Politics

Crown Law advice on Auditor-General sacking 'manifestly deficient'
Policy

Crown Law advice on Auditor-General sacking 'manifestly deficient'

Crown Law advice on the 2017 sacking of former Auditor-General Martin Matthews was “manifestly deficient” and didn’t reflect the important constitutional protection afforded him or other key independent officers of Parliament, MPs heard last week.Ken Keith, former Supreme Court j...

Gavin Evans 24 Mar 2020
So just what is an essential service?
Economy Free

So just what is an essential service?

As New Zealand prepares to lock down all non-essential services for at least four weeks, questions are swiftly emerging about what exactly constitutes an essential service.Unite against covid-19, a New Zealand government website, said essential services are those that continue to...

Rebecca Howard 23 Mar 2020
Wage subsidies extended; business loans, mortgage support coming
Economy

Wage subsidies extended; business loans, mortgage support coming

The government has scrapped the $150,000 upper limit a business can claim under the covid-19 wage subsidy scheme as part of a wider package of new initiatives to make credit available to viable firms and take the pressure off home mortgage payments.Finance Minister Grant Robertso...

Pattrick Smellie 23 Mar 2020
National lockdown to use 'small window' to stop virus  in its tracks
Economy Free

National lockdown to use 'small window' to stop virus in its tracks

New Zealand is going into a four week total lockdown from midnight Wednesday to stop "tens of thousands of people from dying," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.From Alert Level 2 announced Saturday, the government is to go to Level 4 in 48 hours and spending the next...

Pattrick Smellie 23 Mar 2020


Pattrick Smellie
Pattrick Smellie

Founding Editor

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.

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