Politics 🗳️ NZ Politics

[Inruin]

What's the new govt's plan to address this even bigger looming disaster, new build numbers dropping again apparently

What was the old government's plan?

 

[Worried2Death]

What was the old government's plan?

Kiwibuild, that went well s/

Are we still hoping the new coalition rectifies the demand/supply imbalance?

 

[Inruin]

Kiwibuild, that went well s/

Are we still hoping the new coalition rectifies the demand/supply imbalance?

I'm not sure any government can.

 

[Worried2Death]

I'm not sure any government can.

We live in hope, but there's always the point in the market where developers pull out because supply approaches demand and profit margins drop. It's beyond me what the answer is, state intervention hasn't helped much in the last 6 years, although 46K builds last year was pretty good, almost matching immigration demand but not catching up to local needs.

 

[Worried2Death]

- Massive local council infrastructure investment, paid for by existing ratepayers... yeah right
- cutting red tape for developers without inviting leaky building disasters... yeah right
- Kiwibuild 2.0 with huge govt cash injections... nope, we need tax cuts

That's all I've got, over to you forum experts

 

[Inruin]

We live in hope, but there's always the point in the market where developers pull out because supply approaches demand and profit margins drop. It's beyond me what the answer is, state intervention hasn't helped much in the last 6 years, although 46K builds last year was pretty good, almost matching immigration demand but not catching up to local needs.

Be interesting to see how many of these houses were catch ups after COVID delays.

House builds are dropping rapidly currently by all reports

Also, the immigration tap was turned on full this last year.

Overall, annual migrant arrivals in the year ending 31 August 2023 reached an all-time high of 225,400.

With 115,100 migrant departures over the same period, New Zealand had a record net migration gain of 110,200.


So, building down, immigration at record levels, interest rates relatively high.....

Every setting that gets changed have their own consequences as we have seen over the last wee while.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

- Massive local council infrastructure investment, paid for by existing ratepayers... yeah right
- cutting red tape for developers without inviting leaky building disasters... yeah right
- Kiwibuild 2.0 with huge govt cash injections... nope, we need tax cuts

That's all I've got, over to you forum experts

All those lefties on here that agreed with Labour that housings was a need, not a business and there shouldn’t be any profit, are about to find out that supply will never meet the need with that attitude.

1 - get inflation under control so interest rates are stabilised - boom bust in interest rates = boom bust in housing
2 - inflation under control again so developers have certainty of price and their costs aren’t 20% higher and losing money when they finish the project 2 years after starting.
3 - fix immigration / emigration so tradespeople don’t flee to Australia and projects timeframe (and costs) don’t blow out from lack of labour.
4 - remove the daft interest deductibility and brightline rules so your not losing money providing a business.
5 - bigger picture grow GDP and productivity so we have the disposable income to afford ever increasing prices - prices will need to keep going up as standards rise
6 - less restrictions around building height and city limits to provide a supply of developable land. In Tauranga we’re out of land because growth areas have been delayed by planning issues for years.
7 - streamline the RMA. We all know port of Tauranga is being held up for years by the consenting process - that same ‘complainers have all the power’ attitude extends to developers and kills projects, timeframes and costs.
8 - reign in service providers - watercare, power suppliers, council development contributions, etc see developers as a cash cow. You would be staggered at some of the costs…
9 - Kiwibuild get the settings right and have the govt buy directly off private developers for community housing. Kiwibuild proves govt can’t navigate their own issues highlighted above despite the full power of the state and unlimited funds.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Is the govt going to ban these gang patches?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Is this a symptom of the dog whistling politics we heard so much about around the election?

Hope you were equally outraged at people attacking the English version of the treaty in Te Papa?

Just more left divisive politics coming out:

Rich vs poor
Employers vs employees
Farmers vs city
Car users vs cyclists
Landlord vs tenants
Immunised vs unimmunised
Etc, etc

Really hoping if everyone’s treated equal and the government backs everyone instead of picking winners, we have a more harmonious society.

 

[Noitall]

Hope you were equally outraged at people attacking the English version of the treaty in Te Papa?

I could certainly understand their attitude that the only document that shows their rights as the original owners being questioned through a referendum put forward by the government as threatening. I guess the defacing of these Maori graves and monument is also of a group threatened by an ever growing Maori presence as our identity in this country we share.

