The government has no plans to address the housing crisis for low-income New Zealanders

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An update on the number of children living in motels by RNZ’s Checkpoint programme should come as no surprise. The programme found an increase in 480 children in the three months from December 2020 to 31 March this year. Things are getting worse in housing for low-income New Zealanders.

Labour has produced numerous “feel-good”, “look busy” programmes for small numbers of middle-class renters but for those on the lowest incomes – who pay the highest proportion of their incomes in tax – there are no plans to build the huge number of state houses so desperately needed.

Evidence given to the Waitangi Tribunal (WAI 2750) two weeks ago by Kainga Ora CEO Andrew McKenzie spells it out. He says over the next four years the organisation will provide a net increase of only 8,200 state houses. (They will build more but are demolishing one for every two they build)

Since Labour was elected in 2017 the number on the state house waiting list has increased from just 5,000 to over 23,000 so the net number of state houses being built will not even keep up with the yearly increases in demand, let along eat into the 23,000 backlog.

Andrew McKenzie also explained that after that 2017 election, Kainga Ora recommended an increase in state house building from 1600 per year to 2,000 per year but Labour did not accept the recommendation. Yes, you read that correctly – Labour decided to simply continue building state houses at the same rate as the previous National government.

In fact over the last four years of Labour in government, the total number of state houses for rent has remained almost static.

Looking ahead Andrew McKenzie detailed Kainga Ora’s long-term building plan for state houses which is based on maintaining the same proportion of state houses as a share of the total number of houses in New Zealand – 3.7%. (The government has no plans to increase that despite this figure being over 5% in earlier decades)

This Kainga Ora long-term plan is to add just 23,000 additional places over 30 years.

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This entire number is needed NOW – not in 30 years’ time.

The government will point to the budget’s $280 million for Maori housing initiatives over four years but this will only build around 250 new homes per year when Maori families make up half the waiting list for state homes.

Similarly with other initiatives with groups such as the Salvation Army and the Methodist Mission. These are “niche” providers who will do a great job but who have no hope of making a significant dent in the 23,000 state house waiting list.

The situation gets worse when one considers that Kainga Ora’s building programme for state houses is funded, in significant part, by the mass privatisation of crown land. Kainga Ora is demolishing state houses and selling the best land (nice sea views for example) to private property developers for high-cost housing. Meanwhile Kainga Ora jams three state houses onto the site of an older single state house. NONE of this land should be privatised – it should be used to build the homes our low-income families so desperately need.

Labour will not do anything about this crisis because it believes it can take for granted the votes of low-income New Zealanders. Labour’s housing focus for these past four years has instead been on trying to ease the housing pain of the children of middle-class baby boomers.

Labour will need a serious shove in the right direction to be right by low-income tenants and families and it’s good to know organisations around New Zealand are joining in an initiative to take this on.

57 COMMENTS

  1. The government and the RBNZ are still actively trying to paper over the economic cracks by inflating private consumption by way cheap money into residential housing related spending. What you are proposing is the antithesis of this.

    The end game (assuming no re-start of the great south Asian immigration ponzi scheme) is Japanese style economic stagflation without the willful social mono ethnic cohesion of the Japanese people. Sprinkle in some woke and (I love this term) ‘ethno-nationality” and it is the recipe of a giant shit storm.

  2. Heres Labours plan:

    Lie to voters.

    Stick to 1980’s economic dogma.

    Sweep the homeless under the motel rug.

    Pretend you care.

    This is like watching the captain of a sinking ship standing at the helm, turning the wheel and ringing the bells, pretending everything is just fine and dandy, as the water is lapping at their feet.

    Fuck Labour, they campaigned on dealing to the housing crisis but at best they’ve tinkered to keep it off the front pages and at worst have abandoned their own citizens to the whims of the free market. They’re are National.

    And by the way Megan Woods, et al, the disgraceful motel solution is not keeping up!

    They deserved to be voted out. Weirdly however there is no point voting as there’s no one to vote for!

