Stephen Agnew: Financial education needs to start in the home

Even as an economics student at university, I remember heading into town on a Friday night knowing what I needed to pay the bills before I could spend on socialising. But despite having the financial literacy to know better, Monday could still sometimes begin with a trip to the bank to ask for an overdraft extension.

So it was encouraging to hear that financial education has become a political talking point ahead of this year’s election. Both Labour and National are promising to deliver compulsory financial literacy classes as part of the school curriculum.

Derek Mackie: There's no 'he' in Greens

 The Greens have just announced that they are considering scrapping the rule that requires one of their co-leaders to be male. 

Firstly, I’d like to congratulate the Greens on making a straight-out announcement, as opposed to an announcement about an announcement, which is Labour’s modus operandi.

 But let’s analyse this decision. They state that “The party is now looking to go further, with a proposal for one co-leader to be female and the other any gender or identity.” 

So, one co-leader MUST be female but the other co-leader can be anything. Isn’t that gender bias?  I strongly suspect that the other co-leader will be any gender-identity, except male. 

 What that says to me is that the Greens value women more than any other gender because they want to make it compulsory that at least half their leadership is always female, regardless of the skills and abilities of other candidates. 

Maybe Gaia communes better with women due to their natural affinity for nurturing and being kind and caring so they have an advantage when it comes to “saving the planet”.