About the reversed GST Kiwisaver changes

Written By: - Date published: 8:51 pm, August 31st, 2022 - 63 comments
Categories: david parker, jacinda ardern, kiwisaver, politicans, spin, tax - Tags:

Well this happened quickly.

Yesterday the Government introduced the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2022/23 Platform Economy and Remedial Matters Bill, a rather technical bill that among its provisions sought to ensure that all Kiwisaver account providers, not just some, charged GST for their services.

Then by lunchtime today the GST changes for Kiwisaver account providers was gone.

First of all the context.

Under the GST regime the provision of financial services is exempt.  The definition is complex but in general terms it is meant to exempt banks from charging GST on bank services.  Some small Kiwisaver providers as a matter of caution apply GST to the fees that they charge the accounts they manage.  The big banks, less so.

Looking at my not large account which is close to the average and is with ASB Kiwisaver Scheme last year I paid $158.94 in Investment Management fees.  If GST was charged then I would pay $23.81 more for that service per annum.  This is less than 0.1% of the fund’s worth.

The Government expected that the change would raise $225 million on Kiwisaver accounts from 2026.  This suggests, presuming that the current figure of 3.1 Kiwisaver accounts does not change and that the accounts which pay GST are very small in number that the increase in Investment Management Fees per account would be in the vicinity of $80 per year on average.  There must be a few considerably larger and more complex and perhaps higher charged accounts than mine.

And thanks to the power of compound interest if you made various assumptions and looked deep into the future some pretty dramatic figures are revealed.

National and the big financial providers weighed in.  From Interest.co.nz:

Luxon … told Newshub: “This is now a retirement tax on top of all the other taxes that we’ve had.”

“We’re going to stop it. I actually think the team of five million people needs to stand up this week and actually say to the Government, ‘Enough, stop’ and actually get the Government to withdraw it,” Luxon said.

“This is such a bad idea – a retirement tax when we’re trying to encourage people into KiwiSaver, it makes no sense.”

Financial Services Council CEO Richard Kilpin said the council was disappointed with the bill that was over-reaching.

“In the middle of a cost of living crisis, increasing taxes that are then likely to increase the fees that consumers pay to invest in KiwiSaver and managed funds, and potentially decrease returns, is a suboptimal outcome,” Kilpin said.

Deloitte tax specialist Allan Bullot told Newshub the move was a sledgehammer.

“Everybody that I’ve talked to that’s got a KiwiSaver fund and is talking and looking at this have told me that they consider it to be a brand new tax,” Bullot said.

“Technically, is there a new tax that someone’s invented? No. Are we coming and looking at something that hasn’t been subjected to tax since 1986 and saying, ‘We’re going to change the legislation’… [it] sounds like a new tax.”

Others called it a wealth tax.  As if this was a bad thing.

The comments are deeply disingenuous.  The charges do not start until 2026 and will have absolutely no effect on current cost of living pressures.  And besides they affect the eventual amount paid out by Kiwisaver funds, not most people’s incomes for years to come.  Financial Services Council CEO Richard Kilpin needs to go back to school and by the look of his comprehension back to primary school.

National’s attacks are really rich.  Ever since its creation National has sought to undermine Kiwisaver.  Do you remember when:

  • National opposed the introduction of Kiwisaver and John Key famously called it a glorified Christmas Club.  Maybe for merchant bankers but I can think of many first home buyers and retirees who have benefitted from it.  And National opposed it all the way.
  • National halved the state contributions to Kiwisaver accounts from $1,040 to $520 per year even though in 2008 they promised not to do this?
  • National removed the $1,000 kickstart contribution and John Key said it would not make a blind bit of difference to the numbers joining?

The GST change figures are miniscule in comparison.  Let’s put figures on this, $80 a year in GST verses a loss of $520 a year in state contributions or $1,000 in the kickstart amount.

They have always been philosophically opposed to Kiwisaver.  For them to prance around now and claim to be protectors is deeply, deeply disingenuous.

The Government has backed down.  From a political standpoint I can understand this.  But I wonder if with all of the noise thrown up recently that we have not instituted a rational change which would have meant that large Kiwisaver providers were treated the same as small Kiwisaver providers and which would have placed the Government in a better position to address poverty, Health sector pressures and climate change.

