Cynical, malevolent and bandwagon-ing bunch maybe, but National is right to join the chorus of questioning bank profits. Now a majority of the house is onto this. Stopped clock etc.
And Labours response as usual is tepid…why?, because like National, they are free market fundamentalists, both whom believe the markets and commodification can fix every problem..even in the face of the World burning, caused by free markets and unfettered commodification….not a lot of difference between these guys and ISIS as far as I am concerned..both extremist nutters who would kill us all to prove their ideology is right.
I don't even know what your comment means?…anyway I commute 20km each way to and from work most days and drive a 1988 800cc Suzuki Alto, so fuel doesn't cost me fuck all.
Sam Stubbs brilliantly ripped the banks to pieces in RNZ's Morning Report this morning at about 8.15. A must listen
Key point: the profits the Australian banks are making in NZ are much higher than profits made by banks internationally. Conclusion: WINDFALL TAX
Come on Robertson FFS this is a win-win. A couple of billion in the coffers with most of the population (not the top 5% of course) cheering to the rafters.
Holy hika, he's absolutely SLATED them! Government inquiry, open banking, expansion of Kiwibank are all feasible measures the govt could take. Listen to the RNZ report, it's most insightful.
The banking sector [18 May 2022]
New Zealand currently has 27 registered banks, with four large Australian-owned banks (ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac) responsible for 85% of bank lending. The five New Zealand-owned banks account for 9% of bank lending.
Many Kiwis will have good reasons to use Aussie-owned banks – for those that don’t, a selection of ‘solutions’ are available. Switching banks is very doable.
Switching banks [NZ Bankers Association]
Switching banks is safe, easy and fast. Your new bank can take care of everything in five working days. It’s among the fastest switching in the world.
This process also links recurring payments, such as direct debits and automatic payments, to your new bank account number. Your new bank can do all that for you, through a single form.
Bank profits are positively correlated with the OCR. Thats going to become a bit of a conundrum at some point if much inflation policy is monetary policy.
I was being a bit cynical. I know someone working at one of the big Australian banks, who attends these meetings.
From the little I know. Grant Robertson appears to be asking for direction on monetary policy from them. If true, he's obviously following it, hence the huge profits.
What your describing sounds like complete industry capture. Frankly one hopes this is not true.
The main issue being the links between monetary policy and bank profits are much more clear and better established than the links between monetary policy and inflation control. In fact if a lot of the price revisions are coming from overseas then the impact of monetary policy may be (quite obviously) none. Monetary policy does impact interest rates accruing to savers however so relying on it is making a wide range of inequality pressures worse.
The other thing is Robertson appears to be saying we don't want to use an increase in unemployment to target inflation. But this is part of how monetary policy supposedly works, if it works. So he's saying the RBNZ can use their policy tool just as long as it doesn't actually work the way its supposed to work. Orr must be very confused about what he is supposed to do under his monetary policy targets agreement (annually re-agreed) with Robertson. Probably he is supposed to do, nothing which reflects badly on Robertson or the government.
The little information I do have from the conversation, was that discussions about inflationary housing costs and lending were taking place regularly, so you might not be too far off the mark. However, I'm trying to not overstate the unknown.
(I hesitated about posting hearsay without verification, but then considered that someone reading might be interested enough to do an OIA request that I don't currently have time to do.)
QE isn't really facilitating any additional ability to lend. The banks always have as much flexibility to lend without ever running into an interbank payment constraint in terms of reserves. This is because the RBNZ will lend what ever volume of reserves needed at the OCR as part of monetary policy anyway.
The actual constraints against lending are things like LVR ratios, or debt to income ratios or how many years the bank agrees as a repayment term. But as long as the borrower can repay and will pay interest above the OCR then the bank can make that loan profitably.
QE is just an expedient way of operating relatively typical monetary policy while having the central bank lend to the govt. Commercial banks and other large scale financials are involved in primary lending and in return get a small return as the RBNZ will usually buy the bonds back again for marginally more again on the secondary market. Other than this small cut however the RBNZ may as well be lending directly to the government.
Banks, supermarket monopolies, fuel companies, Fletchers, etc, etc.
There's an election next year, polls are being done all the time.
Is the National Party going to make big noises about massive profits being terrible, implying everything will be different after they get in? Of course.
And after they and ACT are elected next year will everything in regards to massive profits be different and better, to the advantage of most? Of course not. It's all bluster, all piss and wind.
Did you listen to the Green's "Finance Spokesman" on Morning Report this morning? It was Julie Anne Genter. She was a total joke and clearly knew absolutely nothing about the topic.
