Politics 🗳️ NZ Politics

[miket12]

Possible good news for the current government with our GDP forecast to outstrip Australia’s for the next few years, our inflation expected to steady while theirs is set to rise on demand for higher wages and their unemployment set to rise while ours is expected to fall. These is based on forecasts (ie guestimates) from each others Reserve Bank.

A consequence off this will be more immigration to fill vacant jobs which will hit the supply of housing and cause houses to start rising again. If you’re thinking about buying a first home (or heaven forbid, an investment home), I’d get in now before the lack off supply pushes prices up and take advantage of the lower interest rates.

Whether it is seen early enough before the election could make a great deal of difference in the election outcome.

One thing I’ll guarantee…. even though it’s all part of an economy cycle, whoever holds the Treasury seats next year, if these forecasts happen, they will say it’s their policies which have caused it, when, in reality, it won’t have. Hey, but that’s the political games for you…. take responsibility for the good (even when you had nothing to do with) and blame everyone else for the bad.

Liam Dann: New Zealand’s economy is set to outpace Australia's ... now what?

OPINION: Will stronger GDP growth this side of the Tasman be a short-lived aberration?

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[MaybeTop8]

So a release from the government patting themselves on the back Bit of context is required.

Debt rose this much as Kainga Ora expanded its building programmes and redevelopment, if you are building more houses of course debt would go up?

That is forecast debt.. it is not a real reduction in debt. Debt did not actually drop by 9.5B in real terms, just forecast. Very different.

Population growth, housing shortages, economic effects from COVID, improved ways to access Kainga Ora all contributed to this.

You show great patience Damo

 

[MaybeTop8]

These politics threads are full doom and gloom and focus on what’s going wrong while conveniently ignoring what’s going well.

Just providing some positivity because the world not all bad

On that note, the Golden Visa programme has brought $3 billion of estimated investment into NZ with over 500 applications since National started it, half from the USA.

NZ benefiting off Trump, so Trump's not all bad

Nope, it's the usual Sunday wiz vain attempt at spin.

I recall recently a comment from someone promoting this claim that money from waterways was redirected to cycle lanes


View: https://bsky.app/profile/mountaintui.bsky.social/post/3mesch3qnp22n

 

[Rick O’Shay]

Nope, it's the usual Sunday wiz vain attempt at spin.

I recall recently a comment from someone promoting this claim that money from waterways was redirected to cycle lanes


View: https://bsky.app/profile/mountaintui.bsky.social/post/3mesch3qnp22n

If I recall it was, or did I read the report wrong. So what that they were spending big bucks on water? They had an opportunity to spend more but didn't.

Question raised is how much did they need to spend?

Considering the drama they face, not enough, and therefore declining the 386m over additional cycleways was a bad move which the perps should be accountable for.

Can only gloss over Green incompetence for so long before the truth and reality catch up. WCC is a joke and has been for years.

 

[Damo]

If I recall it was, or did I read the report wrong. So what that they were spending big bucks on water? They had an opportunity to spend more but didn't.

Question raised is how much did they need to spend?

Considering the drama they face, not enough, and therefore declining the 386m over additional cycleways was a bad move which the perps should be accountable for.

Can only gloss over Green incompetence for so long before the truth and reality catch up. WCC is a joke and has been for years.

Would spending more in the last 3 years have even solved anything when it has been historically (for decades) underinvested? The current failures reflect long term neglect not just recent decisions anyway.

 

[Inruin]

No, for those that don't recognise subtle sarcasm and don't really see much benefit of the last three years of responding to hypocrites and gaslighting I was being sarcastic.

For those that do, please ignore this post.

Well, you are the one that is calling me out. One example shouldn't be too difficult surely to back up your allegations?

I also seem to recall someone throwing out lines like deflect against others yet here you are. Surprised you didn't go with another well known communist lefty when challenged about allegations they make and say 'I'll have to get back to you on that'

But I guess at least you have cleared up your posting style. Sarcasm. Good to know your posts are a joke, though that was fairly evident anyway.

 

[Inruin]

Would spending more in the last 3 years have even solved anything when it has been historically (for decades) underinvested? The current failures reflect long term neglect not just recent decisions anyway.

We only know what effecr spending what they did had. Definitely looks like years of under investment caught up with them. Also not a great look though spending on cycleways that 75% of Wellingtonians say too much is being spent on them, when there is a known infrastructure investment deficit on something as fundamentally required like watercare.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

We only know what effecr spending what they did had. Definitely looks like years of under investment caught up with them. Also not a great look though spending on cyckeways that 75% of Wellingtonians say too much is being spent on them, when there is a known infrastructure investment deficit on something as fundamentally required like watercare.

