Have you wondered how MPs harden their hearts against the obvious plight of the poor, the needy people whose lives they promised to improve when we gave them a shot at government? They got that opportunity and the results are in: the poor are worse off after fuel and cost
Joey Moloney Grattan Institute Brendan Coates Grattan Institute Joey Moloney is a Senior Associate in Grattan Institute’s Economic Policy program. He is an economist with experience in public policy research and implementation. Brendan is the Economic Policy Program Director at the Grattan Institute. Before joining Grattan, Brendan worked with
Less than three weeks after delivering the Budget, the Minister of Finance is refusing to commit to its spending limits for next year, National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says. During his appearance at the Finance and Expenditure Committee this morning, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, refused to commit
Dear Editor The CCCFA Amendment Bill is probably one of the biggest ever attacks on the New Zealand financial markets by a government in the history of New Zealand. On 1st of December 2021 the bill was put into law. Prior to this top officials from senior banks in NZ
J d’Anconia A central banker walks into a pizzeria and orders a pizza. When the pizza is done, he goes up to the counter. There, an assistant asks him, “Should I cut it into six pieces or eight pieces?” The central banker replies, “I’m feeling rather hungry right
Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Don Brash was Reserve Bank Governor from 1988 to 2002, and National Party Leader from 2003 to 2006 Warning Long read. 1348 words. In recent weeks, more and more commentators are suggesting that house prices in New Zealand have started to fall, and are expected to
This week the Labour Party gloated about their ‘amazing’ leader doing wonderful things overseas on our behalf. As you may know, our amazing PM has wrapped up a landmark White House meeting with President Biden, capping her hugely successful first trip to the US since COVID. I’m emailing just
David Seymour ACT Party Leader New Zealand is becoming an economic backwater to Australia under Labour and we need real change to stem the tide of Kiwis fleeing our shores. On just about every economic measure, Australia is winning the Trans-Tasman battle: * The Australian median wage has grown $6,
In Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein cautions against dumping a leader you don’t like, just because you don’t like them. Make sure whoever’s going to replace them isn’t even worse, he warns. Americans are getting an object lesson in Heinlein’s warning: they swapped
Xiujian Peng Victoria University Dr Xiujian Peng is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) at Victoria University (VU). Before joining VU, she held positions as Senior Research Associate at the University of Adelaide and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Population Research, Renmin University of
I do enjoy living in the country; never much liked cities: all those people and traffic and homeless tramps in doorways. What a bore! Give me dirt roads, trees, livestock, fresh air and marvellous scenery any day of the week. Even better is living in the country in the deep
Michael Rectenwald mises.org Michael Rectenwald is the author of 11 books, including Thought Criminal (2020), Beyond Woke (2020), Google Archipelago (2019), Springtime for Snowflakes (2018), Nineteenth-Century British Secularism (2016), and others. As should be clear by now, Francis Fukuyama’s declaration in The End of History: The Last
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
Bryce Edwards Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka democracyproject.nz Dr Bryce Edwards is Political Analyst in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the director of the Democracy Project. Was last week’s major climate change announcement a case of vested interests getting their way? The sweet
As Jacinda Ardern plays Harry Potter dress-ups and basks in the adulation of the five people who still watch Stephen Colbert, not all international commentary is the sort of uncritical adulation she’s become accustomed to buying. Even on American tv shows that people actually watch, like Tucker Carlson
One of the harsher lessons of the last decade in Australian politics is that honeymoons are getting shorter and shorter. Most of the time, the end of the affair is self-inflicted by newly-minted leaders who think that the old rule of getting the dirty work sorted as soon
