The great debt myth

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, May 31st, 2011 - 55 comments
Categories: debt / deficit, Economy, economy, national, uncategorized - Tags:

This government’s got a real talent for manufacturing crisis to suit them.  The debt disaster is a classic – in order to get out of debt we have to cut public spending to the tune of almost $1billion and sell assets.

Far from being in the same government debt league as the PIGS countires; Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, New Zealand’s government debt is actually third or fourth lowest in the OECD.  Where we do have a serious problem is in private debt with mortages and business loans (mainly owed to Australian banks). And cutting public services will do absolutely nothing to help fix private debt – except maybe to make it worse by laying off public sector workers  and making services more expensives.

The government’s also overplaying that $300m -$380m that they’re borrowing each week. CTU economist Bill Rosenberg says that the number is inflated by looking at one year only, when borrowing requirements are near their peak and Treasury is borrowing much more than it needs because lenders are lining up to lend at attractive interest rates.  He reckons it would be fairer to look ahead over four years when the average new borrowing requirements will be less that half that.

However, the public has swallowed the line that government accounts are just like households ie debt and borrowing BAD so it’s unlikely these particular myths are going to be busted anytime soon.

Source: Statistics NZ – International Investment Position

55 comments on “The great debt myth ”

  1. For those of you who want to know more about John Key and his banking buddies and how money is created and why if you read the above the only conclusion has to be that John Key is knowingly scamming the good Kiwi people these are some video’s you might want to watch:
    Money as debt I and II and the Money Masters
     

  2. Lanthanide 2

    What happened in 1989-1990 that caused such a massive up-tick in private debt?

    New banking/lending regulations allowing for financing of consumer goods? Recession?

    • Deregulation (Alan Greenspan was instrumental) and the newly decriminalised derivatives trade took of. This book points to Andrew Krieger as patient Zero in this trade. The attack on the New Zealand dollar in October 1987 was the Zero point in this trade now collapsing our financial system. The trader who helped him with that attack was John Key.
       
       

  3. Colonial Viper 3

    Whats at fault? Asset price speculation fueled by excessive lending of cheap borrowed money by banks seeking higher and higher earnings for their shareholders. The fix is relatively simple – fundamental asset and debt reform to make speculative leverage on assets wholly unattractive.

    • thatguynz 3.1

      Or even a significant (read massive) reduction in the leverage able to be applied for fractional lending. Bringing the leverage metric down to 1:5 (or even the original 1:10) against reserves would have short term pain but could knock the personal debt issue on its head very smartly 🙂

      Finding a government that would do that however is an uphill battle when it flies in the face of the ideology that they’re hell bent on perpetuating..

    • johnm 3.2

      Yes CV
      And our Young People have been done out of the dream of buying their own home by all the GREEDIES supported by Labour and the Nats buying property after property and renting them out to the same young wage slaves who pay off the mortgages for the GREEDIES who then cash in on the tax breaks and the CAPITAL GAIN. This whole bubble is the opposite of a short: a buy run where the GREEDIES have bid property up and up and cashed in on the backs of our young starter workers. This greed boom fuelled by cheap money from the banks who cash in as well on the backs of workers with their return of interest on capital. The Politicians are in on this RORT big time as well! The same Politicians refuse to levy a Capital Gains Tax. No wonder so many of our young people have emigrated in DISGUST.

  4. queenstfarmer 4

    I don’t think the people haven’t “fallen for” anything. I think they have recognised that a country can’t keep borrowing without consequence (publicly or privately), and that NZ can’t borrow like bigger, wealthier countries can.

    If I’m wrong, then I look forward to seeing which parties campaign on increasing the public debt!

    • todd 4.1

      However the fix proposed by National is to see SOEs sold whereby private interests can invest in a very lucrative commodity at the public’s expense. This is effectively wealth redistribution to help private sector debt, so in a way John Key is telling the truth.

