John Nick
Contributor
Come on Wiz.
Don't leave us in the dark.
What are your sources?
What areas.
Someone with your status must be able give us a heads up.
Come on mate.
Politics NZ Politics
- Thread starter wizard of Tauranga
- Start date
Don't leave us in the dark.
What are your sources?
What areas.
Someone with your status must be able give us a heads up.
Come on mate.
- Thread starter
- #2,622
it’s all rumours until you read it in the papersCome on Wiz.
Don't leave us in the dark.
What are your sources?
What areas.
Someone with your status must be able give us a heads up.
Come on mate.
And this same chestnut comes out every time there is a change in political party running govcoit’s all rumours until you read it in the papers
Same song every time
Reminds me of that Michael Hurst Lion Red beer ad
Same song wins every time
John Nick
Contributor
Oh no. I heard it here first.it’s all rumours until you read it in the papers
The books are so bad, landlords are getting a 3B package rushed through?!!? Hahaha fucking pull the other one.
Like Schrodingers Putin… The mental gymnastics required to hold two diametrically opposed viewpoints as both true at the same time.
John Nick
Contributor
And Mike King got 3 million
But we are in the shit for money
Happens every change of government.
Amazing we still have so many gullible out there
$6m per year!And Mike King got 3 million
But we are in the shit for money
Happens every change of government.
Amazing we still have so many gullible out there
TBF $3mil is probably a saving over bloated programs delivering fuck all.And Mike King got 3 million
But we are in the shit for money
Happens every change of government.
Amazing we still have so many gullible out there
John Nick
Contributor
True. My point was they didn't have problems finding it while claiming the books are fucked
Wondering what Butterbean and many other charities are thinking
Very true. Seymour and Winnie are cunning but I don’t think Luxon and Bishop could count to 20 with their shoes on. They are probably waiting for an adult to tell them what the numbers mean.True. My point was they didn't have problems finding it while claiming the books are fucked
Wondering what Butterbean and many other charities are thinking
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John Nick
Contributor
Winnie promised to go down the Pike River site but never did because it was a no smoking area.
- Thread starter
- #2,633
More evidence we are unproductive, costly, and get less for more money with the city rail project - remember most of the contractors are the same once that travel the world leading these projects so it reflects local conditions:
Portugal, South Korea, Spain and Finland manage to build transit lines for around US$100m/km. More than nine times less than New Zealand.
(The lead tunnelling contractor for the CRL was the French company Soletanche Bachy.)
Extrapolate this across building highways, housing, bike lanes, our food costs, etc and it shows things are going majorly wrong.
Portugal, South Korea, Spain and Finland manage to build transit lines for around US$100m/km. More than nine times less than New Zealand.
(The lead tunnelling contractor for the CRL was the French company Soletanche Bachy.)
Extrapolate this across building highways, housing, bike lanes, our food costs, etc and it shows things are going majorly wrong.
- Thread starter
- #2,634
Surprisingly, an article in this just this morning. Is it just playing politics or something bigger to come:it’s all rumours until you read it in the papers
What ‘fiscal holes’ does Finance Minister Nicola Willis face as she puts together mini-Budget?
All will be revealed at the much-signalled opening of the books in December - an event known as the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update, or Hyefu, but which politicians often call opening the books probably because it sounds more dramatic.This week, Willis will have sat down with Treasury officials and been given an unvarnished briefing on the state of the books, seeing details and figures that would have been unavailable to her in opposition.
The “opening the books” shtick is more accurate you get to the topic of risks to the fiscal forecasts. These risks are declared, but don’t have specific dollar figures attached to them, at least not in publicly available documents.
Willis also mentioned these in her interview on Newstalk ZB, saying she would soon “declare some massive spending blowouts [the former Government] have had in a couple of very poorly managed projects because I think New Zealanders need to know what’s been going on with the books under Labour”.
