This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams is joined by Roger Partridge from the New Zealand Initiative to unpack his new report: Unscrambling Government: Less Confusion, More Efficiency.

Right now, New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments. That’s three times as many portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as comparable countries. No wonder things feel messy.

Roger argues this sprawling Cabinet structure makes it harder to know who’s accountable, pushes up costs, and slows down solutions to big challenges like housing, welfare, and climate change. In short: too many cooks, not enough results.

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams sits down with financial advisor and Stewart Group founder Nick Stewart to tackle a question too many councils would rather avoid: are skyrocketing rates making inflation worse?

Nick explains how council spending flows through to households and businesses, pushing up the cost of living just as families are already struggling. Rates might look like a local issue, but the ripple effects are felt nationwide.

If you’ve ever wondered why your grocery bill feels higher every time the council votes through another rates hike, this episode is a must-listen.

This week on Taxpayer Talk, James sits down with John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the UK TaxPayers' Alliance. John and James dig into some big issues, to see what New Zealand can learn from the UK's (many) mistakes.

Rates caps, death tax, and John's role in exposing the infamous MPs' expenses scandal, which forced every British MP to open their expense reports to public scrutiny. Six MPs were jailed, and hundreds more were caught out.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/944017/episodes/17672947

Building anything in New Zealand has no shortage of challenges. Whether it be soaring costs, reels of red tape, or problems with supplying labour, our choked infrastructure pipeline deeply affects this country's economy and quality of life. 

CEO for Infrastructure New Zealand, Nick Leggett, joins Peter Williams for a deep dive into how can overcome these challenges so we can build faster, more efficiently, and more affordably.

Rates across the country have soared, many into the double-digits. But while most councils point fingers and find excuses, Mayor for Whanganui Andrew Tripe has kept his average rates increase as little as 2.2 percent – the lowest in the country this year.

Mayor Tripe joins Peter Williams for a discussion on how this was achieved, and the work behind getting his Council focused on the basics, while keeping up with important infrastructure and services, and paying down debt. 

It’s seven years since Sir Bill English left politics but the former Prime Minister and long serving Finance Minister is still a keen follower of the political landscape and how the economic outlook for the country can be improved.

In conversation with Peter Williams for the latest Taxpayer Talk podcast, Sir Bill maintains that the political battle over National Superannuation has been won and governments will have to pay a universal pension  to every senior citizen for the foreseeable future. But as he did when in government, Sir Bill believes that the age of eligibility must be raised from 65. He also has some harsh words on the performance of public servants and notes that many government organisations should be much better managed.

A politician for nearly 30 years, Sir Bill now has the luxury of watching government from the sidelines and much of what he sees really frustrates him.

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, Suze Redmayne.

Suze was elected as the MP for Rangitikei at the 2023 General Election. Suze and her husband run an award winning farm and sell their lamb under their own brands. Suze shares her life story, what drew her to politics and what she hopes to achieve during her time in Parliament. Also discussed is a number of member's bill ideas Suze is considering and what the role of government should be in the economy. 

Suze's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Suze on Facebook here.

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If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, David MacLeod.

David is the MP for New Plymouth and was elected at the 2023 general election. He spent 22 years on Taranaki Regional Council, including 15 years as the Chair. He has also been a director on some significant organisations including Port Taranaki, Fonterra and Predator Free 2050. Early in his career, David was an electrician and eventually took over the company he worked for and grew it to more than 100 tradespeople.

In the podcast, we explore what drives David, why he wanted to become an MP, and what he hopes to achieve during his time in Parliament.

David's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow David on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with New Zealand First MP, Jamie Arbuckle.

Jamie was elected on the New Zealand First List at the 2023 General Election. Jamie also remains a current Marlborough district councillor, a role he has held for fourteen years. Jamie has a horticultural background and spent many of his early years in and around the fruit industry. In the podcast, Jamie discusses why he wanted to be an MP, what drew him to New Zealand First, and some of the areas of law he would like to see change in New Zealand. 

Jamie's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Jamie on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, Rima Nakhle.

Rima was elected as the MP for Takanini at the 2023 Election. She was born in Australia where she graduated from Western Sydney University with a Bachelor of Laws and was admitted to practice in New Zealand in 2014. Rima shares her journey into New Zealand politics and discusses her proud Lebanese ancestry, and her role in running a successful emergency and transitional housing service.

Rima's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Rima on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.