With Covid-19 making employment more elusive than ever for disabled people, those in the sector are pushing for sweeping and overdue changes. The official statistics may paint a mild picture of New Zealand’s unemployment, but for many people, the reality is as cold and as disappointing as a job application rejection letter. As the economy … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to wine expert Sam Harrop. Wine is big business in New Zealand. The prices we command for our wine … Read more
What happens to your job and income if you need to self-isolate? We take a look at the scheme that is designed to keep you in pay even when you can’t work. With Covid-19 once again present in the community, hordes of people have been showing up at testing centres across Auckland, often queuing for … Read more
Immigration NZ has deemed a golf course designer and three ‘shapers’ to be critical workers, approving their entry to work on an American billionaire’s two courses in Northland. Rebecca Stevenson of BusinessDesk reports. A golf course designer and three “shapers” have been approved entry to New Zealand as critical workers for US billionaire Ric Kayne’s … Read more
Do you qualify for the government’s new wage subsidy extension? Here are the essentials. What’s all this then? Last Friday, the government announced Auckland would stay in alert level three – and the rest of New Zealand in alert level two – for another 12 days, as part of its response to the recent Covid-19 … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 16, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact us at info@thespinoff.co.nz. 7.00pm: The day in sum There were … Read more
Whether it’s a grant or a wage subsidy, industry leaders say Auckland businesses need government support. With the mending glue barely having dried, some Auckland businesses will be cracking again under the pressure of the new level three lockdown. Now they are calling on the government to help. Finance minster Grant Robertson has already hinted … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Sarah Ramsay, CEO of United Machinists. Not that long ago in the scheme of things New Zealand did … Read more
In this Herald Premium article, the NZ Herald’s Matt Nippert and Keith Ng pick through forecasts and data to find an economy doing better than anyone predicted. As Auckland confronts a second round of community transmission, the gap between predictions and reality might hold clues that can help government and business safeguard the economy. When … Read more
Today at noon, Auckland moves into alert level three while the rest of New Zealand moves into alert level two. Here’s how it will affect businesses and what you can do to help. Three days at a higher alert level may not seem like much, but for many fragile businesses still recovering from the devastating … Read more
With more than 1,000 local businesses on its books, MyHR saw firsthand the pressure the Covid-19 fallout put on New Zealand’s SMEs, as well as having its own business model tested to the limit. New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown had a seismic effect on human resources departments. In order to stay afloat through the chaos, thousands … Read more
During the worst days of the Covid-19 outbreak in New Zealand, Matamata was right at the heart of it all. Alex Braae went to the Waikato town to ask people how they’re getting on now. On the signs heading out to the Hobbiton Movie Set about 10 minutes away from the Waikato town of Matamata … Read more
A once thriving, globally acclaimed business says it faces an expensive death, wedged between punitive commercial law and government inaction. Most New Zealanders will have never heard of it, but if you were a young international traveller it was the place to be – the first stop and bustling home base for thousands of tourists … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Mitchell Pham, founder of Augen Software Group. If the last century was the American century, so far this … Read more
Roughly 11,000 people lost their jobs from Covid-19, and 10,000 of them were women. But as Leonie Morris from Auckland’s Womens Centre writes, this shows the need to address industrial patriarchy and create opportunities for women where they’re needed most. Just as predicted, Covid-19 has affected unemployment and under-employment rates for women far more than … Read more
Welcome to Election Live for August 5, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 6.45pm: … Read more
Data released by Stats NZ today shows the impact of Covid-19 on New Zealand jobs during the June quarter was disproportionately felt by women. Mary Jo Vergara from KiwiEconomics breaks down what it all means. Women have historically fared well in times of war and crisis. During the Second World War, there was a dramatic … Read more
New Zealand’s unemployment rate has just fallen, defying experts and flying in the face of everything we expected. But according to Stats NZ, the devil is in the detail. What’s all this then? In a bizarre turn of events, New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has actually fallen from 4.2% to 4% for the June … Read more
The quest to create affordable housing in New Zealand is an interminable dilemma. But as Dan Heyworth writes, the issue comes from the old British feudal land system on which ours is based. Recently I was involved in a project that responded to government calls to use off-site manufacturing to bring affordability to the housing … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 4, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum New rental regulations are set to pass under urgency today, as parliament enters its final sitting week. Owlcatraz shut … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 3, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum National won’t have selected its new Auckland central candidate in time for the electorate’s first debate. Hopeful candidate Nuwanthie … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Amelia Gain from hotel booking software company Preno. Covid-19 has changed the world for a lot of businesses, … Read more
One month since the country’s newest upmarket shopping mall opened its doors, Commercial Bay is giving some of its tenants a rent holiday to help soften Covid-19’s economic blow, reports Amy Williams for RNZ. Commercial Bay – a $1 billion development with more than 120 shops – occupies a city block in downtown Auckland. It … Read more
The end of the wage subsidy is expected to trigger an avalanche of financial hardship requests. Budgeting services and financial mentors are bracing to meet it head on. It’s been a surprisingly quiet few months for most of New Zealand’s budgeting services. Spending was down during lockdown and with more than a million people tended … Read more
A comprehensive proposed shake-up of the Resource Management Act has gained support from the business community and multiple parties. Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk reports on what it might involve. After 29 years of argument and increasing complexity, the Resource Management Act needs to be split in two and the overlapping patchwork of competing of regional … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 29. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.20pm: The day in sum The government revealed its plans to charge some returning Kiwis for isolation. NZ First will support the law change, but Winston Peters … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 28. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.45pm: The day in sum New Zealand’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong was suspended due to China’s controversial national security law. China responded by calling the … Read more
Huawei is stoking tensions overseas, causing some countries to ban its technology from their 5G networks. But what does that mean for us? Last week the UK announced it would be banning the country’s mobile providers from buying 5G equipment from Huawei, previously a major technology provider for the new network. That decision is expected … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 27. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day in sum The international education sector received a $51.6m funding boost from the government to help protect jobs and stabilise the industry. Judith … Read more