When Grant Robertson admitted that his latest handouts will result in over 80 per cent of New Zealanders now being on some form of government benefit, he said it with an element of pride. It is disgusting to watch this government turn a nation of mostly hard-working, decent people into
Travelling to Porirua on Monday (taking my car in for repair), I was listening to Newstalk ZB (the Wellington morning section) where they were talking about local councils. In fact, the presenter, Nick Mills, was positively incensed; the local council simply ignores submissions from the public, just doing exactly what
The fallout has started. Construction companies are starting to go to the wall. Every time a downturn hits, one of the first signs is the collapse of building. Construction companies often have tight margins and once payments from clients start to be delayed the whole house of cards begins to
Budget Day is probably the most important day of the political calendar, other than the day of a general election. Everyone is affected by the budget one way or another. Whether you were hoping for more funding for Pharmac, an increase in benefits, tax cuts, more money for those with
Watch out National. The government has heard you banging on about the cost of living crisis but, instead of offering tax cuts, they are going to splash some cash – literally – into people’s bank accounts. Only some people of course; those who earn less than $70,000 pa and do
Information Opinion Note: this article is an opinion piece. It is not intended as investment advice. Those seeking investment advice should consult a professional adviser. I thought I should wait a while before talking about the furore over My Food Bag, caused by insensitive remarks by Simon Henry, CEO of
A recession is a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters. Talking to journalists a short while later [Robertson] conceded that the Budget financial figures would show a deterioration relative to the last
Last week, it was announced that the Employment Court has ruled that three former members of the Gloriavale community were actually employees rather than volunteers, and that they should be considered as employees from the age of six until they left the religious group. As someone involved in the business
I always say this. The economy is like a juggernaut, or a massive cruise liner: it takes a long time to change its direction. Labour has enjoyed the positive effects of John Key’s ‘rock star’ economy for the first four years of their government, because it takes a long
Chatting to friends at dinner in a West Coast town last week, we were discussing the fact that many of the local businesses seem to be struggling. Covid is part of the problem of course, as the virus has finally arrived here but it is obvious that this is not
I was both relieved and very impressed when David Parker, Attorney General announced last week that he believed that the Rotorua Council Representation Bill could not go ahead because it is undemocratic. As it stands, it would have given Maori voters in Rotorua more valuable voting rights than non-Maori, and
I saw a comment on Twitter from someone who claimed that his mortgage of approximately $350,000 was going to cost him about $7,500 more a year because of interest rate increases. I thought these numbers simply didn’t stack up. That is a very big increase in mortgage
It wasn’t so bad at the start of the pandemic. Sure, the media had always been Jacinda Ardern’s cheerleaders, but when Covid hit none of us really knew what to expect. We saw pictures of doors on apartment buildings being sealed up in China and severely overrun hospitals
We have been caught in a ‘wicked perfect storm’ for a few years now. Labour cancelled oil and gas exploration, then hit private landlords hard; resulting in a dwindling supply of rental houses and skyrocketing rents, made private housing less and less affordable… and that was before the pandemic hit.
For a moment, let us put aside our dislike of Ashley Bloomfield. Being a Wellingtonian, I know a number of people who have worked with him and all say that he is a good guy. For me, he became too politicised, and that was his downfall. But look at the
Remember Phil Twyford promising to build 100,000 houses in 10 years? It seems like a long time ago now. Instead of fixing the housing crisis as they promised, this Labour Government has made the situation worse for thousands of Kiwis. Housing is rapidly becoming a luxury in this country:
