We have never had a foreigner. Well, we have (the first was British) but that was in 1934 and that’s the sort of thing you would have expected given colonialism.
Obviously, the fact she is female should not be a thing. I think we have seen plenty of examples that essentially woman can, and do, do anything and the more we continue to isolate out appointments on gender, the more we remind ourselves how little in our minds we have moved forward.
But the fact we seem to have attracted what they suggested was a good line up, both numerically and in talent, from offshore is a good tick for this country's reputation.
Anna Breman may well use this as a springboard to big banks, who knows. But moving your family halfway around the world is no small thing and you have to believe that the place you are landing isn't a dump, and you can make a difference.
I don’t think I'm reading too much into the Willis comments at the press conference when she said Christian Hawkesby had done an admirable job. Admirable... is that glowing? I don’t think so.
He applied for the job but sadly, given his proximity to Adrian Orr, he didn’t stand a chance and is now to leave the bank.
That in part may have played a role in someone from outside the joint getting the gig. If you're from Sweden you had nothing to do with what has been a hopeless time for the bank, riddled with incompetence and secrecy.
Breman said our bank is widely and highly regarded. If I take her at her word that's reassuring, but you can equally suggest she would say that, wouldn’t she?
What I am interested in is whether she can get a grip on the country and its economic culture.
I remain convinced that at least part of the reason the Reserve Bank have messed the recovery up so badly is they don't get out of Wellington. There are too many spreadsheets and not enough real world, not enough vibe, not enough on-the-ground readings.
It’s a challenge for a Northern European to soak up something like New Zealand and get a gut feel for it and flip it. How long would it take anyone of us to suss out the subtlety of Sweden?
But given where we are, she starts from a low base, and the only way is up.
Let's hope she's a rockstar.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
But the fact we seem to have attracted what they suggested was a good line up, both numerically and in talent, from offshore is a good tick for this country's reputation.
Anna Breman may well use this as a springboard to big banks, who knows. But moving your family halfway around the world is no small thing and you have to believe that the place you are landing isn't a dump, and you can make a difference.
I don’t think I'm reading too much into the Willis comments at the press conference when she said Christian Hawkesby had done an admirable job. Admirable... is that glowing? I don’t think so.
He applied for the job but sadly, given his proximity to Adrian Orr, he didn’t stand a chance and is now to leave the bank.
That in part may have played a role in someone from outside the joint getting the gig. If you're from Sweden you had nothing to do with what has been a hopeless time for the bank, riddled with incompetence and secrecy.
Breman said our bank is widely and highly regarded. If I take her at her word that's reassuring, but you can equally suggest she would say that, wouldn’t she?
What I am interested in is whether she can get a grip on the country and its economic culture.
I remain convinced that at least part of the reason the Reserve Bank have messed the recovery up so badly is they don't get out of Wellington. There are too many spreadsheets and not enough real world, not enough vibe, not enough on-the-ground readings.
It’s a challenge for a Northern European to soak up something like New Zealand and get a gut feel for it and flip it. How long would it take anyone of us to suss out the subtlety of Sweden?
But given where we are, she starts from a low base, and the only way is up.
Let's hope she's a rockstar.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
30 comments:
Let's hope she is not woke.
A rockstar she may be. Or she may be completely useless. It will make little difference in an organisation tainted so badly by the previous Governor, Board and Chair. She will first need to purge the absolute garbage people before being able to achieve anything. And in a place like Wellington, where the absolute garbage people are rife and protect their own, well good luck with that.
Mike I assume she is a well qualified economist and she will know what she is doing and do it. Economics is like Mathematics. As for the cultural angle you sound like the NZ nursing council’s attitude to fully qualified nurse; a bit xenophobic. Let’s hope for someone competent and not a rockstar.
“the country and its economic culture” you mean people selling houses to each other? I’m sure she won’t need much of a laser focus to wrap her head around that
Almost all senior positions in NZ, business, education, legal, should be highly qualified immigrants rather than marginally qualified patronage appointment NZers.... If I interviewed 10 NZers, maybe one applicant would be above average by international standards.
Why not use AI and then have a huge financial saving for the country because the Reserve Bank is frankly an old boys network. If the new swede RB Governor even attempts Te Reo she is a goner before she starts .
Wasn’t / isn’t don brash Australian?
A WEF acolyte. Just what we (don't) need.
One comment by Mike raised an interesting point for me albeit it slightly off the main thrust of his column.
British was not ''foreign'' in 1934. Generations on some of those still entirely of UK ancestry (exclude Eire) regard British (or any one of its components) as foreign. In a sense nowadays, yes, as we are totally separate, and in another sense no, many or most of us, including those of other ancestries mixed with ''British'' are intertwined. My interest in genealogy leads me into chatting with many people about our ancestry. Some are interested and value their lineage and retain emotional or real ties, through relatives they know, to their old countries (here I include more than UK, I include Ireland, Netherlands, and elsewhere in the world). A sense of history perhaps too. Others do not and have no interest in it. Some slag it off. As if despite being 100pc of English ancestry, say, they were somehow here already before British arrived. The foreign aspect has become more real down the decades with immigration controls on BOTH sides ending the days of free movement between NZ and the UK. Also you can claim a UK passport with full citizenship if your paternal (sexist?) grandfather was born in the UK. Similar applies to obtaining passports of some other countries including Ireland. Becoming a republic has no bearing on ties people ''feel'' or do not ''feel'' and the vast majority of Commonwealth members including countries that were never part of the old empire (Gabon, Rwanda, Mozambique for example) are republics. Should the days of allowing dual citizenships be ended? I have heard arguments from both sides. I declare that I have UK citizenship as well. My parents came here as ten pounders in 54 and I was born in 55.
