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- www.rnz.co.nz Government wants to 'flood the market' to make houses more affordable - how will that work?
Here's what the Housing Minister is planning - and how it might work.
> Housing Minister Chris Bishop has told real estate agents that the government wants to "flood the market" with opportunities for housing development. > > It has agreed to a range of changes that would free up land for housing, and, the government hopes, make housing more affordable.
My rough summary of proposal:
- Most cities will be required to have zoned enough land for 30 years of housing demand all the time
- These cities won't be allowed to determine urban/rural boundaries
- Must intensify, especially around major public transport routes. If they decide not to for character reasons, then equivalent capacity must be opened up in another area
- cafes, dairies, etc (mixed use) must be allowed in residential areas
- appartments not allowed to have minimum floor area or requirement for balcony set by council
- councils already intensifying under a previous agreement (MDRS) will keep this, but if they change it then they have to move to using new rules
Let me know if I've got something wrong!
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Tests for students from first year of school announced
> The government has announced mandatory reading, writing and maths tests for primary schools. > > From next year, schools will be required to test the ability of five year olds to link sounds and letters at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling. > > From years 3-8, schools would have to test children's reading, writing and maths twice a year using either e-asTTle or Progressive Assessment Tests (PATs).
- www.rnz.co.nz Former Nelson mayor Rachel Reese confronted by terrifying intruder who ‘claimed’ her house
The intruder was charged with a low-level offence and he was convicted and discharged. But, that wasn't the end of it.
>The 41-year-old man was initially charged with unlawfully being in a building and on 1 March, he appeared in the Nelson District Court before a community magistrate who convicted and discharged him.
Uhh, what the fuck? How did anyone think letting this person go was a reasonable thing to do?
- www.rnz.co.nz 'Just shame, shame,' - Former MP Golriz Ghahraman speaks in first interview
In her first in-depth interview after her arrest for shoplifting, she tells John Campbell it was an act of "self-sabotage."
Former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman has given her first in-depth interview after her arrest for shoplifting and subsequent resignation from Parliament, telling 1News it was an act of "self-sabotage."
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Desriny Church need some public response of shame
www.nzherald.co.nz Drag storytime cancelled after 'threats' and opposition from Destiny ChurchA city councillor said people had 'threatened our team'.
so I just read this and I'm absolutely disgusted. honestly who do these pricks think they are?? how do we show them this is not to be tolerated in a welcoming safe public space, or anywhere for that matter! fucking bigots spreading fear and hate and misogynistic bullshit. just fuck these guys we need to get an exclusion order against them from being within 100m of a library. we need to stand up to these bullying cunts how? writing to Rachel Boyack hardly vents my spleen enough thanks for listening 🤬🤬🤬🤬
- www.rnz.co.nz Green MP Darleen Tana OK’d migrant on fruit-picker visa for job in husband’s bike shop
Green MP Darleen Tana has been stood down since initial allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband's bike business. Now a worker's messages raise fresh questions.
Paying people in cash, hiring workers not allowed to work for them on the visa they have, paying people late, there's a lot of dodgy stuff here actually.
- www.rnz.co.nz Public Service Minister Nicola Willis defends job cuts before select committee
Public Service Minister Nicola Willis was grilled at the governance and administration select committee today about the thousands of job losses.
What got me the most was:
> "I am really comfortable with asking government agencies to consider, are there ways that you can innovate to deliver the same level of service while taking less taxpayer dollars to do it."
> "In fact, that should be how we conduct ourselves every day, not just in the lead up to a Budget"
Honestly, we've been doing that every year for decades, now!
- www.rnz.co.nz 'Miracle' needed for NZDF plane to get Christopher Luxon home - Judith Collins
The official plane the prime minister was travelling won't be fixed in time, the Defence Minister says.
So two points here, first, didn't this dingus promise to take commercial flights to save money anyway?
Second, this is getting embarrassing for NZ that this keeps happening.
- thekaka.substack.com Climate policy axed in broad daylight, while taxpayer liabilities grow in the dark
Cathrine Dyer & Bernard Hickey chat about the week's big climate news, including the coalition government's removal of farming from the ETS and its aggressive restarting of oil and gas drilling
- www.rnz.co.nz 'We can't buy our way out ' Chris Bishop on infrastructure funding and user-pays
Chris Bishop says 'we can't buy our way out of our infrastructure deficit' and need new ways to pay for highways.
