The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Friday Thursday, December 5: * Treasury released Crown Accounts for the first four months of the financial year yesterday that showed the Budget deficit was $704 million worse than forecast in May at $4.94 billion, largely due to lower than forecast tax revenues because of this year’s economic contraction. * However, th...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured Bernard Hickey talking with regular guest Cathrine Dyer and special guest Lawyers for Climate Change Executive Director Jessica Palairet about this weeks news on climate change. Bernard also talked with tax policy expert and accountant Terry Baucher about the IRD ’s announcement yesterday it wants to t...

Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, December 3: * The Government has effectively reneged on New Zealand’s Paris Agreement commitment to halve our climate emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels, or buy emissions credits offshore. * Until now, the Government has left the impression it might spend billions on credits offshore if its first choice of re...

Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Tuesday, December 2: * The Government has announced plans to specify council rates increases in a range of 2-4% from mid-2029, which is a higher range and later than some councils expected. That would outlaw zero rates increases and tie rates to a range between Consumer Price Inflation and GDP growth. * However, the rat...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was new leader of The Opportunity Party, Quilae Wong. This week: * Bernard and Peter talked with...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, November 26: * RMA Reform, Housing and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced plans last night to abolish regional councils to “simplify how we plan our cities and regions and make it far easier to build the future New Zealanders deserve.” * But in my view , it’s another attempt to try to...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was Drive Electric Chair Kirsten Corson. This week: * Bernard and Peter talked about Peter’s work...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, November 19: * An extra 1,967 people have been put in prison since late 2023, increasing the total population by September 30 to a record-high 10,860, which PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday was “a good thing” and he wasn’t worried about the cost, saying: “We make no apologies about that. The co...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guest Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was The IDEA Charitable Trust ’s Max Rashbrooke Our topics this week were: * Bernard and Peter talked about the BB...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, November 12: * A fresh debate has blown up around whether the Government should sell state assets to fund investment in hospitals, roads and schools. Proponents describe this as ‘asset recycling’ and frame it as simply making the most efficient use of the Government’s balance sheet. * PM Christoph...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Friday, November 7: * Despite pledges the Government is ramping up capital spending to reduce infrastructure deficits and spark economic growth, Treasury yesterday published accounts for the first three months of the financial year showing the Government’s capital investment spending rose 1.6% to $918 millio...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, New York’s new mayor Zohran Mamdani , the gutting of Aotearoa’s Zero Carbon Act this week and revelations the Government is...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, November 6: * Charities are scrambling in response to signs the Government is planning a ‘move on’ law to push hundreds of homeless out of city centres, despite only adding two (repeat TWO) new Housing First places out of a planned 300. ( RNZ ) * PM Christopher Luxon told Parliament Aucklanders wan...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, November 4: * Labour force data due later today is expected to show a slight rise in the unemployment rate to a nine-year-high of 5.3%, with a 0.1% rise in jobs not enough to soak up extra people entering the labour force. * But the small rise disguises an emerging jobs and health catastrophe for...

I spoke with Simplicity Co-Founder Sam Stubbs about plans announced this morning to launch InfraKiwi , an NZX -listed vehicle funded from KiwiSaver and borrowing to buy new and existing infrastructure such as water companies, lines companies, airports, ports, hospitals, roads, public transport operators and schools from the Government and councils. Stubbs sees an oppotunity to use upwards of $295...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, The Kākā’s future and how to fund the building of social housing by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and others. This week...

Just briefly, I spoke last night with Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Director of Government Ratings Anthony Walker last night about a research note S&P Global published yesterday titled: ‘ New Zealand Water Reforms Don’t Guarantee Rating Relief For Local Councils.’ He told me there was no guarantee the current Government’s ‘ Local Water Done Well ’ reforms would alleviate the negative outlooks S...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, October 29: * Labour’s targeted plan for a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to pay for three free doctor’s visits was described by political commentators yesterday as a low-target tactic that might neutralise opposition by offsetting the negative of a new tax with the positive of a new health benefit. * Ho...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Tuesday, October 28: * Almost a third of dairy farmers in Otago and Southland are still without power to their milking sheds this morning, five days after extreme gusts of wind flattened power poles, shelter belts and pine forests across the region. ( RNZ ) * Farmers, water treatment plant operators and cell...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guest Robert Patman and special guests about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, Jim Bolger’s funeral, Treaty of Waitangi issues and yesterday’s ‘mega-strike’ by doctors, teachers and nurses. This week’s special guests were Law...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate: * Over 100,000 teachers, nurses, doctors and supporters marched in most major cities and towns yesterday, demanding more than 1% per year wage increases offered by the Government, which would leave them getting real wage cuts and add pressure for more emigration to Australia. * The turnout was the biggest in 4...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate: * The Lead: States of emergency were declared, red wind warnings issues, parks closed, buses, ferries and trains, cancelled, houses burned to the ground, power lines downed and picketing for today’s ‘mega-strike’ was cancelled as wild weather ravaged the motu from top to bottom in the last 48 hours. Yet in the...

I spoke with Labour Finance Spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds last night about Labour’s first big policy idea for the 2026 election: a new sovereign wealth fund to invest in New Zealand infrastructure and growth businesses. It would be seeded with an initial grant of $200 million and topped up regularly with dividends from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and potentially partially-owned SOEs such as the g...

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate: This is just time-wasting magical thinking that only enables us all to avoid the hard realities. * The Lead: Transport Minister Chris Bishop has committed to spending $1.2 billion on designs and buying land for six massive new motorway and tunnel projects that new estimates show could cost up to $32.9 billion,...

I spoke with Mangawhai Pharmacy owner Lanny Wong today to about plans barely-announced or covered this week by Associate Health Minister Casey Costello to deregulate the nation’s pharmacies. Lanny said she was shocked at the details revealed in full in Cabinet papers released proactively on Monday, particularly because there had been no consultation with the pharmacy sector, which would be upended...