Long stories short, the top six things that stood out to me in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 24:

* The Government is considering allowing the EQC to increase its levy tacked on to household insurance bills by around $400 per year or as much as 72%;

* Inexorable Government pressure downwards on education spending growth and the exodus of skilled workers overseas has increased this year’s teacher shortages to 1,150;

* Napier plans to close its library for two years to avoid borrowing, even though its debt is less than 40% of revenues and costs less than 2% of revenues to service;

* Two specialist health reporters, a dedicated Northland reporter and the last dedicated television economics reporter are losing their jobs in the latest media sector cuts;

* The AA and truckies are warning a delay in funding new bridges across the new City Rail Link in Auckland is set to create roading chaos for six years; and,

* Another example of immigration fraud has emerged, with eight Chinese men paying over $16,000 each for non-existent jobs cleaning up after Cyclone Gabrielle.

(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the video and podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes from paying subscribers we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing.)

When the Government delivers a new cost of living shock

It’s not a tax increase and it’s not inflation coming from overseas or uncompetitive supermarkets, banks or insurers.

But it is another cost of living shock set to be delivered by a Government that pledged to do whatever it could to reduce the burden of inflation on households.

Jenee Tibshraeny reports for NZ Herald-$$$ this morning on the Government considering allowing the former EQC (now renamed the Natural Hazards Commission) to increase the average levy added to household insurance bills by around $400 a year and up to 72% or $948 a year, including GST.

Here’s the detail (bolding mine):

Treasury is consulting with a small group of stakeholders on whether to increase the Natural Hazards Insurance Levy, previously known as the EQC levy, which is tacked on to home insurance premiums.

It is also seeking feedback on increasing the amount of cover the Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) provides for residential buildings from $345,000 to $460,000 (including GST). The most its proposals could cost home owners is $948 a year (including GST), 72% more than the current maximum.

Cabinet is expected to decide on a path forward in July, and changes would be implemented from next year. Jenee Tibshraeny for NZ Herald-$$$

‘Just close the library to save money’

In another case of unnecessary austerity hitting key public services, Hawkes Bay Today reported on Saturday Napier City Council is proposing to shut the doors on its library for up to two years to try to keep the proposed rates increase for Napier ratepayers below 7.9%. Napier’s debt is just over 40% of revenue, when it has capacity to borrow up to 175% under its self-appointed debt limits. Its interest costs are less than 2% of revenues, when its self-appointed limit is 10%.

When the sinking lid starts hitting frontline services

The Ministry of Education is now projecting a shortage of 750 primary teachers and 500 secondary teachers this year, having last year projected a surplus of 1050 primary teachers and 61 secondary teachers, Newsroom’s Laura Walters reported on Friday, pointing to a ‘please explain’ letter from Education Minister Erica Stanford.

Further reading: Teacher shortage 'no surprise', head of secondary principals group says RNZ

Health, poverty and economics reporters cut

The latest job cuts at 1News and NZ Herald are set to significantly reduce coverage of health, economics and poverty in our poorest region. Health reporting specialists Nicole Bremner from 1News and Nicholas Jones from NZ Herald are leaving in the latest rounds of redundancies and resignations, alongside 1News’ long-time reporter for Northland, Helen Castles, as Shayne Currie reported on Saturday for NZ Herald-$$$. He also reported yesterday that Katie Bradford had resigned to take up a corporate role with Infrastructure NZ.

A pick’ n’ mix six of further reading elsewhere

* Scoop: ‘Disrespect for science’: Docs reveal how Govt pushed controversial changes to prestigious Marsden Fund NZ Herald-$$$’s Jamie Morton

* Deep-dive: Migrant workers’ Kiwi dream shattered. An operation across two continents, dodgy signatures, tens of thousands of dollars paid to an overseas agent and lingering debts ‒ all for a new life in NZ. Yet 100 days later, a group migrant women have lost everything. The Post-$$$’s Hanna McCallum

* Research: NZ road lobby's tobacco industry-like tactics exposed in study RNZ’s Maia Ingoe

* Scoop: Iwi bid to challenge supermarket duopoly may have run out of steam. British supermarket giant Iceland is understood to be no longer working with Waikato Tainui on a new national rival to Foodstuffs and Woolworths. The Post-$$$’s Tom Pullar-Strecker

* Deep-dive: Who says school lunches are good? RNZ’s Phil Pennington

* Op-Ed: Who is influencing New Zealand’s most influential? Dr Rod Carr questions the decline of expertise - and the rise of denial and deliberate undermining of facts and evidence. The Post-$$$

Videos of the day

When smaller is better

Lynn and I like watching Never Too Small, a YouTube channel with highlights interesting small apartments all around the world. It’s a guilty pleasure. A bit like watching those real estate shows with big, fancy houses, except we fancy the small ones.

Last night we watched one about an apartment in Nightingale Preston, a not-for-profit project in Melbourne. We immediately wanted to migrate.

I know a bit about the Nightingale way of doing things. In 2023, I interviewed Liam Wallis for When The Facts Change. He helped design, fund and build the first Nightingale project in Melbourne’s Brunswick. These apartments are designed from the start to be carbon neutral, healthier, and cheaper places to heat.

And of course, when we saw the apartment was in Preston, we thought of one of our favourite songs:

Chart of the day

Busting some myths

Substack essentials today

Cartoons of the day

Timeline-cleansing nature pic

Ka kite ano

Bernard

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Govt set to hike insurance costs $400/year

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