Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes on Friday, March 28

Cabinet rejected Bishop proposal to rezone extra 540,000 homes in Auckland; Albanese set to announce May 3 election in Australia; Home in Queenstown with big garden sells for record $45.5 million

In short this morning in our political economy:

• Chris Bishop attempted to rezone land in Auckland for up to 540,000 new homes last year, but was rejected by Cabinet, NZ Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reports this morning in a front page article.

• Overnight, Donald Trump put 25% tariffs on all car and car part imports from April 3, adding around US$12,500 to prices there. Europe, Japan and Canada threatened retaliation.

• Stuff’s Andrea Vance has uncovered major staffing dramas at Invercargill Council.

• Anthony Albanese is set to announce later this morning that an Australian Federal election will be held on May 3.

• A Queenstown mansion with a 19ha garden sold for $45.5 million two years ago, a new national house sale record that has only just been revealed.

Here’s my selection¹ of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$², The Press−$, Newsroom/$³, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, AP, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, The Guardian, Wired/$, The Atlantic/$ and The Economist-$, as of 6am on Friday, March 28.

(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold for paying subscribers. Students, teachers and academics who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz or .school.nz emails are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Our special offers are $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

My Top Pick n’ Mix Top Six at 6.30 am on Friday, March 28