The finance minister went to Martinborough today to open a new regional banking hub. But as Alex Braae reports, many see it as too small a measure to address a serious issue for regional New Zealand. There hasn’t been a bank branch in the south Wairarapa centre of Martinborough for a long time, and there … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shocking incidents show prison culture, exchange of letters over monetary policy more exciting than it sounds, and Auckland locations close over Covid warning. A shocking story from Auckland Women’s Prison that raises questions about whether prisoners are being treated humanely. Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner reports that … Read more
The New Zealand housing crisis, and how to tackle it, took epistolary form yesterday in letters from the finance minister and the Reserve Bank governor. We read between the lines. Yesterday the finance minister, Grant Robertson, penned a letter to the governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, on the subject of the housing market, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Protests and legal challenges as US election counting continues, Ardern sets out government’s economic plans, and special votes released today could swing seats. If you’re hoping for a decisive update to the US election count overnight, bad news – it’s still on a knife edge. At … Read more
Does it sounds like a Key-English slogan, or something from Ardern-Robertson? Labour is ahead in the polls with a few days to go until decision day, and as incumbents you’d expect some of their messages to echo those from governing parties of days gone by. Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern have both, repeatedly, admiringly invoked … Read more
New Zealand’s main party leaders are women and yet women can’t really get onto the agenda this election. The parties are offering little to help the half of the population most likely to suffer the worst of what Covid-19 is throwing at us, Justin Giovannetti reports. The burdens of Covid-19 will be borne disproportionately by … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Long forecast recession finally arrives, NZ First releases list for election, and scramble to come up with gathering guidelines for Auckland tertiary institutes. It almost doesn’t make sense to call this news, but the country has officially tipped over into recession. The reason it’s entirely unsurprising is … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Labour unveils deeply conservative tax policy, concerning new information given about the Mt Roskill church cluster, and Electoral Commission investigating use of donations by NZ Public Party. For those wondering if we’d see anything vaguely resembling socialism or transformation in Labour’s new tax policy, the … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What we know so far about the Andrew Falloon scandal, finance minister shuts purse strings on billions in spending, and Cameron Slater before the courts. The National party has lost yet another MP to scandal, with the latest casualty being first term representative for Rangitata … Read more
Judith is the youngest of six. Gerry is the oldest of five. Jacinda and Grant? Youngest of two and three, respectively. But where are the misunderstood middle children in our parliament? Linda Burgess investigates. If my younger sister – the cute-as-a-button baby of the family – smoked, which she doesn’t, she’d have inhaled, nostrils tightening, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How the budget has been received, Auckland light rail on hold, and more media merger shenanigans. So that’s what it looks like when Grant Robertson decides to open the purse strings. The relatively cautious spending of his previous budgets has been replaced by an absolute … Read more
Grant Robertson has just published the 2020 budget, drawn up in what the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, calls ‘the most challenging economic conditions faced by any government since the Great Depression’. Here are the essential elements, via RNZ. A $50 billion rescue fund sits at the centre of 2020’s “once in a generation budget” as … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Previewing the budget we’ll get tomorrow, tangihanga rules further clarified, and Peters doesn’t believe Taiwan war of words will harm China relationship. We’re increasingly getting a sense of the sort of budget Grant Robertson will deliver tomorrow. The country is facing an economic downturn which could … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bleak Treasury scenarios show massive unemployment looming, rest home cluster claims more lives, and students disappointed at support package. The scenarios are in for how Treasury expects Covid-19 to affect GDP and unemployment rates, and they’re pretty bleak. You can read a report on them here, but … Read more
A range of scenarios has been released by Treasury, modelling the potential impact of Covid-19 on the economy. How bad could the damage be? Here’s a cheat sheet. What is the starting point for these scenarios? Treasury has looked at several different scenarios for how lockdown measures to fight Covid-19 will affect the economy, and … Read more
As a boy, finance minister and cricket tragic Grant Robertson was given the nickname Jock, in honour of the big-hitting batsman Jock Edwards, by his older brothers. It was a name he carried with pride. It must have been the summer of 1980/81. We were on a family camping holiday in Te Anau. It was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: We’re going to level four by Wednesday night, Robertson massively expands economic package, and political parties put country above politics. As you might be able to imagine, there’s a bit of news to get through this morning. The effective shutdown of the country (which for clarity, … Read more
The government is spending $12.1 billion to counter the Covid-19 crisis. Where is the money being targeted? Here are the essentials. What’s all this then? With recession bearing down on the country, and a large numbers of jobs at risk of being lost, the government has ploughed billions of dollars into the economy. The main … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Robertson announces shape of Covid-19 economic response, National grabs matches for regulations bonfire, and land use change laid bare. Cabinet has approved a package of measures designed to take some of the economic pain out of the global Covid-19 outbreak. Around the world right now, markets are … Read more
Fossil fuels and illegal weapons get the boot as the government announces changes to default funds. What’s the news? KiwiSaver default funds are set for a major overhaul as the government rules out investments in fossil fuels and illegal weapons for future funds. It also announced it would be switching default fund settings from ‘conservative’ … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Business groups welcome big infrastructure spend, four charged by SFO in relation to election donations, and Pacific countries act against coronavirus. So, the massive infrastructure package has been announced. Here’s the top lines of the announcement in the form of a cheat sheet, and Stuff has a breakdown of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Capacity constraints loom large in spending stimulus, pilot speaks out about slow Whakaari recovery efforts, and carbon monoxide levels are high. The fundamentally conservative approach of finance minister Grant Robertson has continued, even as he has moved to loosen the purse strings. The top lines of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming to fuel market, anti-vaxxer arrested in Samoa, and banks told to hold more capital. New recommendations to increase competition in the fuel market have been made by the Commerce Commission, reports the NZ Herald. Their conclusion is that it isn’t competitive enough, and they say … Read more
A government announcement of more borrowing to fund infrastructure projects got us thinking – where should Grant Robertson splash the cash first? Cautious incrementalism on infrastructure has gone on long enough – it’s time to go shopping for some brand new toys. That was the message finance minister Grant Robertson gave the Labour Party conference … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Robertson signals big borrowing to boost infrastructure, discarded e-scooters spark concern, and a big week coming for Auckland’s port. The screams of joy from Keynesians echoed out across the land, after a government announcement that the purse strings would be loosened to fund infrastructure. The NZ Herald reports … Read more
After months of silence on Ihumātao, the government is considering a loan to Auckland Council to buy the occupied Fletcher-owned land, according to an RNZ report. What is the dispute over the land? Fletcher Residential bought a section of land in South Auckland in 2014 for $19m with plans to build a 480-house development. A … Read more
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton. Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural beauty combined with agricultural … Read more
It’s surplus season again, and the two main parties are at each other’s throats about management of the national finances. But how unlike one another are they really? Put yourself to the test. There are undeniable differences in emphasis between the economic philosophies of Labour, National and the rest. For around five years, governments of … Read more