If a party doesn't have anyone who knows the topic under consideration they shouldn't even try and put up a representative. It merely makes them a laughing stock.
I didn't hear what she said but she might just be too far ahead of her time. It's happened before with the Greens of course, Russell Norman raised the fact that the reserve bank could just use QE to directly fund the government back in 2012.
It took a further 8 years and a pandemic but as it turned out, well yes, the government can just pay for everybody's wages if it thinks that's a good idea. Somehow for the interim period 2012-2020 the countries finances were constantly narrated as we can't afford this, we can't afford that, we are borderline bankrupt and then it just happened we weren't.
A challenge to orthodoxy and BAU is often met with accusations of ignorance and usually such accusations lack substance and argument coming from fearful empty hollow vessels yearning for yesteryear.
The IMF this week said that windfall taxes,create uncertainty and decrease investment,one of the messages that Robertson would have received,as was the emphasis on stability,and debt management.
Genter is well out of her depth here,and lettuce economics carries little weight in a high risk economy like NZ,where to attract investment ( read fund debt) we have to offer higher interest rates, then other G10 economies.
NZ is a price taker in attracting debt,due to the risks with being a commodity currency,a large current account deficit,and trade imbalance increasing debt by local and central government (based on policies of low interest rates).
Total government borrowings are now 219,232 m vs a budget forecast of 209,291m in increase in debt of 9914000000 $ in 3 months.The government needs to get its spending under control,as inflation is the only game in town.
We do not have a policy of low interest rates as that is essentially determined by markets,which look at the ability to pay in the future.With high overseas debt loading,we also have a forex risk,as flows are not say like Australia with both commodity and investment inflows (from australian offshore investments) sustaining a current account surplus.This reduces the demand on borrowing.
With a lower inflation rate,it is the real rate of return on the interest bearing bond eg central bank rate less inflation.
The policies were structured during a period of low interest rates,now with cost increases,they are demand drivers for inflation.As surpluses do not exist,they are driven by debt to pay borrowing,which increases inflation infintitum.
Seems like government is a bit stuffed then. You've pointed out a $10 billion treasury forecasting error 3-months out and the 'correct' financing depends on getting both the inflation and interest rate forecasts right about 2-5 years out.
Rather than changing the name of New Zealand and going through that whole palaver do you think we should just cut to the chase and apply to be de-listed as a country immediately?
The "highest interest rates in the Western world" are not "determined by "the markets", they are determined by our absurd and one eyed "reserve Bank act" setting rates artificially higher than the "markets", encouraging speculative flows. Plus extra profit taking by banks operating in NZ. "Some of the highest bank profits in the world".
What hasn’t been commented on is that an increase in interest rates will also penalise every business and household in the country including everyone resident in Auckland and Christchurch who already have a mortgage and have no intention of buying or selling a home.
Funny that with all the talk in the media on dis and misinformation, that an actual story on some serious industrial sized dissemination of misinformation hasn't become a MSM story….I wonder why that is?
Researchers Find Massive Anti-Russian ‘Bot Army’ "An Australian university has unearthed millions of Tweets by fake accounts pushing disinformation on the Ukraine war, Peter Cronau reports. The sample size dwarfs other studies of covert propaganda about the war on social media."
This part in the abstract was interesting….and quite telling…
"By aggregating account groups we find significant information flows from bot-like accounts to non-bot accounts with behaviour differing between sides. Pro-Russian non-bot accounts are most influential overall, with information flows to a variety of other account groups. No significant outward flows exist from pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts, with significant flows from pro-Ukrainian bot accounts into pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts."
This recent brouhaha about mis/disinformation has me a tad bemused.
Often, the information would be more accurately described as ' This information doesn't suit my view/opinion/narrative.' or, 'I don't like this persons perspective on other things, they are probably lying'.
If misinformation is such a problem then surely the government wouldn't employ practitioners of 'public affairs consultantcy', strategic communication experts or spin doctors …/sarc
The newsrooms and current affairs production hubs of RNZ and TVNZ have become ideological monocultures. Senior executives, producers, journalists, technical staff and, seemingly, the entire workforce of the public broadcasters, subscribe to a single version of economic, political, social and cultural reality. A journalist wishing to put together a programme on the bitter divisions rending the women’s movement over transgender issues, for example, would not only be denied permission, she would be lucky to hold on to her job. The RNZ and TVNZ of today grow only a single crop. If you don’t like the taste of “Woke” – then you had better find an alternative menu of ideas.
Perhaps it is this complete indifference to the traditions of free inquiry and frank debate that enlivened the public broadcasters of yesteryear that explains the new entity.
