Govt spending freeze on classrooms & pipes driving up rents & inflation, stopping rate cuts that other countries started this week; Cancer patients & GPs lament broken promises & health underfunding
I heard a whisper that the Andrea Vance scoop on TPM is centred on some Destiny Church folk ‘unappreciated’ on the marae? Thoughts… The drip feed scandal is typical of distractions from bad coalition news
Thanks Bernard for insightful commentary as usual. There are so many issues with the current CoC and their approach to destroying (sorry ‘leading ‘ ) the country it’s hard to know where to start. I would like to touch on a couple of the points raised here:
1. This government has inflicted significant pain on thousands of people who find themselves with no job through no fault of their own. There is nothing in the recent budget that provides options for these newly unemployed to find new roles or retrain. They are left to flounder in a steadily deteriorating job market. Expect many of these, often highly skilled, workers to explore options overseas.
2. Your point about lack of investment in mental health is particularly relevant in light of the recent gumboot Friday crony funding. Perhaps if would help if our mental health organisations were to make donations to National or NZ first and for the CEOs to cozy up to Winnie and Chris a bit more.
3. Consumer and business confidence has tanked because the COC has pulled the plug on every meaningful investment in infrastructure..from schools to ferrys to rail to public transport and water. The country is in an extended recession purely as a result of this government. And government books will deteriorate due to lower tax take as a result of the dire outlook.
If they can destroy so much in 6 months. God help us two and a half years from now.
I enjoyed your summary today. Inciteful and interesting! As a country I don't think we have figured out who we want to be in this world. We don't have a consensus on this. Maori, Nuclear Free, Clean Green (NOT), relaxed, desires for a Scandinavian like heath and education systems .....but don't want to pay. I think we need to ring fence our funding for Health and Education....and get real about what is required.
Climate - we need to stop burning fossil fuels and until this consumption starts dropping we as
I think one thing a little overlooked in the stories about the broken promise around cancer drugs is that election campaigns are exactly the wrong place to decide which drugs should get funded. Hopefully this is a salutary lesson for all involved that that Pharmac is depoliticised for a reason. National's mistake is not so much that they broke their promise. It is that they made the promise in the first place, without understanding how they were undermining Pharmac by doing so.
Kāpiti a sunny Saturday for my enjoyment enhanced by this Soliloquy. The Kākā birds are really making their presence felt like the birds in Aldous Huxley's "Island" who cried 'Karuna! Attention!"
I rejoice in this valuable wananga. Thanks for getting up with the birds and flyjng above the daily fray to present this valuable weekly overview to your many Kaka whānau followers and friends.
Given people missing out on the cancer drugs they were promised, complaining about the lack of school builds feels petty. But I will anyway. In a fairly central suburb of Auckland that has had massive intensification that is still going at a fair clip of conversion we are zoned for 1 primary school! This school has a roll of around 360 and I don't think it's under capacity. It's absolute madness.
Yeah the march stretched from the Quay Street intersection to at least the Victoria Street intersection if not Wellesley Street - hard to tell looking back from near the front. The drumming band was awesome.
Bernard that was an excellent comment on electrification of NZ, the Chinese are building electric SUV’s with 300 kilometers plus range for $16,000 NZ then there is the ridiculous prices being put on electricity for consumers, that will only encourage rapid uptake of cheap Chinese made solar panels. Many people are unaware of just how rapidly things are likely to change.
One further comment Bernard, it is not just properly prices falling in Wellington, my property manager there advised me that rents are falling rapidly too.
Will NZ even be 'allowed' to buy the PV technology we need from China, or will she be required to 'toe the line' and buy such PV as she wants from USA's hypothetically mighty future industry under duress of the same sanctions that countries trading with Russia have faced? NZ's financial institutions (RBNZ in particular, since internationally owned commercial banks are de-facto foreign agents, and subject to pressure from dollar-zone powers) need to get on board with CIPS and the many other alternatives to SWIFT as a matter of urgency.
I heard a whisper that the Andrea Vance scoop on TPM is centred on some Destiny Church folk ‘unappreciated’ on the marae? Thoughts… The drip feed scandal is typical of distractions from bad coalition news
I heard the same! Hope there’s thorough investigation.
