Written By:
- Date published:
1:21 pm, August 25th, 2025 - 10 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, corruption, housing, Media, national, national/act government, nz first, winston peters -
Tags: Foreign Buyers, Golden Visa, housing, mike hosking, NZME
Watching NZME Newstalk ZB is like watching Fox News to my mind.
Earlier in the year, Fox hosted then “DOGE” (Department of Government Efficiency) head Elon Musk where he spouted the “benefits” of his cost cutting exercises in the USA.
It was extraordinary to watch a political billionaire allowed on a so-called media platform to spout whatever he wanted unchallenged, and without any consideration to facts or context.
I feel very much the same way when watching Luxon, or indeed any right wing figure, on Newstalk ZB.
Last week Luxon criticized Labour and Chris Hipkins, in particular, for Labour’s decision to not appear at the public component of the latest Covid-19 inquiry – an inquiry that was instigated by NZ First and where terms of reference were largely designed to humiliate the last government around the adoption of vaccines.
Hipkins, Ardern, Robertson etc. had all spent hours at the Commission – so much so that some of them were told there was nothing further to proffer. And acting on legal advice, they chose not to accept the abnormal convention of requesting former Ministers attend the public hearing. Let alone the significant safety concerns at play.
That didn’t stop Luxon from denigrating Labour on Newstalk, nor did he mention all present and former Ministers had already given testimony, instead telling faithfful NZME listeners Labour were “gaslighting” the public.
It’s Luxon at his most real, which means Luxon at his most nasty, a form he consistently falls back on when treating political opponents, and also when challenged by someone he deems less powerful.
What interested me though was his furnishing to Mike Hosking that the pending lift of the foreign buyers ban, which I’ve been reporting on through last year and this, will be passed under urgency – and completed by the end of this year.
This morning, NZME was running further assists for the Coalition’s policy plans, interviewing Shamubeel Eaqub, and with Ryan Bridge telling Kiwis it was unlikely to affect any ordinary person.
Bridge:
“There are about 7000 livable homes at $5m or above..they’re mainly in Auckland and Queenstown so the most likely situation is these ultra wealthy will end up buying homes there”
Four points here:
We cannot separate allowing the uber wealthy from overseas buying NZ homes from impacting ordinary Kiwis now and into the future.
Winston and the government have been socialising the idea for a while now – presumably to test the waters to see if NZ First get any backlash.
It hasn’t happened, and with help from friendly right wing media, it may never do so.
This mob don't work for ordinary people.
Comment: Who is this Government working for? For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself seriously asking this question, while drafting submissions on an interminable series of rushed, poorly drafted bills that appear to work against the interests of many New Zealanders.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/08/23/anne-salmond-who-is-this-government-working-for/
Timely questions. Imho, the CoC is govt by the sorted, for the sorted, so they can definitely be trusted to look after their own people. In Service of Self – SoS NZ.
https://youtu.be/85nKdbX1NO4?si=iNyAPhygGAqM66ln
…Austin Seymour
The idea in 2023 was that they would allow foreigners to buy homes worth over $5M, but apply a stamp duty, it was sold then as a way to raise money.
What is it now, an opportunity for those who own a $5M property here to flick it on to someone who can afford it, while there is no bright-line test?
Maybe the Labour/Green/TPM should consider a stamp duty on all purchases of houses at over $5M.
Heh. I'd say start at 2 Million $
Would you like a NZ passport with your property purchase? Or is it the other way round?
It’s moot though because money can buy either or both, courtesy of the Coalition.
That's a nice soft way to bring a tax in. …. cue the farmers.
National's donors and voters want their property bubble back. The way things stand at the moment, you have to put up with rubbish like working for a living or investing in risky productive enterprise if you want to make money – that's just unacceptable. Allowing foreign buyers in at the top end of the property market will affect prices all the way down, so the wealthy can go back to making millions from having plebs pay mortgages for them.
Remember, it's only "class war" when workers want a pay rise, folks!
nice big dead rat for Winston to swallow. How you want it cooked winnie