14 NOV 2022 · Friday saw the committee charged with reviewing public submissions on the Three Waters water reform return their recommendations. Changes to co-governance was not in their list of suggestions It beggars belief that out of the 88,000 New Zealanders that bothered to make their voices heard that co-governance wasn't high on the list of concerns. But as I said on the Friday drive show, the lady is not for turning. Co-governance appears to be a hill that this Labour Government is prepared to die on. But as I also said on Friday, co-governance should be the least of your worries if you're concerned with creeping socialism. The Three Waters reform suggested is property theft and that's the reason that Phil Goff was against it and had to be bought off. This Government wants to seize assets paid for by ratepayers, amalgamate them and then borrow off them, so that funding for water stays off the Governments and Councils books. It's blatant nationalisation by a left wing government It's like needing to do urgent repairs on the house but you have no money.  So you take your neighbour's house and use it as equity to borrow money to fix your place. It's just wrong. But this is happening because the deferred maintenance and investment has become so huge that we don't have enough money to fix it. Meanwhile, National MP Simon Watts told TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday that the party agrees there needs to be reform, but it opposes the Government's current proposals. So Jack Tame pressed Watts pretty hard on what National’s alternative model would be.  Watts said National would reveal its policy closer to the election. Frankly that's not good enough.  If Labour's dodgy scheme is the only game on the table then it will limp across the line. And reform is needed. Today the front page of the Wairarapa Times Age reports that close to half of all drinking water in the region is lost in leaks before it even gets to the tap. Meanwhile the region is booming with new houses. Imagine if you went to fill up your car and only half of it made it into the tank You wouldn't tolerate it. It has to be fixed. LISTEN ABOVE

31 OCT 2022 · A couple of weeks ago, I warned you that Winston is back and I was right. The latest political poll by Horizon Research released today finds New Zealand First with 6.75% support – and in a position to decide which parties would form a Government. This result would deliver the party 9 seats in a 120-seat parliament. So, Horizon finds Labour would win 40 seats, the Green party 15. A total of 55.  Not enough to form a Government. Meanwhile, National would win 37 seats and ACT 17. A total of 54.  Again not enough. Meaning that NZ First would be the kingmaker once again.  To get back into parliament the party needs either an electoral seat or 5% of the vote and on this poll it does that. Horizon is a company that involves Graeme Colman, ex of NBR, and other professionals with 30 odd years of experience so I don’t feel it is biased. So the coalition partners are stable. ACT continues to be strong with 13% of the vote but that seems to be coming from National voters.   This result should worry both the main parties.  Labour has continued to track down while National has stalled in tracking up. There’s a feeling that both parties are under performing. Labour’s problems are well documented. Grand promises, poor achievements. For instance, 100,000 Kiwibuild houses promised 5 years ago.  As of the end of last month we were at 1430 Kiwibuild houses. It’s a better picture for all public social housing with nearly 10,000 built in 5 years.  But remember that 4800 public houses have been sold or demolished in the same time. And so it goes on. It should be a free ride for National but it hasn’t been. Perhaps it’s that the electorate can see the emperor has no clothes on. Tax cuts are not a cost of living policy. They inject more money into those above the median wage and very little to those below. The wealthier continue to fuel the inflating prices while the poor suffer.   It’s economics 101 and the electorate can see it, they saw it in real time in the UK, and so centre right voters continue to leach to ACT. Of course National voters get conniptions whenever Winston hits kingmaker level because of the perceived treachery of his Labour coalition deal 5 years ago. But on the evidence of this poll perhaps they need to get over that because it doesn’t look like Winston’s going away. LISTEN ABOVE

9 OCT 2022 · As we digest the local government elections, it's important to realise that in the wider world our concerns are small change. Roadcones, cycleways and speed limits are small fry compared with Ukrainian war, global recessions and rampant inflation worldwide. And then there's climate change and controls on our emissions. In the past fortnight, you may not have noticed stories that put climate issues into perspective. The sabotage of the Russian gas pipe was the single greatest man-made climate disaster in history. The pure mass of methane that escaped into the atmosphere was incredible. Remember that methane is over 80 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than CO2. Decades of emission controls were written off in just a few days. Meanwhile, the Government admitted that the drive to replace the entire Government fleet with electric vehicles by 2025 is way off track. It's looking like 25% of the fleet will be electric, and not by 2025 but more like 2030. Why? There are just not enough electric vehicles available. Words are easy but actions are hard. On Friday, Environment Commissioner Simon Upton told us that to offset all our emissions with trees would require 2 thirds of our country to be pine forests, proving the unsustainability of offsets. Then there's the fact that came out of an Indian Dairy conference that the Indian cow herd is 10 times bigger than New Zealand's but New Zealand produces more milk than all of India. With a tenth of the cows and a tenth of the emissions. Showing that New Zealand's intensive and efficient farming is climatically better than India's. This all goes to show that the worldwide battle against emissions is failing. It shows that we've been lectured by simplistic group think by people who drive their cars to protests to tell us to emit less. Which is not to say we should give up. What it says is that we need to praise the small victories and not hysterically demand inefficient broad-stroke virtue-signalling policies. Because that is the real blah blah blah. LISTEN ABOVE