Thanks Bernard for insightful commentary as usual. There are so many issues with the current CoC and their approach to destroying (sorry ‘leading ‘ ) the country it’s hard to know where to start. I would like to touch on a couple of the points raised here:
1. This government has inflicted significant pain on thousands of people who find themselves with no job through no fault of their own. There is nothing in the recent budget that provides options for these newly unemployed to find new roles or retrain. They are left to flounder in a steadily deteriorating job market. Expect many of these, often highly skilled, workers to explore options overseas.
2. Your point about lack of investment in mental health is particularly relevant in light of the recent gumboot Friday crony funding. Perhaps if would help if our mental health organisations were to make donations to National or NZ first and for the CEOs to cozy up to Winnie and Chris a bit more.
3. Consumer and business confidence has tanked because the COC has pulled the plug on every meaningful investment in infrastructure..from schools to ferrys to rail to public transport and water. The country is in an extended recession purely as a result of this government. And government books will deteriorate due to lower tax take as a result of the dire outlook.
If they can destroy so much in 6 months. God help us two and a half years from now.
I enjoyed your summary today. Inciteful and interesting! As a country I don't think we have figured out who we want to be in this world. We don't have a consensus on this. Maori, Nuclear Free, Clean Green (NOT), relaxed, desires for a Scandinavian like heath and education systems .....but don't want to pay. I think we need to ring fence our funding for Health and Education....and get real about what is required.
Climate - we need to stop burning fossil fuels and until this consumption starts dropping we as
humans and nature are stuffed.
I think one thing a little overlooked in the stories about the broken promise around cancer drugs is that election campaigns are exactly the wrong place to decide which drugs should get funded. Hopefully this is a salutary lesson for all involved that that Pharmac is depoliticised for a reason. National's mistake is not so much that they broke their promise. It is that they made the promise in the first place, without understanding how they were undermining Pharmac by doing so.
Kāpiti a sunny Saturday for my enjoyment enhanced by this Soliloquy. The Kākā birds are really making their presence felt like the birds in Aldous Huxley's "Island" who cried 'Karuna! Attention!"
I rejoice in this valuable wananga. Thanks for getting up with the birds and flyjng above the daily fray to present this valuable weekly overview to your many Kaka whānau followers and friends.
a wananga
Thanks Bernard. Really appreciated the overview.
How to stop it all becoming stagflationary?
Given people missing out on the cancer drugs they were promised, complaining about the lack of school builds feels petty. But I will anyway. In a fairly central suburb of Auckland that has had massive intensification that is still going at a fair clip of conversion we are zoned for 1 primary school! This school has a roll of around 360 and I don't think it's under capacity. It's absolute madness.
Great march down Queen St vs Fast Track Bill - and only three Palestinian flags
Yeah the march stretched from the Quay Street intersection to at least the Victoria Street intersection if not Wellesley Street - hard to tell looking back from near the front. The drumming band was awesome.
Yes ..a lively atmosphere and very focused on sending a message to the govt about the Fast Track Bill.
Te Pāti Māori has requested an urgent investigation of the allegations by the police. Is that the action of a guilty party? or brinkmanship? or ????
Bernard that was an excellent comment on electrification of NZ, the Chinese are building electric SUV’s with 300 kilometers plus range for $16,000 NZ then there is the ridiculous prices being put on electricity for consumers, that will only encourage rapid uptake of cheap Chinese made solar panels. Many people are unaware of just how rapidly things are likely to change.
One further comment Bernard, it is not just properly prices falling in Wellington, my property manager there advised me that rents are falling rapidly too.
https://thekaka.substack.com/i/145378319/china-us-and-eu-could-subsidise-our-electrification
Will NZ even be 'allowed' to buy the PV technology we need from China, or will she be required to 'toe the line' and buy such PV as she wants from USA's hypothetically mighty future industry under duress of the same sanctions that countries trading with Russia have faced? NZ's financial institutions (RBNZ in particular, since internationally owned commercial banks are de-facto foreign agents, and subject to pressure from dollar-zone powers) need to get on board with CIPS and the many other alternatives to SWIFT as a matter of urgency.
Many thanks to all paying subscribers for permission and encouragement to open this up for full public reading, listening and sharing. Bernard
I’m a week behind and just listened and read this. Great format Bernard and very useful.
Please keep going 👍🏼