TL;DR : Here’s the top six items of climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer, most of which they discussin the video above. * According to experts, the rate of ocean surface warming around New Zealand is “outstripping the global average threefold in some areas and twice on average”. They warn that the severity of storms like Cyclone Gabrielle and the ones that recently hit the East Coast are expected to grow even...

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 talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s climate strategy ‘pamphlet’, its watering down of Clean Car Standards and its general lack of coherence; * University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor Robert Patman and special guest Helen Clark talking about the NATO summit, the debate about Aotearoa...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts and talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent 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; * about the visit by China’s Premier Li Qiang to Wellington yesterday this week, what it means for Aotearoa-NZ’s relations with our largest trading partner, and whether we can (or should) join AUKUS...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the latest reports on a warming climate and the UN’s call this week to ban fossil fuel advertising; * talking about the growing disquiet globally over the United States’ support for Israel in Gaza, plus the latest from Ukraine; * Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton on the health funding crisis; *...

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 threatening to run Mexico City dry of water * Meantime, Brazil has more water than it can handle as...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts and talking with: * The Kākā’s climate correspondent about extreme heat in India and Mexico and the prospects climate migration to Aotearoa-NZ; * CTU Chief Economist and founder Max Rashbrooke about Budget 2024; and * Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) Deputy CEO Chris Glaudel about Kāinga Ora and social housing. The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts and talking about this week’s Kainga Ora and first home loan news, along with regular guest on China’s warning to New Zealand and special guests on the riots in New Caledonia and Giorgi Lomsadze on the escalating protests in Georgia against Russian influence. The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest 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 wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Housing & climate - Opposition...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, and special guest Jesse Richardson from 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 elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Housing: In a big win for YIMBYs over NIMBYs in the nation’s capital, Housing and RMA Reform...

TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change. Special guest 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 Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Housing: A global survey by...

TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and 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 insurance linked to climate change helped pump up March quarter inflation and is helping to delay mortgage rate cuts until late this...

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 spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included: * Chris Bishop...

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. * Confidence about the Government and support for the three governing coalition parties fell the...

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 chooses not to go ahead with $14.9 billion of tax cuts. Willis pledged to go ahead with the...

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 said the Government could and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future...

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 the evidence of the last 20 years of rents and mortgage costs. See Thursday’s email. * The Climate...

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 Waters, Auckland Fuel Levy, Clean Car Discount and RBNZ employment mandate legislation, and to...

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 previous PMs from outside Wellington have done. After saying he was fully entitled to claim the...

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 infrastructure. See more in Monday’s email. * Prime Minister Christopher Luxon adopted the language...

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 work visas. Meanwhile, a report on students working found 15,000 were regularly working 20-50...

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 hopes for lowering mortgage rates. See Monday’s email. * Jobs growth and wage inflation was...

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 central bank is expected to start cutting interest rates. See Thursday’s email. * Cabinet met on...

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 Government liable for unachieved emissions reductions and without congestion-reducing solutions for...

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 for looser settings to boost the economy. Wednesday’s email * The new Government cancelled plans...

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 billions, but without detail. That will come on December 20. Tuesday’s email * The 3.5 km City...