Philip Crump: NZME Shareholder Meeting - RNZ Corrects the Record

After a two hour shareholder meeting, NZME has a refreshed Board which includes the newly elected Steven Joyce and Jim Grenon.

After months of uncertainty, NZME’s annual shareholder meeting took place yesterday afternoon at its Auckland offices, in the appropriately named iHeart Lounge.

The Herald’s Shayne Currie described the meeting as ‘chilled out’ due to the icy room temperature but it was an equally good description for the lively, good natured and relaxed discussion observed by an audience of approximately 50 shareholders. Notable attendees included former proprietor Michael Horton, Australian media commentator and investor Roger Colman and Hobson’s Pledge leader, Don Brash.

JC: Jim Grenon Hails Positive Changes at NZME

There have been some ructions in Canada of late – the Canadian election and Trump wanting to mastermind a takeover of the country. Some see these recent events as something of a bad omen. At the same time there’s been a Canadian causing some ructions here, but in a way that is a good omen. This gentleman chose New Zealand as a place to reside and we have every reason to be glad he did.

David Farrar: Joyce to chair NZME?

The Herald reports:

NZME’s likely new chairman Steven Joyce says he hopes to unify the media company’s shareholders as much as possible, following two months of sometimes heated debate over the company’s performance and editorial endeavour.

Ele Ludemann: Labour hasn’t learned

Labour says it’s been listening. That may be true but when the first big policy musing from its leader Chris Hipkins is about adding another tax it demonstrates it hasn’t learned.

One of the reasons the party lost last year’s election was because it spent too much while taking the country and its its services backwards.

Michael Reddell: Pretty (il)legal

The title of this post was, of course, a reference to the efforts of former Minister of Finance and National campaign manager Steven Joyce to defend the use by National of music inspired by or copied from some overseas band’s work. It was, he claimed, “pretty legal”. The courts disagreed.

David Farrar: Joyce on health reforms

Steven Joyce writes:

Former Health Minister Andrew Little’s lament this week that reform shouldn’t be this hard underlines how little he knew about the ill-starred task he was taking on. As a merger it was of gargantuan scale for New Zealand, and overly complex in world terms. Merging 20 separate organisations with 80,000 odd staff in one big bang restructure was courageous, as they say. Or more aptly, ridiculous. …

David Farrar: Joyce on tax cuts

Steven Joyce writes:

If you believe most of the commentariat, and apparently a majority of economists, the Government’s much-signalled and much-promised tax cuts are a very bad thing. Yet according to a Taxpayers’ Union poll, 74 per cent of New Zealanders surveyed want tax thresholds adjusted for inflation. In other words, a tax cut. How has the public managed to get so out of step with the thought leaders in our society?

Andrew Dickens: Tax Cuts - I'd argue that neither side is looking at the full picture

Well... Has there been an earth tremor in the ideological universe. Are some capitalists wavering and beginning to argue for a pause to tax cuts and even a capital gains tax?

One of my favourite reads is the business section of the Weekend Herald on a Saturday. It has the best articles and opinion pieces - but this week was especially interesting.

Heather du Plessis Allan: Steven Joyce is right, tax cuts are the way to go

I'm gonna back up Steven Joyce on something that he’s said today.  

He's written a piece for the Herald arguing for why we need tax cuts - which is an argument at the moment. 

Because you have commentators and economists lining up saying Nicola Willis is doing the wrong thing by giving us tax relief. Because she can’t afford it, because she’s got a deficit and therefore she's basically borrowing for tax cuts.

Bryce Edwards: Steven Joyce’s revolving door entry into a $4000/day govt appointment

Former National Government Finance Minister Steven Joyce is being paid $4000 a day to chair the new Government’s “expert advisory panel” on infrastructure. That’s over twice what Prime Minister Christopher Luxon gets, and makes Joyce New Zealand’s highest-paid public servant. At the same time, the former “Mr Fixit” sits on several property development boards as well as running a lobbying consultancy firm.

Joyce’s political appointment is the latest that could have the Government charged with “cronyism” or creating “jobs for the boys”. Other highly paid political appointees include Simon Bridges, Bill English, Murray McCully, and Roger Sowry.

Ele Ludemann: Labour govt of waste

Waste was one of the defining characteristics of Labour’s six years in government.

Steven Joyce explains:

Point of Order: Caucus neophytes may be keeping the govt from knowing what Kiwis in their electorates are wanting

Labour backbenchers, conscious that recent polling shows their political futures could be cut short, will be looking to this week’s budget to replenish their party’s popularity with handouts to swing votes.

They could be disappointed, if the Budget’s programme does not tackle voters’ concerns.

BNZ economists last week warned that the chances of a recession are “increasing by the day”. Economist Cameron Bagrie says controlling government spending to tamp down the factors causing high inflation should be a priority for the government, but a big-spending budget is already locked in.