Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 9/9/23

Govt invests in making Auckland CBD safer and (with $113.7m) in giving greater strength to disabled people

More evidence of a government belatedly burnishing its law-and-order credentials can be found in an announcement today from the Minister of Police and the Minister for Auckland Central.

Their glad tidings are that “Central and Local Government” are investing in a range of new measures to tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour in the Auckland CBD to complement a greater Police presence in the area.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 30/8/23

Multi-agency 111 response is among the latest govt initiatives which depend on Labour surviving the general election

Many burning questions (as the general election looms) are answered on the government’s official website today.

Let’s start by checking how ministers are spending (or misspending) our money.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/8/23

Millions will go into East Coast clean-up and reconstruction – it’s reassuring to learn Moodys are not discomforted

Well over $400 million of state spending was mentioned in a press statement today that describes what the government is doing to support the findings of the Ministerial Inquiry into the devastating East Coast weather events of recent months.

Each of the inquiry report’s recommendations was carefully considered, and the government is firmly focussed on reducing risk and setting the region up for sustainable longer-term change, Environment Minister David Parker said.

Point of Order: Plenty to ponder on economy......

.....while OCR stance softens, a widening current account deficit threatens NZ’s credit rating

It’s been an eventful week for the New Zealand economy. On one side, the Reserve Bank was seen as putting the brakes on the Official Cash Rate, with a 25 basis points increase heralded as good news for mortgage-holders. On another, NZ’s record current account deficit is seen as posing a real threat to NZ’s sovereign credit rating.

The current account deficit, reflecting we’re spending more than we’re earning overseas, rose to its highest level ever of $33.8bn last year. As a percentage of GDP, a measure of its significance in the context of NZ’s overall economy, it weighed in at 8.9%, the highest it has been since the 1970s.

Could it get worse before it gets better?

Frank Newman: Credit scores and simplicity

How good is your credit score? Checking is simple, and free. All you need is some details from a driver’s licence (or passport) and a click on the website creditsimple.co.nz. It literally takes less than a couple of minutes.

A credit score is a number between 0 and 1,000 that indicates how credit-worthy you are, and how likely you are to pay your bills on time. Most credit scores are between 300 and 850. The higher the score, the better your credit rating is. A good score is more than 500.