The Government says it's pulling every lever it has to cool New Zealand's housing market and health officials get a clearer picture of a border worker's Covid-19 infection.
The Government has moved to tackle one of the biggest issues facing the country, with a range of new policies to help cool the housing market.
Those measures include doubling the bright-line test from five years to 10 and removing the ability for property investors to offset interest expenses against rental income.
The Government is also extending help for first home buyers, with the eligibility criteria for the First Home Grant and First Home Loan amended.
Meanwhile, $3.8 billion is being pumped into housing supply. Housing Minister Megan Woods expects the new fund to “help greenlight tens of thousands of house builds in the short to medium term” and jumpstart housing developments through the provision of necessary infrastructure, like roads and pipes, to homes.
The NZ Herald reports the Government went against Treasury advice , which recommended the bright-line test be extended to 20 years and not moving on interest deductibility.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson says they considered that advice and came up with “what we thought was the right balance”.
Parliament went into urgency last night to push through the changes to the bright-line test . Legislation for the other changes will be passed at a later date.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the new measures are “balanced” and “pull every lever” the Government has.
She says the package has tried to “tilt the playing field towards first home buyers” but says “there is no silver bullet when it comes to something as complex as a housing crisis”.
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Groups react to housing policy
Reactions to the Government’s housing proposals rolled in for much of the day yesterday.
National’s Judith Collins called the package an “announcement of more broken promises”, labelling the bright-line test extension “a full-scale capital gains tax” .
ACT said the new measures were an “expensive band-aid”, while the Greens said they didn’t go far enough to meet the scale of the housing crisis.
Economists also weighed in on the package, with ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner telling Stuff it could bring the property market to “a more abrupt stop” than intended .
Infometrics economist Brad Olsen added the new measures were a “good start” but believed no Government announcement would change the housing market.
Kiwibank’s chief economist Jarrod Kerr said the policy changes merely “tinkered at the edges” and didn’t address systemic supply issues .
Property investors, meanwhile, were up in arms over the decision to remove interest rate tax deductions, with the NZ Property Investors Federation’s Andrew King calling the changes “bizarre” and “crazy”.
Officials probe Covid case
Health officials now have a clearer picture of the positive Covid-19 case detected in a border worker on Monday.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning genome sequencing has linked that case to a Grand Millennium hotel guest who tested positive for the UK variant of the virus earlier this month.
Bloomfield also revealed a family member who returned a weak positive test result yesterday has since returned a negative test. He says they will continue to treat the family member as a case that’s under investigation.
An Auckland Countdown is still the only location of interest linked to the new border case so far.
Marist Brothers admit multiple failings
There are calls for an independent body to investigate abuse claims against the Marist Brothers after an apology from the church yesterday.
The religious order admitted multiple failings as the Abuse in Care Inquiry heard from its first Catholic witnesses this week.
The Marist Brothers say they have paid out more than $500,000 in compensation to New Zealand victims since the mid-90s.
Expert witness Reverend Dr Tom Doyle is backing calls for an independent review of the complaints against them. He says the Catholic Church “is not democratic by nature” and that it’s a myth an institution can investigate itself.
Rare whio move to new home
The whio – the iconic blue duck found on New Zealand’s $10 note – is getting a population boost with 17 hand-reared birds about to be released into Arthur’s Pass National Park for the first time.
The release is the first of several planned across New Zealand over the coming months.
Whio are currently on the brink of extinction with just a few thousand of them left around the country.
Other news of note this morning:
- Officials have named the 10 victims killed in yesterday's mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket. The suspect has also been identified .
- A prominent Kiwi rich-lister has been found guilty of sexual assault and attempting to cover it up.
- A land occupation is underway in Northland after previous efforts to rectify issues failed.
- The Kāpiti community is scrambling to replenish food bank supplies after thieves got away with months’ worth of donations destined for needy families.
- Andrew Little says going further into the “inherently unstable” Pike River mine is too hard and too expensive .
- A controversial Rocket Lab satellite successfully launched from its Māhia site yesterday.
- And an unbeaten century from Tom Latham has led the Black Caps to an ODI series victory over Bangladesh in Christchurch.
And finally...
Kiwis have had a collective crush on canines for many years now, but Seven Sharp reckons there’s a case to be made for pigs as pets.
Reporter Rachel Parkin went into bat for that cause last night, visiting a formerly ill-tempered Canterbury sow who’s turned her life around.
You can watch their meet and greet here .
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