TLDR & TLDL: In this week’s ‘Hoon of Wonks’, I talked with Interest.co.nz’s political reporter Jenee Tibshraeny in the Parliamentary Press Gallery about the week’s events in the political economy, including:
Michael Wood’s announcement of a 6% increase in the minimum wage to $21.20 from April 1, which was in line with current inflation, but less than the average 6.7% seen over the last four years;
whether and how the Reserve Bank might unwind its $58b of government bond purchases as it tightens monetary policy; and,
the anti-vaxx and anti-mandate protests that have dominated the debate around the first week of the Parliamentary year.
This is a weekly feature of The Kākā, where I take a ‘hoon’ (the way to describe a group of Kākā) with one or more of the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s reporters and editors with a particular focus on the economy, and fiscal and monetary policy. We are all based in the Press Gallery and will often record these hoons there. We’re the hoon of wonks. This was recorded mid-afternoon on Friday Feb 11.
Aside from myself, this group of includes:
Thomas Coughlan, who I’ve worked with at Newsroom in the Parliamentary Press Gallery and who has worked as a reporter and columnist at Stuff as well;
Luke Malpass, who is Stuff’s Political Editor and previously worked as the Australian Financial Review’s Editorial Page Editor; and,
Jenee Tibshraeny, who is Interest.co.nz’s political reporter in the Press Gallery.
I welcome the questions and comments of paid subscribers below about this hoon and ahead of next week’s hoon. In particular, we welcome suggestions for topics of interest and questions for ministers and the opposition.
(This weekly hoon will be regularly open to all subscribers and the public given the public interest and issues involved. I welcome you all as full paid subscribers to support this type of accountability, explanatory and solutions journalism on the climate inaction, housing unaffordability and child poverty crises. Full paid subscribers can comment and get full access to all my emails and podcasts, along with invites to subscriber-only webinars and ‘Ask Me Anything’ threads.)
A hoon of wonks from the Press Gallery