David Farrar has no idea about business nor apparently the role of government for business.

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, September 18th, 2017 - 44 comments
Categories: blogs, David Farrar, Politics - Tags:

I see that David Farrar, the National parties favourite polling poodle, is trying to spin up the old line about politicians not being business people. He is a blithering idiot.

As a died in the wool private sector advocate who only works in the private sector, who specialises in exporting, who has had extensive arms length political experience, and who has done all of those things for more decades than Farrar has been alive – I’d say that Farrar is full of billshit.

The two roles are and should be pretty distinct and work at different timescales. One is concerned with making income for shareholders in a 2-5 year timescale, and the other is responsible for providing resources over much longer timescales. The most useful measure for that is the 20 years it takes for raising a child from birth to when they start getting productive in the economy and society.

This spin line of his in particular I found extraordinary

I was once like many MPs, thinking I understood business. I had worked for a charity doing their finances so thought I understood profit, loss etc. But then I worked for a small struggling advertising agency and found out first hand how hard it is. It isn’t just about your paper profit. It is about managaing cashflow, creditors, the IRD etc. It is about the business owners sometimes paying themselves less than the receptionist, so the firm survives.

David Farrar as far as I can see runs what I can only describe as being a petty small crony capitalist business that largely sells services to the National Party, some government contracts, and hopefully he also has a few private sector contracts as well. He has never had to export anything (apart from himself off on holiday), has never run anything that involved more than a handful of permanent employees, and as far as I am aware has never managed to make a single dollop of the overseas income that this country is so dependent upon.

It also doesn’t to my eye particularly involve any degree of risk outside of his own incompetence. But we can probably forgive his ignorance about business. He also clearly doesn’t have any training in how to run a business. He obviously lacks the clarity on how to structure business systems and projects.

I do. I come from a family who manage things, usually for other people. Traditionally these have been factories with hundreds of employees, and generally for ones that export. But we’re pretty good at managing anything. From nightclubs to programmer teams. We generally don’t bother owning business because that isn’t the interesting part of business.

As much as we love our entrepreneurs who like the thought of owning stuff and come up with the daftest things that occasionally work, they miss out on all of the fun bits of business. In my opinion, their bloated egos usually get in the way of making sure that everything that is currently there works and completes with the least amount of effort possible. We’re interested in making things work. But like everything else in business, it isn’t the individual that counts. It is how they work together to form something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Different skillsets working together works just as effectively in business as having disciplined

I am the black sheep of the family. These days I write code because that is what I like to make work. Today, I usually I mostly write it for networked devices, designed here, that is then sold and exported into vertical niche markets world wide.

The code that I write usually takes years to build and can have small or large teams working on it. I’m always a core part of the team on the software side because my expertise is in making sure that the millions of dollars of investment and thousands or work hours actually achieve the desired results. I have done this for decades for everything from small startup companies that I have helped found to corporates building a next generation product of their decades old system. My expertise usually involves being aware of all parts of the supply chain from the components to how the support team the customer finds it working. It also involves some pretty high degrees of risk and it only requires a single mistake early in the process to cause major issues. But it is also a hell of lot of fun.

But I didn’t start there. I got an extensive education in how government could distort rational business practices early.

Back in 1981, I came out of a earth science + business degree and started working at Ceramco at the crony capitalistic heyday of Robert Muldoon – when the number of our head office staff was dwarfed by the number of our lobbyists in Wellington fighting to keep the tariff barriers that made our profit high. The first projects I was involved with were putting tonnes of refractories into the Think Big projects. Neither the projects, nor my part in them really made much sense to me. As a country we were trying to build an industrial infrastructure that really didn’t use any particular advantages of our country.

While we were producing adequate refractory products. They simply weren’t up to the grade for what was required – we mostly wound up importing and selling all of the important high end components. The company was in it to make a buck. But I don’t think that I met a single person that thought the projects were much use beyond that. The freight costs and delivery times from NZ meant that the projects would always be marginal and our internal population was too small to adsorb even a fraction of the output.

After doing 4 years, I decided that I was simply missing something. So I managed to get into Otago’s MBA programme to train more intensively.

In my opinion, the most useful thing about business training isn’t what you learn. Most of that tends to fall into the blindingly obvious category of knowledge was you have a good introduction to it.

It is about becoming aware of all of the bits that you need to know about, but will never know well enough, all of the things that you have to depend upon in a business. So I learnt about the financial accounting, marketing, economics, and law along with a myriad of other interconnected pieces. But you learnt about the interconnections between these things through the innumerable case studies that explored these issues and the nascent business simulations of the day.

