5.2.1

        The main reason why your landlord want's to know about your circumstances, is that the bank will be asking them for this information in order to evaluate any mortgage relief.

        And if you don't talk your landlord and simply stop pay all your rent, they will have to assume the worst. The trust relationship will break down and eventually you will be looking for another home.

        • Muttonbird 5.2.1.1

          Landlords don't want to know anything other than full rent, thanks.

          • RedLogix 5.2.1.1.1

            I/my tenants are having trouble paying rent, what are my options?

            Due to loss of employment income, some tenants may experience issues paying their rent.

            Tenants that can’t pay their rent should let their landlord know straight away. Be honest about the situation and see if you can agree on a payment plan. Landlords and tenants that reach an agreement can choose to have this formalised using the FastTrack resolution process.

            If you are likely to continue having trouble, think about other options:

            • financial support from the Government’s Wage Subsidy and Leave Payment scheme is available to eligible employers and workers
            • check whether your tenancy agreement allows you to have paying boarders/flatmates
            • get in touch with budgeting services, Work and Income, or other agencies to see what support is available.

            https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/about-tenancy-services/news/coronavirus-covid-19-what-landlords-and-tenants-need-to-know/

            If you get the agreement registered using Fastrack, and you stick to it, you will be protected from eviction for non-payment of rent after the three month lockdown period.

            The landlord can take the agreement to the bank and apply for a mortgage holiday.

            • Incognito 5.2.1.1.1.1

              yes

            • RedBaronCv 5.2.1.1.1.2

              5.2.1.1 above . I'd say 2 of those bullet points are absolutely useless from tenancy services.

              Get in flatmates – we are in lock down

              Access budgeting services Winz etc – these places will either be shut or if they are Winz just doing the basics of handing funds out as fast as possible to keep people afloat

              .All this has a horribly patronising air about it. I wonder why the landlord doesn't have to supply their details to the tenant and if they look as though they can manage the mortgage then the tenant can apply to pay the interest only % of it. Then the landlord can pay interest and principal if they wish Reverse the onus?

              • Sabine

                yep, why don't the landlord contact their tenants? Oh yeah…..

                • RedLogix

                  We have already contacted all our tenants to advise them of the process and our willingness to work with them if necessary. Anything else we should do?

              • RedLogix

                Get in flatmates –

                Access budgeting services Winz etc

                And after the Level 4 lockdown is over, then these become options if necessary. It’s not going to last forever.

              • RedLogix

                Reverse the onus?

                Care to extend that principle? Customers turn up at a shop and demand to see the books before they decide what price they offer?

                Employers demand to see your household accounts before they decide what to pay you?

                • Muttonbird

                  That's exactly what landlords will ask if tenants request rent relief. They'll want to see the tenant's ability to pay, see their books.

                  • RedLogix

                    No. All that is needed is a copy of the WINZ letter confirming your change of circumstances and that you are now on the new emergency benefit. I don't want or need to see your full household accounts … really.

                    • Muttonbird

                      Patronising as ever.

                      You're on the wrong thread.

                      And on the wrong site.

                    • RedLogix

                      Well exactly on what basis do you want me to reduce your rent? Or do you just want a free house?

                    • Muttonbird

                      Doubling down I see. I don't want a free house but if landlords are offered holidays then so too should tenants be offered relief at this acute time.

                      What rent relief have you offered your tenants? From your many comments in the subject of your own portfolio I imagine they are all low-income/vulnerable.

                    • RedLogix

                      I don't want a free house but if landlords are offered holidays then so too should tenants be offered relief at this acute time.

                      How it works is that you tell me you cannot pay the full rent and produce a WINZ letter as evidence of this, then I take that to the bank as reason to offer me a mortgage holiday.

                      It doesn't work the other way around.

            • Muttonbird 5.2.1.1.1.3

              Here's some of your colleagues at work in New Zealand. Benevolent providers of housing, my arse.

              https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/tenant-s-shock-as-landlord-flouts-government-s-new-rental-rules.html

              • RedLogix

                Landlords and tenants are pretty much the same, a few percent will always turn out to be bad apples. Did you expect any different?

