Local Bodies

The  NBR rich list  has been published for 2025. The combined wealth of the 130 listed is $102.1 billion. In 2015 the 180 individuals and families listed had a combined wealth of  $55 billion . According to the Reserve bank inflation calculator the percentage of change over the last decade was 32.9%. Given that the 2025 list is much smaller than that in 2015, the increase in wealth for those on the list must be well over 3x that of inflation. For some years average  household wealth has decreased .  Since 1980s and 90s, when New Zealand experienced the  fastest growing inequality  in the OECD, we have become so used to this wealth capture by a privileged few that when each wealth list is published, it receives minimal attention. When there are criticisms of the systems that favour the rich the current government  dismisses it as envy , while continuing to gift even more advantage to the already wealthy. The  $2.9 billion tax break f...

For Ruth Richardson to receive the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a Member of Parliament and to governance should not sit well with millions of New Zealanders who have been negatively impacted by her 1991 Mother of All Budgets .  Richardson slashed benefits by 12.7% and the impact on child poverty was almost instant. Before her brutal budget around 25% of children living in beneficiary households experienced poverty and this leapt to 75% shortly afterwards. Rogernomic's began New Zealand's neoliberal journey, but it was Richardson who cut huge holes in the 50 year old social welfare safety net established by the First Labour Government. No government since has restored benefits to the same level and 17.7% of our children in Aotearoa are currently living in poverty with 13.3% suffering from material hardship. Conservative and libertarian parties like to create the impression that benefit payments should be kept low to encourage people into work and ...