OK, now for some boring stuff. Money is going to become very short over the next few weeks. Sure, businesses have had some assistance from the government to help to pay wages (and I commend the government on their assistance package) but as payments to businesses dry up, things will
Humans can be pretty intriguing creatures. As God found out in the Garden of Eden, tell us not to do something and our immediate impulse is to find the most ingenious way to get around it. As governments impose ever-more onerous restrictions on daily life in response to the
China is mounting an impressive and so far successful propaganda war trying to reset perceptions that they are to blame for the global COVID-19 pandemic. They are, of course, being assisted by global media who, despite months of calling the virus variations of the Chinese virus, are now lambasting
Essential businesses that can stay open are: Accommodation: • Any entity that provides accommodation services for essential workers, isolation/quarantine, and emergency housing Border: • Customs New Zealand, Immigration New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries Building and construction: • Any entity involved in building and construction related to essential services and
John Daley Chief Executive Officer Grattan Institute This is longer than the usual Conversation article, so allow some time to take it in. Nobody likes talking about the COVID-19 endgame, but we need to choose one. The appropriate interventions – public health, government spending, and freedom of movement – all depend
Liz Minchin Veronika Meduna Wes Mountain The Conversation New Zealand will spend NZ$12.1 billion to support businesses, increase benefits for seniors and low-income families, pay people who can’t work because of self-isolation, and boost virus testing and intensive care capacity. The NZ government’s new
Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union The team spent yesterday afternoon working through the Government’s COVID-19 response package. A couple of the staff are in self-isolation, so we’ve well and truly rehearsed using the virtual technology in preparing this article and our media commentary.
There has been a lot of talk about this virus thingy. In our daily meanderings we come across opinions covering all scenarios, “It’s not as bad as the flu”, “It’s only old people who die”, “It’s ok, we only have a few cases”, “The Governments aren’t
This week’s podcast, in my opinion, is one of the most important ever. The government’s ‘Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill’ is, in short, shocking for any landlord. If you own a rental property, you need to listen to this podcast and then submit feedback to your local government representatives.
The Morrison government is walking a barbed-wire fence when it comes to climate policy. On the one hand, the government is smarting from sustained, opportunistic left-media attacks in the wake of this summer’s bushfire disaster. On the other, the Coalition’s voting base are unequivocally opposed to
Press Release: Stop the War on Tenancies New Zealand’s 290,000 rental property owners should resist radical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act both by submission and by vote in this year’s election, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said on Sunday. The current government has the despicable habit
Professor Anne-Marie Brady Supplementary Submission to the New Zealand Parliament Justice Select Committee Inquiry into Foreign Interference Activities, 2019 * Part One: Magic Weapons * Part Two: Leninist tactic * Part Three: Soft Power * Part Four: Making NZ Serve China * Part Five: Why NZ is of interest to China * Part Six: China’
It doesn’t matter how much the government tries to beat up landlords, the landlords will always win. It is always the tenant that pays the price, no matter what. Sure, many landlords are affected by scumbag tenants who leave their property in a bad way, or damage it extensively,
When Helen Clark and Michael Cullen introduced Kiwisaver in 2007, the best thing about the scheme was that it was independent of government interference. Sure, contributions are collected by IRD, along with other payroll deductions if you are an employee, but the contributions are then transferred to your fund untouched.
Newshub’s Kate Hawkesby and Maxim Institute’s Julian Wood. Kate: There’s a call for a freeze on temporary work visas and an overhaul of how we… how we welcome migrants into NZ and Maxim Institute Report says we’ve got a short-sighted conveyor belt of low skilled
The Coronavirus is rapidly turning into a pandemic. The really worrying thing about this virus is how incredibly easily it passes from human to human. It seems you only have to look at someone with the virus, and you’ve got it. Countries are trying desperately to bring the bug