At the summit of both RNZ and TVNZ sit people who despise the whole Reithian concept of broadcasting as a public service.
There seems to be a bit of a left twitter storm about TV3's Jenna Lynch's relationship with the ACT chief of staff. But I heard Mari Dunlop giving Christopher Luxon a hard time on RNZ yet everyone remained silent on her relationship with Kiri Allan. Jessica Mutch-McKay famously shacked up with Jacinda's hipster bodyguard, and Katie Bradford's mum needs little introduction whilst the odious pairings over at the ZB troll farm hardly need further comment. And one can of course refer to the Jane Clifton/Trevor Mallard marriage for the boomers out there.
Now, on the one hand you could argue this is unimportant – New Zealand is small country, we should rely on the professionalism of our journalists for impartiality and on Chinese walls to keep the pillow talk to a minimum. But I am not so sure. To me the uncomfortably cosy personal relationships between the MSM and members of the political class points to a wider issue in journalism – the excessively narrow, middle class, base most of them seem to be drawn from. The obsession with airfares and overseas holidays, an economic narrative invariably favourable to the asset owning classes, all buttressed by the underlying value assumptions of centrist liberalism (paywalled) are symptoms of the malaise of a disconnected class of journalists.
What it all does IMHO is fuel public suspicion of the "MSM" and the "deep state" where the "paid for" media is often literally in bed with the "swamp" that needs draining.
For what it is worth, I think that in these days of conspiracy theories the establishment media needs to be more vigilant of the public's generally dim view of its often excessively close relationships with it's subjects. On a dual hosted public broadcaster I thought it a mistake for Dunlop to be given the job of aggressively interviewing the LOTO, for example.
At the very least MSM websites ought to carry personal disclosure statements about relationships that may affect public perceptions of their journalists. The journalists will resent it immensely, but I would say tough.
Knew about Kiri Allen before but hard to know how she will manage her conflict of interest now she is interviewing.
I think Jacinda's body guard situation less problematic.
Katie Bradford I think has done an outstanding job of appearing not to be biased, but then again, we don't always agree with our mums. I never detected bias from Jane Clifton who also had a relationship with Murray McCully. that always intrigued me!
I do think, particularly in an election year having Mani go hard out against Luxon isn't a good look, unless she is equally hard with Lab.
In a time of such deep distrust and disdain of media and journalism, media companies should go out of their way to hire people with no connections to the political class so they can't be accused of bias and quite frankly, nepotism.
We shouldn't be in a situation where those who hold our leaders to account are dating, married or closely related to leaders or figures in political parties, without disclosures. We Also shouldn't be giving retired polis tv shows. Ugh
You mentioned a great point about the upper middle classification of politics and journalism, the things these journalists cover are usually vapid upper middle class issues , the journalists have no concept of poverty, unions, minimum wage, state houses or the benefit system and it shows in their coverage.
And since these are the issues they cover they are the issues governments think are important and politicians who belong almost exclusively to the same upper middle class with the same lack of understanding of ground level issues pass policy by and for the middle class.
We desperately need diversity of class in our politics
Our new public media should absolutely be as obsessed with diversity of class as it is with diversity of race gender and sexuality. It should be mandated.
Tvnz political panels for instance should have random working class and beneficiaries giving their views on the panel on q and a not just rich journalists , former polis and CEOs.
If we're going to return faith to journalism and politics we need to have journos and politicians from diverse backgrounds of class not just upper middle class opinions m
Which jobs should go first? Hmmm, let's start with bank economists, then right wing business journalists perhaps then move on to highly paid PR staff in the AUckland mayor's office…
The powerful Russian businessman and a close Vladimir Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted to interfering in US elections on the eve of a midterm vote in which Republicans will seek to take control of Congress and state-wide offices across the country.
“Gentlemen, we interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere,” Prigozhin, who has previously been accused of influencing the outcome of elections across continents, said in a statement posted by his catering company, Concord.
“Carefully, precisely, surgically and the way we do it, the way we can,” Prigozhin, 61, added.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is of course head of the Wagner group, increasingly an organisation that is a mercenary political army that operates as a rival to the regular Russian Army. I have read there are three armies fighting different and disconnected wars against the Ukraine – the regular Russian army, the mercenary Wagner group, and the LNR/DNR militia. In any event, Putin's distrust of his army means Prigozhin and his political army are rapidly assuming an importance analogous to Himmler and the SS as a parallel political army loyal only to it's leader. If you want to know where Prigozhin's Wagner forces are on the totem pole of Russian power right now, they currently engaged in near suicidal frontal assaults on the heavily fortified Ukrainian positions outside the city of Bakhmut, were it looks like freshly mobilised, untrained Russian troops are being used as cannon fodder first wave assaults for Wagner forces, and suffering horrendous losses.
