When the Facts Change

The Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate this week for the first time since the beginning of Covid. Bernard talks with Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr about how the central bank changed its mind when the facts changed, and what it means for mortgage rates and the housing market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kirsten Dodgen is a world-renowned dancer whose talent and dedication have taken her across the globe. Turning her hobby into a successful career has brought her financial independence and creative fulfilment. It’s also seen her perform with top music stars, appear on a hit Korean reality TV show, and build a social media following of over three million. But it hasn’t always been easy – Kirsten ha...

A heated debate about insulation standards lately has had both health and construction experts up in arms. It's only part, however, of a wider debate about how we approach climate change and how we make decisions about our homes. NZ Green Building Council CEO Andrew Eagles joins Bernard Hickey to pull back the GIB board and take a look at how to build, and heat, cheaper homes over the longer run....

TJ Perenara is a rugby legend whose sporting career and status as the leading try scorer in Super Rugby are matched only by his iconic mullet. Beyond the field, TJ is a dedicated father, husband and passionate advocate for social equity – speaking boldly on issues like Māori fatherhood and pay transparency. If you’ve ever wondered what makes this Kiwi icon tick, then settle in to hear TJ Perenara...

What happened to the world’s supply chains during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and how much of the damage caused is permanent? New York Times business journalist and author of ‘How the World Ran Out of Everything’ Peter Goodman joins Bernard Hickey to explain the complex international pathways of manufacturing and transportation that bring products to our doorsteps, through the example of one...

Aotearoa has never been wealthier, yet demand for food parcels is skyrocketing and the Government won’t extend help to food banks so they can cope. Bernard talks to Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson about a surfeit of wealth at a time food banks are being defunded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Softer-than-expected inflation figures this week suggest the inflation dragon - the one that savaged real wages and borrowing costs for the last three years - may have finally been shoved back in it's cave. Kiwibank's Mary Jo Vergara joins the podcast to discuss what that means going forward for interest rates in our housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on economy. Markets are now saying that the Reser...

Former PM and finance minister Sir Bill English is the intellectual driving force behind the new government’s plans for the country's biggest landlord. He tells Bernard why a full accounting of its running costs may prove to be too rich for the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bernard Hickey goes hunting for the Reserve Bank’s first rate cut in a discussion with Kiwibank economist Sabrina Delgado. It was supposed to be this year, especially now that the economy appears mired in a multi-dip recession with higher unemployment - but sticky local inflation has held the RBNZ back. Now, however, it is forecasting a rate cut in August 2025 at the earliest. Sabrina explains why...

After ten years at the helm of Transpower, chief executive Alison Andrew is stepping down. She reflects on a tumultuous decade of managing Aotearoa’s most important network, and why she considers being relatively unknown in the public arena as a mark of success. This interview was recorded shortly before a Transpower pylon collapsed in Northland on June 21st, causing widespread power outages in th...

Is the Kiwi dream to own a "McMansion", a "shoebox" or something else entirely? Bernard talks with The Urban Advisory’s MD Greer O’Donnell about a major new survey of what type of homes we actually want. She says it may not be the quarter acre "pavlova paradise" still assumed by many voters and politicians when they’re deciding on what should be be built and where. If you'd like to take part in Th...

Bernard revisits the most revolutionary era in our political economy in conversation with Toby Manhire. Together they discuss how much the Labour Government of 1984 to 1989, portrayed in The Spinoff's new hit podcast series Juggernaut, created our modern economy, for good and ill. Listen to Juggernaut here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We thought you might like a wee taster of our brand new #1 series, Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government, hosted by Toby Manhire. Click here to follow Juggernaut so you get every episode as soon as it's released! 1. I love you, Mr Lange Fuelled by brandy and fury, Sir Rob Muldoon calls a snap election, sparking a 1984 campaign of contrasts – the menacing, protectionist National PM...

Reserve Bank Chief Economist Paul Conway joins Bernard in the immediate aftermath of a surprisingly hawkish monetary policy statement, and just before the Budget. Together they discuss sources of inflation, why interest rates are staying high for longer than anyone expected, and whether the blunt instrument of the official cash rate can do anything about this extra-sticky inflation.  Learn more ab...

Bernard Hickey goes deep into the mechanics of the electricity distribution system to find out what really happened during a cold snap in May that almost caused a national energy crisis. He talks to Electric Kiwi CEO Luke Blincoe about how to solve the dry winter and cold snap problem without spending billions of dollars on new generation and lines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...

Nicola Willis has delivered tax cuts in her first budget, largely as promised. But has the coalition government managed to square the circle of relieving cost of living pressures while avoiding the quicksand of encouraging inflation? In a special crossover episode of Gone By Lunchtime meets When the Facts Change, Toby Manhire quizzes Bernard Hickey on all that, plus: Is Willis right to say the tax...

The Reserve Bank warned this week of high interest rates and high inflation for even longer, with sticky rental, rates and insurance inflation all partly to blame. Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr joins Bernard Hickey to discuss the how blunt our central bank's main monetary policy tool can be, and the developing opinion that high interest rates actually increase, rather than decrease, the inf...

The Redclyffe substation near Napier flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle and turning it off turned off the power for much of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti. Transpower has fixed it for now, but has faced a big decision: should it rebuild it where it is now, next to a stream? Or start again on higher ground? The choice tells us a lot about how to think about our climate future. Bernard Hickey talks about t...

The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to landlords. But an economic analysis done by Otago University's public health department has found keeping the smokefree measures would have been of benefit not only for public health, but also for the economy. The univers...

The Spinoff has just launched a brand new series called Behind the Story, where site editor Madeleine Chapman sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week. We thought you might like to check out the first episode, and if you enjoy it please follow it wherever you get your podcasts! On Friday, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell s...

Bernard Hickey talks with property academic Deborah Levy about her research into the changes in the way bach owners feel about their holiday homes. Where once the bach was the centrepiece of 'the kiwi dream’, a place for friends and families to gather, relax and create memories, they have now become a financialised asset to be added to the portfolio of the increasingly wealthy few. What's behind t...

The Reserve Bank wants to know how the public feels about a potential new type of digital cash. This digital currency would be exchangeable one-for-one with ‘old’ forms of bank-issued electronic money and ye olde paper cash and metal coins, but would not outright replace the physical stuff. RBNZ’s Head of Money and Cash Ian Woolford joins Bernard to discuss what’s different with this new digital c...

Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr joins Bernard to discuss and dissect the trajectory of inflation and interest rates, both here in Aotearoa and around the globe. Inflation is stickier than expected and interest rates are likely to stay higher for longer, but what does that mean for the kiwi dollar? How do US Fed chair Jerome Powell's recent comments affect us? And what is going on with the pri...

Kiwibank economist Sabrina Delgado joins Bernard to discuss the ways inflation affects various groups in Aotearoa. From homeowners and renters to beneficiaries and pensioners, they explore how inflation impacts everyone differently, and reveal who is being hit hardest by the current spike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Auckland Airport wants to put up its landing charges to help pay for a multibillion dollar revamp of its terminals. Its biggest customer, Air NZ, is complaining that the airport is over-charging. So who is right? What is fair? And what happens when two effective monopolies butt heads? Bernard Hickey talks to Auckland Airport CEO Carrie Hurihanganui about the dispute, how the Commerce Commission fa...