A decade later I led the team that commercially produced one of those business ‘games’, Mike Bikes and its assorted offspring, that several generations of business students locally and worldwide have had to endure over the net as an important part of their course work.

But one area that piqued my interest during my academic stint was the utter dependence of businesses on the supporting role of government. As well as utter dependence of government on the revenues gained directly or indirectly from business. I even grew to understand why Muldoon’s government was doing the weird things that they had done in the later 1970s and early 80s, and the forced but rather excessive response by the 4th Labour government.

Despite my start as the kind of government disliking business fool of the type that David Farrar is now trying to rile up for this election, presumably for the purposes of his pocketbook, I grew interested enough in politics to start studying it.

I have spent the last 30 years involved in one way or another with politics, while making sure damn sure that I didn’t spoil my own working fun by actually getting drawn into the maelstrom. It is a interest, albeit an important one in my life, that makes me help run this blog as a talking ground for political debate. Of course you can see my skills in it. It runs for $134 per month, is long lived, and I don’t do much of the heavy lifting – the authors and commenters do. 🙂 I’m a manager – my job is to enable others.

Frankly from my perspective, any business person with skills that are greater than their ego or greed wouldn’t want to get involved in politics. Too messy, too long term, and simply not that much fun. What you will get and what you’d expect to get are the people untrained in business. In fact they look just like David Farrar. And that is exactly what you see in the National lineup that he describes.

National’s lineup look like those who are parasitic on the internal economy and have little of no exposure directly to the world economy that many if not most people working for the productive sectors of business now work in. The problem is that they also appear to be pretty untrained and don’t understand their role either.

MPs are there to provide the infrastructures, both physical and legal, that the business community relies apon to build businesses over the long term. The skills that are required for that task are not those that the business community is any good at providing, nor is it something that they are trained in, and it is sure as hell not something that they are good at. The time scales are far longer than the business community are used to dealing with. And business people have a really bad habit in politics of doing special favours for their mates and themselves. You don’t have to look too far to see this. Start with Steven Joyce or with the farmers.

We don’t need or want crony capitalism in politics. It is far too expensive for the country as Muldoon successfully demonstrated in the 1980s, and as some of the MPs of the 4th Labour government (most of whom departed to Act) demonstrated leter in the 1980s.

Politics and government doesn’t mean giving special favours for little groups and shielding them from the world economy. If all of the urban businesses and residents directly pay for water and water treatment, then farmers should learn the costs of their ‘free’ resource as well. It is part of the cost of doing business, and you don’t want to waste it. I pay $1200 for my household of two annually and the businesses I work for pay far more. It is treated like a resource that can’t be squandered.

Having business amateurs like David Farrar trying to speak for the people who actually know how real non-crony businesses operate is somewhat insulting to those hard workers who generally stay out of politics, provide most of the underlying employment in the country, and who focus on the world economy that most of us are involved in. We don’t need the advice of a business parasite.

In government, business needs people who understand and can work with the long time scales of government and the physical legal infrastructures that we depend upon. Productive businesses working on a world stage don’t need or even want business failures like crony capitalists playing favourites there.

44 comments on “David Farrar has no idea about business nor apparently the role of government for business. ”

  1. Pete 1

    He and his site contributors commonly regard those who do not work for themselves, run businesses or something similar as a lower species.

    Anyone who works for the Government or is paid by the public purse are some sort of non-people not living in the real world.

    Farrar’s cobbers want to go to private medical practitioners and have private schooling. If they could have shares in the company running the service, they’d want the Police to be a private business.

    Public servants are scum, who don’t know anything, don’t contribute and an evil, unfortunately a necessary one.

    Of course that is where much of the odium about teachers comes from, they can’t stand anyone knowing more than them.

    Ignorant snobs. Farrar is a good mouthpiece for them.

    • tracey 1.1

      Yes they hate bureaucrats except when they are the means for corporate welfare.

    • Carolyn_nth 1.2

      It’s always struck me as dd that right wingers see the world ofthe private sector as “reality”and that those working in the public sector, like teachers don’t know anything about the “real” world.

      Yet, teachers and many other public sector workers, engage with a range of people from communities – they see first hand the reality of many people’s lives, unlike people sitting behind desks, looking at spreadsheets, in the private sector.