”I will answer you very subtly, delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”
Heaven forbid that we have record low unemployment and high wages.
Im telling you right now, the price for low inflation will always be low wage growth and high unemployment. Every single time. Look at during the 1990's, inflation was at 1%, but wages never even moved. Also unemployment was rampant, and people were stuck on the same wage throughout the decade.
You might be right Nic. I haven't followed it much, but saw that Rachael Stewart tweeted that Sean should have done due diligence on the "court documents". Time will tell.
Reading between the lines (just an opinion), sounds like Farrier got sucked into a web by a very cunning [deleted] and his mental health has suffered as a result, for which I have a lot of sympathy. I think it is possible Sean got played by the [deleted], which shows how dangerous and cunning these people can be.
given the litigious nature of the situation, can we please be more circumspect on what we call people? This is to protect TS's owners from legal action as publishers.
Just booked my tickets to the David Farrier film 'Mr Organ' Going on Saturday. I have followed David (Webworm) for a while now and looking forward to the film very much.
Who can apply for a Protection Order? Anyone who needs protection from someone who is violent, abusive or making threats can apply. You must have, or previously had, a close personal relationship with that person. It could be a partner, ex-partner, flatmate, carer or family/ whānau member. They don’t have to be living with you.
The general page also provides the link to Restraining Orders for cases not covered by Protection Orders.
Wouldn't almost anyone? I almost feel some (very) slight nostalgia for David Clark. He wasn't any more competent but at least he wasn't bitchy when being questioned.
In the 'last few years', lets say 5, most measurements have got a lot worse in health. Oh that's right, we don't measure anymore as targets are unhelpful!/
Wait times and access to primary care are covered under Better primary health care, which you would have known if you’d actually opened and read the link I’d provided. And if you’d read the Introduction to the Health System Indicators framework, you’d have a better understanding of the “six Government priorities and 12 high-level indicators” and possibly even understood why setting and measuring targets as done in the past is essentially meaningless and doesn’t fix anything. As it stands, you’re only confirming your own bias and parroting simplistic Nat propaganda slogans.
No, the targets were dumped as they were weighted too much in favour of middle class cancer patients, while the chronically sick poor were just left to rot.
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TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
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Cynical, malevolent and bandwagon-ing bunch maybe, but National is right to join the chorus of questioning bank profits. Now a majority of the house is onto this. Stopped clock etc.
National urges govt to probe monetary policy over banks' huge profits https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/478252/national-urges-govt-to-probe-monetary-policy-over-banks-huge-profits
And Labours response as usual is tepid…why?, because like National, they are free market fundamentalists, both whom believe the markets and commodification can fix every problem..even in the face of the World burning, caused by free markets and unfettered commodification….not a lot of difference between these guys and ISIS as far as I am concerned..both extremist nutters who would kill us all to prove their ideology is right.
"not a lot of difference between these guys and ISIS"
Yeah but how much to fuel the enormous clown car you ride round in?
I don't even know what your comment means?…anyway I commute 20km each way to and from work most days and drive a 1988 800cc Suzuki Alto, so fuel doesn't cost me fuck all.
Sam Stubbs brilliantly ripped the banks to pieces in RNZ's Morning Report this morning at about 8.15. A must listen
Key point: the profits the Australian banks are making in NZ are much higher than profits made by banks internationally. Conclusion: WINDFALL TAX
Come on Robertson FFS this is a win-win. A couple of billion in the coffers with most of the population (not the top 5% of course) cheering to the rafters.
Holy hika, he's absolutely SLATED them! Government inquiry, open banking, expansion of Kiwibank are all feasible measures the govt could take. Listen to the RNZ report, it's most insightful.
"are all feasible measures the govt could take"…but won't.
https://www.heartland.co.nz/
https://www.kiwibank.co.nz/personal-banking/
https://www.sbsbank.co.nz/
https://www.co-operativebank.co.nz/
https://www.tsb.co.nz/
Many Kiwis will have good reasons to use Aussie-owned banks – for those that don’t, a selection of ‘solutions’ are available. Switching banks is very doable.
Grant Robertson meets with the major banks regularly, to discuss their current positions and forecasts.
He most likely will have some insights.
Bank profits are positively correlated with the OCR. Thats going to become a bit of a conundrum at some point if much inflation policy is monetary policy.
I was being a bit cynical. I know someone working at one of the big Australian banks, who attends these meetings.
From the little I know. Grant Robertson appears to be asking for direction on monetary policy from them. If true, he's obviously following it, hence the huge profits.