    • Exactly, though Labour are pathetic, more like ‘TraitorKey lite’, who else can we vote for further on the left spectrum, that WILL get into Parliament?
      All we can do is SHAME the minsters in this L.I.N.O Govt & make sure their legacy is as per the Traitor, just that, TRAITORS to the vast majority of Kiwis.
      Shame on you Jacinda. Shame !
      You’ve turned out to be just like all the rest, except you learnt to be better at P.R.

    • “They deserved to be voted out”. Probably
      ” no point voting”. Yes there is. Vote for a party they’ll have to rely on in a coalition. There’s a chance it might nudge them to where they ought to be.
      There’s still time. Although the gNats are munted, Labour will follow not long after if they don’t get back to their founding principles. And they’ll have gone done it to theirselves

    • “And by the way Megan Woods, et al, the disgraceful motel solution is not keeping up!”

      A genuine question. What would you do to correct this issue given land and houses for over 100,000 can’t be built in a hurry, for many reasons?

      If we stop using motels, where would you house those people? Should Labour allow what National allowed to take place, people living on the streets or in cars? Perhaps that’s the answer given housing affordability is beyond 100s of thousands of people.

      Your last point is one I concur with and certainly if ACT is the answer then the wrong question is being asked.

      • buy the motels,
        fit them out properly with ovens and fridges, and designate common laundry are with dryers (it is expensive to dry clothes / sheets in winter if you have no home), have a common room.
        staff them with security at night, a social worker during the day
        help housed people apply for jobs, go to get their health check ups, have a creche/play ground etc
        and rent the individual units for an affordable (to beneficiaries and low income workers) on a min one year lease.
        and if the government can’t do this, the government could hand the motel over to the Sally Army and let them do it as they know what they do.
        Tthis would allow transient people to find some rest, physically, mentally and emotionally, allow kids to be put in kindergartens/schools, allow adults to go to courses etc and then within a year together with the social worker review the arraignment.
        What we are doing now is throwing pears before swine, same as when national did.

        • Absolute common sense, but sorry there are those focus groups and you can be sure they are made up of middle class people, and they won’t allow this. The middle class see the poor as having made themselves poor and the middle class have worked hard to get where they are, or they think they have.

          • You seem to have a distain for the middle class. As that represents the majority of people who do you respect. Most middle class I know are hard working people that would be lower class if they had not given up working or studying hard.Perhaps you are upper class because you had rich parents and had it all handed to you on a silver platter and most would fined to really a tosser

          • By NZ standards I AM the frigging middle class.
            Maybe that is the problem with the socalled left, they deride others for not wanting, so they don’t ever have to try.

      • Perhaps Bert, as said in the article, if Labour actually recognized the housing crisis, took on debt and set about building as many houses as they could then motels could be a very temporary solution, not a total solution.

        But until these idiots realize that this problem is not only lingering but getting substantially worse and the negative consequences are multiplying rapidly, they will use motels to keep citizens hidden away until, as I think is happening, they end up on the street anyway becausethat isn’t working either.

        • ..’if Labour actually recognized the housing crisis, took on debt and set about building as many houses as they could’…

          ————–

          And therein lies the answer, Chris Trotter showed us the way with the example of John Lee of the Labour party, whereby they created those state houses by commanding the Reserve Bank to release the funds, thus govt going into debt to itself,- not relying on some private foreign bank to do the financing.

          Eh, Australia.

          You Ockers like that idea, cobbers?

      • One thing they could do to free up many houses would be to immediately bring in the one uniform payment for all beneficiaries, regardless of their living arrangements. This would allow many people to share homes without fear of their meagre payments being docked.

        For pensioners too, – payments need to be individualised, regardless of house-sharing or partnership arrangements or whatever. This would free up housing where people are presently living alone.

    • Agree. Have a look at TOP, I did a while back, and at Social Credit, which surfaces from time to time. With the opposition as bad or worse than the government, prospects are gloomy. TOP always manages to produce high quality candidates, Nats the slimey. Mana used to have good social policies, but a racist-seeming leader put me off there- and Ardern will skate in if she pulls a wedding off beforehand.

