We thought we'd start with Eden Park given that the number of concerts allowed annually at the Auckland stadium will almost triple. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, and Nick Sautner, CEO of Eden Park, among others, confirmed the details of a State of Origin fixture at a press conference at Eden Park this morning, along with the news that Eden Park will host up to 12 large concerts, 20 medium sized concerts per year on any day without having to go through the hoops of resource consent. At the moment, they can host 12 concerts and they can't be from more than six different artists or acts. So Ed Sheeran does two nights or the Hot Wheels does two days, but it can only be six artists or acts. Nighttime sport will also be allowed on any day including Sundays as long as the games finish by 10 30 And the first State of Origin match outside Australia in 40 years. That must have taken some negotiating. It is a lot and it's very exciting for Auckland and indeed for New Zealand. It's expected the State of O will attract more than 10,000 international visitors from Australia and when they come, they spend. The changes to Eden Park's rules and settings follow an investigation into whether the current rules for the park as set down under the Auckland Unitary Plan are limiting economic growth. And Chris Bishop said the investigation had found that, well, yes indeed, the rules are overly restrictive, out of step with modern stadium use, and are directly constraining economic activity. Eden Park CEO Nick Sautner says Eden Park has shown it's more than capable of hosting big events and he's pleased the government's giving them the opportunity to make the most of the stadium.

This weekend we've got the Edinburgh Tattoo. The Premier of Queensland came out yesterday and said $39 million of economic benefit. Jehovah's Witness delivered 3.5 million visitors to Auckland and New Zealand. So we are a strategic asset for New Zealand and a community asset for Auckland. I do want to acknowledge the community. We have over 97% support. This has been about engaging with the community, transparency, and also careful event management.

Yes, so you can understand why he's excited. You can understand why a lot of promoters, festival goers, sports fans are excited. But I do feel for the residents who bought their homes in the area knowing what the rules were at the time they bought the houses. Now they have seen the rules change. But so many people around the country have seen their neighbourhoods change around them. They are not isolated in this. People who bought a home with a lovely house next door, one careful set of neighbours, all of a sudden it's a great big housing development and where there was one house there are now 12 That is a big change for a neighbourhood. Nothing stays the same. It makes absolutely no sense to have a stadium that is only used a few times a year. And I'd go further and say it's immoral to have that amount of land, prime land in the inner city, being underutilised. If you are not going to use it as a stadium, then have the trust give it over to the government and build a Kāinga Ora housing development, put more people into homes in a prime position next to work, near play. You can't have a stadium sitting there doing nothing. That makes no sense at all. And if you've got a motivated trust and a motivated CEO that wants to do as much as they possibly can, and they have contorted themselves trying to come up with different ways to make use of the stadium. Art in the Park, beautiful event, not a traditional use for a sports stadium, but a successful one. There are so many ways to use the stadium. I accept that there will be much more disruption for those who have bought there, and for those who bought when the rules were what they were, I can understand why you'd be a bit grumpy. Nick says 97% of the community's on board, which is a pretty good stat if that is so. You can't hold back that kind of economic growth, that kind of success, that kind of feel good atmosphere because 3% of the neighbourhood's grumpy and doesn't want to share. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. If your neighbourhood has changed and the rules have changed around you, can you understand the concerns that a few of the residents might have? For those who live in and around the area, is it going to be a win for you if you're a business? If you're a resident, can you put up with it for the sake of the wider good?

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I've been saying every morning to Helen, God, would you look at what's happening in Wellington? Look at what has oh! Like one of those people, usually men, watching the television going, look what she's wearing, come here and have a look at this. Have a look at that. God. Oh, but I'm like that about the waste going into the ocean off Wellington. That's far more important than what a reporter may or may not be wearing.

It is hard to comprehend the sheer amount of waste being pumped into Wellington's ocean right now. Who knew humans could produce so much? What does 70 million litres of waste per day look like? Helpfully, the Spinoff broke it down. Moa Point, the writer writes, is sharting out 28 Olympic pools of pure uncut human waste every 24 hours and will be doing so for months.

If you want to have an Auckland analogy, the total tank capacity at Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium is 18 million litres. Moa Point is divesting itself of nearly four Kelly Tarltons worth of poos, wees, toilet paper every single day. Cool. You get the picture. Thank you Spinoff.

It's an absolute disgrace. And yet really, Auckland can't talk. Every time it rains our beaches are closed. You know, where you hear the sound of rain on the roof, you used to think, oh, how lovely and relaxing. Now I think landslips and I think beach closures. Every year the joy of summer's blighted by beach closures.

I mean, we do have help on the way. Helen and I have walked the poo tunnel and that was amazing to see and that's going to be open at the end of the year. But even then they said they're not going to be able to prevent all beach closures. They're not going to be able to say hand on heart it will never happen again because nature does what nature does and if there's an absolute torrent and a deluge they won't be able to cope even with that enormous pipe, but it will certainly mitigate a lot of the damage done.

So there has been chronic underinvestment in our infrastructure around the country for decades, but nowhere is it more exemplified than Wellington. On the 27 th of May 2021 remember those times, Wellington City Council's long term plan committee faced a fork in the road.

Officers presented councillors with water investment options, including one, water option three, that contained a $391 million wastewater renewals programme. It was designed to reduce sewage pollution, starting with the central city and South Coast catchments that are now making headlines. At the same meeting, officers recommended cycleways option three, a staged programme set out in the consultation document presented to councillors.

This is from Peter Bassett in the blog Breaking Views. And as he writes, what happened next is the hinge moment of Wellington's current disgrace. An amendment was moved by then councillor, now MP, Tamatha Paul, seconded by Jill Day, now Labour Party president, to adopt cycleways option four, expanding the programme to 226 million over 10 years compared with 120 million under option three. That amendment passed. Accelerated wastewater renewal did not. Simon Woolf was one of the councillors who voted against cycleways over water.

There's been no cognisance of reprioritising. It's just gone down an ideological line. The city's going to suffer for years and years on the back of this underinvestment.

Which is putting it mildly. He's ropable. He and the other councillors who voted against it. They could see what was happening. They knew it was imperative and it wasn't one or the other, it was a matter of priority.

You could say sure, let's do cycleways, but shall we sort out the wastewater first because that is that's verging on catastrophic. No. No, let's go with the cycleways and what's more, let's spend more money on the cycleways than was recommended and let's not do the wastewater. It'll be fine. Just hold on. It's not fine. It couldn't hold on.

To be fair, the previous Labour government understood that the country's infrastructure for the most part is in crisis, hence Three Waters. But yet again they were let down by their own execution of a plan to revitalise New Zealand's waterways. They failed to get the public behind Three Waters.

National has come up with its own plan. Three Waters has become Affordable Water Done Well and there seems to be a growing understanding that we just can't kick the can down the road. All councils around the country are going to have to bite the bullet. Some have done, only a few, some have done so.

Are you willing to see a rise in rates to clean up our waterways? Do you understand the urgency? Does Wellington's infrastructure crisis underline the urgency and the need to undertake the water reforms? And if we have to pay more in our rates, so be it.

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After pouring more than $11 million into a Rotorua motel complex for the homeless, Kāinga Ora has decided to tear it down and put the Fenton St site on the market.

One year on since Kainga Ora began its turnaround plan, and it's now exceeding its saving targets.

Tenancy satisfaction is rising, vacancy rates are lower, fewer tenants are in rent arrears, and Kāinga Ora is doing a better job of managing its tenants to support safe, respectful communities.

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the successful changes.

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