The Official Aotearoa Politics Thread

Where goats go to escape
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Guy Smiley
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By all means, distract yourself with 'personalities' like Hoskins if that's your thing. There are other issues to look at if you're interested. A rare piece of hard hitting and focussed journalism here from Stuff addressing a major issue...

link
Thanks to PM Chris Hipkins’ reshuffle, transport minister Michael Wood is going places. Shame about the rest of us.

Transport in New Zealand – both public and private – is poked.
Climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated all these problems. But most predate the virus.

In part, they are due to chronic under-investment (higher taxes and road tolls are not popular policies).

But also, the way transport and its infrastructure is delivered and maintained is fragmented and dysfunctional.

Waka Kotahi, the land transport agency for which Wood is responsible, is currently one of the Government’s most problematic departments.

It is under fire because the road network is in a mess, and it can’t seem to deliver major projects on time or on budget. Even the ones it finishes have to be redone.

The agency also has a deserved reputation for being wasteful. From the $51 million squandered on the abandoned cycling and walking bridge project across Auckland’s Waitematā harbour, to the $70m-plus spent on the doomed light rail project.

Let’s Get Wellington Moving (which WK oversees with the local authorities) has spent $83 million - $47m on consultants - and delivered only a pedestrian crossing. In EIGHT YEARS. And the walkway cost an eye-watering $2.4m.

It also has one of the largest PR teams of a central government agency – at last count 88, more than three-quarters of which are earning more than $100,000. If only we paid bus drivers the same salaries as comms staff.

WK justify this by arguing it is necessary to communicate with the public – a responsibility in which they entirely failed last month by clocking off while motorways were flooding, causing widespread disruption.


Around $15m was allocated to an advertising campaign to make roads safer, but recently officials admitted their ‘zero’ target is unrealistic. It missed a target to build 100km of median barriers per year, managing just 13km last year.

Locally, things aren’t much better.

Councils with large urban centres are driving climate change policies to get people out of their cars and onto public transport.

The trouble is they are neither responsible for the network (in the hands of regional councils, other agencies and private operators), nor have successive Governments funded, nor allowed them to raise money to build, new infrastructure.

The result is resentful ratepayers whose daily grind is book-ended with frustration and stress, whether in their car or stranded at a bus stop or railway station.

This is not a result of any one party's policy platform. This is a mindset that rules NZ's political class... the fucked up philosophy of neo liberal economics and market dominated planning and thinking.

It's fucking failed.
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MoonBatto
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For those interested in the co-governance discussion there's a Chris Finlayson article in the latest Listener.


First 1/3 was useful and didn't enrage or scare me at all. After that it's all Labour bashing, who knows, he might be correct in blaming Labour for some of the current furor over co-governance.


I give it 6.5 out of ten.
Flockwitt
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Guy Smiley wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 9:45 pm
This is not a result of any one party's policy platform. This is a mindset that rules NZ's political class... the fucked up philosophy of neo liberal economics and market dominated planning and thinking.

It's fucking failed.
Perhaps better to say it's had its day? It could be argued that it served a purpose, it broke the shackles of what was accepted 'correct' thinking of the time which had gotten extremely hidebound. People are now aware that different approaches to problems exist. Now we should move on to a more pragmatic approach. We can easily look back over recent history and say what worked and what didn't work and not be afraid to admit mistakes. That's the crunch for the politicians - an opportunity to distance themselves from previous policies instead of constantly inventing rubbish to justify themselves or at best to deliberately obfuscate.
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Guy Smiley
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Flockwitt wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:01 am
Guy Smiley wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 9:45 pm
This is not a result of any one party's policy platform. This is a mindset that rules NZ's political class... the fucked up philosophy of neo liberal economics and market dominated planning and thinking.

It's fucking failed.
Perhaps better to say it's had its day? It could be argued that it served a purpose, it broke the shackles of what was accepted 'correct' thinking of the time which had gotten extremely hidebound. People are now aware that different approaches to problems exist. Now we should move on to a more pragmatic approach. We can easily look back over recent history and say what worked and what didn't work and not be afraid to admit mistakes. That's the crunch for the politicians - an opportunity to distance themselves from previous policies instead of constantly inventing rubbish to justify themselves or at best to deliberately obfuscate.
I get your position and you make a good point about pragmatic progression...

but I reserve my contempt for neoliberalism as a vehicle for massive generational wealth transfer that has blown mild inequality into a yawning chasm of difference and disadvantage. I don't have the knowledge or ability to see how that gets brought back into some form of healthy balance.