63 comments on “About the reversed GST Kiwisaver changes ”

  1. alwyn 1

    Labour on the other hand are never disingenuous.

    When National reduced the state contribution to $520/year Labour objected.

    When National cut out the kick start amount of $1,000 Labour objected.

    Then, as soon as Labour regained the Treasury benchs they reintroduced the payments of up to $1,040/year and reintroduced the $1,000 starting payment.

    Oh, they didn't? Surely they did?

    • arkie 1.1

      Your comment itself is disingenuous. This, however, is good advice freely given:

      “Labour can recover quickly from its KiwiSaver u-turn by committing to reverse the cuts to incentives that the National Party made while in Government,” says the Green Party’s finance spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

      “Christopher Luxon has shown staggering hypocrisy over the last 24 hours. It was his party that systematically made it harder for people to save for their retirement.

      “Mr. Luxon’s long distance relationship with policy detail shows he’s more interested in the politics of soundbites rather than a serious discussion about how we support people to save.

      “Listening to him talking on the radio this morning would have tested the patience of anyone who can recall the National Party’s track record with KiwiSaver.

      “The Green Party strongly supports incentivising New Zealanders to save through KiwiSaver and calls on the Government to reverse the cuts the National Party is responsible for,” says Julie Anne Genter.

      https://www.greens.org.nz/it_s_important_to_know_your_kiwisaver_history_mr_luxon

      • LibertyBelle 1.1.1

        An op piece from the Greens is now ‘advice’? Hilarious.

        • In Vino 1.1.1.1

          Yet, Libertyflibbet, the Govt has now followed the Greens' advice.

          And as for alwyn, you are so unfailingly ingenuous that I find it hard to credit that you would accuse anyone of disingenuous conduct!

    • Jeff Saunders 1.2

      On the other hand – when Labour came in in 2017 there was a helluva lot of calls on the money! Underfunded hospitals and schools, cuts to the police budget, social housing disaster….. that MIGHT be a reason!

  2. bwaghorn 2

    “:http://National opposed the introduction of Kiwisaver and John Key famously called it a glorified Christmas Club. Maybe for merchant bankers but I can think of many first home buyers and retirees who have benefitted from it. And National opposed it all the way. National halved the state contributions to Kiwisaver accounts from $1,040 to $520 per year even though in 2008 they promised not to do this? National removed the $1,000 kickstart contribution and John Key said it would not make a blind bit of difference to the numbers joining?:”
    Well it’s a damn shame labour didn’t do as good a job of killing an attack on kiwisaver as national did!!

  3. the neo libs hate kiwisaver because it returns financial power to the government.

  4. Patricia Bremner 4

    Interested to see 733 odd on Face Book, at least half telling Luxon he was exaggerating the facts.

    Went to Ardern's page 1800 odd, mainly supportive. I think Kiwis are waking up to Luxon.

    Love Genter's take. I see Waghorn has quoted that above.

    Key used the GFC and making the costs manageable to do those cuts.

    I still feel Parker should have sold the move and the why. Now he has lost that and has dented his and Labour's Cred.

    • Went to Ardern's page 1800 odd, mainly supportive. I think Kiwis are waking up to Luxon.

      Really don't think those are the metrics that Labour are reading. If they had significant levels of support, they would have had no reason to do a u-turn.

  5. Ad 5

    How does Parker still have a job?

    High time this government put equal effort into helping drive up our prosperity, and less on bandaid subsidies and dumb tax moves like this one.

    Hey what about an actual tax policy for example?

    • aom 5.1

      And what if you had half brain and some knowledge of history?

      If Muldoon hadn't stymied the Rowling Scheme to enrich the money men we would have had a fully funded superannuation scheme with no taxes and wouldn't be shoving the counties wealth down the throats of the large Aussie banks who no doubt fueled Dome Head's cynical bullshit rush to the brain.\

      [typo in e-mail address fixed]

      • KJT 5.1.1

        No we wouldn't have. 1984 Labour or 1990 National would have flogged it off for peanuts, in the great fire sales.

