About us
BusinessDesk has been covering the New Zealand political economy and the fortunes of its listed and unlisted businesses since 2008.
We have thousands of individual subscribers and more than 150 corporate and government subscribers. Our influential audience make decisions every day that affect how New Zealand runs.
BusinessDesk’s team of more than 20 journalists and commentators produces much of New Zealand’s best business journalism.
Our aim is to help you make better decisions for work and in your personal finances.
We publish trustworthy, well-researched reporting and expert commentary.
As of January 2022, BusinessDesk is owned by NZME (NZM) but retains its independent identity and editorial manifesto.
We have editorial staff in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.
Manifesto
Intelligent, trusted news sources are more valuable than ever. At BusinessDesk, we publish essential, trustworthy and timely New Zealand business and economic news and analysis that is accessible to professional and general readers alike. Beyond quality journalism, we are keen to promote good government and good governance, and the sound and ethical decision-making that underpins both. Our experienced and professional team are committed not only to accuracy and fairness, but also to deliver depth and insight that justifies the faith our readers place in us when subscribing to the BusinessDesk news service.
Meet the team
With a professional career spanning New Zealand, Singapore, and London, Victoria Young has been with BusinessDesk since 2019, initially as a senior reporter before taking on the role of investigations editor in 2022, then editor in 2024.
She has been instrumental in growing BusinessDesk as this country’s premium business news brand.
She was the 2023 recipient of a Brian Gaynor initiative grant.
Victoria holds law and arts degrees from Victoria University of Wellington.
You can follow her on Twitter @victoriayoung03 or connect with her on LinkedIn here.
She has been instrumental in growing BusinessDesk as this country’s premium business news brand.
She was the 2023 recipient of a Brian Gaynor initiative grant.
Victoria holds law and arts degrees from Victoria University of Wellington.
You can follow her on Twitter @victoriayoung03 or connect with her on LinkedIn here.
Pattrick was judged New Zealand's best overall columnist and business columnist of the year at the Voyager 2021 Media Awards. He has more than 35 years’ experience reporting and working in New Zealand politics and the commercial sector. A former Press Gallery chairman, he is an award-winning journalist and has worked for titles including The Dominion, The Press, Sunday Star-Times and National Business Review. He was the first NZ correspondent for The Australian and co-founded BusinessDesk in 2008.
Neil is responsible for advertiser relationships, working with NZME agency and direct account managers. He has previously worked in commercial operations for NZ Rugby as chief commercial officer at SENZ and at NZME as head of Auckland sales and national sales manager.
Matt spent 10 years in senior positions at Fairfax Media, including as an executive editor in the company’s senior leadership team at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age (Melbourne). He joined BusinessDesk in 2019 and was publisher when we sold to NZME. He is now working across NZME titles and is based in Auckland. Connect with him on Linkedin here.
Rebecca is a business journalist with more than 25 years’ experience, including more than a decade in Peru covering everything from politics, terrorism, human rights, and the war on drugs. She has worked for the Associated Press, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Her work in NZ has included macroeconomics, listed companies and extensive coverage of the dairy sector. You can follow her on Twitter @FarroHoward or connect with her on LinkedIn here.
Ian is a journalist with more than 30 years' experience working in NZ and the UK. This has included radio, newspapers, and agencies with time also as a ministerial advisor and press secretary. Experience in the Press Gallery includes reporting for the Independent Business Weekly and more than 10 years with the New Zealand Press Association.
Jacques is an award-winning investigative journalist and bestselling author. He is a former news director for the Sunday Star-Times and Stuff, and senior reporter for the SABC and Media24 in South Africa. He is also the 2016 recipient of the Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity as a member of the #SABC8. He joined BusinessDesk in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter @JacqueSteenkamp or connect with him on LinkedIn here.
Rebecca is an award-winning business journalist and business commentator. She is a former national business editor of Stuff and business editor of The Spinoff and was previously editor of the Western Leader and Nor-West News.
Maria Slade is the NZ Shareholders Association 2021 Business Journalist of the year and was runner-up in the 2021 Citi Journalism Awards. She joined BusinessDesk in 2024 from NBR where she was a senior journalist. Prior to that she was business editor of the Spinoff. Slade has worked for most major NZ media outlets including NZ Herald, Stuff, Newstalk ZB and RNZ, and is the author of a how-to book for house hunters, Buyer Beware: A New Zealand Home Buyer’s Guide.
Oliver Lewis won the local government reporting category at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards. He is part of our investigations unit and also covers infrastructure, housing and employment issues. Formerly with Stuff/The Press, Oliver has also written for the Guardian and North & South.
Dileepa Fonseka is a journalist covering the political economy and issues that run across business and government. He has provided commentary, features and analysis on a variety of topics including housing, trade, infrastructure, immigration, the digital economy, local government and supply chains. Dileepa was previously a senior business journalist for Stuff, a political reporter at Newsroom, a council reporter at the Dominion Post/Stuff, an infrastructure reporter at Stuff’s Auckland newsroom, and has been a finalist at the Voyager Media Awards four times, including in 2023 for business journalist of the year and in 2021 for reporter of the year. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Ben stumbled into tech reporting after a short-lived career as a drama teacher. After a year covering the IT channel, he returned to university and earned a masters in communication studies. He worked for CRN Australia, which gave him valuable insight into the Australian tech industry and a renewed appreciation for Aotearoa New Zealand. In early 2022, he spearheaded the launch of CRN into NZ. If you’re keen to connect, you can find him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Andy was a senior data journalist at Stuff before joining BusinessDesk in 2020. While at Stuff, he played a lead role in several award-winning data journalism projects. He specialises in data-driven reporting and analysis and will enhance our story-telling by visualising the numbers that are the lifeblood of all good business and economic reporting. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.
