The government’s books are now expected to go into the red this financial year with a forecast deficit of $900 million, down from a budget forecast surplus of $1.3 billion. The government will borrow $12 billion to spend on transport, schools, hospitals and investment in the regions over the next five years, in a bid … 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
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change. This piece originally appeared on Bike Auckland My first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was biking downhill towards … Read more
Climate change has already affected how electricity gets delivered to customers, and it’s only going to get more challenging. Vector’s Chief Networks Officer Andre Botha outlines what the lines company is doing to respond. ‘Australia is melting’, ‘US freezes to death’ and ‘Cat frozen solid thaws to full recovery’…. January’s weather-related news headlines were straight … 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, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to Warner Cowin, founder and CEO of procurement … Read more
Spend money to make money? Not really. It turns out there’s very little in the Commonwealth Games for a host other than cost. In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens and shared a similar fate to many of its successors: the initial costs were vastly underestimated, they were plagued with cost … Read more
KiwiSavers like you and me are the benefactors New Zealand’s infrastructural development is looking for, says Simplicity’s Sam Stubbs. The government is signalling that New Zealand’s infrastructure build, apart from anything rail related, will go slower than expected. Increases in core funding, let alone mouldy surprises at Middlemore, are draining the national coffers of monies that any … Read more
We are all over it, aren’t we, this election that won’t quit. But is it also bad for business? Kirk Hope of BusinessNZ asks whether a longer cycle between voting would be better for all of us. The last time New Zealand had a full debate about the pros and cons of a three-year parliamentary … Read more
A digger hit our pipeline! But don’t panic – we produce more than 40 million barrels of oil each year. Problem is, most of it is exported. Rebecca Stevenson finds out why. In the nineteenth century oil prospectors would sniff and taste the crude oil they found. If it tasted sweet it was the good … Read more
Bill Cashmore, deputy mayor of Auckland, tells Simon Wilson why he loves working with the government and why he has such high hopes our problems will all be fixed. Bill Cashmore gets up at 4am so you don’t have to. It takes him an hour to drive to work and he’s there before six. Cashmore … Read more
A small storm in Queenstown over some sewerage pipes on a new bridge points to how little we know about the vastly expensive infrastructure we pay for, writes Peter Newport. We are all guilty of not knowing the actual cost of things. The tax on petrol. What a plumber should charge to fix a dripping … Read more
Critics are seizing on a new report that says the Ultra Fast Broadband rollout has had no direct impact on business productivity. But those who dismiss the scheme as corporate welfare are missing the big picture, says telecoms commentator Paul Brislen. I’ve had more arguments about broadband than just about anything else including (but not … Read more