Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

It's fair to say that the GDP figures out this morning came as a shock- it's a lot weaker than economists were expecting.

Economists were tending to forecast a bit of growth, around 0.2 percent to 3 percent, and instead what they saw was the economy slumped 0.3 percent for the third quarter, which is July through to September.

And if you calculate it per capita to account for all the extra people who arrived here during that time, it's even worse- the slump is 0.9 percent, which is actually quite material. 

Now even more than that, the statisticians have revised what happened earlier this year and they're now saying that Q1 was also negative, which means we had a technical recession over last summer.

The fact is, if you look at today's number, you look at the fact that this economy's not flash right now, you could probably say we're in another technical recession right now this summer.

That's probably not news to you, these numbers are probably only telling you what you're already feeling.

If you're in retail, you've noticed sales are slowing- it's tough graft at the moment. If you're in hospitality, you know people aren't eating and drinking out like they used to. If you're in construction, the jobs may be fewer.

It's tough, the numbers are just backing it up.

Now politically - there is always a political element to this - this is good for National and the new Government because as weird as it sounds, they now have data to prove the mess they say Labour left for us all.

As for Grant Robertson in particular, this really sucks because this is the third piece of bad money news that he has had in two days.

There is a slumping economy that he's left us with, he just had a slap-down from the Auditor-General about how fast and loose he was being with the infrastructure spending, and then the mega-ferries deal got cancelled because it was blowing out.

Now Grant is apparently sticking around this term for the time being, to try and defend Labour's track record on spending. He's got one hell of a job, given what's going on right now.

But let's be honest right now, frankly this is probably not what you care about. You care about what this means for you. The good news is, this makes it way less likely that the Reserve Bank will lift our mortgage rates again.

Adrian Orr can talk as big as he likes about how he's going to do that and how that's a possibility. But at the moment, it looks like the economy is suffering enough.

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced a battle within his own party over his controversial flagship Rwanda bill.

The legislation comfortably passed its first Commons hurdle with a majority of 44- but the bill is expected to face further opposition in the new year.

No Tory MPs voted against the bill, but some critics on the right of the party rebelled by abstaining.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey explains further.

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Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and David Farrar from Kiwiblog joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!

The UN General Assembly has called for a ceasefire in Gaza – the US voted against amongst a tiny minority, is the public opinion really turning against Israel?

Air New Zealand is laying out some new gimmicks- new snack menu, new uniforms and Starlink wi-fi on domestic flights. Shouldn’t they focus on getting their planes and schedules running correctly?

The Grocery Commissioner has encouraged supermarkets to lower their prices for the Christmas season. Is this a effective idea?

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Technology continues to evolve and spill over into the world of work, allowing more robots to fit into modern workplaces.

More companies have turned to robot workers to fill jobs that are difficult to recruit for, primarily the manufacturing sector.

Milford Asset Management's Deborah Lambie explains what this means for the years ahead.

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New Zealand’s current account deficit remains stubbornly high, according to the latest data.

A new report shows the country spent $30.6 billion more on imports than it earned from exports in the year to September, the equivalent to 7.6 percent of GDP.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains what this data means for Kiwi spending habits.

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New Zealand, and more than three-quarters of the General Assembly, have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza - despite the US not being in favour.

153 UN members voted in favour on humanitarian grounds, 10 voted against.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Chris Luxon joined the leaders of Australia and Canada in calling for a pause.

ZB political editor Jason Walls says these leaders know a ceasefire needs unity to be effective, and wonders how effective this statement actually is. 

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The deal's off - with two new mega-ferries for the Cook Strait no longer going ahead.

KiwiRail has confirmed it will terminate a contract signed in 2021 to build the new ships in South Korea.

The Government has turned down KiwiRail's funding request to cover the escalating cost for the new ships and port infrastructure.

Chief Executive Peter Reidy says this is 'disappointing news for him and the KiwiRail team.

"We'll focus today on our people and our customers, which we've been doing. And on Monday, we'll turn around and work with the Government on options."

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The Auditor-General has left a 'scathing' review of the previous Government's $15 billion infrastructure spend-up during Covid-19.

This report addressed the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme and $3 billion Shovel-Ready Programme designed to boost the economy and long-term infrastructure in 2020.

John Ryan says neither of these projects had any real business cases backing them. 

"A lot of those projects, Ministers were advised, were not ready to be announced. Business cases were mainly out of date or only partially complete."

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A Nelson charity giveaway for Christmas ended in pushing, shoving and fighting over gifts.

Helping Families hosted the event, which saw hundreds pouring through the door and stepping over each other to clear out the room in half an hour.

Helping Families founder Kristy Rowe the aggression was overwhelming for volunteers, who were subject to verbal abuse.

"We had positive comments, and we want to thank people for those. But as usual, it's the negative comments that stick a bit harder, especially for our volunteers." 

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The Finance Minister says the Government's looking at other ferry options after turning down KiwiRail's request for more Interislander funding.

The cost of two mega-ferries and upgrading port infrastructure had ballooned to about $3 billion- and KiwiRail says it can't proceed without help.

Nicola Willis says that project is over, and they'll explore other options.

"The option that had been on the table for KiwiRail was the equivalent of the Ferrari, and now we as a Government are saying- look, can we have a look around, are there some very good, safe, reliable Toyota Corollas we could be using instead?"

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