Mike Hosking rips the government for their flip-flops and backdowns

by Cameron Slater on June 29, 2018 at 10:30am

Mike Hosking rips the government: Quote:

The latest backflip contains my frustrations with this Government. My frustrations and also my confusion.

The deal was this: to build a lot of houses we would train one local builder and bring one in from offshore. They’ve back flipped on that, it’s now just bring them in as fast as you can.

The deal was they would be cutting immigration by 30,000.

The backflip is, how can we do that when we are so short of builders?

The deal was foreigners are the problem in the housing market – we are going to ban them from participating.

The backflip is foreigners can build, rent and invest in large-scale projects.

Now my question is this: are they stupid? Are they really that backward? That naive? End quote.

 

Stupid, arrogant, intransigent and inept. They are the total package of political retards. Quote:

That as industry after industry, as contractor after contractor, as company after company told them of the constraints around labour, costs and finance when it came to housing.

There wasn’t a hope in hell of increasing the build numbers from what they already were.
And there was even less of a hope that KiwiBuild, at 10,000 new houses a year on top of all of that, would ever see the light of day if they insisted on ploughing forward with bans and restrictions.

Were they that naive? Or were they Machiavellian? End quote.

Phil Twyford isn’t smart enough to be Machiavellian. Quote:

Did they, because you can quite rightly ask, given how bleeding obvious it all was, simply spout what they wanted to spout during the campaign? Simply to lure in the gullible and get the votes – knowing full well that if they got to government they could never deliver on what they said they would.

I still don’t know for sure. But my guess is the former, and if I am right, that is a hopeless position for a government to be in.

As staggering as it would appear to be, they don’t strike me as nasty, as barefaced dishonest people. End of quote.

Some of them are, especially Phil Twyford. Quote:

But they do strike me as bewildered, inexperienced and perhaps surprised they got across the line last October.

You could argue that these backdowns are good, at least because it shows they are prepared to see the error of their ways.

And that they are capable of listening.

But having handed out that small bouquet, one is left with the glaringly large brickbat.

That almost beggars belief, that the things they couldn’t see were staring at them, so large, so obvious, so alarmingly obvious.

You can rightly feel nervous about the direction of this country.

Two more surveys this week showing falling confidence, and on the housing and finance policy backflips alone you can see why.

The growth number last week that was less than what it has been.

There is a massive “L” plate on this lot, and the damage is starting to get tangible. End quote.

A massive L-plate, and wonky space-saver wheels with only three nuts done up.

Phil ‘hopes’ prefab houses will rescue KiwiBuild

by Deb on June 26, 2018 at 9:30am

 

Housing Minister Phil Twyford says he hopes more than half of the Government’s 100,000 KiwiBuild homes will be made by prefabrication.  Image Whaleoil

Quote

Housing Minister Phil Twyford says he hopes more than half of the Government’s 100,000 KiwiBuild homes will be made by prefabrication.  End of quote.

Hopes? Given the not-inconsiderable salary we are paying him, I would expect the minister to have firm plans, not just “hopes”.  Quote:

Twford has asked companies in New Zealand and overseas to express their interest in setting up, or expanding, off-site manufacturing factories to make KiwiBuild homes.

“Cabinet has decided the Government will seek interest from both local and overseas companies to come forward with their plans,” Twyford said.

“One of the challenges for Kiwibuild is there isn’t the scale and capacity in the construction sector to build the number of houses New Zealand needs.”

On Saturday, Twyford told The Nation he could not currently put a number on the number of prefab houses built under Kiwibuild, but within a few years – when the Government was building about 10,000 houses a year – “a substantial proportion” of the houses would be built in a factory using high-tech, high-precision gear.  End of quote.

Wait, “within a few years” – when the Government will be building about 10,000 houses a year. Wow, every day the goal posts move.  Quote:

He then said he hoped more than half the houses would be prefab, “but it’s very early days to be putting a number on that”.  End of quote.

There’s that hope word again. And, no indication of numbers. It sounds like there is no plan at all. Plenty of hope, but no plan.  Quote:

Twyford said he had been approached by international and domestic companies, which were already using off-site manufacturing to build houses quicker and more efficiently, since the Government launched KiwiBuild.  […]

[…] Using prefab buildings had always been part of the Government’s Kiwibuild plan – even ahead of taking office.[…]  End of quote.

If prefab buildings were always part of the plan before taking office, I’m wondering why Twyford is being approached by international and domestic companies. Surely, any good plan would have already researched pre-fab suppliers and discussed numbers.  Quote:

Judith Collins nails it: Quote:

[…]”It’s not that pre-fabrication is a bad idea, and National supports efforts to build more houses,” Collins said. “But Kiwibuild was first announced in 2012. Now six years later and after eight months in Government his grand plan amounts to a plea to the private sector to bail him out at some point down the track.”[…]  End of quote.

All hope and no plan

If the houses are being built overseas, they will need to be transported here. That’s going to add to the cost. But, I’m sure Phil has factored this into his… plan. Would this be a good time to buy shares in shipping companies?

I’d like to know how these prefabricated houses will stand up to New Zealand conditions? Are they robust enough to survive earthquakes and high-wind-zone areas? I’d want to see one survive a Wahine-sized Wellington southerly and at least a 6.5 earthquake before I committed my hard-earned $550,000.

Would you be willing to buy one?