NZ Politics

National have committed to keeping most of the density rules they agreed to with Labour, with the tweak of giving councils a little more flexibility around where people can build up to three storeys. Overall a great move, and one that will hopefully have a downwards pressure on house prices.

They have also indicated they plan to build more state houses, as well.

This was a fascinating read, it sounds like he disagreed with his colleagues on a number of issues. And given the election result, I'd say he was right, as law and order was something Labour was perceived as being very weak on.

Also, there's this, about Kiri Allan

"She believed it was anti-Māori and I thought that was absolute rubbish, because this was not targeting Māori in any way, it was targeting gangs.

"It doesn't matter what ethnicity a gang member is, they need to be held to account by society," Nash said.

Isn't assuming gang members are Maori kinda racist?

I'm glad we're continuing to do our own little part to help Ukraine, this is one of the rare conflicts where one party is empirically in the wrong.

I understand we're one of the few nations who use the L 119 105mm gun, for example, and this is something our soldiers have been training the Ukrainians on.

Good stuff.

We deserve a better standard of political discourse in this country, in my view. It sounds like Mark Mitchell has done some pretty impressive things in his career, including taking on gangs and uncovering war crimes.

Meanwhile, so many people on the left think Saddam should have been left alone, conveniently ignoring the horrible crimes he inflicted on the Iraqi people.

It's also worth noting that a security contractor is a very different role to a mercenary, and by the nature of his work, it sounds like he was very much the former.

We need better opposition in this country.

"It's hard to be poor, it's expensive to be poor, and moreover, public discourse is making it socially unacceptable to be poor. Whether it's bashing on beneficiaries, dragging our feet towards a living wage, throwing shade on school breakfast programmes, or restricting people's ability to collectively bargain for fairer working conditions, we must do better to lift aspirations and the lived realities of all our people. To that end, | want to say to this House with complete surety that the neoliberal experiment of the 1980s has failed. The economics of creating unemployment to manage inflation is farcical when domestic inflation in New Zealand has been driven by big corporates making excessive profits. It's time to draw a line in the sand, and alongside my colleagues here in Te Pati Kakariki, we've come as the pallbearers of neoliberalism, to bury these shallow, insufferable ideas once and for all. And this, sir, is our act of love."

Another good write up showing that the Government is misleading the public about the state of public finances and the economy, and also benefit sanctions.

Given the way they stonewall and just repeat their talking points when challenged suggests to me that they're simply lying about a crisis to justify gutting services for tax cut handouts

Great write-up.

In fact, the line “Labour and National had broadly similar fiscal approaches...” is worth repeating.

So the default position we should be applying to the current government is – where is all the evidence for the claims that Luxon is making?

Councils in cyclone-hit regions staring down a decade-long roading recovery say they simply cannot afford it.

Emphasis mine.

The duration of the remedial works is the problem more than the cost.

If it takes a decade to recover from an event that is likely to reoccurr more frequently then it's a losing game.

It's a shame that local and central government in NZ just can't/won't maintain infrastructure.

"I think it's very clear when you call 111 with a physical health crisis [currently] you get a health response. When you call 111 with a mental health crisis in New Zealand you get a criminal justice response.

"I think most people are saying it would be better if we had mental health professionals turning up to 111 calls when there is a mental health crisis response needed, and that's what I would support as the new mental health minister."

Where a person's life was at risk, police should be responding alongside mental health professionals, but a police presence would not be needed in every case, he said.

Doocey has requested that Health NZ, the police and the Ministry of Health look at a five-year rollout of a mental health co-response team programme.