The SME Stream

Labour is promising to get Kiwi consumers a fair go if they get elected.

If it forms a Government, it's pledging to require all mandatory fees to be included in the upfront price, and require every subscription to be as easy to cancel as it is to sign up to.

Labour's consumer affairs spokesperson, Arena Williams, says Kiwis should be able to see the full price and make an informed choice.

"Every New Zealander will have had the experience of trying to buy something online and having an extra handling fee or a service fee that applies at the checkout, but you couldn't get out of it."

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Now, I don't know that Labour's plan to stop businesses charging hidden fees is a game changer, or even necessarily something worth campaigning on during an election. But I think it might be a good idea.

Labour's plan is basically to ban junk add-ons like paint protection insurance, stop the hard sell of extended warranties like the ones you're offered when you buy a new pair of AirPods, require all mandatory fees, such as ticketing charges, to be included in the upfront price and make subscriptions and gym memberships easy to cancel.

Now, obviously there are going to be limitations on what Labour can actually control here. They're not going to be able to outlaw the New York Times, which is based in New York, from forcing you to call New York to cancel a subscription you took out online. And forcing Ticketek, for example, to publish its extra fees upfront is not going to make those fees disappear when you buy yourself a ticket to see Macy Gray.

But some of it will be useful because some people genuinely find themselves surprised and angry when they buy a $200 Dom Dolla ticket and then get hit with a $10 booking fee for each ticket, plus a handling fee of nearly $6. Putting those costs upfront simply makes the ticket price more real than if they're hidden until later. I think we can all agree on that.

Stopping the hard sell on extended warranties is probably valuable as well because I don't know how many people who pay for extra cover for their fridge, phone or AirPods realise they already have protection under the Consumer Guarantees Act. That law requires manufacturers to ensure their products last a reasonable length of time and, in many cases, longer than the warranty people have just shelled out for.

Now, I've been around long enough, and you've probably been around long enough, to realise that a ban or greater transparency, as I said, doesn't make the cost go away. It just means the cost gets buried somewhere else. So the devil will be in the detail of how Labour plans to do this.

But doing something might be worthwhile because it has been a long time now that consumers have been taken advantage of by retailers who prey on their ignorance.

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$15b less in bond issuance through to June 2030. That track surprised financial markets yesterday. Garth Bray 2degrees Business wrap.

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In episode 71of Leaders Getting Coffee our guest is one of New Zealand’s younger government ministers, Simeon Brown.

He was inspired by his grandfather who worked to support the local community and later, his mother who led the local residents association. That led to him taking an early interest in politics, and while still at school he occupied roles as secretary and treasurer alongside his mother and subsequently a seat on the Manurewa Local Board while still at university.

But national politics soon beckoned, and at the age of just 23 he ran the National party campaign for the Manurewa seat, losing to Labour’s Louisa Wall on that occasion.

Three years later, in 2017 he was better prepared and won the safe National seat of Pakuranga, taking over the stronghold previously held by long time MP Maurice Williamson.

But that meant six years in opposition, a period he used to build his knowledge of our parliamentary process and a work ethic that would serve him well later.

When a National Party led government won the treasury benches in 2023, he was poised to become one of the busiest ministers in the team, and as the parliamentary term closes, he looks back on the wins, the losses and the might have beens.

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Simeon Brown speaks with Bruce Cotterill about massive portfolios like transport, health and energy, the challenges he inherited and the opportunities for the future. Those responsibilities came with plenty of damage – remember the mining ban, the potholes and the shambles that was the previous government’s reorganisation of the health system. He’s had three years to address all that. But there’s plenty more to do and the plan for the next parliamentary term is already underway.

There’s also a chat about family. Here’s a guy working 18 hour days, and six days weeks trying to balance a family of four children under eight, and a very understanding wife.

This is a very personable conversation with a young minister doing a good job in a very tough environment. It’s well worth a listen.

