The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
My daughter’s in Queenstown with a friend and her family at the moment, and she's been snapchatting me pictures of all the shop and cafe windows, with all the 'STAFF WANTED' signs everywhere.
I haven't forgotten about the plight of Queenstown, because we still hear regularly from many business owners down there, still exasperated.
And many of the visitors who return from there have tales to tell. All the same tale sadly.
“All I do is cry” was the quote that broke my heart over the weekend.
The ODT had a story about the state of Queenstown at the moment, and it talked to café and restaurant owners who’re still in dire straits over lack of staff. They claim there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, and that this is worse than Covid was.
Hospitality NZ’s regional manager was quoted as saying that it’s such a pressure cooker situation that, ''It's becoming a luxury for our operators to open at the moment.'' Imagine that. A luxury to even open your doors.
With the 2026 General Election only three months away, let’s examine what the polls are telling us about who’s going to be running the count...
