Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

A leading economist believes New Zealand's economy is at the "bottom edge" when compared to other developed countries.

This follows the Government laying out their Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update and revealing a surplus has been pushed out an extra year amid a lower tax take.

HSBC's Paul Bloxham says inflation isn't coming down fast enough, when compared to other countries.

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Last week, political parties polling above five percent squared off at Hamilton's Mystery Creek Events Centre.

Labour's Damien O’Connor, National's Todd McClay and others faced off in the Rural Issues debate, hosted by ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan.

The Country's Jamie Mackay recapped the highs and lows of the debate.

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Labour and National are facing scrutiny as they promote their respective tax policies ahead of the election.

Both parties will also have the additional challenge of getting New Zealand back to budget surplus by 2027.

BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie explains why both parties should release a pre-Christmas budget ahead of the election.

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Australia's NSW south coast has had its fire danger warning upgraded to 'catastrophic', following high winds and soaring temperatures.

The upgraded warning came as Sydney airport recorded its highest temperature since 2000 and several schools in the area were forced to close.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says this warning comes 4 years after the infamous fire storms wreaked havoc across the region.

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A dark web ransomware site claims to have stolen user data following a cyber attack on Auckland Transport.

The transport agency's ticket payment system was temporarily shut down following last week's attack, and hacker group Medusa is demanding a ransom.

Darkscope technical director Joerg Buss says there's no indication that the group found any personal information at this point.

"We haven't found any indication that they really found personal information or anything like that- and some of these groups are really good at bluffing."

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Petrol is expected to rise to $3.50 a litre for 91 octane by Christmas.

High oil demand globally is a contributing factor - as well as a weak New Zealand dollar - trading for about $59.2 US cents.

AA principal motoring affairs policy advisor Terry Collins says prices for crude oil have steadily increased in the last few months.

"The scary part is, in the last few weeks, it's gone up 14.5 percent. And we haven't seen those prices come through yet- that $95 a barrel quoted? That's October's oil."

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Chris Hipkins has just confirmed Labour is dropping its plan to get people out of jails.

When they first took over six years ago, Labour set a target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent in 15 years.

That target is now gone. Hipkins was asked about it today, and says there is no target for the next term.

This is massive, because Labour was celebrated for this. On November 29, 2018, there was a huge write up in the Guardian about how great Kelvin Davis was.

“The man on a mission to get New Zealand’s Māori out of prison”- said the headline 

Labour's never backed down from this target, never admitted this was a mistake. As crime rose, as our concern over crime rose, as people with ankle bracelets on committed crimes- Labour stood by this. 

And now they’ve backed down today. This is an admission that it was a bad idea, because of course it is.

How many crimes do we now have to point to where offenders have ankle bracelets on? They’ve already got in some sort of trouble, but they’re out in the community instead of in jail.

The young guy who shot up the construction site in Auckland earlier this year? He was at home with an ankle bracelet on, when he should’ve been in jail. His probation officer assessed that his risk of causing harm to other people because of the violent nature of his offending was high. 

The guy arrested in connection with the shooting in the park across the road from a family home in Point England, Auckland? He had an ankle bracelet on.

The guy with Waikato tattooed across his face who police are currently chasing, who they say is too dangerous for any of us to go anywhere near- he is accused of murdering someone with a knife and he was out with an ankle bracelet on.

Labour can’t say that they’re dropping the target because job done- because it’s not. 

At last count, prison population is only down 18 percent, that’s just over half of where they were aiming.

The only reason they’ve dropped this is because it’s a failure. It's made our country less safe, voters hate it, and they’re about to lose an election for doing things like this to New Zealand. 

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One City Councillor reckons the Wellington mayor's business delegation could've been cheaper.

Tory Whanau and several council officials are visiting China, Japan, and South Korea to promote Wellington as a city to live and do business.

It comes at a cost of around $50,000.

Councillor Ray Chung says not everyone who's on the trip needed to be there.

"What reason would a wellness manager have to go on a trip like this?"

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The countdown is on to this election's first Leaders' Debate.

Labour's Chris Hipkins and National's Chris Luxon go head-to-head on TVNZ from 7pm.

Former National Prime Minister, Sir John Key, says Luxon's the under-dog - and may have the tougher job.

"There are actually a lot of people who want to vote for him and want to vote for National- so they will just be making sure he's the real deal. So there's a lot to play for Chris Luxon."

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Expect a full-strength Warriors side to be named for Saturday's NRL preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane.

Halfback Shaun Johnson and forwards Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett trained separately from the team as they nurse injuries, but all are set to play.

ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave shares his line-up predictions here.

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