Just fluffing around in the office on
#flufffriday
with my lipstick and clothes-wearing ways.
Home to eat My Food Bag soon where I will have a drink to celebrate one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs and her gutsy show of business leadership this week.
A lot of talk about ugly housing today.
I’ll tell you what I think is ugly: 4512 families raising their children in emergency motel rooms. That’s what I call ugly.
Sadly, that’s the situation in New Zealand today.
Say yes to more housing.
Four happy to be vaccinated under-12s. Thanks to our vaccinator Carissa and the lovely team in the COVID vaccination centre at Khandallah Presbyterian Church for making it so quick and easy.
⚠️🧵Unbelievable. Labour are voting against my no-brainer of a Bill to modernise NZ’s paid parental leave rules. My Bill would let parents divide their paid leave between them as they wish: taking it at the same time, one after the other or in overlapping instalments
🏡Oh happy day. New Zealand’s two major political parties are coming together to say an emphatic YES to housing in our backyards.
This agreement will deliver more choices for the first-home buyers of tomorrow while enhancing the Right to Build for the home owners of today.
With your support, National has forced Labour to back-down on their sneaky plan to impose a KiwiSaver tax.
This tax may be dead, but for so long as a Labour is in Government they will be dreaming up new ways to fleece you of your hard-earned cash.
National has your back.
Hearing stories of Aucklanders breaking-down in tears after today’s announcement. They expected to be shown a clear path out of lockdown. Instead they got a muddle, with nothing to look forward to except waiting ever-longer for others to get vaccinated. Dark times.
Labour’s excuses for opposing my parental leave bill are awful. The Dep PM suggested its due to WHO guides saying women should breastfeed for 6 months.
Newsflash: not all women can or choose to do that. These are deeply personal choices for families: please stop insulting us.
Today IRD confirmed to Parliament that they plan to spend $30m this year renovating and redecorating their offices across NZ.
It’s disrespectful to taxpayers who’d surely prefer a tax cut to new seats at the IRD.
National will restore discipline to Government spending.
Global inflation is coming off the boil, yet New Zealand’s is still piping hot at 6%.
Canada’s inflation rate is now 2.8%, the USA is 3% & Australia’s 5.6%.
Labour’s economic mismanagement has prolonged NZ’s cost of living crisis and every Kiwi is paying the price.
This is wasteful, sneaky and verging on dishonest.
Cabinet agreed to dip into COVID cash to go on a massive 3-Waters consultant and PR spend up.
A deliberate evasion of Budget scrutiny that shows a contempt for the voters they serve.
PM: “We bought time”.
What she didn’t say:
“We then spent that time doing nothing about planning for the future, focused on spending our Covid fund on other things, and pretended Covid would never get here”
🧵Labour’s GST policy is a miserly offering that will be worth less than a kumara for families suffering through the cost of living crisis, but will have supermarket owners rubbing their hands with glee.
New Zealand consumer confidence has plummeted to the lowest level recorded since Westpac began its survey in 1988.
Worse than during the GFC and the recession of the early 1990s.
This is a massive vote of no confidence in the Government and its lack of an economic plan.
Oh dear. Labour have now quickly covered-up their hole with an online correction. Doesn’t exactly build confidence that they have the details of their complicated policy sorted though does it?
Let’s all take a break from the raging wars on to celebrate this inarguably wonderful news: Bish and Jenna are having a baby!
Congratulations to two great people who will be incredible parents.
Kiwis are going backwards under Labour, with more pain to come.
The economy is faltering - it only grew 1% in the past year (2nd worst in OECD), while inflation hit 7.3% & real wages fell 3.7%.
Labour’s wasteful spending, added costs & business barriers are choking NZ.
You can’t trust Labour on tax.
Today the PM would not rule-out introducing a new wealth tax, despite promising in 2020 she wouldn’t impose one while she remained PM.
Labour’s only idea for meeting NZ’s economic challenges is to ramp-up spending & tax Kiwis more to pay for it.