                • Muttonbird

                  Quinovic is New Zealand’s largest specialist residential property management company.

                  We manage thousands of properties around New Zealand – from serviced apartments to large family homes.

                  https://www.quinovic.co.nz/rentals/

                  Earlier today Quinovic sent out letters to tenants saying they would be served breach notices if they fell behind in rent and it could see a termination of the tenency.

                  This is, in their own words, the largest specialist property management company in NZ.

                  Your assertion there are just a few bad apples in the landlord community is completely wrong.

                  • RedLogix

                    There is no story here. Quinovic are letting their tenants know that they will still be required to issue a 14-day non-payment of rent as required by insurance companies. It's not an eviction notice.

                    What is being made clear is that not paying rent without contacting the manager or landlord and making an arrangement, is still going to result eventually an eviction.

                    • Sabine

                      good grief, did you bother to actually read t MS post about who we are all socialists now? Did you see the Tweet in his post? Did you see Andrew Littles response to it?

                      Do you realise that this is because this Scum of the earth

                      IS threatening their tenants with evictions shall they fall short of two weeks rent during the 4 weeks shutdown?

                      They are not offering a lower rate

                      They are not offering some extended payment terms,

                      THEY ARE OFFERING EVICTION!

                      good grief.

                    • RedLogix

                      IS threatening their tenants with evictions shall they fall short of two weeks rent during the 4 weeks shutdown?

                      Most insurance policies (ours included) now require that we issue a notice for non-payment of rent after 14 days. It is not the same as an eviction.

                      They also have a long standing 'no arrears' policy, which I think is a pretty common policy across the industry. And TBH it's a good policy, while we were managing our tenants directly, whenever we let a tenant get behind it never ended well. So 14 day arrears notices are still relevant, if nothing else they are a necessary notification that the tenant needs to act and communicate why that they cannot pay the usual rent.

                      Neither me nor my agent have any rational interest in losing reliable tenants, therefore we have every reason to come to a negotiated agreement with them and the bank. But I still expect tenants to pay the agreed rent.

                      The mistake Quinovic seem to have made is to have not grasped the full significance of the new 'no evictions for six months' policy and implied that they could evict when they could not. Clearly they've gotten this aspect wrong. I'd expect them to correct it pronto.

                    • RedBaronCV

                      I am not kind enough to think that Quinovic "made a mistake " like the Warehouse " made a mistake" in thinking they could stay open –

                      They are pushing for as much as they can get and don't care who they distress or endanger in the process – they think the rules don't apply to them.

                      If someone further down made a mistake like that then they would be out on their ear or alternatively if they think those are the rules then they are clearly not up to the job and therefore do not need the large salary.

                • RedBaronCV

                  RL as to reversing the process – could it not be that landlords go to the bank and see if they are eligible for say interest only – then they/agent communicate with tenants ( all the relevant attachments links etc included) ask if they have had an income drop (maybe Winz letter ) or email from employer, and an indication of the rental drop ( bank principal repayment amount) and this is then passed backwards to the bank.

                  Alternatively the banks could advise the principal repayment drop and this could simply be passed on by law to tenants for a few weeks nothing else needed. If properties are owned outright – debt free – then a backstop % drop cuts in. Okay there are circumstances where there might need to be further negotiation but it might help slow the Quinovics of the world down.

                  • RedLogix

                    I think I follow that. Everyone here has options; tenants and or their employers can access a reasonable benefit, landlords can access mortgage holidays, the banks capitalisation has been underwritten by the govt.

                    It should all work out fine if everyone communicates. The crucial point that's lost in all the outrage is that Quinovic's primary point is that this crisis is not an excuse to simply stop paying all rent, not inform anyone, and expect there will be no consequences.

                    Keep in mind that as a landlord the mortgage is not the only or even largest cost I have. Insurance, rates and management fees are all fixed costs that I cannot stop paying without consequences.

                    • RedBaronCV

                      I certainly get the point that that if say the CEO of big company happens to be renting then they can't just stop paying.

                      But I really really get Sabine's point :

                      The govt has negotiated with the banks on behalf of mortgage holders a deal which will be basically slam dunk – if the banks don't do it then a bit of complaining and they will be – and they have a government guarantee.