I do think that we're sitting at a point in history that demands a new approach and I day dreamed about this the other day. I'd like to see a multi party task group set up to determine policy directions for a 50 year span that could pave the way to an enshrined sort of 'national vision' for the country that takes major planning out of the hands of the election cycle.
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Ted.
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Guy Smiley wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:06 am
Flockwitt wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:01 am
Guy Smiley wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 9:45 pm
This is not a result of any one party's policy platform. This is a mindset that rules NZ's political class... the fucked up philosophy of neo liberal economics and market dominated planning and thinking.

It's fucking failed.
Perhaps better to say it's had its day? It could be argued that it served a purpose, it broke the shackles of what was accepted 'correct' thinking of the time which had gotten extremely hidebound. People are now aware that different approaches to problems exist. Now we should move on to a more pragmatic approach. We can easily look back over recent history and say what worked and what didn't work and not be afraid to admit mistakes. That's the crunch for the politicians - an opportunity to distance themselves from previous policies instead of constantly inventing rubbish to justify themselves or at best to deliberately obfuscate.
I get your position and you make a good point about pragmatic progression...

but I reserve my contempt for neoliberalism as a vehicle for massive generational wealth transfer that has blown mild inequality into a yawning chasm of difference and disadvantage. I don't have the knowledge or ability to see how that gets brought back into some form of healthy balance.

I do think that we're sitting at a point in history that demands a new approach and I day dreamed about this the other day. I'd like to see a multi party task group set up to determine policy directions for a 50 year span that could pave the way to an enshrined sort of 'national vision' for the country that takes major planning out of the hands of the election cycle.
Excellent idea. However, to stop meaningless grandstanding and make the planning a little more focused, I think your long-term planning needs to be put into milestone phases, something like 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 and 100 years, and so on. If 10 years is a bit too close for your taste, start at 15, and go up in 10 year increments.

We also need to stretch the election cycle out a bit more. Hopefully, it will encourage a bit more strategic thinking. Let's say 4 years, 6 months.
booji boy
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Jambanja wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 8:01 pm
Enzedder wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 7:27 pm Hosking cannot be such a misogynist to a male. I still laugh when he called Key "mate" during one of their love-ins - biased is his middle name.
He's still relentless in his questioning though, now I never heard any of his interviews with Jacinda, I only started listening post her refusal to go on his show (actually it was you going on about him that made me start listening) but did he actually say misogynistic things to her or did he just berate her like he does with everyone?
To answer you both. I don't think Hosking was necessarily being misogynistic towards Jacinda. He interviews other females like Megan Woods and although he grills them he is no worse than he is with male MPs. However I also heard the Jacinda interviews and in my opinion he went too far. He seemed to have a real personal antipathy towards Jacinda and instead of remaining professional in his interviews it seemed to become personal. After one particularly nasty interview I remember saying to my wife "I don't know why she bothers, why should she put up with that shit?"

Bear in mind this was at a time when Jacindamania was at it's peak, she was riding a wave of huge popularity and her approval rating was through the roof. She didn't need that shit and shortly afterwards she stopped appearing on his show. Instead she started appearing on hard hitting interview shows like Jono and Ben to fill the void.
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Jambanja
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booji boy wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:51 am
Jambanja wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 8:01 pm
Enzedder wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2023 7:27 pm Hosking cannot be such a misogynist to a male. I still laugh when he called Key "mate" during one of their love-ins - biased is his middle name.
He's still relentless in his questioning though, now I never heard any of his interviews with Jacinda, I only started listening post her refusal to go on his show (actually it was you going on about him that made me start listening) but did he actually say misogynistic things to her or did he just berate her like he does with everyone?
To answer you both. I don't think Hosking was necessarily being misogynistic towards Jacinda. He interviews other females like Megan Woods and although he grills them he is no worse than he is with male MPs. However I also heard the Jacinda interviews and in my opinion he went too far. He seemed to have a real personal antipathy towards Jacinda and instead of remaining professional in his interviews it seemed to become personal. After one particularly nasty interview I remember saying to my wife "I don't know why she bothers, why should she put up with that shit?"

