Reports & Media

It was in 1986 when Paul Keating, then Australia’s Treasurer, made a famous remark: “If this Government cannot get the adjustment, get manufacturing going again, and keep moderate wage outcomes and a sensible economic policy, then Australia is basically done for,” Keating warned on the John Laws radio programme. “We will just end up being a third-rate economy, a banana republic.” In hindsight, Keating might have exaggerated. Read more

Kiwis are very likely heading into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. But the nature of this downturn harkens back to even earlier business cycles. Read more

This week, opinion polls revealed that the Government is more popular than ever. On current figures, Labour could comfortably govern alone, the Prime Minister’s ratings are stratospheric, and nine in ten New Zealanders approve of the Government’s handling of the public health crisis. Read more

It’s not exactly clear why there is so much nervousness about overseas interests buying something like the Auckland port. It’s not like they can take the port with them. Read more

Last Friday, I was invited to appear before Parliament’s Epidemic Response Committee on Tuesday 19 May. The topic was Budget 2020. Read more

New Zealand’s fortress of five million has repelled the coronavirus. But as Kiwis emerge from enforced curfew, some strategic thinking is needed to repair the carnage. Read more

As New Zealand moves towards some new form of normality, the question becomes how to benefit from eliminating Covid-19 in New Zealand. It is worth looking at other countries’ specific problems. Take Germany’s football league, for example. Read more