The SME Stream

Christopher Luxon says he supports having another referendum on the MMP voting system if he’s re-elected as he encourages greater support for National so the party can avoid working with “some yahoo and numpty” in Cabinet.
Act leader David Seymour says he’s not opposed to another referendum but suggests Luxon “may not have thought through what he’s saying” regarding ministers from other parties, noting the number of National ministers who had been dismissed this term.
Speaking on Newstalk ZB this morning, Luxon made the statement in response to a listener who had texted in asking whether the PM would address the power held by minor parties in governing arrangements.
Luxon initially pointed to the Government working towards a referendum on whether to extend government terms from three years to four, before saying he was “open” to asking voters whether they were “still supportive of MMP”.
Asked if he would do so if he were Prime Minister next year, Luxon replied: “Yeah, I think I would.”
He added: “I think I would because I actually think, you know, that it is quite right to check in constitutionally and say, is this the system, New Zealand, you still want?
“You know, you voted for this in the 90s, we’ve had a check-in in the [20]10s, 20 years down the road or whatever it has been, is it still where you want to be?”
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Revenue's soaring for Elon Musk's spacecraft company SpaceX - but so is spending.
It's published its first earnings report as a public company.
SpaceX says its revenue's grown 92 percent compared to a year ago, bringing it to $7.8 billion.
Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained further.
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Labour says its new election policy aimed at small businesses is about making life a little easier.
If it gets into power, the Labour will raise the GST threshold, lift asset write-offs and require big businesses to pay up faster.
It would axe the current Government's Investment Boost, which lets businesses deduct 20 percent of the cost of a new asset.
Leader Chris Hipkins says small businesses shouldn't be a line of credit for big businesses.
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Meta, Google and Microsoft - to pay 2.5% of their advertising revenue to Aus media companies. Tech with 2degrees. Peter Griffin The Business of Tech.
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There are concerns scrapping the Investment Boost could do more harm than good.
Labour's promising to up the GST threshold, lift the asset write-off, and make big businesses pay small suppliers in 15 days.
It'll axe the National's $6.6 billion scheme to pay for it – calling it untargeted.
Small Business NZ Founder Paul Wicks told Mike Hosking this policy could be very useful, with three practical ideas.
But he says changes to the Investment Boost may create larger problems elsewhere.
Wicks is also sceptical about the blanket rule for paying small suppliers, saying the idea’s good but different industries have different payment cycles.
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