Bear in mind this was at a time when Jacindamania was at it's peak, she was riding a wave of huge popularity and her approval rating was through the roof. She didn't need that shit and shortly afterwards she stopped appearing on his show. Instead she started appearing on hard hitting interview shows like Jono and Ben to fill the void.
Like I said, I never heard the Jacinda interviews, I just couldn’t imagine he would have got away with being misogynistic
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Auckman
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I heard him the other day crowing about how he outlasted Jacinda to one of his Nat bum chums. I reckon he detested that Jacinda’s personal polling at its peak was higher than for his hero John Key.
booji boy
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Auckman wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:02 pm I heard him the other day crowing about how he outlasted Jacinda to one of his Nat bum chums. I reckon he detested that Jacinda’s personal polling at its peak was higher than for his hero John Key.
Yeah I'm sure that's the reason. :roll:
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Gordon Bennett
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Interesting analysis from Bryce Edwards today:
Political Roundup: Luxon’s leadership under threat

The National Party will be desperate to avoid a repeat of the leadership musical chairs of 2020 when they rolled Simon Bridges as leader, replaced him with Todd Muller, only for Muller to step down after 53 days, leading to Judith Collins taking the party into the election.

But National will currently be considering whether a move needs to be made against leader Christopher Luxon, who continues to struggle and stumble. The party must be tempted to replace him with his high-performing deputy, Nicola Willis, who might be better able to take on Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

Panicked changes of leadership don’t generally project stability and unity to the public. However, proponents of a leadership change in National might well point to Labour changing from Andrew Little to Jacinda Ardern just seven weeks before the 2017 election, which turned out rather well.

Poor polls for National and Luxon

Luxon’s leadership simply isn’t working. He had a good year in 2022. He managed to unify the party, and provided a fresh contrast to Ardern. But that novelty appears to have faded fast, especially now that Ardern has left.

What’s more, although Luxon managed to significantly improve National’s polling in 2022, the improvements have stalled, and his personal poll ratings will be cause for alarm in the party.

All recent opinion polls have shown support for National declining. Yesterday’s Curia Research Poll showed National fell by nearly three points and Labour rose by the same amount, putting both major parties on 34 per cent.

Luxon’s preferred Prime Ministerial support has also declined in recent polls. But the more concerning result in the Curia poll was Luxon’s net favourability rating (the percentage of voters with a favourable opinion minus those with an unfavourable opinion). Luxon fell to -5 per cent, down from -1 in the previous month. In contrast, Hipkins’ net favourability was +27 per cent.

Other recent polls have had similar bad news for National. According to the last Newshub poll, while 53 per cent said they trusted Hipkins, only 37 per cent said the same for Luxon (with 44 per cent saying they actually distrusted Luxon). This is a serious problem because leaders who aren’t trusted struggle to win elections.

Luxon still stumbling and failing to respond to change

National Party insider Matthew Hooton recently wrote a paywalled column titled, “Don't rule out National leadership change before election”. He argues that “Luxon is very much struggling in the job”, and as a result “National should be very worried”. He suggests that Nicola Willis would do a much better job.

Although having an ugly leadership spill could be a “disaster” for National, Hooton says a carefully managed change could become a necessity if the polls continue to show Luxon is not working out: “If, three months hence, he is still struggling to connect and the polls are consistently suggesting National-Act will fall short of 61 seats then perhaps National will need to consider a sophisticated, managed leadership handover of the sort Labour has achieved.”

Luxon probably has less time to turn things around than Hooton suggests. If by Easter the polls have continued their slide for National and Luxon, there will be a determination to fix the problem. And the advantages of doing so sooner rather than later will be clear to National MPs – they won’t want to leave a change of leader until they are properly on the campaign trail.

National’s Hipkins problem

Confounding expectations, new prime minister Chris Hipkins has had an amazingly successful start, grabbing the agenda, and projecting his government as something new. He’s hardly put a foot wrong since being carefully placed into the role at the start of the year.

