After the cabinet reshuffle, we learned that the waiting list for state homes had risen to 11,655 which is the highest it has been for at least a decade. The record highest number was reached back in 2004 when it went to 12,195.
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The statistics released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development showed an increasing number of individuals and families wanting homes despite the government adding 1780 new places during the past year and an intensive building programme that is delivering state houses at a much faster rate than the previous government.
Of course it doesn’t matter how fast they build them when their anti-landlord policies are rapidly removing private rentals from the market faster than they can replace them.
Justice Minister Andrew Little made headlines twice this week for different reasons – he was stopped and handed a trespass notice and was outraged by Google giving him the brush-off over its breach of a suppression order.
It’s quite funny really how both Andrew Little and Jacinda Ardern think that they have the power to control the internet and massive corporations like Facebook and Google.
Settlement negotiations are caught in a tangled web of hapu disagreement over mandate authority which Mr Little is trying to untangle. He described the protest as “an act of lunacy by a lunatic”. Police are investigating.
What tact, what diplomacy…I guess there is a good reason why he is known as Angry Andy.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Children Tracey Martin were embroiled in the controversy over the attempted removal of a Maori baby by Oranga Tamariki
[…] Ms Ardern’s admission that she hadn’t watched the video was said to have shocked Maori leaders.
[…] Finance Minister Grant Robertson was sufficiently concerned about the fight between the Reserve Bank and the four main retail banks over increased capital holdings to issue a statement appealing to them to listen to each other.
[…] The big banks don’t like that and have been pushing back hard – ANZ in particular. It has hinted at reviewing the scale of its New Zealand operations if the proposal goes ahead.
[…] Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr believes the banks need more capital to be safe in the event of another catastrophe like the Global Financial Crisis, and he isn’t backing down.
“The government of New Zealand put in a $133 billion guarantee, almost overnight, to hold the banks,” he said. “The Reserve Bank cut interest rates by 575 basis points, we had a wholesale lending guarantee of $10 billion and the bank itself had to buy $8 billion of debt off the banks to provide them with liquidity just to survive.”
RNZ
So to sum up…
- The waiting list for state homes has risen despite the government adding 1780 new places
- Justice Minister Andrew Little has been treated badly and ignored
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Children Tracey Martin were embroiled in a controversy
- Finance Minister Grant Robertson begged the banks to play nicely with each other
- Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr has said that the banks need more capital to be safe even though the government has already put in a $133 billion guarantee
