Search

Only the officials at Inland Revenue know why they commissioned a poll on Kiwis’ attitudes to tax that included questions about the respondents’ general political orientation. Releasing the polling data should be part of fixing any perceived problems. Hamish Rutherford’s reporting at the Dominion Post raises questions about the Department’s political impartiality. Read more

Lime scooters are Satan’s own vehicle. If you ride one, you will lose control, scrape your knees, maybe even break a leg. Read more

What can politicians who care about value for money in government hope to achieve? Where should they focus their efforts? Read more

Anybody even remotely connected with housing, housing research, the building industry – or with the ability to fog a mirror by breathing on it – had to know it was near-impossible for the government to meet its KiwiBuild promises on its 10-year schedule. Our current planning rules, infrastructure financing mechanisms, building materials supply regulations, council incentives, zoning, training of construction workers, rules around letting more construction workers into the country, rules around foreign builders being able to build here, rules around foreign financing of building projects, Resource Management Act processes – all of it made any non-trivial KiwiBuild impossible. Read more

Readers will be familiar with that exasperating feeling of looking for something and not finding it. You know it should be there, but it is missing. Read more

During her tour of Europe last month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wrote a piece in the Financial Times. As it was published behind the London newspaper’s paywall, most New Zealanders probably missed it (though a copy is available on the Beehive’s website). Read more

Tidying guru Marie Kondo advises her followers to hold or hug everyday items and ask yourself: “Does this item spark joy?” So I picked up a plastic bag and clutched it to my chest. I first felt joy, and then an overwhelming grief. Read more

KiwiBuild – the government programme to build or deliver 100,000 homes in 10 years – serves no useful public interest purpose and promises to endlessly distract and embarrass the government. That is the signal conclusion of KiwiBuild: Twyford’s Tar Baby, a research note released this week by The New Zealand Initiative. Read more

KiwiBuild – the government programme to deliver 100,000 down-sized homes in 10 years – is a waste of time and money. It serves no useful material public purpose and absorbs time and resources that would be far better devoted to addressing the real problem – housing affordability. Read more