  3. Meanwhile, top restaurants have chefs that have to wash dishes, yeah, BOO HOO, they are over worked! Cry me a river… they should shut their lights off for good and no Kiwi should patron a restaurant until every economic refugee in this country is homed.

    • I think you spelt “The owners should be deported and the buildings turned into housing.” wrong.

    • Veiled threats by these resteraunt thieves should be met with a “go on then!”
      Any business using blackmail tactics tells you a lot about them as a business and are not the type of business I would be a customer of.

    • Have you worked in a top restaurant. The chef would be working 60 to 80, hours no meal break quick cup of coffee nights and weekend. Every customer who has watched masterchef is now a font of knowledge about food. Some go away and then do a review that can be the downfall of a restaurant based no background. So you think they should then wash dishes to keep the restaurant open.
      The pay is not great but NZ people will not pay the prices that could come from more money going on wages.
      NZ is a low wage economy and wether it is chefs teachers or nurses there is a reliance on people doing a job for love rather than money. Unfortunately landlords are not in that space so our need for better wages is pressing.

      • Oh My God? Is this a joke? Yes, I worked in top restaurants and nowhere ever was a Chef run off his feet to feed somebody, or complained about having to wash a dish- are you kidding? No, I can make a curry and dickheads who own restaurants in Auckland who think Kiwis can’t cook, FYOU. In fact lets cook in the hotels homes!

        • I can only say your experience has been different of mine and other clients in the trade .
          Fortunately I met very few dick head owners as most I serviced had their life invested in this dream of running a successful business. Many found it too tough and quit or were forced to quit.
          On the whole restaurants find NZ staff less reliable as many do not regard it as a proper job overseas there is cudos in working at a good restaurant here it is hard work.
          Those owners that abuse immegrant workers should have their trading licence take away and told to leave this fine country as we do not need them. If they ripe of the staff they will not be paying tax or following health and safety rules

  4. Agree with ya Angie, I think all businesses bringing over foreign labour/workers should be required to provide a housing plan no house no workers its as simple as that. And as for the 300 new foreign teachers our government is bringing in they all need to have TOW and cultural training before they are put in our schools as we already have enough racist discriminative bigots here and we don’t want anymore. Also we want our kids to have the best teachers not ones that cant find work in their own countries or second rate teachers.

    • Whether it’s hospitality workers or teachers it is all down to money. Both are poorly paid for what they do. The teachers union says 300 is half what is needed. Teachers used to be provided with homes in rural areas as an incentive to go there.
      It is a great idea that to have a foreign worker here accomadation needs to be done.
      There was a country calander programme on Sunday and the farmer introduced bees to his farm so he purchased 3 houses in the area to house them. A real,win win.

        • You mean like the days when every country town with a policeman had a police house? When country towns had public works depots – and public works houses? When railway depots had railway houses? When dairy factories and butter factories and cheese factories had worker houses?
          Oh – and of course the Post Office.

          • Oh – and the hydro villages.
            State services providing state housing for their workers wherever it was needed.
            Have I forgotten anyone?

            • Yes, teachers in rural areas also had housing. My childhood home up North had the state-owned teachers’ house next door. The headmasters had their own state-owned house on the school grounds.

              • Kheala – Where I was teaching in north London, the caretaker’s house was located on the school grounds, hence no problems with vandalism or arson. This could also be easily done in New Zealand, and put a stop to the trashing and burning of schools which dislocates and traumatises both children and staff, and incurs big costs.

    • And the Immigration services, whatever they are, should provide every unit of student or imported labour with clear explanation, in their own language, of their rights as soon as they enter the country. Let’s get rid of these exploiting employers – very often of their own people.

      • RosieLee and Bert if we could get together I am sure we could fix NZ by lunch time after that we could concentrate on the rest of the World

  5. A coupe of years ago my wife saw some doves standing on the deck balustrade so when she next went to the shops she got a big bag of bird seed to feed them. It was great fun – we’d have a dozen or more on the deck eating the bird seed and a couple would feed from the hand. We did this for a few years and we could see that those we fed gave birth to chicks and in turn they arrived for their bird seed. I suppose we fed a few generations of them in all. The only problem was that the deck was always covered in bird shit and I was getting hacked off with having to waterblast it clean.

