ISSUE 16 EDITORIAL EDITOR Charlie O’Mannin Please email letters to NEWS EDITOR Esme Hall [email protected] FEATURES EDITOR Chelle Fitzgerald Letter of the week wins CULTURE EDITOR Henessey Griffiths a $30 voucher from SUB EDITOR Jamie Mactaggart University Book Shop! CHIEF REPORTER Sinead Gill STAFF WRITERS Caroline Moratti, Erin Gourley, Nina Minogue, Owen Clarke CONTRIBUTORS Wyatt Ryder, Bonnie Harrison, Phillip Plant my transportation which is really frustrat- DESIGN Letter if the week ing. All you cyclists out there, beware, there Kia ora koutou, DESIGNER is someone out there who has a lone wheel Jack Adank and so presumable needs a frame and front ILLUSTRATORS Last Tuesday night the back wheel of my wheel! And if the thief is reading this, know Saskia Ruston-Green, Asia Martusia bicycle was stolen from its park by my flat. that you are a despicable human being and PHOTOGRAPHER I had locked the front wheel and the frame, I will haunt you forever. Aiman Amerul Muner but not through the back - it's really hard FRONT COVER Aiman Amerul Muner to take off a back wheel! You get grease all ~ I Want To Ride My Bicycle Henessey Griffiths over your hands! Anyway, I have now lost CENTREFOLD Aiman Amerul Muner PRODUCTION ONLINE Dear Critic, Alex McKirdy ;) ). DISTRIBUTION Rosie Sullivan As a keen Taurus I quickly opened up my laptop to However, we have found that endless repetitions Advertising Sales access this week's website for us: https://fivebooks. of your current Student President picture (that Tim Couch com/. However the link went nowhere. I am very dis- we cut out of Critic and add to said shrine each Jared Anglesey Peter Ramsay appointed as fivebooks is an interesting site name week), while joyous and heartwarming, do lack [email protected] and I was curious - what were these five books? variety as it is always the same picture and makes Phone: 03 479 5361 Would they change my life? Pass my exams? Give our earnest shrine-constructing endeavour look Connect Read Online me something good to read? Why five? low-effort. Critic.co.nz, Issuu.com/critic_Te_Arohi GET IN TOUCH I suppose I'll never know. We humbly request variety/increase of Jim pic- [email protected] Facebook/CriticTeArohi tures inside you. Tweet/CriticTeArohi Ngā mihi, 03 479 5335 P.O.Box 1436, Dunedin Sincerely James’s, Taurus. Nameless, Brainless, and both of us shameless Critic is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA) Disclaimer: the views presented within this publication do not nec- Dear Critic, essarily represent the views of the Editor, PMDL, or OUSA. NZ Media Council: People with a complaint against a magazine We’re just two lovelorn students currently con- should first complain in writing to the Editor and then, if not satisfied with structing a shrine of galaxy-brained, fire-maned the response, complain to the NZ personal hero James Heath (or Jim if you’re nasty Media Council. Complaints should be addressed to the Secretary, [email protected]. 2 My Editorials: A Review By Charlie O’Mannin Editorial #5 Editorial #14 This is a review issue. We’ve got a this editorial from Joel MacMa- bunch of reviews. Here’s a review Seriousboi. 6/10 nus’s 2018 editorial on the same I didn’t write this one. 10/10. of my editorials so far: subject. 8/10 Editorial #6 Editorial #15 Editorial #1 Editorial #11 Creative genius. 10/10 Starts with “ok buckos”. 10/10 Drugs are lame. 2/10 I wore a stupid hat in this editorial Editorial #7 Editorial #16 photo. I do not wear hats. I’m sorry Editorial #2 I crowdsourced this editorial. 2/10 for this deception. 2/10 Couldn’t think of an editorial. Shat We still haven’t had an answer from something out. 2/10 Editorial #8 Editorial #12 AskOtago. 7/10 Attending an orgy is not a person- Half of this editorial is a quote. Editorial #3 ality. 1/10 That’s against the University’s The University should observe ten- code of conduct. 4/10 Editorial #9 ancy law. 8/10 Editorial #13 Student general meetings are Editorial #4 boring and so is this editorial. 3/10 Kind of a fuck around, but at least This editorial summarised a piece we summoned a ghost. 