Howls of indignation over state housing evictions based on spurious meth testing have masked the reality of New Zealand’s two-speed P standard. Veronica Crichton admitted that she and her friends had been smoking meth in their Gate Pa, Tauranga home. She even got her landlord to help her evict one P-affected flatmate. She and another … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Queenstown airport expansion halted, secondary school teachers reject pay offer, and National MP taking a break for health reasons. An airport expansion in Queenstown has been cancelled, after strong opposition from the community. Simply put, they didn’t want the noise, and they didn’t want the numbers that … Read more
The National position on compensation over the meth contamination scare is incompatible with the party’s values, and reeks of weak and desperate leadership, writes Danyl Mclauchlan Let’s take a stroll over to the National Party website and cast our eyes over their core values. They’re the kind of thing you’d expect a conservative, centre-right party to … Read more
While the meth testing scheme has been proven to be a rort, the dangers of lead contamination in homes is still very real. Environmental scientist Tim Muller explains. In case you missed it, the prime minister’s chief science advisor (PMCSA) recently released a damning report into the meth testing and remediation industry. The gist is … Read more
David Faulkner was once such a meth-contamination believer he became a Methsolutions Certified Sampler. But then he saw the hysteria, and the industry that profited from it, for what they are In August of 2014 two-year-old Emma Lita-Bourne died after suffering a brain haemorrhage. The story made the news the following winter after a coroner … Read more
New Zealand was poised for drug reform in 2007, but reform never came. Why do we still adhere to drug prohibition, which will be remembered as one of the most arbitrary, barbaric and brutal systems of oppression in human history? ‘Drug’ Prohibition is an archaic system of control conceived in the 1950s that’s had a devastating … Read more
If a review of our public housing agency is to be taken seriously, it will need to look beyond just the immediate scandal and seek to understand how its priorities mutated into those of a callous busybody, writes Joseph Nunweek If you’ve been reading this site and its familiars in the past fortnight, you’ll be … Read more
It’s an unfurling scandal which saw tenants evicted and millions spent on cleaning homes. Now it appears a tenant was kicked out after seeking help for his addictions, writes Russell Brown. In June 2015, Jesse B became one of the hundreds of Housing New Zealand tenants to have an order made against them at the Tenancy Tribunal … Read more
From meth-test evictions to mental health treatment, the impact of the last government is being felt across NZ. It is only a matter of time, suggests Danyl Mclauchlan until the National opposition launches a fund-raising campaign In the wake of shocking revelations about Housing New Zealand’s meth testing evictions, a crumbling health service, surging numbers … Read more
The debate over the danger of methamphetamine contamination was settled once and for all last week when the country’s top scientist revealed it was nothing more than hysteria. RNZ’s Benedict Collins explains how it all unfolded Sir Peter Gluckman’s report found New Zealand that has been in the grips of a moral meth panic – and … Read more
We will also test Housing NZ properties for traces of students, pets and bad vibes, reveals our proud CEO (Boiler Suits Division) Alex Braae The report into the pointlessness of testing houses for meth contamination has come at a very bad time for The Spinoff. All those stories about how if one hit was taken … Read more