In contrast, commentators are describing Luxon as looking “flat-footed” in response to the arrival of Hipkins into the top job. And with his bonfire of reforms, Hipkins has been removing all the unpopular and distinctive policies that differentiated National from Labour.

Luxon had been doing really well for months, banging on about the cost of the living, and Ardern was on the back foot. Now, Hipkins has fully embraced economic issues, leaving National behind.

Until January, Luxon was also doing well with his strategy of appealing to a growing section of the public that was willing to support “Anyone But Ardern”. As Hooton argues, Luxon was running as the “Not Jacinda” candidate. But Hipkins has taken over that role. And he’s getting in first, rolling out a reversal of the things National said they would jettison.

So Luxon’s “Anyone But Labour” strategy is no longer working. He had previously banked on essentially sleepwalking to victory with a “small target strategy” of having so few policies or contentiously rightwing stances, that the public would vote National in by default to get rid of the Ardern-led administration.

Unfortunately for Luxon, the whole electoral landscape has now changed with Hipkins at the top. As Stuff political editor Luke Malpass explained in the weekend, “The problem with politics is that events – such as the shock resignation of a prime minister – require swift re-evaluation of strategies and plans.” But the National leader seems incapable of adjusting his strategy.

Similarly, on Friday Matthew Hooton wrote that “The National Party remains committed to its existing strategy despite the Prime Minister’s radical repositioning of Labour”.

Hooton complains that National under Luxon appears to just want to emulate John Key’s successful but empty 2008 election campaign that promised “ambition” and a “brighter future”. But Hooton says that in 2023 voters are furious about “empty sloganeering”, so this simply won’t work. Instead, voters want “substance”, and Hooton says Luxon “has said or done nothing so far to give voters confidence he has any.”

Herald political editor Claire Trevett has also written about how Luxon desperately needs to lift his game. She says, “It’s no longer enough for Luxon to rely on people getting sick of Labour or to roll out the same old lines he was using against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – that the Labour Government cannot deliver and is out of touch with New Zealanders’ concerns.”

She says that although Hipkins has appeared obviously hungry to win, “Luxon has not. He needs to change that, and he needs to change it fast.”

Luxon’s authenticity problem

Rightwing political columnist Damien Grant says the problem with Luxon is his lack of authenticity. Grant has painted a picture of a leader who will just do and say whatever he thinks Middle New Zealand wants him to, and ultimately the public doesn’t respect that. For example, “When Luxon masquerades on Halloween as a McDonald’s cashier, even at the store where he once worked, it does not ring true. That isn’t who he is now.”

Grant says the public would trust Luxon more if he stopped pretending to be something he isn’t: “The National leader appears to be reflecting back to us what he thinks we want to see. He assumes, or his handlers do, that Kiwis want a salt-of-the earth type with vaguely feminist views on rugby and who likes a beer and holidays in Te Puke. Maybe we do, but Luxon is not that guy, and we all know it.” Grant says, “The more we get to know him, the less we want him as Prime Minister.”

Claire Trevett also suggests Luxon is missing the mark in the way he presents himself, saying that he “primps his corporate credentials as an asset but also sounds like a corporate machine in doing so.”

The pressure is on for Luxon to step up

While Luxon’s recent performance has been mediocre and has seen him struggling for relevancy, unfortunately for him, he’s regularly outshone by Act leader David Seymour.

If he is to avoid being rolled, the National leader now needs to step up. His first opportunity to do so is today – with Parliament sitting for the first time this year.

Then on Sunday he is giving his long-promised state of the nation speech in Auckland. Expectations for substantial policy announcements are great. As Trevett writes, it “needs to be compelling.”

It will need to paint a full picture of what a National government would do about the cost-of-living crisis. Luxon has been doing well to highlight Labour’s shortcomings on this, but the time has come for him to outline his alternative approach.

Even in the short-term, the public needs to know what National is going to campaign on this year. Below is a leaked communication from inside National about what they have been planning as their key messages to voters in the campaign:

“National will deliver results so that all Kiwis get ahead, and New Zealand achieves its potential. In an unstable international environment, National will strengthen New Zealand’s economy so we can:
1) REDUCE THE COST OF LIVING
2) LIFT INCOMES FOR ALL
3) BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE FUTURE
4) RESTORE LAW AND ORDER
5) DELIVER BETTER FRONT LINE SERVICES
6) UNITE NEW ZEALAND / STOP THE DIVISION”

Without credible policies to accompany these talking points, they will read merely as platitudes.

