Why Can’t The Ministry of Works Just Build Houses Like 1935?

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, October 23rd, 2020 - 32 comments
Categories: housing, labour, Social issues, uncategorized - Tags:

We don’t have a government like the Labour government that formed in 1935. And back in the day the Ministry of Works were peripherally involved at best.

So while plenty of lefties prefer to soak their marching feet in a warm steaming vat of nostalgia, let’s take a moment to separate out what the Ministry of Works was really like, and where all the new housing under Labour really came from.

For those who believe that there was a time in which the levers of the state were strong enough and reflexive enough to be operated like a steam shovel or a moniac machine, in fact in early 1935 the Ministry of Works that was very weak, next to useless, and close to closing down entirely. In the 1920s it was renowned as an organisation widely respected for its technical expertise. But by 1931 it was down to 5.5 million Pounds, in 1932 cut to 1.2 million Pounds, and any future works for Relief purposes only. All railway construction had stopped by October 1931 with the exception of a bit in Stratford and Wellington’s Tawa deviation. All electricity generation construction had stopped except Waitaki.

From June 1931 the MoW cut wages for all labourers. This was also right across the board: Premier Forbes had made big cuts to all public servants in 1930, with the National Expenditure Act imposed cuts on all staff members between 5 and 12.5%. os putting workers at MoW on “relief” rates meant a general reduction of 20% for them. Yup: austerity.

The National Expenditure Commission made itself really clear to all including MoW: “We are definitely of the opinion that the time has arrived for a halt to be called in public works expenditure. We consider that a return to the contract system of carrying out public works is of prime importance, and that the Public Works Department should be reduced to a staff of Advising and Inspecting Engineers, as was intended when the Departments was first inaugurated.”

By 1932 the head of the Ministry of Works was getting roasted in the Legislative Council for the way the MoW was even running its work camps. The Hon. C. J. Carrington was quoted as saying of the GM Mr Furkert that:

It has become evident to many observers that the department has become top-heavy, and it is suffering from what might be called departmental blight … There are many young engineers whose efforts are stultified through the fact that everything has to go through the under-secretary, who, by the aid of an electronic button and a rubber stamp, can control the department”.

Furkert “retired” a few months later.

By that point in 1932 the department’s activities consisted almost entirely of back country roads, bush felling, stumping and logging, marram grass planting, hedge cutting, and clearing boulders from farms. It had been reduced completely to being a relief agency soaking up the unemployed with something – anything – to do. You can get a lot of this historical detail in Rosslyn Noonan’s history of the Ministry of Works “By Design” (1975).

So for the next few years what the MoW did was organise relief camps. By mid-1934 things began to pick up and they started surveying out new aerodromes in places like Wigram and Westport. In 1935 construction was underway on 30 of them. But not housing.

Yes, a lot changed for the Ministry of Works in mid-1935 with the election of Labour and Bob Semple as the new Minister of Public Works all the way through to the end of 1949. He was an improver, not a revolutionary in any sense.

But we have to be really clear how deep a low point the Department was in, and all the steps that had to be taken to get it even functioning. His first step was to abolish relief work, reclassify all Public Works Department jobs as standard works, so everyone got a big pay increase. By 1936 he had an agreement with the New Zealand Workers Union that they would get a 40 hour week, 5 days a week, and some holidays. And compulsory unionism on all public works projects. Again that wasn’t particularly radical – it was endorsing the cooperative contract system as it had operated for 40 years previously. But it was reversing austerity.

You get a sense of the stuff they then started to attempt if you look at the Mohaka Viaduct job. In that link there’s a nice little historical film as well.

Another typically hard example of their work is the construction of the Homer Tunnel in Milford Sound. To give you an idea of what that meant: vehicle access stopped 18 kilometers away, the site was over 1,000 metres above sea level, surrounded by mountains 2,300 metres high, subject to heavy snowfall, picking and blasting a tunnel that sloped hard down into granite.

The first public car didn’t go through until 1954: yes, 19 years.

By the end of 1936 as a result of improvement in conditions of employment on public works projects, complaints were being received from the private sector that the department was attracting workmen who had jobs elsewhere. That’s the spirit team.

So other than preparing sites for construction, the Ministry of Works didn’t build masses of housing.