12 SEP 2022 · As this is my first time on ZB since the death of Elizabeth the Second, may I add my gratitude to the many who have praised her exceptional service. In the days since the expected but still devastating news I have been struck by how history is unfolding before our eyes. History is made up of milestones and crossroads and we are in the middle of an astounding period of change that we will all point to in the future. We are at the end of the Second Elizabethan age.  A 70 year period of incredible progress and modernisation, where technology has aided and abetted more individuality and self-determination than ever before. In coincides with the greatest pandemic for 100 years. The most impactful war since the World conflicts of last century.  Brexit and other economic developments changing world trade patterns. A worldwide inflation outbreak. And a climate that is becoming increasingly volatile. I feel people in the future will look back to this point as a significant point in this planet's history and here we are right in the middle of it. So change is in the air. And one of things that may change is the identity of our head of state. Already, many are saying why is a 73 year old Brit 12,000 miles away our head of state. And I get that. But my feeling is if it ain't broke, why fix it. We have a sophisticated political, constitutional and legal system that has evolved from our links with the Crown. As Head of State the King has no real power over our direction as a nation.  We are fully self-governing and autonomous. What he and his system does is provide is an impartial tool for when things go very wrong as they did in Australia in the Gough Whitlam years. For those unaware of the story the Australian Senate ended out in an impasse that crippled the country constitutionally.  Eventually the Governor General Kerr dissolved the Whitlam government, put opposition leader Malcolm Fraser in charge, and called a new election which Fraser won. To take such drastic action requires impartiality and a position beyond impunity.  You can't be seen to have a dog in the fight. The Crown has that position for countries like New Zealand and Australia. Political neutrality. The Armed Forces are also responsible to them which distances the Forces from accusations of political influence. And we get all this for next to nothing. To set up a President or a New Zealand Head of State would take a mountain of money and and bureaucracy. Add to all that the Maori point of view that the deal over nationhood and governance is with the Crown, then it's removal creates a wealth of issues over the Treaty which could become very fractious and further disadvantage Maori or settlers. Some say that we need to separate from the Crown to prove our national identity. To that I say our national identity is strong and independent. And so, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

5 SEP 2022 · Another day and another debate on crime and what to do with it. There is no doubt the craze for ram raiding amongst the young has contributed to the perception that crime is out of control. Add to that the growing number of gun crimes particularly amongst the gangs.  It has led to a feeling that our streets are more unsafe than they've ever been before. It has led to the debate on crime to be all about punishment and all about crimes of violence and trespass. But the iceberg of crime is far bigger than we mostly hear and like an iceberg the biggest crimes are unreported. Jarrod Gilbert writes today about the incredible level of white collar crime we have in New Zealand and our laissez faire attitude towards it. He cites a couple of cases recently. The bloke charged with stealing $ 600,000 by defrauding the Covid wage subsidy.  Another case saw an allegation of an employer pocketing his staff's PAYE payments to the tune of $300,000. The size of the problem is even more evident when you look at the assets of criminals seized by the Police. On the list of the top nine people who have had assets seized or frozen only one was a gang member. The other eight were businessmen. The alleged illegal assets of the gang member made up just 3 per cent of the total assets of those on the list.  The combined assets of the white collar criminals loot was some $322 million. These are big numbers and big crimes but they're not supported by big sentences.  A fraudster who took investors for $115 million dollars was out of prison on parole after just 6 years. No New Zealand drug lord makes anything near that sort of illegal money. There's another statistic going about.  For every $1 stolen in common or garden crime, there's $40 stolen by white collar criminals. Who knows why we are so lenient on the business people defrauding the meek. The victims are legion.  The investors and super annuitants who lose their nest eggs and their security for the rest of of their lives.  The fraud that dwarfs any beneficiary fraud in this country.  But do the white collar criminals face the daily barrage of disgust that we direct at solo mums and residents of emergency housing. Maybe we just can't imagine that people who send their kids to nice schools and wear nice suits can be just as bad as any low life mongrel. If you're a tough on crime supporter you might want to get your dander up about that statistic.   White collar crime destroys lives in a far more widespread and invidious manner and the sooner we get tougher on it the better.