                      But there are no rules about pass through.

                      The users of property who pay leases and rents have no backstop government rules for them.

                      Small businesses and tenants, have the joy of trying – if they even know where the information is and can understand it – of negotiating with a huge range of owners and supplying heaps of personal information (and there is plenty of prior information that some landlords are incredibly intrusive) to try to get some relief from their burdens while they are struggling with low or suddenly diminished income plus other bills or maybe loans. And you can bet that a good number will try not to pass all of the benefit through.

                      And if Quinovics attitude (Z+++) is any indication then this will not be easy.

                      And shouldn't the process for relief for landlord mortgages start at the user of the property? No point in subsidising the landlord of the CEO.

            • RedBaronCV 5.2.1.1.1.4

              Just as a complete aside why does the tribunal not suggest that landlords get in flatmate to help with their expenses rather than harass their tenants.

    • Sabine 5.3

      I have been asking this question now for weeks.

      But i guess we can only have socialism for the very rich, well for the 'solvent' ones. The rest can die in a ditch. Silently of course, so as to not upset the kinder, gentler, polite society.

  6. DS 6

    Never mind socialism, we might actually end up reverting to Muldoonism (at least in economics), depending on how things pan out:

    https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/robs-revenge-rebuilding-fortress-new-zealand/

    No migration and a return to interventionist pre-1984 measures? Winston probably can't believe his eyes.

  7. RedLogix 7

    A superb data visualisation from ABC

  8. aj 8

    Every time I see a new visualisation, and I'm aware of the power of exponential growth, the staggering numbers are still amazing

  9. greywarshark 9

    Seth Meyer Mar.25/20 See about 14. 30 mins where he talks about Denmark I think giving people 90% of salaries while the don't work or some such outrageous commie idea. /sarc!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5C9vpaG4k

    Trump Wants to Reopen America as Coronavirus Pandemic Accelerates: A Closer Look

    • RedBaronCV 9.1

      If I understood it correctly I liked what Denmark did. Firms could basically put employees in the "fridge". They cannot be sacked – don't know for how long this period lasts – and so long as they are not working then the govt funds an amount of the costs. Firms can then get them out when they need them again.

      I'd add a few extra conditions re the salaries of the the unsubsidised workers to drag them down into line.

    • Sabine 10.1

      and these will be the same people that can apply for the mortgage holiday. Go figure.

      • mike 10.1.1

        i think alot landlords are insolvent they bought these houses at stupid prices to start with and thats the cause of high rents

        • pat 10.1.1.1

          and the banks will not save insolvent businesses….the largesse will be directed at those with the capacity to recover

          financial triage

          • Sabine 10.1.1.1.1

            2008 redux + steroids + meth

            bail out the banks

            bail out the real estate vultures

            bail out big business

            let everyone else fail

            pretend to be kinder and gentler and do as little as you can get away with.

            i however am very happy to know that "People" like Gareth Morgan, Bob Jones, Barfoot n Thompson, et al all are being bailed out as the deserving 'people' they are via wage subsidies, mortgage holidays, while the tax payer gets a hand ful of nothing and is will be forced to pay for the bail outs of these illustrious people who are actively and very successfully avoiding to paying taxes. Also ain't it nice that the government can negotiate on behalf of these poor dears with the bank, while you and me and everyone else is left to bargain on their own behalf.

            What ever happened to the Union Spirit of the Labour Party? Oh, we too poor?

            Socialism for all, Yeah, Right Tui.

            Also, no we are not all in the same boat, a great many of us are left to try to hold on to some driftwood until the cold gets us.

            That's not triage, that is shoveling public wealth up the arses of the obscenly rich. Its stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

            • pat 10.1.1.1.1.1

              or alternatively it could be viewed as (attempting to) save the system as it is the only one we currently have

              The bail outs are (and will) occurring much further down the chain than just those named but will not be total just as they will not be at the top…..there are going to be casualties big and small

              It IS triage in the short term….the theft is in the future

              • Sabine

                you can't save the system when you have nigh on 30% + unemployemnt.

                The government has a choice, it can bail out the very rich and let everyone else die on 350 – 580 $ for twelve weeks and then force them to go on the benefits or do the reverse.

