The Weekly Hoon: The GDP shock; Economic capture; Recognising Palestine; & Australia's climate plans
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics and climate change. This week’s special guests were CTU Economist Craig Renney and Monopoly Watch’s Tex Edwards.This week’s Hoon featured:* The fall of US democracy;* Israel’s invasion (again) of Gaza and whether New Zealand will recognise Palestine as a state;* Australia’s new climate impacts forecast that 1.5 million will be affected by sea level rise by 2050 and its more ambitious climate target announced yesterday;* NZ GDP falling an unexpectedly large 0.9% in the June quarter;* The Government announcing the first reforms to competition law in 20 years.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)Ngā mihi nui.Bernard This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe
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The Weekly Hoon: Productivity & workplace safety; Drones over Poland; MPs' climate squabbling
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics and climate change. This week’s special guest Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub .This week’s Hoon featured:* An initial discussion between Peter and Bernard about the death of Charlie Kirk and Rupert Murdoch’s ‘Succession’ deal with his children.* A chat with Cathrine about the Climate Change and Business Conference this week, including a now-infamous panel session of MPs squabbling over who should pay for climate change. * We referred to these articles from Marc Daalder on Newsroom and Anne Salmond on Newsroom. We also referred to Marks & Spencer’s ‘Plan A’ strategy to shift to 100% of its food coming from farms using regenerative practices by 2030.* We spoke with Robert about Israel’s re-invasion of Gaza and Russia’s drone flights over Poland.* We spoke with Shamubeel Eaqub about his State of a Thriving Nation 2025 report this week for the Business Leaders’ Health & Safety forum, along with his report with fellow Simplicity Economist Rosie Collins on the building and construction sector for the New Zealand Chinese Building Industry Association last month and his report with Rosie for the Helen Clark Foundation in April on social cohesion.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)Ngā mihi nui.Bernard This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe
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The Weekly Hoon: RBNZ independence, Amazon’s data centres & Clark & Key in Beijing
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics and climate change. This week’s special guests were tech activist Julian Oliver and The NZ Herald’s Wellington Business Editor Jenee Tibshraeny.This week’s Hoon featured:* An initial discussion between Peter and Bernard about burrowing through to the other side of the world, as depicted in Vincent Ward’s 1988 movie The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey.* Peter, Bernard, Cathrine and Julian discuss this week’s re-announcement of Amazon’s plans for data centres, supposedly in New Zealand, including the implications for climate change, water usage, data sovereignty and the erosion of Aotearoa’s tax base. Julian recently featured on Q+A. Bernard referred in the discussion to this report, Big Tech, Little Tax, published yesterday by Tax Justice Aotearoa and Better Taxes for a Better Future. * A discussion with Cathrine about ACT Leader David Seymour’s call this week for Aotearoa to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.* A discussion with Robert about former PMs Helen Clark and John Key attending commemorate Xi Jinping’s military parade in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. We discussed Anne-Marie Brady’s criticism of their attendance in this Newsroom Op-Ed.* A discussion with Jenée about the resignation last week of Neil Quigley as Chair of the Reserve Bank and her commentary in the NZ Herald that Finance Minister Nicola Willis shouldn’t have waited until the public discovered they had been misled before really cracking down on the Reserve Bank board.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)Ngā mihi nui.Bernard This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe
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The Weekly Hoon: Rate cut to Govt & economy's rescue?; Trump's capitulation; Helicopters instead homes
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics, climate change and the future of trade. This week’s special guest is Ganesh R Ahirao.This week’s Hoon featured:* A discussion between Peter and Bernard about homelessness and helicopters, along with RNZ’s pivot to focusing on older listeners and the SIS’s annual security report. We referred to an analysis by Sanjana Hattotuwa via BlueSky and his own wordpress post about how 10,000 public sector job cuts threaten New Zealand’s national and human security.* A discussion with Cathrine about new evidence of ice loss in the Arctic and Antarctic, gas shortages in Aotearoa and the Government’s decision announced yesterday to further loosen emissions standards for vehicle imports.* A discussion with Robert about Donald Trump’s ‘Alaska Catastrophe’ summit with Vladimir Putin, New Zealand’s purchase of helicopters and jets announced yesterday, and Israel’s imminent invasion of Gaza.* A discussion with Ganesh about the Reserve Bank’s decision this week to cut rates and promise more, the Government’s economic (non) strategy of relying on rate cuts and Treasury’s ‘Back to the Future’ Long Term Fiscal strategy document published last week that focused utterly on debt reduction. We referred to Ganesh R Ahirao’s substack post on the Government’s dismemberment of the public sector.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)Ngā mihi nui.Bernard This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe
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The Weekly Hoon: ACT leads Govt; Gaza & Palestine recognition; A new Yalta; The future of trade
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics, climate change and the future of trade.This week’s Hoon featured:* A discussion between Peter and Bernard about how ACT continues to dominate the agenda of the Government, and that ACT voters are the happiest with the Government’s performance on the economy and cost of living.* A discussion with Cathrine about whether Road User Charges and an Auckland Congestion Charging scheme will actually reduce climate emissions (spoiler: they won’t).* A discussion with Robert about the upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and a look at New Zealand’s position on the recognition of Palestine.* A discussion with trade expert and former MFAT diplomat Steph Honey about the future of trade agreements in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariff policies.The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards. (This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)Ngā mihi nui.Bernard This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe
Bernard Hickey's discussions with Peter Bale and guests about the political economy in Aotearoa-NZ and in geo-politics, including issues around housing affordability, climate change inaction and child poverty reduction. thekaka.substack.com
New Zealand