The Hoon

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s moves this week to take farming out of the ETS and encourage more mining and oil and gas drilling; * Robert Patman about the visit by China’s Premier Li Qiang to Welli...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features Bernard Hickey talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer talking about the latest reports on a warming climate and the UN ’s call this week to ban fossil fuel advertising; * Robert Patman talking about the growing disquiet globally over the United States’ support for Israel in Gaza, plus the...

TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer : * A year of record-breaking surface temperatures has spawned a month of global extreme weather chaos in May, including howler monkeys falling dead from trees in Mexico during a ferocious heatwave that is also thre...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer about extreme heat in India and Mexico and the prospects climate migration to Aotearoa-NZ; * CTU Chief Economist Craig Renney and Good IDEAs founder Max Rashbrooke about Budget 2024; and * Community Housing Aotea...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking about this week’s Kainga Ora and first home loan news, along with regular guest Robert Patman on China’s warning to New Zealand and special guests Michael J Field on the riots in New Caledonia and Giorgi Lomsadze on the escalating protests in Georgia against Russian...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale , along with regular guest Robert Patman and special guest former PM Helen Clark on Aukus II and much more. We also spoke with Ngāti Toa CEO Helmut Modlik about why his iwi opposes the Fast-track Approval bill. The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wr...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale , along with regular guest Robert Patman on geopolitics, and special guest Jesse Richardson from A City for People on a big victory for YIMBYs in Wellington this week. The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewh...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and Cathrine Dyer on climate change. Special guest Craig Renney talks about public sector job cuts this week and the Government’s big investment freeze at the end of the podcast. The six things that mattered in Aotearo...

TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and Cathrine Dyer on climate change. The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Climate: Ongoing double-digit hikes in council rates and...

TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II , Merja Myllylahti on AUT’s trust in news report , Awhi’s Holly Bennett on a watered-down voluntary code for lobbyists, plus special guest Patrick Gower on the closure of Newshub . The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spok...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Confidence in the Government, as measured by Roy Morgan ’s ‘Right Track/Wrong Track’ survey, collapsed in March by more than it fell for Labour in any one month of the late-2021 lockdowns in Auckland. See Thursday’s email....

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Finance Minister Nicola Willis unveiled a Budget Policy Statement that showed the new Government will have to borrow up to $15 billion to replace the same amount of tax revenue reduction from a slowing economy, unless it c...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit interviews and delivering a valedictory speech in Parliament where he again called for a tax on capital and wealth and...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who would be grateful for the lower rents it would produce. But his comments are at odds with official research and t...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The new National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government completed the 49 tasks it set itself in its 100-day plan on Friday, using urgency in Parliament more than any recent Government to pass repeals of RMA, Smokefree, Three Wa...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Newsroom’ s Marc Daalder reported on Friday PM Christopher Luxon was claiming $52,000 a year in rental costs from the taxpayer for living in his own apartment in Wellington when he could have lived in Premier House , as pr...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The new Government is reviewing migration settings that produced 2.8% population growth last year and is looking at a longer-term strategy of matching population growth to the ‘absorbtive capacity’ of Aotearoa-NZ’s infrast...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Net emigration of New Zealanders overseas hit a record-high 47,000 in the 2023 year, which only partly offset net immigration of 173,000, which was dominated by arrivals from India, the Philippines and China with temporary...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The new National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government itself plans to accidentally and deliberately accelerate inflation via hikes in central and local Government fees and charges in the coming 18 months, which endangers its...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The Reserve Bank ’s proposal this week to loosen Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) restrictions at the same time as introducing Debt To Income (DTI) restrictions is expected to add demand pressure to house prices, just as the cent...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The new National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government shut down the Auckland ‘Light’ Rail project to avoid spending up to $29.2 billion over decades, which was the right decision for the wrong reasons and still leaves the Gov...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * PM Christopher Luxon said the record-high net migration of the last year was “unsustainable” and he had asked Immigration Minister Erica Stanford to look at tightening settings, having argued during the election campaign f...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a very high bar for retaining confidence in her rhetoric by accusing Labour of “economic vandalism” in handing over a set of books ridden with ‘hidden’ “fiscal cliffs” worth b...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters signed coalition-forming agreements, announced a ministerial list, were sworn in, held their first Cabinet meetings and released a 100-day plan with 49 to-do items; See F...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * National Leader Christopher Luxon announced last night he had agreed policies and ministerial roles with ACT Leader David Seymour and NZ First Leader Winston Peters yesterday, with final signoffs from party boards expected...