                But we propped this system up in 2008 and now barely 12 years later we gonna do it again?

                And no strings attached. Nothing. Like, if you apply for a mortgage holiday (because you are a business with 250.000 + and no more then 80 million turnover) then you can not threaten your tenants with eviction, heck you will have to reduce the rent for the next 6 month by 50%. Or something, but instead these loans that the banks will hand to the richest in this country will be government guaranteed up to 80%.

                so not only is this government doing fuck all for you or for me long term (most of us will be insolvent and bankrupt in the third week of the shut down simply because we can not service our cost of living) but we are going to pay the bad loans of these businesses if they falter later. and they will falter because not one of them will use the loans to service their debts, but rather to buy up what little wealth the citizens of this country still have.

                and why do i believe this? Because we did the same thing in 2008.

                and the first thing the new government in 2008 did was raise GST on all of us, and pass a really big ‘stimulus trickle down’ tax cuts for the very rich.

                • pat

                  triage by its very nature is short term…..what occurs after the emergency is where the debate will be.

                  and yes you are correct that after the 2008 crisis the opportunity was not taken which makes it more likely it will be this time IMO….that is not to say the adopted solution will be perfect but I suspect it will be very different than what occurred then

                  • Sabine

                    this disease will be with us for at least 18 month.

                    the best we can hope is to isolate it with sporadic lock downs, constant testing and hopefully an antiviral and a vaccine at some stage.

                    So no this is not short lived. and you still have no given any reason why the people that were bailed out in 2008 (and forclosed on everyone who did not get a bail out) will do better now that they get the rest of the public purse in 2019.

                    Oh, because is Jacinda rather then Sir John? History, read it, and understand that it is repeating itself because we are still doing the same thing again and again and again, for the same reason. Because we don't want to learn from the past.

                    • pat

                      How long this lasts is unknown as is what will occur post crisis with regard to resource distribution but what history has shown is that we adapt…it may not be immediately apparent but virus aside much of what people are concerned about has happened before…the radical transformation of the NZ economy in the eighties (and into the 90s) produced many of the same uncertainties and while I wouldnt recommend it as a fun time, we managed…..those older people I have talked to about the Great Depression say much the same….'we managed'.

                    • Sabine

                      actually no it is not unknown. the 18 month time frame for a vaccine has been given by a few people know,

                      It’s for these reasons that taking a vaccine candidate all the way to regulatory approval typically takes a decade or more, and why President Trump sowed confusion when, at a meeting at the White House on 2 March, he pressed for a vaccine to be ready by the US elections in November – an impossible deadline.

                      Like most vaccinologists, I don’t think this vaccine will be ready before 18 months,”

                      says Annelies Wilder-Smith, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. That’s already extremely fast, and it assumes there will be no hitches.

                      so unless you actually have a vaccine that will work you will have sporadic flare ups.

                      Yes, they managed, did you look at some of the pictures on how they managed? Selling the children? Prostitution? Penny Dancers? Homeless in Hoovervilles? yeah, do you want to manage that way? And please keep in mind that they did not have to live with a re-occuring lung disease that can kill a fairly healthy person within 10 days and less, and they did also not have a need for social distancing so could actully live 10 to a room with everyone sleeping in one bed

                    • pat

                      "Yes, they managed, did you look at some of the pictures on how they managed? Selling the children? Prostitution? Penny Dancers? Homeless in Hoovervilles? yeah, do you want to manage that way?"

                      None of the people I have spoken to managed that way….although I do believe my great grandmother was a prostitute pre Depression

                    • Sabine

                      @ Pat

                      you might like to have a look here to see how NZ managed.

                      http://sites.tepapa.govt.nz/sliceofheaven/web/html/greatdepression-2.html

                    • pat

                      I will add it to the eyewitness accounts already related to me

                      “These desperate times set the scene for change”

                      and the 1935 Labour Gov and the creation of NZs welfare system…..and my mothers favourite uncle died on one of those work relief schemes

              • RedBaronCV

                It may be the only one we have at the moment but that doesn't mean it can't be modified to be fairer.