29 AUG 2022 · So last week, my opening comments centred on how opposition MPs and anti-government commentators have been fear mongering about the state of the economy. When it was published online it became one of our most commented on pieces of the day with over 500 people expressing what they thought. Many called me a Labour party apologist. A lot asked why I was praising Labour's management of the economy. Problem is; I wasn't.  Nowhere did I say Labour was doing a good job. In fact I'm on record as saying the Government and the Reserve Bank have not handled the reality of the economic situation appropriately. But, I'm also pointing out how many are exaggerating the possibility of economic gloom and doom for political effect. And the more it's said the more chances it has of becoming real. Last week a number of economists from home and abroad came out and said they don't believe New Zealand will fall into recession. But on Friday, retail figures came out with a 2.6 percent fall. The headline was "Fears of a recession as retail spending falls". A Westpac economist was interviewed. In it he actually said Westpac does not believe a recession is coming.  But the headline in the story did not give that impression did it? He said that hard goods like furniture and electronics were down but he also pointed out that the comparative figures were swollen by the pandemic, when we didn't travel we just bought a new telly online. He did warn of a Christmas slowdown citing shipping costs, petrol and interest rates, but one of the biggest factors he highlighted was consumer confidence. People believing bad times are coming closing their wallets.  Probably because they keep hearing fears of recession headlines. We are talking ourselves into hard times. Liam Dann interviewed two visiting Australian economists in the weekend, including the guy who invented the phrase ‘Rockstar Economy’ for New Zealand. He's one who does believe that a recession is likely.   Both believe that Australia and New Zealand are very well placed to be the fastest recovering economies on Earth inside the next year.   Our government spending was excessive but not as bad as most. Shipping prices are falling rapidly. We don't have the energy crisis that Europe is about to undergo and our primary exports are still desirable. That's the story I prefer hearing rather than biased players calling us a basket case to get rid of the incumbent government.

22 AUG 2022 · I only work at Newstalk ZB one day a week so I've been spared having to talk about the Guarav Sharma drama. Or as we now know the Sharma Drama. But my god it's still going.   Over the weekend he revealed that Kieran McAnulty called him a terrible MP and that was bullying. Knowing how fruity Kieran's language can be, I think Gourav got off lightly. There's a reason Kieran's a whip. He's good with the old don't argue. I've realised that the MP for Hamilton West really doesn't like being yelled at. Sharma's maiden speech in February 2021 alleges a paediatric surgeon bullied him while he was at university. It also contained many claims of bullying and racism while he was on the campaign trail. Sharma appears to feel he's been bullied his entire life. It was the Prime Minister's turn this morning and she once again ruled out an investigation saying that there needs to be a threshold to instigate these things. Otherwise any time anyone called anyone a bully or a racist we'd have investigation after investigation. We of course can't judge whether that threshold has been reached as all we have so far is the good Doctor's account because the PM is not open and transparent. Anyway, this "he said she said" thing is terribly frustrating and has kept the issue in the headlines for nearly 2 weeks now. So some say that the launching of an investigation would at least shelve the conversation. They point to National hiring a QC to investigate Sam Uffindell which has silenced the debate. That may be so but what will that investigation prove? Mr Uffindell has already admitted his misdemeanour. And secondly, Mr Luxon has already stated that the result of the investigation will not be publicly released. If there is an investigation but no public result has there really been a result at all? The debate may have been silenced but not the practices and attitude that sparked the whole thing in the first place. Just shows that National is just as good, possibly better, at hiding their dirty laundry as Labour. And that was the way I felt throughout the whole Sharma drama. None of it surprised me. Politicians have been playing games like this for years. National was perfectly capable of fudging Official Information requests. Labour appears to have lifted the bar to a new high or should that be low point. It's all brought our respect for politicians to such a depth. It's why we have such polarised debate now. It's why our debate has fallen to name calling with words like liars and corruption thrown around willy-nilly. And it makes me nostalgic for the days when the backbench would wage war on the front bench over policy issues and not office demeanour.