Today I got vaccinated against COVID-19. I was grateful to have this opportunity to keep me, my family and our community safe. Make sure you do the same when your turn comes!
#VaccinateNZ
A horrific day for Parliament, Wellington and our country.
I’m mostly sad but also filled with gratitude for the police officers who have faced-down today’s violence & destruction with patience, strength and courage.
May we be forever grateful for their service.
On
@NewshubNationNZ
this morning, the Minister of Finance could not give a single example of where he has reined in spending.
The RBNZ is having to fight Labour’s spending with higher interest rates. Kiwis are paying the price for the Government’s addiction to spending.
My heart goes out to families struggling with mortgages, learning worse could be ahead as the Reserve Bank forecasts a double-dip recession & interest rates staying higher for longer.
Labour’s economic mismanagement has gone on too long. Come October, hope is on in its way.
Labour is avoiding Parliamentary scrutiny of their new approach to debt.
Labour MPs on the Finance and Expenditure Committee have just blocked my request for a briefing on the Government’s new fiscal rules.
National, Act and Greens supported the motion.
What’s Labour hiding?
Today I celebrated 25 years of Zealandia (whoop!) with a run along the fence to the top of Wright’s Hill.
A year ago I couldn’t have done it. Dozens of walk-runs and 20kg later it’s now a joy-filled experience.
My reflection: whatever your Wright’s Hill is, just keep going.
Today’s updated crown accounts are ugly. They show the Government has underestimated how badly the economy is tanking. Businesses are struggling & debt is blowing out.
An urgent change of direction is needed: NZ needs a National Government to get this economy growing again.
Ardern saying of Collins on farming “that feels to me like a view of the world that has passed”. Was it meant to be a zinger? Came across as patronising & anti-farmer.
We just had a student sign up for the
@nzyoungnats
at Otago Uni Clubs Week. Last year he was a member of Young Labour. Reason for the switch? He just completed a year of study in economics.
This is embarrassing from Robertson.
Claiming the Govt wasn’t breaking its no new taxes pledge by designing new taxes, because… it was a “tax switch”.
This leaves the door wide open for new tax “switches” if Labour is re-elected.
You can’t trust Labour on tax.
Bit teary watching a group of young girls give a haka on their way out of Eden Park tonight. In their world it’s women who win the World Cup, play fast and free and wow the sell-out crowd. Rugby is forever changed. Thank you to the Black Ferns. You gave New Zealand magic tonight.
Double-whammy, double-happy. The Reserve Bank’s decision to drop the OCR by 50bp today is great news for all Kiwis: mortgage holders, business owners and workers alike. It’s clear the economy is turning a corner and brighter days are ahead.
In our first term National will reduce the tax burden on working New Zealanders. This will include indexing income tax thresholds for inflation.
Our position hasn’t changed.
Meanwhile, Labour remains stubbornly opposed to tax reduction.
The difference could not be clearer.
Today’s
#nzqt
between
@EricaStanfordMP
and Min Tinetti exposed the soft-bigotry of low expectations that has infected Labour’s approach to education. While literacy and numeracy achievement falls through the floor, the Govt offers nothing but excuses. Kiwi kids deserve better.
Today's inflation data should be a wake-up call for the Government. Prices are surging, wages are trailing behind and Kiwis are going backwards fast. The Government must do more to address this crisis. Blaming global factors, spending up-large & temporary measures won't cut it.
This is a very poor take. The Youth MPs I've met today are smart, sassy & articulate and will go on to contribute massively to NZ. Youth Parliament is a chance for our young leaders to learn, influence and grow. We should celebrate our tall poppies, not tear them down.
Just got off the phone to a woman in tears, her family business has done well for 30 yrs but they’re not sure they can survive this. She was uncertain, scared & desperate. Gutting.
I guess Deborah Russell would ask if her business had enough financial strength to begin with. SMH
Labour loves tax like a shark loves blood.
Documents revealed today show they’ve been secretly designing new wealth, capital gains and windfall taxes.
Despite the paper trail, Hipkins wants you to believe his coalition of chaos won’t introduce them.
