Today in distractions: David Carter is covering for Simon Bridges’ polling results by upsetting the whole idea of non-partisan accountability of the Government to Parliament in select comittees, I give some free advice to the National Party comms team knowing they won’t pull it off, and Mallard has lost patience with non-answers
It’s almost as if deliberately running down state housing stock doesn’t make the need for homes magically go away – who could possibly have predicted that?
It’s more than a “dreary lack of ambition”, it’s a deliberate plan to underfund / rundown the stock to “justify” selling off, so that the Nats can indeed “wash their hands” of their obligations.
English admits that the government has done a poor job of maintaining state houses, and uses it as an excuse for privatisation – its by design. The attempted sale in Christchurch, incuding Key’s childhood home, is a powerful symbol of the way this government likes pulling up the ladder that they used behind them.
Another fail in National’s plan to sell off state houses is good news for those of us who believe that it is the government’s responsibility to take care of society’s most vulnerable.
Good work fact-checking by Geoff Simmons at the Morgan Foundation. Contrary to Key’s lie, Labour builds more houses than National.
Yesterday 2800 state houses in Auckland were “transferred” to a new authority, which plans to “reduce the number of people the State is supporting”.
The data for the trial Warrant of Fitness scheme for state houses from last year was recently (finally!) released. 80% of them need serious work. 22% didn’t have functioning bathroom and toilet doors. What is going on?
