When the Facts Change

Dec 05 2024 223 ep. 39 mins 1.7k

When the Facts Change Podcast artwork

Hosted by journalist Bernard Hickey, When the Facts Change is your essential weekly guide to the intersection of economics, business and politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Presented by The Spinoff together with Kiwibank.

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Home on the marae

Dec 05 2024 33 mins

Motueka might appear sleepy and remote to visitors, but like much of Aotearoa, it faces a severe shortage of rental housing—often far pricier than expected. Bernard Hickey sits down with Miriana Stephens to discuss how her iwi is tackling this crisis by building dozens of affordable homes, with the marae at the heart of community life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega

The OCR grinch has turned into Father Christmas

Nov 28 2024 24 mins

In 2022, Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr told Christmas shoppers to “cool your jets”, as the bank scrambled to control inflation by hiking interest rates. This week - now inflation has been beaten back down - he delivered another whopper 50-basis point rate cut in the RBNZ’s latest monetary policy statement. Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr joins Bernard Hickey to discus

How fair is our tax system?

Nov 21 2024 27 mins

Victoria University professor of taxation Lisa Marriott talks to Bernard Hickey about the fundamental flaws at the core of our tax system, how they have produced historic levels of wealth inequality in Aotearoa - and how we can fix them. Lisa is speaking at the Pakukore: Poverty, by Design conference at Victoria University, 21-23 November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m

Behind Porirua’s poverty

Nov 14 2024 33 mins

For decades, Pat Hanley has been a tireless advocate for the rights of beneficiaries, drawing attention to the persistent challenges they face. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, he sits down with Bernard Hickey to unpack the deep-rooted causes of poverty in Porirua. Hanley argues that both the underlying issues and society’s approach to addressing poverty demand

The cost of prison

Nov 07 2024 33 mins

Our prisons are bursting at the seams. They cost at least $2 billion per year to run – and that’s before we consider the longer-term and wider-reaching costs to our health, education, housing, justice and welfare systems. University of Auckland indigenous studies professor Tracey McIntosh joins Bernard to interrogate the reasons why we, as a society, persist with ever-larger an

How to give employees what they want, when they want it

Oct 31 2024 37 mins

Fintechs are changing the way we spend and save, but they are also set to change the way we could be paid for work, or more correctly, how workers are paid benefits on the fringes. Bernard Hickey talks to Steven Zinsli, the founder of Extraordinary (formerly HealthNow) about his new payments card system to help employers deliver extra benefits to employees through electronic cards,

An economic spring in our step

Oct 24 2024 28 mins

The animal spirits of the economy are stirring back to life after a whopper of an interest rate cut - with expectations of one more to come. Bernard Hickey talks with Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr about how businesses are feeling heading into the Christmas sales season, and what might upset the metaphorical applecart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch

The hidden battery in your home

Oct 17 2024 31 mins

What if your hot water cylinder could help solve New Zealand’s energy crisis? And how is an hour of free electricity helping with our notoriously problematic electricity market? Electric Kiwi co-founder and CEO Huia Burt sits down with Bernard Hickey to explore how they are helping New Zealanders tackle the cost-of-living crisis, all while reducing our national reliance on non-re

Is Nicola Willis cutting costs or cutting growth?

Oct 10 2024 29 mins

Finance minister Nicola Willis is on a mission to crunch the size of government debt from well over 33% of GDP to under 30% within a few years, as well as fire up growth in an economy experiencing its worst-ever recession per capita. Doing one would be hard, but both at the same time seems a mission impossible for a politician wanting to win a second term. Bernard asks her how the

We’re all getting older and something has got to give

Oct 03 2024 32 mins

As our national population grows older (and the superannuation system becomes increasingly burdened by the growing ranks of retirees), how will the government balance the books? The ratio of tax-paying adults to superannuitants is steadily falling, and raising the age of eligibility for super won't cover the forecasted shortfall. So what kind of fiscal policy changes are needed bef