The Government has announced a significant KiwiSaver shake-up which it says will make a real difference to Kiwis’ wellbeing in their retirement years; and health officials have contacted 18 passengers seated near a person infected with coronavirus, but not all have responded.
* The New Zealand Herald
In the New Zealand Herald, if you’ve bought or owned a home in Auckland since before 2014 and not yet sold it you could be sitting on a pile of money at least on paper. Newly analysed property statistics show the median Auckland house value rose $261,250 from 2014 to 2019, while the typical value across the country has risen $75,000.
In other news, the Government has announced a significant KiwiSaver shake-up which it says will make a real difference to Kiwis’ wellbeing in their retirement years. From July next year, the default ‘conservative’ KiwiSaver option will be swapped to a ‘balanced’ fund.
In business news, real estate bosses are buoyant about the year ahead after Auckland house prices bounced back to life and Ray White reported a record number of sales in the last quarter. Exclusive Westmere in the inner west led the turnaround with an 8.3 percent jump to a $1.8 million median sale price in the final three months of 2019, the March One Roof Property Report found.
* The Dominion Post
In the Dominion Post, New Zealanders need a shake-up, warns Civil Defence, as complacency has set in around earthquake preparedness. The next big one could strike at any time, and new research has found that cracks beneath Wairarapa were stressed by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, increasing the potential for ‘‘giant earthquakes’’.
In other news, for the past week, Lizzie Bisley has spent her days looking at crates of surrealist work. The Wellington curator and a technician have been at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam looking intensely at the works of Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, René Magritte and Marcel Duchamp.
In business news, trish Scott bought a $600 Taste the Difference Air Roaster Pro countertop oven from the TV Shop, but almost exactly one year later it broke down. Rushed off her feet in the January holidays, Scott left it until February before she called Brand Developers, the company behind TV Shop. That delay put her on course for a tussle over just how long a reasonable person should expect a $600 electronic device to work free of faults.
* The Press
In The Press, health officials have contacted 18 passengers seated near a person infected with coronavirus, but not all have responded. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the media yesterday that health officials would be knocking on doors to find the final people seated near the infected passenger.
In other news, the first of Spark’s 500 Christchurch staff will today begin work in a new multi million dollar building overlooking Cathedral Square. Spark’s 500 Christchurch staff are set to move into the telco’s new multimillion-dollar building overlooking Cathedral Square. In a shift expected to give the central city a major boost, the first workers start today.
In business news, a complaint was laid in the weeks before last year’s election about Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel’s 2016 election donations, it has emerged. The mayor’s 2019 donations are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for failing to identify significant contributors to her campaign. Electoral law dictates candidates can accept anonymous donations under $1500, but the mayor failed to disclose the names of six donors who gave above that amount.
