PODCAST

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

Bernard Hickey

Bernard Hickey and friends explore Aotearoa’s political economy together. thekaka.substack.com

news politics

All Episodes

5:12

Climate sceptic ACT MP attacks National

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/18

Mōrena. Long stories shortest: ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges to reduce emissions. David Seymour downplays Cameron's comments, saying National is (happily) doing the bare minimum on climate. A fast-track panel rejects Contact’s plans for big wind farm.(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers

8:37

'There are no exemptions. Just eat it.'

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/17

Long stories shortest: David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract must be obeyed. Christopher Luxon’s net approval rating in his first year as PM is vastly lower than those of Helen Clark, John Key and Jacinda Ardern. Chris Bishop is (rightly) incensed that a consent for an 11-storey office building next to Karangahape Road’s new rail station has been rejected because it would change

24:59

The problems with PPPs

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/14

Here’s the excellent explainer on PPPs from Patrick Reynolds over at Greater Auckland that this chat was based on.Thank you Edward Miller, James Wilkes, Andrew, and many others for tuning into my live video with Patrick Reynolds! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe

9:01

PPPs are more expensive, slower & riskier than Govt DIY

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/13

Long stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take longer, and often have to be relitigated or bailed out later. The biggest projects pitched also make no economic or fiscal sense for taxpayers. Also, the school lunch scheme continues imploding and long covid is squeezing our labour force.(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in

5:13

IMF calls for Capital Gains Tax or land tax

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/12

Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new school lunch system isn’t working. One school is feeding the lunches to pigs, which ACT said happened under Labour. David Seymour attacked the journalist who pointed that out. (There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the

7:01

Luxon wants media to celebrate National's...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/11

Long stories shortest: Christopher Luxon denies his Government caused a homelessness crisis documented by Auckland Council. Instead, he wants media to celebrate his achievements more. Libelle’s collapse demonstrated how David Seymour has cut Erica Stanford out of the loop and how he ignored official concerns last year about Libelle and Compass. Donald Trump just doubled tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports to 50%, so global markets are falling again this morning.(There is more detail,

5:28

Luxon’s economy focus at odds with voters

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/10

Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: * National’s pollster finds Christopher Luxon has fallen behind Chris Hipkins as preferred PM for the first time, with Labour’s support high enough to govern with the Greens & Te Pāti Māori.* Asked about the polls, Luxon says fixing the economy will improve support for the Government, but a new survey shows voters, including National, ACT and NZ First voters, want the health system’s crisis resolved as a priority.* Luxon has also

5:16

Owners of compulsorily acquired non-iwi land to be...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/09

Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: * Within months and before Parliamentary approval is obtained, the Government plans to strip non-Maori landowners of the right to use the Environment Court to stop compulsory acquisition for fast-track projects and big new motorways.* The Government also wants to buy off landowners who volunteer to sell early by paying them up to $150,000, with all non-volunteers getting up to $92,000 extra.* Iwi land owners will also get paid off,

22:15

Will Adrian Orr’s replacement unleash a new mortgage...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/05

Long story short: Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr has resigned unexpectedly and without explanation, three years before the end of his second five-year term. Finance Minister Nicola Willis and soon-to-be Deputy PM David Seymour never wanted the-then Labour Government to reappoint him in late 2022, arguing (with hindsight) his actions worsened the 2022-23 inflation shock by stimulating the economy too much and criticising his increased regulation of banks for stifling competition.The big four banks

7:58

Luxon trusts Seymour & Trump

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/04

In summary today: PM Christopher Luxon is increasingly at odds with leaders in other countries in saying he trusts Donald Trump and the United States as reliable partners, despite this week’s tariffs and alliance swaps that have shocked and alarmed both New Zealand’s allies and global financial markets.Meanwhile, Luxon is also being criticised as being out of touch with his support of David Seymour’s school lunch programme, which potential Luxon replacement and Education Minister Erica Stanford

17:39

An administered, unnecessary & counter-productive...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/03

