The weekly hoon of gallery wonks

The Prime Minister laughs after cutting the ribbon to officially open Transmission Gully this week. Could it be our last motorway? Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images

TLDR & TLDL: This week I talked in the podcast above with Interest.co.nz’s Jenee Tibshraeny and the NZ Herald’s Thomas Coughlan about the week’s events in the political economy around the Parliamentary Press Gallery, including:

• the debates over National’s ‘squeezed middle’ tax cut proposal;

• the Government’s April 1 benefit increases, why they’re inadequate and why PM Jacinda Ardern is not using the Crown’s balance sheet;

• the opening of Transmission Gully and whether it will be our last motorway;

• China’s deal to station troops and ships in the Solomon Islands;

• whether Globalisation is ending and what it might mean for Aotearoa-NZ; and,

• Ardern’s latest one-on-one interviews.

This is a weekly feature where I talk with the other ‘wonks’ in the Parliamentary Press Gallery interested in the political economy, including Stuff Political Editor Luke Malpass, along with Thomas and Jenee.

I welcome questions from subscribers in the comments below over the episode, and for next week’s version. This was recorded on the afternoon of Friday, April 1.

Photo by Boba Jaglicic on Unsplash