      • Ad 5.1.2

        Muldoon and Rowling were over 40 years ago.

        Get over yourself.

        Having a tax policy is a basic requirement of any progressive government, and this government doesn't have one.

    • mikesh 5.2

      Actually I fail to see the logic of exempting financial services from GST. The problem with charging GST on kiwisaver servicing is is that it seems to have picked on just one service, while other services like brokerage remained tax free. Labour might have been better off introducing the kiwisaver charge as part of legislation which removed the exemption from financial services generally.

      Of course I think GST should be abolished altogether, but if one must have a GST, it should be applied to all services.

      • Ad 5.2.1

        At this point there's so little coherence in Labour's approach to tax there's no need for a Minister at all.

        They were going to do something maybe about GST on fruit and vegetables, and then apply GST more evenly on Kiwisaver. They know from the Cullen tax report that GST is our most regressive tax on the poor. It is now utterly incoherent.

        They were going to do something about taxing capital gains, but stopped that.

        They were going to use the renewed tax system they just spent nearly a billion dollars renewing, to distribute payments, yet the Office of the Auditor just roundly spanked them for poor preparation and essentially throwing the money to those who didn't deserve it.

        They appear to have left their in-house tax specialist Dr Deborah Russel largely on the sideline doing makework, while Minister Parker is continuing to cost them politically.

        They also allowed the sale of the Kiwibank Kiwisaver to foreign hands, and just spent $2.1 billion buying back Kiwibank, for no discernable policy benefit at all.

        They have shown this week that they can be lobbied by the Australian banks and will fold like origami.

        Ardern has handed the politics of tax and of banking to National leading into the 2023 election year.

  6. " The Government has backed down. From a political standpoint I can understand this. But I wonder if with all of the noise thrown up recently that we have not instituted a rational change which would have meant that large Kiwisaver providers were treated the same as small Kiwisaver providers and which would have placed the Government in a better position to address poverty, Health sector pressures and climate change "

    Well they mostly ignored the very expensive Working Tax Group's recommendations that could of created a lot more fair tax collection but I don't believe they were ever going to implement any of it and it was a ruse to help them around uncomfortable tax questions in the media to say we will let the TWG come back first so no further comment on tax and possible increases please.

    Julie Anne Genter hit the nail on the head with her comments.

    Green Party finance spokesperson Julie Anne Genter called for the government to now turn its attention to reversing the cuts to KiwiSaver brought in by the previous National government.

    "Christopher Luxon has shown staggering hypocrisy over the last 24 hours. It was his party that systematically made it harder for people to save for their retirement," she said in a statement.

    "It was National that introduced a new tax on employer contributions to KiwiSaver in 2011 … it was National that halved the annual maximum Government contribution to KiwiSaver accounts from $1042 to $521 … it was National that removed the $1000 kick-start people were provided when they opened a KiwiSaver account."

    She said the government should incentivise New Zealanders to save through KiwiSaver by reversing those cuts.

    • Jenny are we there yet 6.1

      She [JAG] said government should incentivise New Zealanders to save through KiwiSaver by reversing those cuts.

      It always amazes me that Labour led governments always claim that they can't put in progressive legislation to protect the climate or workers' and beneficiary rights because a National led administration will just reverse them.

      But hardly ever reverse regressive National party legislation.

      What's with that?

      • Jenny are we there yet 6.1.1

        P.S. National has no such qualms.

      • arkie 6.1.2

        The Ratchet effect?

        • Patricia Bremner 6.1.2.1

          yes Arkie.

        • Jenny are we there yet 6.1.2.2

          There are those politicians who proudly call themselves 'Centrists' because they don't move things to the Right. But they also don't allow movement to the Left either. And after three years without movement, in either direction, a jaded electorate vote the Right back in, and the rachet moves forward a notch.
          And so it goes.

          But every now and then the rachet slips a cog.

          And without meaning to, inadvertently imposes some radical Left policy like an FTT on financial transactions. Only to have the rachet slipped back into place after a huge cry of alarm from the Right alerts the Centre of their error.