Pull the other one.
I feel for our farming communities who woke up to a shocker of a GDT result: another 7% fall in dairy prices. This comes on top of squeezed margins, hit by high inflation & interest rates. The NZ economy is in increasing trouble. We need a National Government to get
#BackOnTrack
.
1/2 I am really disappointed by Labour MPs and their associates recklessly scaremongering about pay equity.
Individual Government agencies have always been responsible for negotiating pay equity claims and that responsibility will continue under our Government.
🥬🍅🥦🚀
NZ vege prices rocketed up 24% in the past 3 months, the largest quarterly rise since records began.
Lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli led the charge.
Hard for the Govt to blame global factors when inflation is hitting that hard on homegrown products.
How completely ridiculous. I'd happily take Willis on an all-expenses paid tour of the last five cities I've lived in. She might gain some perspective.
👇👇👇
MP Nicola Willis says she doesn't feel safe walking through central Wellington
This is a scam.
No one, not even Grant Robertson, believes Labour’s GST change would be fully passed on to consumers, as this claims.
It’s yet more of Labour’s fairytale economics, built on magical thinking and a wave of a grocery commissioner wand. Kiwis deserve better.
The PM’s office already knew about Nash’s email to donors leaking Cabinet deliberations. They did nothing.
The cover-up exposes an ethical deficit at the heart of Labour’s Govt.
The PM’s office should uphold Ministerial standards at all times: not just when they get found out.
Min Parker just confirmed to Parliament that an unknown number of deceased people received the cost of living payment.
He tried to distract with beautiful poetry by James K Baxter.
The prosaic fact remains: Labour has overtaxed hardworking Kiwis to make payments to dead people
We voted for National today and it felt so good!
☑️ Stronger economy for a lower cost of living
☑️ Tax relief
☑️ Restoring law and order
☑️ Better health and education
Vote for National to change the Government and get our country back on track.
I’m proud to have voted in support of the Abortion Legislation Act tonight: it advances the rights of women and access to health services, it will reduce delays and reduce harm. I pay tribute to all those who fought for this result. My speech here:
The willingness of Ministers Robertson and Hipkins to absolve themselves of responsibility for the $11.7m Green School grant, despite sitting in the Cabinet that approved it, tells you everything you need to know about their attitudes to their roles as custodians of public money
@ClintVSmith
Clint, you tweeted as recently as a few weeks ago that the Government was on track to spend $120B in 2023, as per the December forecast. The Budget blew that out of the water and the 2023 figure is now $127B. Let me know if you need help understanding the figures.
🧵We saw the Finance Minister and CTU head Craig Rennie catching up at the Parliament cafe recently, like the old chums and former workmates they are, so had wondered when their next partisan hit-job would come.
In the past 6 months the Govt Housing Agency, Kāinga Ora, removed more state houses than it built.
That’s right, they removed five more houses than they built.
Meanwhile a record 25,000 New Zealanders languish on the state house waiting list.
#FailureToDeliver
There has never been a Government that has promised aspirant first-home buyers so much & yet delivered such pain:
- House price hikes at record highs
- Credit changes cutting loan access
- Interest rates climbing
- New taxes putting pressure on rents
- Kiwibuild disaster
It appears the PM believes good Government is a simple matter of setting “expectations”.
All Ministers need do is minute an “expectation” and then whizz, bang pop it shall be done. No need for check, audit, follow-up or basic Management 101.
Naive incompetence.
#nzqt
Minister Hipkins’ attempt to distance himself from the $11.7m Green School grant won’t wash. He is a senior Minister in the Government that signed-off on it. His job is to stick-up for education priorities. He failed. It’s sloppy, unfair and shows disrespect for taxpayer money.
#nzqt
How can Minister Mahuta claim Local Authorities will retain ownership of their water assets when they won’t have any shareholding in those assets or any Board control of their management?
#StateSponsoredTheft
More mortgage misery just landed for New Zealanders.
Today’s unprecedented interest rate rise shows an economy out of control. The inflation fire keeps burning, interest rates keep hiking, and the cost of living crisis is deepening.
