Category: Social Issues
This election campaign has not only been notable for the dirty politics of Hager and Dotcom, but for the many myths that are touted as fact. Child poverty is a case in point. It is used by those on the left to justify higher taxes and a bloated government
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.
Decisions loom on two politically motivated warrant of fitness schemes for our 480,000 rental properties, both of which could make housing less available and more expensive to the poorest people in New Zealand.
It is with great sadness that I must take exception to the Pope’s views on economics and business. His hostility to capitalism, shared by the Church of England, is tragically misplaced.
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.
Authored by Jonathon Boston and Simon Chapple, Child Poverty in New Zealand was published on June 18, 2014. Two major reasons for child poverty are presented: Child poverty is a result of inadequate benefits, and Child poverty is the result of unemployment.
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.
There is a significant problem with the data on home-ownership. There are too many gaps in the questions asked in the 2013 Census for us to be certain about any recent trends in home-ownership rates.
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 2013 Census figures show that overseas-born New Zealand residents now represent 23.6 per cent of the country’s total population, compared with 21.8 per cent in the 2006 Census and 18.7 per cent in the 2001 Census.
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