The Failed Estate: Kabuki Economics

Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, May 13th, 2018 - 19 comments
Categories: australian politics, Economy, International, Media - Tags:

Reprinted with permission from the Failed Estate.

One of the first budgets I covered as a journalist spelt the end of the career of the man who delivered it.

John Dawkins, who had been finance minister in the formidable first Hawke cabinet of 1983, had finally achieved his ambition of taking the treasury portfolio after Paul Keating rolled Bob Hawke for the prime ministership in 1991.

Two years later, Dawkins was gone. He quit politics after the debacle that was the 1993 budget. This is when Keating went back on the L-A-W tax cut promise he had made before his ‘true believers’ election victory against Hewson that year.

In the months after the budget (the last one delivered in August), the program stalled in the Senate. With memories still fresh of the supply crisis of 1974, financial markets became skittish and the Australian dollar sank to around 64 US cents, a then seven-year low. (Recall, Australia was just coming out of recession then).

Having anchored the editing for a US financial newswire inside the lock-up, I recall the real work began in the weeks afterward, filing headline ‘snaps’ to trading screens from our reporters at Canberra doorstops where Keating or Dawkins would be fired questions about budget negotiations. It was pretty shambolic.

These days, it’s hard to imagine financial markets getting anywhere near as excited about an Australian budget. Most of the key measures are flagged well ahead of the event and the bond markets are telegraphed the financing task. In any case, as a ‘AAA’- rated borrower these days Australia finds no shortage of demand among global pension funds for its relatively high yielding bonds. Yes, our public debt has doubled in five years, but it still pales in absolute and proportionate terms to the liabilities of major economies, including the USA.

This means Australia is rarely on the radar of global markets, living off its reputation as a well-run economy with sound public finances, and two major parties broadly committed to the (albeit now shopsoiled) Washington consensus of independent monetary policy, fiscal responsibility, open markets and a commitment to free trade. Put another way, compared to the ‘Breaking Bad’ dramas over Trump, Brexit, the  European monetary union and the fiscal and monetary policy experiments elsewhere post-GFC, Australia (with 27 years of uninterrupted growth) looks like another episode of ‘Law and Order’.

So why is the Australian budget still treated as such a big deal, with hundreds of journalists and analysts flocking to Canberra for a high-security, highly expensive six-hour lock-up? We’ve seen that the markets don’t care much anymore, most of the detail is strategically leaked in the weeks beforehand to sympathetic journalists to maximise coverage and much of the variance in the bottom line from one update to the next is due to exogenous factors beyond the government’s control.

After suggesting the media collectively boycott the whole circus, I had a back-and-forth on Twitter about this with ABC commentator Annabel Crabb, who made the point that it would be hard for her and others to offer an informed opinion about the budget without the lock-up. My response to that is, firstly, why should we be hanging out for their opinion anyway? Sure, share your thoughts by all means but what makes journalists’ insights any more special than anyone else’s, other than the fact they’ve had a six-hour head-start in reading the documents? Keep in mind the entire budget is available online these days within a minute or two of the treasurer getting to his feet. If you know where do look it doesn’t take long to get up to speed.

Understandably, Ms Crabb wants to offer her viewers an informed, considered view, not a “hot take”. But perhaps if the budget was just released without a lock-up (as most countries do BTW),  journalists would go back to the traditional order – first report the facts, THEN offer expert analysis and THEN tell us your opinion once everybody has absorbed the information in real time. The danger with the lock-up is that the coverage expands to fit the investment in the occasion. In other words, it suits the political class to corral the media for a whole day so it can control the message and it suits the media, having made such an investment in the theatre of the budget (like an opening night on Broadway), to preserve the exclusivity of access that the lock-up provides. Disintermediation, digital media and the real-time access that everybody has to the key documents only makes the established insiders more defensive on this score.