 

[miket12]

- Massive local council infrastructure investment, paid for by existing ratepayers... yeah right
- cutting red tape for developers without inviting leaky building disasters... yeah right
- Kiwibuild 2.0 with huge govt cash injections... nope, we need tax cuts

That's all I've got, over to you forum experts

The problem is that parties work to a three year cycle where the ultimate goal is to impress enough people to win an election….. it doesn’t mean that it’s best for the country just in the best interests of the majority of the voters.

Addressing some of the compliance areas of the Resource Management Act for a start would reduce costs. While I’m all for areas of significance to Maori such as wai tupu being protected, the current scope of which iwi and hapū are consulted on is too large and board in the current RMA settings. If you want to build a house within a certain distance of say an old food pit in the Rodney area, you don’t just have to consult with the local iwi and hapū but with fourteen different groups some of whom could be right on the edge of Franklin and have no historic links to where you’re intending to build.

TBH, I think it would be far better for Iwi and hapū leadership to meet with Auckland Council and work through a process of identifying areas of cultural and historical significance to them. An application where a request for wai tupu is required would then require the applicant to consult with those groups who have already registered that the area is significant too them. The other iwi and hapū can be sent a notice of what the application is for and then have a week or two to decide if that was significant to them and for them to then be added to those requiring full consultation.

This would save months of time and therefore cost, which in the case of a subdivision application, is passed on to the subsequent purchaser of the land which only causes properties to rise further.

Another thing that could be changed and would lead to cost reductions and lower housing inflation in Auckland would be for WaterCare to adopt the engineering practices that Manukau Water used to use. When the old seven councils were merged to form Auckland Council, engineers form the old water authorities got together to set up the drainage standards for the new WaterCare organisation. Unfortunately, instead of adopting Manukau Waters system where everything on the house side of water meters and everything of the house side of connections to waste and stormwater drains is considered private and everything on the other side of the meters and connections is considered public. All the private drainage work was done under a building consent and inspected by a council P&D inspector. The public works were overseen by an engineer and done under a resource consent.

But old biases prevailed and instead of adopting the best system, the engineers in charge of deciding the direction for public drains kept pushing their old systems forward. There are now a number of areas in Auckland, where, if you want to subdivide the back of your section, you have to apply for a building consent to do part of the work, undertake that section, get it inspected and approved, before applying for a building consent to do the next part….etc, etc. That can happeniup to five separate times and then part of what you’ve done becomes public and part of it remains private. It’s just all unnecessary cost which the developers passes on to the buyer of the land, and if they’re a building company, is then passed on to the purchaser of the house.

The thing is, Labour have been aware of this (I was at a conference where Megan Wood was told of a number of areas costs for development could be reduced including these two) but she made it clear Labour won’t considering most of them in their changes to the RMA as it would be seen by to many of their voters as “providing profit to developers”.

My fear now is that, instead of addressing things like this, the new governments changes to the RMA will go done their party lines of reducing regulation and environmental protections and not look at changes like this which would help reduce the cost of providing new land and ultimately housing.

 

[Noitall]

Is the govt going to ban these gang patches?

View attachment 4824

I believe this patch will be banned citing the grammar, go the Warriors perfectly acceptable though.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Most museums and several hotel chains have been hit with the fake bomb threats today… what does the media focus on?

The treaty grounds!

Our media is latching onto the divisiveness to stir up emotion and get clicks?

Waitangi Treaty Grounds museums receive bomb threats and evacuate

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds museums were evacuated following bomb threats.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[Noitall]

Most museums and several hotel chains have been hit with the fake bomb threats today… what does the media focus on?

The treaty grounds!

Our media is latching onto the divisiveness to stir up emotion and get clicks?

Waitangi Treaty Grounds museums receive bomb threats and evacuate

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds museums were evacuated following bomb threats.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Terrorism on our shores. After the last terrorist on our shores killed over 50 people, I hope it’s being treated with the seriousness it deserves.

 

[Inruin]

Terrorism on our shores. After the last terrorist on our shores killed over 50 people, I hope it’s being treated with the seriousness it deserves.

Are they on our shores? The ones against schools in NZ a few months ago were originating from oversea weren't they?

 

[Noitall]

Are they on our shores? The ones against schools in NZ a few months ago were originating from oversea weren't they?

