Chris Hipkins, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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#3046601 6-Mar-2023 21:59

Back to the child care rebates. Fundamentally this is a wage subsidy for those people who choose to use child care. I don't think that is right nor fair to tax payers and those families that don't use child care.

It's a move towards the universal wage which is a utopian mirage. The money has to come from somewhere.

No doubt there are deserving cases that need child care and help to pay for it but this subsidy isn't the way to deliver it.

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gzt

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#3046604 6-Mar-2023 22:14

Uh did I miss something and doesn't that belong in the Luxon topic?

Technofreak

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#3046618 7-Mar-2023 05:08

gzt: Uh did I miss something and doesn't that belong in the Luxon topic?

Yep, you did. Subject was brought into this discussion here. https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=184&topicid=303171&page_no=21#3046147

Yes, probably fits better in the other thread.

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GV27

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#3046620 7-Mar-2023 06:32

Technofreak: Back to the child care rebates. Fundamentally this is a wage subsidy for those people who choose to use child care. I don't think that is right nor fair to tax payers and those families that don't use child care.

It's a move towards the universal wage which is a utopian mirage. The money has to come from somewhere.

No doubt there are deserving cases that need child care and help to pay for it but this subsidy isn't the way to deliver it.

Let's not forget we have a system where people who turn a certain age get money regardless of whether they need it or not, and we pay people who could work but simply choose not to.

We could apply the same logic there but it's probably in our best interests to not have our elderly and unemployed living in abject poverty, just like I suspect there's some wider social benefits to families being able to afford the houses they live in by way of having two working parents.

I could only dream of being in a position where we could 'choose' not to use childcare but short of moving to the sticks or me swapping my professional career for an OnlyFans foot model, we'll need two working incomes for our mortgage and to ensure we both have a safety net/retirement fund in case one of us gets sick or we don't get sick at all and live to be a thousand years old.

ockel

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#3046623 7-Mar-2023 08:10

Monday morning:

Petrol tax hikes on the table as Government plans multi-billion dollar transport shakeup, swapping car parks for bus lanes and cycle ways

But by the evening:

Hipkins changes transport focus away from agreed emissions reduction

Quickest policy flip flop I've seen in a long time. Who is the Transport Minister - Wood or Hipkins? Is this the modus operandi for the next six months? Policy releases by the cabinet minister to be overruled by the Prime Minister?

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

GV27

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#3046624 7-Mar-2023 08:13

Nicola Willis on RNZ talking about 'taking $30b from Auckland Light Rail to spend on regional roads'.

Well that's great, but what is National going to propose to improve rapid transit in Auckland - and even if that is 'literally nothing', why is functionally the same outcome as we have now under Labour?

ockel

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#3046654 7-Mar-2023 09:31

GV27:

Nicola Willis on RNZ talking about 'taking $30b from Auckland Light Rail to spend on regional roads'.

Well that's great, but what is National going to propose to improve rapid transit in Auckland - and even if that is 'literally nothing', why is functionally the same outcome as we have now under Labour?

Is Mill Road back on the agenda?

Will extra funding be found for Eastern Busway (its Luxon and Simeon Browns electoral areas) - with smarter planning along Te Rakau Drive rather than through residential properties?

Will planning for the Western Busway be accelerated (theres a redundant cycleway that could be used.....)?

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

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GV27

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#3046663 7-Mar-2023 09:46

ockel:

Is Mill Road back on the agenda?

Will extra funding be found for Eastern Busway (its Luxon and Simeon Browns electoral areas) - with smarter planning along Te Rakau Drive rather than through residential properties?

Will planning for the Western Busway be accelerated (theres a redundant cycleway that could be used.....)?

The Western Cyclepath is one of the few transport connections the West actually has. It tends to get more use as traffic gets worse on SH16.

As for the 'Western Busway' - there is no 'Western Busway'. There's a plan for some painted lanes on motorway shoulders and some bus stops that don't even have seats and motorway off-ramps and on-ramps, but this is not a North Shore busway or even an actual busway by any possible definition.

In 2017, it was supposedly going to be light rail. Then literally no work was done on it and OIA requests about it were knocked back because they couldn't provide information that didn't exist.

sir1963

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#3046671 7-Mar-2023 10:11

GV27:

Nicola Willis on RNZ talking about 'taking $30b from Auckland Light Rail to spend on regional roads'.

Well that's great, but what is National going to propose to improve rapid transit in Auckland - and even if that is 'literally nothing', why is functionally the same outcome as we have now under Labour?

Nicola Willis is an idiot just waiting for the reality train to hit her.

Fossil fuelled vehicles are just a dead man walking, that is reality

We do not produce enough electricity to power the same number of electric vehicles, that would require a crippling of our grid and infrastructure, another piece of reality

If we can not have fossil fuel vehicles and do not have the electricity, then we need alternative transport. Again a reality

Rail has a lower rolling resistance than roading, so rail will require less energy, another fact for her to consider.