We had way superior NZ citizen candidates on every level – vastly superior qualifications, incomparably superior publications, gravitas, international and domestic standing, work experience, and influential in world central banking circles – who applied for Governor. Their applications were binned by an inept RBNZ Board and (can't-do-Finance) Minister Willis because the political “optics” didn't look as good as appointing an unknown from Sweden.
Incoming RBNZ Governor Breman, having not even started the job, standing next to Minister-for-Economic-Depression Willis, referred to “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine”. That statement beggars belief. Bringing her personal antipathy to Putin as a Scandinavian who feels threatened into NZ's formal political viewpoint is unprofessional. She was hired to do monetary policy, not foreign policy. Kiwis already have a Foreign Minister - Winston Peters.
To all our graduates, leave the country. You will not get promoted with the Luxon-Willis-RBNZ Board style clowns in charge. New Zealand is no longer a meritocracy. You will not get the best jobs either because someone who is well-connected will get them ahead of you, or when the political optics look better for the Beehive drones, they will appoint a candidate from overseas with lower qualifications and a less impressive CV than your own.
I'm not recommending to any of my students to stay in NZ and put up with this zoo. I'm helping them with references and am making calls as we speak - very successfully I may add - to help them get the jobs that they deserve and which will bring them a better life - abroad.
800 years ago no one was here, no Maori, no Euroopeans, Asians etc. So we are all foreign just born here in a country constructed from nothing. Whether we value or personal lineage and heritage or not is another matter
Just curious, but who are the names you would put forward for the job?
You'd like alternative Governor names to call my bluff - Kiwi citizens whose qualifications are in another league to whatever-her-name-is Breman? Here's one (there are others to match him).
"Dr John McDermott is the Exec Director of Motu Economic & Public Policy Research, a Senior Advisor at Wigram Capital Advisors, the Chair of the Independent Research Association & Chair of the Red Cross Foundation.
Before starting at Motu in 2019, he was Assistant Governor and Head of Economics at the Reserve Bank of NZ. He has also held positions at the National Bank of NZ and the International Monetary Fund.
Dr McDermott holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on international commodity prices, real exchange rates, the business cycle, and other aspects of monetary policy. Dr McDermott was given the 2019 NZIER annual economics award".
Prof Robert seems to think he’s got all the answers. He should realise very few economists would agree with him. Perhaps it’s because he’s never worked in the real world
Ahhh. The old 100 economists disagree lie.
Funny how the Purveyors of this oft told myth never list the economists, their credentials, and their alternative government budget.
Or Perhaps you're referring the economists who have published an alternative budget....
FOR THE GREENS!
Thx Robert. Please keep the information flowing.
I've told other academics their silence through the Ardern years was a disgrace and implored them to atone for their country wrecking acqueisance by speaking up now.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant!
Never worked in the real world, eh? So banking, start-ups and charities don't count? Funny, I talked to the Kiwi founder of AI / DeepMind in London - he doesn't want to come back here exactly because of "real world" types like you. Go listen to the feeble Platform, read the Nats mouth piece / pollster Kiwiblog & (Oligarch) Initiative's propaganda, worship DJ Hosking .. and maybe one day you will see why NZ is in free-fall. Their ideas have worked out great, haven't they? I really don't care about providing answers to anyone. The search for the truth defines my profession. But you're right about one thing. I will likely leave NZ so you, Mike Hosking and Nic Willis (who's idea of the real world has never extended far beyond Lampton Quay) to sort out.
I agree with Prof MacCulloch entirely. This appointment says plenty about the present Government, and the polls tell us the rest . .Many New Zealanders would rather see Maori spiritualism within the role than a completely ill informed anti Russian WEF zealot. I can just imagine her as being like that mad woman from Estonia or Latvia who runs the finances of the sickly EU now and favours an all out war on Russia., Which would end Europe and who would cry? Prof MacCulloch is right> New Zealand has shambled backwards and is a country town Zoo.. It will be taken by Maori, and I thank the Prof for sending his students oveseas. Paul Scott
Our new RB Governor was a WEF Young Global leader in 2011, was ex deputy Gov of Sweden’s central bank and began her career at the World Bank as an intern and consultant for the “Health, Nutrition and Population” team, of which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are “key partners” – enough said.
The World Bank is a key driver of global CBDC (programable digital currency) and also Digital ID. Breman is on record pushing for CBDC’s that will “help solve inequities and also help helicopter money programs”.
She has been described as “economically progressive” and has published papers on health spending and UHC – Universal health coverage while residing at the University of California.
