My pick of the bunch for Thursday, June 23

Desperate DHBs offer free GP visits for Matariki; Transpower narrowly averts power crisis; Foodstuffs opening up its wholesale arm to competitors; Community Trust puts $900m Eastland up for sale

TLDR: This is a bit of a combo from Thursday morning and afternoon ahead of the Matariki long weekend. This is my pick of the news, analysis, interviews and data released in the last 24 hours or so, including:

• Counties Manukau DHB announcing free GP visits again this long Matariki weekend to prevent its A&E departments being overwhelmed by winter flu cases

• Transpower issuing a grid emergency notice this morning after a less windy night and the failure of a gas turbine to start, which forced lines companies to turn off hot water heaters remotely to avoid blackouts;

• Foodstuffs’ announcement it will open up its wholesaling arm to competitors, hoping to avoid a forced opening; The Feed

• Peter Goodfellow’s retirement as National Party President, albeit he is staying on for three more years as a board member, which angered Maurice Williamson; (NZ Herald) and,

• Trust Tairāwhiti’s announcement it will sell its Eastland electricity lines business (valued at $900m) to invest in renewable energy generation and return cash to community groups on the East Coast.

Photo by Anastasia Zhenina on Unsplash

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In geo-politics, the global economy, business and markets

‘Boomer fantasy land’ - Australia Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus criticised Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe this morning over his warning that wage rises of over 3.5% could force interest rates higher. She said Australia’s higher inflation “has absolutely nothing to do with wages".

"We're not achieving 3.5 per cent, let alone 5 per cent, let alone 7 per cent. And so to think somehow that the system is going to deliver across-the-board pay increases of 5 or 7 per cent is boomer fantasy land.” ACTU Secretary Sally McManus talking to ABC Australia

Albo’s climate move - Australia’s new PM Anthony Albanese is set to ask his intelligence chief to examine security threats posed by climate crises - The Guardian Australia

Curb removed - The Bank of England has decided to drop its interest rate serviceability threshold rule, which had forced banks to use an interest rate three percent above the offered rate to ensure borrowers could cope with higher interest rates. The bank said its existing 4.5 times debt to income limit was sufficient. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has also looked at whether to introduce something similar here, but decided against it for now, although it continues to want to introduce a debt to income multiple. The Guardian UK

Scoops and news of note here in Aotearoa-NZ

A health crisis - NewstalkZB Wellington got a call to its local morning show today from a women who said her father-in-law had died in his doorway, having called for an ambulance with chest pains. The ambulance took six hours to arrive, by which time he was dead.

The 73-year-old's daughter-in-law, who wanted to only be referred to as Katrina, went on Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings show today, where she told host Nick Mills about how she and her husband were woken in the night by police a week and a half ago.

"They told us that my father-in-law had passed away. They said that he had rung an ambulance for chest pains and when they got there he had died already," she told Mills.

The man had gone to unlock his front door and was found dead in the doorway when paramedics arrived.

Katrina hoped her father-in-law had died quickly, rather than having to wait, suffering, wondering when paramedics would turn up. She did not know how long it had taken for him to pass.

"It's just like a rabbit hole you don't want to go down," she said.

Just briefly

Ministry of Environment officials to review contracts agreed with members of Nanaia Mahuta’s family - NZ Herald

Fonterra announces a 50c/kg increase in its payout forecast range to around $9.50/kg

Table of the day

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Global Liveability Index found Wellington and Auckland fell down its rankings the most over the last year.

Cities in New Zealand and Australia are listed among the biggest fallers in our rankings, including Wellington and Auckland, which tumbled by 46 and 33 places respectively. Both countries benefited in early 2021, when covid vaccines were scarce: their closed borders kept cases down, keeping liveability high. Auckland actually came top of the early 2021 survey. However, this changed as a more infectious covid-19 wave struck in late 2021, which made closed borders less of a defence. Although New Zealand’s lockdowns ended in December, before our survey period, its cities no longer have a covid advantage over well-vaccinated European and Canadian cities. EIU

Profundities, spookies, curiosities and feel-goods

Nick James @nickpgjames

Inside the newly refurbished and earthquake strengthened St James Theatre

June 22nd 2022

26 Retweets391 Likes

🌺 Arlene @MsShira50

Frost-covered tree between Burkes Pass and Tekapo this morning.

June 22nd 2022

61 Retweets535 Likes

The Craic

Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade posted on Telegram last night about one of its drones that had ‘crashed’ into a Russian oil refinery 150km from Ukraine’s border, sparking a fire.

“For some reason, the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery is on fire in Russia. Not bad!.” Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade

“It is hot in the Rostov region. It is best to smoke in designated places and to not throw cigarette butts on oil depots.” Another Ukrainian military post.

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Bernard

PS: I will put out a longer weekend reads and listens for Matariki tomorrow morning. As it is a public holiday, there will be no Ask Me Anything or Hoon tomorrow.