      • lprent 1.2.1

        It depends what you are looking at/for and what you find important. Personally I find people to be easy to read and they hold little relatively little interest to me.

        What I find interesting is what could be best described as levels of risk and the strategies required to deal with it. When I’m talking to people, I can never find the interest in what peoples personal issues are except as they affect the projects I’m doing. The reality is that people have horrible tendencies of doing the same daft crap over and over again without either observing what happened last time or looking at the results of what happened to others.

        I get extremely interested in any systematic issues that look like they could need fixes. Often you can only fix things that you can ‘see’ and the only way you can fix systematic issues is when you can see the patterns with numerical analysis. Anecdote is a poor substitute and usually heavily flavoured with how people choose how to represent themselves. Spreadsheets and stats work to focus attention fairly where mere stories do not.

        I’d also point out that the few times I’ve been around the public sector have typically been when I have been most glad at my abilities to read and analyse things rapidly. They appear to drown in it, often pointlessly.

        • In Vino 1.2.1.1

          People who are dedicated to a vocation may not have your convenient flexibility, and may also be willing to fight long-term against a failing system run by vicious profit-gougers. I think people like Carolyn_nth deserve a little more recognition than you appear to allow.

        • Carolyn_nth 1.2.1.2

          Statistical data and analysis have their place – like a road map telling you how to find your way through a landscape. But they also tend to be reductive, missing the nuances and fine detail of long term community engagement.

          Being on the front line is about engaging with a range of people in a community. There are patterns that can become discernible from that, and these can be subjected to analysis. But that engagement also gives a feel of what people value, and of how diverse lives interact.

          And you can see directly the struggles and humanity of people’s daily lives. That’s not so easily discernible from spreadsheets.

          I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of the multi-sensory impact of experiencing people’s daily lives. It IS important to hear and see what people have to say in their own voice, not always filtered through someone else’s abstractions.

          When people and communities are reduced to data, it is through a process when someone, with all their own pre-conceived notions, selects details that they consider to be important. There is always bias in the process of converting human activities to numerical data.

          And it’s too easy to write some people’s lives off as being relatively insignificant when they are presented as part of numbers, rather than people engaged with.

        • John Stone 1.2.1.3

          I agree with you to some extent on the National line up, but I see Labour as worse. Who gives you confidence in Labour?

    • reason 1.3

      What spinners and Swirllers like Farrar never mention is the amount of wealth and money that private ‘enterprise’ can destroy or waste …..

      Take our ex-prime minister and the firm he worked for and made his money at …

      “Merrill Lynch is a case study in `corporate misgovernance.”^1…. insider trading and the works ….

      It vaporized and destroyed 44 Billion of money in eye watering quick time …..

      “by mid-December, Merrill Lynch’s pretax quarterly loss had ballooned to $21 billion”,….

      “the write-downs taken by Merrill Lynch ultimately surpassed $46 billion —
      incredibly, more than double the entire profit the firm earned over the four-year period preceding” ……

      Such efficiency in destroying wealth rests with the private sector ….

      The Governments bail them out ……………….. http://securities.stanford.edu/filings-documents/1038/MER_01/2009727_r01c_07CV09633.pdf

  2. tracey 2

    MPs also need to be good listeners, advocate for others, listen more and know when to bow to experts. In my experience most business owners had an idea and made it pay. Many grow and find themselves having to lead when they are not leaders and so on.

    Businesses and business owners a part of society not above it. We are all in this together. Business owners rarely thrive without employees. Farmers do not thrive without some indirect support from taxpayers. Help when flood or drought hits. Support by way of taxpayer funded R and D.

    This them and us shit has to stop and so does the habit of some businesses to only adhere to the requirement to return to shareholders as much money as possible at the expense of everything else.

    Bill English has never been in the business world. Treasury bureaucrat and then MP. But no one throws that at him. And nor should they.

  3. alwyn 3

    I hadn’t realised you were quite so mature Lynn.

    “As a died in the wool private sector advocate who only works in the private sector, who specialises in exporting, who has had extensive arms length political experience, and who has done all of those things for more decades than Farrar has been alive”

    Given that David Farrar has just had his 50th birthday that must make you at least old enough to be a recipient of Winston’s Gold Card.
    Welcome to the club.
    I am quite prepared to believe you were involved in politics in 1967 I find it hard to believe you were into exporting quite so early.
    Did you e-mail Winston him and say thank you?

    • tracey 3.1

      Cos that was the most important part of the post, how old is Lynn Prentice.

