Best of Business

Marlborough are trying to do their best to hopefully train the next generation of construction workers and engineers to fill our labour shortages. The Marlborough Chamber of Commerce has pitched a construction and engineering academy for two high schools in the area to help students train and get jobs directly out of high school in high need areas. It's similar to an academy in Hastings for Hastin...

The bear comes before the storm. Bear markets, where stocks fall by at least 20 percent are rare, but often precede a recession. The NZX has gone down by 20 percent over the last 100 days. Stockfox founder David McEwen told Mike Hosking US inflation is going to remain high, that means the markets are going to remain low. He says the rest of the year is going to be choppy. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystud...

Markets see, markets do. Global markets have been following US stock market trends, which investors say has gone down because of worse than expected US inflation rates. The NZX was down 2.6 percent yesterday, and over the last 100 days has gone down by 20 percent. Harbour Asset Management Portfolio Manager Shane Solly told Tim Dower the NZX is heavily influenced by the US. He says the US federal r...

A report into ACC has found privacy issues among staff. The independent review found the agency doesn't adequately monitor and audit staff access and use of client information. It follows the revelation last October, that more than a dozen employees were sharing private client details on social media app Snapchat. Auckland University commercial law expert Gehan Gunasekara told Tim Dower the sharin...

There is a rise in the student entrepreneur. Side-hustles are growing among young people looking for more money amidst rising living costs. Dunedin student startup Palmer began selling its clothing made from recycled materials in 2017. Co-founder Joe Palmer says he’s seen a massive increase in students with a side-gig. Joe Palmer joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/lis...

A record high for job exits with the national staff turnover hitting 58 percent. MyHR's research also shows a mass exodus in hospitality with a 94 percent turnover - a 17 percent rise from 2019. Chief Executive Jason Ennor told Heather du Plessis-Allan the sector's been hit the hardest because of the lack of people on working holiday visas. “Who through Covid or post-Covid did not have their visas...

High demand is expected to drive up the cost of flights. Air New Zealand is warning it's going to have to hike fares due to rising fuel costs, as more people start to fly again. One aviation industry expert has compared our air fares to the same expensive prices we saw in the 1970s Former aviation boss Irene King told Andrew Dickens Air New Zealand has a lot of cost pressures on them. She says thi...

Travellers planning to take to the skies may have to brace for a hit in the wallet. Air New Zealand is warning they're going to have to hike flight prices due to rising fuel costs and demand. Chief Executive Greg Foran told Tim Dower about 15 per cent of the price of an airfare goes into fuel costs for a domestic flight and up to 35 per cent for an international flight. He says especially on long...

Scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and Kiwibank customers are currently being targeted. The scammers have created a phony caller ID, so you could easily think it is Kiwibank. Then come the plausible questions, but the bank has confirmed it's definitely not them. Cert NZ's Incident Response Team acting manager Jordan Heerspring joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener...

“Minor” changes have been made in the Cabinet reshuffle. Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard will leave their roles in Parliament, with Mallard among the outgoing MPs heading for overseas diplomat roles. Poto Williams has also been stripped of her role as Police Minister amid growing criticism from a rise in gang violence and ram raids. NZME Business Commentator Fran O’Sullivan joined Heather du Plessi...

If you've been following the GIB shortage story, you'll recall Simplicity Living recently announced it was sick of waiting on Fletcher Building for their GIB orders. Simplicity Living cancelled their orders and are now importing it themselves from Thailand at a lower price. Fletcher Building says it supports any intiative to supply plasterboard to the industry. Fletcher Building CEO Ross Taylor jo...

It is no secret that tourism is struggling to recruit workers, but the extent of the shortage is becoming apparent. The sector lost 65,000 workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they're not all coming back. Migrants on working holiday visas are not making a difference so far. That creates flow on effects, slower service and shorter opening hours, and some say this could affect our reputatio...