> The infrastructure minister wants more private sector financing, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs), to pay for major projects. > > In a speech to Local government New Zealand on Thursday night, Chris Bishop said he wanted government grant funding to become a last resort for councils.
> "Infrastructure has to be paid for and at the moment, it's largely paid for by the Crown - which is taxpayers - or it's paid for by ratepayers. And what we're saying is that user-pays has a role to play here as well. Things like water metres, things like congestion pricing in our major cities and things like toll roads.
- www.rnz.co.nz Boot camps for young offenders are back – the psychological evidence they don't work never went away
Analysis - Evidence shows the link between punishment, discipline and behaviour changes are weak at best, psychology experts say.
> Analysis - "Boot camps" for young people who commit serious offending are coming back. The coalition government has promised to pilot "military-style academies" by the middle of the year - despite a wealth of international and New Zealand evidence that boot camps do not reduce reoffending. > > It has been encouraging to see this evidence receive extensive media coverage and expert analysis. Less encouraging, however, has been the minister for children's reported rejection of expert advice that the boot camp model is flawed and ineffective. > > So, why do we keep returning to interventions that don't work? For boot camps, there are at least three possible explanations. > > First, they appeal to politicians who want to appear tough on crime, while also saying they are encouraging rehabilitation options. > > Second, boot camps seem to have a strong appeal to common sense: people want to believe structure and military discipline can turn around young people's lives, and this belief outweighs contradicting evidence. > > Third, boot camps can take different forms, so evidence of their ineffectiveness can be avoided by claiming, as the minister has, that improvements will be made this time. > > This seems unlikely, however, when the core features that characterise boot camps - strong discipline in particular - are a main reason they don't work. To understand why, we need to look at the psychology of punishment and behaviour change.
- www.rnz.co.nz Public Service Commission to conduct inquiry after Te Pāti Māori data allegations
The Public Service Commission's been directed to investigate after allegations Te Pāti Māori misused data during the 2023 election campaign.
>A group of former workers at Manurewa Marae said private data from census forms was photocopied and entered into a database they believe was then used to target voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.
How did anyone think this was even remotely acceptable?
- www.rnz.co.nz ACT leader David Seymour brushes off claims party has a 'culture of fear'
The reported complaints are not representative of the party as a whole, ACT leader says.
> ACT leader David Seymour is playing down reported complaints from volunteers about his party's culture. > > Last week, Stuff reported claims of volunteers leaving the party, expressing no confidence in the board and raising concerns about the party's treatment of women. > > The reports said sources close to the party accused its campaign leadership of creating a "culture of fear". > > But leader David Seymour has brushed off the reports, saying they are not representative of ACT as a whole.
- m.youtube.com MARCH FOR NATURE LIVE STREAM
We're marching for the forests, the ocean, climate and the unique wildlife of Aotearoa. And we march for democracy and Ti Tiriti.The fast track bill is the m...
- www.newshub.co.nz Major change Govt wants to make to workers' sick leave
It would include changing annual leave from an entitlement system to an accrual system and pro-rating sick leave.
Cutting part time workers' sick leave entitlements from the 10 days everyone currently gets to being pro-rated based on how much they work.
*** Also covid vaccines will apparently no longer be free for most people after this month.*** EDIT: this was circulating yesterday, but isn't true so that's good.
And this during the biggest covid wave in 18 months, where hospitals and schools are having to close or reduce capacity because so many staff are sick. What a bunch of ghouls.
- www.rnz.co.nz Official admits new school lunch model unlikely to be as nutritious due to cost
A principal says she has been told the meals won't meet the same nutrition standards because of cost .
> A Ministry of Education official has admitted the alternative model for the government's free school lunch programme is unlikely to be as nutritious as the previous programme, RNZ understands. > > The comments came in a webinar hui between the Ministry of Education and intermediate and high school principals, earlier this month. > > Principal Sheree Garton, from Levin Intermediate School, asked a question about protein and carbohydrates required in the new meals - and was told the meals would not have the same nutrition standards and would be very unlikely to meet the same nutritional quality as the previous meals because of the cost - though nutrition would be a factor in looking for a new major supplier.
- www.rnz.co.nz Live: Budget Day Hīkoi heads to Parliament as thousands gather around country
"We are protesting not for ourselves alone, but for our tūpuna, our mokopuna," say protesters among those gathering around the country for a Budget Day Hīkoi.