      Am laughing that you know Farrar just had his 50th.

    • lprent 3.2

      Born 1959. Pretty obvious if my first post uni job was in 1981.

      Have the born in 1959 tee-shirt. My partner got it for me. The young engineers I work with seem to find it as amusing as she did.

  4. greywarshark 4

    alwyn
    There are a lot of things you don’t realise and you never will.

  5. Ad 5

    I would agree with you that you need politicians who understand where all the elements join up. Farrar is making cheap shots, but this is the week to make cheap shots back and not get quite so caught up in the nuances.

    The people standing for election are standing for the public sector, not the private sector.

    Jacinda Ardern – Plenty of experience at the top end of 2 ruling Labour governments. Leadership of which is what she is applying for. Qualified.

    Kelvin Davis – Plenty of public sector experience. Qualified.

    Andrew Little – Massive union and employment experience as negotiator and as litigator, for public and private sector industries.

    Grant Robertson – Plenty of public sector experience.

    Phil Twyford – plenty of public sector experience including internationally, and knows how to deal to lobbyists because he was one. Qualified.

    Megan Woods – massive academic and practical experience in economic development. Qualified.

    Chris Hipkins – plenty of public sector experience. Qualified.

    Carmel Sepuloni – public and NGO experience in social welfare. Qualified.

    David Clark – experience in Treasury. Qualified.

    Think about that. Credibility and qualifications for applying for public sector jobs.

    Now compare that to the top nine for National.

    Bill English – tenant farmer of depressed and shrinking Southland village. Sound grounding in Treasury and achieved steady downward path for 80% of NZ population.

    Paula Bennett – disqualified by misusing public information, otherwise got a Churchill Fellowship as a perk of being a Minister. No policy contributions of any note in 9 years.

    Steven Joyce – No public sector experience. Messed up the Sky City deal, in charge of our largest purpose-built business-focused Ministry for 9 years and altered the productive economy not one inch.

    Gerry Brownlee – Public sector experience as woodwork teacher. Put in charge of the largest-ever building project in New Zealand history that has by every account ensured that Christchurch will never, ever recover despite having unlimited taxpayer, City, and insurance money to make it happen.

    Simon Bridges – qualified at taking over Labour’s projects (including Labour’s Len Brown City Rail Link project) and making them happen.

    Amy Adams – No public sector experience. As a result achieved fuck all in 9 years.

    Jonathan Coleman – General Practitioner and business consultant who by every measure of societal illness has made the health system worse

    Chris FInlayson – lawyer who did a lot of good despite being more neurotic than a Sharpei crossed with a Sheltie.

    Michael Woodhouse – No public sector experience. As a result stuck his face on the fire hydrant of immigration and couldn’t figure out how to turn the water off

  6. tc 6

    Ouch the logic it burns almost as much as DPF’s hypocracy…excellent Post Lynn.

    A parasite who is sucking taxpayer money and also doing national party polling so an audit of his segregation/chinese walls seems in order.

    If he’s such a legend in business he’s got nothing to fear has he and in such a high profile position he can’t say it’s not deserved…..but he’ll whine like all national manchildren do when made accountable.

  7. Sans Cle 7

    And lest we forget the insidious role he played over last nine years, John Campbell on Farrar/Key:
    “On election night 12 years later, having just been made prime minister for a third term, Key triumphantly thanked his pollster, David Farrar, by name: the country’s “best”, he declared, admitting, as the New Zealand Herald reported, that he had rung Farrar “night after night, even though he wasn’t supposed to”.

    The man who’d entered Parliament declaring a belief in something better than poll-driven politics had subverted himself. Gamekeeper turned pollster.”

    That Key chose to thank Farrar and Slater post 2014 election should NEVER be forgotten.

    • alwyn 7.1

      “That Key chose to thank …….. Slater post 2014 election.
      Really? Do you have any evidence at all for that?
      Or is it a fake memory that you are propagating?
      They are quite common you know, and this looks like one of them.

      • Muttonbird 7.1.1

        Farrar and Slater are identical in terms of their dirty politics. Key freely admitted consulting Slater and refused to show the correspondence.

      • Sans Cle 7.1.2

        I recall Key saying “cheers Cam” at the end of a speech. I recall being appalled at the time, as it was after Dirty Politics was published. I don’t think it’s a fake memory.

  8. adam 8

    We live in a country with so many mythological narratives going on, it is no wonder some one like Farrar spins the way he does.

