A Labour of love
The Budget yesterday was unashamedly political. In many ways it was a Labour of love; certainly for the party's own faithful. The invocation of Ruth...
Bringing home the bacon
This, as former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating might have said, was a budget that brought home the bacon. It was a relentlessly political document...
New Zealand at centre of British trade row
New Zealand lamb is at the centre of a growing political crisis in Britain as farmers mount a last-ditch attempt to limit meat exports...
Government too busy to let Robertson do much
The Government has run out of bureaucratic capacity to undertake any more substantial reforms. Finance Minister Grant Robertson conceded this yesterday and suggested it would...
Major immigration speech falls flat
The Government’s promised “setting the scene” speech on immigration last night offered little that was new. Despite that, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi’s office had invited...
An end to large scale immigration
The Government is sending more signals indicating that it is planning for a big cutback to Immigration. It would appear that the era of large...
Robertson to present a “Maori” budget
Treasury is adopting a specific Maori framework called He Ara Waiora. in the preparation of next week’s Budget. The idea is not new. Treasury has been...
So Grant, what’s next?
One of the country’s leading economics consultancies, Infometrics, has published a report today saying there is no evidence that the Government is ready to...
Light rail; make the property owners pay
The Auckland Light Rail Project, confirmed by the Government yesterday, is not only about transport. Though it is hyped by its advocates as a green...
The government ignores Treasury’s advice and goes its own way on property prices
The Government has been talking about the core elements of its housing package, which it announced yesterday since November last year. POLITIK was briefed then...
A capital gains tax by any other name
The Government may have found a way around increasing pressure to introduce a capital gains tax to restrain investor housing demand. POLITIK understands consideration is...
Robertson is asking for it
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr believes the Government’s most recent instructions to the Bank may mean it could “nudge” house prices down “a bit.” However,...
What if the tourists don’t come back
Finance Minister Grant Robertson was yesterday upbeat about the opening of New Zealand’s border soon. But the big question facing the Government is what happens...
Government has little to say about housing crisis
With the Reserve Bank yesterday forecasting that annual house price inflation will reach 22 per cent by the middle of the year, the Government...
Beehive leans on its shovels
Like a ghost from another era the great hope for the Covid recovery, the Shovel Ready Projects programme, made an appearance at a Select...