      Selling our SOEs will reduce private sector debt… This will cost the public in more expensive power bills and will do little to nothing to curb the Governments borrowing. In a few years when the capital has been used up, New Zealand will in fact have to borrow more to cover the shortfall. So National is campaigning to increase public debt, they just aren’t telling you.

      It should also be noted that this proposal comes at a time when reliance on electricity is set to grow dramatically. The public will miss out on this bonanza under National’s proposals.

      • queenstfarmer 4.1.1

        How do you get “wealth redistribution” and “reducing private debt” from this?

        Selling any asset, in part or in full, does not “redistribute wealth”, unless it is sold for under value (like when Goff & co sold Telecom). It simply swaps one asset for another.

        And in the meantime, the Govt continues to borrow money offshore, which simply results in ever-increasing interest payments being sent to overseas investors, straight from the taxpayer’s pockets.

        • McFlock 4.1.1.1

          It swaps a cow for magic beans that will somehow make the cow bigger and stronger and everyone better off, the bean-seller swears it is so.

          But you still have to buy milk produced by the cow you originally owned.
           

        • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.2

          It simply swaps one asset for another.

          Wow, you really are that simple. No one would buy the asset if it didn’t return more than what they paid. Of course, this does point out the stupidity of selling it as that means that the person or state selling it must get less than what the asset is worth.

          • queenstfarmer 4.1.1.2.1

            You really need to read a Form 3 (year whatever) book on basic economics. Or go into the real world and see this wonderful thing called “the market” in action. Otara Flea Market on the weekend is great.

            On your theory, no-one would ever sell anything unless forced! You’d never sell your house because (to use your words) “the person selling it must get less than what the asset is worth”. And who is forcing all these “bad deals” upon sellers? And why do we have this wonderous thing called shopping, trading, businesses for sale, etc? All the “sellers” in these markets are somehow being forced to sell for less than *they think* the asset is worth, right?

            Then once you get past the basics, you might want to move on to more advanced concepts like risk vs return and cost of money, which will magically “explain” your bewilderment over why anyone sells anything (“the person selling it must get less than what the asset is worth”… ha!!)

            • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.2.1.1

              All the “sellers” in these markets are somehow being forced to sell for less than *they think* the asset is worth, right?

              My brother-in-law is presently thinking of selling his car yards. Why? Because he’s bored with selling fucken cars. He will, as a matter of fact, sell them for less than they’re worth because, get this, their potential income far exceeds what he’ll sell them for but he won’t be forced in any way, shape or form.

              We will be forced into selling the state assets (If NACT are re-elected) because we don’t have a direct say in it. If NACT could sell them before the election they would. The time line for selling them in February is already friggen tight though and they know that if they sold them now there’s no way they’d get back in.

              As for the “market”? Well, yeah.

              I passed the basics a long time ago. I’m now well into thinking about economic systems that actually work.

        • todd 4.1.1.3

          queenstfarmer

          Selling any asset, in part or in full, does not “redistribute wealth”, unless it is sold for under value (like when Goff & co sold Telecom). It simply swaps one asset for another.

          Selling shares to people who can afford them redistributes wealth in that the returns end up in wealthy peoples hands. There are no provisions to ensure the shares remain in New Zealander’s hands. Income from SOEs would normally have been reinvested into social infrastructure. Having this income going to the public coffers kept costs relatively low in comparison to what we can expect under privatisation.

          Shareholders will demand a return and costs will rise at the expense of the poor who can ill afford further increases to their expenditure. That is the very essence of this con… National’s rich mates will invest heavily in any privatised SOEs knowing that National will ensure a high return and reap the reward at the expense of the public. History has shown that it is at the expense of privatised entities as well.

          That’s only if they win the next election though. Basically if you have no morals and lots of spare cash to invest, vote for National’s plans to con the general public. If you don’t want your power bills to rise, vote for another political party.

          • queenstfarmer 4.1.1.3.1

            Shareholders will demand a return and costs will rise at the expense of the poor who can ill afford further increases to their expenditure.