The graph shows spending as under budget. If the much higher CAPEX is required due to essential maintenance, then it is by definition underfunded.

It doenst matter if your predecessor spent $100m a year and you spend $250m, because if the real amount needed is $500m, shit will hit the streets.

 

[Damo]

The graph shows spending as under budget. If the much higher CAPEX is required due to essential maintenance, then it is by definition underfunded.

It doenst matter if your predecessor spent $100m a year and you spend $250m, because if the real amount needed is $500m, shit will hit the streets.

That isn't what budgeted CAPEX and actual CAPEX means though.
If the graph showed required CAPEX then sure, but it doesn't.
Realistically, it is significantly underfunded due to DECADES of underinvestment anyway and 3 years of increased investment wouldn't make a dent but it is better than continuing underinvestment.

 

[Damo]

We only know what effecr spending what they did had. Definitely looks like years of under investment caught up with them. Also not a great look though spending on cycleways that 75% of Wellingtonians say too much is being spent on them, when there is a known infrastructure investment deficit on something as fundamentally required like watercare.

Sure but even if $0 was spent on the cycleways, that money wouldn't have automatically all gone into watercare. It just looks worse at this time due to this disaster.

 

[Inruin]

Sure but even if $0 was spent on the cycleways, that money wouldn't have automatically all gone into watercare. It just looks worse at this time due to this disaster.

Sure, but what if it was all put in to watercare? These decisions are what the council are elected to do. Cycleways are conveniently targeted here but it does highlight priorities of councils and not just the Wellington one.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

That isn't what budgeted CAPEX and actual CAPEX means though.
If the graph showed required CAPEX then sure, but it doesn't.

True but the budgeted figure was either lower, equal to, or higher than whats required. Spending less than, is bad in 2/3 outcomes. Do you think Wellington Council was overbudgeting CAPEX?

Realistically, it is significantly underfunded due to DECADES of underinvestment anyway and 3 years of increased investment wouldn't make a dent but it is better than continuing underinvestment.

That was kinda my point

 

[Damo]

True but the budgeted figure was either lower, equal to, or higher than whats required. Spending less than, is bad in 2/3 outcomes. Do you think Wellington Council was overbudgeting CAPEX?

That was kinda my point

Depends on how they approached the years of underfunding and had a plan to reverse the underinvestment. It wouldn't be fiscally smart to try tackle the billions of dollars in underinvestment in one year or three years for that matter. But I would be guessing to make a call on that

 

[Damo]

Sure, but what if it was all put in to watercare? These decisions are what the council are elected to do. Cycleways are conveniently targeted here but it does highlight priorities of councils and not just the Wellington one.

I really doubt cycleways were prioritised over the water infrastructure, it is just an easily visible thing to blame the crisis on.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I really doubt cycleways were prioritised over the water infrastructure, it is just an easily visible thing to blame the crisis on.

Probably saw the size of the increase in spending on water infrastructure and siphoned a bit off for pet projects. Happens on both sides of the aisle pretty consistently.

 

[miket12]

Nope, it's the usual Sunday wiz vain attempt at spin.

I recall recently a comment from someone promoting this claim that money from waterways was redirected to cycle lanes


View: https://bsky.app/profile/mountaintui.bsky.social/post/3mesch3qnp22n

Fact check time....
Wellington City Council spent $52 million over a three year period from 2021-2023 on cycle lanes. They spent $55 million on upgrading existing and new water infrastructure in 2021.

In 2021, they committed to a ten-year plan to spend $2.7 billion on water from 2022-2031.

Conclusion... some people, no matter which side they're from, aren't exactly "truthful" in the figures they use or how they present them.

 

[miket12]

There's one large hole where spending by Wellington Water goes which is why their capital expenditure program is so high.... and we can blame a combination of aging pipework and earthquakes/climate events. These cause cracks in pipes and joints and allows water to leak.

The average Council in NZ loses around 22% of it's water due to leaks in the supply pipe network. That means, for every 100L of water they treat and sent to consumers, 22L doesn't make it. But the Wellington area has some of the worst leakage rates in the country... the Wellington Metro area is trying to reduce it's leakage rate from 32% to 27%.... still above the country average. By comparison, WaterCare estimate it loses around 13% of it's water due to leaks.

 

[miket12]

Probably saw the size of the increase in spending on water infrastructure and siphoned a bit off for pet projects. Happens on both sides of the aisle pretty consistently.

The thing is.... things above the ground are flashy and sexy, vote winning and monument building to your own "success" .... what's below the ground and at treatment plants, just isn't.

 

[miket12]

This is disgusting.... MHUD should have had this sorted out months ago. Chris Bishop... off with his head!!!

Seven months since built – new Government-owned Napier housing development still empty​

A three-storey Government-owned Napier apartment block remains unoccupied as state housing authorities try to find a community housing provider to operate the site.
The situation, with 30 flats remaining vacant in the Wellesley Rd complex, between Raffles and Latham streets and a short distance from Napier’s central city, was reported by Hawke’s Bay Today on December 1.

But, amid a housing crisis in the city, nothing has changed, with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) saying “there has been no substantive change in the status of the development” seven months after building work was finished.

The focus “remains on identifying and working with a Community Housing Provider (CHP) to operate the development as social housing”, the ministry said.

Two months ago, the ministry said that finding a provider prepared to purchase the three-storey Wellesley Rd property had taken “longer than expected” and that it was “in discussions with community housing providers, but no formal agreement has been reached”.

The situation surprised Napier Treaty of Waitangi post-settlement governance entity Mana Ahuriri, a registered community housing provider now embarking on a series of developments utilising land and other resources.

CEO Parris Greening said it was disappointing to hear that no agreement with a Community Housing Provider had been finalised – “given the acute housing need across Te Matau-a-Māui, and the length of time these completed units have remained vacant”.

“Through our housing kaupapa, Ka Uruora – Te Matau a Māui, we have an established mandate, governance and operational capability to develop and manage social and affordable housing across the region,” he said.

“We work with Kāinga Ora, MHUD, other CHPs, local authorities and iwi partners through mechanisms such as the Regional Housing Leadership Group.

“No one has approached Mana Ahuriri regarding these units.

“Nor have we been engaged to explore whether Ka Uruora – Te Matau a Māui could play a role in operating or supporting the activation of the building.”

“Given the scale of housing demand and the existence of capable, locally-based Māori housing providers, it would be reasonable to expect that engagement with Mana Ahuriri would form part of any pathway to occupancy.

“Empty completed homes during a housing crisis represent a missed opportunity, and we remain open to kōrero [discussions] with MHUD and relevant parties about solutions that can see whānau housed as soon as possible.”

Napier Mayor Richard McGrath said in a statement that the Wellesley Road development would help to ease Napier’s housing pressure.

“I’m sure the ministry is working to find a suitable provider with urgency,” McGrath said.

He said the council’s main role to enable more housing in Napier “is through efficient consenting for developers and builders”.

Napier MP Katie Nimon said everyone wanted to see these homes tenanted “as quickly as possible”.

“The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is currently in active negotiations with potential Community Housing Providers to operate the site,” she said.

Nimon said finding a provider “who is prepared to purchase and take this on has taken longer than expected”, but the ministry was working hard to get the right outcome and ensure the housing is up and running as soon as possible.

Labour Party Napier election candidate Dr Alex Hedley said the lack of action to get people into the new homes was “shameful”.

“Especially when we have locals living in their cars and even on the streets,” Hedley said.

“Having secure housing is a core foundation of building a good life,” he said.

“Secure housing helps people attain an education, keep secure employment and helps to prevent crime.

“We have seen [Prime Minister Christopher] Luxon and National support tax cuts for tobacco companies and landlords, yet they have been absent when it comes to getting people into housing when it is ready and available.

“The model National is using for this project clearly isn’t working.”

Lights on, nobody home: Three-storey Govt housing development still empty after seven months

The central Napier apartment block was completed in July, but no one's moved in yet.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[Rick O’Shay]

Would spending more in the last 3 years have even solved anything when it has been historically (for decades) underinvested? The current failures reflect long term neglect not just recent decisions anyway.

Absolutely true.

I guess where I'm coming from is that they have known they had a serious underfunding problem for years as you say and they finally acknowledged it with the big spike that shows in T8's graph.

You would think from then on that full priority would be given to the problem (which is huge) and agreeing additional funding, not continuing to support vanity projects like the cycleways, Town Hall reconstruction, Tikana Conference centre which I understand is subsidised to the tune of around $10m a year, Rainbow toilets and pedestrian crossings at 500k each. As you say, would the extra funding have helped? I have no idea but you would have to expect an improvement if spent in the right places.

On the other hand if the people of Wellington are happy to give their councils a mandate for this level of management of their rates money then good luck, but please don't go to Govt looking for a handout of our money to cover up local inadequacies. This can be true of many councils at the moment. All about priorities IMO and how councils (not just Wellington and not just any political party) get hi jacked.