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(Photo by Mark Tantrum/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Tantrum/Getty Images)

The BulletinApril 23, 2018

The Bulletin: Aussie banking scandal wake up call for NZ

(Photo by Mark Tantrum/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Tantrum/Getty Images)

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Australian banking scandal described as a wake up call for NZ, Commonwealth wide free trade deal being talked up, and nurses union voting on strike opens.  

Scandalous banking misconduct in Australia is being described as a wake up call for New Zealand, reports Radio NZ. A royal commission over the ditch is currently shaking Australian banking to its core, revealing unethical and in some cases illegal practices with customers, bribery and fraud – here’s a good explainer from the Sydney Morning Herald. A major theme of the last week was customers being charged for financial advice they never received – in some ludicrous cases, clients who were dead were charged for financial advice. Massey University’s Dr Claire Matthews says now would be a good opportunity to look further into banking practices here.

Why does this matter at all to New Zealand? Well, most of our big banks – Westpac, ANZ, BNZ, ASB etc – are Australian owned, and their parent companies are currently getting dragged by the Royal Commission. The New Zealand boss of financial services firm AMP, whose Australian arm has been under particular scrutiny, insisted to the NZ Herald that none of the practices being scrutinised in Australia are taking place here.

New Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr told Q+A there’s no need for a similar type of Royal Commission in New Zealand. There’s a different regulatory framework in New Zealand, and Orr believes the culture of banking in New Zealand is far better than that in Australia. And consumer affairs minister Kris Faafoi says he hasn’t received any advice that would suggest an inquiry is needed, reports the NZ Herald.


A possible Commonwealth-wide free trade deal is being talked up in the wake of meetings in London, reports Radio NZ this morning. In particular, trade expert Stephen Jacobi is intrigued by the prospect of getting better access to African nations and India. But such a deal would be nightmarishly hard to negotiate, because of the wildly differing economies and types of nations within the Commonwealth.


Voting is open in the nurses union as to whether they should strike, reports Newshub. If the vote passes and no deal is agreed with DHBs, there will be two 24 hour strikes a week apart in July. Nurses spokesperson Cee Payne says despite the strikes, all life preserving services will still be provided.


The government claims no plans have been made to ban coal exploration in New Zealand. Energy Minister Megan Woods told Q+A that may happen down the track, but has not been planned as a follow up to the heavily caveated announcement of a ban on oil exploration. National’s Todd Muller says the comments are “incredulous,” as last year climate change minister James Shaw signed New Zealand up to a commitment to phase coal out of electricity generation. Muller says it shows different sectors of the government don’t know what each other are doing.

Why describe the oil and gas exploration ban as heavily caveated? In that same interview, Megan Woods says exploration for oil and gas could still be going on in NZ in 50 years time under existing permits, reports Radio NZ. And the announcement won’t have any immediate, or even medium term impact on the actual extraction and use of oil and gas for a long time either. Though, as Richard Harman on Politik picked up from the interview, natural gas reserves may run out within seven years anyway.


There’s a really interesting case playing out in the small South Otago town of Milton relating to assets owned by those convicted of a crime. A man sentenced for selling cannabis to an undercover officer had a restraining order placed on the sale of his house, and police got that extended on an interim basis in February, reports Stuff. The police may seize the house, or a portion of what it sells for, under asset forfeiture laws. But the money to buy the house was loaned to the man by his mother, and his lawyer argues there is no evidence any of the loan repayments came from drug money.


Rotorua ratepayers are heavily subsidising city markets to the tune of more than $100,000 a year, reports the Rotorua Daily Post. The Sunday morning farmers markets, and Thursday night markets, aren’t even remotely close to being independently profitable, but the Council says that’s not the point of them. The idea is to bring people into the centre city, and give the city more vibrancy generally.


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Founder Glen Herud with his cow 47 (Photo by Nancy Zhou)

Right now on The Spinoff: Guest writer Tex Edwards has a three step plan to make housing more affordable. Don Rowe reviews the latest God of War game, saying it cements the medium as a legitimate art form for storytelling. And if you haven’t yet read Glen Herud‘s first person account of founding Happy Cow Milk, and the huge obstacles against changing the dairy industry, read it today.


