Best of Business

A property mogul developing some of Wellington's most infamous quake-prone sites has voiced support for recent Government changes, but says these won't slow down his large-scale projects. Eyal Aharoni is currently working on reopening the long-closed Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place and the nearby Amora Hotel, which closed in 2019 and 2017 respectively because of earthquake damage. Earlier this week, the Government confirmed it was watering down existing earthquake strengthening rules in a bid to balance safety and affordability. Aharoni revealed why he's still determined to get these projects done. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government recently unveiled its highly-anticipated energy sector announcement and it's prompted good news for the energy companies. The share price for New Zealand's major gentailers raised on the NZX, with Meridian seeing a 5 percent increase. Milford Asset Management's Michael Luke explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government finally unveiled its plan to address issues impacting the energy sector, and it's prompted a mixed response. The country's largest power companies have responded positively, and their shares have jumped on the NZX as a result. Meanwhile, consumers and other businesses have voiced concerns this doesn't address the status quo. Consumer NZ CEO Jon Duffy has criticised this announcement - and claimed this doesn't move the country forward at all. "Let's remember - last year, one in five consumers had trouble paying their bill, 19 percent of people missed paying their bill on time, 56 percent of people are concerned about the price of energy. This does nothing to address that." EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald says this announcement is 'underwhelming' - and claimed it wouldn't stop the closure of any mills. "It's too late for that, there's nothing really in there short-term that offers and kind of assistance for those people already in that spiral, they're looking at tough decisions to close or downsize." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Reserve Bank will keep the Official Cash Rate on hold at at 3.6 percent. The RBA's Governor, Michele Bullock, says Australia is in a 'difficult position', but they're committed to addressing inflation. HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently confirmed he invited LuLu Hypermarket to set up in Australia while on a visit to the United Arab Emirates. This comes as Australia looks to develop a new free trade agreement with the Middle Eastern nation. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says a new player in the grocery market would help break up the current duopoly. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Synlait has confirmed the sale of its loss-making factory at Pōkeno to US company, Abbott. The infant-formula company is selling the site and related assets for $307 million, and will use the proceeds to pay down debt. Harbour Asset Management expert Shane Solly unpacks the data further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government recently confirmed they were going to overhaul the assessment of earthquake-prone buildings - a move welcomed by property owners and building engineers alike. The changes will leave just 80 buildings needing full retrofits and 1500 buildings will still need some remediation - many of them in Wellington. Property Institute CEO Leonie Freeman has welcomed these changes and claimed they'll help communities grow. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A New World worker's taken to social media to complain about an incoming water bottle ban. A Reddit user made a post stating their store's banning staff from having their bottles at checkout, with management telling them they can drink during breaks. Rudd Hughes from the Workers First Union says this isn't the first time they've seen this, and might stem from customer service concerns. "But actually, if you've got hydrated people who are comfortable and happy, they're going to give much better customer service than people who are dying for a drink." A Foodstuffs spokesperson says policies vary between stores, but they expect store teams to be reasonable. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A shake-up to the quake-prone building standards could be a reprieve for iconic properties facing large retrofit bills. The Government's loosening the regime to only capture buildings genuinely posing a risk to life in medium and high seismic risk zones. It'll mean only 80 will need full retrofits and 15,000 will still need some remediation. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says there'll be a lot of places now off the hook for having expensive work. "A large number of buildings that will remain caught by the system to some extent, but will only need a targeted retro-fit, or maybe just a securing of a façade." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian telco giant Optus is investigating another network outage that led to nine failed triple-0 calls on the NSW south coast. Optus has issued a statement saying the problem stemmed from a mobile phone tower site in Dapto. It affected calls between 3am and 12:20pm on Sunday, including calls to the triple-0 network. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says this incident will cause significant damage to the relationship Optus has with its customers. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's economy has been shrinking, but our largest company has seen profits surge. Fonterra's announced a 13 percent rise in annual operating profit. Its cash return to shareholders is up 30.6 percent, and its final farmgate milk payout to farmers has reached a new record high of $10.16 per kg of milk solids. The Country's Jamie Mackay explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oil and gas exploration applications have reopened for the first time since the 2018 ban. Companies can now apply for new prospecting and exploration permits anywhere in the country - not just onshore Taranaki. An open market application pathway's also being introduced to allocate new permits, in addition to the current competitive tender process. Energy Resources Aotearoa chief executive John Carnegie says there's concerns among investors about the ongoing certainty of this, given the backlash from the opposition. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fonterra's CEO says cheaper butter prices could be on the horizon. The dairy co-op's announced a 13 percent rise in annual operating profit and a record-high final milk payout of $10.16 per kg. Chief Executive Miles Hurrell says it's a great result for farmers. He says the price of wholesale butter globally has fallen 15 percent in the past two months. "At some point, that'll flow through to the supermarkets - I suspect that they'll set their own prices, but that should flow through and give it an element of relief." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Telco provider 2degrees made a net loss attributable to shareholders of $18.2 million for the 2025 financial year. Despite this, operating earnings and overall revenue, plus revenue in key product categories such as mobile, broadband and energy, were up. CEO Mark Callander says it's a tough economic environment - but the company's hoping things will pick up. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Treasury has raised the alarm over the state of New Zealand's public finances as part of its long-term fiscal forecast. Record levels of Government spending, increasing health costs and an ever-growing aging population are among the concerns set to create additional fiscal pressures for the country, according to new reports. Treasury warned Net Core Crown Debt is set to hit 200 percent of GDP by 2065. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says some of these concerns were flagged as early as 2021 - and we need to start thinking about solutions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI and technology stocks are continuing to have a significant presence in the market - but which companies are leading the charge? Broadcom and Oracle are among the companies that have generated positive results, and Nvidia made headlines following its $100 billion investment in OpenAI. Milford Asset Management's Andrew Curtayne explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister is not sharing the same fears as retailers over the surcharge ban. Scott Simpson says the legislation banning surcharges like PayWave is before the Select Committee and will be in place by next year. 36 business associations have written a letter warning the ban could be passed on through increased prices. Simpson says a lot of businesses don't use surcharges - so won't be impacted or need to raise prices. "The ones that choose to add that pricing in will be actually competitively constrained in the marketplace by those businesses that choose not to do so." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three hundred potential candidates were identified in the hunt for our new Reserve Bank Governor. The role has gone to Anna Breman, who was the First Deputy Governor of Sweden's central bank. Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it was a a tough competition amongst candidates. "The Reserve Bank went through a process of both advertising and also doing a large international search to consider people that could be qualified for the role." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new Reserve Bank Governor is pledging to build trust and credibility. Sweden's Anna Breman has been announced to lead the central bank, taking over from interim Governor Christian Hawkesby in December. She'll be the first woman to ever hold the role - selected from more than 300 candidates who were initially identified. Newstalk ZB reporter Azaria Howell says Breman has revealed the new core ideals of the RBNZ under her leadership - and has voiced her commitment to transparency. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know how the Prime Minister does a very good job of batting away poll results and saying that his focus is fixing up the joint after the last lot and that he'll wait until election day to be judged? I don't think he will find it quite as easy to do that with these results out today from the NZ Herald's annual Mood of the Boardroom survey. The annual survey of about 150 business leaders – 125 of them being CEOs of major New Zealand companies. People like Port of Auckland boss Roger Gray, the head of Tower Insurance Paul Johnston and Forsyth Barr boss Neil Paviour-Smith. One of the things that comes out in the survey results is a ranking of the performances of our Cabinet ministers. How these business leaders think of each minister is doing. Top of the list is Erica Stanford – she's the highest ranking. Winston Peters is in second place and Chris Bishop is third. The Prime Minister is ranked 15th. In last year's survey, he was sixth. Even Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, who sits outside cabinet, ranks higher than the PM in 10th place. The other big name outside the top 10 is Finance and Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis – the bosses at our