What your describing sounds like complete industry capture. Frankly one hopes this is not true.
The main issue being the links between monetary policy and bank profits are much more clear and better established than the links between monetary policy and inflation control. In fact if a lot of the price revisions are coming from overseas then the impact of monetary policy may be (quite obviously) none. Monetary policy does impact interest rates accruing to savers however so relying on it is making a wide range of inequality pressures worse.
The other thing is Robertson appears to be saying we don't want to use an increase in unemployment to target inflation. But this is part of how monetary policy supposedly works, if it works. So he's saying the RBNZ can use their policy tool just as long as it doesn't actually work the way its supposed to work. Orr must be very confused about what he is supposed to do under his monetary policy targets agreement (annually re-agreed) with Robertson. Probably he is supposed to do, nothing which reflects badly on Robertson or the government.
"What your describing sounds like complete industry capture. Frankly one hopes this is not true."
I hope not as well.
Do our Minister's have publicly published schedules?
I read somewhere that Robertson was meeting weekly with banks during the Covid response, though I have no links to back that up with.
'Where should govt put QE funding to get us through Covid?'
Just hand it to us and we will inflate the housing casino further and pad our profits.
Sure thing. How much do you want?
The little information I do have from the conversation, was that discussions about inflationary housing costs and lending were taking place regularly, so you might not be too far off the mark. However, I'm trying to not overstate the unknown.
(I hesitated about posting hearsay without verification, but then considered that someone reading might be interested enough to do an OIA request that I don't currently have time to do.)
QE isn't really facilitating any additional ability to lend. The banks always have as much flexibility to lend without ever running into an interbank payment constraint in terms of reserves. This is because the RBNZ will lend what ever volume of reserves needed at the OCR as part of monetary policy anyway.
The actual constraints against lending are things like LVR ratios, or debt to income ratios or how many years the bank agrees as a repayment term. But as long as the borrower can repay and will pay interest above the OCR then the bank can make that loan profitably.
QE is just an expedient way of operating relatively typical monetary policy while having the central bank lend to the govt. Commercial banks and other large scale financials are involved in primary lending and in return get a small return as the RBNZ will usually buy the bonds back again for marginally more again on the secondary market. Other than this small cut however the RBNZ may as well be lending directly to the government.
Banks, supermarket monopolies, fuel companies, Fletchers, etc, etc.
There's an election next year, polls are being done all the time.
Is the National Party going to make big noises about massive profits being terrible, implying everything will be different after they get in? Of course.
And after they and ACT are elected next year will everything in regards to massive profits be different and better, to the advantage of most? Of course not. It's all bluster, all piss and wind.
https://twitter.com/NZGreens/status/1589767200524890112?
Did you listen to the Green's "Finance Spokesman" on Morning Report this morning? It was Julie Anne Genter. She was a total joke and clearly knew absolutely nothing about the topic.
If a party doesn't have anyone who knows the topic under consideration they shouldn't even try and put up a representative. It merely makes them a laughing stock.
I didn't hear what she said but she might just be too far ahead of her time. It's happened before with the Greens of course, Russell Norman raised the fact that the reserve bank could just use QE to directly fund the government back in 2012.
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/printing-more-money-answer
It took a further 8 years and a pandemic but as it turned out, well yes, the government can just pay for everybody's wages if it thinks that's a good idea. Somehow for the interim period 2012-2020 the countries finances were constantly narrated as we can't afford this, we can't afford that, we are borderline bankrupt and then it just happened we weren't.
Who knew? Turns out it was Russell Norman.
A challenge to orthodoxy and BAU is often met with accusations of ignorance and usually such accusations lack substance and argument coming from fearful empty hollow vessels yearning for yesteryear.
You mean, you!, didn't understand what Julie Ann Genter, was saying.
Why don't you try and see if you can understand her, or whether you think she knows anything at all about what she was saying.
The interview is here
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018865925/tax-excessive-gains-by-mega-banks-greens
The IMF this week said that windfall taxes,create uncertainty and decrease investment,one of the messages that Robertson would have received,as was the emphasis on stability,and debt management.
Genter is well out of her depth here,and lettuce economics carries little weight in a high risk economy like NZ,where to attract investment ( read fund debt) we have to offer higher interest rates, then other G10 economies.
Why is our currency so heavily traded internationally?
It pays higher interest rates then any G10 currency,and pairs (usd.nzd) with a hedge (nzd aud) on the short.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fg_Q5dYWYAAFOI5?format=png&name=small
Thanks
Because our reserve Bank keeps our interest rates artificially high.. In vain attempts to target inflation.
Attracting currency flows.
