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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Frank Newman
Those who expect the Working Group to produce a comprehensive and impartial review of our tax system will be disappointed. It's not that kind of project. The Group's role is to provide options within the government’s agenda.
A rahui was placed on Cable Bay after a drowning. A man and his family playing touch rugby on the beach were told by a local to ''Clear off…You can't swim here, you can't fish here, you can't play on the beach, so get out of here".
So there we have it. MMP at work. A party that receives 7.2% of the vote gets to choose who runs the country. And they choose a party that received 36.9% of the vote, and that party enters into a coalition agreement with another party that received 6.3% of the vote.
The votes are in but the nation waits. NZ First was the big winner on election night, even though it lost party votes and Mr Peters lost his Northland electorate. The winner and loser tag applies also to National and Labour...
Promises, promises, promises, seems to be the theme of the election campaigns to date. Given the uncertainty of the result, the promises have more relevance. Unfortunately, for property investors some of the promises may not be welcome.
The National Government has produced a measured and politically clever Budget. Where this budget differs from its previous budgets is that it has opened its wallet and distributed the benefits of eight years of conservative management and the increased tax revenue derived from a very strong domestic economy in recent years.
It's stating the obvious to say Donald Trump’s win was historic. It's actually staggering from various perspectives, but 2016 has been a year of historical outcomes – including Brexit. Democracy though is a remarkable thing!
The headlines are relentless about homelessness and the cost of housing. Nowadays $2,500 a square metre is not unusual even for a relatively straight forward build. Given the average home is about 200m2, the building cost alone is likely to be +$500k (plus land cost). So why does it cost so much to build a house? There are many reasons, but mostly the cause ends up at the doorstep of local and central government.
The papakāinga provisions should apply to all properties, or they should not apply at all. One’s connection to land and environmental effects are, after all, not defined by race. Many of us more recent immigrants also have an ancestral connection with our land, or would like to create a legacy property for future generations. Why can't they have the same rights as Maori?
Twelve years ago Don Brash, as the then leader of the National Party, delivered a landmark speech to the Orewa Rotary Club: He dared to confront the issue of separatism. While the response from some was predictably shrill, the message resonated with enough voters to rebuild National's support from what had been a crushing election defeat under Bill English
