National’s ‘Penk Bats’ will freeze the poor and see more deaths and illness
Chris Penk is set to roll back building standards for insulation that had only just been put in place, and which had been estimated to save 40% from power costs, after builders told him it increased building costs.
…and he’s based this on a walk around and chat with a Tradie who said the current insulation standards cost $50000 more.
I know, I know, I know.
Why the fuck is a Minister basing insulation issues based on what bloke down pub told him.
Penk will allow builders to build cheap freezing homes that will cost us more in power costs and decimate our attempts at cutting back on our emissions while the real estate pimps who funded this Government continue to gloss over the truth of homelessness in our nation!
The social carnage our brutal monopolies can wage against the poor thanks to our under regulated capitalism is far larger than we have previously suspected…
Opponents of wealth taxes and housing and energy market reforms often complain those reforms would be too expensive for taxpayers, but not reducing our worst-in-the-world housing and energy costs is already costing taxpayers over $6.6 billion a year.
Solving the failures in our housing and electricity markets would reduce the taxpayer burden by that much, let alone unleashing massive improvements in public health, productivity and real wages.
A new official report quietly buried by the Labour Government in its final months in power identifies over 300,000 people are now living in housing and energy poverty so severe that they are unable to afford the power needed to stay warm in winter, have warm showers or cook their own food. Figures on the number of families who turn off their own power because they can’t afford to pre-pay aren’t even collected.
The report documented people who lived in homes without power because of bad credit records or their pre-pay plans had run out of money, forcing them and their children to sleep in cold, mouldy homes and cook food on fires outside.
This housing and energy poverty leads to thousands of unnecessary hospitalisations and hundreds of deaths from chest and skin infections, costing $1.14 billion each year in extra public health costs. That’s on top of income-related rent subsidies, accommodation supplements, First Home Buyers grants, progressive home ownership grants, emergency housing costs and winter energy payments totalling $5.5 billion per year.
The report recommends any new Government reform the electricity market to focus on improving affordability, rather than gentailer profits and dividends, along with monitoring disconnections from pre-pay power and forcing retailers to abide by a consumer care code, which is currently voluntary, along with increasing funding for insulating and retrofitting homes and appliances.
…the sheer scale of misery our system generates for the poorest amongst us should be a nationwide shame, the idea of over 300000 unable to use electricity and being forced to cook on open fires is shocking in a supposed first world country and removing insulation standards will only make that worse!
This rapacious attack on the poor with systems designed to cost them money should be a major story of economic justice, but it’s not!
The cost of refusing to fix the under regulated capitalism that underpins property speculation is $6.6Billion per year, this is a rigged casino economy ruled by Real Estate Pimps who are mercilessly abusing their political power to generate legislation that empowers them while robbing renters.
The scale of hard right privatisation and the real east pimps paying for policy should stun and enrage Kiwis because we have voted in a property speculators paradise of urban sprawl and ghettos at our collective expense.
I think Penk has since admitted the 50k is bollocks no? More stupid ideas from a f’ing stupid government
I usually have a lot of time for Penk but this decision is hard to fathom on a rational basis. New Zealand is cold and it’s as simple as that.
Penk Batts shit crazy, IMHO
Another national party fuck witt .Remember leaky homes and non treated timber that rotted .Now we will have very cold houses that take a lot to heat .My house is 70 years old and has the old standard of insulation top and bottom but nothing in the walls which makes it very expensive to heat using two heat pumps .
Insulation does not heat homes to a great amount .Again in the summer my roof cavity is 50 degrees or over on most summer days but the home remains cool .This is the result of the ceiling insulation and the movement of air .
My son rented a near new home that had black mould developing .The home was insulated to the old standard and had great windows etc but no ventilation when no one was home and was closed all day and then again all night .
New Zealand,makes sh*tty cheap housing. This will just ensh*ttify it more.