Green Party spokesperson for housing Tamantha Paul said that houses shouldn't be left empty.

"If there's a house and it's safe to live in, then we should fill those houses. It's crazy that houses would sit abandoned when we have people sleeping in cars and on the street."

One tax that could be done is called an "empty home" tax.

An empty house tax like the name suggests is a tax imposed on houses that are left unoccupied for a certain length of time.

AUT senior lecturer of taxation Ranjana Gupta said that she believes an empty home tax is the answer. Read more

Yet in many, rents keep going up.

While rent hikes can reflect the costs landlords face, there are standards that must be maintained, according to Wellington Property Investors Association president Peter Ambrose.

Passing those costs onto tenants was how landlords kept their rentals to a high standard, he explains. Conversely, landlords also need to do whatever maintenance is required.

It's unacceptable for landlords to rent properties which should not be lived in, Ambrose says. In fact, maintaining them was ultimately a basic human right.

Successive governments have failed New Zealand's renters, the Green Party says.

It has recently conducted a survey which confirms New Zealand 2023 is not a good place for many of the country's 1.4 million renters.

If it were part of the next Government, the Greens promise a Renters' Rights Bill.

Rental survey findings

Many landlords are quick to hike rents but slow to fix homes, the Green Party survey found. Renters are living in damp, mouldy houses, coping with rent rises and accepting insecure tenancies.

In Wellington, one in five renting households pay over 50 percent of their weekly income on rent, the Greens discovered.

One tenant told RNZ the state of one Wellington house she rented was so bad she and her partner moved out.

Parts of the house were unstable, damaged and damp.

Among the long list of problems she mentioned were the fireplace with cracks so big you could fit your fingers in them, and a deck that was falling apart.

Complaints dismissed

The woman who spoke to RNZ said she informed her landlord the bedroom leaked.

The landlord decided to do nothing as the leak happened only intermittently. Ditto to problems with the neglected bathroom which had mushrooms growing in it. A variety of mushrooms.

Landlords with multiple properties make big profits, the woman said. In her view, they should treat their rentals like a business and invest.

For some of them "it's quite apparent that rather than investing in repairing or maintaining these properties, they're just kind of degrading them," she added.

Tenants health at risk

The Government's new Healthy Homes Standards for heating, insulation and ventilation came into effect in July 2021.

Landlords with existing tenancies, however, needn't comply until 2025. Negligent landlords ignoring evidence of substandard accommodation are driving many tenants out of their rentals.

The mental health issues that follow are manifold.

One tenant says he is offered only annual leases. At renewal, there's a rent increase. He can't afford any more of those, he says. If there are, he'll be driven to return to his family home.

Then there's the fear a landlord won't renew a lease. This leads to tenants tiptoeing around their homes, so there's no "just cause" to be kicked out.

"That can be extremely anxiety-inducing and debilitating, and I feel quite powerless at the end of the lease cycle," the tenant says.

Futhermore, few landlords allow pets, which adds stress to pet owners, he says.

Source

• RNZ

Bolger says many people have been disappointed at the Government's "timid response on Green issues" over the past three years, despite having the Green Party in Cabinet for the first time.

At the same time, however, NZ First acted as a handbrake on some of the Government's key marine conservation commitments including the Kermadec Marine Sanctuary, cameras on fishing boats and banning new mines on public conservation land.

"Essentially we've done nothing apart from passing a Zero Carbon Act, and that had the support of the whole of Parliament. Moving to green vehicles and all that, none of that's happened," says Bolger. "And I'm sure that the green-leaning world will be very disappointed."

It is now time to stand up and be counted, Bolger counsels Ardern.

"I think she should move on the policies she laid out three years ago. I'm looking particularly at reducing the pollution that our very large vehicle fleet is emitting; the government has control of a large number of those vehicles and they could make a difference starting tomorrow."