            You make it sound like increasing profits is as simple as turning up a dial.

            But for monopolies, that is pretty much the case (think Telecom – undersold by Labour in the 80s, disgracefully handled by National in the 90s). So for monopolies, I’d agree. No Govt should allow a monopoly to be sold off again. And a strong regulator is a must, or even a state player such as Kiwibank where appropriate.

            • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.3.1.1

              You make it sound like increasing profits is as simple as turning up a dial.

              In the case of a monopoly, and power is a monopoly, it is.

  5. Tom Gould 5

    The only thing “the public has swallowed” are the lies spread by an unquestioning and increasingly politically biased news media. Not many folks read treasury papers, they tend to read newspapers and watch TV news instead. So lay off blaming the public for believing that nice smiling Mr. Key and those nice media people.

  6. Tammy Gordon 6

    Fair point Tom, I don’t mean to blame the public, same as I don’t blame them for voting National in 2008 when we were promised all the stuff that Labour did that people liked (Working for Families, interest free student loans and KiwiSaver), a tax cut ‘north’ of $50 a week and smiling John instead of increasingly grim Aunty Helen and the nanny state. Now it turns out we’ve exchanged the nanny state for one of callous indifference.

    • Campbell Larsen 6.1

      Ironic is it not that Labour was accused of being the nanny sate, but it’s National, and Dr “I’ll take that baby” Brash and his side kick mean bitch Bennett who want to take babies and children away from their mothers simply because they are poor and have no jobs, and place them in the dubious care of soon to be restructured ‘child care’ centres.

      Who’s the Nanny now?

  7. Cadwallader 7

    I truly wish the debt was a myth as you assert.

    • ron 7.1

      @Cadwalleder
      Tammy has provided an argument and facts to back that argument. Your’s is…….?

    • Draco T Bastard 7.2

      The debt exists as the chart shows. It’s just not government debt and so the government doesn’t need to cut or sell anything to get the debt down. It’s the last bit that NAct are selling that is the myth.

  8. tsmithfield 8

    “Far from being in the same government debt league as the PIGS countires; Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, New Zealand’s government debt is actually third or fourth lowest in the OECD. Where we do have a serious problem is in private debt with mortages and business loans (mainly owed to Australian banks).”

    It is a false dichotomy to draw a distinction between government and private debt, as this article, and others I have seen on “the Standard” have done.. Government debt in fact is ultimately a liability for tax payers. The ability of tax payers to fund government debt will be affected by the amount of private debt they have. So, in the end they all lump into the same thing: money owed by the country. Which ever way it is looked at, we have too much overall debt.

    • Lanthanide 8.1

      ” The ability of tax payers to fund government debt will be affected by the amount of private debt they have.”

      Um, the government debt isn’t funded by tax payers. That’s the whole point – the government didn’t raise sufficient revenue from taxpayers and has to get the money from somewhere else, foreigners in this case.

      • tsmithfield 8.1.1

        Still, even if the deficit is funded through debt, then it is still a long-term liability for tax payers that has to be repaid at some point. Given that taxpayers have a lot of their own debt, it follows that the government needs to limit the amount of debt it incurs on behalf of tax payers because it is tax payers who ultimately must fund both their private debt and the government debt incurred on their behalf.

        • ZeeBop 8.1.1.1

          Not all farmers are like crafer, not all mortgagees are likely to default. The private debt problem is easily solved, let a few more homes, and farms default, that’ll teach foreigners to lend to unsafe NZ. Government should buy the farms and homes, build up its state housing, and farm land assets until good times return. Who lost? Well young first time home buyers and farm workers who wanted to buy a farm themselves. Strange how National want to harm the farming and urban community, and keep private debt up.

    • Draco T Bastard 8.2

      Wow, TS just promoted “communism”. Of course, it’s the warped communism of the capitalists that gets everybody else to pay the capitalists debts.