So a real rockstar for you Mike.
Has McDermott published in any of the top 10 economics journals? Peer-reviewed means little, really. The question is a journal's international ranking. Perhaps he is a superior RBNZ person, but not a superstar academic publisher.
I support Prof MacCulloch’s position entirely. Importing a foreigner who is a WEF and anti-Russian zealot is bad news.
Her idiotic announcement about Russia shows that she is entirely unaware of the Slav Ukraine history.
Likely just another leaf out of the EU suicide book, like that crazy Kaja Kallas who wants all-out war on Russia yesterday.
I would rather see an appointment of one of our brethren of spiritual economics than an enemy plant from the New World Order.
As if we needed daily reminders that the Luxon Government is an inept WEF puppet.
Watch to see a wealthy Luxon overseas and somewhere within the cogs in early 2027
The WEF program is to continue division in New Zealand until Maori ownership is such that the New World can negotiate directly a few special Maori.
Professor MacCulloch is right and wise for advising his students on the reality of the country town Zoo.
In a few short years, his students will write thank-you notes from good positions overseas ,
and the zoo will be a wretched and angry mess
Paul Scott
Hi Anonymous, McDermott has published way beyond your wildest dreams. Not in the top 10 of the world's most influential & highest ranked journals, but in the top 5. The Review of Economic Studies, to be precise. (I have an article there too as well as others like American Economic Review). Incoming RBNZ Governor Breman does not come within a million miles of McDermott on that basis. He's in the world's top 5% of most cited economists. She's a complete unknown who doesn't figure - would be surprised she made the top 50%.
McDermott has also far more impressive & relevant high level "real world" work experience at the IMF and private sector than Breman (she was just a World Bank intern). They are in a different league. But should folks on this site, The Platform, Hosking, Luxon & Willis like to insult our local economists and home-grown Kiwi talent like McDermott in favour of others with a different "identity" that's good with us. Trust Breman succeeds in getting Putin out of Ukraine, which already seems to be her main mission. As for her appointment, it solely reflects on the PR pop-culture nature of bitter Minister Willis, who demotivates the best of young NZ.
We're leaving this zoo.
Prof McCullough’s fury over the RBNZ situation matches my despair at the state of this nation under the mis-rule of the 2 major parties in the last 9 years, or more. A WEF student: must have shared a desk with Jabcinda.
Oh dear its worser than the worstest >> and this from a NAT World Governement tells you everything you don't want to know From Anonymous above at September 26, 2025 at 12:12 PM >> " "Our new RB Governor was a WEF Young Global leader in 2011, was ex deputy Gov of Sweden’s central bank and began her career at the World Bank as an intern and consultant for the “Health, Nutrition and Population” team, of which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are “key partners” – enough said.
The World Bank is a key driver of global CBDC (programable digital currency) and also Digital ID. Breman is on record pushing for CBDC’s that will “help solve inequities and also help helicopter money programs”.
She has been described as “economically progressive” and has published papers on health spending and UHC – Universal health coverage while residing at the University of California.
So a real rockstar for you Mike. " "
How many peopled really care who the governor of the reserve bank is? It's people who do stuff and create wealth for us all. The government creates that environment to some extent. The WEF scares the sh*t out of me personally. I can't help almost vomiting seeing Ardern running after Klaus Schwab like a little lap dog. We are better than that. She is not. And as for Gates, be very afraid.
This is some pretty intense feedback! Some of the respondents seem to be influenced by frustration or personal disappointment, making them come across as overly emotional and bitter in their responses.
All this vitriol! Can we at least see how our new Governer does the job before we pile into her!!
What's wrong with a meaure of emotion and vitriol caused by unequivacol facts.
If we'd seen more emotion and vitriol prior Arderns second election (I know I was posting imploring people not to vote for the dim and dishonest ardern) we might not be in the dire economic predicament today.
Giving "look at me Im a woman" Breman a chance comes at a very expensive cost.
1. The dim and dishonest Willis is at it again, rigging what should be a merit based selection process. Willis hasn't chosen the 4th best candidate because it will be better for Kiwi battlers
2. Talented people who could expose and fix the price colluding NZ industries and repair our economy will head overseas with Prof McCullough. leaving geniuses like Brook Van Velden in toal control (found our missing $84.4b yet Brooke?)
3. Why has Willis chosen the 4th best rb governor candidate? Could it be something to do with her support of the $10,000 extra a year we pay for groceries, or the double industry standard net returns nz based aussie banks earn?
I am very suspicious of her role at the W.E.F We don't want globalism. , thank you .
I agree with Robert . What is this woman's agenda coming to the bottom of the World ?
So, Mike Hosking is apparently "interested in whether she can get a grip on the country and its economic culture".
But that "culture" is what has caused all our problems.
A culture that encourages and perpetuates the bone idle and feeble minded to breed without consequence and suck the money out of those who actually contribute to society.
We need an outsider to perhaps tell us the truth we already know but don't want to hear.
Our welfare system is too generous, and we are idiots as we sit back and allow treaty land settlements to slowly revert back to swamp.
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