Six things that mattered this week, plus my Sunday reads

My personal thoughts on the week's top six news items, plus my pick of the charts and quotes of the week for paying subscribers, some weekend reading links and one fun thing

Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

TL;DR: For paying subscribers, here's my pick of the week’s top six news developments, quotes and charts of the week with my personal reflections, plus my suggestions for Sunday reading and listening. There’s also one fun thing.

In summary this week, my six takeaways were:

• Christopher Luxon appears to have killed the bi-partisan ‘Townhouse Nation’ solution for densification in the long-run, pandering to National and ACT-leaning NIMBYs in the leafy suburbs of Aotearoa’s cities;

• The Government created a model for ‘buying’ emissions reductions from domestic companies and residents that it could use to reduce the Crown’s long-term emissions liability of up to $23.7 billion;

• Adrian Orr’s RBNZ squashed any momentum building behind the Opposition’s claims Budget 2023 was inflationary and would push up mortgage rates;

• The RBNZ called time on rising mortgage rates earlier than most expected, saying it had hiked enough to get inflation back down and consumers had ‘cooled their jets’ enough;

• Labour removed any doubt it would campaign for a third term with a ‘low target’ strategy that focuses on the danger of the Opposition’s plans for change, rather than any great new changes of its own or its record;

• Tower began targeted premium increases for properties it has mapped out along flood risk, slip risk and coastal surge risk lines to account for climate change, which is likely to begin an inflationary process of risk-based premium changes by other insurers, similar to the one Tower triggered after the Christchurch Earthquakes.

There’s more detail, analysis and charts on those six takeaways below the paywall fold, along with a fun thing. Join the community supporting our public interest journalism on housing unaffordability, climate change inaction and poverty reduction by upgrading to becoming a paying subscriber. I’d love to see you in our comments, Chat and in The Hoon.