Planet Rugby Forum

Enzedder wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:03 am

jambanja wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:53 am Somebody’s been telling porkies that’s for sure. Remember the KFC worker who got hung out to dry by the PM...

I also remember a PM who was hung out to dry by her health department officials

"What I am very clear on is that we're not interested in blame or any kind of witch hunt - we're just interested in learning and I think most New Zealanders would agree with that."

Enzedder wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:03 am

jambanja wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:53 am Somebody’s been telling porkies that’s for sure. Remember the KFC worker who got hung out to dry by the PM...

I also remember a PM who was hung out to dry by her health department officials

guy smiley wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:11 am

JPNZ wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:24 pm This doesn't surprise me anymore...

A managed isolation security guard who tested positive for Covid-19 received is understood to have received his last test for the virus in November.

Managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) officials, including Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and head of Brigadier Jim Bliss, fronted a parliamentary select committee on Wednesday, amid a week when a raft of issues at the Government’s quarantine hotel have arisen.

Two staff members at the Grand Millennium hotel, one of the largest facilities, tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week. Bliss had also conceded that officials could not be certain workers were being tested in the 14 day surveillance cycle mandated by law.

"There are some inconsistencies in the recording of when testing occurs,” Tremain said. Officials continued to verify when the guard was last tested, seeking records from his employer. Tremain has said "the guard may have been tested more recently than November - but if so, it wasn't in the system."

Oh great.. so the system has some inconsistencies which means the system which is already failing maybe even worse than they say.

Someone has been telling tales...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politi ... id19-tests

First Security says the Government has misrepresented its efforts to ensure its managed isolation workers are getting regular Covid-19 surveillance tests.

The company, contracted to provide security guards to some managed isolation and quarantine facilities (MIQ), has contested Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins’ claim that it failed to identify its employee was not receiving legally required surveillance tests.

The company’s guard, one of three workers at the Grand Millennium hotel who have tested positive for Covid-19, had not taken a required fortnightly surveillance test for as many as six months. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has alleged the worker was “lying to their employer”.

A First Security spokeswoman said, in a written statement, the Ministry of Health’s border worker testing system “did not flag this guard as non-compliant until 26th March, at which time the follow up process began”.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

New Zealand: 2019 mosque shooter fails to show up in court

Brenton Tarrant shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchuch in 2019. He had been expected to appear in court to challenge his prison conditions and his designation as a terrorist.

Brenton Tarrant, seen here at his original trial in 2020, failed to show up to a judicial review hearing.

A white supremacist gunmanwho killed 51 people in New Zealand failed to appear in court on Thursday as he sought judicial review of his prison conditions and his designation as a terrorist.

Australian national Brenton Tarrantis serving a life sentence without parole for the murders at two Christchurch mosques in March 2019, the worst mass shooting in the country's history, which he live-streamed online.

Tarrant was expected to represent himself at the High Court hearing by joining via video-link from an Auckland jail, during which he was supposed to challenge his designation as a "terrorist entity" under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

He pleaded guilty to terror offences at his original trial.

But the 30-year-old failed to appear and judges adjourned proceedings until a later date.

They gave no details as to the reasons for Tarrant's no-show, but it is expected to have no bearing on his legal challenge.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

Speaker Trevor Mallard has reprimanded Labour MPs for their treatment of National Party MP Chris Bishop, after a testy parliamentary hearing about issues at managed isolation facilities.

At a meeting of the Health Select Committee on Wednesday, Labour MPs routinely frustrated Bishop's attempts to question officials on a failure to ensure Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) staff were getting fortnightly surveillance tests.

In the House on Thursday, Mallard said he had watched a recording of the committee and the ability for the Opposition to ask questions was “not in compliance in the spirit” with parliamentary rules.

Because of this, Mallard said Bishop could have an additional four supplementary questions to pursue the issue with Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins in the House – effectively punishing Labour.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:06 am But...

you said he's a stooge.

Because of this, Mallard said Bishop could have an additional four supplementary questions to pursue the issue with Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins in the House – effectively punishing Labour.

Why contradict yourself?

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:43 am I found an interesting article on house price control you might like to have a look at...

Banks are running a Ponzi scheme...

It is important to note that the vast majority of leveraged rental property purchases in overheated markets like Auckland are loss-making endeavors that can hardly be categorised as a ‘business’. These speculative plays on future capital gains are now merely deeper in the red courtesy of higher tax bills.