9/10 Editorial #10 that appeared on the next page. 1/10 I copy-pasted large sections of 3 Advocacy Groups Have “No Empathy” for Landlords Scrambling to Insulate Properties Students are just cold Landlords also had access to up to a 75% property at the last minute in May, but found subsidy for insulation before the deadline, but out it needed borer and spider spraying, which By Esme Hall | News Editor there was very limited uptake, said Jordana. took until early July. Insulation is now booked for mid-July. Local advocacy groups are disappointed in The DCC and Otago Community Trust pooled landlords who left it to the last minute to insu- resources for a 50% subsidy for insulation, but Since their landlord has missed the deadline, late the underfloor and ceilings of rental homes it got boosted to 75% because so few land- the students can take them to the Tenancy for the July 1st deadline, which they had three lords were taking it up. The fund was open to Tribunal, which could fine the landlord up to years to meet. rental homes whose tenants were Community $4000, which would be paid to the tenants. Services cardholders, which includes student Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act flats, as students are eligible for Community However, Jordana said the students should mean that from July 1st rental homes must Services cards. weigh up if they think going to the Tribunal is have ceiling and underfloor insulation where worth it as it’s unlikely they’d get the full $4000 it is “reasonably practicable” to install it. While some landlords may have been insu- compensation at this stage. “It’s still non-com- lating their properties themselves, Jordana pliant, but low on the offence scale if the flat will Jordana Whyte from Cosy Homes Trust said said limited uptake was also due to property be insulated soon. The big fines are more likely she had “no empathy for landlords scrambling management companies not taking the time to be issued to landlords a year on that might to check whether their tenants held Commu- have dozens of uninsulated properties, or have “They’ve had three years nity Services cards. “Some property managers been dishonest on the insulation statements.” of warning” were great and phoned their tenants, but others put it in the too-hard basket, or might Sage Burke of OUSA Student Support urged to meet the July 1st deadline, they’ve had three have thought the government would extend students to still seek Student Support if there’s years of warning”. She said local advocacy the deadline.” no sign of proper insulation on the horizon. “If groups had been “jumping up and down” and people even just have a little feeling some- the industry had been telling landlords for three Critic spoke to a group of students whose flat thing’s not up to scratch they should come years that they had to be organised six months is, as yet, not property insulated. They said see us.” out from the deadline. their landlord started trying to insulate the 4 Illustration done by the amazing Geri Giddens Advocacy Groups Have “No Empathy” for “It’s altruistic,” he said. “Even if you’re only Sage also said the Ministry of Business Innova- Both Sage and Jordana said that a clearer defi- going to be in a flat for another semester, tion and Employment and the Tenancy Tribunal nition for ‘reasonably practicable’ will emerge Landlords Scrambling to Insulate Properties you’re still making the rental market better. will be hitting the issue pretty hard since land- as tenants take cases to the Tribunal. You could also get the bonus of some cash lords have had years to meet the deadline, so and insulation.” students have a good chance of compensation. If you need to keep warm in the meantime, Cur- tain Bank Dunedin said that curtains are the Sage said, “until people get on landlords’ cases Jordana said that landlords are using a lack of cheapest way to warm a home on a budget. they’re not going to change their behaviour. existing access to the underfloor as a means of Dunedin Curtain Bank can provide lined cur- Tenants have these rights and shouldn’t allow getting out of insulating it, even when it would tains to people with a Student ID or line existing landlords to disregard them left, right and curtains to Community Services Card holders centre. That’s why Student Support is here “Help, it’s so cold” for a nominal cost of $5 per pair of curtains. and is free; we make it as easy as possible for people to have recourse when landlords aren’t still be easy to cut in an access hole. She said OUSA Student Support is located on 5 Ethel meeting obligations.” that landlords should be getting a professional Benjamin Place and their number is 03 479 5449 opinion if they’re in doubt. Some landlords are getting out of insulating Dunedin Curtain Bank is located on 174 properties because they say it is not “reasonably One student told Critic that they were told that Princes St and their number is 03 425 9678 practicable” to install it. Sage said it is very easy the roof and walls were not accessible but they to check what they’re saying.