Category: imported_weekly
The threat of a compulsory warrant of fitness for rental housing should evoke the strongest possible response from property investors. They will be well aware that such a scheme would come at a considerable cost, which would not only drive up rents, but would force some property owners to sell. By increasing rents and reducing the availability of rental housing, this misguided policy would hurt the very families that the advocacy groups purport to want to help.
The July 3rd discharge without conviction of Korotangi Paki on charges of burglary, theft, and drink driving, on the grounds that he is the son of the Maori King, has caused widespread outrage.
In June, a subcommittee of the Auckland Council announced plans to make grieving families apply for permission to scatter their loved ones' ashes in public places. The new bylaw would have prevented ashes being scattered in cemeteries, parks, even beaches, unless a fee was paid and written approval obtained from the council or the Wahi Tapu Maori Komiti.
To the surprise of many, the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has begun attacking the free market, going so far as to declare it a “new tyranny”. But before you start thinking that here in New Zealand we are relatively immune from any such radical influence on public policy, you might consider the similarities between Pope Francis and David Cunliffe.
With the September 20 election less than three months away, and voters increasingly tuning into politics, we should expect to see a range of political advocacy groups promoting their causes. A particular target will be the 800,000 registered voters who failed to vote in 2011, since this voting bloc could affect the outcome of the election.
Housing is set to feature strongly in the forthcoming election campaign as a result of widespread concerns about home affordability and the so-called declining rate of home ownership. The problem is that both of these issues have become so highly politicised that it is difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. So, for the record, let’s set down some facts.
With net migration predicted to exceed 40,000 this year, immigration is shaping up to be a key election issue. The turnaround in migration numbers is not being caused by a blow-out in the number of non-New Zealanders entering the country, but rather by fewer Kiwis departing for Australia and more coming home.
The main political news over the last week was the formal announcement of the marriage of convenience between Hone Harawira’s Mana Party and Kim Dotcom’s Internet Party. The merger of a party based on a reserved Maori seat, that claims to represent disadvantaged Maori, with a party founded by a foreign multi-millionaire fraudster, reeks of hypocrisy.
Reforming the country's failing welfare system has been a priority for John Key’s Government. It was clear there was a serious problem with welfare when, during the boom years of 2004-07, 15 percent of employers found it difficult to fill basic jobs in labouring, production and transport, despite 10 percent of the working age population being on a benefit.
The Minister of Finance Bill English is clearly both determined and ambitious about National’s long term debt and spending reduction plans. He would like to see government debt reduced down to 10 to 20 percent of GDP by 2020 and government spending lowered to 25 percent of GDP in six or seven years time.
Loading ...
