Libertarian leader turns chief NIMBY

David Seymour to campaign to block Chris Bishop's up-zoning of inner-city Auckland, including Epsom; "This plan is not necessary, and will have negative unintended consequences," he says

Briefly in my Picks ‘n Mixes on Thursday, September 4, the top news, scoops and deep-dives in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate are:

• ACT Leader & Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has launched a major and surprising attack on Housing, Infrastructure & RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop’s plan to upzone Auckland’s inner-city suburbs by as many as two million new homes, saying “this plan is not necessary, and will have negative unintended consequences.” NZ Herald-$ (gift link)

• Residential property values fell 0.2% in August, the fifth monthly fall in a row, Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) said in its monthly Home Value Index report released this morning. National values have dropped by 0.6% so far in 2025, with the gains seen late last year and early this year now wiped out. The nationwide median home value was $809,113, in August still 17.2% down from the January 2022 peak and the lowest level since August 2023.

• Tax Justice Aotearoa & Better Taxes for a Better Future published a new report this morning titled: Big Tech, Little Tax, which estimated Facebook, Google and Amazon earned $1.6981 billion in revenue in Aotearoa last year, but reported taxable income here of just $27 million because of the use of ‘service fees’ charged to the local subsidiary by their parents in the United States.

• My Must-Watch of the day is Chief Justice Dame Helen Winkelmann being interviewed on NZ Herald about a justice system under considerable stress, after she published her annual report.

Paying subscribers get more detail and analysis below the paywall fold all the links and Picks ‘n Mixes.

Brooke van Velden and David Seymour at a street corner meeting in St Heliers in the 2023 election campaign, where they announced their opposition to Bishop’s then MDRS plan. Photo by Lynn Grieveson for The Kākā

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Picks n’ Mixes for Thursday, September 4