No, this was under the auspices of the Housing Construction Department, in turn controlled by the State Advances Corporation. Now, this was a corporation that got the power of the market working with the state. It’s widely believed that this housing programme earned James Fletcher the founder of Fletcher Construction a fortune. In fact Fletchers initially incurred heavy losses on the contract as a result of tendering too low and were saved from financial collapse only by the Government’s willingness to guarantee a company overdraft. You can get a lot more detail on James Fletchers’ role in housing in this era in Brian Easton’s The Nationbuilders (2001).

Here’s a quick potted timeline of our state housing.

It was also from 1936 after a survey of New Zealand houses that it was found that 15% were classed as unsatisfactory or totally unsatisfactory. In the 1935 election Labour had highlighted the grim details of the central Wellington slums and corrugated-iron shanties. But its manifesto didn’t talk much about housing construction and concentrated mostly on protecting existing mortgage holders and protecting tenants.

But when they got their feet properly under the desk, what the Labour government did to improve housing was a complete social revolution, and W. B. Sutch’s Poverty and Progress in New Zealand (1941) has as good a summary as any concerning their effect on housing demand and supply:

As many more people were now getting a living wage and those who had deliayed marriage could now afford to get married, the demand for houses increased rapidly, so much so that the Government had to set up two state factories to increase the rate of supply of joinery. The quality of materials in the houses was improved and New Zealand sources were, as much as possible, used for these materials and the necessary equipment. This in turn assisted New Zealand industries to provide kitchen stoves, baths, roof tiles, wallboard, paint, fibrous plaster, and bricks; and the housing contracts meant continuous jobs for contractors and building tradesmen in place of alternations of unemployment and employment.” (p. 239).

Private building for those wishing to own their own home was encouraged by expanding lending by the State Advances Corporation. For every one house built in 1933, three were built in 1937. By 1940 2 out of every 3 houses were built by the state and a substantial part of private housing was financed by the state, and the builders were really getting the hang of quick builds.

The real magic occurred between the new government led by Michael Savage with an urge to eradicate poverty, and the intelectual drive to make markets in housing and in finance work more efficiently, spearheaded by the Secretary to the Treasury Bernard Ashwin who was a fiscal and political conservative and the permanent undersecretary for housing Arthur Tyndall who got a lot of the institutional mechanisms really cracking.

The real test for housing quality was totally egalitarian. Bill Sutch writes:

Ministers decided what they and their wives would like for a house would seem a reasonable standard for New Zealanders as a whole.” In doing so they set a floor for quality for all new Zealand-built houses, right there.

This full social effort is nicely rounded off by by Margaret McLure in her history of social welfare in New Zealand ‘A Civilized Community” (1998):

The vision of the state’s responsibility for the welfare of the many and security for all was paralleled in the anti-class ethos with which Labour advocated for the design of state houses which ‘should not look like “workers dwellings”‘, and health benefits which should provide ‘a service for ourselves and for our equals’. Labour therefore planned a co-ordinated range of schemes in education, health, pensions and employment to achieve a ‘pervasive’ welfare that would symbolise citizenship and unite all citizens.”

While it wasn’t the Ministry of Works that got New Zealand housing rolling out the new nappy suburbs, there’s no doubt Labour invented new institutions that enabled a lot of market actors to work together to achieve all of this.

Do excuse my own slide into sickly nostalgia for a moment, but this Archives NZ film shows the difference that government made in housing for that young nation:

Aye, that was a government.

32 comments on “Why Can’t The Ministry of Works Just Build Houses Like 1935? ”

  1. dv 1

    Thank you Ad. That is a fascinating story.

    The final line is still relevant now

    We know we can plan the future away from the concussion of the past.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2

    Another centrist apologia. A lot of this history is known to those that do some research. The private sector was well involved in the original state house builds too–unlike the recent Kiwi build where they basically went on strike, wanting to concentrate on higher margin builds.

    We, as in the NZ people, can still rewrite the end of “the housing story” by kicking speculators, developers, exploitative neo rentiers, building suppliers and Real Estate bludgers in the nuts. How?–with a massive state house and apartment build, with tiny houses for homeless, and relocatable emergency housing. Such housing scattered from one end of the country to the other would over a decade incrementally start to deal with supply, home ownership rates, and exploitative rents.

    If the private sector play hard ball again–cut them out until they decide to participate, or not–import flatpacks from off shore suppliers who have been doing this for years, set up publicly owned modular building units, and throttle back the raw log exports.

