TLDR & TLDL: The Government will push ahead with the forced transfer of $54b worth of council water assets and $2b of debt into four publicly owned entities, but faces a localist backlash next year and many years of council balance sheet uncertainty that could derail plans for mass house building in our biggest cities for years to come.
Meanwhile, the Electricity Authority (EA) just quietly called out our biggest electricity generator/retailers for not investing enough in renewable electricity and doing side deals to keep power prices high, all in the name of maximising profit (who knew!). It also highlighted their deals with Rio Tinto’s Bluff smelter as a key tool to keep consumers’ bills $200 per year higher than they should have been. In the process, the EA reinforced just how much of an obstacle the continued operation of the smelter is to Aotearoa-NZ’s climate change transition. The Government is unlikely to do much about it because it is the biggest beneficiary of massive gentailer dividends.
In overnight news:
Two unvaccinated Covid cases popped up in Christchurch. One came from Auckland, infected a household member and has been infectious out in the Christchurch community for a week unvaccinated and not scanning in;
Chris Hipkins wouldn’t rule out a snap South Island lockdown on Newshub this morning;
The construction sector, universities and the Police are the next in line for vaccination mandates; and,
CoreLogic reported house values rose another 4.8% in the last three months and were up another 27.8% in the last year, with the prospect of another blip up later this year, and 5% more inflation next year. (Brilliant/Bugger/See above)
Coming up today, watch out for Chris Hipkins to announce at 1pm a halving of MIQ stays from 14 days to seven days for vaccinated returnees, followed by three days self isolation. A complete move to self-isolation won’t be until next year. His announcement was delayed yesterday for a day. He’ll have a Christchurch decision too. I’ll be at the news conference.
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