    Eventually we were absolutely inundated with doves and even a neighbour complained about the bird shit all over at his place so I asked my wife to stop buying more seed. For a while the birds would forlornly sit on the deck waiting for their food and I suppose those birds that had been born after we started feeding them would have no clue as to how to forage in the wild. Eventually they all left, either to feed elsewhere or starve to death.

  6. Bit late to the party on this information, but better late than never. Still some lefties think that the housing crisis is about to be solved.

    Selling off state house land was Kiwibuilds public policy from about 8 years ago and anybody who pointed this out was drowned out by the woke and blairite lefties congratulating Labour while not noticing they were merely emulating National’s housing policies.

    Labour got in, because they said they would do something about immigration as their public policy and Jacinda got the direction away from Labour and Greens disaster housing and tax policy. They then had Covid and got a boost.

    Getting rid of private landlords has had a big effect on rentals, the sold houses are resold to the new arrivals into NZ, while the woke and blairites refuse to calculate immigration and increasing population into the mix

    … nor do you see any interest of cracking down on people coming to NZ buying up land/assets/mansions and bringing their personal workforce here (while buying citizenship) and then leaving.

    Immigration gives out NZ passports and Permanent residency like lollies, refuses to deport scammers, and doesn’t have any interest in working out that migrants leaving NZ doesn’t mean the house is sold or measuring that someone just left NZ for better conditions but if things don’t work out they can go on a benefit in NZ.

    Our woeful immigration statistics of counting outgoing vs ingoing to measure immigration is a pretty bizarre measure because so many variables are not calculated in, such as getting citizenship and leaving, but being left with the permanent right to return with family (including new members) if anything goes wrong (Covid, health issues, retirement).

    So pensioners who never worked in NZ or those having children or have health conditions can just arrive and claim free health care and a pension in NZ if it suits them. All these people also need houses to live in adding to demand.

    In spite of getting an additional 1 million more people into NZ, it appears that our skills shortages and work quality and productivity are worst than a decade ago. Still people bray for more low paid workers, they don’t seem to wonder what happened to the missing million workers they already imported in. My guess is the same as the missing million we had in the first place. When is the penny going to drop that you need to do a bit more to retain workers and experts into NZ.

    Now Labour are bringing in high worth individuals, (Key style) who generally go around buying up mansions and then renovating them taking up building labour and materials and creating Carbon emissions for NZ, while the problem in NZ is not money (there is a ton of money available in NZ to invest) the issue is that NZ is a Wild West place full of people prominent in the media who have few skills, few morals, are not qualified and running scams, Eric Watson Style and there are very few experienced experts left in any field. That is what puts real investors off here!

    • In the late 90s when industries were eroded by deregulation, our country no longer needed experienced experts. Those in that category either left for overseas or changed professions.
      There is also the small matter for those lower skilled workers that would have attained work in the meat works, power boards, car assembly plants, engineering workshops, timber mills etc. Those industries lost in rural towns also attracted teachers, health workers and whole families into those townships. The economy thrived yet all were replaced because Government wanted cheap importation as did the general public. The failure of this neoliberalism is why we are where we are now.

  7. The Maori Caucus in labour needs to jump waka at the next election!

    Te hei Maori party! hehehe!

    • and then they go into coalition with Labour.
      nah, the Maori Party should stay the heck away from the Maori Caucus of the Labour Party.

  8. What I don’t get is where did all of these homeless people live before? Has the change in eligibility for state assistance brought in by Labour caused this sudden increase in demand which presumably therefore was being hidden under the Key/English goverment criteria.
    All I see in Auckland is endless apartments and houses being built and yet we are not meeting demand; something does not add-up.