Long stories short, my top six news items in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, March 4 are:* The Government is widening its drive to turn public capital and investment costs into consumer price inflation that the Reserve Bank has to control with high interest rates.* In recent days a rash of Government-controlled and driven price setters have signalled double-digit rises in prices, rates and fees in the next couple of years, due to the Government’s drive to

6:57

Why the housing market is just not firing up

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/03/02

Long stories short, my top six news items in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, March 3 are:* The first national housing market data for February show new listings falling as unsold stock levels hit their highest levels in nearly 10 years, indicating an extension of the great standoff between buyers and sellers in the engine room of the economy is depressing sales volumes and selling prices. * One reason for the lack of fresh credit-fuelled demand is rental

63:10

The Hoon around the week to Feb 28

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/27

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including:* Robert Patman on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II politicial landscape; and,* Cathrine Dyer on the week in climate news, including what Joe Rogan gets wrong about climate change, how the transport lobby screws the scrum of energy and climate policy in

9:16

Seymour's late, missing, discarded, allergenic,...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/26

Long stories short, the top six things that stood out to me in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 26:* A crescendo of teacher, student and parent complaints is building over David Seymour’s cheap and nasty school lunch programme, with a cascade of ugly photos and reports of delays, allergy and halal failures, meal no-shows and evidence of nutrition-lite and small portion lunches hitting frontpages and facebook school community pages daily;* This morning

18:41

Interview: ‘I didn’t want to smile’

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/25

Long story short, I spoke to researcher and campaigner Kayli Taylor in the interview above about her ActionStation Aotearoa report into unmet need in dental care, which details the experiences of ten people unable to afford to go to a dentist, and just how damaging and debilitating it has been in their lives. The full report is available in PDF form below, as is the transcript of our discussion.Taylor points out 44.9% of the wider population have unmet dental care needs, with much higher proportions

13:44

'We can't hold on any longer. We're selling.'

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/24

Long stories short, the top six things that stood out to me in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 25:* The slump in housing land prices has gone on for three years and the Reserve Bank last week further lowered its forecast for house prices, meaning prices aren’t expected return to their December 2021 peak until mid-2028 at the earliest;* That near-seven-year-long peak-to-trough-to-peak cycle would be double the 3.5 years that the housing market took after

24:23

Interview: RBNZ wary of any administered inflation...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/24

Long story short, I interviewed Reserve Bank of New Zealand Chief Economist Paul Conway yesterday in the full video above about:* the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to cut the Official Cash Rate by 50 basis points to 3.75% last week;* the bank’s projection in its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for three more 25 basis point cuts over the next six months or so;* its forecasts for modest recovery in economic growth later in the year to start reducing unemployment, now that interest rates are

8:52

Govt set to hike insurance costs $400/year

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/23

Long stories short, the top six things that stood out to me in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 24:* The Government is considering allowing the EQC to increase its levy tacked on to household insurance bills by around $400 per year or as much as 72%;* Inexorable Government pressure downwards on education spending growth and the exodus of skilled workers overseas has increased this year’s teacher shortages to 1,150;* Napier plans to close its library for

14:38

A mini-hoon on the OCR cut & the housing market

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/19

Long story short, I spoke to Core Logic Head of Research Nick Goodall & Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) CEO Jen Baird for a 15 minute mini-Hoon last night after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced it had cut the Official Cash Rate 50 bps to 3.75% and projected another 75 bps of cuts this year. We also spoke in the video and podcast above about the REINZ's January sales data showing another slight fall in house prices with a rise in sales volumes. In essence, we agreed the

9:15

'Where will your kids raise your grand-kids?'

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/02/18

After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing a challenge to the opponents of tax reform in the form of an open letter, which can be read, listened to and shared publicly because I’ve taken the paywall off this one

280 results

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

DW Noticias

DW

JIJI English News-時事通信英語ニュース-

時事通信社

Legal AF by MeidasTouch

MeidasTouch Network

Mark Levin Podcast

Cumulus Podcast Network

朝日新聞AJW 英語ニュース（The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch）

朝日新聞ポッドキャスト