OT. Government spending

[Rich102]

My wife passed this on to me. (From facebook)
Raises some very valid points.

Sorry I got to say this... Here goes. Regarding the tourist Industry, They come to us cap in hand now wanting our support. They want us to travel and visit NZ tourist sites. what a pity they've spent the last 20 years selling overpriced attractions to foreigners Hobbiton $89, Te Puia Springs $76, Rainbow Springs $80, Waitomo Caves $64, signs and souveniers priced and signed in foreign currency/language. Domestic air fares dearer than flying to Australia, train fares dearer than just about anywhere in the world, motels at twice the price for comparable ones in the UK. And as for the fallacy that NZ owns its tourism industry, a quick walk through the Duty Free section at Auckland Airport should set you straight on this. Nope it's too expensive, you have ignored the local tourist for years now, sorry unless you give me a deal eg permanent big discount to NZ residents you won't be seeing me.
Regarding the call from local suppliers to buy local. I bought a can of tomatoes yesterday, from Pak N Save 69cents imported from Italy !!!! Kiwi ones, $2.10.Treat us fairly producers and maybe you will get our support. NZ mutton is cheaper in the UK than here, NZ timber cheaper in Aus than here, NZ wine cheaper in the UK. $4.00 for an avocado grown in Katikati, $4.00 for a cauli grown in Pukekohe is ridiculous. For so long we have been gouged here in NZ by our own suppliers that we have grown to accept it. Now that the all important "export market" has dried up, guess what, all of a sudden we are indispensable and called on for help.

 

[Blair]

When I visit NZ I am genuinely shocked by your grocery prices.

There's been something seriously wrong there, for a long time.

In most Australian states they have Aldi, which really sticks it to the big supermarket chains, and people vote with their wallets, by frequenting Aldi in ever growing numbers. The bigger supermarkets have to drop their prices to compete.

There has been speculation Aldi might set up in NZ but nothing's come of it yet.

They'll change the ballgame over there, like they did in my town when they opened up. Before that, our main supermarket (Coles) was one of the most expensive in the state.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

How disgusting the other day when the sports funding came out, Netball 2.2mil for their comp, Rugby 1.25mil for Super Rugby and Basketball didn’t receive a cent for the NBL

 

[JJ]

How disgusting the other day when the sports funding came out, Netball 2.2mil for their comp, Rugby 1.25mil for Super Rugby and Basketball didn’t receive a cent for the NBL

Yeah, that was terrible... and the smug gits just smile...

Potter was devastated, and rightly so - that's a great national comp...

 

[Diesel]

When I visit NZ I am genuinely shocked by your grocery prices.

There's been something seriously wrong there, for a long time.

In most Australian states they have Aldi, which really sticks it to the big supermarket chains, and people vote with their wallets, by frequenting Aldi in ever growing numbers. The bigger supermarkets have to drop their prices to compete.

There has been speculation Aldi might set up in NZ but nothing's come of it yet.

They'll change the ballgame over there, like they did in my town when they opened up. Before that, our main supermarket (Coles) was one of the most expensive in the state.

I noticed travelling around NZ on a few trips back just how expensive the groceries are

 

[Diesel]

How disgusting the other day when the sports funding came out, Netball 2.2mil for their comp, Rugby 1.25mil for Super Rugby and Basketball didn’t receive a cent for the NBL

Rugby gets so many hand outs i don’t see why others don’t jump up and down about it. So many other sports out there rely on self funding yet get no recognition at the Halberg Awards

 

[JJ]

I see Angry Andrew is back, calling landlords mongrels, attacking the king maker... all in the name of kindness

 

[Matua]

The groceries in comparison to Australia is only a fairly recent thing, in the early 2000s when I was travelling backwards and forwards regularly the other way (NZ to Oz as opposed to Oz to NZ now) I couldn't believe how much more stuff was in Oz. Now it's completely flipped.

I also think the swipe at the tourism industry is a bit misguided, prices like that are the same wherever in the world you travel. Domestic airfares are more expensive because of volume. It's hard to compare hotels at this current time due to Covid but I doubt that it's as bad as made out, and if it was it really comes down to supply and demand ... we are a tiny market.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

There is always more complex things at play with pricing. Market sizes, contracts, supply and demands, exchange rates, labour and material costs etc.

Rugby union should not get a cent, plenty of big money sponsors there.
Womans sport will take a major hit around the world as most semi pro.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Yeah, that was terrible... and the smug gits just smile...

Potter was devastated, and rightly so - that's a great national comp...

Great comp running on a shoestring with a proud history in the NZ sports landscape. I’ve been going to games since the mid 90s and it’s a great night out

They have put a huge effort in to salvage some sort of comp this season and the people in control have made great decisions to create something a bit different during these times to get a season in, what a slap in the face

 

[SpaceMonkey]

The swipe at the tourism industry is definitely off, especially the downright racist big about signs and pricing in foreign languages. The signs are in English too so who f**king cares? Piss off with the speak English or die mentality.
The stuff about grocery pricing is a much more valid concern, there definitely seems to be an issue with grocery prices there. That said we sometimes get the opposite problem in Aus, milk is the classic example where the two main supermarket chains forced the price down to $1 a litre and pay farmers a pittance as a result.