> Budget Day 'carkoi' protests delayed traffic on Auckland and Tauranga motorways ahead of a hikoi on Parliament. > > Protesters earlier took the roads to oppose government policies toward Māori, 'activating' for today's National Māori Action Day - and caused traffic delays around the country. > > It's the second time Māori have mobilised on a national scale with the first hīkoi taking place last December. > > The national protest coincides with today's budget announcements.
- www.rnz.co.nz Investors may see biggest impact of Reserve Bank's lending limits
Explainer - One property economist says investors in particular may be underestimating what's coming.
> The Reserve Bank says that from 1 July, banks will only be able to lend about 20 percent of their new lending to owner-occupier borrowers with a debt-to-income ratio of more than six. That means, if your household earns a combined $100,000, your loan will be limited to $600,000. > > Banks will only be able to lend 20 percent of lending to investors with a DTI of more than seven. > > The rules won't apply to Kainga Ora loans, new builds or refinances. > > At the same time, the bank will loosen the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions so that banks can lend 20 percent of their lending to owner-occupiers with deposits of less than 20 percent, from 15 percent at the moment, and 5 percent of lending can be done to property investors with equity or deposits of less than 30 percent, compared to 35 percent at present,
- www.rnz.co.nz Government's mining proposal an attack on NZ environment - Forest and Bird
The plan could harm Aotearoa's biodiversity and clean green image, environmental group says.
- www.rnz.co.nz Fast-track laws, parliamentary urgency, Treaty tension, media retreat: warning signs for NZ's 'brittle' democracy
Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes.
I am saying this unironically.
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
- www.rnz.co.nz Sir John Key to partner with Chow brothers in property development firm
Former Prime Minister Sir John Key and his son Max are joining up with property developers and one-time brothel owners, John and Michael Chow.
Your tax dollars are going to John Key folks. This is how the privatisation of state housing is going.
- www.rnz.co.nz National MP David MacLeod may face police probe over undeclared donations - law professor
New Plymouth's David MacLeod says he made an inadvertent error in his failure to declare $178,000 of donations.
- www.rnz.co.nz New tech bill will allow consumers to share data
A bill designed to give consumers more control over their data will be introduced into Parliament tomorrow.
> A bill designed to give consumers more control over their data will be introduced into Parliament tomorrow, the minister of commerce and consumer affairs says. > > Andrew Bayly says the Consumer and Product Data Bill will allow consumers to share their data, which will in turn allow banks, insurance, power and telecommunication companies to compete with each other. > > Consumers would be able to compare products in real time, manage accounts across different providers simultaneously, and switch between providers seamlessly. > > He said it would include penalties of up to $5 million for misuse by companies, and up to $1m for an individual who fraudulently used it.
> The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it was expected to be introduced at the end of last year when the draft was released in June.
> The legislation will be applied gradually across the economy on a sector-by-sector basis, with banking the first sector to be designated.
> Scams have been increasing in number and complexity with consumers here losing an estimated $200m a year. > > Consumer NZ has said it would immediately prevent some scams, and had been in the United Kingdom for five years now.
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Greens hit out at ‘cruel’ coalition in State of the Planet speech
Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has used her first “State of the Planet” speech to accuse the coalition Government of privileging lobbyists and the wealthy, at the expense of workers’ health and the environment.
- www.rnz.co.nz Another 26,000 'will be unemployed' before peak reached
It's not just the public sector feeling the pain - and there is more to come across the country, economists say.
Surely all these people losing decent paying jobs will have no impact on the economy right? Definitely not a recession right?
- thespinoff.co.nz NZ First’s toilet bill is designed to outrage but that doesn’t mean we can ignore it
From big gay rainbows to toilet fines, the words of those in power matter.
The important thing to keep in mind is that there is a significant proportion of the population that wants this and is going to vote for right wing parties in order to stop the "trans agenda"
- newsroom.co.nz Jones’ undeclared dinner had two more mining industry attendees
Shane Jones’ ministerial diary will be updated to include a dinner with mining interests revealed in a Newsroom story
> Jones is a controversial force in the new Government, with his nakedly pro-mining stance criticised for being anti-environment. His meetings with industry heavyweights, including those in the commercial fishing sector, have led to accusations of conflicts of interest.
