The annual Salvation Army state of the nation report shows that for many people already doing it tough, life got much harder in 2020. Alex Braae reports. Thousands of new people approached the Salvation Army for assistance over 2020, and Ronji Tanielu is worried about them becoming regulars. Tanielu is a lawyer, and a principal … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Coronavirus fears loom over OCR announcement, Salvation Army release annual SOTN report, and the PM does actually trust her deputy PM. Will the coronavirus have an effect on the Reserve Bank’s interest rates announcement today? There’s been a fair bit of speculation in the past week … Read more
Every year the Salvation Army releases a report assessing areas like child poverty and housing. Here’s how we’re doing in 2020. When Jacinda Ardern announced Labour’s first Wellbeing Budget in 2019, she emphasised the importance of placing people at the heart of economic decisions. She acknowledged “New Zealand has had strong growth for a number … Read more
Jo and Brendan Lindsay made millions out of plastic lunch boxes and now they are figuring out how to give back to the New Zealand that fostered their good fortune. If there is a downside to selling your company for $660 million it is that people think you’ve suddenly been transformed into an altruistic ATM. … Read more
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas. Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go to international charities because Kiwis prefer to give as close to home as possible. … Read more
The Sallies are taking on unscrupulous mobile traders with their own rival service. Business editor Maria Slade went out riding with the Good Shop. It’s a freezing cold day with rain going sideways but Savannah is wearing shorts. She’s been vacuuming, and it’s hot work. The thirty-something mum of four does a lot of cleaning … Read more
New environmental taxes get the thumbs up, but commentators are as divided as ever on the thorny issue of a capital gains tax. The report is out, and as expected the government’s Tax Working Group (TWG) has recommended introducing a broad-based capital gains tax (CGT). While the social justice community applauds the move, business groups … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Social housing list balloons amid heavy demand, bizarre development in NZ-China relations takes in former PM, and another species of foreign fruit fly found. The social housing waiting list has cracked 10,000, and is steadily rising all the time. Newshub reports that is an increase of 73% on … Read more
The Sallies are so fed up with mobile traders preying on poor areas and trapping people into crushing debt that they’re firing back with a rival service. When the Salvation Army first started in New Zealand in the 1800s it noticed the bakers of the day were exploiting people with extremely high bread prices. So, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Nelson fires give glimpse of climate change future, mystery over Air NZ flight seems to be solved, and working class suburbs experience house price boom. The conversation around the Nelson fires, which have caused so much disruption and angst, has shifted to the future. There’s been a … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government plans major sentencing changes to reduce prisoner numbers, meth contamination testing scandal rumbles on, and Google pays almost no tax in NZ. The government is planning to introduce major changes to sentencing in the next two weeks. Newshub reports the changes will include ditching the controversial three … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Food grant stats show poverty in NZ is getting worse, woman’s benefit wrongly cut off by WINZ over dates, and the budget responsibility rules are set to be bent. The number of New Zealanders using food grants continues to rise, reports Newshub. Almost 150,000 New Zealanders accessed … Read more