Nasty Foreigners
Remember Trevor Mallard attacking Julian Robertson as a US bagman for National, and hence one of those nasty foreigners?
Craig Foss highlights Robertson’s contribution to a 9.5km fence which protects a kiwi-breeding scheme at Ocean Beach, Hawke’s Bay. A wonderful contribution to conservation.
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January 18th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I think this is fantastic! Ocean Beach is a popular beach spot and is a bit more remote than Waimarama so is therefore not nearly as populated, and an ideal area for kiwi’s.
It is so remote that if you wander far enough along the beach their is a nudist beach.
January 18th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
The benefits of him putting a few dollars towards a kiwi fence are outweighed by the costs incurred through artificially inflating land prices.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
`Ocean Beach is a lot more remote than Waimarama’.
I don’t think so Welly_girl!! They are on the same road and Ocean Beach is only about 15/20 minutes from Havelock North while Waimarama is over 30 minutes from Havelock – almost twice the travelling time.
Which way to the nudist section – north or south??
January 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I wonder if he would like to contribut to a fence around the lagoon to save our little human kiwis falling in and drowning. There was another there only last week.
January 18th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
David, thats pretty much partisan hyperbole on your part, essentially just a repetition of Craig Foss’s sentiments. Don’t you want to be considered as someone who does more than perpetuate partisan bickering?
January 18th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Trevor ‘all mouth and trousers” Mallard is an ignorant oik. I wouldnt employ him to put my office rubbish out.That he can hold office as a Minister of the Crown in Her Majestys government illustrates the paucity of good governance ability in this country.
January 18th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Anything private is bad I tell you! Only the government is good. If it’s not done by DOC, screw it.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I seem to recall at the time that Don Brash claimed that no americans at all were involved in National’s campaign. Some would call that a big fat lie!
January 18th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
by the way, I love rich Americans, Lets all shine their shoes and wipe their arse. Maybe they’ll throw us a little spare change.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:31 am
When does school go back?
January 19th, 2007 at 7:20 am
to be honest the “JK and Supporters” thing isn’t that much below the usual tone of the comments here.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I have had the pleasure of meeting Julian and his wife over lunch at the Kauri Cliffs Lodge at Matauri Bay.
(see: http://www.uniquelodges.co.nz/kauricliffs/)
Julian has invested in New Zealand to all our advantage. The Lodge and Golf Course at Kauri Cliffs sets a new standard for tourism in NZ.
The conservation and enhancement work he carried out on this site is magnificent. The Kiwi fence is not a one off gesture but simply another example of Julian’s long term commitment. I suspect that many of the people who attack do so because they cannot meet his standards and certainly do no have any similar visions of their own.
Do not blame foreigners for inflating our land prices and hence making housing unaffordable for young families in NZ. I have noticed Julian or any other wealthy foreigners buying houses en mass in central Auckland. Inflated house prices in NZ (as everywhere) are caused by the truly disastrous US import, called Smart Growth, or Growth Management or whatever. The RMA was intended to regulate the land supply in NZ but the central planners would have none of that and we now have one of the most regulated land markets in the world and hence we also have the most unaffordable housing.
Good to see Phil Heatley going to Houston and other lightly regulated land markets to see why a Houston family pays ony 2.8 times their household income for their substantial house on substantial piece of land.
We are not short of land. We are desperately short of zoned land ready for housing.
Every recognised urban economist now recognises that over regulated land markets are the main driver of excessive house prices.
Carter remains “in denial” and claims that people like me want to “gut” the RMA. Actually people like me want to restore the RMA and scrap Smart Growth.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Owen You and others with a brain are fighting a losing battle with Carter and the other dumb Socialists. The supreme irony is that the very people the Socialist claim to stand up for are the ones most likely to suffer under their dimbulb policies.Either they know this and just dont care which is my own opinion or they are thick.No amount of reasoned sensible debate will make them change their minds. Economic 101 of supply and demand equals price just doesnt figure in their thinking.
We Auckland babyboomers bought our first homes with a combined 2 gross incomes to purchase price of a ratio a around 1 to 2.5 on average . Our kids are looking at an Auckland scenario of around 1 to 5 or double.And as Owen says the land component is the killer Not the construction costs.
January 19th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
In fact the law of supply and demand has been ruined by foreigners buying land here. That has been the main driver in house price increases over the last 4 or so years. NZ has the lightest restrictions on foreigners buying land of pretty much any developed country in the world. This means that anyone can buy land here, use if for a holiday home for 2 weeks a year. How does the country gain out of this arrangement? This distorts Owen McShanes fantasy of the free market producing a desirable result in of itself.
As far as not having restrictions on the use of land. All coutries, even the US have planning/zoning regulations and obligations. Image living in an Auckland stretching from Whangarei to Hamilton, which would be the outcome of Owens proposal. Also NZ has plenty of land at any rate, 4.1 Million on this much land is a small population, so land availabilty is not the issue.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
MarkRavingBark I think you will find if you check the records there are not many wealthy overseas people buying up the land where first home buyers are looking to live. Oh and by the way check how much your friendly local authority clips the ticket on each section in a new subdivision.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
David,
This is not pure altruism.
Robertson’s exclusive golf course property will be *INSIDE* this vermin-proof fence, thus enabling him to exploit the eco-tourism opportunities as well as proximity to the gannet colony.
I agree that it is a great asset being developed for, not just the Hawkes Bay, but all NZ, and we should be appreciative.
John McLennan is right to praise it.
However please spare us the “Hurrah Henry” commentaries from the sideline trying to make a political point dressing this a selfless foreign investment when its not.
January 28th, 2007 at 9:48 am
I sense that there is a miss-information (PR) campaign going on here. How can we ignore the fact that X,000 foriegners arrive each year? As my friend says someone sells a toilet in London and buys a house on the Cashmere Hills. Foriegners compete with the local population, picking the eyes out of the better locallities and pushing the locals further down the ranks. I heard that 4/5 of coastal land that becomes available is sold to foriengners (?)
jh
January 28th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Bill Bonner of the Daily Reckoning says:
[The Highwaymen]
How is it that – in a free market system, where people are supposed to be rewarded according to how much they provide to others – today’s biggest prizes go to those who provide so little? Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Blankfein [hedgefund managers] do not add in any appreciable way to the world’s wealth. Instead, they merely move it around – from middle and lower class taxpayers to the super-rich…from householders to speculators…and, by loading up the world with debt, from the future to the present.
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Issues/2007/DR012607.html
tch,tch,tch!
jh