When the Facts Change The Spinoff

Aotearoa has never been wealthier, yet demand for food parcels is skyrocketing and the Government won’t extend help to food banks so they can cope. Bernard talks to Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson about a surfeit of wealth at a time food banks are being defunded.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Softer-than-expected inflation figures this week suggest the inflation dragon - the one that savaged real wages and borrowing costs for the last three years - may have finally been shoved back in it's cave. Kiwibank's Mary Jo Vergara joins the podcast to discuss what that means going forward for interest rates in our housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on economy. Markets are now saying that the Reserve Bank could now cut the Official Cash Rate by the end of this year, but how many cuts can we hope for? Listen in to find out.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former PM and finance minister Sir Bill English is the intellectual driving force behind the new government’s plans for the country's biggest landlord. He tells Bernard why a full accounting of its running costs may prove to be too rich for the government.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bernard Hickey goes hunting for the Reserve Bank’s first rate cut in a discussion with Kiwibank economist Sabrina Delgado. It was supposed to be this year, especially now that the economy appears mired in a multi-dip recession with higher unemployment - but sticky local inflation has held the RBNZ back. Now, however, it is forecasting a rate cut in August 2025 at the earliest. Sabrina explains why she disagrees, why the central bank should be able to cut as early as November, and what that’ll mean for the housing market.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After ten years at the helm of Transpower, chief executive Alison Andrew is stepping down. She reflects on a tumultuous decade of managing Aotearoa’s most important network, and why she considers being relatively unknown in the public arena as a mark of success.

This interview was recorded shortly before a Transpower pylon collapsed in Northland on June 21st, causing widespread power outages in the region. The collapse was caused by contractors who failed to observe proper procedure while carrying out routine maintenance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the Kiwi dream to own a "McMansion", a "shoebox" or something else entirely? Bernard talks with The Urban Advisory’s MD Greer O’Donnell about a major new survey of what type of homes we actually want. She says it may not be the quarter acre "pavlova paradise" still assumed by many voters and politicians when they’re deciding on what should be be built and where.

If you'd like to take part in The Urban Advisory's housing survey, click here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices