People are often surprised when I say I am much less impressed with Jacinda. I’ve heard her speak in public many times and have shared the platform on various panels with her and others (in my case to represent MANA Movement while she represented Labour) to discuss issues such as child poverty, housing, inequality and the struggles of beneficiaries etc
Not content to have the poorest New Zealanders face the biggest tax burdens and corrosive social problems our lowest income communities also face a plague of what can only be described as “parasites on poverty”.
With the smug, casual arrogance of the wealthy English said there was no need to change policy settings and the government’s approach was working for New Zealanders. English claimed National’s so-called “social investment” policies would deliver better outcomes for struggling families while on housing he said the real problem was local councils failing to make enough land available for urban development and the government was addressing the issue.
This clear detriment to social housing in Tauranga has in our view not come with any discernible other improvements and delivery by Accessible Properties. For all intents and purposes they will slot into the same role as HNZ in being a landlord providing social housing for MSD.
The government’s intention to sell up to 2,500 state houses in Christchurch can expect to be met with a vigorous community campaign to stop the sales.
The so-called “defence industry” with their war-mongering expo on at the same time is an affront to all of humanity. Their profiteering from human misery, death and destruction makes them arguably the most depraved human beings of all.
We have been concerned year on year with the extension of powers and resources to our spy agencies the SIS and GCSB. This latest extension of power to spy on New Zealanders is another savage blow to freedom and privacy by an obsessive, intrusive, controlling state.
P is a huge concern in low-income areas and has been for a long time. But it was only when middle-class kids were effected that we saw action.
Last month SHA Inc. filed papers for a judicial review because we can see no way the Minister of State Housing Bill English or Social Housing Minister Paula Bennet can justify the sale in terms of the statutory objectives of the government’s so-called State Housing Reform Programme.
We didn’t win the mayoralty but we made great progress on the major issue of asset sales and we think we have pushed the incoming council to take a stronger stand on each of the big issues we raised during the campaign.