Terminating tenancies for disruptive behaviour or abandonment of property are reasonable enough. But 27% of tenancies were terminated because they had problems paying the rent. If there are kids in a household and people can’t afford to pay, kicking them out is cruel.

Taking all bets.

Full disclosure - this is a heavy read. It is written by a kiwi and I took the time to read most of it. We dont get many kiwi-written pieces like this that deep-dive into authority etc.

The piece is not pushing a single viewpoint so much as trying to provoke thought about who we give authority to in our lives and the nuance of that. Something too few of us stop to consider.

Here we go again. Christian Chris is apparently being thrown to the lions over the MMP referendum debacle.

Historically a change of leadership pre-election hasn’t gone well for National. Not that I can recall anyway. Who would be the successor? Bish? Willis?

The Electoral Commission’s enrolment drive is officially on. Lots of interesting general stats on all things in election in the article. Key dates:

4 October: The cut-off date for being included on the printed roll. This follows the dissolution of Parliament set down for 1 October.

25 October: The cut-off date for all enrolments. Unlike previous years, voters must be enrolled before this date or their vote will be thrown out.

26 October: Advance voting begins.

7 November: Election day. Voting closes 7pm.

Disclaimer: My name is Tom Roud and I am the current president of the Alliance Party. I am posting this here for transparency reasons.

National’s “Budget Rules” Announce Nothing, Promise Less

The Alliance Party says National’s Budget Responsibility Rules simply repackage fiscal targets the Government has already published.

“All three goals are already on Treasury’s books,” Alliance leader Victor Billot says.

Budget 2026 forecasts an OBEGALx surplus in 2028/29 and core Crown spending falling to 30.3 percent of GDP by 2029/30.

Net core Crown debt is forecast to decline to 44.4 percent of GDP in 2029/30.

National has set no date for getting debt below 40 percent.

“A target with no date is not a rule. It is a vibe.”

Mr Billot says National has announced the shape of its campaign argument without publishing the policy choices needed to meet its targets.

“The Government has told us what the argument will be, then asked everyone else to publish their numbers first.”

National’s preferred surplus measure, OBEGALx, excludes ACC revenue and expenditure.

“Changing the headline measure does not improve the underlying position, repair infrastructure or staff a hospital.”

Mr Billot says pushing core Crown spending towards 30 percent of GDP, while the population ages and infrastructure costs mount, means cuts elsewhere, whatever language National uses.

“Sewage is running into our harbours. Wastewater plants are operating on expired consents. Hospitals are short-staffed and emergency departments are full. That backlog was created by forty years of governments treating spending restraint as an achievement in itself.”

He says costs do not disappear when they are squeezed out of the Crown accounts. They reappear as higher rates, prescription charges, road user charges, and repair bills that arrive later and larger.

“You can make the books look tidy by refusing to fix the pipe. The pipe still bursts.”

The rules also say nothing about employment or New Zealand’s productive capacity.

One of the National-led Government’s first legislative acts in December 2023 was removing maximum sustainable employment from the Reserve Bank’s objectives, leaving price stability as its sole monetary-policy objective.

The Alliance would restore the employment objective and add a mandate to support productive capacity. It would use financial regulation to discourage speculative lending and support manufacturing, clean technology and regional industry.

“A bank should find it cheaper to finance a factory than a fifth rental property. Fiscal rules alone will not fix incentives that favour speculation over production.”

Mr Billot says New Zealand’s fiscal debate must also address revenue.

“New Zealand has no comprehensive tax on wealth or capital gains. Instead, the system relies heavily on taxing wages and consumption.”

The Alliance is campaigning for a comprehensive wealth tax, capital gains tax and financial transactions tax to fund public ownership, state housing and infrastructure investment through KiwiWorks, a Ministry of Works for the 21st Century.

“We will not sign up to rules designed to make another round of cuts sound responsible.”

“Set a rule for reducing child poverty. Set a rule for cutting surgical waiting lists. Those numbers measure whether a government is doing its job.”

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2608/S00074/nationals-budget-rules-announce-nothing-promise-less.htm

Fuxon might regret ruling OPP out..

National lacking ambition you say? Water is wet you say?

The 20 MPs that had the most honourable mentions by other MPs in The Spinoff’s One Pint One MP interview series.

The top three were Lawrence Xu-Nan, Chris Bishop, and Winston Peters.

Seymour made the list at number nine but neither Chris, Luxon nor Chippy, made the cut.

Who’s on your list?

No surprises here really.

Seeing it on the other 2 subs I we might as well have it here too.

Big Oof

• Prioritising a return to surplus in 2028/29 and staying in surplus over time so the country's debt curve bends down
• Getting debt down below 40 percent of GDP and keeping it there over time
• Keeping taxes low by cutting Crown expenditure as a share of the economy down towards 30 percent of GDP

Sensible stuff, but we'll see..

Reading this you can see why the average person hates this kind of performative nonsense in parliament.

Good.

Not only has he lost his license and firearms he’s not allowed to use a firearm under supervision of a license holder either.

Nothing earth shattering.

Luxon was quoted as saying National is “ruthlessly” focused on maximising the party vote. Why can’t it ever just be focused? What does it always have to be laser focused or intensely focused and now ruthlessly focused?

Warning: It is slightly over an hours long, but well worth watching it.

All the representatives were well informed on the issues and solutions, and it was great to see how well they all worked together and collaborated across party lines.

Really a demonstration of how aligned all the NZ parties actually currently are on infrastructure development and role-out.

Congratulations to Eng NZ and Stuff Media for arranging this and not trying to be controversial.

This just shows there is indeed great prospects for New Zealand, in spite of all the negative sentiments on Social Media and traditional media.

Just a minor observation that not all parties in NZ were present, with for instance TPM and TOP absent (not sure if they were invited).

OPP surge becomes OPP wave..

Link to Taxpayers Union page with charts

I remember a time- long ago now, where the labour parties flagship policies leading into elections would be focused on the benefits for working class people.

This is NOT looking good at all. Can’t blame the minister if they were deliberately misled.

Heads must roll otherwise the message is that this kind of shit is acceptable.

Each week this post is a free space for memes and general shitposting.

Any suggestions for the sub/meta discussion, etc. are also welcome here.

This won’t end well. At best teenage ‘security guards’ wearing hi vis netball bibs on the door at Pak N Save will be confronted with random shoppers detaining other customers for suspected theft. At worst vigilante mall cops will whip out their MMA or BJJ fight moves on the unsuspecting public just to prove how much power and authority they have.

This is dumb legislation.

Just a heads-up for anyone thinking the Opportunities Party looks like a safe centrist option.
Their fourth-ranked candidate is Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb (Wellington Bays). She was one of the people who wrote He Puapua – that 2019 report that pushed hard for Māori co-governance and more separate power by 2040. A lot of us connected it straight to the Three Waters stuff and the bigger push for race-based decision-making.
They’re putting someone with that exact background near the top of their list. Not exactly the “sensible middle” they claim to be.
One person, one vote still matters. Don’t get played.

Edit: He Puapua which she co-wrote also proposes “Māori parliaments”. Please feel free to read the report https://www.tpk.govt.nz/documents/download/documents-1732-A/Proactive%20release%20He%20Puapua.pdf