Staff in ‘critical' Ministry of Social Development tech team to be culled
'This is a huge upheaval for a critical team at MSD that supports the services thousands of New Zealanders rely on every day,' Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary
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Newsroom
2 hours ago
- Newsroom
National makes economic pitch after Trump tariffs setback
Analysis: It's the economy, stupid. If the 10-minute cost of living sermon delivered by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Monday left any doubts about where National sees its re-election hopes living (or dying), they were dispelled at the party's annual conference on Saturday. With just four hours open to the media, a full hour was set aside for a not-so-pithily titled session on 'growing the economy to reduce the cost of living for all New Zealanders' – the same time allocated to health, education, law and order, and rural issues combined. Two of Luxon's more reliable performers, Willis and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, led the session alongside Tourism Minister Louise Upston in a further sign of the importance placed by the party on assuring members and the wider public they, rather than Labour, are best placed to look after the bottom line. It was a message hammered by Luxon during his own address to the party faithful in Christchurch, saying the fiscal conditions the coalition had inherited from the last Labour government were 'the worst in a generation'. 'The national debt had tripled, inflation hit a thirty-year high, homeowners were crushed by a surge in interest rates, and critical growth industries like agriculture and energy were under constant siege.' While the Government had made progress, many New Zealanders were still struggling to keep up with the cost of living, the Prime Minister conceded. The solution, at least in part? According to Luxon, 'we have to say yes to letting it happen'. 'We can't afford to leave any stone unturned, shut down whole sectors, or just sit around and hope that conditions will improve.' That was the argument behind the policy centrepiece of his speech – a loosening of the rules around granting permits (or concessions, as they are formally known) for commercial activities on Department of Conservation land, while also introducing a charge for foreign tourists at four locations where they made up more than 80 percent of all visitors: Cathedral Cove, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Sound, and Mount Cook. Exactly how the latter element will be put into practice remains somewhat uncertain: 'We have to organise and sort out how that's going to work, but there are ways and means to do that,' Conservation Minister Tama Potaka told journalists, with the four chosen sites functioning as a trial before any wider rollout. Senior ministers Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop led National's defence on its handling of the economy. Photo: Sam Sachdeva The changes to concessions on conservation land attracted criticism from Forest and Bird, which claimed they would 'make it easier to sell off or commercially exploit these areas'. That is an argument unlikely to win favour with the current coalition, as demonstrated by Bishop channelling his inner Shane Jones as he promised the Government's resource management reforms would make it easier to build new wind farms (among other projects). 'We've got the best wind in the world, and we spent years arguing about how we could build wind farms that don't result in the death of just one bird or one lizard, one snail.' It is clear he views the replacement of the much maligned Resource Management Act as a legacy-defining moment for himself and the coalition, emphasising the billions of dollars in compliance costs in the coming decades that could be eradicated with successful reforms. 'That's why I don't get a lot of sleep. That's what keeps me up at night, worrying about it, because we have got to get it right.' As David Parker found, however, such lofty ambitions can swiftly be undone by a political successor, and National will need to find a faster economic fix if it is to be in government long enough for any RMA reforms to bear fruit. One such 'quick win' – the decision to ban surcharges on in-store card payments – has not proved universally popular, with one delegate questioning National's claim to be the party of small business. 'Under [Sir John] Key, we got Mondayisation [of public holidays]. Under Cindy [Dame Jacinda Ardern], we got Matariki, more recently, an extra percent in KiwiSaver, sick days gone from five to 10 days, and now you're looking at getting rid of merchant fees. 'Now the interchange fee is only part of it, so I think we need to reassess that.' Another party member, who worked with small businesses run by migrants and refugees, said many were struggling to pay wages, rent and other costs in the current environment. In return, Willis offered sympathy – 'man oh man, it has been a tough time to be a small business in New Zealand' – but also indicated there was little room for new state support. 'We know where growth and prosperity comes from, and it doesn't actually come from the Government saying, 'I'll write you a cheque. It comes from the Government saying, 'I'll get out of the way and I'll make sure that business people can go and invest and do things and make things and hire people'.' An economic boost could be around the corner, she suggested, with more households due to move onto lower interest rates for their mortgages and free up money to pump back into the economy. That is certainly possible, but there is one rather large complicating factor: the impact of United States President Donald Trump's tariffs. While the Reserve Bank has indicated the tariffs are unlikely to have an inflationary impact on the New Zealand economy, it has also noted household spending and business investment are both significantly hampered by economic uncertainty such as that attached to the Trump tariffs. Friday's unpleasant surprise that New Zealand exports would face a 15 percent tariff into the US, rather than the 10 percent announced back in April, has led the Government to take a slightly more assertive approach to what Luxon labelled a 'rather late decision' from the Trump administration. Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay told the audience he had spoken to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Saturday morning, and was dispatching his 'top trade diplomat' – Vangelis Vitalis – to Washington DC next week for talks. It seems difficult to see Greer or Trump making an exception for New Zealand, however, given 15 percent is the new 'floor' for any country that does not buy more from the US than it sends in the other direction. As Luxon noted, every other country is dealing with the same challenging environment and must forge ahead regardless; any self-pity would risk being seen as hypocrisy, anyway, given he and his ministers have hardly offered Labour any credit for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its economic performance in government. 'We can navigate some pretty choppy seas to get to the destination we want to get to, but for that to happen, you've got to have the right people with the hands on the tiller, which is us,' the Prime Minister said. Luxon was at pains to emphasise the coalition was only halfway into its term, with 'a lot of work to do as a government' – but next year's election is creeping ever closer, and he will need some luck to come his way if the economy is to be a trump card rather than a Trump-addled drag on National's vote in 2026.