    New gen state housing could be tenancy effectively for life, rent to own, or even transferable between tenants for varying periods for vacation, study or employment purposes.

    • Brendan 2.1

      Nat voter here.

      I agree, Special Housing Areas(Nats) and Kiwibuild(Labour) did not disrupt the industry, so house prices kept going up. It is no wonder that developers look at higher end homes – more profit – when land is so expensive they follow the incentives.

      I agree with playing hard ball – but unless you are able to disrupt the industry, the councils, and everyone else don't bother – Labour will just look stupid – just as it did when Jacinda helped a rich doctor* move into a Kiwibuild house and then the policy totally failed a few years later.

      *He was not a rich doctor – but to the Joe Public he may as well have been.

      And the only way you will disrupt housing supply is to have real plans which are realistic which will deliver a huge housing surge to the NZ market. And then do them.

      PS: Make sure to sell the secondary benifits of housing – right wing voters are much more happy with public spending when it saves them money in the long term.

      • gsays 2.1.1

        Hi Brendan, your PS resonates although most Kiwi seem to be too cheap and mean to invest well now and save money in the long run e.g. housing quality and crowding contributing to 3rd world diseases, focussing on a wellness system rather than waiting for things to go wrong healthwise.

    • greywarshark 2.2

      TM Your comment shows the way. And Ad your extensive housing post is a treasure and I would imagine that there haven't been many that have covered the times and the activities in such detail It sounds factual to me, and if anyone does pick up something wrong, please comment and give the correct version, quoting the mistake. Because after that Ad's should go into national archives. It's a tipping-point matter for the country's direction, the citizens and of course for Labour.

      And TM – tiny houses. People are getting very energised about them, how to build them efficiently, the best effective way of planning for small space, and decor. There is a well-spring of creativity bursting forward about them and many people would welcome a start of life in a tiny house, and also later on in life post-children, or larger property, or uncongenial neighbours, of a regular house in the 'burbs.

  3. Brendan 3

    NAT voter here.

    Do it.

    If you put your mind to it you will succeed. But you have to be committed. No wavering. Top leadership. You start yesterday. Fire bad ministers who don't achieve.

    And cut out fluff.

    Want garage? Not included. Private sector will do it, in fact already consented.

    And set price point to cheap. ( No rentals, owner occupied only), cheap leasehold.

    If Singapore can do it, New Zealand can do it like we used to.

    Now stop reading and build us some houses. 10'000 a year please.

  4. Adrian 4

    It was the start of a huge number of iconic NZ companies from Sleepyhead to Watties in that era. But it still took 4 years to get up to speed.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1

      People do have a tendency to miss/ignore the physical constraints that comes with an economy.

  5. Stuart Munro 5

    If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.

    The moral and the physical forces are inextricably linked, and cannot be separated like a base metal from its ore ~ Clausewitz.

    But ineffectual neoliberals should pause and think: if you cannot do the job, what possible excuse is there for employing you?

    Those who want to remain employed will find a way.

  6. RedLogix 6

    Another reason why it worked was that the demographics of NZ was a lot younger. I can't find a population pyramid for 1935 but here it is for 1950 and it's fairly easy to project back from there.

    You can see that at this time NZ, like most other similar nations in the world, was dominated by young adults who are in their growth/consumption phase of their life. They're busy forming families and building their lives; it's spend, spend spend.

    If you look at the same data, less than 100,000 people were over the age of 65, barely a quarter of them made it over 70. In those days ordinary people in old age were either looked after by their families, or died in dire poverty. The idea that somehow you had to invest in order to provide 20 – 30 years of independent income to survive old age was decades into the future. Housing as an investment was not yet a thing.

    Another reason why it worked was that it while MoW built the homes, it was largely local councils who provided the subdivided land. Not only was there still lots of easy land to subdivide, councils could fund the works very cheaply and rely on future rates income to repay the interest costs into the future. Essentially local councils were investing into their own future, and land costs could be smoothed out over time.

    It was only in the 90's that govt prevented them from doing this, giving the private sector a monopoly on the subdivision game. And between 1935 and 2020 engineering standards have dramatically lifted, and the land is generally more challenging to work with. Planning and consent processes are a lot more complex and time consuming. All of these impose real costs onto private developers who have no option but to load these directly onto the first-time buyer of the sections.

    Instead of the section price being some small fraction of a new build, it's often now the equal or even dominant cost.