15 AUG 2022 · So let's be honest with each other Did you, in your darkest heart, secretly hope the All Blacks would lose to prove that Ian Foster was always the wrong man. To get Scott Robertson into the driving seat? C'mon. Many did. Some even admitted it on social media. Now if you did, it's quite a dark place really. Actively rooting against your own team, even if you think it would be best for the team eventually.   Diehard fans would be disgusted. They'd call you a fairweather fan. Not there for the team, only to share in their glory. If you're important enough or your voice is loud enough the players may hear of it and it may crush their spirit which no-one wants. It's OK to think that others could do a better job but there is no benefit in wishing for failure. I say this because for some time I've been appalled by the number of people who appear to want New Zealand to fail because they don't like the current Government. It's almost like they're hoping for a recession just to prove to everybody, or maybe just to themselves, that the Government is an ignorant, economically illiterate mess. It's important to differentiate between those people analysing the economy as scientifically as they can and others offering opinion for their own benefit. You get that negative stink off the Opposition right now who would be the only leaders praying for economic Armageddon, because it may see them elected to the benches. But hoping and praying for economic doom is not a sound idea. Either you inherit the doom and it proves hard to fix, or the doom never really arrives, making you look stupid. There is no arguing that New Zealand is doing it tough at the moment but that's true of every economy on Earth. Every government running an economy is falling backwards in popularity no matter what side of the political fence they're on. But awkwardly, New Zealand might not be heading for doom. The ANZ last week in their quarterly outlook suggested we look like avoiding recession.   They predict inflation will be at 2.5 percent next year. Goldman Sachs has also come out and said that both Australia and New Zealand will skip recession. Sydney based Capital Economics sees the cycle turning even faster with the OCR going no higher than 3.5 percent and three cuts next year. Jucy, the motorhome rental firm, has just announced a $40 million credit line to buy more homes due to demand. A mate of mine who runs a tourism firm in his retirement is complaining about working too hard and his forward orders are huge. If it all adds up to the economy looking better by next year's election, not worse, that could prove problematic for all those predicting doom and gloom.

8 AUG 2022 · So the National Party conference was held over the past weekend in Christchurch. Things went well until late on Sunday night when planes started being cancelled and MPs and party members went mumbling off into the wet cold winters’ night in search of a bed. The conference was organised and dull which is just what a party wants. An action filled conference is not the sign of a settled party. But they seem settled on Luxon and Willis and so the game continues with a policy thrown out to keep the party in public discussion. Maybe I've just been in the game too long, but I could have guessed it would be some sort of benefit policy that says something along the line of kids don't want to work, benefits are a lifestyle and the Ministry of Social Development are useless. Which is exactly what they said. I've heard these plans so many times in so many guises. I wonder where this army of competent community advisors are going to come from in a time of skilled staff shortages, and I wonder about the cost of bureaucracy to monitor the spending of taxpayers dollars by NGOs and third party providers. But that's the National way. In an election year, tax cuts and benefit bashing are their bedrock. But here's a thing. Is National really promising tax cuts? ACT finally called their potential coalition partner out this weekend pointing out that National is not planning tax cuts at all but just shifting the brackets. Their release says tax bracket indexation is just Labour's tax policy adjusted for inflation. Therefore it’s not a tax cut. It’s tax tinkering that effectively freezes Labour tax policy in time. Which, of course, it is. Always has been. Brackets haven't moved under three administrations now, both National and Labour. That's nearly a decade of increased tax revenue year on year. That's nearly a decade of people being placed into higher tax brackets than they can afford. It really is a rort. It's not the rich getting richer that bothers me. It's the policies from both parties that see the poor getting poorer that makes our country impoverished.

1 AUG 2022 · Just at the moment when New Zealand should be getting back to business, the wheels keep falling off for this Government. On Sunday, we finally opened up completely to the rest of the world.  After two and a half years the so-called hermit kingdom was over. There's even a cruise ship scheduled to arrive in a few weeks We should be emerging triumphant, but we're not. Today we're bickering over a government handout that's supposed to help with the cost of living crisis but is proving to be a thorn in the side of the Labour Government. And it is probably just going to make inflation worse. Nicola Willis and the National Party are claiming that overseas residents are going to be getting the three instalments of $116.67, even though they don't live here. Ms Willis claims a man living in Dubai who has not been a NZ resident for 22 years is going to be getting the payments and he's feeling embarrassed. This is an outrage, if it's true. But you should never totally believe a politician. So 2.1 million people are in the process of getting a payment or an email from the IRD, who have been charged with running the scheme. The letter says all sorts of things. Only people who have filed their IR3 returns or taxed at source will get the money. So you need to have earned taxable income from NZ to be eligible and to have paid it. You have to be a tax resident. You also have to have a current functioning New Zealand bank account. And all the way through it says YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE. Which is not to say you will get the money. There are many reasons why many people will get the money around the world.  It is because they are taxpayers and therefore their taxes are being used to be given back to them.  But I'm picking that Mr Dubai will not get a cent. However, Handout Shame was the headline in the paper. So this is a badly designed bureaucratic mess that rewarded tax residents, not just physical residents. Add to that the people who most need it are denied it. The poorest beneficiaries and the OAPs who are paid the winter energy payment But that is not its worst crime. Before we even come to who gets it or not, this pork barrel exercise will barely help ease the cost of living while at the same time add fuel to the inflation fire. Because, despite what the Prime Minister said on Q and A yesterday, it will be inflationary. Just for the record. All excessive spending is inflationary. Government spending, corporate spending, excessive profits and even private spending It all spills cash into an economy, increasing demand at a time when supply is limited. So the lesson from today is carry on with business but remember all politicians never tell the whole truth.