At the moment, all the initiative is with Hipkins and Labour. Luxon needs to find some inspiration fast. A mediocre performance from Luxon will no longer cut it, and he is in danger of being only a few bad opinion polls away from Nicola Willis being elevated to the top job.
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Guy Smiley
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Luxon... the Black Hole of inspiration.
Gumboot
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Guy Smiley wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:02 pm Luxon... the Black Hole of inspiration.
Suxin?
Flockwitt
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Hipkins is having a bit of a honeymoon... I wouldn't be panicking quite yet in the National leadership circles.

Not that there isn't issues. Hipkins had the opportunity during Covid to connect to the NZ electoral voter in a way many MPs have never had the chance to. Hipkins is also on a fundamental level personable, without pretence or obvious inflated ego, he comes across as a guy just trying to do a job which is a great asset when faced against the ambitious CEO persona.
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Ted.
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Alt-right Conspiracy Theorists Pivot From Covid to Climate Change + the Extreme Left (basically alt-right conspiracists in tie-dye) and, racism. Ch Ch and North Canty get a brickbat once again.
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Guy Smiley
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Ted. wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:26 am Alt-right Conspiracy Theorists Pivot From Covid to Climate Change + the Extreme Left (basically alt-right conspiracists in tie-dye) and, racism. Ch Ch and North Canty get a brickbat once again.
just fuckwits. Embarrassing in that they're our fuckwits.


In other news.... house prices,

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/119 ... d-hundreds
House prices are now in full retreat throughout the country, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, with prices in parts of Auckland declining by more than $400,000 over the last year.

According to the REINZ's House Price Index, which adjusts for differences in the mix of properties each month to give a more accurate picture of overall movements in the market compared to average or median prices, prices nationally have declined 13.9% over the 12 months to January and are now 16.2% lower than they were when the market peaked in November 2021.

The first table below shows the regional changes in the HPI, with the biggest fall occurring in Wellington where prices have dropped by almost a quarter (24.4%) compared to their November 2021 peak.

But the Auckland region wasn't far behind with a 21.4% decline from the November 2021 peak.

As the table shows, more than half the regions around the country (Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/Hawkes Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wellington) are now showing double digit percentage price falls from their market peaks.
Image
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Ted.
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Guy Smiley wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:54 am
Ted. wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:26 am Alt-right Conspiracy Theorists Pivot From Covid to Climate Change + the Extreme Left (basically alt-right conspiracists in tie-dye) and, racism. Ch Ch and North Canty get a brickbat once again.
just fuckwits. Embarrassing in that they're our fuckwits.


In other news.... house prices,

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/119 ... d-hundreds
House prices are now in full retreat throughout the country, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, with prices in parts of Auckland declining by more than $400,000 over the last year.

According to the REINZ's House Price Index, which adjusts for differences in the mix of properties each month to give a more accurate picture of overall movements in the market compared to average or median prices, prices nationally have declined 13.9% over the 12 months to January and are now 16.2% lower than they were when the market peaked in November 2021.

The first table below shows the regional changes in the HPI, with the biggest fall occurring in Wellington where prices have dropped by almost a quarter (24.4%) compared to their November 2021 peak.

But the Auckland region wasn't far behind with a 21.4% decline from the November 2021 peak.