Bolger is hopeful we'll now start seeing faster progress on environmental issues. It's not something we can stop with a vaccine - there isn't one for climate change.

It will take "hard, difficult and often unpopular policy decisions," says Bolger.

"We have to see whether the new government will want to face up to that."

Greenpeace New Zealand's Russel Norman agrees with Bolger's assessment.

Norman, who is also a former Green Party leader, is concerned Labour might spend the next three years "watching their polling and taking no risks" because they don't want to fall below 45-50 percent.

"This is a moment for transformation - we need action on climate change and biodiversity - a price on agricultural emissions, phasing out nitrogen fertiliser, transition to regenerative agriculture, cameras on boats, and end to bottom trawling and so much more. The numbers are there to take action and there are no more excuses for failing to take action."

BERL research director Ganesh Nana wonders if Labour will give the Greens a role in government, given its majority.

"The Greens will probably want to be inside the tent; but it will remain to be seen how much the Ardern/Robertson leadership will view this as a mandate for change.

"Change with regard to climate policy and inequality will be on the table. This is the Covid opportunity - the question for now will be how much of this mandate will be used."

Source

• Newsroom
• Newsroom
• Image: Stuff

The proposed wealth tax would introduce a one percent tax on net assets over $1 million and two percent tax over $2 million.

The proposal excludes housing wealth under a mortgage from the tax calculation.

The same goes for "normal household goods worth less than $50,000", including vehicles.

The Green's anticipate the wealth tax raising $7.9 billion in its first year.

The cash-poor who will be taxed

Mangere Budgeting Services CEO Darryl Evans (pictured) is concerned about the proposed tax policy.

Asset-rich, cash-poor people will be caught in its net. These include people who own a home but have low incomes.

"I totally believe that the wealthiest in the country should be paying their fair share of tax and many avoid tax. But actually, we've got clients that are asset wealthy, they own a $1 million house but they are cash poor - there is simply not enough money and they are going to food banks."

Evans said the policy will affect families who pass homes down from generation to generation. They will also be hit with the tax.

"If it's a Polynesian family, they simply won't sell that house," he says.

"It will just be passed down, passed down, passed down. It's not a particularly well-built house, it's falling apart essentially."

High house prices, especially in Auckland, have put many people into a position of being impacted by the policy, not all of whom are wealthy.

In August, the average house price in Auckland surpassed $1 million, which is a 5.4 percent increase in a year.

In Evans's view, Labour's new top tax rate is a better way of ensuring the rich pay their fair share, as it would introduce a new tax rate of 39 percent for income over $180,000 a year.

Source

• NewsHub
• Image: NewsHub

Increased inequality and a worsening of the wealth gap are likely outcomes of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) falling below zero, warn ASB economists.

The ASB warns that from a longer-term perspective zero interest rates could actually create wider inequality within society.

"Monetary policy is a blunt instrument. Lower interest rates reward those able and willing to borrow and penalise those who save. They also tend to boost asset prices and the wealth of the ‘haves' relative to the ‘have nots,'" the bank says.

The impact of negative interest rates is particularly harsh for older New Zealanders who have worked and saved for their retirement.

News of negative interest rates comes as Green Party and Government minister, Julie Anne Genter told a Newstalk ZB small business panel discussion the Greens election tax policy would be a 'bottom-line' condition that must be met for her part to join into a coalition government with Labour.

The Greens election policies include a plan to make Kiwis with a net-worth greater than $1 million, for example, including the family home, shares, Kiwi-Saver, and savings, pay 1 percent of their wealth to the government as a tax.

Pressured to explain, Genter defended the policy saying it would only impact the wealthy.

However attempting to quell the uncertainty, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says "the wealth tax would be very difficult to implement," and confirmed that Finance Minister Grant Robertson has repeatedly ruled out a wealth tax.

Under some heat to comment, Green Party leader James Shaw said the Greens don't have bottom lines, but would advocate strongly for key policies if in a position to negotiate after the election.

