If National wins ...

[Joshuatree]

Certainly not ... but I prefer parties and politicians who keep their skills well honed during their opposition time. Opposition time should be for a party a time to regrow and improve their skills and to rejuvenate, not a time to sit back, complain and generally do nothing but throwing mud, complaining about their bad luck and the other parties better leadership and marketing systems. Labour was over 9 years a very weak opposition (well documented on this thread), stumbling from one inept leader to the next and not putting any effort into working out their policies.

I am somewhat concerned that this does not qualify them now to run the country ... better to give them three more years (under a now much better leader) to prepare them for government. Who knows - maybe they are next time able to cost their policies and tax increases? You don't need to be in government to do your homework.

National weren't qualified after helens reign in fact i was shocked and was very concerned at that motley bunch. And remember them increasing GST with no debate at all ; sneaky. Sensible for the new labour party to review as national did. Imagine 3 more years of national to not fix anything ! No way; the incremental fiddling damage is done, they are SEPIA already.

[BlackPeter]

I read the Irish Times daily. The headlines? A homeless man dies on the street - he seems to have had a home and family in Australia but had been back in Dublin for years and the agencies and his friends made a little shrine where he died and a woman in Cork was found dead in her tent and on it goes about the homeless and the many families who have no house or home. There appears to be no difference to here or anywhere else. In other words, no country, regardless of their politics has an answer. Changing your vote won't change anything. I the WW2 the British had to come up with a solution and they built thousands of Nissan huts. The most basic accommodation built in a couple of days and adequate to thousands who had been bombed out. Many people enjoyed the lifestyle and the huts lasted decades past their expected lifespan. I'm sure a few thousand erected here would put a brake on rentals and house prices and give people an opportunity to save but unfortunately there is no one out thereon the hustlings with the balls to move that far.

Craic, it is "Nissen hut", named after Major Peter Norman Nissen. It is not a "Nissan" hut, though the second name might be more appropriate for the people in Auckland sleeping in their cars .

Personally I am not sure whether we really would want Nissens corrugated iron huts (they do look ugly) ... but I agree that it shouldn't be too hard to knock something up which is better suitable for human occupation than a car, looks better than a Nissen hut and is cheaper than an average house in Auckland ... but hey, it appears in today's world it either must be a million dollar mansion or nothing ...

[Bjauck]

...but I agree that it shouldn't be too hard to knock something up which is better suitable for human occupation than a car, looks better than a Nissen hut and is cheaper than an average house in Auckland ... but hey, it appears in today's world it either must be a million dollar mansion or nothing ...

A million dollars in Auckland does not get what it used to. You may be lucky to get with consents and fees a Nissen or even a Nissan with plumbed in out-house plus an Auckland section to put it on for that price. Maybe we should accept what seems to be the inevitable and go the whole "developing nation" route and build shanty towns/Fovella districts.

[elZorro]

I'd just like to point out that this thread, started by Belgarion just after the 2011 elections and reflecting his/her dismay at the prospect of another three years under National, has reached 1,000,000 views and 900 pages. We're on the cusp of Labour taking power with either the Greens or NZ First (or both), and it has taken another six years. But I'm sure it will have been worth waiting for, and we've certainly thrashed out some good arguments in the meanwhile. Cheers!

https://thestandard.org.nz/in-the-on...became-leader/

[BlackPeter]

A million dollars in Auckland does not get what it used to. You may be lucky to get with consents and fees a Nissen or even a Nissan with plumbed in out-house plus an Auckland section to put it on for that price. Maybe we should accept what seems to be the inevitable and go the whole "developing nation" route and build shanty towns/Fovella districts.

I think there are lots of better options around. They might though require people to be prepared to live in semi-detached houses, potentially in some of these typical British row houses or (shock horror) in apartment blocks.

So far however it appears the pain is not bad enough to consider these horrible third world options ... we keep building single houses (though on smaller and smaller patches) and if that does not work, we better take the Nissan.

[fungus pudding]

I'd just like to point out that this thread, started by Belgarion just after the 2011 elections and reflecting his/her dismay at the prospect of another three years under National, has reached 1,000,000 views and 900 pages. We're on the cusp of Labour taking power with either the Greens or NZ First (or both), and it has taken another six years. But I'm sure it will have been worth waiting for, and we've certainly thrashed out some good arguments in the meanwhile. Cheers!

https://thestandard.org.nz/in-the-on...became-leader/

All Jacinda has done so far is tell us about all 'the conversations' she is going to have with everyone, mainly about taxes. I'm not sure why people with her view of utopia don't just go and live somewhere in Scandinavia. You should give it some thought too eZ.

[Joshuatree]

More tax there so youre better off here fp. You can contribute or you can go.

National have blown it big time
Underperformed for the majority; people have become more expendable under national; thats about to change

With people valuation over, property, homeless homed.

Health care value over unreachable prohibitive DHB budgets

Environmental value over the continual degradation of our land rivers flora and fauna under national.

People valued and rising out of poverty .

The slave trade here stopped and more locals employed to harvest and prune; an equal playing field
Its been a big fail over 9 long years and the longer they've been in the longer its going t take to fix some of those things unfortunately.

[Bjauck]

I think there are lots of better options around. They might though require people to be prepared to live in semi-detached houses, potentially in some of these typical British row houses or (shock horror) in apartment blocks.

So far however it appears the pain is not bad enough to consider these horrible third world options ... we keep building single houses (though on smaller and smaller patches) and if that does not work, we better take the Nissan.

There are plenty of apartments and terraces going up in Auckland. Even the price of (second hand) apartments in Auckland are unaffordable for first home buyers, let alone a terraced house.

Fair enough you think the Kiwi culture of owning stand alone sections with gardens should change. A whole heep of other reforms should occur too. You want NZ to become more British? I guess we could not get further away from Europe

A quick scout on an online real estate site finds:

Some 3 bed new central city terraces for $1.5m each
Some 3 bed new terraces in three kings for $1.3m each
Some 3 bed terraces in S. Auckland's Mt Wellington for $750,000 each

Maybe a mansion aint what it used to be.

[iceman]

More tax there so youre better off here fp. You can contribute or you can go.

National have blown it big time
Underperformed for the majority; people have become more expendable under national; thats about to change

With people valuation over, property, homeless homed.

Health care value over unreachable prohibitive DHB budgets

Environmental value over the continual degradation of our land rivers flora and fauna under national.

People valued and rising out of poverty .

The slave trade here stopped and more locals employed to harvest and prune; an equal playing field
Its been a big fail over 9 long years and the longer they've been in the longer its going t take to fix some of those things unfortunately.

JT you obviously haven't taken heed of Taxinda's order to be positive. Even she admitted on TV that the NZ economy was the envy of the World and very few countries doing better, on most scores.

Regarding the slave trade, the most noticeable example of it was Labour's import of young socialists to work on their election campaign with no employment rights attached and 3rd World accommodation conditions.
It is simply silly and ill informed on your behalf to suggest we should stop bringing in labour for the horticulture industry (I think that's what you're saying in your post). The local workers are not there and the few that are, are generally totally unreliable. Stopping immigration for such jobs would kill this fast growing industry and many others. But its difficult to estimate what effect Labour's "policy" would have as they've provided no details for their immigration or any other policy and how its going to be implemented..

I just read her ridiculous comments yesterday on going after landlords. How pathetic !

[winner69]

I just read her ridiculous comments yesterday on going after landlords. How pathetic !

..........but Jacinda sent me an email saying she's going to make it 'fairer and more stable for landlords'

Her (OK Labours) initiatives will only see 50% of NZers paying more rent methinks - and some can't even afford it now.