As the table shows, more than half the regions around the country (Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/Hawkes Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wellington) are now showing double digit percentage price falls from their market peaks.
Image
Good news. It's just a pity that people, who bought at or near the top, are going to be financially hurt.
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Guy Smiley
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I think I read something briefly last week stating that the majority of homebuyers in the last little while were first time buyers… a result of ‘investors’ having to sell out.
Fat Old Git
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Ted. wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:26 am Alt-right Conspiracy Theorists Pivot From Covid to Climate Change + the Extreme Left (basically alt-right conspiracists in tie-dye) and, racism. Ch Ch and North Canty get a brickbat once again.
It would be interesting to know how this is measured, and what percentages we are talking about. What exactly does "over represented" mean. Mutton was banging on about "Canterbury" being anti-vax on one of the threads on PR during lockdown, citing what sounds like some of these same f-wits as evidence. While ignoring that at the time Canterbury also had the highest uptake of the covid vacine in the whole country.
Flockwitt
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Having been looking to sell and buy our home through the period I had my finger pretty firmly on the pulse of what was going on and had a few serious chats with the bank manager. She said the real issue are those who were able to get on towards the end of 2021 and beyond were not those who were leveraged at around 80% of which there was a lot but those who got mortgages at only 10% deposit. The lending criteria was simply too loose before they tightened up mid-2022 and there's got to be more than a few first time buyers in genuine trouble about now regards negative equity and the high interest rates.
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Flockwitt wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:17 am Having been looking to sell and buy our home through the period I had my finger pretty firmly on the pulse of what was going on and had a few serious chats with the bank manager. She said the real issue are those who were able to get on towards the end of 2021 and beyond were not those who were leveraged at around 80% of which there was a lot but those who got mortgages at only 10% deposit. The lending criteria was simply too loose before they tightened up mid-2022 and there's got to be more than a few first time buyers in genuine trouble about now regards negative equity and the high interest rates.
Yep, and everything else has gotten more expensive, which makes servicing those mortgages even harder. We could see a sharp increase in mortgagee sales, with many recent first home buyers particularly hard hit.
Gumboot
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Holy shit! Just had the biggest earthquake here I've ever felt in NZ! Fuck me, that was a rocker! :sad:
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Ymx
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10% deposit is not massively low over here. Many first time buyers on much less than that.

The market has dipped over here (UK), but not by too much from what I can tell.

So are there quite a few at risk (later on) of trying to remortgage with negative equity in NZ?
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Ymx
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Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:40 am Holy shit! Just had the biggest earthquake here I've ever felt in NZ! Fuck me, that was a rocker! :sad:
Oh shit.

Where are you gumboot?
Gumboot
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Whanganui. That was one hell of a jolt. No idea of the epicentre, but...shit...
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Gordon Bennett
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Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:40 am Holy shit! Just had the biggest earthquake here I've ever felt in NZ! Fuck me, that was a rocker! :sad:
Felt that in Wellington, but nothing on Geonet yet (which is odd). Decent sized in Wellington, but not horrific. Went on for a bit, building up.

EDIT: Now on Geonet 6.0 epicentre 60km NW of Paraparaumu. So probably half way between here and Whanganui.
Gumboot
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Gordon Bennett wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:47 am
Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:40 am Holy shit! Just had the biggest earthquake here I've ever felt in NZ! Fuck me, that was a rocker! :sad:
Felt that in Wellington, but nothing on Geonet yet (which is odd). Decent sized in Wellington, but not horrific. Went on for a bit, building up.

EDIT: Now on Geonet 6.0 epicentre 60km NW of Paraparaumu. So probably half way between here and Whanganui.
Hope everyone's safe. That initial jolt was quite something.

Been in a few big earthquakes and do not like the feckers one little bit. The worst was 921 in Taipei. Terrifying.
Fat Old Git
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I'm quite happy to have missed it.
Gumboot
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Thankfully my glass was almost empty at the time.
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Ymx
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My sister who lives in Hawkes Bay has just got phone signal back and says the place is a mess. Bridges wiped out around Napier. only just got power and phone back now in her parts. Many parts still without.

NZ is really getting hit hard at the moment !!

Crazy shit.
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Guy Smiley
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Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:09 am Thankfully my glass was almost empty at the time.
Definitely a glass half full perspective.
Gumboot
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Guy Smiley wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:29 am
Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:09 am Thankfully my glass was almost empty at the time.
Definitely a glass half full perspective.
:lol: True
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Auckman
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booji boy wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:17 pm
Auckman wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:02 pm I heard him the other day crowing about how he outlasted Jacinda to one of his Nat bum chums. I reckon he detested that Jacinda’s personal polling at its peak was higher than for his hero John Key.
Yeah I'm sure that's the reason. :roll:
I’m sure too.
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Auckman
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booji boy wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 5:17 pm
Auckman wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:02 pm I heard him the other day crowing about how he outlasted Jacinda to one of his Nat bum chums. I reckon he detested that Jacinda’s personal polling at its peak was higher than for his hero John Key.
Yeah I'm sure that's the reason. :roll:
I’m sure too.
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Auckman
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Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:40 am