Although investor greed seems to be the primary target of the new housing policies, there is an even larger, greedier actor behind the housing Ponzi: banks. Without the eagerness of banks to lend increasing amounts of debt onto the shoulders of owner-occupiers and residential investors, the current obscene prices would not be possible.

Arguably, loosely regulated bank lending is the central reason behind the dislocation between household incomes and house prices in New Zealand and around the world.

It is critically important to appreciate that when banks expand their lending they create new money in the process. Banks are not simply an intermediary between depositors and borrowers. The creation of new money is an immensely profitable enterprise, polar opposite to running a rental property ‘business’.

According to the Deloitte Top 200 Index, ANZ bank generated $1.8 billion in after-tax profit in 2020. With 9,000 employees that is just over $200,000 in annual profit (after operating costs and tax) per head. Much of this profit leaves New Zealand to be paid out in Australian dollars as dividends to bank shareholders. The revenue for ANZ and all other banks is comprised almost entirely of interest charges, the same charges that investors will no longer be able to deduct to lessen their tax bills.

Unfortunately politicians have been too coy to approve the Reserve Bank’s repeated requests for a debt-to-income tool. Such a mechanism can be used to re-establish the link between homeowners’ incomes and house prices.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:43 am I found an interesting article on house price control you might like to have a look at...

Banks are running a Ponzi scheme...

It is important to note that the vast majority of leveraged rental property purchases in overheated markets like Auckland are loss-making endeavors that can hardly be categorised as a ‘business’. These speculative plays on future capital gains are now merely deeper in the red courtesy of higher tax bills.


Although investor greed seems to be the primary target of the new housing policies, there is an even larger, greedier actor behind the housing Ponzi: banks. Without the eagerness of banks to lend increasing amounts of debt onto the shoulders of owner-occupiers and residential investors, the current obscene prices would not be possible.

Arguably, loosely regulated bank lending is the central reason behind the dislocation between household incomes and house prices in New Zealand and around the world.

It is critically important to appreciate that when banks expand their lending they create new money in the process. Banks are not simply an intermediary between depositors and borrowers. The creation of new money is an immensely profitable enterprise, polar opposite to running a rental property ‘business’.

According to the Deloitte Top 200 Index, ANZ bank generated $1.8 billion in after-tax profit in 2020. With 9,000 employees that is just over $200,000 in annual profit (after operating costs and tax) per head. Much of this profit leaves New Zealand to be paid out in Australian dollars as dividends to bank shareholders. The revenue for ANZ and all other banks is comprised almost entirely of interest charges, the same charges that investors will no longer be able to deduct to lessen their tax bills.

Unfortunately politicians have been too coy to approve the Reserve Bank’s repeated requests for a debt-to-income tool. Such a mechanism can be used to re-establish the link between homeowners’ incomes and house prices.

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

UncleFB wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:13 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

When do you think the Nats will have a good enough tight five to compete for possession again?

Fat Old Git wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:06 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

The only problem with these analogies is that they ignore the fact that the government is essentially the All Blacks. And wanting them to fail would be like wanting the AB's to fail because your favorite players weren't selected.

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:26 am

UncleFB wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:13 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

When do you think the Nats will have a good enough tight five to compete for possession again?

I haven't got a clue but like any good Blues fan I live in hope.

Or maybe we just have to hope Labour's talisman Jacinda eventually loses form.

Fat Old Git wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:06 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

The only problem with these analogies is that they ignore the fact that the government is essentially the All Blacks. And wanting them to fail would be like wanting the AB's to fail because your favorite players weren't selected.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:26 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

Firstly, I've got a philosophical aversion to outsourcing critical services, and I believe this is a critical service. My preference is to have the whole business managed in house by government employees... the public service. I think that there's too much room for breakdowns of communication and control when contracting work out...

so I've got a general problem with compliance issues of this type regardless of who is in power. Just to be clear.

On a scale of 1 to a complete partisan freakout, I think this falls fairly low on the scale though. If you look at the security company statement of rebuttal, for want of a better term, you'll see they admit their systems failed to capture the missing testing for this staff member. They specifically mention that the Ministry's checking didn't pick it up until, what, late March? I can't be arsed reopening the link to see... the point is, they're responsible for monitoring it, they should have picked up on that way before the Ministry did. That's in their contract...

