Category: Economic Issues

On October 23rd last year New Zealand First leader Winston Peters announced that he’d chosen the most radical left wing coalition in this country’s history to become our new Government.

With the Government’s climate change policy agenda set to impose huge financial costs on households over time, it is little wonder that global warming scaremongering is now being ratcheted up.

In economic terms, New Zealand’s isolation has long been seen as a major handicap. But in terms of ‘climate change’ alarm, isolation is proving to be its greatest asset.

Last week submissions opened on the Government’s tax review. In reality, it's a twelve month long $4 million political charade designed to deliver the capital gains tax policy that Labour botched during the election campaign.

Those who expect the Working Group to produce a comprehensive and impartial review of our tax system will be disappointed. It's not that kind of project. The Group's role is to provide options within the government’s agenda.

Will the President of the United States be responsible for lowering power prices in New Zealand? That question has been raised because this could be one of the unintended consequences of Donald Trump’s latest move “to make America great again”.

The New Zealand electricity market has given us ever increasing prices and there is an increasing risk that a dry hydro year could lead to extremely high prices and blackouts. Major changes to the industry are needed – and quickly.

The Prime Minister says she intends making child poverty a priority for her administration. However, it’s not relative income measures that are needed, but policies to end intergenerational welfare dependency.

The Marine and Coastal Area Act is flawed in many respects, but especially in its failure to define a critical legal test. As it stands, unless the law is amended, it will be Judges rather than Parliament that determines whether Maori interests will own some of the coastal marine area or most of it.

Under the guise of ‘compassion’, the agenda is all too easily captured by vested interest groups that are promoting welfare policies that will increase dependency on the state, rather than reducing it.