    While it wasn’t the Ministry of Works that got New Zealand housing rolling out the new nappy suburbs, there’s no doubt Labour invented new institutions that enabled a lot of market actors to work together to achieve all of this.

    Indeed. Markets respond to incentives, and that Labour govt believed in it's ability to impose them with vigour and vision.

    • Draco T Bastard 6.1

      In those days ordinary people in old age were either looked after by their families, or died in dire poverty.

      Actually, NZ has had a government retirement income since the 1890s. Sure, it wasn't great, but it did prevent dire poverty for most.

      The idea that somehow you had to invest in order to provide 20 – 30 years of independent income to survive old age was decades into the future.

      That was brought about by the failed monetary systems being used. And that investment for a retirement income is now causing massive poverty to the young of the country.

      It was only in the 90's that govt prevented them from doing this, giving the private sector a monopoly on the subdivision game. And between 1935 and 2020 engineering standards have dramatically lifted, and the land is generally more challenging to work with.

      Despite the increase in population and all the investment there hasn't been an increase in land.

      • RedLogix 6.1.1

        That was brought about by the failed monetary systems being used

        Actually the main driver has been increasing life expectancies and mobile families no longer all living in the same locations. Instead of retired people living maybe 5 – 10 years in the care of close relatives, we're now facing 20 -30 years of non-working life, often with our now much smaller families living too far away to care for us.

        This has created an unprecedented challenge to societies everywhere; and we've been adapting. The way we're doing it is that the now smaller generation of working age adults are paying higher rents or mortgages, but can look forward to inheriting substantially larger fractions of their parent's estates, or leveraging their capital in various ways.

        Like most evolved responses to changing circumstance, it's a less than 'ideal' muddle, but it works for the time being. If NZ wants to reduce it's unbalanced dependence on housing to fund retirement age incomes, then it needs to start thinking about alternatives.

        • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.1

          Actually the main driver has been increasing life expectancies and mobile families no longer all living in the same locations.

          Nope, failed monetary policies that saw money as limited.

          Instead of retired people living maybe 5 – 10 years in the care of close relatives, we're now facing 20 -30 years of non-working life, often with our now much smaller families living too far away to care for us.

          That may be true but it doesn't need investment by those people to ensure that they have enough money to live on. Again, failed monetary policies that, through ownership, induce poverty for the many to support a few through bludging.

          …then it needs to start thinking about alternatives.

          The alternative removes capitalism. That is, of course, necessary so as to bring consumption into line with reality so that we don’t destroy the environment that sustains us as well as to eliminate poverty.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7

    From June 1931 the MoW cut wages for all labourers. This was also right across the board: Premier Forbes had made big cuts to all public servants in 1930, with the National Expenditure Act imposed cuts on all staff members between 5 and 12.5%. os putting workers at MoW on “relief” rates meant a general reduction of 20% for them. Yup: austerity.

    And you're surprised by this why?

    It was, after all, a National government in power and they really haven't changed their spots even if they did change their name.

    By the end of 1936 as a result of improvement in conditions of employment on public works projects, complaints were being received from the private sector that the department was attracting workmen who had jobs elsewhere.

    Exactly like what they were doing in the 1970s and 80s then. Although, by then they were also blaming the government for the unemployed being able to choose a lifestyle of poverty rather than being forced to work to be in poverty instead. Unfortunately, the 4th Labour government listened and we ended up with Rogernomics and increasing poverty ever since.

    The quality of materials in the houses was improved and New Zealand sources were, as much as possible, used for these materials and the necessary equipment. This in turn assisted New Zealand industries to provide kitchen stoves, baths, roof tiles, wallboard, paint, fibrous plaster, and bricks; and the housing contracts meant continuous jobs for contractors and building tradesmen in place of alternations of unemployment and employment.

    Yes, it's amazing what happens through flow on effects when the government pushes to develop the economy rather than leaving it to the whims of the capitalists.

    While it wasn’t the Ministry of Works that got New Zealand housing rolling out the new nappy suburbs, there’s no doubt Labour invented new institutions that enabled a lot of market actors to work together to achieve all of this.

    And its also well known that they used printed money to do it.

    That is the big part. That Labour at the time understood a fiat currency and that the government spending would boost the entire economy and leave no loans with interest to be repaid.