So six months in to the new government’s run, how are they doing?

That’s the question posed by the NZ Herald‘s Simon Wilson over the weekend, who assessed whether the government is living up to it’s stated aim of being “transformational.” Wilson says the government appears to understand that they can’t rush everything through straight away, because to be truly transformational changes need to be bedded in over time. He’s particularly impressed by the vision shown on transport, but says it will all hinge on how the plans are executed.

Another good six month wrap comes from Jason Walls on Interest, who says that National’s strategy of trying to drive wedges through the coalition hasn’t worked – yet. There were plenty of predictions that the contradictions, particularly between NZ First and the Greens, would be insurmountable, but so far that hasn’t been the case. Soon enough though, Winston Peters will be a temporary Prime Minister, and Walls says that could be the moment that the opposition’s attacks on coalition unity could start to hurt.


In sport, New Zealand Super Rugby teams have now beaten Australian teams 35 times in a row, reports Stuff. Even with one fewer team to spread players around this season, Australia’s teams are still absolutely woeful. It’s starting to look a lot like the old ANZ Netball championship in reverse, where the only reason teams from the weaker country ever made the playoffs was through regular local derbies to pump up the points tally.

And, if you only tangentially follow English football, you may not have heard: Wenger is out. Arsenal’s extraordinarily long serving, and often over-delivering manager has finally decided to jump, rather than be pushed, after a few seasons of poor results. Former Arsenal player Lee Dixon has penned this tribute for the Guardian, describing how Wenger changed English football forever, and not just at one club. English football fans being what they are, expect to see “Wenger come back” banners all over the Emirates Stadium next season if Arsenal drop a few early games.


And from our partners, Vector’s Karl Check analyses Australia’s progress when it comes to shifting away from coal and gas fired power plants and onto renewal energy sources.


That’s it for the The Bulletin. If you liked what you read, and know other people who would find it useful, please forward it on and encourage them to sign up here. Thanks for joining us this morning.


The Bulletin is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights.

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New Zealand is a country with naturally high rates of erosion (Radio NZ/Robin Martin)
New Zealand is a country with naturally high rates of erosion (Radio NZ/Robin Martin)

The BulletinApril 20, 2018

The Bulletin: NZ’s land in a bad way

New Zealand is a country with naturally high rates of erosion (Radio NZ/Robin Martin)
New Zealand is a country with naturally high rates of erosion (Radio NZ/Robin Martin)

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New Zealand’s land is in bad shape, medicinal cannabis submitters warned, and a symbolic day for Pike River families. 

New Zealand is losing 192 million tonnes of soil every year, according to a new environmental report. Radio NZ reports a bit under half of that soil loss is from pasture land. The Our Land 2018 report notes that New Zealand already has relatively high rates of soil erosion, but that land use, particularly the loss of trees, can accelerate the process.

The report also says New Zealand’s productive land is being eaten by urban sprawl. This Stuff story quotes environment minister David Parker as being particularly concerned about areas like Pukekohe, on the southern fringe of Auckland. That’s something that could have a significant impact on New Zealand’s future food security, depending on how the effects of climate change play out.
It’s noted in the report that New Zealand’s two most important export earners – agriculture and tourism – are both entirely dependant on land and ecosystems.

And by the way, here’s a story not connected to the Our Land 2018 report which seems relevant to include. The NZ Herald‘s Jamie Morton says a new ice melting process has been discovered to be taking place in Antarcticawhich will likely accelerate sea level rises. 

To round out this thoroughly bleak report, ecosystems in general tend to be in decline, and many species are threatened or endangered. The one bright spot is that 20 bird species populations are recovering, though half of those are due to intensive conservation efforts.