                With some small exceptions I can't see any swinging wage cuts at the top .

                Where are they??

                Salaries in the millions are the norm in a lot of these large companies. For many of them the top part of the payroll & directors fees dwarf tax paid, dividends paid if they are a public company, salaries to the rest of the staff and the job security is excellent.

                Labour need to grow a spine and insist that any large entity getting the payroll bailouts dumps hard on the top salaries ( could use a GINI measurement). Smaller entities and owner operators should also face constraints around shareholder remuneration whether it is by salary or dividends – for many this is not of course an issue as they simply earn something reasonable.

    • Muttonbird 10.2

      Ugg. That made me ill.

      Councils and governments all over the world still refuse to collect this data.

  10. Ad 11

    We won't be 'foxhole socialists' for long if our rates continue to track faster and higher than Australia's.

    We're heading for 500 cases without a blink and the rate is now close to vertical.

    Hong Kong has a population of 7.4 million and is plateauing at about 400 cases.

    Singapore 5.9 million and 630 cases

    Australia 25 millions a 2,300 cases so far.

    You can call it socialism you can call it stone

    You can call your next of kin

    'Cause your ass is gone

    It's a dark twist of fate but all this governments' public debted largess is about the same proportionally to the US public debted largess.

    Jacinda, this had better work.

    • Muttonbird 11.1

      What more would you do?

      We in NZ of course have a very high proportion of returnees per capita and many of them came in very late.

      You didn’t mention that in your little statistical analysis.

      • Ad 11.1.1

        So did Britain, Hong Kong and many others.

        I like Prime Minister Ardern as a communicator, but this is her biggest defence+finance+policy challenge she's faced, and at her invitation we must hold this government to their results …

        … not their excuses.

    • RedLogix 11.2

      Dr Tedros assured us for the whole of Feb there was no need for travel controls. In the meantime Russia closed it's borders with China on Jan 28th and Singapore on Feb 1st.

      Basically we were encouraged to waste almost 2 months of precious time. On this I'm furious … an ICC case seems appropriate to me.

      • Ad 11.2.1

        It's definitely wayyy way too early to get cocky about systemic change or socialism or Overton windows or whatever.

        By the financial measures the U.S. Senate has taken today , they look a bunch more socialist than we do.

        This government could easily get eaten in 8 weeks if this goes as pear-shaped as its tracking.

        • RedLogix 11.2.1.1

          Time delay. That's the thing I wrote about about three weeks back, and it's what buggers everyone conceptually on this. It will take at another 7 – 14 days before today's control action starts to show any impact on the numbers at all.

          This kind of pure time delay is relatively rare in nature, so we don't intuitively understand how difficult it is to control accurately. Very easy to under or over react.

          • Ad 11.2.1.1.1

            Yes our Prime Minister has been repeating the same point for some time now as well. I'm struggling to get my head around it myself.

            • RedLogix 11.2.1.1.1.1

              Great Australian article on Ardern. You may like it 🙂

              The time delay thing is quite fascinating. I've probably tuned several thousand process loops in my career; most normal loops where the natural risetime dominates I can tune in a few minutes, maybe an hour if they're particularly slow or there is an integrator like a big tank involved in the process.

              But where pure delay time dominates it can take days to get it right. (Pure delay is also frequently called 'dead time' … but that some how seems the wrong term to use in this instance devil)

    • Sabine 11.3

      Australia just closed the border between Queensland and New South Wales. First time ever since 1918.

      And how much is Oz testing?

      this might be interesting to read…..

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/germany-coronavirus-death-rate/2020/03/24/76ce18e4-6d05-11ea-a156-0048b62cdb51_story.html

      For weeks, virologists here have been asked a persistent question: Why, compared to other countries, are so few of the Germans who are diagnosed with the coronavirus dying?

      In Italy, 9.5 percent of the people who have tested positive for the virus have succumbed to covid-19, according to data compiled at Johns Hopkins University. In France, the rate is 4.3 percent. But in Germany, it’s 0.4 percent.

      The biggest reason for the difference, infectious disease experts say, is Germany’s work in the early days of its outbreak to track, test and contain infection clusters. That means Germany has a truer picture of the size of its outbreak than places that test only the obviously symptomatic, most seriously ill or highest-risk patients.

