A recent NZ Herald headline gives the impression that Grant Robertson has ruled out the government enforcing rent control on already long-suffering landlords.
If you look closely at what he actually said, his statement isn’t worth anything at all.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has this afternoon moved to end speculation his Government is gearing up to introduce a rent control policy.
Although he poured cold water on the scheme being introduced any time soon, he has left the door open for the policy to be adopted at a later date.
[…] Robertson has previously refused to rule out such a policy, saying it was “not on our agenda at the moment, but we will keep an eye on what happens”.
[..] “We have no plans to do that.”
[…] Speaking to media after his speech, Robertson again said the Government was not planning on adopting this policy but caveated it with “at this time”.
NZ Herald
I know what all those qualifiers mean. They mean that Grant Robertson is biding his time until he can point to something as a reason why they simply MUST implement rent controls.
Do you miss Winston Peters yet?
Read the full article here. Comment on it on The BFD.