PR has gone down again so I find myself back here :wink:
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Guy Smiley
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Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:52 pm

Auckman wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:51 am PR has gone down again so I find myself back here :wink:
All roads lead to Rome.
Fat Old Git
Posts: 123
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2020 4:25 am

Guy Smiley wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:59 am
Auckman wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:51 am PR has gone down again so I find myself back here :wink:
All roads lead to Rome.
I've driven a lot of roads in the last couplenof weeks and to my surprise not one of them ended up in Rome. One did up at a very nice cart by a lovely beach making and selling delicious real fruit icecream. However, due to it's deliciousness there was quite a queue and I had to endure a long wait for our icecreams while surrounded by attractive young women in bikinis. It's a hard life trying to find Rome...
Gumboot
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Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:17 am




Glad to hear you came through it all unscathed. :thumbup:
Gumboot
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Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:17 am

Georgina Beyer has died.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Beyer was a “very influential and trailblazing Member of Parliament”.
Was she what!

Exactly the MP Aotearoa needed at exactly the right time.

RIP
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Enzedder
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Location: Hamilton NZ

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I drink and I forget things.
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Guy Smiley
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https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486 ... -repellent
British gender activist Posie Parker has left New Zealand, calling it the 'worst place for women she has ever visited'.

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, shared a photo on social media showing her being escorted by police through Auckland Airport.

She left her rally at Albert Park in Auckland yesterday without speaking, after being overwhelmed by thousands of heckling counter-protesters and pelted with tomato juice.

Controversial Harry Potter author JK Rowling took to Twitter this morning to brand the protest scenes in Auckland yesterday "repellent".

During a series of Tweets, she said a mob "had assaulted women standing up for their rights".

Parker posted to Twitter and said she was leaving 'the worst place for women she has ever visited'.

The activist also claimed she was a victim of a campaign to assassinate her character, boosted by a "corrupt media populated by vile dishonest cult members".

Her departure means her planned rally for Wellington today will not go ahead.

A local group supporting her visit Speak Up For Women NZ had already announced the scheduled rally today in Wellington had been cancelled due to security concerns.

Auckland Pride rejected the idea the activist had abandoned her Wellington plans due to threats of violence.


The group Tweeted: "There is a narrative quickly taking hold amongst anti-trans groups and individuals that Parker abandoned her event because of violence from our community.

"We reject this narrative. We are of the firm belief that the demonstration of unity, celebration, and acceptance alongside joyous music, chanting, and noise of 5,000 supporters was too loud to overcome and the reason for her departure - and not the actions of any one individual."

NZ First leader Winston Peters said violence and cancel culture did not represent "the majority of New Zealanders who want an open and free western democracy that values freedom of speech".

He tweeted: "Whether you agree with her views or not, the irony of the disgraceful situation that occurred at the Posie Parker event, is that violence, hatred, and intimidation is coming from the very group who claim to be the ones standing up for inclusivity and freedoms."

While Parkers's planned rally in Wellington today is off, groups opposing her views still plan to turn out, with the city's annual CubaDupa festival also taking place today.

Police say they will be out in central Wellington to monitor and respond to any problems.

Parker arrived at the Albert Park event yesterday morning to speak with supporters at a rally.

Her presence and comments infuriated rights advocates, and the reception she received in Auckland yesterday left Parker visibly shaken.

The controversial British activist's Melbourne rally days before was attended by neo-Nazis, a fact widely reported in New Zealand before she was allowed into the country by Immigration NZ and Immigration Minister Michael Wood.

Parker was critical of what she said was a lack of police presence at the Auckland event, with her security team struggling to separate her from hostile crowds of protesters.

After being escorted to a police car through the crowd, Parker requested to be driven to the police station, because she feared for her safety.

Media had reported she was seen checking in for an international flight out of Auckland last night.

Preach hate, cop the medicine. Good riddance... and Tamaki's mob should fuck off with her.
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