          Which is just what happened here.

          Financial transaction tax

          From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

          A financial transaction tax (FTT) is a levy on a specific type of financial transaction….

          …..It is not usually considered to include consumption taxes paid by consumers.[1]

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_transaction_tax

          • Jenny are we there yet 6.1.2.2.1

            But seriously folks, isn't it about time the Centrists got off their neo-liberal hobbyhorse and imposed some desperately needed Left wing policies like an FTT as a relief measure to lift the tax burden from struggling working families in the middle of a cost of living crisis? – while still meeting the increased costs of public health care, and education. t
            To top up the depleted govt. coffers sucked dry by the covid crisis by transfering the tax burden to those who can easily afford it seems like a no brainer to me.

            It has been instructional to me at how much the Right scream and protest at even the mildest form of an FTT and how easily the Centre give in to them.

            If we are to ever have a more progressive tax system our political leaders will need to grow a spine to be able to stand up to these bullies and a brain to defeat their arguments. And the political will to do both.

  7. Alexander 7

    At the same time national cut the govt contribution from $1,042.86 to $521.43 they also removed an exclusion for KiwiSaver from ESCT so the employer contribution was being taxed.
    I wonder if someone should OIA the impact of that change on KiwiSaver valances by 2070 and see if the impact is greater or lesser than clarifying that fund management fees should attract GST.

    • Mike the Lefty 7.1

      Good point!

      I also seem to recall that ACT opposed the compulsory employer contribution, although I might be wrong on that.

      Perhaps someone can elaborate.
      It is also appropriate to remember that Winston Peters originally proposed a similar scheme some years before. However it was put to a national referendum which resulted in a fairly decisive “no” vote.

  8. E John 8

    Thanks for that, MS. Some sanity restored.

  9. Stuart Munro 9

    The government take noise from the opposition far too seriously.

    • Graeme 9.1

      I'd pick National going full Chicken Little (note Seymour was breathing through his nose and supporting the government for defending the integrity of the tax system) had more to do with trying to claim the credit for a very heavy, and out of public view, attack by the banks.

      Government would take the banks very seriously, Luxon and Willis making fools of themselves, not so much.

    • Descendant Of Smith 9.2

      Yeah. Noise from the Welfare Advisory Group not so much.

  10. KJT 10

    The whole idea of “saving” for retirement, and the privatisation of super inherent in Kiwi saver, is fundamentally flawed.
    KJT. Random musings on all sorts of things.: The myth of "Retirement Savings" (kjt-kt.blogspot.com)

    “Saving” for retirement relies on three assumptions.

    One. That an ever increasing amount of money equals a similar supply of real wealth and real capital.
    Two. That an exponentially increasing wealth per person is possible in a finite world reaching resource limits.
    Three. That putting money into increasing land prices and increasing derivative prices in the USA, a failing State, will somehow, “magically” mean more money (Healthcare, food, Housing etc) to support you or me in our retirement.

    “Retirement income, real income as opposed to monetary income, as does schooling healthcare, infrastructure supply and food, always comes from current production. If I do not eat my dinner today, it does not mean there is someone who can give me my dinner in my eighties”.

    • Jenny are we there yet 10.1

      It's always concerned me that because, (unlike Australia), New Zealand's Super is a voluntary scheme, if it fails, just like any private investment scheme, it will be on investors to wear the loss.

      The Australian scheme is compulsory, Australian workers have no choice in having to make contributions

      During the GFC and share market collapse the Australian Superannuation fund lost $200 billion in one year. Because the scheme was compulsory the Australian government were morally bound to honour the scheme and were forced to bail it out.

      Makes me wonder, if we have another GFC event, will our government feel morally bound to bail out my Kiwisaver account?

      Or will I be left high and dry like any other investor who loses their investment?

      • KJT 10.1.1

        With OBR rules, your Kiwi saver is more than likely going to take a haircut, along with other bank accounts.

        The political and economic effects, of a lot of people suddenly becoming poorer, may make a future Government bail out failing Kiwi saver accounts, however.

        Another example of "privatising profits", in this case fund manager profits, and "socialising losses".

