Bob Edlin: A guaranteed Govt income for artists....

A guaranteed Govt income for artists – some MPs see merit in Ireland’s scheme but Newsroom didn’t ask ACT or NZ First

In Budget 2025, Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage was funded $403 million in 2025/26 – or $1.5 billion over four years.

The spending initiatives included:

Mike Butler: Mind the facts when debating the gap

It’s election year again and Bryan Bruce was back on TV3 last night with another erratic poverty doco titled “Mind the gap” that appears to want to tax the rich more heavily to give more money to the poor. Some will remember his “Inside child poverty” about effort three years ago. Unfortunately, while Bruce ponders the questions “why is gap between rich and poor in NZ growing faster than anywhere else, and why is that bad for all of us, he is woefully selective or just ignorant when it comes to the data he uses.

Bruce gives example of family in which the dad earns around $350 a week after tax and pays $340 in rent. The mum works part time for an unspecified amount, and they get an accommodation supplement of $250 a week.