Not too sure? Hadn’t seen where they had come from but cyber terrorism also equally as disruptive and concerning. Think along with schools and hospitals in the last lot also included synagogues and places of worship? This time random hotels and museums but also treaty grounds is odd but in each of the attacks there seems to be an element that seems less random?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Are they on our shores? The ones against schools in NZ a few months ago were originating from oversea weren't they?

Sounds like it could be the same people.

Worry is they cry wolf so many times and we get our guard down then

 

[Inruin]

Not too sure? Hadn’t seen where they had come from but cyber terrorism also equally as disruptive and concerning. Think along with schools and hospitals in the last lot also included synagogues and places of worship? This time random hotels and museums but also treaty grounds is odd but in each of the attacks there seems to be an element that seems less random?

Definitely disruptive. Targeting schools, hospitals, places of worship and now museums, hotels, treaty grounds. Fairly disingenuous for any one to try and claim that it's a racially motivated attack against Maori isn't it?

Further 'concerning' emails sent to organisations - police

Police believe emails which contain bomb threats - sent to more than 70 organisations - have been sent from overseas.

www.rnz.co.nz

 

[Worried2Death]

The problem is that parties work to a three year cycle where the ultimate goal is to impress enough people to win an election….. it doesn’t mean that it’s best for the country just in the best interests of the majority of the voters.

Addressing some of the compliance areas of the Resource Management Act for a start would reduce costs. While I’m all for areas of significance to Maori such as wai tupu being protected, the current scope of which iwi and hapū are consulted on is too large and board in the current RMA settings. If you want to build a house within a certain distance of say an old food pit in the Rodney area, you don’t just have to consult with the local iwi and hapū but with fourteen different groups some of whom could be right on the edge of Franklin and have no historic links to where you’re intending to build.

TBH, I think it would be far better for Iwi and hapū leadership to meet with Auckland Council and work through a process of identifying areas of cultural and historical significance to them. An application where a request for wai tupu is required would then require the applicant to consult with those groups who have already registered that the area is significant too them. The other iwi and hapū can be sent a notice of what the application is for and then have a week or two to decide if that was significant to them and for them to then be added to those requiring full consultation.

This would save months of time and therefore cost, which in the case of a subdivision application, is passed on to the subsequent purchaser of the land which only causes properties to rise further.

Another thing that could be changed and would lead to cost reductions and lower housing inflation in Auckland would be for WaterCare to adopt the engineering practices that Manukau Water used to use. When the old seven councils were merged to form Auckland Council, engineers form the old water authorities got together to set up the drainage standards for the new WaterCare organisation. Unfortunately, instead of adopting Manukau Waters system where everything on the house side of water meters and everything of the house side of connections to waste and stormwater drains is considered private and everything on the other side of the meters and connections is considered public. All the private drainage work was done under a building consent and inspected by a council P&D inspector. The public works were overseen by an engineer and done under a resource consent.

But old biases prevailed and instead of adopting the best system, the engineers in charge of deciding the direction for public drains kept pushing their old systems forward. There are now a number of areas in Auckland, where, if you want to subdivide the back of your section, you have to apply for a building consent to do part of the work, undertake that section, get it inspected and approved, before applying for a building consent to do the next part….etc, etc. That can happeniup to five separate times and then part of what you’ve done becomes public and part of it remains private. It’s just all unnecessary cost which the developers passes on to the buyer of the land, and if they’re a building company, is then passed on to the purchaser of the house.

The thing is, Labour have been aware of this (I was at a conference where Megan Wood was told of a number of areas costs for development could be reduced including these two) but she made it clear Labour won’t considering most of them in their changes to the RMA as it would be seen by to many of their voters as “providing profit to developers”.

My fear now is that, instead of addressing things like this, the new governments changes to the RMA will go done their party lines of reducing regulation and environmental protections and not look at changes like this which would help reduce the cost of providing new land and ultimately housing.

I'd vote for you to run the country Mike, you could do it in your spare time. You make too much sense to be a politician, but have you thought of standing for a party?

 

[miket12]

I'd vote for you to run the country Mike, you could do it in your spare time. You make too much sense to be a politician, but have you thought of standing for a party?

Sorry, I have too much integrity to stoop so low to become a politician.