John McLean: Key indicators

Inconvenient truths about the former New Zealand Prime Minister

Aotearoa is a strange and changeable lady. In her youth, she didn’t take herself too seriously. New Zealand satirists A. K. Grant and Tom Scott, in their superb early 80s mock history of New Zealand The Paua and the Glory: the story of New Zealand's rise to international insignificance, amusingly speculated on the origin of “Aotearoa” …without being cancelled. (Their thesis was that, on arrival of the first Polynesian canoe on New Zealand shores, one of the Tānes instructed one of the Wāhines, “Out eh Aroha”.)

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The ANZ Bank is NZ's own Colonial East India Company....

The ANZ Bank is NZ's own Colonial East India Company, indistinguishable from the government, shipping the gold bounty away to the motherland.

Who was sitting next to Prime Minister Luxon on NZ's Airforce One, which conked out and got replaced by Air NZ One, on his trade-trip to Japan recently? Antonia Watson, the CEO of ANZ Bank, of course. Who was the Chair of ANZ, who stood down a short time ago? The current NZ PM's mentor and close friend and confidant, John Key, who helped get him his current job. Who's on the Board of the NZ Initiative, the National Party's unofficial economic adviser? Another former Chair of ANZ. Who did ANZ hire to deflect bad publicity that the company is a blood-sucking monopoly? Jessica Mutch McKay, now Head of Government Relations at ANZ.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Has ANZ Bank Become NZ's Very Own Colonial-Style East India Company?

Who owns ANZ Bank? It may surprise you. Despite having "NZ" in its name, it has next to nothing to do with New Zealand. Geographically, most of the ownership is concentrated in the US, Bloomberg data shows, with 42.4% of owners living there, distantly followed by Australia at 24.8%. Kiwis don't figure in the equation. Yet its impossible for NZ'ers to escape from the clutches of ANZ Bank. Its former Chair was Sir John Key, the former PM, of course.

Point of Order: ANZ (while chalking up a $2bn net profit) says it is helping build future prosperity and security for Aotearoa

Australian banks aren’t popular in NZ, right?

They make huge profits, then ship the booty back to the greedy shareholders across the ditch.

That’s the refrain from many straitened Kiwis who nevertheless are disinclined to switch to using NZ-owned banks.

There are other New Zealanders who find the services of Australian banks quite satisfactory, and see the scale of their businesses as a reassuring haven for their savings.

Point of Order: Overseas forces are to blame for the surge in our living costs? But non-tradables inflation (up 6 per cent) then must be explained…

In the wake of the latest inflation figures being published today, showing the consumers price index has risen at its fastest pace in some 30 years, the burning question is whether we have a cost of living crisis.

Opposition parties (inevitably) seized on the annual 6.9 per cent CPI increase to insist prices are out of control. National Party leader Christopher Luxon says prices are a “silent thief in your pocket”.

On the other side of the political fence, the Council of Trade Unions contends that inflation is being driven by the price of property and the price of fuel.