Posts by Kurt Mastrovich
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Legal Beagle: Just get the App, already, in reply to Paul Campbell,
In many ways it does as the authority that issue the type certificates and technical standard orders for a great deal of aviation equipment on, in and around aircraft and the very aircraft themselves. Aviation is a very interconnected industry and in NZ as in many countries our regulator often rubber stamps (or a version of rubber stampting slightly more involved than the imagery invoked) the work done the FAA, EASA etc.
FAA, EASA, CAA etc through their respective Governments are all ICAO compliant organisations. ICAO being an agency of the UN that sets standards and best practices for the global industry.
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Legal Beagle: Just get the App, already, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
The argument here though is that if he'd had the app with the electronic boarding pass then there would be no grounds for an infringement notice.
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Having just moved back to NZ after 8 years living overseas, none of this helps with the culture shock of moving back home. I'm trying not to let the feeling that NZ hasn't progressed in the intervening that I left but it really feels like it. I'm an admittedly harsh critic though.
NZ Herald even in the short time I've been back have continued to circle the drain of diminishing quality - their rare investigative features not withstanding.
When we were in France I regularly began streaming Checkpoint on the Chromecast in the mornings. I've now become a regular listener of RNZ and will supplant my usual perusal of the now abysmal NZHerald.co.nz with the RNZ.co.nz.
If the merger between Fairfax and NZME does go ahead maybe it will be a good thing. All we can hope now is that their ultimate demise will lead to a phoenix type scenario and continued improvement of RNZ and other newer ventures.
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Great post.
I'm all for the rehabilitation of offenders and not entirely convinced by the efficacy of the New Zealand prison system. But clearly the man in question has not been sufficiently rehabilitated.
NZME is absolutely an enabler in giving him his unapologetic voice back as a broadcaster and then a further platform on Mother's Day (over commercialised it may be) as click bait.
The lack of genuine remorse is enough to make you feel sick. Add on the British tabloid-esque ethics of NZ Herald and wow, just wow.
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Hard News: How the years flew by ..., in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
2. Ban company ownership of residential property (so no more shell companies or LAQCs or any other entity other than a human or humans owning a property)
I agree with a lot of your points but despite obvious abuses of the LTC (the new name for LAQC) regime does have its merits and with the name change there was some tightening up.
I'm obviously biased as it's what I use for rental property outside of Auckland. For 8 years I have lived overses and for 7 years I was working a relatively dangerous job that didn't come with a retirement plan. I wanted bricks and mortar as a psyhcological security. Being overseas I didn't want to deal with property managers as past experience taught me they cared neither for the tenants nor the owners. My Father is my property manager and I am actively involved making sure my tenant is happy and actively improving the place over time.
For a number of very legitimate reasons a LTC made sense for me. Perhaps there can be more tweaking but it is so much more than a zombie robot vehicle. :)
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Polity: A short history of half-baked…, in reply to Tom Johnson,
Nutters though the Tea Party are they at least have a vision, or visions as it were. I don't see that with National, more listless drones that occasionally discombobulate as Nick Smith has eagerly demonstrated.
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Hard News: How the years flew by ..., in reply to Jim Cathcart,
Also, most NZers are unaware that in the event of a financial collapse, deposit holders are the first to go under our law (there are no deposit guarantees). Savers foot the bill before shareholder. Wholesale funding has primed this bubble. Nobody in the mainstream media has addressed this.
Count me in that group, good lord! Even Indonesia has deposit guarantees.
But then it does seem like a somewhat even pro/con argument for or against.
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Hard News: How the years flew by ..., in reply to Rich of Observationz,
To an extent. What struck me and we have had similar experiences in other cities we have done it is that these apartments are in places where there aren't necessarily hotels or backpackers, so quiet neighbourhoods. But you can head the roller suitcases in the halls and then there are all the issues with confusing access and rubbish etc.
Hotels and Backpackers tend to be a concentrated facility and are at least a known quantity, Airbnb as good as it is, can be very random for all who experience its effects.
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Hard News: How the years flew by ..., in reply to Ian Dalziel,
A fairly significant amount. I also read an interesting article the other day along those lines. We just happened to be staying a couple of nights in an Airbnb apartment in Bordeaux and it really struck a chord. That said we were clearly part of the problem.
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I'm on the cusp of moving back to New Zealand after 8 years living overseas. Unfortunately for me with my new job that means Auckland. There are certainly advantages, it will make life easier for my foreign fiance, being what passes for a big city in NZ and we have mutual friends there. The reasons for taking a job back in NZ are many and numerous but that is all by the by. At the end of the day no one is forcing me to accept Auckland as base (I was given other options but had to weigh other factors against those, one of which could have been Christchurch).
But I look at Auckland with a great measure of perplexity. In the 8 years I've been coming back as a tourist I've seen Auckland ebb and flow through a lens coloured by childhood memories of visiting grandparents and the fact my visits were fleeting days twice a year or so. Having spent the last year in France it was the last trip that made me really question it's growing absurdity. I took the SkyBus from the Airport to Downtown to run errands and that gave me a greater ability to observe Dominion Road with a critical eye. It is a major arterial road and yet there are so many large lots with small to average houses and certainly nothing flash. It seems to me that intensification here would also serve to provide the patronage for useful public transport on the corridor between the city and airport. I don't believe that intensification on such an arterial would materially affect amenity of the likes of Sandringham etc.
Of course, as all of you who live in Auckland know there are numerous examples like this across Auckland. Sprawling out makes very little sense to me.
I don't think we'll look to buy in Auckland. We're accustomed to living in small apartments, sans children for now. But I definitely feel the market is overheated and I worry about my friends exposure even though they have higher salaries than I will be starting on.
As a rental property investor (outside of Auckland) I actually think a CGT makes sense. But there are a range of actions the government needs to take and I don't see them realistically doing much save for maybe the housing tax, encouraging urban sprawl and more roads, glorious roads!