In one instance, Jones, also the Fisheries Minister, asked officials to develop a Cabinet paper on overhauling cameras on boats, after a request from a fishing boss who is one of his biggest campaign donors. Under the new Government, New Zealand has backed out of a proposal to restrict seamount trawling in the South Pacific.
- thespinoff.co.nz A record-breaking year for political donations is no cause for celebration
Big business is pouring eye-watering sums into parties on the political right. What is it getting in return?
- www.newstalkzb.co.nz Minister encourages DOC to use te reo Māori "everywhere and anywhere", despite Government position
Conservation Minister Tama Potaka is defending advice to the Department of Conservation to use te reo Māori “everywhere and anywhere”, despite contradictin
- www.1news.co.nz New Zealand votes in favour of UN Palestinian resolution
"This does not amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood," Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said.
"New Zealand will make a clear statement to the UN later this morning explaining its vote, indicating that while it supports enhancing Palestine's status at the UN, this does not amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Cowards.
- www.1news.co.nz NZ First tries to introduce controversial bathroom bill
If passed, the bill would introduce a fine "for anyone who uses a single-sex toilet and is not of the sex for which that toilet has been designated".
If there are any doubts this government is taking marching orders from the American right wing they can safely be put to bed.
- www.rnz.co.nz Job applications soar as public sector layoffs continue, data shows
There's been a 112 percent increase in applications for jobs at one recruiter - and a 179 percent jump in Auckland.
More than 4000 people have already been laid off as a result of the austerity measures imposed by the NACTF government.
- www.rnz.co.nz ACC proposes cutting more than 300 jobs
The cuts would be a 9 percent reduction in the Crown entity's total workforce.
More austerity for the government. Lucky for all the people who lose their jobs the government is going to make them go to seminars before they do on the benefit.
- www.rnz.co.nz Government to introduce compulsory work seminar for job-seeking beneficiaries
Beneficiaries looking for a job will have to attend a work seminar within two weeks of starting to receive welfare under new requirements.
I am sure this will be super effective and will not cost any money at all.
- www.rnz.co.nz Cabinet mulls creation of mega spy agency as FIANZ seeks 'serious rethink'
The agency, first floated after the Christchurch mosque attacks, is under "active consideration".
> A super security and intelligence agency recommended four years ago and said to be "not too far away" last August, is under "active consideration" by Cabinet.
> The number two recommendation of the 2020 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 2019 mosque attacks was to set up a national intelligence and security agency, or NISA, as a way to cut through the confusion and inaction exhibited between the layers of government agencies prior to the terror attacks.
> However, in a new report submitted to the government, FIANZ, far from being impatient, has called for caution. > > "Given the complexity and the changing global politics and eco-climate context, there needs to be a serious rethink on the form and function of the proposed but absolutely necessary NISA," it said in the 40-page report.
- www.rnz.co.nz Government considers removing election day voter enrolment
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says very few countries allow it, and New Zealand should consider changing the rules.
Add voter suppression to the list of disasters
- www.rnz.co.nz MP's comments 'bang on' despite negative response from other parties - Te Pāti Māori
Te Pāti Māori is standing by comments made by MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi which other parties have called inflammatory and offensive.
> In Parliament last Wednesday, Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said the government "will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori".
Tad hyperbolic, don't you think?
- www.rnz.co.nz Plans for permanent cycleway in Wellington suburb on hold
Wellington City Council have put plans to build a permanent cycleway in Brooklyn on hold after losing over half of its funding.
> Wellington City Council have put plans to build a permanent cycleway in Brooklyn on hold after losing over half of its funding. > Waka Kotahi was expected to fund 51 percent through the Transport Choices fund, however Transport Minister Simeon Brown confirmed there would be no funding for the project in December. > > There was also no mention of the Transport Choices programme or any alternatives in the draft Government Policy Statement in March. > > A trial bike lane was installed in 2021 through Waka Kotahi's Innovating Streets programme. > > "In the interim Brooklyn Connections continues to function as a successful cycleway," Hodgetts said.
- www.scoop.co.nz Israeli Ambassador To New Zealand’s Unchallenged On TVNZ Q+A Programme, Allowed To Spread Misinformation And Untruths | Scoop News
New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04).
what a disappointment. I really expected better from Jack.
- www.nzherald.co.nz OECD warns NZ Govt it shouldn’t borrow to pay for tax cuts
Organisation calls for a capital gains tax, better education and more competition.
Who is going to listen?