Thursday's Chorus: $288 billion at risk

Briefly in the news¹ in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, October 30:

• Earth Sciences New Zealand (formerly NIWA) published the first detailed, interactive and nationally-consistent flood hazard viewer this morning, showing three degrees of climate warming would flood areas occupied by 902,000 New Zealanders, $288 billion worth of property, 29% of electricity sub-stations and 22% of the nation’s roads.

• Public health and housing academics from the University of Otago published research last night showing an independent review relied on by the Government to justify cancelling Kāinga Ora’s programme to build 3,500 homes was flawed in concluding public housing tenants needed less help than those receiving the Accommodation Supplement (AS).

• Labour Leader Chris Hipkins yesterday challenged PM Christopher Luxon to no-holds-barred debate on Capital Gains Tax, saying “bring it on,” and pointing to Luxon’s tax-free capital gains of $600,000 last year from the sale of rental properties. (RNZ)

• The Scoop of the Day is from Nicholas Jones, who reported this morning via Stuff another allegation of a VTNZ driving tester taking bribes, this time in Porirua, just as Police investigated bribery allegations against VTNZ testers in Auckland.

• The Deep-Dive of the Day is from Emma Gleason for The Spinoff, reporting on how charities in Auckland helping homeless people and running food banks are being overwhelmed by rising demand, just as their funding from Government has been cut and donations are falling.

• The Chart of the Day via Stats NZ’s latest sub-national population estimates, which detail net international emigration of 1,700 people from Wellington in the last year to June 30, more than offsetting internal immigration of 210 and natural population growth of 750.

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The Lead: Who gets flooded with three degrees