As an alternative to negative interest rates and in terms of the overall economy, ASB economists say they prefer an overstimulated economy and toleration of a period of high inflation rather having the economy too "undercooked" and running the risk of deepening the downturn.

They say they expect the OCR to hold after dropping to zero and that it is unclear how easy it will be for the economy to extricate itself from the negative interest rate environment.

With the Reserve Bank of New Zealand likely to leave its current policy setting "untouched" negative interest rates are almost certain warns Kiwibank economist, Jarred Kerr.

"The reason interest rates are falling, and will likely go negative (for wholesale rates), is because the RBNZ (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) believes there is not enough stimulus in the economy to return us to full employment," he explained.

"If we had done too much, interest rates would be rising. The fact we haven't done enough means interest rates will keep falling. It's that simple."

Sources

• Newstalk ZB
• NZ Herald
• NZ Adviser

The correspondence was seeking information on important life issues and clarification of the Party's policies on parental notification, euthanasia, the decriminalisation of abortion, the "Inside Out" sexuality education programme and the Party's proposal to restrict freedom of speech and assembly outside the Thames Hospital.

Right to life spokesman Ken Orr asks why the Green Party is not upholding its own policy on providing important information on the Party's policy? Continue reading

In the Australian states of Tasmania and Victoria, filming, intimidation and protests are banned within 150m of abortion centres.

In New South Wales, a bill to provide a 150m "safe access zone" has just been introduced by a Green MP on the grounds of ensuring the right to medical privacy.

Logie and Catherine Delahunty recently attended a meeting in Thames organised by people concerned about pro-life protesters who protest outside the Thames Hospital abortion clinic on Fridays.

Logie said the Green Party had no plans for a member's bill on the issue but another speaker had raised the Australian example.

There were different views expressed on it and she believed a broader discussion was needed.

"I do think there's is a genuine issue around the impact of those protests directly targeting women and making their lives worse."

Secretary of the Hauraki branch of Voice for Life Lynn Hopkins said they started the protests outside Thames Hospital about five years ago to try to end abortion. She would not support legislation that bans their protests.

"I would think it was rather unfair against the idea of free speech."

Hopkins protests with a placard that reads "women deserve better".

"They deserve better care than being pushed towards having an abortion."

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: stream.org

The Greens are now sitting at 11 per cent support in polling ahead of the May general election in the UK.

They are close to a position where they could influence policy of a future government.

Other policies of the Greens include removing the charitable status of independent schools and banning religious instruction during school hours.

Large schools would be broken up and "creative" subjects given as much weight as "academic" ones.

Continue reading

Having an abortion in New Zealand is still a crime under the Crimes Act, unless a pregnant woman faces a danger to her life, physical or mental health.

The Greens wants to make abortion freely available to women up to 20 weeks pregnant. Read Green Party Press Release

Prolife New Zealand spokesperson Rebecca Vergunst says "It's a shame that the Greens, an otherwise progressive party in the area of disability rights and human dignity, would support such extreme measures that run so contrary to their stated principles."

"This policy now effectively sees the Greens become NZ's ‘abortion party'" she said. Read Prolife New Zealand Press release

At present, a woman needs the approval of two certifying consultants.

The doctor performing the abortion has to believe it is immediately necessary to save the life of the patient or to prevent serious permanent injury to her physical or mental health, or has to believe the foetus would have a serious disability.

The latest figures on abortion held by Statistics New Zealand show that in 2012 the abortion rate had fallen to a 17-year low.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Pro life New Zealand

Speaking for Southlanders for Life, Father Vaughan Leslie said members had been wrongly accused of issuing the threat. He said the group was "totally opposed" to violence.

"We certainly don't condone people being harassed."

Leslie said members would hold peaceful protests outside the clinic before the end of the year.

He confirmed the group had complained to the ombudsman over a lack of consultation before the facility opened. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.