Pattrick Smellie is co-founder of BusinessDesk.
In a vaccinated world, NZ's Covid-19 elimination strategy will no longer be a source of national strength or economic advantage.
People with high profiles and big problems have long tried to woo the media. Often it doesn't go quite as planned – for either party.
With new strains of Covid-19 bearing down on our shores, Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk looks at the challenges 2021 has in store, and what can be done to prepare.
The government must hit the ground running.
New Zealand cannot afford to be seen to be silent in the Pacific simply to keep selling milk powder to China.
The Greens' statement on RMA reform is the first clear, leadership-endorsed sign of what it will and won't support in a second Labour-Green government, writes Pattrick Smellie for BusinessDesk.
Despite recent hiccups, the Green Party still appears to be gaining votes. However, these may be coming from the Labour faithful.
How will the government's mistakes over the last few weeks affect the pre-election climate?
Despite an audit of two companies he runs finding no evidence of financial wrongdoing, Grant Dalton emerges from the matter far from spotless.
It's become fashionable among some political circles to advocate for a laissez-faire approach to debt. But there's one big drawback to 'just print more money' argument.
What do the proposed changes to the resource management act involve?
The group behind a Bluetooth-enabled, credit card-sized alternative to the government's Covid Tracer warned Ardern a month ago that a voluntary app was doomed to fail.
National is facing the very real prospect of a crushing defeat, and there's only so much they can control.
Either they are very difficult to sell, or they are worth very little, or Bauer simply doesn't care what it gets for them.
