Thursday, June 27, 2013

Auckland and auctions

Try to find the price of a house in Auckland when  you look through real estate adverts and you will most likely find the words, 'to be auctioned,' heading the advert. If you have a rough idea of what you wish to spend, it is going to take you a good deal of ringing around and asking before you get any idea of the ball-park figure for the home. If you do turn up to an auction the chances are that you will leave with your head hanging low. This is after all---Auckland, 'city of sails,' and now fialed dreams. If you are young, have a good income and even have a supportive partner, don't get your hopes up. You are not going to be living and owning a home in one of the 'desirable' suburbs because they are way beyond your capability to pay for it. Maybe it's time to take a look elsewhere; either in a more modest suburb or indeed, out of Auckland, if you can get a job. The good old days of Dad working and mum staying at home, yet still having a home that you could look forward to owning in 30 years are part of a myth-like past. The reality now is that most young people will rent or put themselves in charge of a mortgage that makes the eyes water. What sort of 'disposable' income will this generation have? Perhaps working two jobs (for both partners) may bring home the bacon, but more than likley it will be of the budget kind.
Let's get the focus away from Auckland and spread out a bit. Maybe then we wonlt all have to pay for the grandios schemes that will burden a few generations to come, re transport costs and other infrastructure. Do we ever learn?
www.authorneilcoleman.com

Australian politics---how 'lucked' up can it get?!

What a terrible choice Australians have at the upcoming elections. They have to choose between two partied who have between them managed to bring tis proud nation to the point where many outside it, quietly have a laugh, but then wonder, what the hell has gone so horribly wrong.
On one side we have a crowing opposition who will probably win the election. They have made huge political capital out of the pains of the Labor Party, and for that we can forgive them. It is their vision; stated and unstated that scares the pants off me. The Coalition has a plan to take Australian workers back to the times when workers’ rights’ were nothing more than a piece of paper. Big business is going to slam dunk unions and any understanding of an Australian based manufacturing base will go down the toilet. Profits for shareholders and parent companies will the yardstick and all the dressing up in meaningless legislation will just be the accompanying symphony of deceit.
Abbot and his cronies will quickly stuff-up the good work done by the incumbent Government (when they weren’t trying to destroy each other!) re the relationship with Indonesia. That understanding that Julia had forged with her Indonesian counterparts is crucial for the region as a whole and any possibility of finding a solution to the ‘boat people’ problem depended on this. Watch this space to see a return to tension and misunderstanding.
Labor has itself to blame for the position it finds itself in. Of course as a party, slightly to the left of centre, they do not have this trait on their own. Look back in history and find the examples in New Zealand, the UK and elsewhere to see the deep divisions of so-called ‘workers parties.’ Labor has been on path to nowhere from the time it got elected in Australia, under Rudd and it is a wonder in itself that any meaningful legislation has been passed. That is what makes me angry. The party has introduced a raft of legalisation that brings about a fairer workplace and sets up the platform to truly engage with the ‘climate change’ issue. That now is all up for a big slide, taking Australia back to the ‘club of nations’ who don’t care one iota for the health of the environment.
Education will also suffer with the return of the Coalition Government. It will play to the ‘friends’ in the private sector and we all know what happens then. The public free education system plays second fiddle and the majority of Aussie kids will feel the cuts and lessening of opportunities.
So where to Australia ----- back to the past and stupid mistakes? Hell, if only the ‘players’ could get the crap together, then Australia will regain its label as the ‘lucky country;’ lucky for the vast majority and not just the few!
But! ---a word of warning for Kiwis. Our own Labour Party has its issue too. John Key, our PM, must be laughing his way to the next elections too. Get a grip, people!