Knives out for Kāinga Ora

'Chris Bishop vs Kāinga Ora' started well before the Housing Minister's party formed Government

Note this a longer read.

TLDR: Bishop had always intended to shortchange Kāinga Ora and malign the Board and Executive. The $500,000 independent review of Kāinga Ora was anything but, and poses serious ethical issues in both conduct and outcomes. Kāinga Ora had a debt to assset ratio of 0.25 when the Government said it was not financially viable. Commentators have noted that financial profile is appropriate and could even be seen as a “huge success” for a social housing provider. KO built over 80% of all net new public homes. It didn’t deserve this storyline.

A quick recap: Kāinga Ora’s stoush with a private property developer

In October 2022, dual Australia and New Zealand listed private property developer Winton filed a $138.5 million litigation against the Crown's housing agency Kāinga Ora, accusing it of anti-competitive conduct.

Winton was unhappy that Kāinga Ora had declined to consider …