biggest companies have ranked her in 13th place. Which is not good news for the Government. Because what's coming through loud and clear is that the business community has no faith that there is a plan to get the country “back on track”. We're way more than halfway through the Government's current term and our most senior business leaders are asking: “What is your plan Prime Minister?" I think this result out today is way worse for the Government than any political poll result so far. When you've got business leaders ranking the Finance Minister 13th and the Prime Minister 15th, this is a government in strife, isn't it? The reason I think this will hurt Christopher Luxon more than any of the other poll results he's managed to bat away or put a brave face on for, is that these are his people. Before he entered politics, he was one of them. He probably even took part in these surveys when he was chief executive at Air New Zealand. He's the people he's talking to when he goes on about signs of green shoots in the economy. These are the people he's talking to when he talks about getting runs on the board. The people who have said he's the 15th-best performing cabinet minister. The people he's talking to with his quarterly action plans, deliverables, KPIs, decision gates, and value chains. But his people still don't know what he's trying to do. They still don't know what his plan is. Which is why I think he will really be feeling this today. Because even his people don't get him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A view that small businesses may suffer and not be able to survive if the Government's surcharge ban comes into play. Commerce Minister Scott Simpson announced the ban on surcharges like PayWave will be in place by May next year. In an open letter, 36 Chambers of Commerce, industry and business associations warn the ban will just be passed on through increased prices. North Chamber Chief Executive Leah McKerrow told Francesca Rudkin there should a consumer line that identifies those abusing the surcharge, as now small businesses will face increased costs. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Business leaders aren't sugarcoating their messages for the Government. The Herald's annual Mood of the Boardroom survey shows business leaders are less optimistic about the economy than they were a year ago. Only a third of respondents back the Government's current growth agenda. Forsyth Barr Managing Director Neil Paviour-Smith told Mike Hosking concerns are being expressed about the need to tackle the difficult problems and long-term issues. He says there's a need for the Government to be much clearer around the plan to tackle things like infrastructure, long-term savings, and the Crown's fiscal position, which acts as a ball and chain around the economy. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A group of Southland farmers say there is a way to profitability for Alliance Group without selling off 65 percent of the co-op. Alliance shareholders are set to vote on whether to accept a deal from Irish company Dawn Meats, which was offering $250 million for a share in the New Zealand co-operative. The Country's Jamie Mackay weighed in on the offer - and whether Alliance Group is likely to consider this. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Business NZ says the Government's making workers leave simpler and more cost-effective. It's announced a new hours-based annual and sick leave accrual system, including flexibility of being able to take only the hours needed off work rather than a full day. It'll also mean part-time workers will no longer have a minimum sick leave entitlement. Business NZ's Paul Mackay says leave's always been accrued, but there were other rules attached. "The Government has simplified it by saying - you accrue leave or you earn leave as you go, it's effectively money in your bank and you will take out from that bank of leave when you want it." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's hopes new changes around leave entitlements will mean employers can focus on their core business. The Government has announced a new hours-based annual and sick leave accrual system as well as the right to take bereavement leave from day one. The changes also mean part-time workers will no longer have a minimum sick leave entitlement - it'll instead be calculated by hours worked. Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden says businesses have been struggling under Labour's changes to leave entitlements - and changes need to be made. "What I've been hearing, loudly, from the business community is that they want it to be proportionate to the number of hours that people actually work." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speculation is building on who'll be the next Governor of the Reserve Bank, and the Government is due to make an announcement tomorrow. A source has told Bloomberg the new Governor is a woman - and is from overseas. Speculation has centred on the Bank of England's Sarah Breerdon. Newstalk ZB reporter Azaria Howell speculates ahead of the big announcement. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Businesses are hopeful an overhaul of the Holidays Act will give them clearer leave guidelines. The Workplace Minister will announcing a change to the 2003 Act today. Business Canterbury CEO Leeann Watson told Francesca Rudkin the current legislation is far too complex. She says businesses have almost needed an advanced calculus degree to meet their obligations. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Genesis Energy has struck a two-year deal with New Zealand mining company BT Mining to supply 240,000 tonnes of coal to its Huntly Power Station. The deal equates to BT Mining providing 10,000 tonnes of coal a month to Huntly, which supports the hydro-dominated electricity system. BT Mining chief executive Richard Tacon explained how this deal will boost the local economy. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis says there's been a clear message to all ministers - we don't want the billions recently allocated for infrastructure sitting in Government bank accounts. A small scale hospital project announcement yesterday and a school property maintenance announcement today have both talked up the boost they'll give the construction sector in the coming 12 months. The Finance Minister says they want signed contracts, spades in the ground, and jobs. "The instruction to all Government ministers has been - make sure you know where your maintenance contracts are at, where those construction projects are at, to get them out the door." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 2022, investigative reporter Sönke Iwersen received 100 gigabytes of confidential leaked data from a whistle-blower inside Tesla. The files detailed dangerous autopilot software errors, a high number of workplace accidents in Tesla's factories and a culture of fear within the company. Iwersen's investigation is now a book called The Tesla Files: Inside Elon Musk's Empire of Power and Deception. "We found, actually, that there had been warnings inside Tesla about this mistake, the level of insecurity - and later, the guy who had warned us about it was later fired for it." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New reports show the economy is worse off than previously thought and it's sparked debate about what - or who - is to blame. GDP data shows the economy shrunk 0.9 percent in the June quarter - a more significant dip than the 0.3 percent forecast by the Reserve Bank and similar figures from most economists. Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell says economic conservatives are calling for a bigger reduction in spending, while Labour has called for the whole Government to resign. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Auckland apartment market is so dire that a developer is renting instead of selling all the units in one new block. Ockham Residential CEO William Deihl said all the new 10-level 77-unit Whetū in Pt Chevalier would be rented, not sold - sparking discussion about whether apartments have value in the current market. Mt Hobson Group urban planning expert Hamish Firth says apartments can still suit Kiwi buyers - at a certain age and stage. "Perhaps older people or downsizers, perhaps students coming through or perhaps young families with lesser amounts of kids. So I think that it's really good that we've got that variety of housing forms." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How is it that we are having a conversation today about whether Nicola Willis needs to quit her portfolio because of yesterday's shock GDP number? This is crazy. What happened yesterday is not Nicola Willis's fault. It is the Reserve Bank's fault. It is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact. The Reserve Bank ratcheted up the official cash rate to slow down the economy and engineer a recession, to quote Adrian Orr. It's what he wanted to do. It is what he has actually done successfully. We now have had an enormous recession, and we are struggling to come out of that. That is not Nicola Willis's fault. Now, sure, I can lay some blame at Nicola Willis's feet. I can blame Nicola Willis for not doing enough to fix the state of the government's books.Probably not doing enough to get rundown places like Auckland Central going again, but that GDP number, that is fair and square, largely the Reserve Bank's problem, so she should not quit over what happened yesterday. However, I am prepared to admit that the fact that this discussion is even happening does speak to the enormous political pressure that she is under at the moment, because it is enormous. She is under a lot of political pressure. She is very much playing at a political disadvantage because a lot has gone wrong for her this year. Buttergate was all Nicola Willis pulling in Miles Hurrell for a chat, Gavin the cameras run after him. She created that. She has only just managed to save herself from being accused of being all talk and no action over the supermarkets, redeemed with a Hail Mary at the last minute. And for all the criticism that she lobbed Grant Robertson for spending too much, she spends more than him every single budget, and here we are two years into this administration, still waiting for their big plan as to how we turn this economy around. That is as finance minister and economic growth minister, her job, but she doesn't need to quit over what happened yesterday. Look, the bar for any minister to quit is very high, but for a finance minister, even more so. Just have a look at how badly Rachel Reeves in the UK is stuffing things up and crying in public. She is still in her job. Nicola Willis is nowhere near that, mainly because the GDP figure out yesterday is not her fault. And the fact that this is actually a discussion is somewhat mind-blowing. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China's economy continues to slow down after months of decline, and retail sales and industrial production are at their lowest levels of the year. Falling property prices are also to blame, with house prices in Beijing down 19% from last year. Asia business correspondent Peter Lewis says that despite this downturn and the trade war with the US, China's exports have kept at a steady level. He said that Xi Jinping's focus on expanding markets independent of the US is helping keep the economy moving. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time since December. It's a 0.25 point drop, much lower than US President Donald Trump wanted. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The GDP drop has sparked concern among experts, and it's prompted many to update their economic outlook. GDP's fallen 0.9 percent in the June quarter - much further than the Reserve Bank and all economists had been expecting. Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold says Q3 indicators are already looking better, but the bank's upgraded their October OCR call. "We upgraded our October call from a 25 point cut to a 50 point cut...the GDP number was quite a bit weaker than everybody's predictions." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, I think it's fair to say that the GDP print has come in at something of a shock. The Reserve Bank was picking a contraction of 0.3 percent. The consensus was a contraction of 0.4 percent. The worst-case prediction from one of the banks was a contraction of 0.5 percent. It's come in at a contraction of 0.9 percent, which is basically twice as bad as most of us thought. Now, the immediate problem that we have is what this is going to do to confidence, because people are already scared. That is why it's taking this country so long to come out of recession, because every single piece of bad news like Trump's tariffs earlier this year freaks us out all over again, so we keep our wallets shut for longer. There are people out there who absolutely can afford to spend more money, but they're choosing not to because they do not know that they can trust that we're through the worst of it. This is part of the reason, if not one of the bigger reasons, why the Reserve Bank's cuts to the OCR are not stimulating the economy like the bank thought that they should be. And this number that we see today, I fear, is going to do this all over again. And it's gonna freak us out all over again. And I think the reason we're going to be freaked out all over again by this is that we think that the people who are in charge, mainly the Reserve Bank, but also the Government who keep telling us that the economy is definitely recovering, really have no idea how bad this is. Now, I think it is a little unfair to blame anyone but the Reserve Bank right now because they really deserve it. The verdict is in on this now, isn't it? They have well and truly stuffed this up, they have no idea what is going on in this economy. In July, which was only one month after Q2 ended, we'd just gone through this massive contraction - and the next month, they decided they didn't need to cut the cash rate anymore. They held the cash rate. That now should blow your mind. Just a month ago, they released their monetary policy statement forecasting the contraction at only 0.3 percent They got it wrong by a factor of 3 percent. Now, what them getting it so badly wrong now means is that the pressure is on them to fix this and fix this fast and do a double cut in October, really more to restore confidence than anything, because confidence is what we are very much lacking at the moment. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis says uncertainty over Donald Trump's tariffs drove down GDP in the June quarter. But the Finance Minister admits has admitted she was surprised to see the economy's contracted 0.9 percent. She says there was consensus that GDP would drop, but most forecasts had it at 0.3 percent. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tesla today announced its Full Self-Driving (FSD) service has now been activated in New Zealand and Australia. Both countries are the first right-hand drive markets to access this technology, which had previously been kept inactive until now. Kiwi motorsport driver Greg Murphy has raised concerns about this, given Tesla's record. "Tesla haven't got a clean record when it comes to the autonomous vehicles around the world, with a few lawsuits that have taken place in various places." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's economy has been shrinking much faster than experts anticipated, according to new reports. Latest data from Stats NZ shows GDP dropped 0.9 percent in the June quarter after two quarters of growth. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says the uncertainty around Trump's tariffs created a ripple effect that's showing through a number of industries. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christchurch-headquartered Brooksfield Homes is looking to bring a new style of townhouse to Auckland. Reports claim the company's planned eight new Pt Chevalier homes on two sites, with a projected end valuation of $11.6 million. Brooksfield Homes managing director Vincent Holloway says a lot of people want to live in similar heritage properties found in Grey Lynn or Ponsonby - but prices keep many out of reach. "People are wanting that in a home, so we aim to do that in a smaller scale in a cheaper area, basically." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New GDP figures are set to be unveiled tomorrow, and there's concerns from experts that the economy is struggling. The upcoming GDP data is projected to show an economy under pressure, as earlier forecasts of an incoming rebound look less and less likely. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says the Finance Minister is trying to soften the blow and put things in perspective. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.