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6 days ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
The government’s relief that New Zealand seems to have escaped a bullet regarding President Trump’s Tariffs may be short lived. New Zealand exporters will face a flat 10% Tariff on goods sent to the United States, but that is at the lower end of the scale of Tariffs that Trump has imposed on other countries. However, that may not be where New Zealand’s Tariff travails end, if history and the experience of other countries is any guide.
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2 weeks ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
Should former Labour leader and Minister Andrew Little decide to seek the Wellington Mayoralty later this year, he will have a very good, but by no means guaranteed, chance of winning. Little was regarded in national politics as a reasonable, competent, safe pair of hands, although sometimes his passion got the better of him, causing the National-led government to label him “Angry Andy” after one of his not infrequent outbursts in the House when Leader of the Opposition.
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2 weeks ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
Peter DunneWellington, April 8, 2025While the government is in the mood to break up failing conglomerates like the supermarket duopoly, it should consider doing the same to one of its own largest agencies – the ubiquitous Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). MBIE was supposed to be the government’s go-to department, but nearly everything it gets involved in ends up turning to dust at some stage.
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3 weeks ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
NZ First Leader Winston Peters (Right) has stolen an early march, but National Leader Christopher Luxon (Centre) and ACT Leader David Seymour may dampen his spirit (INL File Photo received from PMO)A common feature under both the old First-Past-The-Post electoral system and the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system today is that New Zealand has never been subject to dramatic, prolonged shifts in political direction.
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1 month ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Scheme has long been hailed as world leading. Introduced just over 50 years ago, ACC (as it is widely known) provides comprehensive coverage for personal injuries for all New Zealanders and visitors. In return for ACC’s no-fault coverage, New Zealanders have given up the right to sue in cases of personal injury. ACC was intended to make compensation for personal and work-related injuries fairer and more accessible for everyone, not just those in paid employment.
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1 month ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
Peter DunneWellington, March 14, 2025The school lunches debacle is a classic example of what happens when social policy projects lose sight of their original objectives. When the School Lunches Scheme was established in 2018 to provide a healthy lunch to those students who, because of their circumstances might be going without lunch altogether at school. This would have a negative effect on their learning – or whose lunches were inadequate and non-nutritious.
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1 month ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
Peter DunneWellington, March 8, 2025Sudden resignations and abrupt departures seem to be the fashion at present. First, there was the Chief Executive of Health New Zealand who announced her resignation four months before her contract was due to expire and left her role almost immediately. Then there was the Director of Public Health who announced he was stepping down and would be leaving within a couple of weeks.
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1 month ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
Peter DunneWellington, February 28, 2025Reports that the American billionaire and Trump loyalist insider Peter Thiel is winding down his business interests in New Zealand call to mind one of the more controversial issues relating to New Zealand citizenship in recent years. Mr Thiel is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal in 1998 and the major data analysis company Palantir Technologies in 2003, amongst other global technology businesses.
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2 months ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
MMP was expected to break the old Parliamentary duopoly of National and Labour and lead to far more inclusive and diverse political debate. Certainly, the increase in the number of Parties in Parliament has spread the range of views being heard in the House, but it is doubtful that this has led to a greater level of debate about those views. Contrary to what some might imagine, Parliamentary debates are not free-ranging expressions of opinion, where differing ideas and policies are contested.
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2 months ago | 
indiannewslink.co.nz | Peter Dunne |Venkat Raman
There was better news for Chris Hipkins than for Christopher Luxon in the Poll (Source: 1News)The first opinion Polls of the year send a mighty wake-up call to the coalition government, but they are not the death knell some might think. Polls are always a snapshot in time, subject to particular influences at the time they were taken. A more accurate assessment emerges from the trends that they disclose over time, rather than the result of any one individual Poll.