    The Bretton Woods agreement after WWII really screwed that up for all nations as it pegged all currencies to the US$.

  8. UncookedSelachimorpha 8

    " … There are many young engineers whose efforts are stultified through the fact that everything has to go through the under-secretary, who, by the aid of an electronic button and a rubber stamp, can control the department "

    I hope this isn't making the argument that the private sector is any better. Having worked in very large corporates – I can testify they can have every bit as much stultifying bueracracy and inefficiency as any government department.

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1

      You should probably look at who you're quoting there:

      The Hon. C. J. Carrington was quoted as saying of the GM Mr Furkert that:

      Who was part of the very-right-wing government at the time – the government that saw in the Great Depression and then deepened it in NZ. They were the fore-runners to National and they were fully against what Labour did in 1935.

      The idea that the private sector is better goes all the way back to Adam Smith.

      But the research is coming in loud and clear:

      By now privatization has been thoroughly scrutinized – there are numerous studies, surveys and, indeed, surveys of surveys of its effects. The consistent conclusion: there is no evidence of greater efficiency.2 So, the best outcome one can hope for is that private-sector ownership or involvement is no worse than what the public sector provides – hardly a turn-up for the books. The largest study of the efficiency of privatized companies looked at all European companies privatized during 1980-2009. It compared their performance with companies that remained public and with their own past performance as public companies. The result? The privatized companies performed worse than those that remained public and continued to do so for up to 10 years after privatization.

      My bold.

      • mikesh 8.1.1

        The idea that the private sector is better goes all the way back to Adam Smith.

        Competition was considered the key to efficiency, but this required so many firms that no individual firm could influence prices; price would then be determined by "supply and demand". These days, however, as has been pointed out by economists such as Joan Robinson and J K Galbraith, markets are mostly dominated by oligopolies, where competition is not a major factor in performance.

        This means that government agencies, which were never subject to competition, are really similar to private firms in that respect.

        • Draco T Bastard 8.1.1.1

          So many firms that competition was impractical and, in fact, impossible.

          Then there's the fact that competition is highly inefficient as each firm would need its own bureaucracy on top of which the society would then need more regulations and the ability to enforce those regulations.

          The reason why competition was considered optimal was because it would, through profit, push firms to be better than the competition while also decreasing profits thus proving the dead-weight loss of profit. This contradiction is considered normal and part of the self-regulation of capitalism but as large firms dominate the market instead of many small firms with none having dominance then the assumed self-regulation doesn't apply either.

          Practically we end up with an oligopoly that morphs into a plutocracy as the politicians listen to the capitalists while ignoring everyone else.

          A capitalist free-market as envisioned by Adam Smith was always an impossibility and definitely not the panacea to society's ills as we've come to believe. Considering his obviously socialist bent one wonders how he could believe that capitalism was the answer but I suppose he saw it as a better alternative than the aristocracy that he saw around him at the time:

          As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.

          Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality.

          And now we're at the point where we need to find a replacement for capitalism as its proven no better than the aristocracy that preceded it.

    • Pat 8.2

      lol…the 'tax' is private or public, never non existent

  9. Mark 9

    State housing is mostly a failure in NZ.

    I never understood why they built two bedroom bungalows with garages.

    wouldn't it make more sense to build long houses to facilitate thousands of years of tribal living?

    A positive side effect would be the reduction of domestic violence for a start.

    In my view All prior NZ governments have been failing Māori and Polynesian people for too long by forcing white people lifestyles and solutions onto them.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1

      I never understood why they built two bedroom bungalows with garages.

      Because that's what we were told was the dream of every Kiwi and we believed it.

      From what I can make out though, that was a lie and what the government was really after was higher profits for the capitalists and such inefficiency as detached housing makes higher profits as it forces higher consumption.

      … white people lifestyles and solutions onto them.

      They weren't always white people solutions either.

    • Pat 9.2

      That mistake may be being remedied…the financing of building on Maori land could facilitate the provision of self determined needs, something that was obviously neglected in the past.

      It is such an obvious solution its hard to understand why it has taken so long.

  10. Brigid 10

    And just as it was in New Zealand post WW2, a form of Keynesian economics was practised in Australia.