Submissions on the medicinal cannabis bill are about to be made public, and some people may have made incriminating statements, reports Radio NZ. Those who may have admitted to breaking the law have been asked if they’d like to change their statements before publication. While the statements are protected by Parliamentary privilege, so cannot be used in court, there have in the past been social and employment consequences for people who have made submissions to select committees.


Representatives of families of the Pike River miners have finally had the chance to enter the mine. The walk, accompanied by Pike River minister Andrew Little, was a symbolic gesture, reports Newshub. They went 30 metres into the mine, with recovery of the bodies of the men killed in 2010 still considered to be months away. National argues their position in government – that going deep into the mine drift would put further lives at risk – still applies.


Tax credit incentives for are being proposed for companies that invest in research and development, reports Stuff. Under the proposal, businesses that spend more than $100,000 on R&D to get 12.5 cents back on dollars in that area. New Zealand’s businesses on average spend far less on R&D compared to the rest of the OECD. The tax credits would replace the existing Callaghan Innovation growth grants, reports the NBR. And manufacturers are cautiously optimistic about the proposals, reports the ODT, though tax accountants aren’t yet sure.


A survey commissioned by teachers has found strong public support for teacher pay rises, reports the NZ Herald. It comes amid a wider campaign for a pay rise of up to 16%, after a decade of pay rises roughly in line with inflation. Here’s an interesting account of the launch of the union’s campaign last month on Newsroom.


And it’s a big day for PM Jacinda Ardern on the world stage. Not only is she meeting the Queen, she’s also been named as TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people. Her bio was written by Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg.


And finally, if you’re on our mailing list and didn’t get your Bulletin yesterday, or it got caught in one of your email filters, sorry about that. Please add us as a contact, which will make it really unlikely to happen again.

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What is Fortnite: Battle Royale?

Right now on The Spinoff: Freshwater scientist Troy Baisden explores six ways to improve water quality in New Zealand’s lakes and rivers. Alex Casey reviews the crushing awkwardness of First Dates NZ, which started last night. And for those of you who have been baffled by hearing about some game called Fortnite, don’t worry, Sam Brooks has you covered with a cheat sheet.

Also, let’s have a round of applause Madeleine Chapman, who picked up one of those OnzO bikes in Auckland yesterday morning, and rode it all the way to the Huntly DEKA sign. It was an absolutely remarkable feat of endurance, marred only by the fact that Don Rowe won the work sweepstake for how far she’d get.


This is a high impact piece of investigative reporting from Reveal News, into safety concerns at Tesla’s electric car factory. The long running investigation found a chaotic factory floor, with high rates of injuries, as Tesla struggled with production targets that were far too onerous. It also found a culture in which Elon Musk’s word was law, even to the point where it is alleged standard yellow safety markers were missing, because Musk didn’t like the colour.

In the process of the investigation, Tesla accused Reveal of mounting a “highly ideological attack,” and being a tool of a union that was trying to organise workers. Reveal responded by saying they had reviewed hundreds of documents, and spoken to more than three dozen current and former employees, managers and technicians, many of whom had no involvement whatsoever with the union.

The California health and safety regulator has opened an investigation into Tesla, reports Bloomberg, but the regulator won’t confirm whether or not the story was the catalyst. Tesla says the will cooperate fully with the investigation.


A tussle is developing between England and NZ Rugby over how soon Brad Shields can join the English setup, reports Rugby Pass. England want the Hurricanes captain for their games against South Africa in June, but NZR are blocking it. Shields will soon leave NZ to join English club Wasps, and qualifies for England through his parents.

And I quite like this one from the Southland Times – a small group of Colombian refugees have put together a team to play in a charity football tournament this weekend. The Colombians are part of a programme, that will see about 140 people who fled the fighting in their country, eventually call Invercargill home.


And from our partners, Vector’s Karl Check analyses Australia’s progress when it comes to shifting away from coal and gas fired power plants and onto renewal energy sources.


That’s it for the The Bulletin. If you liked what you read, and know other people who would find it useful, please forward it on and encourage them to sign up here. Thanks for joining us this morning, have a great weekend.


The Bulletin is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights.

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