TLDR: The devastation of homes, roads, power lines, pipes and all sorts of infrastructure in Napier, Hawkes Bay, Tairāwhiti and Gisborne looks set to be a Christchurch Earthquake-scale disaster for the region, forcing the Government to stump up billions for long term repairs and resilience work.
PM Chris Hipkins has warned around 10,000 people have been rendered homeless in the region, which is about two-thirds of the numbers make homeless in the Christchurch quakes, which eventually cost the Government and insurers more than $30 billion to repair over a decade.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said yesterday the Government had the borrowing capacity to repair the damage, setting the scene for a hard pivot in the Government’s Budget planning on the eve of finalising numbers in the coming weeks.
In other news this morning:
Kiwibank’s economists have called on the Reserve Bank (Te Pūtea Matua) not to hike the official cash rate by a full 50 basis points next Wednesday in the middle of a national state of emergency;
Net migration surged in the second half of last year towards an annualised rate of over 30,000, but only after an exodus of 16,600 New Zealand citizens was offset in the last nine months of 2022 by an influx of 34,700, Stats NZ data shows;
Expectations for rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve later this year were pared back overnight after fresh producer price inflation and jobs figures showed the world’s biggest economy running hotter than expected; and,
National list MP Harete Hipango has pulled out of the running for the general electorate of Whanganui, saying she wanted to run instead in Te Tai Hauāuru, which is currently held by Labour’s speaker Adrian Rurawhe, but is now expected to be won in the October 14 election by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Deborah Ngarewa-Packer. That’s because Rurawhe has opted to go onto the list, creating the prospect of an accommodation by Labour that would suggest it hopes Te Pāti chooses it over National in any post-election king-making situation.
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