 

[shiznit]

How disgusting the other day when the sports funding came out, Netball 2.2mil for their comp, Rugby 1.25mil for Super Rugby and Basketball didn’t receive a cent for the NBL

Not disgusting at all... anyone disgusted at it doesn’t understand what the purpose of that funding was...

The Govt announced a total package of $260M for sports... this was 5-6M of that package aimed at compensating those pro sports for losses caused by the lockdown.

The Warriors, Nix, Super Rugby and Netball all suffered significant losses in revenue and received this money to compensate them. They all missed out on significant gate and/or broadcast revenue.

The NBL didn’t miss out on jack shit... no one turns up to watch those games and no one pays them to broadcast games. What the f**k were they expecting??

Basketball will get significant funding in the remaining $255M of funding to be announced in the next few weeks.

 

[Rich102]

Welcome back Shiznit.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Not disgusting at all... anyone disgusted at it doesn’t understand what the purpose of that funding was...

The Govt announced a total package of $260M for sports... this was 5-6M of that package aimed at compensating those pro sports for losses caused by the lockdown.

The Warriors, Nix, Super Rugby and Netball all suffered significant losses in revenue and received this money to compensate them. They all missed out on significant gate and/or broadcast revenue.

The NBL didn’t miss out on jack shit... no one turns up to watch those games and no one pays them to broadcast games. What the f**k were they expecting??

Basketball will get significant funding in the remaining $255M of funding to be announced in the next few weeks.

So you’re telling me that a league that was due to tip off early in April that couldn’t do so wasn’t effected by the lockdown ?

Nobody turns up to watch them ? Interesting, wonder how the rams managed a 4000+ attendance last season at a bigger venue while regularly selling out Cowles Stadium, albeit only holding 2000 at that venue. It might not be a substantial gate, but it is still a gate lost for a league that needs that money ticking in to stay afloat

No one pays them to broadcast games ? Every game is live on Sky this season, while the past 2 seasons have been a mixture of coverage on Maori Tv and Prime as well as live streaming, have they given that to the broadcasters for nothing ?

 

[JJ]

So you’re telling me that a league that was due to tip off early in April that couldn’t do so wasn’t effected by the lockdown ?

Nobody turns up to watch them ? Interesting, wonder how the rams managed a 4000+ attendance last season at a bigger venue while regularly selling out Cowles Stadium, albeit only holding 2000 at that venue. It might not be a substantial gate, but it is still a gate lost for a league that needs that money ticking in to stay afloat

No one pays them to broadcast games ? Every game is live on Sky this season, while the past 2 seasons have been a mixture of coverage on Maori Tv and Prime as well as live streaming, have they given that to the broadcasters for nothing ?

alternative facts..

 

[shiznit]

So you’re telling me that a league that was due to tip off early in April that couldn’t do so wasn’t effected by the lockdown ?

Nobody turns up to watch them ? Interesting, wonder how the rams managed a 4000+ attendance last season at a bigger venue while regularly selling out Cowles Stadium, albeit only holding 2000 at that venue. It might not be a substantial gate, but it is still a gate lost for a league that needs that money ticking in to stay afloat

No one pays them to broadcast games ? Every game is live on Sky this season, while the past 2 seasons have been a mixture of coverage on Maori Tv and Prime as well as live streaming, have they given that to the broadcasters for nothing ?

so 3 points here...

- The Warriors were certainly affected by the lockdown... hence they received funding. The NRL have managed to save the majority of the Warriors season which was why the Warriors only applied for that sum.

- I’ll take your word on the 4000 people who turn up to watch the Rams... whatever the number is they obviously don’t pay anything to get into the game as the NBL have been declaring 0 gate for years.

- they have certainly been on sky and MaoriTV but it’s well known that the broadcasters lose money broadcastIng those games so I highly doubt anyone of those channels actually pay for those rights.

believe me... I love basketball... my kids play it. I think they are severely under funded considering the youth numbers i see every week.

but this ain’t the funding they should be getting... its 5-6M of a 260M package...

 

[Beavers Headgear]

so 3 points here...

- The Warriors were certainly affected by the lockdown... hence they received funding. The NRL have managed to save the majority of the Warriors season which was why the Warriors only applied for that sum.

- I’ll take your word on the 4000 people who turn up to watch the Rams... whatever the number is they obviously don’t pay anything to get into the game as the NBL have been declaring 0 gate for years.

- they have certainly been on sky and MaoriTV but it’s well known that the broadcasters lose money broadcastIng those games so I highly doubt anyone of those channels actually pay for those rights.

believe me... I love basketball... my kids play it. I think they are severely under funded considering the youth numbers i see every week.

but this ain’t the funding they should be getting... its 5-6M of a 260M package...

Fair points, interested in you saying they declare zero gate, I would have thought that would be crucial for the clubs to get through each season which they are all losing

 

[shiznit]

Fair points, interested in you saying they declare zero gate, I would have thought that would be crucial for the clubs to get through each season which they are all losing

How it was explained to me was that most of the organisation’s declare 0 for the gate because unless they pack it out the venue loses money because of some sort of charitable status that these indoor arena trusts have.

I was told that in essence the arena gets more benefits by keeping that status then any money from any gate.

im not sure if that’s the same for every arena or just some of them.