The Government's being told to stick to being a regulator when it comes to freight. The Ministry of Transport has been consulting on New Zealand’s supply chain issues, with Transporting New Zealand providing detailed feedback on behalf of the trucking industry. Transporting NZ says the Government's right to examine it, but it shouldn't intervene. Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Tim Dower it can'...

The Government is now looking at farmers’ recommendations on how to price farming emissions. This week’s He Waka Eke Noa report has suggested individual farmers would be responsible for calculating their own emissions and paying a levy on those emissions. The levy would then increase progressively over the years but can be reduced through doing things like planting native trees. Business commentat...

The fallout from the GIB shortage continues. Simplicity Living has cancelled all orders for New Zealand-made GIB boards in favour of imported plasterboard from Thailand. They reckon our building code is unnecessarily restrictive when it comes to plasterboard because of Fletcher’s successful lobbying. Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN A...

Twitter plans to offer Elon Musk access to its "firehose" of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets in an effort to push forward the Tesla billionaire's agreed-to $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, according to multiple news reports. Lawyers involved in the deal would not confirm the data sharing agreement. Musk made no comment on Twitter, although he has previously be...

It’s fair to say I’ve been seething for the past few days since the news that Ports of Auckland’s automation experiment has crashed and burned. This was a story that we knew was happening and yet the people at the centre of it refused to admit it. Time and time again the media and the council put questions to the management of the Port. Time and time again we were told there was no problem and the...

To build a house, we may have to look foreign. Gib plasterboard is still in very short supply, with reports of it being stockpiled and stolen. Builder Simplicity Living isn't waiting around, bringing in its own certified plasterboard from Thailand, saying it will save 20 percent on the cost of the product made here. Wall and Ceiling Industries National President Daniel Pepperell told Tim Dower the...

The building industry will have to think outside the tool box. GIB is still desperately sought after across the country, with reports of it being stockpiled, stolen and sold on Trade Me for six times the retail price. There's only one manufacturer of the plasterboard in New Zealand. Combined Building Supplies Co-op Chair Carl Taylor told Andrew Dickens the industry has to look at alternative metho...

A suggestion the latest OECD report is disappointing and doesn't go far enough. The report says the Government needs to do more to assist in the inflation fight, arguing for more targeted spending, which could include delaying some infrastructure plans. Former Finance Minister Sir Roger Douglas told Tim Dower we certainly have short term problems and the OECD's offering some solutions. But he says...

A scatter gun approach to the cost of living. The OECD says the Government needs to do more in the inflation fight, arguing for more targeted spending, which could include delaying some infrastructure plans. Economist Cameron Bagrie says we have petrol relief and a transport package for everybody and 2.1 million people getting a cash injection. But he told Andrew Dickens you want assistance to be...

The red meat sector is urging the Government to support the alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme. Overseen by He Waka Eke Noa, it would see those in the agricultural sector assess their own liability for levies. It also looks at rebates for any effort to reduce emissions for things like planting trees. Meat Industry Association Chief Executive Sirma Karapeeva told Tim Dower the ETS treats e...

A call for calm, over the worse than expected performance of the Super Fund. New Treasury figures show the Super Fund has underperformed forecasts, adding $2.2 billion to the Government's net debt in the 10 months to April. The $56 billion fund is still performing well, delivering a 10 percent return this year before tax and after costs. Superannuation expert Jonathan Eriksen told Mike Hosking the...

The idea of remote earning is being expanded to overseas. Tech companies overseas already hire remote workers to take advantage of lower pay rates, but this is being expanded into sectors like law and accounting. Immigration lawyer Aaron Martin says there are trained lawyers working remotely here for British law firms, to take advantage of time zone differences. He told Tim Dower that it creates a...

Farmers say they're ahead of the pack when it comes to cutting emissions Their alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme recommends letting farmers count their emissions and get a discounted levy for making reductions or planting trees. They say their plan would lead to methane reduction of between four and 5.5 percent. Dairy NZ farmer-elected director Jacqueline Rowarth told Mike Hosking they'r...