NZ Herald
9 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Why are we more likely to buy when our options are limited?
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Why are we more likely to buy when our options are limited? Good business sense using consumer psychology. Photo / Getty Images Every city has its signatures. In Ho Chi Minh City it was someone pointing at my sneakers and offering to clean them. In Da Nang it was, 'Taxi, sir?' and in Hội An it's been, 'Want a boat ride?' We have resolutely fought off all efforts to part us from our money. Well, most efforts. It was our first afternoon in Hội An, a historical port city in central Vietnam, home to a Unesco world-heritage ancient town. We'd gone in search of a particular tailor, recommended to us by our hotel and breathless English tourists on TikTok. At the first street corner, I got out my phone to check directions, and 15 minutes later we were at a completely different tailor, having been expertly waylaid by one of their 'scouts', who'd seen us and asked if she could offer directions … The next day we did a lantern-making class at our hotel, led by the ever-patient tutor, Moon. Moon asked us what we had planned and made a few recommendations, including one for dinner at the Citadel restaurant at which a friend of hers worked. That evening, we followed her advice and had a frankly delightful evening marked by fantastic food, an absolutely lovely waitress, Anna, and regular check-ins from Gray, the manager (who also happens to be a Kiwi). As with every restaurant we visited, we had to force ourselves to sit back and enjoy the experience; at no point did we ever feel like we had to rush to finish, pay, and give up our table to the next customer. Not like, ahem, at home in Wellington. What do these latter examples have in common? Bloody good business sense based on friendliness and strategic use of consumer psychology. Having recently hosted friends visiting Wellington from overseas, my heart was warmed by hearing them say how friendly New Zealanders are, but it's a step change to Vietnamese hospitality. For example, first and last impressions count or, in technical terms, primacy and recency. We make impressions incredibly quickly and largely unconsciously, and research shows that, while we care deeply about how good the chef is, we have to be drawn in first to find out. That can hang entirely on the rapport we sense from our first encounter. When we left the restaurant, Anna farewelled us by our names (which she remembered several days later when we happened to pass by). That's a personal touch that leaves a positive impression. Ever started to feel tense because wait staff check in on you a little too frequently? Or neglected because they don't check in at all? That's another tricky balance, and one that requires a bit of intuition about the best time to stop by. Another thing Citadel did well, but almost every other restaurant we ate at didn't, was a sensibly curated set of options. Ever eaten at the American restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory? The menu runs to more than 200 items and around 20 pages. It is frankly exhausting. You get to a point where you no longer care what you order, you just want to make it stop. Psychology researchers Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper are probably best associated with the notion of this 'paradox of choice'. In a particularly well-known experiment they showed that people may be more likely to head over to a counter offering 24 types of jam than a counter with only six, but people were 10 times more likely to buy jam when the number of types available was reduced from 24 to six. Why? Because what if you make the wrong choice? The more choices, the harder the decision, and the greater the likelihood of buyer's remorse. So in keeping with this research, we broke our holiday rule and went back to the Citadel and its more limited number of choices a second time.
Otago Daily Times
19 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
PM wants NZ to get behind development, progress
By Giles Dexter of RNZ National leader Christopher Luxon has told the party's annual conference that the country needs to "say yes" more. Addressing about 550 delegates, MPs and supporters at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch, Luxon bemoaned "activists" who opposed housing developments, agriculture, cruise ships and mines. "If we're serious about keeping Kiwis at home, creating jobs and increasing wages for all New Zealanders, we can't afford to keep saying no to every opportunity that comes our way." Opposition parties have heavily criticised the government for its economic policies and laid the blame at its feet for the 30,000 New Zealanders who moved to Australia last year, but Luxon said the opposition would make it worse. "Take a look at Australia," he said. "If they shut down their mining industry or their energy industry tomorrow, as Labour and the Greens want to do here, I guarantee you would see fewer Kiwis moving across the ditch." Luxon's speech came hot on the heels of an announcement from the United States that it would increase tariffs to 15 percent. Still digesting the announcement and what it would mean for New Zealand exporters, Luxon acknowledged "challenging" global conditions. "We can't just batten down the hatches and hope for the best," he said. Luxon's speech made no mention of National's coalition partners, New Zealand First or ACT, or even the word 'coalition' itself, although deputy Nicola Willis acknowledged the "energy" it took to keep Winston Peters and David Seymour under control. Instead, Luxon's speech was heavy on shoutouts to his National ministers and their policies, and also on blaming the previous government for the cost-of-living struggles New Zealanders currently faced. "In the years to come, immediate action on the cost of living isn't enough," he said. "The last government spent billions of dollars in failed handouts, only to watch inflation roar and the economy falter. "We have to keep our eyes on the prize." Echoing his speech at Monday's post-cabinet press conference, Luxon leaned on the economic policies the government had introduced, such as tax changes, FamilyBoost and the removal of the Auckland Fuel Tax. "We're doing what we can," he said. The speech contained an announcement the government would make it easier to get a concession on Department of Conservation land. "That means more certainty for businesses, less bureaucracy and much faster decisions, so the businesses that should be operating can get up and running." There would still be restrictions on some parts of the DOC estate. "Where it does make sense, we need to get to the 'yes' much faster - instead of being bogged down in process and uncertainty," Luxon said. Charges of $20-40 for foreign visitors to high-volume sites like Cathedral Cove, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Sound, and Aoraki Mount Cook were being introduced, but New Zealanders would be exempt from the fees. Party president Sylvia Wood, who was re-elected at the conference, said the party would select candidates for the 2026 election shortly.