  9. JaJ 9

    You know what will help with private sector debt? Reigning in consumption – i.e. through rebalancing the taxation system to tax consumption more heavily. Note that this need not be at the expense of the poor.

    • Lanthanide 9.1

      Raising GST won’t do much. Most of this private debt is tied up in mortgages on land and property. What’s needed is a structural change, such as a land tax and/or CGT.

      • ron 9.1.1

        …and the Tobin Tax.

      • PeteG 9.1.2

        Proportional to total debt it looks relatively low but credit card debt has climbed quickly and it is high interest debt – poor people often get caught in a debt treadmill with credit cards. Most “richer” people pay off their credit cards fully so pay no interest and have no ongoing debt. They are a poor person’s curse.

        http://www.interest.co.nz/charts/credit/credit-card-debt

        • RobC 9.1.2.1

          Fuck, do you even know how to read graphs?

          Credit card debt has not “climbed quickly” – it averaged around 8% in the period 2003-8 before dropping like a lead balloon. Compare that to housing credit or rural credit which had growth rates far in excess of 8% during the same period.

      • JaJ 9.1.3

        Raising GST however ought to increase the rate of saving.

        I agree with you though, a tax is needed on property. I would like to see a stamp duty on land and fixed assest transaction rather than a capital gains tax (cheaper and easier to administer).

        • Draco T Bastard 9.1.3.1

          Raising GST however ought to increase the rate of saving.

          It’s failed to do so any time in the last 20 years so what makes you think it’ll work now?

        • Luxated 9.1.3.2

          Raising GST however ought to increase the rate of saving.

          Only if the majority of spending is discretionary. If you spend most of your money on food, housing, utilities and essential transport then you can hardly cut back and save more.

          Actually thinking about it, has anyone actually done a study to see if sales tax changes spending habits at all? Or do people just fork over the extra money whether or not they can afford it i.e. credit cards?

          • Draco T Bastard 9.1.3.2.1

            Not GST specifically as it was US centred but there was a study done on savings incentives over the last 30 years and showed that all of them had produced absolutely no extra saving. Can’t remember where I actually saw the article though. Which takes us back to my question @4:43pm.

  10. tsmithfield 10

    “I agree with you though, a tax is needed on property.”

    Good luck getting voted in on that.

  11. Nick C 11

    Notice how private debt grew quite sharply between about 2005 and 2008? I think one explanation is that fiscal drag created by high inflation meant that real tax rates grew quite sharply. This would also explain why government debt actually continued to fall during that period despite government spending growing substantially after 2005.

    So one solution to this problem would be a straight transfer of wealth from the state to individuals. The obvious way to do that: more tax cuts.

    • Draco T Bastard 11.1

      Or, more likely, the government debt went down while increasing needed government services because of competent management. Remember, the opposition, your friends in NAct, were calling for tax cuts right from the word go. If they’d been in power the governments debt would have ballooned, as it did in the US under GWBush, government services would have atrophied even more and, when the GFC hit, we would have been royally screwed.

    • RobC 11.2

      Notice how the graph is debt as a percentage of GDP?

      You must be under 40 (and not from Zimbabwe) cause you have NFI what “high inflation” is. Hint: It’s not 5%.

    • stargazer 11.3

      yeah, that was the time that banks & real estate agents were going around the country, aggressively marketing rental properties as an investment to the middle classes. they used the argument that the losses would reduce income tax & there would be non-taxable capital gains. banks were aggressively pushing people to buy fully-geared properties. this was about the time finsec were publicly pushing banks to stop pressuring staff to do this via the remuneration packages that were in place.

      in the 2012 year, we’re going to see the effects of depreciation claims on buildings being removed. i suspect that’s going to hit the property market reasonably hard & leave a lot more middle-class people struggling.

  12. RedandBlack 12

    If Treasury and the OECD recommend a Capital Gains tax for NZ that should be enough for a government. Australia has a CGT and it also has a higher rate on $100,000 pa. The NZ rich and famous who refuse to pay tax can go to the US – we don’t need them here. We will be better off without them.