Enough with the band-aids, NZ a needs a plan
Today’s 50 basis point hike in the OCR is another kick in the guts for New Zealanders enduring a prolonged cost of living crisis.
This is the 10th rate rise in 18 months and will leave many mortgage holders scrambling. National would reduce their taxes and address inflation.
🚨Tonight my Member’s Bill to modernise the Unit Titles Act passed into law with unanimous support from Parliament.
This is a big green light for apartment-living, enhancing protections for current and future home owners.
A good day for housing in NZ - with thanks to many.
My thoughts are with our Jewish community who have been targeted by a disgraceful and cowardly attack. This is appalling and an affront to all Wellingtonians. We stand in support of you and we condemn this vile act.
I’ll take your “ugly, cheap and characterless” and trade it for hideously unaffordable any day.
We have to get better at saying yes to new housing development. The alternative is to tolerate some of the least affordable housing in the developed world.
Big crowd at the Hastings A&P Showgrounds for a public meeting with Christopher Luxon today. Exciting to see Kiwis’ enthusiasm for meeting National’s Leader. Hamilton, your turn next.
The PM must rule out imposing a new “cyclone” tax on Kiwis caught in a prolonged cost of living crisis.
The Min of Finance was given many chances to rule it out today. He refused.
It is simply irresponsible for Labour to be plotting another tax grab at this difficult time.
🇹🇴 My thoughts are with the people of Tonga and your worried loved ones in NZ. I visited Nuku’alofa with PM Key in ‘09 and always remember the hospitality and generosity shown by our hosts.
Mother Nature has shown her strength and now we must come together to show ours.
The closure of a David Jones, a literal sinkhole, rotting pipes, a dire housing shortage. I love this city and its enormous potential. But we are at a precipice. Enough with the sideshows. Time to focus on the big issues: more housing, core infrastructure, backing enterprise.
🧵Today’s reports show Labour’s sugar-hit economics has made the rich richer. Their money-printing, borrowing & spending frenzy led to big capital gains for some at the expense of everyday workers. That’s not due to tax policy. It’s due to Labour’s monetary & fiscal policies.
Anzac Day 2023. Thank you to Willie Apiata for making the Pukeahu Dawn Service extra special for my friend and Korean War veteran Gordon Sutherland. Lest we forget.
As I’ve been saying for months - the Government has been designing a raft of new taxes.
Earlier this year they took a wealth tax plan all the way to Cabinet. This would have put a wrecking ball through our fragile economy.
You can’t trust Labour on tax.
I understand that Labour loves talking about more taxes.
What’s harder to work out is why would David Parker be stepping in to comment on Dr Russell and Hon Edmond’s portfolios: He hasn’t held the revenue portfolio for more than a year?
#nzqt
Minister Williams just confirmed that ZERO tenants have been evicted from state homes in the past three years.
The eviction ban is leading to predictably perverse consequences, effectively endorsing the right of unruly tenants to make their neighbours lives a living hell.
This is appalling. Law aimed at loan sharks is instead crushing first-home buyers and everyday Kiwis.
The Minister in charge, David Clark, must act immediately: Get the banks in a room, find a solution, pass law to fix it. If he won’t, National will.
PM Hipkins’ claim today that his Government is taking proportionately less tax from the economy is just wrong.
In fact, tax paid has crept up to more than 30% of GDP, heights not reached since Labour was last in Govt.
Labour is collecting so much extra tax they’ve lost count.
National supports the declaration of a State of National Emergency. It's devastating to see the loss of life and destruction Cyclone Gabrielle is causing. Our gratitude to all workers helping the response. Please heed messages from emergency management & look out for one another.
Watching a COVID Government ad promoting a 90% vaccination target and just wondering why the Government didn’t go hard on a target six months ago?
#TooSlow
#Complacent
There was an, er, hole, in the GST costings Labour released yesterday. In an amateur schoolboy error they under-costed the policy by around $250m. The incorrect numbers ran on TVNZ last night, but as far as I know, no effort has been made to correct them.