Greg Hurrell left a journalism career to work around the Middle East for 23 years and returned to New Zealand full-time in 2020. He earlier studied science at the Victoria University of Wellington.
Riley won the Dairy NZ Industry Award at the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators Awards in 2024. He was the New Zealand Shareholders Association emerging journalist of the year in 2022. His journalism experience includes more than a year as a business specialist at the Otago Daily Times. He has a diploma in journalism from Wintec.
Garth Bray is an investigative journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on consumer affairs, business and politics. He was a reporter and presenter on the Fair Go television programme for a decade. Prior to that, he was a TVNZ foreign correspondent posted in London and in Sydney, a business news reporter in Auckland, and a Parliamentary Press Gallery member and political reporter in Wellington.
Connect with Garth on LinkedIn here.
Connect with Garth on LinkedIn here.
Jem was awarded best student journalist at the 2022 Voyager Media Awards. She has a masters in economics from the University of Canterbury and has previously worked in tertiary education and government policymaking. She was awarded Massey University’s prize for the top journalism student in 2021. You can follow her on Twitter @jemtraylen or connect with her on LinkedIn here.
Gregor Thompson is a markets reporter focussing on retirement and retail for BusinessDesk. After graduating with a joint master's in journalism and international relations from Paris’ Sciences Po University, Gregor returned home to Wellington in early 2024. He previously worked for the international news network France24 and has written for North & South and The Listener. He was nominated as best student journalist at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
Murray Jones is an investigative journalist. His work has been published by the BBC, The Guardian and Al-Jazeera, and his research has been reported on in more than 60 countries. He was runner-up in the Gaby Rado New Journalist category at the Amnesty Media Awards 2022. He was part of the BBC Panorama team that has been nominated for best investigation and foreign reporting at the British Journalism Awards and the Rose d’Or for their exposure of alleged British war crimes in Afghanistan. He moved from the UK to Auckland in 2021. Follow him on Twitter here or connect with him on Linkedin here.
Cécile Meier is a journalist based in Christchurch with experience covering business, health and social issues. Formerly with Stuff/The Press, she covered Christchurch's rebuild, before joining the health team with a focus on mental health. She was a finalist in several categories at the Voyager media awards in 2018, 2021 and 2022, and won the nib Health Journalism Scholarship – senior in 2021. She won the NZ Shareholders' Association Award for best news in 2023 and best feature in 2024.
Cécile grew up in France and has lived and worked as a journalist in NZ since 2013.
Cécile grew up in France and has lived and worked as a journalist in NZ since 2013.
Paul joined the business in its first year in 2008. In that time, he's covered monetary policy, the collapse of the country’s mezzanine finance sector, restructuring of the telecommunications sector and financial markets law. Through BusinessDesk, he's been published in the Dominion Post, NZ Herald, the Independent Business Weekly and the Listener. You can follow him on Twitter @pbmcbeth or connect with him on LinkedIn here.
John Anthony is a business journalist who recently relocated from Auckland to New Plymouth. He previously worked as a senior reporter in Stuff's business team. John has covered a broad range of business topics, most recently focusing on tourism and aviation.
Denise has worked for more than 30 years on newspapers and magazines on both sides of the Tasman, including as Australia correspondent for Fairfax NZ. She was named Brook Financial Journalist of the Year in 2007 and was the first NZ recipient of the Australasian Aviation Journalist of the Year award in 2008. You can follow her on Twitter @denise_mcnabb.
Cameron has been an economist for 20 years. For over 11 years he was the Chief Economist at ANZ. He has also worked as an economist at the National Bank, Treasury and Statistics New Zealand.
A mainlander at heart, Cameron’s approach to economics is non-ideological and pragmatic.
David Chaplin founded Investment News NZ (IN NZ) in 2015 after almost 20 years covering the financial services business in Australia.
Peter has been keeping a close eye on the tech sector and the digital revolution for the last 20 years. After a stint in London dissecting the tech wreck for a number of computer-industry publications, he joined the New Zealand Herald eventually running the paper's tech section before leaving to found the Science Media Centre in Wellington. He has been a tech commentator for the New Zealand Listener, Newstalk ZB and RNZ. His passion is exploring the impact technology and innovation have on business, society and the environment. Follow him on Twitter @petergnz
Rebecca Rendle is a partner in Simpson Grierson’s employment law group. She is experienced in all aspects of employment law and is a trusted advisor to clients in a range of sectors including banking, health and building.
Victoria is a professional company director on a number of commercial boards. She is also chair of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board and Laura Fergusson Trust. An entrepreneur who founded Cityhop, she was an Auckland city councillor and was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts, business and the community.