      • Blazer 10.1.2

        How did the Govt bailout in Oz work?

        Within 24months the market recovered…was there a…clawback?

      • Blazer 10.1.3

        'During the GFC and share market collapse the Australian Superannuation fund lost $200 billion in one year. Because the scheme was compulsory the Australian government were morally bound to honour the scheme and were forced to bail it out.'

        Where is your evidence to back this statement?

  11. Jack 11

    Interesting take on Labours cluster yesterday … it’s all nationals fault!

  12. James Simpson 12

    It was just a bit sloppy.

    National and the media will jump on any new tax, so the government needs to be better prepared to front foot these types of announcements in the future.

  13. Herodotus 13

    So will any one remember the actions of Tuesday and how Labour attempted to siphon off $100 BILLION out of KiwiSaver accounts ?? Now we hear the PM trying to defend the intregitiy of KiwiSaver as it was. Where were you on Tuesday and early when this was being discussed and then passed to be included in the introduced bill ??

    ”And besides they affect the eventual amount paid out by Kiwisaver funds, not most people’s incomes for years to come.“ 🤢🤬are you for real with this comment ?? You maybe wealthy enough not to be concerned but most of us are not as fortunate as yourself and the labour MP’s that $20k will make a difference in my and many others retirement. Leave your ivory office and see what is happening outside, that to me is the problem with this Out Of Touch government they don’t know what it is like in the real world where $20,000 is a shit load of $$ for most of us.

    • KJT 13.1

      How about you "Leave your office and see what is happening outside".

      Instead of mindlessly repeating right wing propaganda

      When over half the Kiwisaver balances are less than 20k, how the hell are most people going to lose 20k?

      https://retirement.govt.nz/news/latest-news/new-data-reveals-for-the-first-time-largest-breakdown-of-kiwisaver-balances-across-all-ages-and-genders/

      Meanwhile most Kiwisaver balances are less than half of what they could of been, due to the last National Governments meddling.

      • Herodotus 13.1.1

        As i read it you are following left wing, this government and its BLIND supporters will do anything to deflect and spin.

        "When over half the Kiwisaver balances are less than 20k, how the hell are most people going to lose 20k?" well that comment just tells me that your financial literacy is lacking, and you should reframe from commenting on matters that display lack of knowledge or ignorance !!!. The $20k cost is the total cost that the govt was stealing, not based on todays kiwisaver balances.

        There were 4 options made available for the govt to choose, 1 was eliminate GST on those providers that are charging cost $20m p.a BUT the govt went for the screw Kiwisavers and attempt to grab from their investments.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473910/kiwisaver-fees-gst-backdown-shows-government-out-of-step-with-public-sentiment-critics

    • Incognito 13.2

      Your exaggeration would only hold some water if Labour were to be and stay in Government until 2070. That said, I admire your optimism, but I do wonder if it might be a little misplaced. Keep up the nonsensical comments good work!

      • Anne 13.2.1

        Horus doltus is suffering from a pathological hatred of all things Labour.

      • Herodotus 13.2.2

        So tell me then why did Robertson on the 6:00 news deflect when asked about A labour promise to reinstate $1,000 kick start ?? "One day I would HOPE to bring it back" And you support this government and its broken promises .. But it has to stack up. " How you can look in a mirror with your blind obedience to all and anything this government represents. Perhaps I have standards that many here don't have in pointing out that the Labour party should start keeping their election promises. "2015 Robertson PROMISED to bring it back". And how is your support to Labour in accepting what Robertson said ?? I know that Labour can lie openly and you support that ?? “But in a live chat on Stuff.co.nz on Friday afternoon, Robertson was asked directly: “Would Labour reinstate the $1000 kickstarter for KiwiSaver?”
        Robertson responded: “Yep”.
        Cannot trust a senior Labour Minister . Now try and spin that ????

        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/09/government-accused-of-undermining-confidence-in-kiwisaver-following-tax-u-turn.html

        • KJT 13.2.2.1

          Good attempt at deflection from your own mathematical incompetence.

          An aspiring National/ACT MP?