KJT. Random musings on all sorts of things.: Search results for Interest rates (kjt-kt.blogspot.com)
NZ is a price taker in attracting debt,due to the risks with being a commodity currency,a large current account deficit,and trade imbalance increasing debt by local and central government (based on policies of low interest rates).
Total government borrowings are now 219,232 m vs a budget forecast of 209,291m in increase in debt of 9914000000 $ in 3 months.The government needs to get its spending under control,as inflation is the only game in town.
Are you sure NZ can be both a price (interest rate) taker and have a policy of low interest rates.
We do not have a policy of low interest rates as that is essentially determined by markets,which look at the ability to pay in the future.With high overseas debt loading,we also have a forex risk,as flows are not say like Australia with both commodity and investment inflows (from australian offshore investments) sustaining a current account surplus.This reduces the demand on borrowing.
With a lower inflation rate,it is the real rate of return on the interest bearing bond eg central bank rate less inflation.
So central and local government have not been increasing debt "based on policies of low interest rates"?
The policies were structured during a period of low interest rates,now with cost increases,they are demand drivers for inflation.As surpluses do not exist,they are driven by debt to pay borrowing,which increases inflation infintitum.
Seems like government is a bit stuffed then. You've pointed out a $10 billion treasury forecasting error 3-months out and the 'correct' financing depends on getting both the inflation and interest rate forecasts right about 2-5 years out.
Rather than changing the name of New Zealand and going through that whole palaver do you think we should just cut to the chase and apply to be de-listed as a country immediately?
The "highest interest rates in the Western world" are not "determined by "the markets", they are determined by our absurd and one eyed "reserve Bank act" setting rates artificially higher than the "markets", encouraging speculative flows. Plus extra profit taking by banks operating in NZ. "Some of the highest bank profits in the world".
Aussies are banking on bumper profits in NZ – Milford Asset
Bank profits to overseas banks are themselves a large factor in our negative current accounts. Compare bank profits to net dairy earnings.
Well higher interest rates have been the norm in NZ,for the 21st century,being higher in property bubbles,and property crashes.
https://twitter.com/RobinBrooksIIF/status/1586352385684709377/photo/1
TBF, Sam Stubbs was far more articulate, informed and passionate than Genter came across.
Dann didn't interrupt Subbs as much as he did Genter.
Stubbs needs to look after his own house,Should Simplicity fees be reduced,with such an appalling rate of return.
https://simplicity.kiwi/kiwisaver/performance/
The tweet after Arkie’s has a link to their more detailed policy document: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/beachheroes/pages/16835/attachments/original/1666994726/Excess_Profits_-_October_2022.pdf?1666994726%22
Funny that with all the talk in the media on dis and misinformation, that an actual story on some serious industrial sized dissemination of misinformation hasn't become a MSM story….I wonder why that is?
Researchers Find Massive Anti-Russian ‘Bot Army’
"An Australian university has unearthed millions of Tweets by fake accounts pushing disinformation on the Ukraine war, Peter Cronau reports. The sample size dwarfs other studies of covert propaganda about the war on social media."
Thanks, Adrian – interesting article.
Study link below if anyone wants to dive deeper:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.07038.pdf
Thanks Molly,
This part in the abstract was interesting….and quite telling…
"By aggregating account groups we find significant information flows from bot-like accounts to non-bot accounts with behaviour differing between sides. Pro-Russian non-bot accounts are most influential overall, with information flows to a variety of other account groups. No significant outward flows exist from pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts, with significant flows from pro-Ukrainian bot accounts into pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts."
This recent brouhaha about mis/disinformation has me a tad bemused.
Often, the information would be more accurately described as ' This information doesn't suit my view/opinion/narrative.' or, 'I don't like this persons perspective on other things, they are probably lying'.
If misinformation is such a problem then surely the government wouldn't employ practitioners of 'public affairs consultantcy', strategic communication experts or spin doctors …/sarc
Goodness but it is clear no one at RNZ is returning Chris Trotter's calls these days.
??
???
Because of this?
More Than One Way To Skin A Cat. | The Daily Blog
There seems to be a bit of a left twitter storm about TV3's Jenna Lynch's relationship with the ACT chief of staff. But I heard Mari Dunlop giving Christopher Luxon a hard time on RNZ yet everyone remained silent on her relationship with Kiri Allan. Jessica Mutch-McKay famously shacked up with Jacinda's hipster bodyguard, and Katie Bradford's mum needs little introduction whilst the odious pairings over at the ZB troll farm hardly need further comment. And one can of course refer to the Jane Clifton/Trevor Mallard marriage for the boomers out there.
