Political commentators Brigitte Morten and Lianne Dalziel
Photo:
RNZ / Sam Rillstone
Brigitte Morten is a director with public and commercial law firm Franks Ogilvie and a former senior ministerial advisor for the previous National-led government, a National Party member and currently volunteering for the party's deputy leader, Nicola Willis.
Lianne Dalziel is a life member of the Labour Party and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.
She ran as an independent for Christchurch's mayoralty in 2013 and was the city's mayor for three terms.
She writes a regular column for Newsroom.co.nz.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
New political poll: Christopher Luxon's popularity drops to lowest in two years, Labour sees party vote rise
For the party vote, National is on 34%, only a point ahead of the opposition. Labour gained 4% in the latest poll, sitting at 33%. The Green Party is down 2% to 10% while NZ First continues its upward trajectory, gaining 1% in the party vote to 9%. No movement for Act and Te Pāti Māori who both sit on 8% and 4%, respectively. It comes after the Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll this morning showed the race between the centre-left and centre-right were neck-and-neck. On those results, Labour had the most support on 33.6% (up 2 points), National was on 31.8% (down 2.1) and the Greens were up 0.4 to 9.8%. Act dropped 0.5 to 8.6%, New Zealand First was down 2 points to 7.8% and Te Pāti Māori fell 0.3 to 3.2%. Just over 6% were undecided. Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. Photo / Mark Mitchell Converting those results into seats in the House, Labour would have 43, National would have 40, the Greens would have 12, Act would have 11, New Zealand First would have 10 and Te Pāti Māori would get six (presuming they kept their electorate seats). This would put both the centre-left and the centre-right on 61 seats, meaning no side would have a majority to govern. Looking at the Preferred Prime Minister stakes, National's Christopher Luxon was up 0.5 to 20.2%, matched by Labour's Chris Hipkins (who was up 0.6). NZ First leader Winston Peters was down 1.1 points to 8.2%, the Greens' Chlöe Swarbrick was up 1 point to 8%, and Act leader David Seymour was up 0.5 to 6.2%. Lara Greaves, associate professor in politics at Victoria University of Wellington, told Herald Now this morning that a first-term government would be expected to be polling better, but Labour also had work to do, with it yet to release any policies. The latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll was taken between August 3-5. The poll, conducted by phone and online, had a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
ANZ cuts home loan rate, predictions others will follow
ANZ said it was the lowest rate for the bank since June 2022. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi ANZ has trimmed some of its home loan rates - and there are predictions that other banks may soon follow. The country's biggest bank said it would cut its one-year fixed rate special by 16 basis points to 4.79 percent. It said that was the lowest that rate had been since June 2022. The other main banks are advertising 4.89 percent. The six-month special would drop to 5.14 percent and the two-year rate to 4.89 percent. The other banks are offering 4.95 percent for two years. Grant Knuckey, managing director for personal banking, said the changes would provide more relief for customers taking on new home loans - and for those that are due to refix - in what remained a challenging economic climate. "The cuts provide another opportunity for borrowers not already on fixed rates to take advantage of the falling interest rate environment." The bank was also cutting term investments by 10 to 15 basis points. "Savers are bearing slightly less of the fall in interest rates," Knuckey said. "Our rates started to drop from March 2024. In this period, our one-year home loan special rate has fallen by 2.6 percent and our one-year term deposit rate has dropped by 2.4 percent." Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said he expected other lenders would match ANZ over the next week. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen was ANZ was getting in ahead of the next OCR decision. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone He said ANZ was getting in ahead of the next official cash rate (OCR) decision. "These new rates from ANZ all look to be the market leading rates for these terms now, and other banks will likely to move to regain their competitive position. "The cuts look to be in anticipation of the Reserve Bank cutting the official cash rate at next week's monetary policy statement, with market pricing in a very strong expectation of a cut. Previously offered mortgage rates would have factored in part of this expected lower OCR, and this cut made today likely factors in the potential for a further cut to the OCR, which is looking more likely as economic data remains weak. "I make that point because clearly the way mortgage rates are set isn't as easy as the Reserve Bank cutting the OCR next week by a figure, and then retail banks immediately passing on all of that cut into their mortgage rates. "A lot of factors go into interest rate setting, including the current OCR, the expected pathway for interest rates, a bit of risk around the place, and competition for lending (among others). "ANZ now has the first mover advantage with lower rates." He said markets were pricing in a 90 percent-plus expectation that the OCR would be lowered net week to 3 percent. "Market pricing is also showing a strong expectation that the OCR will drop to around 2.75 percent over the first six months of 2026, although the fact that there's still mixed expectations for another OCR cut in 2025 after August reinforces that there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Watch: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet media briefing
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is holding a post-Cabinet media conference as a new political poll shows the government is struggling to make headway amidst a cost of living crisis. Earlier on Monday, Luxon told Morning Report that people wanted the government to fix the economy. Big cities in New Zealand were struggling, while primary industry was showing signs of recovery, he said. The latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia Opinion poll predicts that if an election were held now there would be a hung Parliament. Labour has overtaken National as the largest party, gaining 2 points to 33.6 percent, while National drops 2.1 points to 31.8 percent. If an election were held today, the centre-right bloc would lose four MPs for a total 61 seats, while the centre-left bloc would gain four MP and also reach a total 61 seats. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
