Media

Ten years ago, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Andrew Butler asked me to speak at the Auckland launch of A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand, their first draft. They knew I would not endorse their proposal, which speaks well of them. Read more

Might the plunge in the value of the New Zealand dollar in the last five weeks make you poorer? The reason for asking is that, on 29 September, a New Zealand dollar bought 5.1% fewer US dollars than on 24 August, 3.1% fewer Australian dollars and 4.6% fewer units of the Reserve Bank’s basket of currencies. Read more

This month’s big housing story was not the Reserve Bank’s rate rise, whatever the media coverage suggested. Mortgage rate rises, the effect on house prices, whether the spring market will stall – all of it was reported, correctly, as housing news. Read more

If Labour forms government after the election, it will forgive a portion of some student loans. The policy announced on Sunday aims to leave graduates “with less debt, more of their income in their pocket, and a better chance to build their lives here in New Zealand.” The policy will certainly reduce the outstanding student loan balances of eligible borrowers. Read more

The Commerce Act forbids anticompetitive conduct. There are established processes for proving that commercial conduct is unlawful, with penalties and remedies that follow. Read more

When law firms advise foreign clients on investing in New Zealand, they usually include some version of the same paragraph. It describes the country as a stable democracy with independent courts, secure property rights and predictable politics, and for decades nobody had to think twice before writing it. Read more