In some instances, Treasury is able to get away with not publishing the cost of specific projects. This is often because the cost of that project is commercially sensitive, or because there is no accurate figure of how much something will cost.
In situations like this, Treasury’s update declares the fact that these blowouts exist, but doesn’t put a figure on them. Willis could choose to reveal more information about these projects, although she too would be limited by commercial sensitivity in some cases.
The risks mentioned in the Prefu, the most recent update, include cost pressures in health, potentially including the new Dunedin hospital.
Treasury was fairly scathing about these, saying in Prefu that they were “largely driven by construction sector inflation and insufficient planning ahead of investment decisions for many legacy investments”.
Potential blowouts loom over at Kāinga Ora, where Treasury warned large-scale projects faced “ongoing risk around cost overruns and changes to operating and capital costs given the scale and complexity of the projects”.
There are two other big projects which are likely to be in Willis’ sights. The first is something Treasury calls iRex, which is a rather strange abbreviation for the “Inter-Island Resilient Connection”. Outside of The Terrace, it’s known as a project to replace the ageing Interislander ferries and upgrade the portside infrastructure in Wellington and Picton. The project has been beset by rumours of ballooning costs. At the Prefu, Treasury warned that iRex “cost estimates have increased significantly since the initial funding application”, but did not give an indication of how much.
The project has already run over budget, ballooning from $775m in November 2018 to $1.76 billion in March 2021 - making the two ferries already four times more expensive than the Titanic, which cost $381m in 2023 dollars. Let’s hope we get more use out of them.
The final thing to keep an eye on is the NZ Upgrade programme, an Ardern-era infrastrucutre programme mainly targeted towards road building. One particular road, the Ōtaki to north of Levin road has ballooned to $1.6b, roughly double the cost estimate from 2020. The last Government received advice on trimming the scale of the project, or tipping in additional funding.
National has pledged to build the road no matter the cost. Famous last words. Whatever cost blowout there is will need to come from somewhere.
It's such a shame that the average person cannot visualise the difference of magnitude between million and billions, especially when it comes to dollars.
I haven’t read every comment on this thread, so if this has been discussed before excuse me.
The national government wants to change Pseudoephredine from prescription, only, to over the counter. Availability.
Its a cold decongestant cure but is also the main ingredient in speed, bennies, uppers. P.
Ram raids on Chemists?
Bulk loads from chemist warehouse?
Good idea?
I don’t think so.
comments?
The national government wants to change Pseudoephredine from prescription, only, to over the counter. Availability.
Its a cold decongestant cure but is also the main ingredient in speed, bennies, uppers. P.
Ram raids on Chemists?
Bulk loads from chemist warehouse?
Good idea?
I don’t think so.
comments?
Personally, I thought it was an unnecessary and unneeded change. If you are struggling from a winter cold, take a few panadol and have a lie down. I would have thought the risks of pseudoephedrine outweigh the benefits
But I don't like taking them anyway as I can't sleep later on at night
I can't recall the electorate ever wanting to have them back
John Nick
Contributor
I find that the Day/night tablets are great for me. Disappointed when they are not available.Lucky I very seldom need them .
It’s just plain weird. They are effective at keeping you working if you have a cold and you can power through. But then again so is speed or P. They have a bounce back effect. Rest, time off and lemon honey works for me….it just seems a policy for big pharma - the US companies, but then again that’s what this government is about. Look at the way we’re trying to get American money in here and the hard on for the gun and tobacco lobby.
Those ferries are going to be problematic - they need to upgrade the terminals at both ends and then they haven’t tested whether they can actually safely get through Tory channel.
I heard a long interview with the Picton harbour master and he said it’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’s a dangerous entry at the moment and they’re almost doubling the length of the boats….he said if a boat did hit the rocks in big seas then there are no rescue ships
I heard a long interview with the Picton harbour master and he said it’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’s a dangerous entry at the moment and they’re almost doubling the length of the boats….he said if a boat did hit the rocks in big seas then there are no rescue ships