        • KJT 13.2.2.2

          Gordon Campbell on Labour’s self-inflicted Kiwisaver disaster – werewolf

          "Footnote Three: The final irony is that the Aussie-owned banks dutifully pay the GST component on fees for their retirement savings provision at home in Australia. Also – apparently – they do not pass this on to Aussie consumers, given that the fees they’re charging here for equivalent services are higher than they are in Australia. (Why did the modelling assume the fees would be passed on here?) In other words, this whole issue provides more evidence that the Aussie-owned banks are ripping us off, blind.

          Parker knows it. As he said ruefully yesterday:

          Parker said the Government had expected funds would absorb much of the increase through lower profits, although IRD had advised otherwise. Asked if all the $225m in extra taxes would be passed on to KiwiSavers, he said: “It depends what would be the competitive response to New Zealand fees. New Zealand fees are already higher than they are in Australia. Even though in Australia, they already have the GST treatment that we were proposing.”

          We lost. The Aussies-owned banks – with the National Party serving as their tag team accomplice – have once again found us to be pretty easy pickings.""

          • Jenny are we there yet 13.2.2.2.1

            Interesting link KJT, thanks for sharing it.

            Gordon Campbell makes some interesting observations.

            …the government made no mention at all of its GST Kiwisaver fee intentions within the initial press release on the Bill in question,….

            This omission proved to be a tactical disaster. By not being upfront, the government handed all the messaging about a contentious and politically explosive issue on a plate to (a) the Aussie banks that own the GST-dodging big providers who were the real target of the change…..

            Within the space of 24 hours, the government had not only botched a golden opportunity to portray the Aussie owned banks as freeloaders at the expense of small Kiwi firms. It had also confirmed many of the stereotypes about tax grabs by centre left Big Government,…..

            Revenue Minister David Parker briefly tried to defend the action as an attempt to make the Aussie-owned banks play by the same rules as the small local Kiwisaver providers, before giving up the battle entirely….

            The government would have taken many New Zealanders along with it if it had lead from the front and defined this as a means of making the profiteering Aussie banks play by the same rules as everyone else……

            The government knew beforehand that this issue would be controversial. The omission of any mention of the change from the initial press release was not accidental. The real problem was that – once again – Labour was reluctant to lead from the front and command and control the messaging involved…..

            http://werewolf.co.nz/2022/09/gordon-campbell-on-labours-self-inflicted-kiwisaver-disaster/

            Labour was reluctant to lead from the front and control the messaging involved?

            What's that all about?

            Gordon Campbell notes that David Parker is normally an astute political operator

            Why did Parker drop the ball on this one?

            Is it because what we are talking about here is in essence a Financial Transaction Tax? An issue that Labour have been chary of and steered all conversation away from?

            Trade Unionist Jill Ovens doesn't beat around the bush. And says what Parker should have.

            https://www.facebook.com/jill.ovens.5/posts/pfbid02cpjEuVBUErV1yFcSaSRBetAhJZqfmqEKsRrPJMnmvToLxCqgRcEseo3RaYxhDEonl

            • KJT 13.2.2.2.1.1

              No wonder why Aussie banks give their puppet rulers of NZ, National party politicians, directorships when they leave politics.

              This illustrates exactly who rules New Zealand.

              Bankers and their patsy politicians and media.

        • Patricia Bremner 13.2.2.3

          Herodotus… Reasonable attitudes to changing circumstances not blind faith leads us to accept that with the inspection of services showing huge gaps after the election, coupled with the handbrake of Winston, followed by the Pandemic……

          devilBut you know that… you are just deflecting big time.

  14. Sacha 14

    It was totally predictable that the Nats would jump on this – so how did the strategy/comms people in Labour let this happen?

  15. aom 15

    And what if you had half brain and some knowledge of history?

    If Muldoon hadn't stymied the Rowling Scheme to enrich the money men we would have had a fully funded superannuation scheme with no taxes and wouldn't be shoving the counties wealth down the throats of the large Aussie banks who no doubt fueled Dome Head's cynical bullshit rush to the brain.