By the time reality hits her head on, EVERYONE ELSE in the world will be needing to change, at which point the costs will be significantly higher.

Add on to that info, Lithium is also not an endless source.

ockel

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#3046758 7-Mar-2023 11:34

GV27:

The Western Cyclepath is one of the few transport connections the West actually has. It tends to get more use as traffic gets worse on SH16.

As for the 'Western Busway' - there is no 'Western Busway'. There's a plan for some painted lanes on motorway shoulders and some bus stops that don't even have seats and motorway off-ramps and on-ramps, but this is not a North Shore busway or even an actual busway by any possible definition.

In 2017, it was supposedly going to be light rail. Then literally no work was done on it and OIA requests about it were knocked back because they couldn't provide information that didn't exist.

The Western Cyclepath had a peak daily usage of 2052 users measured at Te Atatu in calendar 2022 (average daily count 863). At Kingsland the peak was 1746 (average daily count 617). Thats one huge white elephant. Its hard to say that it gets more use as congestion gets worse on SH16. The statistics dont support that. In fact the statistics show cycling movements in 2022 were down 11% on 2021.

It would be better to replace the cycleway with an proper express busway in time for the completion of the new NorthWest Bus Terminal in 2025. The NW bus improvements ARE inadequate - and much more beneficial than ALR.

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GV27

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#3046776 7-Mar-2023 12:16

ockel:

It would be better to replace the cycleway with an proper express busway in time for the completion of the new NorthWest Bus Terminal in 2025. The NW bus improvements ARE inadequate - and much more beneficial than ALR.

The endless debacle around Westgate/NW and the location of the bus terminal we're getting are probably worthy of a thread of its own. The only certainty is the thousands of houses that will be built there, whether the promised infrastructure happens or not.

As for ALR - agree to disagree. There's just such an insane volume of traffic on SH16 that anything short of a proper dedicated busway won't give the benefits that Light Rail would for the bits where all the houses are being added, and a proper rapid transit connection out to the areas like Kumeu is badly overdue. But fitting one in alongside SH16 would be a pain and it will take the same amount of disruption to build one that adding Light Rail would, but without the same capacity as Light Rail. You might as well just get it over and done with.

mudguard

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#3047208 8-Mar-2023 07:26

ockel:

It would be better to replace the cycleway with an proper express busway in time for the completion of the new NorthWest Bus Terminal in 2025. The NW bus improvements ARE inadequate - and much more beneficial than ALR.

It's also the only way to get into the CBD without using an engine. From the North Shore to West. Seems crazy you can't get over the bridge without a car, bus, ferry etc.

Technofreak

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#3048348 9-Mar-2023 21:38

Not Chris Hipkins directly, but a Minister he appointed.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/te-whatu-ora-admits-figures-used-by-health-minister-are-not-accurate/DUWF6PAUDBC3XACYPZQEIIE5TI/

It's pretty appalling she was given such poor data, but to me the scary thing was it was so skewed it should have been obvious to her that it wasn't right. The opposition spokesman Shane Reti could tell the data wasn't correct. Why couldn't she.

It's a scary though that a Minister is so out of touch with their own portfolio.

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GV27

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#3048381 10-Mar-2023 06:16

Technofreak:

Not Chris Hipkins directly, but a Minister he appointed.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/te-whatu-ora-admits-figures-used-by-health-minister-are-not-accurate/DUWF6PAUDBC3XACYPZQEIIE5TI/

It's pretty appalling she was given such poor data, but to me the scary thing was it was so skewed it should have been obvious to her that it wasn't right. The opposition spokesman Shane Reti could tell the data wasn't correct. Why couldn't she.

It's a scary though that a Minister is so out of touch with their own portfolio.

Supposedly the issue is with the publication process - the data provided to her for advice and responses was correct.

Technofreak

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#3048394 10-Mar-2023 08:20

GV27:

Technofreak:

Not Chris Hipkins directly, but a Minister he appointed.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/te-whatu-ora-admits-figures-used-by-health-minister-are-not-accurate/DUWF6PAUDBC3XACYPZQEIIE5TI/

It's pretty appalling she was given such poor data, but to me the scary thing was it was so skewed it should have been obvious to her that it wasn't right. The opposition spokesman Shane Reti could tell the data wasn't correct. Why couldn't she.

It's a scary though that a Minister is so out of touch with their own portfolio.

Supposedly the issue is with the publication process - the data provided to her for advice and responses was correct.

No, the issue is she chose to use bad data to make the claim waiting times had improved when they hadn't improved. With all the other evidence available for someone in her position to make those claims it indicates to me someone out of touch with their area of responsibility.

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