    This is a white paper, published in 1945, titled FULL EMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA (The 1945 White Paper). It's an interesting read.

    http://www.billmitchell.org/White_Paper_1945/index.html

  11. greywarshark 11

    Meanwhile some Councils have no desire to assist people into housing with reviews of their regulations to make them more appropriate.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/429066/converted-shed-not-fit-for-human-habitation-now-certified-after-ruling

  12. NZJester 12

    When we had a Ministry of Woks the roads where better maintained and it was way cheaper to build new ones.

    When they disbanded the MOE to save costs, the costs actully went up and we got less for paying more.

  13. greywarshark 13

    This is a really good big article in Saturdays The Nelson Mail Oct.24/20. It's title is 'The Corolla answer to home-building' (drawing on the effect that mass production of a good car model like the Toyota Corolla I think.) https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20201024/282144998838112

    About prefabricated housing being imported from Japan – one house to two containers. It's a way to break through our lack of everything to get houses built here. The wood particularly, which our feckless government has sold off to private companies. This of course follows the outward direction of their gaze – exports are all, internal is with resources that are limited or not able to be exported.

    It could be good for the country, if we reduced our imported cars and our expenditure flowing this country for them, and spent that money on importing houses instead. That would result in a neutral balance on our country's trading with Japan.

    One thing though, the Asian hornet. In exporting from Asia we will eventually get a few of these ferocious insects into this country. They have made their way to the USA which is trying to keep tabs on them. I did a comment on them with a number of links but it was too much for TS system or something. They are nasty, much worse than wasps, and like to eat honey and bumble bees. The bees in Asia have found ways to kill individual hornets but it is a learned action, and in new countries the bees would be helpless. And people get hospitalised, and can't work outside, and schools can't play outside if there is a nest near. So our scientists who have been working on wasps need to have a cohort who are interacting with a number of nations looking into this horrible problem. Whether we import houses from Japan, the research needs to happen ahead of the flying fury!

    Other links on prefabricated houses in NZ etc.

    https://www.westpac.co.nz/rednews/property/the-ins-and-outs-of-buying-a-prefab-home/

    https://www.latitudehomes.co.nz/build-options/

    https://www.geniushomes.co.nz/

    https://fraemohs.co.nz/kitset-homes/

    Interesting – https://webecoist.momtastic.com/2013/04/29/build-your-own-eco-house-cheap-10-diy-inspirations/

    • Phillip ure 13.1

      That last link you posted has some very cool stuff…luv that container home..and the floating one…(I'll pass on the hobbit one..)…one hopes that labour will come up with options to fund such low-cost solutions to the housing mess….

    • Gabby 13.2

      So it would be much simpler and more direct for the government to secure local timber supplies by purchasing forests and mills, or shovel readying some new ones. Robbo'd like that.

  14. Scott 14

    Didn't see any mention of John A Lee.

    Learnt a lot from reading Erik Olssen's biography of him last year.

    The housing program of the first Lab government was undermined by the same things that have undermined this one.

    Managing the expectations of the private sector, both the boys Flecther and the smaller building suppliers, along with the different factions of Labour caucus representing different electorates who were leaning on the Labour executive, coupled with a bureaucracy who knew all the things that couldn't be done and none of the things that could be.

    And as Housing Under Secretary John A Lee just smashed through the lot of them.

    He hated Flecthers and thought we would be better off without them but he got them out of the way first so he could then deliver for the smaller suppliers, providing them with an opportunity – the housing program was delivered in spite of Fletchers, not because of.

    And he hated the Unionist and intellectual-pacifist arms of the party who never wanted to get anything done.

    The first Labour Government was a coalition of interests, not just a socialist dream, led by, ultimately, a very centrist Christianised expression of Social Democracy.

    Whether what Lee did then is possible now I don't know, but we should recognise that we are comparing Twyford and co to an exception within that government rather than Labours achievement begot from their innate purpose of social justice.

    If you want to do what Lee did then you gonna have to take them head-on and defeat them with share bloody-mindedness, possibly putting yourself, or your PM, close to the grave

    If my take doesn't ring a chord with people, then surely we should be in agreement that looking at the success of Labours housing program in the 30s deserves some discussion of Lee

    • greywarshark 14.1

      Great comment Scott. I have some books about Lee which I was getting round to – faster now. And good points that ring true.

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    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
    6 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
    6 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
    7 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
    8 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
    9 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
    11 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
    23 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
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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 ...
    1 day 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
    4 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
    4 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
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    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
    4 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
    6 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
    7 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
    20 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 ...
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    4 days ago
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