  11. Adam Ash 12

    While the responses have 'socialist' undertones, they are also pragmatic from a 'capitalist' perspective. We should recall that, during the last Great Depression, those towns in NZ which instituted some useful support for their destitute citizens did not have any riots, while those towns which opted to let the unemployed go hungry had riots and all sorts of civil strife.
    The amount of support provided is always a delicate balance between what financial and social support the state (we the people) can afford, versus the potential downside of wide-spread civil misery and unrest.
    Naturally these responses are seeing some redistribution of wealth, but since there are very few winners in this mess, it is more likely that the necessary finds will be found by borrowing against the future, rather than by doing a Robin Hood and trying to take from the few remaining 'rich folk' to give to the grateful growing hordes of a hungry proletariat

    • Sabine 12.1

      we can never ever tax the rich. Now that would give all the suits in parliament a sad, as with their salaries in New Zealand they would be and should be considered 'rich' and after all they do want to be employable after their stint in politics.

      So no, all the bail outs need to come from the public purse, all the bank loans need to be government guaranteed (not even Kiwi Saver is government guaranteed!) and no taxes shall be raised other then maybe GST ……..

      Cause the rich are deserving and the poor are just lazy and need to negotiate with all their suppliers and financial advisers. 🙂

  12. Adam Ash 13

    A wee bit touchy there Sabine?

    'Members of parliament usually earn between $160,000 and $180,000 a year. Ministers can earn between $250,000 and $300,000. The Prime Minister's salary is set at $470,000'

    Frankly I doubt that you or I would do their jobs for all the tea in China. Rich; they ain't. Deserving of every penny; they are.

    • Sabine 13.1

      That in NZ is rich.

      you know which job i don't want to do right now?

      Nurse, on shit wage with a student loan.

      Junior doctor, with a shit wage on a student loan.

      did these guys at get at least their student loans cancelled by this government?

      And yeah, i am fucking pissed.

      This labour government is doing what i expect of National.

      Jesus they can't even legislate 'NO EFFN EVICTIONS during a pandemic, but they can guarantee loans to real estate vultures.

      The friggin Kiwi Saver is not government guaranteed, but should the rich default on their loans because they again over leveraged then you and I tax payer will have to pay up? That is National Party policy, but then maybe Labour is just National, but kinder and gentler when they screw us over. You know add a condom and some lube.

      • Sabine 13.1.1

        and this job,

        janitor and cleaner at a hospital any hospital in NZ. On minimum wage with flimsy protection because we don't have equipment for all because our underfunded health system never gets the money it needs in the best of all circumstances.

        so my sympathy is not with the PM, she will be a very wealthy women who will never ever need anything in her life. and the same counts for her posse of empty suits.

    • RedBaronCV 13.2

      And doesn't the head of the defence force and the head cop get more than the prime minister along with a large bunch of CEO's of councils ?

      Didn't Fonterra have 117 people or some thing on over a $1m salary? You do realise that Airnz has a solid bunch of people who are over $1m some of whom have taken a token cut but the rest of the bunch who are firing staff lining up for handouts and cancelling dividends left right & centre in stock exchange notices aren't affecting themselves 1 iota.

      Did you see that the Rugby Union was trying to work out what sort of wage subsidy they could get?

      Whether or not we could do those jobs they are "rich" compared to $30k a year and worrying about whether you will be able to pay the rent. And there are plenty of worse jobs with minimal income and higher risk that they would not be seen doing.

      As to earning every penny of it ? Do they only "earn" it in a crisis so every other year us suckers have been overpaying them ?

      Frankly the only person I have some respect for in this situation is that Ashley bloke – at least he is clear about what he is doing. The cop they had on after him today was a pile of waffle and the only lasting impression I got was that as we are all now under "house arrest" it was fine for him to talk to all of us as if we are harbouring major criminal intentions.Most of us are serious adults and know why we are staying at home. Apparently some 93% of thee country think it is a good idea so there is no need to patronise us.

