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The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

Bernard Hickey

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

news politics

All Episodes

56:55

The Weekly Hoon: Labour's CGT-lite; Climate change...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/30

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer, and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, The Kākā’s future and how to fund the building of social housing by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and others.This week’s special guest was Home Capital Partners CEO James Stewart.We talked about:* The Kākā’s future after

15:55

Mini-Hoon: S&P's Anthony Walker critiques 'Local...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/29

Just briefly, I spoke last night with Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Director of Government Ratings Anthony Walker last night about a research note S&P Global published yesterday titled: ‘New Zealand Water Reforms Don’t Guarantee Rating Relief For Local Councils.’He told me there was no guarantee the current Government’s ‘Local Water Done Well’ reforms would alleviate the negative outlooks S&P Global had on many councils’ credit ratings, even though the creation of separate water authorities in

13:59

Wednesday's Chorus: A small & hazy target

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/28

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, October 29:* Labour’s targeted plan for a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to pay for three free doctor’s visits was described by political commentators yesterday as a low-target tactic that might neutralise opposition by offsetting the negative of a new tax with the positive of a new health benefit.* However, tax lawyers, accountants and landlords wanted detail on key areas such as whether interest

9:04

Tuesday's Chorus: Where's the solar & batteries? And...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/27

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Tuesday, October 28:* Almost a third of dairy farmers in Otago and Southland are still without power to their milking sheds this morning, five days after extreme gusts of wind flattened power poles, shelter belts and pine forests across the region. (RNZ)* Farmers, water treatment plant operators and cell-tower maintenance workers are scrambling to bring in and share diesel generators, just as Metservice issued

65:47

The Weekly Hoon: Climate back-tracking; Ukraine...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/23

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guest Robert Patman and special guests about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, Jim Bolger’s funeral, Treaty of Waitangi issues and yesterday’s ‘mega-strike’ by doctors, teachers and nurses.This week’s special guests were Lawyers for Climate Action Executive Director Jessica Palairet, former Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations

8:48

Friday's Early Bird & Dawn Chorus: Choosing $30b of...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/23

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* Over 100,000 teachers, nurses, doctors and supporters marched in most major cities and towns yesterday, demanding more than 1% per year wage increases offered by the Government, which would leave them getting real wage cuts and add pressure for more emigration to Australia.* The turnout was the biggest in 40 years, adding to signs the public are behind the strikes. A poll this week showed 65% of voters

11:01

Thursday's Early Bird & Dawn Chorus: The elephant in...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/22

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: States of emergency were declared, red wind warnings issues, parks closed, buses, ferries and trains, cancelled, houses burned to the ground, power lines downed and picketing for today’s ‘mega-strike’ was cancelled as wild weather ravaged the motu from top to bottom in the last 48 hours. Yet in the dozens of news items broadcast, published online and printed so far, none of them mention that extreme

13:38

Mini-Hoon: Inside Labour's Future Fund policy

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/21

I spoke with Labour Finance Spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds last night about Labour’s first big policy idea for the 2026 election: a new sovereign wealth fund to invest in New Zealand infrastructure and growth businesses. It would be seeded with an initial grant of $200 million and topped up regularly with dividends from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and potentially partially-owned SOEs such as the gentailers and Air New Zealand, although that wasn't confirmed due to ‘commercial sensitivities.’I asked

7:17

Wednesday's Chorus: The problem(s) with the RoNS and...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/21

Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:This is just time-wasting magical thinking that only enables us all to avoid the hard realities. * The Lead: Transport Minister Chris Bishop has committed to spending $1.2 billion on designs and buying land for six massive new motorway and tunnel projects that new estimates show could cost up to $32.9 billion, and which are only deemed barely economically viable because the Government slashed its interest rate

5:00

Thursday's Chorus: Jim Bolger dies

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/15

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: Jim Bolger, a centrist National PM who backed Treaty settlements and sacked Ruth Richardson, has died at the age of 90. * The Sidebar: New polls put support for National below 30% again and show almost half of voters want National to replace Christopher Luxon as leader, with 16% preferring Chris Bishop as a replacement

