Politics

The National Party has lost more than 10 percent of its support in two months, as measured by the New Zealand arm of Australian pollster Roy Morgan, to run neck and neck at 45 percent support, with its coalition partners, against a combination of the Labour and Green parties for the first time since five months before last September’s general election. Labour and the Greens …

John Key will have plenty on his plate this coming week. National has been on the backfoot since Labour blindsided it with its release of leaked Barfoot & Thompson data suggesting that Chinese investments comprised a disproportionate number of recent Auckland housing sales. Particularly those over the $1 million mark. While Key has been off on his holiday jaunt in …

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and also the 70th anniversary of Korea’s division into North and South. Last month the World Journalists Conference was held throughout South Korea under the theme ‘the 70th anniversary of the division of Korea: Thinking about unification on the Korean Peninsula’. Na Kyung-won, Chairperson of the Foreign …

The NZ US Partnership Forum provided the opportunity to present recommendations for what should come next in the relationship between New Zealand and the United States. There was overwhelming support for New Zealand to lobby for entrepreneur visas, similar to the E-3 visas granted to Australians. New Zealand has a large pool of entrepreneurs that want to drive the creation …

Address by the Hon Tim Groser, Minister of Trade and Minister of Climate Change Issues: US/NZ Partnership Forum, Auckland 30 June 2015 I would like to thank our two co-chairs, the Hon Simon Power, Chair of the NZ-US Council and Stu Van Soyoc, President of the US-based counterpart organisation for assuming joint responsibility for the Partnership Forum. I think it …

Mayor Len Brown and Councillors Bill Cashmore and Denise Krum led a delegation of 43 Auckland businesses to the inaugural Tripartite Economic Alliance Summit in Los Angeles. “Auckland is New Zealand’s only global city and we are fast becoming a significant innovation hub in the Asia-Pacific region. The summit gives us the chance to build our trade and economic relations; to create exciting export opportunities …

Murray McCully’s controversial $10 million deal to buy off an aggrieved Saudi Arabian investor and his Government and remove a block to a free-trade deal bypassed the normal Government control channels. It’s arguable that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) has simply been used as a slush fund. But it’s more complex than that. A close look at the …

“Governments that understand the need for reform must find a way of countering this lazy, reactive style of politics, just as John Key’s government has done in New Zealand.” In its first two terms the Key administration made an effort to reduce the size of government, enhance the scope for growth and tackle seemingly intractable problems in tax, welfare and …

The China/Australia Free Trade Agreement, or “CHAfta” as it is being called, gives Australian dairy farmers much better access to the Chinese infant formula market, which they have been beaten out of by the New Zealanders in recent years. Agricultural sector writer Alan Emerson recently noted that in 2009 New Zealand and Australia produced approximately the same amount of milk. …

There is broad global support for moves to curb international tax avoidance, New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English said on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane. Cracking down on tax avoidance is one of the key agenda items at this weekend’s G20 Summit, where New Zealand is an invited guest. The G20 countries make up 85 percent of global economic activity …