|
A
Citizen Revolt
11 May 08
Muriel Newman
In
the recent local body elections, Britain’s Labour
Government was delivered its worst election defeat in 40
years. Commentators called the rout a “citizen revolt”
against the carbon taxes and nanny state regulations that
have been driving up living costs to unsustainable levels.
With the New Zealand general
election only months away, and Labour trailing in the
polls, Helen Clark is taking decisive steps to avert a
similar “citizen revolt” here. More >>>
Saving
the world
-
a quarter acre at a time
11 May 08
Bob
Day
Often
when people ask my wife where I am she replies, “Oh,
he’s off somewhere saving the world.”
Well the other day I said to her, “I’ve now
worked out how I’m going to do it.”
“How?” she asked. I said, “a quarter
acre at a time.” More
>>>
The
Burdens of Local Government
Muriel Newman
2
September 2007
“Widow's fury at
$111-a-week rate burden”, was the sort of headline that
gave rise to the Local Government Rates Inquiry. That news
story from July last year told how the rates demanded from
Catherine Curlett, a 79-year-old widow who had lived in the
same weatherboard bungalow for over 30 years, had risen by 56
per cent in a year from $2929.47 to $4567.44. More
>>>
Local Government,
for better or worse?
Frank
Newman (Councillor)
1 September 2007
I
guess I am in the unique position of having had two terms
on council, one before the introduction of the Local
Government Act 2002 (between 1995-98) and one after.
After a six year break I went back onto the Whangarei
District Council with fresh eyes and an expectation that
nothing much had changed. Well that was not the case at
all. The changes have been dramatic. I was shocked to see
how far our local council - and I suspect all local
authorities in New Zealand - had moved in only six years.
The shift is seismic.
More
>>>
Snails and
Local Government
Muriel Newman
29 April
07
What do Powelliphanta Augustus and
local government have in common? A great deal it seems as
both appear to have the full attention of extreme
environmentalists.
More
>>>
The
Species Hoax
Owen
McShane
29 April 07
During late January the ex-Act
MP, Gerry Eckhoff, was leading some Otago farmers’
charge against DoC’s demands to enter their properties
to survey some “endangered” trees. Farmers
remember when they last invited DoC researchers onto their
land, only to find the information was used to designate
huge areas of their farms as “significant natural
areas” and subject to all manner of RMA rules and
controls.
More
>>>
Local
Gov't, the year ahead
Owen
McShane
14 Jan 07
This year is shaping up to be the year of climate change
– the year in which the general climate of opinion on
“climate change” will itself begin to change as the
whole “global warming” scenario begins to unravel. More
>>>
Rates & Bureaucracy
Muriel
Newman
14 Jan 07
Three years ago the government
established a joint project with Local Government New
Zealand to investigate local authority rating levels and
to determine whether there are affordability problems.
Their report claimed that there was “little evidence of
a systemic affordability problem”. More >>>
The
Housing Affordability Issue
Hugh
Pavletich
2 Sep 06
During
late 2004, I felt there was an urgent need for a credible
and easily understood housing affordability “measure”
and came to the conclusion that the “median multiple”
method - being how many years of annual median household
income it would take to purchase the median priced house
within individual urban areas - was the most appropriate.
We needed this “measure” as a foundation to gauge
affordability levels in specific areas and
internationally, so that constructive public discussion
could take place. As a developer for the past three
decades, a former industry leader and one with a keen
interest in policy issues, I had an obligation to
contribute to this important debate.
More
>>>
Rate Rebellion & Reform
Muriel
Newman
2 September 06
As a highly taxed country with the
highest interest rates in the western world, it is little
wonder that the spectre of local authority rates
escalating - seemingly out of control - has the nation up
in arms. More >>>
Reigning in Local Government
Muriel
Newman
22 July 06
This week, at
the opening of the Local Government New Zealand
conference, the President, Basil Morrison, raised concerns
about local government funding: “One
issue that continues to affect all councils, and one that
I think we’re all united on is funding.
How do we continue to fund the expectations of our
communities, restore, maintain and develop our
infrastructure and respond to the increasing costs of
compliance created by central government, when our funding
base is so narrow”. More >>>
Property and
Politics
Andrew
King
18 Mar 06
At a time when there is a waiting list
for state houses of over 10,000 people, you would think
that the Government would be attempting all it could to
resolve this issue. To be fair, it has initiated some
practical measures that should help landlords to provide
good accommodation. However they are also looking into
measures that could drive private suppliers of rental
property out of the market. There is also the question of
whether in fact the 10,000 waiting list is a true
indication that there is a shortage of rental property at
all. More
>>>
Property rights and wrongs
Muriel
Newman
17 Mar 06
At a time when there is a waiting list
for state houses of over 10,000 people, you would think
that the Government would be attempting all it could to
resolve this issue. To be fair, it has initiated some
practical measures that should help landlords to provide
good accommodation. However they are also looking into
measures that could drive private suppliers of rental
property out of the market. There is also the question of
whether in fact the 10,000 waiting list is a true
indication that there is a shortage of rental property at
all. More >>>
Local
Government and GMOs
Dr
William Rolleston
17
Dec 05
“Rust never sleeps” nor does the movement
opposed to genetic modification. Despite setbacks at the
Royal Commission, in the courts and at the polls anti-GM
groups continue to chip away searching for that weak link.
They have had more than ten years to mount a credible
scientific argument against the use of genetic
modification yet sadly for them they have not managed it.
More
>>>
Local Government GM Battleground
Muriel
Newman
17 Dec 05
Having been rejected
by central government, GM radicals are now putting
pressure on local councils to further their cause.
More >>>
Getting in the Way
Owen
McShane
19 Nov 05
The most
ubiquitous way government “gets in the way” of private
conservation activity is through perverse implementation
of the RMA. The Smart Growth pandemic is now infecting
more and more district and regional plans. This pernicious
anti-environmental planning theory encourages
“intensification” or urban land behind an urban fence,
and protects “productive farmland” from small farming
and rural residential development.
More
>>>
A ratepayers bill of
rights?
Muriel
Newman
05 Oct 05
Last week I was elected onto my local ratepayer
association committee. I’m pleased that I will now have
an opportunity to examine the growing problems facing
local government on a first hand basis.
More
>>>
|
