Finally, an upside to the exodus of kiwis!
Plus! DARTZ won Best Rock Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards! And that Chris Bishop comment...
Behind the Panels
So, rents are falling in Wellington. Landlords are struggling to fill houses at their current prices, and a lack of demand is resulting in prices falling, from what I hear from friends who rent in the city.
I’m sure National will tout this as a win for them, but the reason they are falling is that people are leaving the city in droves due to the cuts made by this government and leaving to head overseas for better opportunities and get better compensation for their skill set. Driving people out of a city and then rent prices falling isn’t addressing the problem with rentals and high costs in the first place; it’s just an accidental result of the government leaving people with no choice but to move.
Also, if you do decide to head overseas because there are no job opportunities here for you, the government has decided to leave you with a nice parting gift: raising student loan interest rates for overseas borrowers to 4.9% and late payment rates to 8.9%!
Luckily for landlords, they have that much-needed tax relief budgeted for them to cushion the blow! My heart goes out to them, and I’m glad the government can prioritise their comfort even at the expense of our healthcare system, fair pay agreements, and beneficiaries.
DARTZ won two AMAs!
In slightly more positive news, DARTZ won two Tūīs at the Aotearoa Music Awards! We won Te Manu Taki Rakapioi o te Tau (Best Rock Artist) and Te Taumata o te Ataata (Best Music Video Content) for our video Paradise (awarded to the directors and behind-the-scenes team).
We are currently on the last two weeks of our European tour, so we couldn’t attend, but our drummer Rollyz, who had to sit out the tour due to a broken ankle, got to attend and represent the boys, hobbling up the stage and accepting the award with one hell of a zinger:
The winners and celebration of local music ended up being overshadowed by Chris Bishops snide drunk remarks during Stan Walkers performance, which resulted in him getting a stern telling off from the legend, and DARTZ friend, Don Mcglashon.
It was a bummer to hear that, even though I shouldn’t be surprised by childish and embarrassing behaviour from MPs in this coalition anymore. I genuinely believe Chris Bishop is a fan of New Zealand music; he often attends local shows and posts about it online, so seeing him behaving like a Seymour-lite and being a drunk, bumbling idiot spewing things about Māori celebrating and protesting attacks to their culture is just disheartening.
I also don’t think we need to shout out politicians who attend these award evenings. While it’s great to see MPs from across the political spectrum celebrating the arts, it’s not about them, and leads to awkward interactions and ruins the momentum of the night.
But I’m not going to dwell on that, it was a great show to watch! So many talented performances, some well-deserved wins for some of my favourite musicians, and a great celebration of 60 years of the AMAs and New Zealand music.
I’m also so proud of the boys for taking home that award. A real high point for us, we were making quite the racket in the hotel room when it was announced, and I’m glad Rollyz got to bask in that achievement in person. Hopefully this will be the first of many for what I consider the hardest working band in New Zealand 😎
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