Now, on the one hand you could argue this is unimportant – New Zealand is small country, we should rely on the professionalism of our journalists for impartiality and on Chinese walls to keep the pillow talk to a minimum. But I am not so sure. To me the uncomfortably cosy personal relationships between the MSM and members of the political class points to a wider issue in journalism – the excessively narrow, middle class, base most of them seem to be drawn from. The obsession with airfares and overseas holidays, an economic narrative invariably favourable to the asset owning classes, all buttressed by the underlying value assumptions of centrist liberalism (paywalled) are symptoms of the malaise of a disconnected class of journalists.
What it all does IMHO is fuel public suspicion of the "MSM" and the "deep state" where the "paid for" media is often literally in bed with the "swamp" that needs draining.
For what it is worth, I think that in these days of conspiracy theories the establishment media needs to be more vigilant of the public's generally dim view of its often excessively close relationships with it's subjects. On a dual hosted public broadcaster I thought it a mistake for Dunlop to be given the job of aggressively interviewing the LOTO, for example.
At the very least MSM websites ought to carry personal disclosure statements about relationships that may affect public perceptions of their journalists. The journalists will resent it immensely, but I would say tough.
Not quite true, I heard RNZ announce it just as Mani was becoming the Morning Report host. That's how I knew about it.
But good points – you left out Brooke Sabin son of that odious man that exited or was exited from the Nat Party some years ago for… I forget now…
Knew about Kiri Allen before but hard to know how she will manage her conflict of interest now she is interviewing.
I think Jacinda's body guard situation less problematic.
Katie Bradford I think has done an outstanding job of appearing not to be biased, but then again, we don't always agree with our mums. I never detected bias from Jane Clifton who also had a relationship with Murray McCully. that always intrigued me!
I do think, particularly in an election year having Mani go hard out against Luxon isn't a good look, unless she is equally hard with Lab.
Its tricky.
You obviously missed Marni Dunlop giving the Prime Minister a hard time on Monday morning.
Fully agree.
In a time of such deep distrust and disdain of media and journalism, media companies should go out of their way to hire people with no connections to the political class so they can't be accused of bias and quite frankly, nepotism.
We shouldn't be in a situation where those who hold our leaders to account are dating, married or closely related to leaders or figures in political parties, without disclosures. We Also shouldn't be giving retired polis tv shows. Ugh
You mentioned a great point about the upper middle classification of politics and journalism, the things these journalists cover are usually vapid upper middle class issues , the journalists have no concept of poverty, unions, minimum wage, state houses or the benefit system and it shows in their coverage.
And since these are the issues they cover they are the issues governments think are important and politicians who belong almost exclusively to the same upper middle class with the same lack of understanding of ground level issues pass policy by and for the middle class.
We desperately need diversity of class in our politics
Our new public media should absolutely be as obsessed with diversity of class as it is with diversity of race gender and sexuality. It should be mandated.
Tvnz political panels for instance should have random working class and beneficiaries giving their views on the panel on q and a not just rich journalists , former polis and CEOs.
If we're going to return faith to journalism and politics we need to have journos and politicians from diverse backgrounds of class not just upper middle class opinions m
Lets see
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/130403417/which-jobs-would-be-the-first-to-go-if-unemployment-rose
OK lose jobs- lower tax take
More unemployed thus higher govt expenditure.
And that will reduce inflation HAH
Which jobs should go first? Hmmm, let's start with bank economists, then right wing business journalists perhaps then move on to highly paid PR staff in the AUckland mayor's office…
Ooh, this will exercise some people here. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/07/putin-ally-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-interfering-in-us-elections
Yevgeny Prigozhin is of course head of the Wagner group, increasingly an organisation that is a mercenary political army that operates as a rival to the regular Russian Army. I have read there are three armies fighting different and disconnected wars against the Ukraine – the regular Russian army, the mercenary Wagner group, and the LNR/DNR militia. In any event, Putin's distrust of his army means Prigozhin and his political army are rapidly assuming an importance analogous to Himmler and the SS as a parallel political army loyal only to it's leader. If you want to know where Prigozhin's Wagner forces are on the totem pole of Russian power right now, they currently engaged in near suicidal frontal assaults on the heavily fortified Ukrainian positions outside the city of Bakhmut, were it looks like freshly mobilised, untrained Russian troops are being used as cannon fodder first wave assaults for Wagner forces, and suffering horrendous losses.
Don't take it too hard Sacha, you're not the first to be totally suckered by a trolling Russian , you won't be the last
I like the reference to kidneys and liver which you missed out.
No such reference in the article.
You mean one article was enough for you?