    • nadis 12.1

      US has a capital gains tax………

      • RedLogix 12.1.1

        Yes but also allows all mortgage interest (including that on the family home) to be tax deductable.

        Comparing tax regimes is a complex business; it’s hard to make an argument to stand or fall on one single aspect alone.

        Overall however NZ is not a highly taxed country.

        • nadis 12.1.1.1

          thats true – and a way more complicated tax code in general with all manner of obscure deductions allowed

          • ZeeBop 12.1.1.1.1

            A CGT would bring us into line with the rest of the world. Why we haven’t got one should be discussed because any benefit of not taxing profit would become clear, ooops, oh we know that already, our bubbles when they happen are much more rapacious and destructive, did you know we have huge private debt problem because of capital farming. Farmers ‘defending’ their position by taking out borrowing to buy more farm land, move to bigger farms and so keeping up farm prices and stopping young farmers getting into farming. Home owners buying the same size homes for more, stopping young first time home buyers getting on the ladder. There are large numbers of young people in paid work who rent and waste their cash buying petrol to hoon rather than pay mortgages. Not having a CGT is disproportionate, but yes if we had been more in line with the rest of the world our debt would have looked more like that of Australia, still a boom in housing
            but our economy would have been more diverse and strong, not carrying farming in good times
            (high commodity prices), and being carried by farming in bad times (when the world doesn’t want milk for their kids, when does that ever happen).
            Sorry but its stupid to fund farming to the detriment of the rest of the economy, we should be pigging backing off farming profits to build a wider deeper economy, and why would farmers want that? Simple they will be carried when people do stop buying milk globally, remember they said Japan nuke reactors were safe now three of them have melted down. Never say never.
            People said the world would always buy wool, or lamb.
            In the future we will have the low energy high tech companies will want to run their cloud, or send their workers to for six months during a dismal northern winter (more like that with climate change). Its stands to reason that we need a better fair balance, and I believe the government will be a wash with huge tax windfalls as a result. We don’t need to be scrapping to put kids into pre-school, we are a very rich nation run badly because of shortsightedness greed. A generous nation would have no problem taxing capital gains, and taking GST off food, books and baby goods. Just bring us into line with Australia and maybe a bit simpler and we’re be right.

  13. Descendant Of Smith 13

    Regardless of any financial global crisis NZ was always going to be in trouble as the baby boomers retired:

    1. Not enough provision made for their NZS payments
    2. Over speculation in property which will all come on the market at once = the one they live in and their rentals
    3. An economy made buoyant by their no mortgage, no kids, two income life style
    4. Health care costs

    What was known and has been known for years is that these people would turn 65 from 2010 onwards – an unmovable, unchangeable, fixed point in time.

    Consequences are clearly –

    1. More money needed for NZS or a reduction in entitlements
    2. Lots of jobs as they retire / become unwell
    3. Lots more jobs as they need care
    4. Lots of 3 bedroom houses on the market as they die off and sell
    5. Greater need for public transport as they lose their licenses

    The number of unemployed will take care of themselves over this time – if we invest in training and up-skilling – bashing people on benefit and cutting training programs is exactly the wrong way to go.

    halfwits – halfwits – halfwits

    • ZeeBop 13.1

      Consequences are clearly –

      1. More money needed for NZS or a reduction in entitlements
      2. Lots of jobs as they retire / become unwell
      3. Lots more jobs as they need care
      4. Lots of 3 bedroom houses on the market as they die off and sell
      5. Greater need for public transport as they lose their licenses

