Bernard Hickey invited Jenée Tibshraeny to discuss the news of week - and interest rates (of course) - on a podcast posted on his blog, The Kākā.
The former and current interest.co.nz journalists talked about how the pressure is now on the Government to decide how New Zealand reduces its carbon emissions.
They discussed how the social lives of New Zealanders are built around activities the Climate Change Commission and Government want to wean us off. They considered how there needs to be a change in demand for the goods and services we take for granted to meet these goals, and canvassed issues around equity that arise from making the transition.
Bernard and Jenée also talked about whether inflation will eventually lift off, what the Government's doing to boost the supply of housing, and what it means that QE is here to stay.
You can listen to the recording here.
7 Comments
Interesting chat. Regarding EVs Europe probably has the right idea, they have laws that allow some small electric vehicles which are limited to 50km/h special legal status as "quadricycles". You don't need a licence to drive one, anyone over 14 can drive one, they are legally treated more like a scooter so exempt taxes etc. making them much cheaper than cars to own. For many of them the governments EV subsidy would actually cover more than half the vehicle cost or purchase. It's an out-of-the-box solution that's affordable for everyone: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_(EU_vehicle_classification)
My view is that New Zealand should loosen up electric bicycle rules as well. I was in the US and had a ride on a 3kw mountain bicycle (NZ maximum is 250w) and it was absolutely fine to ride. Could comfortably sit at 50km/h, had good range and was a joy to ride. Even a school child could easily have managed it.
In short part of New Zealands issue with EVs will be our very outdated legal framework for vehicles that pushes people into very expensive electric cars instead of better options.
Here in New Plymouth I have a real issue with electric bikes. Many of the users seem to think that the walkway is now a powered bike way. Regularly have riders coming the other way doing 35-40kph which is ridiculous given the mix of users.
IMO 50kph is pretty quick for a school kid to be travelling. Although as with all modes of transport its drive to the conditions. Taking someone out or yourself at that speed can have some pretty severe consequences. Probably a lot more than your average learn from your mistakes type accident involving kids.
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