Leaders Getting Coffee – Episode 71 with Bruce Cotterill and Hon Simeon Brown, Minister of Health

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Why do organisations invest in leadership development only to see people return to work and carry on exactly as before?

In this episode of HR Unlocked, Lisa Oakley sits down with Jocelyn Visser, founder of Compass Consultancy and consultant at People Associates, to explore what makes leadership development genuinely effective.

For Jocelyn, the starting point isn't choosing a course or training provider. It's getting clear on the problem you're trying to solve, the behaviours you want to change, the capabilities the organisation needs, and how all of that connects back to strategy and purpose.

From experiential learning and quality supervision to feedback, capability frameworks, technology, and measuring ROI, Jocelyn shares practical ways organisations can move beyond knowledge transfer and create learning that people can immediately apply in the workplace.

The conversation also explores why leadership development should be continuous rather than a one-off event, how psychologically safe learning environments give leaders confidence to practise new skills, and why the most effective programmes often combine theory with peer learning, reflection, coaching, and real-world application.

Looking ahead, Jocelyn and Lisa also unpack the capabilities organisations will increasingly need in a rapidly changing world, including adaptability, communication, curiosity, comfort with uncertainty, problem solving, and the ability to make complex ideas simple.

What You'll Learn

• Why leadership development should start with the problem you're trying to solve

• How to align learning with organisational strategy, purpose, values, and capability

• Why behavioural change matters more than simply transferring knowledge

• The difference between knowing a leadership skill and actually applying it

• How quality supervision and feedback support ongoing development

• Why experiential and peer-to-peer learning can make development more effective

• How psychologically safe environments give leaders space to practise

• Why smaller, accessible learning experiences can be powerful

• How technology can make learning more accessible for dispersed and frontline teams

• Why learning should be reinforced before, during, and after a development programme

• How capability frameworks can help organisations prioritise investment

• What organisations should measure beyond attendance and participant satisfaction

• Why adaptability, communication, and curiosity will be critical future capabilities

Key Takeaways

• Leadership development should be purposeful, not development for development's sake.

• Learning is ultimately about creating meaningful behavioural change.

• Giving people more knowledge won't solve every performance or workplace problem.

• Leaders need opportunities to practise, reflect, receive feedback, and apply what they've learnt.

• Quality supervision means understanding how people are actually performing rather than relying entirely on second-hand information.

• Learning is more powerful when it can move directly from the boardroom into everyday work.

• Development doesn't need to be expensive or overly complicated to have an impact.

• Technology should make learning more accessible, while the strategy, values, and people needs should determine the content.

• Measuring ROI starts by defining the outcome you want before the programme begins.

• Capability building should be directly connected to where the organisation is heading.

• Adaptability, communication, curiosity, and the ability to navigate uncertainty will become increasingly important as technology and AI continue to change work.

About Jocelyn Visser

Jocelyn Visser is the founder of Compass Consultancy and a consultant with People Associates.

A self-described "people nerd", Jocelyn is passionate about demystifying people challenges and making practical HR and leadership solutions accessible to leaders and professionals. Her work focuses on solving complex people problems through practical, real-world approaches rather than theory alone. Compass Consultancy reflects her focus on helping people find direction and purpose in an increasingly busy and complex world.

She has particular expertise and interest in leadership development, learning design, capability building, coaching, and creating practical development experiences that translate into meaningful workplace behaviour.

Why This Episode Matters

Organisations continue to invest significant time and money in leadership development, yet knowledge alone rarely changes how someone leads.

This episode challenges organisations to think differently about learning by starting with strategy, identifying the behaviours and capabilities that actually matter, and giving leaders opportunities to practise and apply new skills in their real working environment.

As organisations navigate AI, changing workforce expectations, tighter development budgets, and increasing complexity, Jocelyn's approach offers a practical way to make learning more accessible, measurable, and relevant to the business.

Whether you're an HR professional, business owner, People & Culture leader, learning and development practitioner, or manager responsible for developing others, this conversation provides practical ideas for creating leadership development that actually sticks.

