We hear a lot about young people struggling with housing affordability, but much less is spoken of how the housing crisis will impact pensioners. A new report shows we're at serious risk of doubling the number of retirees facing rent and mortgage stress by 2048. While the debate around who should get NZ Superannuation and how much they should get has been mostly frozen in time since the late 1990s, the current landscape means the debate has now changed.

Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson joins Bernard Hickey to discuss how we can keep elderly renters and those still with mortgages out of poverty, what this could mean for NZ Superannuation eligibility and what will happen if nothing changes.
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Pensioner poverty has changed the retirement debate

Hosted by journalist Bernard Hickey, When the Facts Change is your essential weekly guide to the intersection of economics, business and politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Presented by The Spinoff together with Kiwibank.

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The Redclyffe substation near Napier flooded during Cyclone Gabrielle and turning it off turned off the power for much of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti. Transpower has fixed it for now, but has faced a big decision: should it rebuild it where it is now, next to a stream? Or start again on higher ground? The choice tells us a lot about how to think about our climate future. Bernard Hickey talks about that decision with Transpower’s executive general manager grid delivery, Mark Ryall.
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Floods knocked out Redclyffe, so why rebuild on the same flood-prone site?

The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to landlords. But an economic analysis done by Otago University's public health department has found keeping the smokefree measures would have been of benefit not only for public health, but also for the economy. The university's Professor Nick Wilson joins Bernard to discuss the fascinating figures resulting from that research.
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How many lives is that tax cut worth?

The Spinoff has just launched a brand new series called Behind the Story, where site editor Madeleine Chapman sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week. We thought you might like to check out the first episode, and if you enjoy it please follow it wherever you get your podcasts!

On Friday, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell sent her final newsletter, and took the opportunity to share what she’s learned about the news over two years of curating it for thousands of New Zealanders. Earlier in the week, she’d seen reports of Auckland dog owners discarding their pets’ turds on the ground after Auckland Council removed bins across the city.

And so, the column “If you love a dog, you must also love disposing of its shit” was born. Anna joins Madeleine Chapman to talk about the power journalists have when framing a story and how to find the middle ground between boring and sensational.

For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters 
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Introducing Behind the Story: If you love a dog, you must also love disposing of its sh*t

Bernard Hickey talks with property academic Deborah Levy about her research into the changes in the way bach owners feel about their holiday homes. Where once the bach was the centrepiece of 'the kiwi dream’, a place for friends and families to gather, relax and create memories, they have now become a financialised asset to be added to the portfolio of the increasingly wealthy few. What's behind this change? What insights can this research give into the rest of our dysfunctional national property market? Listen in to find out.
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The unreachable dream of the kiwi bach

The Reserve Bank wants to know how the public feels about a potential new type of digital cash. This digital currency would be exchangeable one-for-one with ‘old’ forms of bank-issued electronic money and ye olde paper cash and metal coins, but would not outright replace the physical stuff. RBNZ’s Head of Money and Cash Ian Woolford joins Bernard to discuss what’s different with this new digital cash, what problems it could solve and how it might open up a whole new front in bank competition.
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Pensioner poverty has changed the retirement debate

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