Category: Local Government

Speculative technology is no substitute for an established and lucrative industry that is being destroyed by government policy. Like the oil industry, the justification for their attack on farmers is the Prime Minister's fixation with being seen as a global leader in climate change.

There can be no doubt that British Royal Navy captain William Hobson is the founding father both of New Zealand as an independent sovereign nation and of Auckland as its greatest city. No other person has so singularly influenced the course of modern New Zealand history.

The real issue is whether the government has plans to address the chronic problems that have led to the current shortage of affordable housing in many parts of the country. To date they have shown no inclination that they intend to do so.

The Budget reveals that under the stewardship of Jacinda Ardern’s Government, New Zealand’s economic growth has fallen from 3.2 percent last year to 2.4 percent this year. Treasury attributes this to a drop in migration and a collapse in business investment growth from 6.8 percent last year to 0.7 percent this year.

Increasingly, local bodies and successive governments have been transferring responsibilities for control of resources that we all use and cherish to unelected, unaccountable representatives of tribal groups.

On behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year! Thank you so much for your encouragement and help over the last 12 months - the NZCPR simply couldn’t achieve what we do without your wonderful support.

Who would have thought that Labour - a party that has expended a great deal of political capital over the years railing against the profits made property traders - would introduce a housing policy that delivers significant capital gains to chosen recipients. Like the couple who have made an instant gain of around $70,000 after winning the KiwiBuild lottery .

This really points to the absurdity of the KiwiBuild scheme. It will not help a low income household at all - even “cost” price is too great, so those who are not on a wage on a par with a student doctor and IT expert will have to continue to rent and pay more as rents rise, thanks to all of the new rental-housing related regulations that the Government is bringing in

For nine years in opposition, Labour vilified wealth creators for political gain, only to find their tax revenue now depends on them! It's not easy for a Party that’s beholden to the anti-business trade union movement for funding and electoral support, and totally reliant on the extremist Greens to stay in Government, to revive business confidence.

The Economic Development Minister recently dismissed surveys showing business confidence is at its lowest level in a decade, as "junk”. In doing so, he revealed the deep seated anti-business sentiment that pervades the Labour-led Government - along with an alarming ignorance over what makes a country prosper.