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I'm Chelsea Daniels and This is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. On July fet a series of changes are due to be implemented by the government, and some of them will have a direct impact on your day to day. Notably, all rental properties in New Zealand must comply it with the Healthy Home Standards six years after that became law under the Labor Government.
One labor law.
Change hasn't survived, though that government's blanket speed limit reductions must all be reversed by Tuesday. Paid parental leave rates will also go up, while job Seeker support clients must now reapply for their benefit every twenty six weeks rather than fifty two, and the invest New Zealand agency designed to attract foreign investment is due to be set up
by July first as well. It'll also be easier for kiwis to access contraceptives like IUDs, nutrition replacements will be fully funded for adults with Crohn's disease, and increase in some customs fees and goods levies crossing our border, and a new legal requirement to keep records of the movement of raw milk on and off farms. Later we'll dig into those more political changes and what they mean for
you with Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howe. But first on the front page ends at Herald property editor and Gibson is with us to explain what healthy home standards actually look like and can you took us through the five standards that must be in place by July.
First is this is heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture, ingress and drainage and draft stopping. So the idea here is to make rental homes fit for purpose. So then moldy, they're not damp, they're not freezing in the winter, they're not boiling in the summer.
What punishments await those landlords who haven't perhaps set up these standards in time.
There's a seven thousand, two hundred dollar fine for breaches of the healthy home standards in the Residential Tendencies Act. Now, I have had a look at some tendency tribunal cases, and the tribunal can award exemplary damages to a tenant if they prove that the landlord had breached the healthy home standard.
And how do you go about proving that?
You have to make an application to the tribunal. I would think that initially the right thing to do, and I think this is prescribed to is you go to your landlord and you say, look, I need to be able to extract air when I'm cooking in the kitchen. We have showers, and we need to be able to get the steam out of the bathroom so the walls don't go black. There's a big gap under a door and the wooden blows in at night. You know, and
talk to the landlord. Obviously, if the house is non compliant, I think the tenant should read the standards the published in great detail on Tendency Services website, and then I think if there is no resolution, make an application to the tribunal as a tenant and then go through all the aspects you'd have to list there how the house doesn't comply and how it doesn't meet the healthy home standards.
What sort of homes or properties are exempt from this?
There are exemptions, and these are cases where you couldn't make adjustments to make the property meet the standards. So, for example, if you're an apartment building and your kitchen is in the middle of a block and you couldn't ventilate from the kitchen, you might be exempt. So there are not that many exemptions. But let's have a look. So if you intend to demolish or substantially rebuild the
property as a landlord, you don't have to comply. If you've already applied for a resource consent you don't have to comply. Or if it's part of a building that tenant doesn't own, exemptions might apply.
You spoke with one multi millionaire landlord, Peter Lewis, the other week, and he didn't seem very impressed by those exemptions.
Right well, Peter Lewis is an interesting person. He's been involved with the Auckland Property Investors and New Zealand Property Investors Federation for many years. He owns twelve rental properties. These are in South Auckland and in pokikok And he questions the standards now, he says, why don't the two million homes in New Zealand that you know, we have two million homes in New Zealand and most of those
are owner occupied, why don't they need to comply? And he says he makes the study of going around New Zealand and looking at motels and he said they certainly don't comply. And then he questions what's going on with the approximately sixty three thousand people who live in retirement villages in New Zealand and says, why don't retirement village owners have to comply when in many cases residents are paying a million dollars in water buying to those properties.
So he's got some good points, But I think overall, what the government was looking at here when this was when this came into law, was how could how could the lives of tenants be improved? And we know from many studies done that tenants suffer from health issues and a lot of those cases are to do with the type of properties that they're living in, so asthma, respiratory diseases,
rheumatic fever, all those aspects. And so what the government was trying to do here was make rental properties fit for purpose and healthy.
We have at the moment a current situation this his LANDLDS have to in twere nineteen seventy eight standard. Now, mister speaker, I remember growing up in the nineteen seventies. I remember seeing my breath in my bedroom. I remember ice on the inside of my windows. I remember a cold house and mister speaker, I think we can do better.
So when the standards were first announced under the last Labor government, I remember how much of it ka faf for the idea seem to cause. Have landlords for the most part just gotten on with it.
And well, that is a very good question, and we will only know when July one comes and if there is a number of cases that go to the tribunal. Now, I can't honestly believe myself personally that the homes that approximately twenty thousand Otago University students live in actually meet the standard, because I do spend a little bit of time and to need and every year, and I look at the homes there.
And I've seen those videos.
I wonder, and you know, our own Rachel Mail, one of our journalists here, wrote about the hell that she endured renting homes, and I wonder about all those houses in the Utow Valley in Wellington. I've lived in Mortimer Terras in Wellington and it was very cold and damp, and the properties that I lived in as a student were certainly would not comply with these standards. So it's
a really good question. How many homes have been upgraded, how many meet the standard, but even more how many don't meet the standard?
