National Party leader Simon Bridges & finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith issued a list on Monday in their campaign to show they’ll be aggressive in changing things if elected to govern in September.
Read more →Politics
One year to unveil a crisp new Resource Management Act
The Government has set in motion a comprehensive overhaul of the Resource Management Act, which has successfully hindered clear decisionmaking since it was enacted in 1990.
Read more →Too much talk, not enough action on construction sector, says Bayly
While the Government was introducing more people to ministerial roles related to the housing sector, Opposition building & construction spokesperson Andrew Bayly said yesterday: “The real problem is that there is too much talk and not enough action from the Government.
Read more →Government adds a few ministers to housing roles
The Government went yesterday from having a housing minister with too much on his plate, to having a bigger team of housing ministers.
Read more →No capital gains tax – but land speculation & landbanking rules to tighten
The Government canned a capital gains tax yesterday after the coalition parties failed to reach consensus on it, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the coalition had agreed to tighten rules around land speculation and work on ways to counter landbanking.
Read more →Sector accord with Government a start towards better construction
Government & construction industry leaders signalled a shared commitment yesterday to transform New Zealand’s construction sector as they signed a construction sector accord.
Read more →Twyford creates new housing & urban development ministry
When the new Government allocated portfolios last October, Labour’s Phil Twyford won housing & urban development and the separate transport role. On Friday, he announced that housing & urban development would get its own ministry.
Read more →Robertson introduces the new rules of play on economy
Finance Minister Grant Robertson laid out, in his first Budget, the new set of platitudes that will set the framework this government will work under. He’d already done that in his December mini-budget, and the Labour Party had made clear in its election campaign that it wanted a change in emphases. The annual numbers game […]
Read more →Inaccurate name-calling – the stuff of rising partisanship
Whacking communism as the enemy of US-style capitalism may be in order, if those 2 political concepts are what you’re talking about.
Read more →Populist politics, the backlash of unfettered globalisation
2 weeks into the 2019 financial year, there are some very important trends emerging & playing out in the world which I believe will be affecting our lives, and investments, for some years to come.
Read more →Ardern announces pregnancy
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this morning that she & partner Clarke Gayford are expecting a baby.
Read more →Collins raises scare about “road tax” diversion, but government fund already $½ billion in red
Former Cabinet Minister Judith Collins, now the National Opposition’s transport spokesperson, raised a scare this week that the new government would divert National Land Transport Fund money from major road projects to rail. 2 things she neglected to mention…
Read more →National talks new urban planning laws, business & environmental alliance says “Go further”
The National Party has been working steadily towards its latest election policy for most of its 9 years in government: new urban planning laws. Resource Reform NZ said yesterday the National proposal didn’t go far enough.
Read more →Ardern follows well researched overseas thinking on rentals, some responses over-edgy, and 5-year-old Ahuri research is helpful clarification
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern announced a set of new terms for residential tenancies yesterday, and was immediately – and predictably – told this would badly affect landlords and would have the opposite effect on New Zealand’s housing crisis to that she intended.
Read more →Access matters most
On this website, access is the most important consideration. The real estate catchcry, “Location, location, location,” relies on your ability to get there.
Read more →National promise of 34,000 houses/decade for Auckland may add 2000/year
The headline is what matters in an election campaign, and the headline is that National is promising that, as the government, it will build 34,000 new houses on Crown land in Auckland over the next 10 years.
Read more →Little calls for end to negative gearing, and Property Institute calls it “cynical ploy”
Labour Party leader Andrew Little renewed the party’s call to eliminate negative gearing on residential property investments yesterday, and was promptly accused by Property Institute chief executive Ashley Church of making “a cynical electoral ploy [that] risks making the country’s housing crisis significantly worse”.
Read more →On joining the 1%
I suppose I ought to have become excessively rich too. “Ought to”, rather than “could have” or “should have”.
Read more →English announces super at 67
Prime Minister Bill English said today the Government would progressively lift the age of eligibility for NZ superannuation from 65 to 67, starting in 20 years.
Read more →The English programme is for steady growth
Bill English, completing his second month as Prime Minister, opened Parliament yesterday with a statement that was long on boring. The word ‘continue’ cropped up throughout his speech.
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