The Hoon

Bernard Hickey
  • 5.0 (2)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Weekly

Bernard Hickey's discussions with Peter Bale and guests about the political economy in Aotearoa-NZ and in geo-politics, including issues around housing affordability, climate change inaction and child poverty reduction. thekaka.substack.com

  1. Accepting 57,000 homeless mums with 33,000 homeless kids 'tells us who we are as a society'

    8h ago

    Accepting 57,000 homeless mums with 33,000 homeless kids 'tells us who we are as a society'

    I spoke with Victoria Crockford from the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness this evening. She detailed the findings of the Coalition’s latest report, ‘Children and Young People Experiencing Homelessness,’ published today, including: * there are 33,000 children and young people experiencing homelessness and they face significantly higher rates of harm across multiple areas of their lives; * Children and young people experiencing homelessness are nearly three times more likely to have experienced abuse; * Young people experiencing homelessness are more likely to disengage from education and interact with the justice system; * Children under five experiencing homelessness are two times more likely to never have been enrolled with a Primary Health Organisation; * Children under five experiencing homelessness are 1.6 times more likely to never have been enrolled in early childhood education; * Children under five experiencing homelessness are significantly more likely to experience preventable hospitalisations, including respiratory illness and vaccine preventable disease; and, * Māori and Pacific children continue to be disproportionately impacted by homelessness and most of the tamariki are located in Auckland, Northland, or Gisborne. “What this research tells us about is who we are as a society, and I don’t think you can even read the headline and believe that enough is being done.” Victoria Crockford, co-lead of Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness. Thank you Kaimataara, Andrew Riddell, Max Du Frene, Alex Clarkson, and many others for tuning into my live video with VictoriaC! 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

    19 min

  2. 3d ago

    The Weekly Hoon: Johan Rockstrom's 'saturation point'; Data centre footprints; Trump vs Netanyahu; China vs four NZ MPs; Exports of forced labour

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also included discussions with Louisa Wall, a former Labour MP and member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. This week: * Bernard and Cathrine talked about Guyon Espiner’s interview on RNZ with Johan Rockstrom on economic growth’s ‘saturation point’ and this week’s UN report on the footprint of data centres. * Then Bernard talked with Robert and Louisa Wall about Donald Trump’s latest moves to add tariffs to countries not complying with US standards for imports made with forced labour, and China’s sanctions on four MPs who visited Taiwan. * Bernard referred to this FT-$ article on China’s repression of people in its western provinces. * Bernard finished by mentioning this Reuters article about the discovery of the New World screw worm in Texas. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. Peter Bale will be back next week. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    58 min

  3. May 28

    The Weekly Hoon: Budget 2026, a climate scandal, Saudi Arabia & Iran & disinformation flooding NZ's political debates

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also included discussions with Arab News Editor in Chief Faisal Abbas and disinformation researcher Sanjana Hattotuwa. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat about the Government’s Budget delivered yesterday afternoon. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about the Government’s failure to disclose lobbyist contact on behalf of Z Energy and Fonterra with the PM’s Office over a rewrite of climate laws that shut down a climate lawsuit against Z Energy, Fonterra and others. See the background on that here. * Then Bernard, Peter, Robert talked with Faisal Abbas about the Iran conflict. * Bernard and Peter finished with a discussion with Sanjana about disinformation flooding into New Zealand in election year, including his report this week on how it has spread and deepened since 2023. We also mentioned this Microsoft report from 2022 that showed on page 79 how Russian troll farms flooded 30% more anti-vaxx disinformation into New Zealand in late 2021 and early 2022 than pumped into Australia and the United States. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    57 min

  4. May 21

    The Weekly Hoon: Govt housing & job cuts; Iran vs Trump; Competition & banking

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also included discussions with historian and author Jonathan Lyons, PhD on the conflict with Iran and Tex Edwards from Monopoly Watch NZ about bank competition. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat the Government’s social housing spending cuts and shuffles announced yesterday, along with its pre-Budget announcement about cutting 8,700 jobs. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about Luke Kemp’s interview with Jack Tame on Q+A last weekend about ‘limitarianism.’ * Then Bernard, Peter, Robert talked about the latest in the Middle East and China with Jonathan. * Then Bernard and Peter finished with a discussion with Tex about bank competition. They mentioned Tex’s scheduled appearance at this Auckland University debate this coming Wednesday evening: Rebalancing Markets: Competition, power, and a fair economy. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    58 min