And you mentioned something about a two dollar coin.
Yes, so if you get the edge of a two dollar coin, you can shove it into the gap between the window and the architrave, or the architrave and the door underneath or beside or whatever. That gap has to be sealed, so.
That doesn't meet the standards. If that tiny.
Doesn't meet the standard, the edge of a two dollar coin, and I mean I can stand in my kitchen and work out which direction the breeze is coming from. You know, a nineteen twenty six bungalow and devonport which I've owned for the last thirty years or so with my husband. I know it doesn't meet the healthy home standard, but we live there. We're not planning to rent it out. We seem to be relatively healthy. But I do acknowledge that there are many aspects of it that don't comply.
And it's not just those sort of gaps. It's also trying to sell up the ceiling and the floor. So to get insulation into those places and to get fixed forms of hating is so important. You know, advice that can bring the living area up to a certain temperature and keep it. It's a pretty basic thing to ask for, right, Thanks for joining us in welcome.
Now we turn to the political changes coming into effect with News Talk z be's Azaria Howe. So we've been hearing a lot about foreign investments since the start of the year. What role does invest in z have to play in that goal?
Yeah, So Invest New Zealand, which is this new government department, opens its doors on the first of the month, so it's also the start of the new financial year.
Now.
Just recently, actually legislation passed to formally establish that agency, Invest New Zealand, which is kind of trying to lure in international talent and bring some cash in to boost our economy, just a piece of what the government essentially
calls its going for growth puzzle. Invest New Zealand has four main sort of goals, the first one being to drive investment into what they're calling high growth industries, the second being to connect investors with local businesses and research, the third being to support companies to grow their research and development in New Zealand, and the last but not least goal of New Zealand helping to build those skills for what they call a more innovative economy, so there's
quite a big focus in terms of tapping into those markets. Trade and Investment Minister Todd McLay seems to be pretty confident about what that new agency can do.
He is quoted as saying invest.
New Zealand will act as a bridge between global capital and New Zealand's economic potential. He's also said it's about making it easier to do business here, cutting red tapes, speeding up that decision making and targeting investment that delivers long term benefits for the country. So essentially trying to hap into those markets a big piece of this, as well as that Golden Visa. It's worth noting there's been quite strong interest in that Golden visa.
We call it a Golden visa.
The actual name of it is the Active Investor Plus Visa, but I feel like golden visa is it's got a better ring to it. I suppose an Active Investor plus. But yes, within recent days the government confirmed more than
one billion dollars. I'll say that again. One of the one billion dollars has been confirmed to be committed to New Zealand as part of that investment scheme, and a big chunk of it, more than eight hundred million dollars of that is from when the government changed those settings and hopes to sort of get more people and get more capital into New Zealand. Nikola Willis said it proved New Zealand's growth potential, essentially also giving a bit of a marker on how she would like to see the
scheme progress. She was pointing to treasuries expectation of creating two hundred and forty thousand new jobs over four years and also said if you'd like to exceed that. So that's one will keep an eye on if that sort of investment scheme does bring in potentially more than two hundred thousand new jobs into the country.
And also from July first, an increase to paid parental leave that's coming through up from seven hundred and fifty four dollars and eighty seven cents to seven hundred and eighty eight dollars and sixty six cents per week. Is this a standard adjustment the same way benefits tick up every year or is this government policy?
Yeah, so this is quite a big part of the new financial year, and obviously we've celebrated the new year on January first, we've celebrated Matadiki and now it's time for another new year, that one being about the cash. Now Minister for Workplace Relations Brock van Dolden made that announcement. It's worth noting though it is part of this annual adjustment which aligns those sort of payments in terms of
average earnings. So if the cash is going up, so as the payment people who are eligible can access these
payments for up to twenty six weeks. And I thought it was quite interesting to see Brook van Velden saying it also applies to people who've experienced a miscarriage or a still birth, and it also applies to people who act as surrogates, So maybe for people who can't have their own children for medical or personal reasons, surrogates can also take time out of work to recover and sort of benefit.
From that scheme.
When announcing those changes, the Minister was quite hot on the economy. That was as we've previously said, it seems like quite a big focus, Brook van Velden said, and I quote, I acknowledge it continues to be tough for families right now, paiper and to leave is one way the government can help ease that pressure on the cost of living for families when they're away from work caring for children. So that is quite a significant announcement in
something that comes in on the first of July. As we've said, it's also been a bit of a political topic, as most things are in campaign mode. The last election, Labor made a policy about this exact one, saying it would introduce four weeks of paid partners leave that could
be taken with or after primary carers leave. The Greens also have been calling on wider eligibility criteria in terms of this policy, and it builds on previous policies from this government in terms of families and finance and things like that.
Speaking of benefits, what's happening with regards to changes to reapplying for the job seeker benefit.
Yeah, so people on that job seeker benefit will have to reapply for their benefit every twenty six weeks. Now it's currently fifty two weeks. And if that sounds familiar to you, it's because fifty two weeks is exactly one year. So Work and Income is essentially looking after the role out of this scheme. It says it'll check in more regularly to make sure people are getting the right support or finding and preparing for work when they're on that
job seeker benefit, so seeking for a job. It also is promising that it will it will let people know when they need to reapply for that benefit. So it's expected people will get a notification about twenty five working days before they need to reapply for their job seeker
But it is coming in a lot more regularly. That's because they want people to keep in touch with MSD in terms of what they're actually doing, how they're going to find a job, and maybe if they need more support or more help in terms of them chasing employment.
There's also been a lot of changes in terms of beneficiaries, and I'm sure a lot of people would be aware of the benefit traffic light system, which has been quite controversial for some We talked about the big day, the budget day, budget twenty twenty five that kind of drew a line in the sand. One of the big headlines of that budget looked sort of a couple of years in the future, and this is not something that's coming on the first of July twenty twenty five. This is
proposed for the first of July twenty twenty seven. From them, they are essentially looking to means test study jobs for people who are eighteen and nineteen years old, saying that they're going to put in place what is called a parental assistance test in the ENTRGUE criteria as well for the accommodation supplement also changing. So that is going to be an interesting debate as kind of the years go by as well in terms of the benefit.
That is long to go before that takes place.
But yes, from the first of July, people will have to reapply for that benefit every twenty six weeks.
But economic growth also requires people to get from a to b as quickly and as efficiently as possible, and we certainly need to speed up produce getting to shops, We need to speed up export goods getting to ports, parcels getting delivered, and of course workers having shorter commuting times so they can get home to their families and
spend more time at home with their families. I got to tell you, the previous government was great at saying no and slowing everything down across this country and across our economy. We are a government of action, and as I keep saying, we're a government of common sense, we're saying a lot less know and a lot more yes, and that's what this is actually about. So we're really pleased that we are literally literally accelerating New Zealand's economic growth.
And the other big one is the reversal of Labour's speed limit reductions. Those are all going to be gone by July first. Why is the government so keen on getting rid of those changes kind of arbitrarily?
Yeah, So this announcement was it's kind of been signaled for a decent amount of time, essentially in.
A bid to speed up drivers.
It was made in the wided upper and it was estimated that State Highway that being State Highway two between Featherstone and Marsterton, would speed up drivers by three minutes. Now that doesn't seem like a decent amount, but the government is saying this is for around ten thousand vehicles a day, mostly rate and things like that, and it is something that could speed up the economy. The government essentially had been against those speed limituctions from.
The Labor Party.
They're saying they were blanket speed limit reduction some places going down by ten twenty thirty kilometers an hour, and it seems like some motorists are not happy.
The other piece of the coin.
I suppose some road safety advocates also not happy about the speed limits going back up, but Transport Minister Chris Bishop is promising that safety has been taken into account. Essentially, Chris Bishop, when he's asked about the safety issues and those factors, he says the number one factor for road deaths is not speed, it's actually drugs and alcohol, which he is trying to make a big focus of the
government's road safety plan. They're focusing on the rollout of these roadside drug tests in terms of hoping to bring those road deaths down, and they're essentially saying in terms of a lot of these roads they were actually at a higher speed limit, they were brought down and now they're being.
Brought back up to what they were.
It's also worth noting some of those blanket speed reductions were because they were in school zones and places like that. So it will definitely be an interesting one to see the impacts that that is going to have. But yes, it's been a bit of a political hot topic, as you'd expect, to be honest, in terms of speeding people up or slowing them down. It's always going to be controversial. With probably a half of drivers and the other half will feel the other.
Way in Azaria.
Do you think these changes are working with voters. I mean, the investment factor is particularly interesting. We've been hearing about that a lot. But is it getting to cut through with the general public.
Yeah, so, I mean I suppose it's quite hard to say if it is resonating or not. I mean, there's been a few polls which have showed some different results, so it's not really one hundred percent clear if that is resonating. I think another thing is that people might have to sort of slow down in terms of the impacts of invest New Zealand. The ministers have sort of signaled that we're getting this money into the economy. We're trying to get these visas in, but it's something that
might take some time. So sort of trying to get the cash into the economy, getting those jobs, sorting out startups, making those startups grow, bringing those startups into sort of European, American Asian markets, it could be quite a big task. Cost of living being quite a significant portion in terms of what the government is trying to tackle investment.
Going for growth.
The government has released this big Going for Growth plan and the investment is a big part of it. It'll also be interesting once we do find out the big names of the people who may have gotten these golden visas. That may change things and we'll see from there. But in terms of politics, there is still quite a way to go in terms of the next election and then the election after that. Obviously there's local elections relatively soon, but that is is going to have less of an economic focus.
Thanks for joining us, Azariah, Thanks so much. It's been great.
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzedherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer.
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Subscribe to The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.