We grew NZ Inc by exploiting migrant workers

The exploitation of workers on the national fibre broadband rollout highlights once again the dark underbelly of our ‘churn and burn’ economy. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:

1. An extraordinary Steve Kilgallon investigation into migrant abuse published yesterday in Stuff uncovered the dark underbelly of our apparently successful UFB fibre rollout, and emphasised how our economy relies partly on migrant abuse to grow GDP;

2. Wellington City Council is considering switching back to land value rating from capital value rating, which would be a great idea, as Joel MacManus points out in his column today for The Spinoff.

3. Aotearoa could become a renewable energy exporting powerhouse that also generated high-paid jobs in regions if only we encouraged data centres, rather than smelters, to be built and run near our big hydro power generation schemes, tech veteran and company director Mike O’Donnell rightly argues in his weekend column for The Post-$$$.

4. Surveys of manufacturers and those in our services operations on Friday and today show NZ Inc slumped into a deeper recession in June, which is turning into our economic winter of discontent.

5. Wellington’s City Missioner has rightly challenged the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government to say where those evicted from Kāinga Ora in its new crackdown will live and what they might do when homeless.

6. In some good news, China is rapidly stopping building new coal-fired steel plants.

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Top Six Things to note on July 15:

1. Inside the exploitation that built our UFB network

Chorus contractor exploited migrants and got away with it