Articles by Andrew Bayly

As I write this, the Auckland region has been hit by once-in-a-century flooding. Over a third of Auckland’s annual average rainfall fell in just 24 hours at the start of the Anniversary Weekend. And it’s not over yet. More bad weather is forecast, with red and orange warnings issued for heavy rain. Our Franklin district has been seriously affected, albeit not quite as badly as…

We are living in an uncertain world. After the ups and downs of Covid, many hoped we would return to a sense of normalcy, but life is very different now, not just on the home front but across the world, and we are having to deal with a high degree of uncertainty. Sadly, at this time last year, I wrote that uncertainty was the biggest factor we were facing, with the traffic light…

I recently met the team from Henderson Budget Service who provide free advice for those who are struggling with financial hardship. There are many such organisations like this within our communities and they play a vital role in helping people to manage debt and get back to a semblance of financial stability. FinCap (the National Building Financial Capability Charitable Trust)…

Family trusts are used to protect and manage assets, such as the family home, for the future, but the new rules for the disclosure of information are set to increase compliance costs dramatically. Photo pexels. Since the Labour Government came into power, the Minister of Revenue, David Parker, has been on a mission to tackle wealth and income inequality in New Zealand. Whilst…

The issue of three waters has stirred up widespread public engagement – perhaps more so than many other recent Government reforms. Why? Because it calls into account our system of democracy. The Government is steamrolling ahead with its three waters agenda, introducing the Water Services Entities Bill to Parliament on 2 June. This is the first of three bills that will change the…

The pressures of materials shortages are mounting up on builders. Headlines such as “Builders taking stress leave as ‘toxic mix of pressures’ plagues the industry” and “Owner of new build sleeping in tiny home on site after Gib shortage delays” are becoming far too common. The shortage of plasterboard has got to the point where builders are having to resort to paying way over…

The Incorporated Societies Bill had its third reading in Parliament on 31 March and received royal assent on 5 April, thus passing into law. The new act replaces the old law which has stood since 1908, and sets out a new modern framework for incorporated societies and those who run them. However, some of the new changes could have very negative effects. There are around 24,000…

Amendments made late last year to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) have had a significant impact on the average Kiwi who wants to apply for a credit card, obtain finance or get a mortgage – and the announcement of minor tweaks made in March by the Commerce Minister won’t lead to any real change. In 2019, Parliament voted to amend the CCCFA with the goal of…

The Prime Minister’s Statement, delivered to the House at the start of the Parliamentary year, was riddled with platitudes, self-congratulation and hyperbole. What wasn’t mentioned or acknowledged was the issue of how divided a society we have become. This is something that has seeped out and spread widely throughout our country. It is insidious, undesirable and unwelcome. The…

Small businesses have really done it tough over the last 18 months, with numerous lockdowns and long periods of being unable to operate. When all the outgoings have been paid, only then can the business owner take what’s left for themselves. We are a nation of small businesses. They can be found in every sector of commerce and in every industry. They are often referred to as the…

The Port Waikato electorate spans the alert level boundary between Auckland and Waikato. This has been the battleground of the lockdown and as the elected MP I have seen at first-hand the incredible stress and anxiety the changing alert levels have placed on people. Since the country was plunged into Alert Level 4 on 18 August, MPs across Auckland and the Waikato, and their…

Further reductions to the speed limits on rural roads around Franklin will only serve to frustrate the vast majority of road users. But will Auckland Transport listen? In 2019, Auckland Transport (AT) introduced a new speed limit bylaw and called for public submissions on the proposed changes. When I posted this news on my Facebook page, more than 53,000 people viewed the post.…

Communities and councils around the country are starting to make their voices heard around the effects the Government’s proposed Three Waters Reforms will have, with several mayors calling for the programme to be ‘paused’ on the grounds that there has been insufficient public consultation. The Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme was launched in July 2020 and aims to change…

New Zealand is shifting to a new period in our Covid response. We are no longer pursuing a strategy of elimination. We need to rethink our economic strategy. National has today released ‘Back in Business’ – the plan that we believe the Government should be implementing immediately, given the unwelcome return of Covid into the community. National believes the business sector…

It’s thought that it was Mark Twain who said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” It’s become a commonplace phrase for describing the persuasive power of numbers, especially statistics, when used to strengthen someone’s argument or point of view. As National’s spokesperson for statistics, I can vouch for the important role that statistics play in…

Please look after yourself and your family and keep an eye out for your neighbours. You can contact me at andrew@baylymp.co.nz if you need a hand.

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is currently New Zealand’s principal law that governs how people interact with natural resources such as our air, soil, fresh water and the coastal marine environment. The RMA also regulates land use and the provision of infrastructure. It is generally accepted across most of the parties in Parliament that the RMA has passed its use-by date…

Small to medium-sized businesses make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s economy, but many face the challenge of how to achieve greater productivity – and this doesn’t mean working longer hours. Improving New Zealand’s productivity has proved elusive for decades and unfortunately we now rank amongst the bottom 25 per cent of OECD countries. But what is productivity, and…

The recently announced 2021 Budget was an opportunity missed. With vaccination programmes underway and many countries progressively opening their borders, it’s time to reset and better position our economy for growth. This Budget should have delivered a pathway back to prosperity and to reduce the debt burden on future generations, but instead of supporting businesses to create…

There has been much talk in recent years of the ‘cashless society’. Certainly, our major banks are keen on electronic banking. By closing their branches and reducing the number of human tellers, replacing them instead with ATMs, the banks reduce their overheads. Some would claim e-banking is also more secure – “the cheque’s in the mail” is no longer an excuse. It’s also…