Resources & Links

• Compass Consultancy: https://www.compassconsultancy.co.nz/
• Connect with Jocelyn Visser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-visser-consultant/
• People Associates: https://www.peopleassociates.co.nz/

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What happens when you stop overthinking business and just give it a crack?

We sit down with Leigh Hart - one of New Zealand’s most recognisable comedians and the entrepreneur behind Wakachangi and SnackaChangi - to unpack how he turned decades of storytelling, creativity and a cult following into brands that stand out on supermarket shelves.

Leigh takes us inside his unconventional approach to business and marketing, from announcing a beer brand on Facebook before he’d figured out how to make it, to landing a meeting with Griffins and testing packaging by literally putting mock-ups on bottle-store shelves to see if people could find them.

We get into why he believes real world behaviour beats focus groups, how to build a brand that can stand on its own without relying on the founder’s personal profile and why knowing what you’re actually good at - then finding the right partners to handle the rest - has been critical to growing his businesses.

Leigh also shares one of the biggest decisions of his career: walking away from his ownership in Wakachangi to take full control of SnackaChangi, why it felt completely counterintuitive at the time, and how trusting his gut gave him the freedom to grow the brand on his own terms.

Plus, we talk Kiwi humour, personal branding, FMCG, expanding into Australia and overseas and why Leigh would rather see someone start imperfectly than spend years planning something they never launch.

If you’re a business owner who tends to overthink the next move, this episode might convince you to stop planning quite so much and start testing.

Ready to take your business further?

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📣 Share this episode with a business owner who needs to stop overthinking and give it a shot

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A deeper, more tactical return to Episode 8's big question, with real dollar figures attached. Mike and Scott walk through exactly how to validate an idea at $0, $500 and $5,000 budget levels — and how to land your very first customer.

You'll learn:

-Why an idea alone has almost no market value in the age of AI;

-How to validate for free (talk to 1–100 potential customers) before spending a cent; how to test with $100–$500 using landing pages and boosted social ads;

-When a $2,000–$10,000 prototype is worth building;

-The PCF framework applied step-by-step to a new idea;

-and why "growth cliff #1" is simply getting your first customer, not building scalable systems.

Beer: Canyon Brewery The Front Pilsner (4.9%)
Pie: Roti Bros — Butter Chicken

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The Finance Minister says tough choices aren't just made for the sake of it with the Crown books now opened for pre-election scrutiny. 

It shows we're on track for a good surplus in the 2028/29 financial year, with a much smaller current deficit than expected. 

But it’s not entirely rosy, with predictions slashed on house price growth, more money needed for health, and concerns over Super costs 

Nicola Willis told Kerre Woodham she's pushed to re-prioritise spending for a reason. 

She says she's reduced back-office costs and stopped programmes that weren't working, so she could find the money to invest in things Kiwis really want. 

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New Zealanders are working. The economy is growing. So why aren’t we getting much more out of it? 

For more than a decade, New Zealand’s productivity growth has been painfully weak – and that could be one of the biggest economic problems facing the next Government. 

But you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the election campaign. 

The parties are promising tax cuts, more housing, cheaper groceries, changes to immigration and more spending on public services. 

But how many of those policies will actually make New Zealand more productive? 

Today on The Front Page, University of Otago economics associate professor Dennis Wesselbaum reckons productivity is the economic elephant in the room this election. He joins us now.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee

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Labour Leader Chris Hipkins has admitted he hasn't yet read the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) in full, but he is confident the funding for his party's policies is there.

Speaking to Canterbury Mornings, Hipkins says Labour will take time to crunch the numbers before coming out with their fiscal plan, which will be out by the end of next week.

"You've got to give us a little bit of time to digest it. There's a lot of numbers in it and you want to take the time to do that properly"

Hipkins also discussed his views on Green Party Co-leader Chloe Swarbrick calling for big portfolios if they create a coalition government, and his reaction to the passing of former Labour MP and Speaker of the House, Adrian Rurawhe.

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