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Just a quote I found of interest this morning from ABC Australia:
"Other countries, including Australia, take GST off fruit and vegetables. In fact, most countries that have a form of GST have carve-outs for certain items, and if anything, New Zealand is currently an outlier."
Not what the various pundits will have you believe. I remember when the change came through in Aus. (I was there), there was a lot of bluff and bluster, but it turned out not to be nearly as difficult in the end.
Yeah it's weird how they keep going on about our great simple GST system, when multiple large countries have implemented it without too many issues.
Another sentiment I've seen is "Wealthy people buy fruits and veg too!!!" So what? Why can't we just help everyone? Everyone should be eating more fruits and vegetables. If it leads to healthier varied diets for everyone, it's a net benefit as a whole to us.
Wealthy people spend a much smaller percentage of their income on fruits and vegetables anyway. This is why GST is effectively a tax that hits the poor much harder.
I agree. I meant it was being used as argument that it didn't only help the less fortunate and therefore not a good idea.
In country that's got a struggling healthcare system, improving everyone's health with cheaper access to a healthy diet is a good thing.
I agree with you too!
Sorry about the confusion. I was arguing against "that it didn’t only help the less fortunate and therefore not a good idea."
I can’t believe that the current pay-terminal system, doesn’t have a GST include/not included option select for every item.
This type of system has been working smoothly in Europe fpr 25 years. Technically it’s not a problem.
Road trip for me. Couple of hours each way to Arthur's Pass and and back to pick up a second hand commercial dishwasher. Looking forward to getting up in the mountains - best therapy ever! Might see if I can fit in a wander up to the Devil's Punchbowl along the way
Lovely day for it!
Already at work but the sun is out and it's not freezing so mood is good. This morning I made a goal list for the week, just a couple of things to try and keep in mind so I'll see how that goes.
In hospital with my wife - nothing life threatening, but probably surgery tomorrow. Feeling super lucky to live in a country where this isn't going to bankrupt us (largest expense is parking) but holy shit as a country we need to find ways to properly fund public services like healthcare properly. Everyone here is awesome, but clearly struggling to work effectively with a fraction of the resources they really need
I hope all goes OK for your dear one.
Thanks
I had a similar experience a week or so ago - hospitalised with a sever migraine in a country town. Outstanding service, people and attitudes. But clearly feeling the pressure on a chronic basis. I feel for anyone working in healthcare these days (used to myself, but out for 15 years or so now)
Sounds like you're in for a tough couple of days. Hopefully you both get some good rest tonight.
We're getting some heatpumps installed later this week, and planned to have a couple of the outdoor units mounted to the walls due to lack of space.
I suddenly came to the thought of "would they be too loud from inside the house with their humming", and was wondering if anyones had any experience?
We are getting the Mitsubishi AP series, and the house is 200mm Masonry block on the downstairs, and Brick Veneer on the upstairs (Not too sure which of the two they will be mounted to).
We’ve got heatpumps mounted outside the timber frames. Not physically attached to the walls though. In our bedroom, the most obvious for noise intrusion, we do not hear the the outside compressor.
The fact your masonry is solid should mean little or no external noise.
Hmm Good to know in regards to the sound. Wondering if attaching to the actual wall would create a bit of a hum with the vibrations...
It’s tough for me to comment as ours is sat on the deck outside the bedroom. Our house is the typical single stud wall with weatherboard exterior and GIB inside. It does have insulation in the wall plus double glazing. Can’t here the outside unit at all from inside the room when it’s running.
If you’re mounting to the wall, I’d think there’d be rubber mounts etc to reduce any vibrations.
That's a great point. I'll flick them an email to see if they'll be using any type of rubber mounts :)
Can’t comment on it being mounted to the wall, but ours can’t be heard outside our brick house. It’s an older Fujitsu, it can actually be pretty loud outside when it’s on high but we don’t hear it over the sound of the indoor unit when it’s that high anyway.
Ahh thats good to hear :) Thank you for that.
Tried to sit outside for lunch since it's nice and sunny. But it's Wellington, so of course it wasn't that pleasant due to the cold wind. FML.
Wellington - can't beat it on a nice day [insert beautiful photo, taken out a window, that fails to show how awful it is actually being outside with the freezing wind]