The Hoon

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: * Vacuums formed in Government where there would usually be decisions by ministers and the Cabinet about ongoing issues. Public servants are now having to second-guess what they think potential ministers might want, going fr...

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: * A new official report quietly buried by the Labour Government in its final months in power identifies over 300,000 people are now living in housing and energy poverty so severe that they are unable to afford the power need...

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 Electoral Commission declared the final election results after counting special votes, including National (48) losing two election-night electorate seats to Labour (34), Te Pāti Māori (6) winning two more electorate se...

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 won last weekend’s election and has started talks to form a Government with both ACT and New Zealand First , although they’ll only start in earnest after the November 3 declaration of the final makeup of Parliamen...

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: * Population growth from immigration of temporary workers to replace and supplement emigrating resident workers rose to more than 2% in the last year, without nearly enough infrastructure built or planned for two decades at...

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 failure of yet another pre-fabricated house builder and a legal threat against our biggest council to force more greenfields development showed how our economy and society are now just a residential land market with bi...

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: * Labour presented a climate manifesto that aimed to claim the high ground on climate action vs National, but did so at the same time NZTA/Waka Kotahi cut $50 million from funding for cycleways from the Climate Emergency Res...

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: * Treasury published the Pre Election Fiscal Update (PREFU) on Tuesday, including a one-year delay in Labour returning the Budget to surplus to 2026/27 and an extra $9 billion in borrowing over the next four years. But it al...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * I interviewed Labour Leader and PM Chris Hipkins about Labour’s pitch for re-election for When The Facts Change , which was published yesterday here in video form . * National Leader Christopher Luxon and Hipkins laid out their visions...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * I interviewed Labour Leader and PM Chris Hipkins about Labour’s pitch for re-election for When The Facts Change , which was published yesterday here in video form . * National Leader Christopher Luxon and Hipkins laid out their visions...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * National launched its Election 2023 plan for $14.6 billion of tax cuts paid for with government spending cuts, a raid on climate funds and a few new taxes on home-buying migrants and migrants paying for visas. I previewed the plan in We...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * We launched The Kākā project for Election 2023 in Friday’s email . * The Government agreed 50:50 funding deals with Auckland Council and Gisborne District Council to buy back land and repair infrastructure damaged by Cyclones Hale and G...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Reports emerging that hundreds of migrants on new Accredited Employer Work Visas paid as much as $30,000 for their visas, only to find no work and ending up stranded in overcrowded rentals. Eventually, after weeks of denial, Immigration...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The Kaka’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer reported on how banks’ and insurers’ models of climate change’s financial impacts underplay massively the likely costs and risks of rises in temperatures of over two degrees, relative to th...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The Opposition suggested this week the Labour Government’s books had fallen into a $20 billion ‘fiscal black hole’. I wrote and podcasted about how this claim was wrong and irresponsible in Friday’s email . * National proposed building...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * David Parker’s decision to give up the Revenue portfolio after PM Chris Hipkins’ ruled out the wealth tax switch he and Grant Robertson put together for Budget 2023. Wednesday’s email * Kiri Allan’s resignation as Justice Minister and d...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that I wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers in the last week included: * The revelation that 480 families are living in cars. Friday’s email * Detail emerged about the thousands of low-skilled temporary workers given high-skilled work visas under the new ‘reset’ immigration policy. Thursday’s email * Both Nat...

TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that I wrote and spoke about via The Kākā for paying subscribers this week included: * PM Chris Hipkins ruling out a wealth or capital gains tax for his time as PM Friday’s email ; * two political opinion polls showing support for Labour dropping, which is increasing the chances of a National/ACT victory in the General Election o...

TLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for subscribers included: * The Opposition’s reckless talk about a ‘mortgage bomb’ hitting the housing market and economy, which I showed was out of line with what home owners and their banks are actually doing. Friday’s email . * The Human Rights Commission ’s conclusion in the final report from its landmark housing mark...

TLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for subscribers included: * The Labour Government’s announcement it would share the costs with councils and insurers of buying back about 700 now-uninhabitable homes (~$1 billion) and protecting another 10,000 at-risk homes (un-estimated) from extreme climate events after Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, but couldn’t say how...

TLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for subscribers included: * The Labour Government’s announcement it would pay NZ Steel $130 million to install an electric arc furnace to cut 800,000 tonnes of emissions a year. Lynn and I travelled to the Glenbrook steel mill south of Auckland for the announcement event. Here’s the analysis and podcast I sent in Monday’s...

TLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for paying subscribers included: * All the key details from Budget 2023 on Thursday, where I travelled to Wellington for the Budget lockup and asked Finance Minister Grant Robertson about just how inflationary the Budget was. I also asked Housing Minister Megan Woods about why Labour is only planning one more year of stat...

TLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for paying subscribers included: * Migration stats showing annualised net migration running at well over 100,000, creating population growth of close to 2%, which is four times the rate the Stats NZ and Infrastructure NZ assume for long term population growth; Friday’s Chat * Finance Minister Grant Robert...

TLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for paying subscribers included: * A screed of bank results showing yet more surges in net profit from the big four that dominate our economy and fuel our housing market, just as the Reserve Bank unveiled evidence the banks are too profitable, relative to the risk they take for shareholders. Friday’s emai...

TLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for paying subscribers included: * An Inland Revenue Department study of Aotearoa’s 311 wealthiest families with combined wealth of $85 billion and annual income in 2020/21 of $14.6 billion has found just seven percent of their income was taxed as personal taxable income that year because of the lack of a...