User Profile

Pattrick Smellie

Pattrick Smellie is co-founder of BusinessDesk and has reported the New Zealand economy and business since 1983.

Govt must keep nerve if housing reforms to succeed

The government needs to keep its nerve and press ahead to abolish Auckland’s urban city limits and accelerate both the creation of an Urban Development Authority to over-ride local government regulation, and implement new ways to fund infrastructure for affordable housing developments.

Feb 05 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Newsroom Pro

Bolger: NZ needs pay reforms to avoid ‘yellow vests’ populism

National wage bargaining arrangements that help deal with both high income inequality and low productivity are key to New Zealand avoiding the rise of populist politics seen in other parts of the world, says the chair of the Fair Pay Agreements Working Group Jim Bolger.

Jan 31 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Newsroom Pro

Govt to ‘take time to get it right’

The government’s tri-partite working group on a new system of Fair Pay Agreement national wage bargaining has agreed a broad framework, but employers are baulking at a proposal to require all workers in a sector or occupation to be represented by a union in FPA negotiations.

Jan 31 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Trade

EU votes to reduce NZ export rights

The European Union’s parliament has taken a decisive step towards unilaterally reducing New Zealand’s rights to export specified quantities of tariff-free sheepmeat, beef and dairy products to the trading bloc if and when Brexit occurs.

Jan 30 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Business

Reserve Bank extends consultation on controversial new capital rules

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has added a little over a month for submissions on its proposals to require the country’s largest banks to carry substantially more capital on their balance sheets to reduce the risk of bank failures in a financial crisis.

Jan 25 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Newsroom Pro

KiwiBuild a ‘massive political distraction’:NZ Initiative

KiwiBuild is a “massive political and bureaucratic distraction” compared to a range of the government’s other policies that should help deal with New Zealand’s chronic housing unaffordability, the New Zealand Initiative says.

Jan 22 2019

Pattrick Smellie

Business

First NZ Capital buys derivatives firm OMF

First NZ Capital is adding derivatives trading to its bow with the purchase of specialist derivatives broking house OMF to achieve a strategic consolidation of New Zealand’s private wealth management and investor service providers.

Dec 24 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Foreign Affairs

Multiple hits to China-NZ relationship

New Zealand’s relationship with China is rapidly deteriorating as the country is swept up in what long-time trade and foreign policy adviser Charles Finny describes as a “new Cold War” caused by the Western alliance pushback on Chinese cyber-espionage.

Dec 21 2018

Pattrick Smellie

boardroom

Fitch says RBNZ bank capital proposals ‘radical’

The credit rating agency says the Reserve Bank’s proposals for increased bank capital adequacy ratios are “highly conservative relative to international peers”.

Dec 19 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Business

Credit unions seek scale and profitability

Five of New Zealand’s credit unions are to merge and create the country’s largest single union of member-owned, low-cost lenders as the sector struggles with the cost of new banking software and a recent credit rating downgrade.

Dec 18 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Government

MBIE involvement in spying an ‘affront to democracy’

The “very close relationship” between the government’s exploration regulator and private security firm Thompson & Clark led the agency to become involved in surveillance activity involving two political parties - the Green and Mana parties, an inquiry for the State Services Commission found.

Dec 18 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Government

Govt scraps CTO role

The government has abandoned its vexed search for a Chief Technology Officer in favour of “a small group of people” to assist it in mapping policy to guide New Zealand’s digital technology environment.

Dec 18 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Government

PM never saw Peters’ pro-US speech before delivery

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says her deputy and Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, did not show her the speech he gave last weekend in Washington DC where he appeared to shift New Zealand’s positioning in the Pacific region more towards support for the United States and away from China.

Dec 18 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Justice

New Chief Justice appointed

The Labour-led government has appointed Justice Helen Winkelmann to replace Dame Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand.

Dec 17 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Business

Buying off the plans driving down KiwiBuild cost

Capital spending on the KiwiBuild programme will be lower than forecast as more of the homes are expected to be provided through buying and selling privately developed houses.

Dec 13 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Economy

Treasury forecasting annual wage growth above 3% over next five years

The New Zealand economy is forecast to deliver annual average wage growth of more than 3 percent a year during the next five years, although economic growth rates are seen falling gradually over that time.

Dec 13 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Economy

Robertson unveils first ‘wellbeing outlook’ ahead of 2019 Budget

Finance Minister Grant Robertson used today’s Budget Policy Statement to give a first taste of how the Labour-led government will report on quality of life as well as traditional fiscal and economic indicators.

Dec 13 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Transport

ACC levy cuts worth $50M a year to business

Cuts to the Accident Compensation Corp’s risk-related work levies will save New Zealand businesses about $50 million a year, while other levies will either not change or, in the case of risk-rated vehicle levies, will be discontinued.

Dec 10 2018

Pattrick Smellie

Business

Unfair business practices on borrowed time

Business owners who use unfair trading and contract terms in their dealings look likely to face a stiffer range of rules and penalties following a government review of unfair commercial practices.

Dec 10 2018

Pattrick Smellie

environment

Govt announces commercially focused $100M green investment fund

The government’s $100 million Green Investment Finance fund, launched today, will concentrate its efforts on decarbonisation investments outside renewable energy, Green Party co-leader James Shaw says.

Dec 05 2018

Pattrick Smellie