Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
The recent release of Statistics New Zealand figures showing the levels of foreign investment in New Zealand properties confirmed biases for many. I’m not a fan of globalisation, or investor capitalism, per se, but I do have an expectation that facts will inform policy and that liberal citizens and politicians will avoid racist dog whistles misleading attention away from real causes of inequality and injustice.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford is right to lay the blame squarely with the former National government and in particular with its Housing Minister Paula Bennett. Her attempts to distance herself from this debacle are in tatters after this Mediawatch report in the weekend.
Bennett is revealed as the loathsome liar she is.
Very interesting research out of Massey University this week to show that the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act has barely reduced trading hours, led to huge legal challenges to local alcohol policies and has not apparently done much to reduce alcohol-related harm (which is the object of the Act).
The long overdue Coroner’s hearing into the death of Waikato DHB patient Nicky Stevens is to take place at the High Court in Hamilton on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week (13th-15th June).
Supporters are being asked to come along and show that support outside the company’s Dominion Rd, Auckland, store tonight from 5-7pm.
I’ve long taken issue with Mike Sabin as I am qualified as Drug and Alcohol Clinician and put Patient or client needs first when discussing treatment. I haven’t found any education or qualification to suggest Mike has a degree or any tertiary education. As an activist and advocate for better funded drug and alcohol treatment I have been on the receiving end of some nasty texts. This is what the then, MP wrote to me in 2010,
“FAIR PAY AGREEMENTS” (FPA) are the final proof that Labour is evolving backwards into the Liberal Party. Predictably, National’s ignorance of its own country’s history has rendered it incapable of placing this latest example of Labour milksoppery into its proper context.
Missing persons cases cause flurries of action and public conjecture from time to time; searches quite rightly swing into action the moment police and neighbours hear of missing children, or a senior that has disappeared from the local old folks home. But when the missing person is known to be mentally unwell, the concern is muted, and often the action is delayed and ineffective.
As you drive in from Heathrow Airport to London, it is not long until you see, not far away, a tall, dark building. As you come nearer, you see it is the burned-out husk of a multi-storey tower block – Grenfell Tower, which burned almost exactly one year ago, causing the deaths of 72 people.
There is an ample supply of housing overall, but it is poorly distributed in terms of size and price. Increasingly large gains in house values are accruing for the already wealthy while the poorest households suffer excessive rents or lose housing access to housing altogether.