      Be nice to see Graant pulling his finger out

  13. The Biggest Fish 14

    Come on Mickey, Im all for critising the downsides of capitalism and the right. But how about less petty pointscoring and more positive commentary around the great job our government is doing. It is great to see that we can actually get agreement between all our politicians on a number of issues during this tough time. Case in point the emergency bills passed last night.

    • Ad 14.1

      There are two ways out of this. Either we crash and burn. Or we help each other, minimise the effects, and learn to live our lives differently so that we are more resilient in the future.

      The second option sounds a lot better.

      But dare I say it, this sounds a bit like socialism to me."

      The person who wrote that didn't choose the nom de plume Mickey Savage for nothing. If you want I can start quoting you passages out of The Sugarbag Years because this crash is faster and deeper than either 1987 or 1979.

      Mickey is hardly calling for the rise of the Spartacists, or the overthrow of the Battleship Potempkin, or the cutting down of the Waitangi flagpole.

      If you wanted to politicise the situation, you'd point out that the state could have been much stronger in this crisis with more cash and resource if the previous National government hadn't deprived us all by:

      – Selling off 49% of our electricity generators

      – Running our hospitals and medical staff into the ground

      – Lowering taxes

      – Selling off whole suburbs of public housing, and

      – Weakened NZSuperfund

      Imagine how much better we could have responded now, if those pathetic pricks in National had actually done something useful.

      Also National failed to form new financial institutions that are helping us all now. Unlike the previous Labour government, which formed Kiwibank, NZSuper, and Kiwisaver.

      There is going to be no shortage of blame that ought to go around. In the meaintime, we can count our lucky stars that this Labour-led government has plenty of responses, and hasn't even got to its May budget yet – where there will be a lot more.

  14. RedBaronCV 15

    Are the banks and the tenancy tribunals telling landlords to get a flatmate so they can pay the mortgage.

  15. bill 16

    Socialist you say?

    Hell, even a moderate social democrat is getting taken out at the knees and silenced by corporate media and the corporatists who control the US political party that claims to be notionally left.

    Throwing trillions of dollars at the banks has bi-partisan support, while the crumbs going elsewhere are political afterthoughts to be argued over. Nuff said?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdUfPcrlujc

    Meanwhile, here in NZ, money is not being given directly to workers, but rather, is being passed through employers, who we all know, would never try to play silly buggers, and will ensure each and every worker who was on their payroll receives their full due in a seamless fashion.

    And those of us in NZ who had to shop week by week before this pandemic still have to shop for necessities week by week. To date, unemployed people have received not a brass farthing in addition to pre-pandemic weekly payments. It's beyond me that no-one even saw fit to double up on benefits and make a payment in advance so people like me could make at least some effort to lay in some provisions.

    I guess many middle class people, having laid in provisions, are now in the happy position of not needing to go anywhere near a supermarket.

  16. Craig H 17

    This has exposed a lot of issues with the current economic system – no slack due to Just In Time and Lean, a lot of interdependence between economies which causes things to come to a grinding halt when a particular country stops being able to manufacture anything, and the apparent failure of monetarism and supply side economics to keep things moving. There are also obvious issues with a reliance on international tourism.

  17. Observer Tokoroa 18

    The Present Government has ample Powers.

    As such, it should inform the Wealthy Businesses that it will Confiscate their entire Stock and caBoodle including all its Finances and share holdings- if the Business fails to maintain the finances of small businesses. and their Staff.

    The owners and directors of the Business will be sent to prison for very lengthy terms.

    The Money handed out by Grant Robertson should always go directly to the worker and beneficiary, and then afterwards, to the owner of the primary Business.

    For the last 30 years, the NewZealand workforce has been steadily ripped off by Corporate and Manipulative Theft. To such a point that only very wealthy people can own a house or afford Rent.

    If small businesses underpay staff, they will also find a place in Prison. Their Business Confiscated. Farmers should carefully note that the habit of Farm Staff Underpaying is Violence.

    • Incognito 18.1

      The last two paragraphs are hyperbole. You seem to be on a mission of Prison & Punishment. Please stop this.

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    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    7 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    10 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    24 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 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
    2 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
    2 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
    2 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days 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
    6 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
    7 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
    8 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
    22 hours 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
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