Chipping away at Ardern's legacy

Chipping away at Ardern's legacy
Hipkins seems to have abandoned many of the commitments of his predecessor. (Image: Getty)
Dileepa Fonseka
Chris Hipkins jettisoned so much of his predecessor’s agenda on Wednesday you wondered if he was about to announce the cancellation of his own surname and a plan for a commission to look into a new one beginning with “L”. The merger between RNZ and TVNZ and the biofuels mandate were axed, the social insurance scheme was put off to some undefined date of economic prosperity, hate speech changes were fobbed off to the Law Commission to take another look at them and the Three Waters concept will be refined.And that was only...

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Updated: RBNZ turns more dovish
Economy

Updated: RBNZ turns more dovish

The latest forecast imply two more rate cuts to come. 

RBNZ cuts to 3%, sees cash rate reaching 2.5%
Economy

RBNZ cuts to 3%, sees cash rate reaching 2.5%

RBNZ cuts by 25bps but thought about 50bps. 

Government keeps AA+ credit rating, Fitch warns to keep ‘culture of fiscal responsibility
Economy

Government keeps AA+ credit rating, Fitch warns to keep ‘culture of fiscal responsibility

The Government has kept its AA+ credit rating from Fitch, one of the big three ratings agencies – but the agency warned that a slackening culture of fiscal responsibility, a more severe housing market correction, or an unemployment spike could see the rating reduced in future.The...

Staff reporters 18 Aug 2025