The Minister of Finance just signalled he will blow the Budget spending limit he set for 2023.
He’s raided next year’s allowance and hasn’t left enough in the kitty to maintain services.
This makes his debt and surplus commitments meaningless.
#BackwardsBudget
Today’s news confirms splits and divisions in Labour’s Cabinet.
Clearly Robertson and Parker want to go hard with new taxes. Hipkins let their big taxing fantasies go all the way to Cabinet before ruling them out.
It’s weak and confused.
You can’t trust Labour on tax.
🧵Labour’s emissions reduction “plan” reads like notes from a“no-idea-is-a bad-idea” whiteboard-session at a team-away-day staffed by people from The Office.
A hodge-podge of half-baked ideas & plans to develop plans.
With a $2.9B price tag.
#WastefulSpending
🎉💉It’s all go at Newtown School for
#SuperSaturday
: live music, sausages, giveaways. Big thanks to the African Community Centre and Kahungunu Whānau Services for driving it. Cause for cross-party celebration
@pauleaglenz
#TeWikioTeReoM
āori I’ve been self-conscious about my lack of Māori language skills for a while. This year I’ve been working on it. Here’s a marker of my progress. It’s not perfect, lots of mahi to come, but I’m giving it a go.
Kia kaha te Reo Māori!
Superb public meeting with
@chrisluxonmp
at the jam-packed Johnsonville community centre tonight. Heartfelt stories from local people, great questions and lots of support for a change of Government to get NZ
#BackOnTrack
PM Hipkins must toughen-up and sack Stuart Nash from all his Ministerial warrants.
Mr Nash has made grave errors of judgement. His actions and comments have shown contempt for important principles of police and judicial independence. He is no longer fit to be a Minister.
Today’s shock 50 basis point lift in official interest rates is another punch in the guts for Kiwi mortgage holders.
Labour’s big-spending, big-taxing, anti-business approach has delivered the worst of all worlds: high inflation, high interest rates and stalled growth.
Ouch - a 7.2% hike in prices last year.
Inflation has its claws into the NZ economy, staying sky-high even while petrol prices fell and the US rate dipped below 7%.
Kiwis are paying the price for Labour’s band-aids, big spending and failed policies. National’s plan: ⬇️
#NatCon19
Cancer-Care Policy: “It’s not right that the Government can find $3 billion for the Shane Jones slush fund but it can’t afford life-saving drugs...New Zealanders shouldn’t have to set up Givealittle pages just to stay alive.”
I’m excited to take on the role of National’s Housing and Urban Development Spokesperson in our refreshed team. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to continue the fierce advocacy of
@JudithCollinsMP
and to deliver much-needed change in an area important to every New Zealander.
What is going on in Cabinet when Minister Williams is floating rent controls one minute only for the PM to rule them out the next?
Rent controls are a terrible idea that would exacerbate the housing shortage.
The Minister should stop sowing confusion.
Labour MPs just voted down motions at FEC seeking an IRD briefing on delivery of the cost of living payment & an inquiry into the economic response to COVID-19.
Labour is using its majority to stop Parliament delivering its scrutiny function & fully serving those we represent.
Written questions reveal Kāinga Ora has spent $24m fitting-out new corporate offices. This despite having the longest state house waiting list in NZ history & 50,000+ of its homes failing standards expected of other landlords.
The Prime Minister just claimed in question time that the 4000 children being raised in motels were previously living in cars.
This is a farcical claim.
Labour’s housing policies are failing and the PM has nothing to offer except a ridiculous attempt to blame National.
@David_Cormack
Stick to the facts: we will keep the winter energy payment and won’t be increasing the age of super for 20 years. We’ll lift the minimum wage each year and ensure all workers get to keep more of their wages by lowering the tax they pay.
🧵Treasury’s update forecasts more pain ahead for Kiwis. Inflation & interest rates to stay high for longer, per person growth flatlining, more deficit & debt - a $13B hole in the books and a growing hole in the back pockets of New Zealanders.