    • They are building mansions and McMansions not affordable houses. In addition 120,000 people came in during Covid and NZ probably only built about 20,000 houses (if that). Developers are making more money out of new zoning rules and selling the land with plans and the proposed developments are often in the wrong places that should not be consented in the first place taking up labour and time away from better, quicker build, locations. Aka demand is still out of control. Government measure the resource consents created not the Code of Compliances being created.

      Doh. 10+ years and they still don’t work out the simplest thing to measure to work out the new house being supplied! Intellectual Yet Idiot culture, but without the intellectual, reigns in NZ.

      • It’s not mansions that I see being built around here. Multiple basic apartments blocks and 5 & 6 ‘boxes’ crammed onto a section; so your response about mansions does not apply.
        Are these new builds affordable – probably not for someone on minimum pay – so is the real problem our low wage non-egalitarian economy that is forcing people to seek state-houses?

  9. Have you worked in a top restaurant. The chef would be working 60 to 80, hours no meal break quick cup of coffee nights and weekend. Every customer who has watched masterchef is now a font of knowledge about food. Some go away and then do a review that can be the downfall of a restaurant based no background. So you think they should then wash dishes to keep the restaurant open.
    The pay is not great but NZ people will not pay the prices that could come from more money going on wages.
    NZ is a low wage economy and wether it is chefs teachers or nurses there is a reliance on people doing a job for love rather than money. Unfortunately landlords are not in that space so our need for better wages is pressing.

  10. ” National Party leader Judith Collins said the government was being wasteful.

    “It is irresponsible of the government continuing to spend money like it is with no thought as to where it comes from at the same time as we have 4500 kids in [emergency housing] hotels.

    Well the audacity of these arrogant people who help create and did nothing to address this in nine years.

    John this can never be truly fixed until we have a counter revolution and move away from market economics and the cruelties that it encourages.

    This current administration is cabal of Social Democrats who are to the right of what was once real Labour not a wolf in sheep’s clothing pretending to actually think they can cure all of the destruction since 1984 with cuddles and market solutions.

    It is all a fecking farce John ! and only a committed real left group with representation that has strength can use MMP to make a difference on a right of centre Social Democrat government.

  11. “Have you worked in a top restaurant.'(?)
    Yes I have. When the c–t chef started doing his Gordon Ramsey impression I fed him a knuckle sandwich.
    One of the most satisfying moments of my life.
    The real reason that shitty restaurant owners and other bullying employers like foreign workers is Kiwis will not put up with their shit. They prefer foreigners who do not belong to unions and know nothing about the rights they are entitled to.
    MY wife is a New Zealander born in China. When we first returned to New Zealand she went looking for a job at Asian restaurants all over Auckland. Not one of them offered her a job at less than $10.00 an hour. When she told them she was married to a kiwi and knew what she was supposed to be paid they told her to fuck off and not waste their time.
    Yes I have worked in top restaurants and I know they charge shitloads of money for crap prepared in filthy kitchens. Give me a decent fish and chip shop or good cafe any day of the week.

  12. “Labour will not do anything about this crisis because it believes it can take for granted the votes of low-income New Zealanders.”

    Well it can take those voters for granted, it’s been proven time and time again.

  13. Of course it has no plans it can rely on their vote.
    Preoccupied with He Pua Pua and cycle bridges whilst at the same time trying to make all middle aged New Zealanders feel guilty for being born.