      Three bedroom homes within cycle distance of work and play
      will be worth much more, with oil prices and people who want
      to get ahead, those living there will ditch the guzzler to reap
      the benefits of location. Its not happened yet because of the
      mismatched building sector, building cheap nasty sprawl paid
      for by rate payers to have fine new roads and pipes put into
      former farmland. Inner city is dead at night, even the evenings
      because council decided that all the small apartments are to be
      scarce and so drive up their price. Personally young people
      need to move away from their family home to an inner
      city, no car, socially rich, to make the connections, make
      the discoveries about who and what they want, and an inner
      city experience would do that. So I’m shocked at how little
      there is for young couples to buy in town, the stepping stone
      to a three bedroom home. Young people need government
      to help create stepping stones into home ownership and
      not just throw money (first home buyer) at them.
      Young people, Y and X don’t care about retirement, they know
      as the boomers retire and die that care home places will be
      cheap, finding zimmerframes will not be a problem, drugs
      will be off patent, generic. Jobs will will be freed up as
      boomers retire. So National is just harming the future economy
      by pushing young kiwis to leave. But as a society we don’t
      yet see the reward for giving up the car that will drive the
      move to more choice in housing and better use of cycle
      catchments.

  14. Labour should push this graph and a catch phrase of “Ever Had The Feeling You’ve Been Had New Zealand”:. This utter lie is now exposed – and this ‘debt’ is the ’cause’ for national slashing public services and selling state assets.

  15. nadis 15

    The reason for the increase in private debt is in mostly due to this. Real wages from 2000 to 2008 were actually negative (they are probably negative from 2008 to, so don’t jump up and down and accuse me of being political, I just haven’t got the data for 2009 onwards), but asset prices (private housing stock in particular) grew dramatically due to ridiculous tax preferences and resource planning issues. Households monetized their increased house equity and spent it on a lifestyle their incomes were insufficient to maintain.

    Living on borrowed money is unsustainable, so that, with many other factors gave us the GFC (but remember NZ was already in recession well before the global slow down because of our private debt/lack of real income growth problem.

    The governments fiscal policy is driven by a primary goal – keeping official net debt below 30% (treasury predicts it will peak at 29.6%). 30% is the “safe” level for avoiding ratings agency downgrades. The rationale is to keep interest rates low. Your average mortgage payer is probably $180 a week better of now than they were when National got elected. That’s a way more important effect on individual household incomes than tax cuts etc.

    • MrSmith 15.1

      So your saying that even though our house is burning to the ground, at-least we won’t be cold in the mean time, and we should all look on the bright side, because we will be able to have a BBQ with the embers!

      • nadis 15.1.1

        ???

        explanation welcomed Mr Smith……

        • MrSmith 15.1.1.1

          I think it’s called irony nadis.
           
          You seem to be singing from the National party hymn/spin sheet and it has gone something like this.
           
          Firstly we where going to be roaring out of the recession .
           
          Then we where going to be catching Aust.
           
          Next it was the export lead recovery.
           
          Then it was the saving based recovery (they just cut kiwi saver).
           
          Then it was pointed out that we weren’t catching Aust , so we now had a competitive advantage.
           
          Now that all this has failed we should be grateful that interest are low.
           
          My point is that’s a lot of dead fish to swallow nadis.
           

    • RobC 15.2

      A couple of points nadis:

      Housing prices were also driven by a shortage in supply and migration.

      Your average mortgage payer is certainly better off, but (a) only ~66% of us are house-owners (b) the current low interest rates are temporary.

  16. nadis 16

    no – all i was saying was that your ironic statement was way too obtuse to make sense.

    And I wouldnt call myself a Nat apologist – reality is I dont see any difference between Nats and Labour and the last 3 years would have been very similar under either party given the undelrying trends and imbalances that got us to recession well before the GFC hit. Nor I am an Act supporter – if they ditched the SST baggage and were truly Libertarian I might support them, but would only like to see them with a strong parliamentary presence without running things if you know what I mean. In the same way I am happy to see Greens and even nutcase socialists in parliament to provide alternative views as long as they are not solely in charge. Leave that to National and Labour (once they clear out the deadwood) to govern from the centre.

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  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    10 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    11 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
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