There is no housing problem!
But only in Nick Smith’s head. See the finally released government Housing Affordability Measure (HAM).
nick smith
Nick knifed
Nick Smith is a disgrace
In a functioning democracy Nick Smith’s handling of the Resource Management Bill should result in him losing his ministerial warrant.
Community groups abandon Smith’s water forum
Will Nick Smith get the message and set in place a realistic consultation process and safe standards, or will he persist with a plan so bad that no one wants to be associated with it?
Swimmable standards that aren’t for all of our rivers except most of them
Swimmable standards that aren’t, for all of our rivers except most of them, sometime maybe not now. Nat policy at its finest.
The Nats’ new ‘swimmable’ rivers aren’t
Under the new standards we have up to a 1 in 6 risk of serious infection at the times that we actually swim in rivers, and Smith is trying to hide this fact by fudging around with year-long averages. David Parker’s analysis yesterday was bang on.
Nick Smith becomes Minister of Government Information
The Government intends to change the definitions of various indicators in an effort to solve some of the country’s most serious problems.
Just allow more shit – a metaphor for this government
So National’s great plan for swimmable rivers by 2040 is to allow twice as much shit in them and still call them “swimmable.”
Nick Smith screws up again
We should probably just schedule this as a monthly post.
Your government MPs in the news
Who can even keep up with it all?
Rudman on Nats’ total housing fail
Rudman: “The Prime Minister, in his role in charge of Housing New Zealand, and Smith have spectacularly failed to solve Auckland’s housing crisis over several years.”
Pike River Mine can be safely re-entered – but the Government says no
Damien O’Connor and Denise Roche have taken it to Nick Smith in the House today over the government’s plan to seal Pike River mine forever.
Government seeking to remove property buy back rights under urgency
Nick Smith has introduced a bill into Parliament which he wants to be passed under urgency without select committee oversight. The bill takes away the right of any prior owner of land taken under the Public Works Act to have housing land offered back to them. To do this under urgency is banana republic stuff.
The Million Dollar Minister
No denying the housing crisis now, Nick.
Water quality too important for bird-brained excuses
Nick Smith’s latest excuse for inaction on water quality is birds. Yes birds. You couldn’t make this shit up.
For a dose of blessed sanity, watch the (10 min) webcast by Dr Mike Joy explaining what the real problem is.
Land banking – National gives up on housing crisis
As the average Auckland house price hits $1 Million, the Special Housing Areas fail, and Real Estate agents openly promote land banking, what does National do? Why, they give up, of course.
Nick Smith commits to raising average wage to $250,000
Great news everyone! On The Nation this morning Nick Smith committed to raising average NZ wage to $250,000!
Nats contradicting each other on panicked infrastructure policy
From Newshub:
Listen to Nick Smith trying to defend fudged foreign ownership data
Anyone who believes the Nats’ figures needs to listen to yesterday’s interview – Why won’t Nick Smith answer this one simple question? Excellent work from Garner.
The Unitary Plan will not solve the Housing Crisis
The Unitary Plan has been described as a panacea for the housing crisis by the Government. But will it actually address this most acute of issues?
We truly are being run by a bunch of clowns
National is flailing around attempting to divert attention from its failure to do anything meaningful about the homeless crisis.
The ghost house epidemic and the invisible hand
Last year there were officially 22,000 unoccupied properties in Auckland. This year 33,000 are officially classified as empty. “Auckland’s 6.6 per cent vacancy rate is higher than either Sydney (5.2 per cent) or Melbourne (4.8 per cent), where there has been an uproar over “ghost houses” deliberately left empty by speculators trading on a soaring market”. This is madness.
There is no housing crisis in New Zealand *
* according to Nick Smith and Paula Bennett.
National’s lies, damn lies and statistics on housing
The housing crisis is not going away, and National needs to offer something better than lies, damn lies, and statistics.
Nick Smith 0.75% successful on Auckland housing!
One year later Nick Smith has delivered three quarters of 1% of his promised 430 ha of new Auckland housing land. The Brighter Future strikes again.
Land tax – what’s the down side?
The Nats are using spurious data to justify dropping a proposal for a land tax on foreign buyers of housing. Why?
If you need a good laugh this morning
“Nick Smith reckons Akld housing’s more affordable now than before National came to power”
National gets a smacking on the housing crisis
Fair to say that Simon Bridges’ claim that there is no housing crisis has – not gone down well. National – you have a problem.
Another Nick Smith fail in Auckland
How’s Nick Smith doing on the Budget plan to round up 500ha of Auckland land for housing? The answer won’t shock you!
Here we go again – from leaky homes to porous pipes
As if leaky buildings was not enough, New Zealand’s lax standards and lack of inspection may be contributing to new problems in the Building Industry.
Local democracy just got screwed
If the RMA Amendment Bill goes through, then community groups all over the country are going to become intimately acquainted with just how badly they have been shafted by Mr Smith and his accomplices.
Government plans RMA power grab
The Government is planning to allow the relevant Minister to change District Plans by regulation or to allow National Policy Statements to change district plans and to prevent submissions being received unless evidence contained is provided by a professional adviser with expertise.
Fight to save Christchurch’s trees
Christchurch has already lost so much. Now its “notable trees” are threatened. A small group is fighting to save them. Please help spread the word, or make a donation.
Treachery and silly season political snippets
There’s still a few MPs “on duty”. Their function is to maintain the semblance of active government and to roll out a bunch of announcements they hope will escape full scrutiny.
RMA announcement
Changes to the RMA have just been announced.
Updated.
Power Corruption and Lies
A National List MP has been snapped trying to heavy the Housing Ministry into funding a lift in her personal profile. Remember John Key’s ‘higher standards in Government’? Nick Smith’s Ministerial office apparently doesn’t care too much about about such trifles. Worse, the Housing Ministry has been caught trying to cover up for the Tories by redacting an OIA request. Here’s your Brighter Future, folks. Enjoy.