  14. Yeah…? And what are ‘you’ going to do about it? What are ‘we’ going to do about it? And by [it] I mean homelessness, child poverty, hunger in poorer communities, high prices for electricity, embarrassingly poor public transport and a rapacious army of greedy arse holes in cahoots with mafia like banksters and real estate industry reps to draft us into mortgages who’s only value is in how that lines the pockets of the already rich?
    Because virtually every negative [thing] that’s happening, happened and/or is about to happen is directly enabled by us for our lack of the ability to organise direct action and our inability to be able to stand up for ourselves.
    We’re certainly not afraid of confrontation so what is it that’s at the core of our inability to tell those whom we employ to do the right thing by us to shape up or you get kicked off the political gravy train?
    Do we need to crowd fund a team of psychologists to make a study, then do a report on us? I think it’d be useful to know why we lie down and snivel at the manipulative destruction being brought to bear on us by the entirely corrupted MSM and their besties the banksters when we’re in fact a strong and determined population of well educated and worldly people? What the fuck is that about? Serious question?
    On a personal note; A thing that’s increasingly bothering me is that I’ve grown accustomed to coming here to vent my spleen while knowing that it’s a fucking waste of time. It feels like I go to a therapist who opens the tap on my pressure valve only to have my pressures build up again then repeat as before.
    Ive been writing firstly on Tumeke and now here since I heard Martyn Bradbury mention ‘neoliberalism’ on RNZ but I’ve achieved nothing. None of us have. I feel like I’m on a passenger jet and the pilot’s suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. Everyone’s running about in circles blaming the pilot for not taking better care of him or herself and no one’s thought to pull back on the joy stick.
    We’re in deep shit people. What ever it is that’s got a hold on us psychologically isn’t letting go. We need help or we will loose sovereignty of our beautiful AO/NZ to the likes of fucking musk or bezos or any one of a number of other creepy fucking aliens. peter thiel’s already an AO/NZ citizen who’s an outspoken anti taxes freak who’s grasped up $5 billion dollars for his retirement.
    @ Maori? Are you comfortable with that? Understandably, you’re not that happy with being colonised 200 or so years ago and yet not a squeak when rich americans are buying the very lands you regard as Tapu.
    FYI:
    “Tapu is the strongest force in Māori life. It has numerous meanings and references. Tapu can be interpreted as ‘sacred’, or defined as ‘spiritual restriction’, containing a strong imposition of rules and prohibitions. A person, object or place that is tapu may not be touched or, in some cases, not even approached.”
    Yet the rich yanks are all over our lands like pubic lice with money who can ignore our dire social concerns as a direct result of them manipulating our monetary systems.
    thiel being able to buy citizenship when he’d only been here for 12 days tells me that he owns our politicians and he’s just bought AO/NZ and the only freedoms we’re going to be left with is the freedoms to die in poverty in the gutters. We’d better wake up and we’d better act and we’d better do it in a very timely fashion.
    I had an idea of a global Human Union movement but on reflection that was a bit shit. Oh well. Never mind. But at least I had an idea.
    The Daily Blog Paramilitary Unit? ( Ooooo….? Look? A little red dot on my chest ?? )

    @ JM. You do it. You get out there and actually do it. Good on you. We should all be very proud of you.