    [typo in e-mail address fixed again]

  16. Paul Campbell 16

    The thing here was that some (larger, offshore based) funds are able to avoid paying GST on some of their costs – my guess is that they are offshoring some of their costs (GST doesn't attach to offshore transactions) – this legislation was intended to level the playing field for all KS funds.

    So – we now know that there are some funds that are structuring their businesses to avoid paying taxes – probably now is a good time to boycott companies that are avoiding taxes in this way – choosing NZ based funds that are investing more in our local economy is probably a good thing anyway.

    • Patricia Bremner 16.1

      Dear Paul, after the Government dropped some Kiwi Saver funds from the default scheme…. Kiwis moved more than 3.2billion from ANZ BNZ et al Australian so called NZ banks.. We are not silly.

  17. Dear Discovery Inc,

    AM cohost Ryan Bridge stated on Am, Thursday 1st September 2022 that the NZ Government Cabinet made the decision to introduce a tax on your retirement savings.

    Clearly that is a false statement because Cabinet did not agree to introduce a tax on any New Zealander's retirement savings.

    Instead Cabinet agreed to propose a law change that would "even up the playing field" so that all Fund Management Providers would play GST on their service fees.

    An increase to service fees is not a tax on retirement savings or contributions.

    Instead a Fund Management company may choose NOT to pass on the costs so it is wrong for Ryan Bridge to refer to a tax on retirement savings.

    It's important Discovery Inc do not conflate an optional fee increase by Fund Managers with a Cabinet decision to introduce a tax on retirement savings but this is exactly what Mr Ryan Bridge has done on AM today.

    Clear distinctions exist between a tax on KiwiSaver contributions ( retirement savings ) versus – applying GST to the service fees of Managed Fund companies.

    Such distinctions were made in NZ Parliament by the Prime Minister and by other media on Wednesday 31 August 2022, the day before Ryan Bridge chose to make these misleading and false statements.

    Therefore the remarks made by Ryan Bridge on AM are likely to be deliberate misinformation ( disinformation ) because there was an abundance of awareness in the public domain in the 24 hours before Mr Bridge made his misleading statements.

    The Broadcasting standard breached is accuracy.

    This was clearly misinformation and probably disinformation.

    I object to Ryan Bridge making false misleading claims on AM that the NZ Government Cabinet introduced a tax on the retirement savings of New Zealanders and I wish to take this matter to the BSA if it is not addressed satisfactorily by Discovery Inc in the first instance.

    Yours sincerely

    • Stuart Munro 17.1

      Well said.

      Time a few reporters got into the habit of getting the facts before going troppo.

    • Anne 17.2

      RP Mcmurphy

      I hope you do take this complaint to the BSA. It is a clear breach of the standards and letting it pass without an investigation is tantamount to normalising mis and disinformation. The outcome of the complaint is less important than the publicity created by taking the matter to the BSA in the first instance.

  18. observer 18

    Look on the bright side. Yesterday Gaurav Sharma stood up and asked a question to Jacinda in Parliament and absolutely nobody noticed or cared. Not news any more.

    I admit that releasing and then rejecting a tax proposal in 24 hours was a surprisingly bold ploy to knock Sharma out of the headlines, but it certainly worked.

  19. Mike the Lefty 19

    One could argue that the furore over GST on Kiwisaver fund fees would not have been an issue if the original NZ Super scheme of the Third Labour Government had been allowed to continue. There would have been no private "fund managers" as the scheme was entirely government run and the money would have been used to fund infrastructure projects in NZ, not going into foreign-owned mega banks.

    But oh no!

    That was communism!

    Once again we should remember that it was National that dumped a savings scheme that was ahead of its time and substituted it with a politically expedient but ultimately unaffordable scheme. National once again unable to look past the next electoral cycle.

    And if National was truly the "low tax party" wouldn't it be pledging to dump RWT on kid's bank accounts?

    Not a murmur on that one.

    So when National starts trying to portray itself as the defender of the ordinary person in the street they speak with forked tongue.

    John Key's original description of Kiwisaver being "a glorified Christmas Club" is funny considering that is exactly what National tried to turn it into.

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  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    3 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    4 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    8 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    9 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • 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
    14 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
    5 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
    10 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
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