Could do better
”I will answer you very subtly, delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/11/putins-chef-ridicules-us-news-outlets-adds-election-interference-comedy-sketch.html#more
Bad faith.
Luxon shocked government doesn't do what Willis says.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300733275/national-shocked-by-adrian-orrs-reappointment-to-head-of-reserve-bank
Adrian Orr has utterly failed his remit and should not have been retained.
Heaven forbid that we have record low unemployment and high wages.
Im telling you right now, the price for low inflation will always be low wage growth and high unemployment. Every single time. Look at during the 1990's, inflation was at 1%, but wages never even moved. Also unemployment was rampant, and people were stuck on the same wage throughout the decade.
…epitomises what's wrong with capitalist economics…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/forest-regeneration-that-earned-multimillion-dollar-carbon-credits-resulted-in-fewer-trees-analysis-finds
People scamming the ets, no surprises there!!
Good.
https://twitter.com/TodayFM_nz/status/1589714503138410497
https://thespinoff.co.nz/pop-culture/08-11-2022/from-bashford-antiques-to-sean-plunket-a-timeline-of-david-farrier-and-mister-organ
Yes a good example of how our free speech laws work. It appears Plunket slandered Farrier, so good for him taking legal action.
Isn't the problem that Plunket released court documents on Twitter, not that he said anything untrue himself.
You might be right Nic. I haven't followed it much, but saw that Rachael Stewart tweeted that Sean should have done due diligence on the "court documents". Time will tell.
Reading between the lines (just an opinion), sounds like Farrier got sucked into a web by a very cunning [deleted] and his mental health has suffered as a result, for which I have a lot of sympathy. I think it is possible Sean got played by the [deleted], which shows how dangerous and cunning these people can be.
But the above is speculation on my behalf
given the litigious nature of the situation, can we please be more circumspect on what we call people? This is to protect TS's owners from legal action as publishers.
Just booked my tickets to the David Farrier film 'Mr Organ' Going on Saturday. I have followed David (Webworm) for a while now and looking forward to the film very much.
Review here:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/11/08/review-mister-organ-grips-you-tight-and-wont-let-go/
Profuse apologies Weka.
My bad.
that was an interesting hour's reading.
Generally, can Family Protection Orders be used against people who aren't family?
Yes, but there has to be, or have been, a "close personal relationship".
https://www.justice.govt.nz/family/family-violence/apply-for-a-protection-order/ has general information, and in the application form, it has this section:
The general page also provides the link to Restraining Orders for cases not covered by Protection Orders.
thanks, that makes sense of it then. Kind of.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
Outstanding interview with Shane Reti on what he would do about the Health System.
Not sure why he isn't leader. Watched this after reading Chris T article which is on TS feed.
Yes Shane would be an excellent health minister and certainly a lot better than the current one.
Wouldn't almost anyone? I almost feel some (very) slight nostalgia for David Clark. He wasn't any more competent but at least he wasn't bitchy when being questioned.
Your nostalgia matches mine for Coleman – medical doctors should know better.
Still, if there's a buck to be made from healthcare, trust Coleman to sniff it out.
Don't have much awareness of recent history, do you.
Reti will continue National's disastrous privatisation and de-funding of health, which has caused so much trouble in the last few years.
In the 'last few years', lets say 5, most measurements have got a lot worse in health. Oh that's right, we don't measure anymore as targets are unhelpful!/
Is that right?
Health System Indicators framework: Measuring how well the health and disability system serves New Zealanders
https://reports.hqsc.govt.nz/HSI/_w_21ce52a1/#!/
Here's one measurement.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nearly-all-nz-hospitals-failing-to-meet-govts-ed-wait-time-targets/UUUS4R3CIRX5W46DQYRFDKUR4Y/
The rabid right often contradict themelves – alwyn @10.1.1 at least had the common sense to restrict his bitching to personal feelz.
Wait times and access to primary care are covered under Better primary health care, which you would have known if you’d actually opened and read the link I’d provided. And if you’d read the Introduction to the Health System Indicators framework, you’d have a better understanding of the “six Government priorities and 12 high-level indicators” and possibly even understood why setting and measuring targets as done in the past is essentially meaningless and doesn’t fix anything. As it stands, you’re only confirming your own bias and parroting simplistic Nat propaganda slogans.
No, the targets were dumped as they were weighted too much in favour of middle class cancer patients, while the chronically sick poor were just left to rot.
If Reti had his way, we would be paying as much to see the doctor as we do the dentist.
Andrew Little is the first minister of health in decades that doesnt see health as a tradeable commidity.
How much more dirty are the right going to get? With their au pair the Murdoc Press punching hard.