  15. You are so right country boy , I’m in the same boat or feeling the same in terms of being so fed up with the dribble that is fed to us through the msm on the reg daily , while obvious key problems crisis’issues that are apparent to all who observe but choose to ignore for risk of capsizing their own little piece of paradise , not actually realising by their silence they are actually condoning wt is happening and being slowly implemented piece by piece until we arrive at a prison cell we have all had consultation in building for ourselves , it’s actually nuts . John key signed an agreement in the last 3 years he was in power with China to accept 1 million immigrants from China over a 3 year period roughly about 300 and something per year , this is not included in immigration stats but is fact reason being that it was a seperate agreement so could officially be classified and not listed under usual forms of record keeping , in short it was a loophole or way of keeping it out of the media and official statistics as the public would have been up in arms , funny John key stated in herald the other day that he is on xai ping Xmas card list wat the frk aye , why do u think we suddenly swelled from 3-4 million to over 5 like overnight it’s ridiculous but u can’t say anything if u have no idea why , knowledge is power and the current govt and prev know how to withhold and use to their advantage . I’m for starting again and clearing them all out .
    The current system is broken and it can’t be fixed going in the direction we are headed for , it only serves to get worse and more restrictive . Online shopping , work at home , smart meters , no cash kinda seems like we will be battery hens never needing to leave home but always fearful and unde the thumb for fear of our power being turned off our food not being delivered or our cards being declined . This is the real present and where it’s nearly at , just add some thought police and some ministry of truth and u have ur self a real Orwellian utopia where ur T.v on the wall forces you to get up and do exercise every morning and takes not of those who don’t comply so they can be persuaded at a later date the ill affects it can have on ur existence .” Kiwi United party” or just “the kiwi party “ tasked with giving the power back to the people and restoring democracy to a point where , people are included or consulted by way of referendum in the process of every major decision that is made or needed to be decided on , I don’t see why and this could be reaching slightly but I believe possible , when utopian societies are portrayed in movies and books etc I always think of a time sequel type place everyone wearing glowing white robes much like u would imagine in Ancient Greece or Rome in the senate but with the added advantage of present day technology where in actuality it doesn’t cost that much to implement a referendum or to give every citizen a direct ability to vote have a voice on every decision , as u broadcast wat is on the agenda for the day sessions are held say monthly but everyone gets informed and is able to affect the outcome directly by casting a vote in a binding snap referendum ( called something else )with each topic discussed , voted on and law passed a lot quicker with more direct input , u get the gist though lol everyone has a hands on role on deciding the sort of society they want to live in and not dictated to and told like children wats happening regardless whether they want it to happen or not , we are being primed constantly and reminded always about the benefits of losing our jobs to machines or switching to automated systems where humans are no longer needed and how shopping online is supposed to give us more free time for the things we love , well how about giving the power to the people to decide their own destiny. I think it would be more successful than most people could imagine or that those in power would want , it worked in previous societies , clans and alike except with technology there can never be the argument for it costing yo much as in the past as it costs virtually nothing once the system has been constructed and would only get cheaper as time goes on due to the nature of our technological capitalist economies ha , how u like them apples left and right, u can’t argue with majority rules , that is democracy end of story lol sounds yo me like a better future than wats currently being offered or not being offered … food for thought

  16. There were a couple of blokes back in the 1930’s and 40’s called Mick and John. Mike Savage and John Lee. They were Labour party politicians. The commanded the Reserve Bank to release funds for a nationwide housing build. They made their govt to go into debt to itself. And the people were happy with that.

    Much later on, there was a guy called Roger. He also was a Labour party politician. He set in motion legislation so that the govt could no longer command the Reserve Bank to release funds to build houses because he wanted his rich mates to get even richer and make it so only private contractors would get the lions share of the profits of any houses built.

    And Rogers rich mates in Australia’s banks clapped their hands with joy and knew they could get even richer and drink even more cognac and champagne.

    And we got to live in cars, tents , motels and sleep on park benches.

    • Yes; and nurses, police, teachers, fire and ambulance personnel etc etc could no longer afford to live in the areas they served; but the rich got to live in multi-million dollar mansions, own helicopters, luxury yachts etc etc……

  17. Call it a community lesson in gaslighting. Let’s face it, democracy is dead. Elon Musk is connecting us all together with his mind-tech called ‘neurolink’ and Bezo/Iovine has one (can’t remember the name ) equally disturbing and we are given fake fake fake distractions while they mine our minds for juicy tidbits to merchandise and copyright. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is technically voided by this tech but with all the ex cops (on both sides of the house) braying for more covid or whatever else is available to traumatise the populace whilst pretending to debate whatever the latest royal commission is paying for, no one is bothering or is incapable of pointing out we could have thought of protection from the sleezy bio-engineered blimps who manipulate stocks on the futures market (that’s where your farmers’ money goes, CB) Yes, we are going down a rabbit hole and like the white rabbit, continually looking at our watches to check our pulse.

  18. I, like every social democrat, tend to celebrate our victories far too long. The worst example was the Clark govt after 15 years of assault from the ‘friends of the rich’. But I realise the benefit increases recently were 30 years too late. Because the poorest didn’t have a voice. Politics no longer included them. I think Richard the Lionheart was taken out on his hundredth odd siege. We old welfare staters must surge on for housing for the voiceless.

    I.e. I don’t think much of ‘present’ Labour of middle-classians with no memory, and that started in 1984. Except some of us remembered. Not least, one John Minto.

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