Dr Bryce Wilkinson: You do not have to own someone's house to help them

You do not have to own someone's house to help them, so why does Kāinga Ora's Reset Plan envisage continuing to own around 78,000 housing units?

This week, The New Zealand Initiative published my report "Owning less to achieve more: Refocusing Kāinga Ora". It addresses this question.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Owning less to achieve more

Why does the government need to continue owning or managing more than 77,000 housing units, given its poor track record in this area, especially when state assistance can be provided without extensive government ownership?

And why does it not release more land for housing?

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 18/1/24

State housing and Jobseeker stats give us a measure of the challenge to be met by the Luxon govt

Two sets of statistics prompted press releases from ministers keen to impress on the public that there is much to be done to remedy the mischief done by the previous government- and they are on a mission to put things right.

One set showed the Hipkins bunch was thrown out of office with 189,798 people reliant on Jobseeker Support – up 19,695 in just the past year.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 8/8/23

Govt’s partner for financing renewable energy projects is being investigated by US Senate committee for its China dealings

Hard on the heels of announcing plans to ease the way for more wind farms, our government announced plans for fast-tracking nine solar power projects and – in today’s news – the launch of a $2 billion fund aimed at making New Zealand one of the first countries in the world to reach 100% renewable electricity.

The fund is being established with the help of an American company, BlackRock, which the Beehive press statement describes as one of the world’s largest investors in climate infrastructure and clean technology.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/8/23

Millions will go into East Coast clean-up and reconstruction – it’s reassuring to learn Moodys are not discomforted

Well over $400 million of state spending was mentioned in a press statement today that describes what the government is doing to support the findings of the Ministerial Inquiry into the devastating East Coast weather events of recent months.

Each of the inquiry report’s recommendations was carefully considered, and the government is firmly focussed on reducing risk and setting the region up for sustainable longer-term change, Environment Minister David Parker said.

Point of Order: Govt has a busy day dishing out funding to causes it deems appropriate.....

....but a fog shrouds crime-fighting costs

Biggish lumps of money featured in each of four announcements posted on the Beehive website, since Point of Order last checked on what our hard-working and big-spending ministers are doing.

The government will spend