Dawn Chorus: Auckland wants to go 'orange'

TLDR & TLDL: Cabinet will decide whether to agree to pleas from Mayor Phil Goff and business leaders for Auckland to be allowed to shift from ‘red’ to ‘orange’ this summer, which would allow groups over 100 to gather. It’s the last decision before Jan 17 so a summer of full restaurants and bars depends on it.

Look out below the paywall fold to the links to the latest scoops on why Nick Smith left Parliament and a host of useful news snippets and longer reads.

Long-serving National MP Nick Smith resigned in June after allegations he mistreated Parliamentary staff. Photo: Getty Images

Coming up this week, I’ll watching:

• The last post-Cabinet news conference of the year at 4pm today, where ministers will consider whether to move Auckland down from ‘red’ to ‘orange’, which would remove the 100 limit at hospitality and events venues.

• The Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) due at 1pm Weds after a lockup at Treasury. We expect detail on how funding will be arranged for next year’s Climate Budget and an unchanged borrowing plan for 2021/22 at $30b, with lower borrowing in the out years because of a stronger economy;

• REINZ figures on house sales numbers and prices in Nov are due in the next day or two and will give the first indication if the market is slowing since banks cracked down on lending in mid-Nov;

• Sept Qtr GDP due at 11.45 am Weds, with economists expecting a drop in output of around 4% because of the lockdowns, but less than initially feared of as much as 7%;

• How Auckland’s border opening goes on Weds after four months of travel restrictions,

• The US Federal Reserve’s last monthly monetary policy decision of the year due on Thurs around 6am NZT. It is expected to signal a faster tapering of money printing and bond buying, before putting up the Fed Funds rate from May or June next year; and,

• The ECB and Bank of England are due to release their latest monetary policy decisions on Thursday night NZ Time. The ECB is expected to extend its money printing and bond buying programme beyond next March and the BoE is expected to leave its rate on hold until early next year as fresh covid waves rip through Europe over the winter.

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