5:00

Wednesday's Chorus: Going for Growth. House price...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/14

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: Without warning, consultation or a permanent Governor in place, the Reserve Bank yesterday loosened mortgage lending restrictions in a way that will increase house prices, accelerate sales activity and turbo-charge the residential industrial complex that has become the economy’s main driver.* The Sidebar: The Reserve

5:00

Monday's Chorus: A new round of austerity

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/12

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: A swathe of new mayors are promising local austerity after voters punished councillors and mayors who pushed through big rates increases in the last two years. This will add another wave of uncertainty and fear into local economies already worried about central Government spending cuts.* The Sidebar: The Government has

9:13

Mini-Hoon: Andrea Black on our sickening workforce

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/09

I spoke to Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) Economist Andrea Black this week about a report she’s produced on the economic, social & financial costs of the worsening health of our workforce. The 52-page report, titled Managed decline: The Health of New Zealand 2011 to 2024, details a worsening in the health of the working-age population, in particular around mental health and obesity.Andrea used Treasury cost-benefit models to work out the potential costs to society and the economy

59:32

The Weekly Hoon: Climate health threats; The Gaza...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/09

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics and climate change.This week’s special guest was Israel Cooper from The Home Foundation.We talked about:* The economy, the Reserve Bank’s rate cut and global financial bubbles.* This week’s annual report on the marine environment by the Ministry for

3:43

Thursday's Chorus: OCR slashed as poll shows NZ on...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/08

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly in the news this morning in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: The Reserve Bank has cut the Official Cash Rate by a ‘bazooka’-sized 50 basis points to 2.5% and has indicated it may cut by more in November and February. Financial markets see the OCR dropping as far as 2.0%. Kiwibank Economist Jarrod Kerr told me last night a sub-2.0% OCR is possible if the economy

13:27

Survey shows economy 'stuck in the mud'

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/07

Briefly in the news this morning in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: The NZIER’s September quarter survey of business confidence found a slump in expectations about the wider economy and businesses’ own activity in the next three months. Businesses reported they shed more staff during the quarter and were no more confident about employing more in the December quarter.* The Sidebar: The survey results increased the chances the Reserve Bank would cut the

11:46

PM tells jobless youth to leave to find a job. So...

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/06

Briefly in the news this morning in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: Facing criticism over cancelling benefits for 4,300 jobless youth and forcing them to go home and be supported by their parents, PM Christopher Luxon said last night there were plenty of jobs in regional areas and these 18-19 year olds should move to find work. Luxon said: “If you want a job, you go where the jobs are. I encourage anyone to do what it takes to get a job.”* The Sidebar:

15:32

Thursday's Chorus: Where's the solar plan?

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/10/01

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly for all today in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: The Government’s electricity reforms yesterday focused on a vague, expensive and slow construction of an LNG port facility. But why didn’t it look at a fast and big rollout of grid-scale solar panels and electric battery parks? Especially given the one Meridian has built at Ruakaka in Northland has already suppressed

27:54

Wednesday's Chorus: Performative power politics

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/09/30

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thekaka.substack.comBriefly for all today in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate:* The Lead: The Government has this morning announced a series of measures to try to get the mostly state-owned gentailers to build more electricity generation and try to restrain double-digit power price inflation. * The Sidebar: But the moves fall far short of the transformational reforms called for by consumers, and small and

18:45

Mini-Hoon: 'Why don't we buy back the shares?'

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey ·

2025/09/30

On the eve of the Government’s big electricity market reform announcement this morning, I chatted in a ‘pop-up’ ‘Mini-Hoon’ with CTU Economist Craig Renney about a CTU proposal for the Government to use the gentailers’ dividends to buy back the privately-held shares in the 51% state-owned Meridian, Mercury and Genesis, if they chose not to build much more power generation capacity to stop rampant inflation.Craig argues the gentailers chose to generate cash for dividends rather than invest in new

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The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

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