I’d also argue that the mutual back-scratching around the budget puts the media at risk of being complicit with the government rhetoric about “running the economy” and “creating jobs”. The depiction of luck as skill suits the insiders. This latest budget, for instance, shows that a $26 billion windfall since the last fiscal update in December is funding another round of the now ritual pre-election tax cuts.  A good chunk of that turnaround was due to a synchronisedglobal upswing in the other developed economies as they finally emerged from the post-GFC slump. The rest was an overdue rebalancing of our domestic economy after the post-mining boom hangover.

So as much as the media wants to personalise the budget process (Scott at the controls like Kirk in the Starship Enterprise), the reality is the government is not ‘in charge’ of the economy. And that’s why this trend of making 10-year projections beyond the four-year forward estimates is just nonsense. This latest three-phase tax cut, culminating in a virtual flat tax regime by 2024, is particularly silly. Imagine Peter Costello, in the midst of the commodity boom of the early 2000s and money coming out of his ears, projecting tax cuts for 2008. What could go wrong?

The truth is the Australian economy is a tiny cork on a big, heaving ocean. We’re a minor-to-middling political power, which largely outsources its foreign policy to Washington. Our political culture is increasingly a pale imitation of the partisan 24/7 shouting that dominates Washington (minus the guns). Our thinktanks import their spotty libertarian thought-bubbles from across the Pacific and our pop culture is almost entirely derivative. For all the noise and gnashing and wailing of teeth, the budget deficit swings around 1-2% of GDP most years. Our debt of 20% of GDP compares with levels of 80,90, 100% and more in other developed economies. The political argy-bargy and column inches filled is way out of proportion to the global significance of it all.

If there’s a story in this budget it’s connected to a bigger one about the exhaustion of the three-decade neoliberal experiment globally. Once governments have privatised everything and outsourced it all and transferred every single risk to the shoulders of individuals (so they are ‘free’), what’s left? Politicians are reduced to tedious, train-spotting arguments about revenue-to-GDP ratios and “the path back to surplus” (the economic equivalent of waiting for Godot). Outside economics, they are left to fight manufactured culture wars to fuel the permanent outrage machine at News Corp – hence the entirely ideological budget cuts for the ABC and the quarter of a billion dollar ‘chaplains’ program. Even the tax cuts serve an ideological purpose, sold in the American style as “it’s the people’s money and it’s government’s job to get out of their lives”, language that is totally alien to Australia’s social democratic tradition.

With the politics ritualised, so is the media coverage. Panels of talking heads tediously debate the political strategy and whether the tax cuts will shift Newspoll. The images are always the same – the treasurer in shirt sleeves strolling through the lock-up and chumming up with our favourite commentators, the piece to camera above the huddled journos, perched over the books like anxious students in an HSC exam (“pens down, time’s up!) the references to the “centrepiece pitch to middle Australia”, the PowerPoint presentations, the well-rehearsed talking points from the rival political players – it’s beyond boilerplate.

Of course, there are real stories in the effect the budget measures have on people  beyond Canberra. But you don’t hear them beyond the hastily constructed and clumsy family-at-home-in-front-of-the-telly voxpops. As Bernard Keane observed in Crikey, the budget is now a parlour game for the political class, a highly ritualised and abstract exercise totally divorced from the real-world impacts of the taxing and spending decisions. The game is now so airless and artificial that politicians set as their benchmarks for success arbitrary revenue targets that bear no resemblance to anything anyone cares about or connects with, which I guess is the whole point.

In the meantime, it is no wonder people are switching off and searching for a political movement that returns to the public a sense of their own agency, that protects and strengths our social infrastructure and that purges our exhausted political conversation of the dead Hayekian worldview that created this mess.

It’s time to close the curtain on kabuki economics.

19 comments on “The Failed Estate: Kabuki Economics ”

  1. lprent 1

    Great post. I love it.

    • mickysavage 1.1

      He is a phenomenally good writer who blogs occasionally. He has a really good grasp of media and also financial issues.