I get what Deadduck's saying. It's on the government's watch, ultimately they're responsible. They're also responsible for everything else that goes wrong too, of course. Everything.


All of it. Just so you don't have to be.

Fat Old Git wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:06 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 am Uh, it's a pretty common contractual arrangement to have compliance requirements placed on the contractor. At some stage audits will pick up any compliance failure... which is what's happened here. Hipkins has talked this morning about data matching picking up mismatches in the information provided by or through the employer and the employee...

in a perfect world you'd have real time cross checking on a master data base. I'm gonna suggest that this isn't happening because privacy concerns, right?

Anyway... I think you guys are getting a bit desperate to try and pin this on the government. They've announced the case, found the reason, tracked the contacts and managed the situation. Getting your skirts up about it seems a tad hysterical.

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

The only problem with these analogies is that they ignore the fact that the government is essentially the All Blacks. And wanting them to fail would be like wanting the AB's to fail because your favorite players weren't selected.

Ted. wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:04 am

Fat Old Git wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:06 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:03 am

Enzedder wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:47 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am

So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

We would - and you'd tell us to stop getting tangled in our skirts. It's all a game but Labour have possession at the moment so get back to trying to win possession guys.

Using that analogy we just don't have a good enough tight five to compete let alone win possession at the moment.

The only problem with these analogies is that they ignore the fact that the government is essentially the All Blacks. And wanting them to fail would be like wanting the AB's to fail because your favorite players weren't selected.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 10:03 pm

Enzedder wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 9:58 pm

Mr Mike wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 2:34 pm

Enzedder wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 12:52 amThe Japanese fellow has lived there for 20 years and comes back here on a regular basis. Smart move to involve the media but he could have come back months ago if he had wanted to. Don't think we owe him anything to be honest.

Looks like we found the public servant who rejected the guy’s application first time around.

Cheeky bugger - I should have read a bit more about him before posting perhaps but he turned his back on us many years ago - then again, so did many of the people trying to return now so I suppose he should be treated just the same as them.

That’s a pretty harsh assessment of a distressing personal story, Enz. It’s not like all of us here from time to time share our own personal stories of hardship hoping for a sympathetic ear, right?

He and his family applied for compassionate entry and got turned down. His circumstances, you would think, would be as desperate as it gets for that classification. Some empathy wouldn’t go amiss. It’s a difficult scenario for all involved.

Housing crisis: More than 4,000 NZ children living in motels

There are now more than 4000 children growing up in motels across New Zealand, devastating parents who are desperate to find a permanent place for their kids to live.

Skyrocketing house prices are prompting many landlords to sell, forcing up rents which are becoming unaffordable for many families.

Figures released to Checkpoint show that in September last year (the most recent figures available) there were 3350 households with one adult and at least one child in motels.


There were another 800 households with two adults and at least one child.

That was an overall increase of more than 500 children on the previous three months - and the public housing waitlist has been steadily rising ever since.

As of June last year there were more than 1000 kids who had been in motels between three and six months, more than 500 living there between 6 and 12 months and nearly 100 who'd been there between one and two years.

Auckland woman Skye Richardson had to move into a motel with her four children for six months last year after the rental she was living in was sold - she said they'd told her it was the "shittiest time of their life".

"There was me, my two babies in the double bed and then there was my oldest son who's 10 with his little sister who's seven in one single bed."

She eventually managed to find a place for $700 - the bulk of her $940 weekly income.

But she said they had to get out of the motel.

"Kids are meant to be free, they're meant to be kids, they're meant to play - they're not meant to be stuck behind what you might as well say are jail cell bars, stuck in one room. It's not right at all."

Motel-based since moving from Melbourne

Ramona has been living in the same motel with her partner and three children since last November.

"I wouldn't choose this for anybody. Growing up I didn't come from a rich family but it was never as hard as what my children are going through and it sucks."

The family had been living in Melbourne when Covid-19 hit and with no support in Australia they decided to come home, but had no idea how hard the housing hunt would be.

"We were staying with my mother-in-law but she's also in a social housing house, which was overcrowded, so we were asked to leave and here we are."

She puts bars across her windows and her youngest isn't allowed to play outside because it doesn't feel safe.

Her older kids are struggling too.

"I know for my oldest daughter she's nearly 15, she hasn't told any of her friends that she lives in emergency housing.