    On top of the more classical ones, like ‘rugged men who built this country’. The new myths which accompanied the 4th labour government and beyond, have created a space in the sphere of politics, which is almost devoid of any attachment to reality.

    So big up’s lprent, for peeling back some of that mythology with this post.

    • popexplosion 8.1

      In order to sell more milk to provide for the demand in China, Key rushed to help dairy conversions. Now basic economics teachers if we sell something we get lots of foreign currency to distribute and buy stuff from overseas, balance of payments etc. Another way to divest NZ of the burden of a windfall is to trade currency at a loss to yourself in a foreign country. Aka where Farrar enters the fray, distorting the group think and keep attention away from how actually we can afford to invest in the future.

  9. greywarshark 9

    David Farrar’s expose’ of his difficult circumstances learning about business, reminds me of the one from Theotherside? recently about how hard it is to manage on over $100,000 for a family.

    Now they have true difficulties but these people are hung up on getting their soup ladle into the finest ice cream because they deserve it, while the majority merely go for the cheapest, and feel satisfied to have something reasonable.

  10. Scotty 10

    Farrar on the RNZ panel today with Ganesh Nana.

  11. Centre Forward 11

    As best as I can ascertain, the author of this post is not standing for election, so his/her credentials are irrelevant. What is relevant, is that the author has completely failed to address the key point of Farrar’s post, which was summed up as follows:

    “So anyway I thought it would be interesting to look at how many Labour front bench MPs have worked in the private sector. 87% of all jobs in New Zealand are in the private sector. Now some of those are non-profit jobs but I’d estimate around 75% of jobs would be in the for-profit sector.”

    So, let me paraphrase something this author wrote:

    [deleted]

    [lprent: I didn’t say that. Banned for 1 month for lying about what an author actually wrote. Read the policy. Trying to tell us what we actually said by ‘paraphrasing’ is still just being a really dumb liar. You can quote or you can explain your viewpoint. You may not tell me what I wrote.

    I guess you are a brown-nosing arse licking acolyte of Farrar. he is fond about lying about what other people actually are saying as well. ]

    • lprent 11.1

      As best as I can ascertain, the author of this post is not standing for election, so his/her credentials are irrelevant.

      David Farrar isn’t standing for election, but feels the need to comment on something that he knows fuck all about. I see that you follow in his example – being a blithering idiot.

      In my much better informed view, there are no business people in National’s front-bench. There appear to be some crony capitalists who don’t understand much about productive business or government. Try reading the post again.

      You won’t be able to comment because “paraphrasing” what authors or even commenters actually say is a very fast way to get banned. It is a cheap trick tactic that deserves contempt on the fools that use it. Usually Actoids who all seem to have had the same indoctrination.

  12. Sanctuary 12

    Farrar is on the panel – again – today. When Labour wins, and the new minister of broadcasting calls in the head of RNZ to distribute the extra cash for TV etc, I hope they have a quiet exchange of views on Mr. Mora’s show and his guests.

  13. ropata 13

    Crony capitalism is long standing National tradition. Remember the German company who set up in competition to NZ Gib board? A superior product and cheaper. But they could not operate here because the big suppliers have the market sewn up.

    Oravida is a much more egregious example. And it seems the road construction industry owns the National party purse strings. The “Roger Awards” demonstrate how big corps in NZ tend to operate.

    Private sector “credentials” in the little fish pond of NZ don’t mean jack

  14. simonm 14

    “David Farrar, as far as I can see, runs what I can only describe as being a petty small crony capitalist business that largely sells services to the National Party…”

    Well he has to do something for a living. No-one’s likely to offer him a modelling contract anytime soon, are they?

  15. ES Skeptic 15

    Nothing like a good old fashioned dick measuring competition. Farrer wins for having one.

  16. riffer 16

    Sorry, I worked at the same struggling ad agency as David. He was a snivelling Nats sycophant then, and he still is. He’s completely full of shit. Useless worker too.

  17. Incognito 17

    But one area that piqued my interest during my academic stint was the utter dependence of businesses on the supporting role of government. As well as utter dependence of government on the revenues gained directly or indirectly from business.

    The invisible hand in the velvet glove that form the iron fist that has been pounding the environment and us into surrender, subordination and slavery. Is it finally starting to lose its grip?

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    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
    15 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 ...
    2 days 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
    4 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
    5 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 ...
    6 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
    6 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

  • 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
    3 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
    8 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
    10 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
    11 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
    1 day 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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
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