  5. May 14

    The Weekly Hoon: Trump in China & posting late at night; Luxon on migration & more climate laws rewritten

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also includes a discussion with former Productivity Commission Chair and now independent economist Ganesh R Ahirao about his substack post referring to PM Christopher Luxon’s speech on Wednesday, which included comments on migration and previewed a $300 million cut in Budget 2026’s operating allowance. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat about Christopher Luxon’s speech on migration and the Budget. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about the Government’s move to legislate to override civil legal action against Fonterra and others over the climate actions, the Government’s recognition of voluntary nature credits markets, and its proposal to reform the Conservation Estate. Cathrine referred to these comment pieces by Marie Doole via Linked here and here. * Then Bernard, Peter Robert talked about the latest in the Middle East, China and the global rules based order. Bernard referred to an analysis about Donald Trump’s late-night social media habits. * Then Bernard and Peter finished with a discussion with Ganesh about migration and productivity. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    59 min

  6. May 7

    The Weekly Hoon: The fuel & climate crises, plus deliberative democracy

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also includes a discussion with special guest Iain Walker, who is an expert in deliberative democracy and Executive Director of the newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) in Australia. He is visiting Wellington, Queenstown and Auckland next week for public meetings on deliberative democracy. Here’s the details. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat about the global situation and how the Reserve Bank and the Government were sleepwalking into tightening fiscal and monetary policy into the face of a global supply shock. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about yesterday’s report from the Climate Commission about priorities for climate action. * Then Robert talked about the latest in the Middle East, China and New Zealand’s food-for-fuel deal with Singapore. * Then Bernard and Peter finished with a discussion with Iain about deliberative democracy. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    59 min

  7. Apr 30

    The Weekly Hoon: The Middle East fuel crisis & more

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale in Auckland talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also includes a discussion with special guest Paul Spoonley about his report this week with Peter Gluckman and Georgia Lala for Koi Tū (Centre for Informed Futures) titled: People, Place & Prosperity - The case for a population strategy. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat about the conflict in the Middle East and the fuel crisis, along with Christopher Luxon’s clash this week with Winston Peters over Luxon’s initial plan to express New Zealand’s support for the US attack on Iran. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about this week’s warning from Earth Sciences NZ about a formidable El Niño later this year and this report showing Europe’s climate warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. * Then Bernard finished with a discussion with Paul about population strategy. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    56 min

  8. Apr 23

    The Weekly Hoon: The Middle East fuel crisis & more

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale in Auckland talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics. This edition also includes discussions with special guests Jonathan Lyons, PhD from Vancouver and Shamubeel Eaqub in Auckland on Iran and social cohesion in New Zealand, respectively. This week: * Bernard and Peter began with a chat about the conflict in the Middle East and the fuel crisis, along with Christopher Luxon’s leadership vote in the National Caucus and the ensuing clash with Winston Peters. * Bernard mentioned in passing a podcast series he recently listened to on the Suez crisis and compared New Zealand’s current fuel crisis to the 1973 fuel crisis. Peter referred to a Guardian article about Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims this week. He also referred to a podcast on Israel and a collapse in US voter support for Israel mentioned in an Ed Luce article in the FT. Bernard mentioned a WSJ-$ article on the drama in Trump’s White House. * Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about this week’s report from The Macdiarmid Institute on CleanTech. There’s more commentary on that from the Science Media Centre. Cathrine mentioned the ideas of Joseph Tainter, who wrote a book called The Collapse of Complex Societies. * Bernard, Peter, Robert and Jonathan talked about events in the Middle East, including the history of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Jonathan’s substack post about how the assassination Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei also killed off his religious edict against nuclear weapons. * Bernard, Peter and Shamubeel talked about yesterday’s second annual Social Cohesion in New Zealand report from the Helen Clark Foundation. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey. The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.) Ngā mihi nui. Bernard 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

    1 hr
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Bernard Hickey's discussions with Peter Bale and guests about the political economy in Aotearoa-NZ and in geo-politics, including issues around housing affordability, climate change inaction and child poverty reduction. thekaka.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Bernard Hickey
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    210
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Bernard Hickey
  • Show Website
    The Hoon

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