      • dukeofurl 1.1.1

        Doesnt mention that Australias Treasury talks about budgets on a ‘cash basis’ while their Finance department ( which handles the spending side) talks about the numbers on an accrual basis ( the same as we do)

        The previous budget had a deficit of $35-40 bill ( cash) but only a deficit of $8 bill ( accrual)
        Other complications are the GST revenue is distributed to the States for their own spending. For strange reasons people like OECD dont count this as ‘expenditure’

        On top of that the Federal Government runs a sort of ‘off the books infrastructure spending’ ( but not a PPP).
        Maybe we adopt that as well?

        A quirk of their constitution ( like the recent many Mps and Senators who we disqualified for dual citizenship) meant that Federal Government funding for state schools ‘chaplains’ was deemed illegal
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_School_Chaplaincy_Programme
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_v_Commonwealth

        They kept providing the funding ( $250 mill plus) by work arounds rather than curtailing it ( including 100s of other programs) and that first work around was later ruled invalid. Finally the chaplains were funded by the states directly who were then funded by the Commonwealth.

  2. Ad 2

    I would rather have a boring political media together due to a very stable state, flourishing society, strong democracy, and strong economy, than what most other countries in the world have. That in the end is what this writer is complaining about. He may not enjoy the political economy of Kabuki, but I suspect he wouldn’t like the political economy of Sepultra either.

    • mickysavage 2.1

      Does a flourishing society require the continuation of traditional budget customs?

      • Ad 2.1.1

        It doesn’t really require politics as described above, at all.

        It’s definitely up to politicians and political parties to refresh the political order.

        But predictable and well-forecast budgets are far more preferable than massive surprises.

    • greywarshark 2.2

      Ad
      So it’s one or the other is it. TINA – again? What about a handcrafted, fit for purpose economic and political system? Any skilled craftspeople to make this delicious delectable pavlova all of our own, that is craved and enjoyed by the rest of the world?

      • Ad 2.2.1

        You’re confusing your preferred political system, from the focus of the piece which is political media.

        The writer of the piece is full of the spent and cynical ennui that perpetuates what he is complaining about.

        For the multiple platforms now available to engage the public about politics, his writing shows only that he has no imagination nor any will to imagine any alternatives. He sounds like Bob Dylan in the Time Out Of Mind phase:

        People on the platforms
        Waiting for the trains
        I can hear their hearts a-beatin’
        Like pendulums swinging on chains
        I tried to give you everything
        That your heart was longing for
        I’m just going down the road feeling bad
        Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

        • fender 2.2.1.1

          The verse you quoted from the song Trying Yo Get To Heaven from the album Time Out Of Mind actually goes like this:

          “People on the platforms, waitin’ for the trains.
          I can hear their hearts a-beatin’, like pendulum swingin’ on chains.
          When you think that you’ve lost everything,
          You find out you can always lose a little more.
          I’m just going down the road feelin’ bad,
          Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.”

          Here’s the full song:

          “The air is gettin’ hotter, there’s a rumblin’ in the skies.
          I’ve been wadin’ through the high muddy waters,
          But the heat riseth in my eyes.
          Everyday your memory goes dimmer,
          It doesn’t haunt me like it did before.
          I’ve been walkin’ through the middle of nowhere,
          Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.

          When I was in Missouri, they would not let me be.
          I had to leave there in a hurry, I only saw what they let me see.
          You broke a heart that loved you,
          Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore.
          I’ve been walkin’ that lonesome valley,
          Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.

          People on the platforms, waitin’ for the trains.
          I can hear their hearts a-beatin’, like pendulum swingin’ on chains.
          When you think that you’ve lost everything,
          You find out you can always lose a little more.
          I’m just going down the road feelin’ bad,
          Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.

          I’m goin’ down the river, down to New Orleans.
          They tell me everything is gonna be all right,
          But I don’t know what all right even means.
          I was ridin’ in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane,
          Miss Mary Jane got a house in Baltimore.
          I’ve been all around the world boys,
          I’m tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.

          Gotta sleep down in the parlor, and relive my dreams.
          I close my eyes and I wonder, if everything is as hollow as it seems.
          Some trains don’t pull no gamblers,
          No midnight ramblers like they did before.
          I’ve been to Sugartown, I shook the sugar down,
          Now I’m tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door.”

          Can you please explain how this masterpiece of a song “sounds like” the writer of this article?

          • Ad 2.2.1.1.1

            My quote was taken from the official Bob Dylan website.
            It was that set of lyrics that I chose, rather than the better-known popular version that you quote.

            https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/trying-get-heaven/

            The specific quoted verse I chose speaks of melancholy, longing, resistance, world-weariness, of observing that same tiredness in ordinary people.

            Tell you what, put the song on and re-read the piece at the same time.

            • fender 2.2.1.1.1.1

              Your interpretation of the song isn’t inaccurate. Just don’t see how it relates to an article about the media drama surrounding budget day that resembles a bizarre Kabuki play or the americanised Kabuki dance

              • Ad

                That means you suffer from the same failed imagination that the post complains about. Which is apposite.

                • fender

                  The post doesn’t complain about a failed imagination, it complains about a superfluous media frenzy surrounding budget day.

      • greywarshark 2.2.2

        Yeah I am confused all right. The words that pour out from our mouths or from under our fingers, some of them obviously correct and doable but never acted on, must be a Pavlovian response to the concept of freedom of expression.

        The Russians and Chinese have really nothing to worry about if letting the peeps appear to have the right to air ideas, as the pipeline is blocked along a way where the clamp is out of sight. Is there any meaning in all this – will we ever get results, small significant changes that help us where we are right now?

  3. greywarshark 3

    wow that is a great thinkpiece. And the meaning of kabuki, stylised Japanese theatre mostly performed by males, that is a great analogy.

    We may have to pass everything that happens to us and that we do before a reality checking program to see how well it serves us as humans, and the program will have a call sign of Where is the love? That sounds risible, but only because it cuts through the stolid practicality process to questions of what is our life about, not just as a system that produces statistics that tell us how we are doing while we are being.

    Where is the Love – three different approaches showing our human
    creativity on this important thing
    The Black-Eyed Peas
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc
    or Roberta Flack
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcHPNUN-U8E
    or this is really street stuff ( but is it niceness?)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc4xpsNsbyA

  4. dukeofurl 4

    What has fascinated me is all the talk of the ‘$1 Bill funding boost’ for Foreign affairs including aid budget.

    These things are too complicated for the media who dont tell how many years this is over ( 4 years) or even what we are spending now

    National wasnt so shy about its election promises about aid for the pacific
    $644 mill of aid in 2017/18 , most of that for pacific
    and ‘The present three-year $1.7b New Zealand
    Aid Programme ‘

    Its tucked away in their election policy factsheets
    https://www.national.org.nz/foreign_affairs

    Its a classic budget strategy, repackage your opponents programs with a bit of ‘ jiggery pokery’ which shifts money from one area to another and call it an increase but mostly all thats happened is extend for a year.

    Much is made of the Stockhom embassy, but McCulley opened embassys in Dublin (?) , Baghdad and Bogota(?)

  5. Nic the NZer 5

    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=33365

    Explains why the whole AAA thing is an irrelevant cherade.

  6. Tracey 6

    Imagine if the media reported facts first… if only John Lennon had paused

  7. Philg 7

    Yes, the media has become Theatre, Entertainment.RNZ’s Jim Mora describes ‘The Panel ‘ as ‘The News of the day in a different way’ Just give it straight Jim. We don’t need bias, trivia and opinion. Just give us the news, the whole news and not a selective version of it.

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  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 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
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days 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
    4 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
    6 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
    7 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
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti.  Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
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