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The Government’s finances are in very good shape

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:55 am, December 17th, 2020 - 66 comments

The Government’s finances are in remarkably good shape. Who would have predicted that dealing properly with a global pandemic would have had better results for the economy than timidly dealing with it and trying to ensure that economic activity continued? But by international levels our Government debt is already low and maybe now is the time to spend on vital areas such as poverty, climate change and the housing crisis.

How can NZ incomes be lifted to match housing costs?

Written By: weka - Date published: 10:37 am, December 12th, 2020 - 68 comments

Not a vague let’s raise wages and benefits explanation, but an in-depth, number crunching, evidence-driven explanation. Where is it?

Tranquillum

Written By: Incognito - Date published: 7:28 pm, December 6th, 2020 - 134 comments

Don’t expect a jellyfish to grow a spine, they just bob along on the current and keep moving, gently, slowly, kindly.

National’s gonna National

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:25 am, December 2nd, 2020 - 73 comments

On two issues, pill testing at music festivals and tax changes to address the housing crisis, National yesterday indicated that it will do what conservative parties do and oppose any meaningful change.

The Speech From The Throne

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:35 am, November 27th, 2020 - 21 comments

I’m sure one needs a particular depth of political nerdiness to give a flying fig about such things, but since I am one of those, these are my highlights from the speech from the throne to Parliament this week.

No Right Turn: the obvious question

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:05 am, November 23rd, 2020 - 20 comments

One in four property speculators aren’t paying the bright-line tax.

Time’s up Labour

Written By: weka - Date published: 4:50 pm, November 20th, 2020 - 114 comments

It’s not possible to resolve New Zealand’s housing and poverty crises from within a neoliberal frame. Change is going to have to be driven from outside of parliament.

Capitalism’s end game

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:07 am, November 13th, 2020 - 145 comments

In Aotearoa New Zealand we are facing a new crisis. Not Covid, although the recent case of community spread is deeply concerning. The crisis is the value of houses.

Blood sucking leeches blame young for blood supply crisis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:48 am, November 3rd, 2020 - 118 comments

The Property Investor Federation’s executive officer has expressed the opinion that every time a first home buyer buys a house it makes the housing crisis worse.

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

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:34 am, October 23rd, 2020 - 32 comments

We don’t have a government like the Labour government that formed in 1935.

NZ election 2020: Labour win is a watershed moment in the country’s history

Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 12:27 am, October 20th, 2020 - 47 comments

The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.

Landlord lobby group hopes National Government will ditch warm flat requirement

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:49 am, September 7th, 2020 - 56 comments

The NZ Property Investors Federation has proposed to its members they should hold off on making flats warmer and drier just in case there is a change of government.

What progressive housing policy for renters looks like

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:05 am, September 4th, 2020 - 17 comments

Currently your politicians do NOT represent people who rent. But you all have a choice to vote for solutions that do!

Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government: Style over substance or a guiding light for progressive politics?

Written By: nickkelly - Date published: 8:42 am, August 10th, 2020 - 33 comments

Critics have dismissed the Jacinda Ardern government as being one of style over substance. This is unfair given the challenges this government has faced and the policy achievements it has had. However, it is a government that has much work to do if it wins a second term. And its over-reliance on Jacinda as party leader is a huge strategic risk, especially when the governments front bench is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be lightweight.

New Zealand for the win!

Written By: weka - Date published: 7:05 am, June 25th, 2020 - 107 comments

$100,000 a year in capital gains.

What the Greens did

Written By: weka - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 15th, 2020 - 39 comments

A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.

His work here is not yet done

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 am, May 1st, 2020 - 71 comments

Former Prime Minister John Key has said that under current conditions employers are going to sack 20 per cent of their workers even if the company is doing well and that employers should never waste a crisis.

Are the Vultures Already Circling Above?

Written By: Incognito - Date published: 7:00 am, April 14th, 2020 - 116 comments

We cannot go back to business as usual after the lockdown but can we shape the way things will be for the greater good?

No Right Turn: Ghost homes should be used to house the homeless

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:05 am, March 14th, 2020 - 100 comments

Idiot/Savant writes about empty houses and the homeless.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out

Written By: weka - Date published: 12:27 pm, March 7th, 2020 - 163 comments

Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act have a few landlords threatening to quit the business.

The real cause of New Zealand’s failing housing system

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 3:16 pm, February 23rd, 2020 - 139 comments

Simon Wilson has set out in a Herald article historical data which suggests that the cause of the housing crisis can be dated back to decisions made generations ago. But Steven Joyce thinks that the cure is actually the cause of the problem.

National is not counting its chickens for granted

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:47 am, February 17th, 2020 - 27 comments

National will announce today that tax cuts will be a major policy plank for the next election.

Housing consents at highest level since 1974

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:03 am, January 15th, 2020 - 20 comments

Statistics New Zealand has confirmed that in the last year the number of new housing consents was the highest since 1974.

Labour Conference

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:10 am, November 30th, 2019 - 97 comments

It’s a weird moment for the Labour Party at Conference this weekend.

Goodbye shitty landlords

Written By: weka - Date published: 10:27 am, November 18th, 2019 - 97 comments

The only way out of the housing crisis is for the state to mandate the right to a home.

Dog whistling Housing Corp tenants

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:35 pm, October 25th, 2019 - 29 comments

National has announced that it will put an end to a “state house for life” if it gets into power next year. But its rationale is not only cruel but based on a faulty understanding of the local reality.

The Government’s Economic Development Plan

Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:35 am, September 30th, 2019 - 15 comments

Last week the government launched its Economic Development Plan, arguably late but with lots of useful initiatives.

The Greens on the need for rental law changes

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:15 am, September 26th, 2019 - 11 comments

Marama Davidson: renting has to be a valid way of life.

Fertile land is priceless

Written By: weka - Date published: 7:45 am, August 15th, 2019 - 220 comments

As Labour moves to protect prime food growing land around our cities, we should be having a wider discussion about food security in New Zealand.

Do poor people and women exist in right wing economics land?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:30 am, August 13th, 2019 - 125 comments

David Seymour has written a critique of Deborah Russel’s review of the hard right economic tome “Economics in one lesson”. And totally missed the point of what she was saying.