Much has recently been written, said and debated over the quality of waterways for recreation and human consumption. This has been highlighted by the OECD’s Environmental Performance Review 2017 and Vivid Economics’ Net Zero in New Zealand. In many cases, various participants have conflated specific issues into general myths that all water is polluted, if not poisoned; that swimming holes, rivers and beaches are similarly affected; that water is scarce and should not be exported; and this all because of farming and greedy business people.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/editors-insight-water-water-water-everywhere-and-most-it-good

Restaurant Brands is expected to update its lofty growth aspirations when reporting its full-year result this Thursday. The fast food operator last month settled its $US105 million purchase of the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut franchisees in Hawaii and in April last year paid $A82.4 million for the largest KFC franchisee in New South Wales.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/restaurant-brands-expected-deliver-solid-annual-result-jr-p-201950

WooHoo NZ Tax Refunds, New Zealand's first dedicated tax refund company, is planning to expand into another country despite making slower-than-hoped-for progress in its first overseas foray. Christchurch entrepreneur Cilla Hegarty founded WooHoo in 2008 and it has since processed over 300,000 tax refunds, making it one of the big players in the local tax refund market. The family-owned private company doesn’t disclose turnover but says it has 60 employees globally, which is slightly down on a couple of years ago.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/hold-hu-tues-woohoo-eyes-further-offshore-expansion-fr-p-201920

Read more about Prof Henry's startup, Kode, and its technology here: https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/cure-cancer-likely-just-five-seven-years-away-aut-prof-ck-201937

The government’s social investment approach to the delivery of social services needs lots of data but getting hold of that data is not, in these data-rich times, as simple as it may seem. A report by Privacy Commissioner John Edwards illustrates. His Inquiry into the Ministry of Social Development’s Collection of Individual Client-Level Data from NGOs responds to concerns raised by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD)’s new policy to require non-government organisations (NGOs), as a condition of funding, to disclose individual client-level data (ICLD) about service users.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/capital-letter-privacy-implications-social-investment-using-big-data

The Shareholders' Association has weighed in on the battle for control for property company NPT, coming down in favour of the current board and a proposed deal with Kiwi Property Group. NPT is subject to competing visions for its future as the $230 million Kiwi scheme is opposed by a group of shareholders led by Augusta Capital who want to roll the board.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shareholders-association-weighs-npt-board-battle-th-p-201898

House prices fell in Auckland in March from February but were up elsewhere in New Zealand while sales volumes fell in most parts of the country compared with March last year. The Real Estate Institute’s new house price index (HPI), which adjusts for the types of houses sold in any one month, was flat nationwide but fell 0.3% from February in the Auckland region and rose 0.6% excluding Auckland.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/housing-market-cool-march-particularly-auckland-jr-p-201906

The North Korean government may be preparing for a nuclear test at the Punggye-ri test site, according to 38 North, a programme of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The White House bureau chief for Voice of America says a test could come the morning of April 15 local time. April 15 is a politically significant date because it marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/trumps-beltway-north-korea-still-hot-and-justice-dept-sends-strong-words-ns-p-201913

Reportedly there was nothing new under the sun back in the day when young Will Shakespeare was considered a promising playwright but not a patch on the clearly superior Chris Marlowe – and so it appears to remain today. At least that was my somewhat cynical reaction upon receiving a press release trumpeting an upcoming TVNZ show called What’s Next, which will be “screened LIVE over five consecutive nights” and apparently asks “New Zealand how we could look in 20 years’ time, and what role we should take now in shaping 2037.”

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/media-snapchat-tvnz-goes-back-future

Even from our side of the Ditch you can sense the mounting Aussie anxiety about housing. Like the bar room frisson at last orders, the same thoughts flash through patrons’ minds: Have I got mine? Has Barry got his? Should we make this the last one or find somewhere more expensive and party on?

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/hunters-corner-bank-regulation-can-help-housing-crisis