Search

BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie had the best synopsis of New Zealand First’s announcement on foreign direct investment this weekend: “it was less important for what it said than for the fact that Peters said it.” The Overseas Investment Act has placed New Zealand among the developed world’s least hospitable climates for foreign investment. Other countries recognise investment as a benefit to be sought. Read more

Misguided good intentions paved the way for this winter’s energy crisis. Fortunately, the country has avoided blackouts. Read more

A Bargain Chemist in Upper Hutt has been unable to dispense prescriptions since it opened in 2022. Its website simply notes “Prescriptions not currently available”. Read more

This week the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered the Official Cash Rate (OCR) from 5.50% to 5.25%. Many market economists predicted this change. Read more

If you have ever attended an Australia-New Zealand business conference, you will know how predictable they have become. So much so, one could script them in advance: effusive declarations of being family, obligatory jokes about rugby and pavlova, followed by the same old gripes about mutual recognition and franking credits. Read more

Imagine a New Zealand where every major company is neatly divided between the North and South Islands. You would fill up at BP North Island or BP South Island, shop at The Warehouse North Island or The Warehouse South Island and get your mobile service from Spark North Island or Spark South Island. Read more

It’s hard not to marvel at Silicon Valley’s technological innovations. But I’m dumbfounded by the social science experiment they’ve been working on. Read more

“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.” Gandalf This week and last week, The Listener ran five articles revisiting New Zealand’s economic reforms from 1984 to 1993. Four of those articles had little good to say about them, or the people who led them with such clarity, courage and determination. Read more