"It's hard as a mum because you feel like you've failed, my daughter is embarrassed to tell her friends the truth, but what else can you do?"

She's constantly searching for a rental while her partner works fulltime at a warehouse - but his wage isn't enough to get them into the hugely competitive market.

"It's too expensive - there's too many other applicants and you feel overwhelmed but you have to do it. WINZ is telling me I have to apply for five to six houses a week and I've said to them that sometimes there's no houses within my price range and they're like - well you need to find something."

She said Work and Income had told her that if she didn't complete her obligations she would be obligated to pay the cost of the motel - which was $2800 for her family.

"We've been here 11 weeks so that's over $30,000."

Housing situation dire for children - principal

Whangārei's Horahora school principal Pat Newman said his school was aware of 10 pupils who were living in tents, caravans, motels or garages - but he estimated there were probably another 10 who were in similar situations.

He said families simply couldn't afford rising rents, which were caused by landlords cashing in on rising house prices.

"The people renting those houses are being put out in the streets because they're being sold empty and then the new owner is putting them [rents] up $100-$150 a week."

And it's those with kids that were finding the housing crisis particularly dire, he said.

"First home buyers tend to already be renting and in a house; otherwise they wouldn't be looking at the hope of having a deposit. What we're talking about is another level below the first home buyers who are living in a tent so the deposit isn't very great on that."

Newman said those figures were getting worse - and they were taking their toll.

"In a way it's taking away hope for these kids - they see on television all the nice goodies that you should be able to get if you're a 'normal' child, and yet they think, 'that's not me'."

In a statement, the Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said there was a major programme of work underway aimed at increasing the supply of public housing and improving housing affordability and supply.

Next week the government is scheduled to release its latest statistics around child poverty rates - numbers Kiwi kids are counting on improving.

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:47 pm That's rough... I wonder how you reconcile yourself in a situation like that? Knowing you're dying, you've precious little time and you can't get home. I torment myself at times with speculating on how it might come whispering through the grass for me...do you want to know and go eyes open or quickly, no pain?

Ted. wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:56 am

guy smiley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:26 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:09 am So just to be clear. If any of this was happening under a National lead Govt and Judith Collins was Prime Minister you wouldn't have a problem with any of these compliance failures?

Firstly, I've got a philosophical aversion to outsourcing critical services, and I believe this is a critical service. My preference is to have the whole business managed in house by government employees... the public service. I think that there's too much room for breakdowns of communication and control when contracting work out...

so I've got a general problem with compliance issues of this type regardless of who is in power. Just to be clear.

On a scale of 1 to a complete partisan freakout, I think this falls fairly low on the scale though. If you look at the security company statement of rebuttal, for want of a better term, you'll see they admit their systems failed to capture the missing testing for this staff member. They specifically mention that the Ministry's checking didn't pick it up until, what, late March? I can't be arsed reopening the link to see... the point is, they're responsible for monitoring it, they should have picked up on that way before the Ministry did. That's in their contract...

I get what Deadduck's saying. It's on the government's watch, ultimately they're responsible. They're also responsible for everything else that goes wrong too, of course. Everything.


All of it. Just so you don't have to be.

Guy, is this what they mean by a free market and individual responsibility?

Enzedder wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:39 pm Good to see that the trans-Tasman bubble is back in force - this screen has been a virtual wasteland for over a year

https://www.flightradar24.com/-38.8,157.68/6

booji boy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:16 am My wife has flown to Australia this morning to see her parents for the first time in over a year.

booji boy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:16 am My wife has flown to Australia this morning to see her parents for the first time in over a year.

UncleFB wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:22 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:16 am My wife has flown to Australia this morning to see her parents for the first time in over a year.

I haven't seen my Mum in over a year.



She's on the Gold Coast ... but I missed seeing her due to the Xmas lockdown.



Have booked flights back to NZ for end of June, despite being slightly worried about being trapped if Oz change their minds about letting NZers back in.

RuggaBugga wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:04 am

UncleFB wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:22 am

booji boy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:16 am My wife has flown to Australia this morning to see her parents for the first time in over a year.

I haven't seen my Mum in over a year.



She's on the Gold Coast ... but I missed seeing her due to the Xmas lockdown.



Have booked flights back to NZ for end of June, despite being slightly worried about being trapped if Oz change their minds about letting NZers back in.

You're good mate, 501's aren't allowed back anyway.