This week's budget announcement had a focus on sorting out the books, and no straight sugar hits for individuals.
Infrastructure, healthcare and education seemed to be the clear priority of our fiscal plan, but three relief for the cost-of-living pressure many face.

Along with that, council rates have gone up for Auckland and the South Island's West Coast, and the Reserve Bank's signalled that there will be an increase to the OCR shortly - so the period we've seen of low interest rates on a mortgage is coming to an end.

So how can we prepare ourselves for a toughening economy? Was it good that we didn't have any government handouts?

Managing Director for the Private Office - Nick Crawford - joins Tim Beveridge for Smart Money...

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This week on The Panel, Tim Beveridge is joined by Newstalk ZB's Resident Builder Pete Wolfkamp and NZ Gardener editor Jo McCarroll to discuss the biggest stories from this week.

Do Harbour Bridge protests do more harm than good for your cause? Did Anna Breman make the right decision for the OCR? Should we be mad that AI will be making welfare decisions? And, is there anything to be excited about in Budget 2026?

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The IRD is ramping up crypto enforcement and some investors are discovering they owe tax on gains that have long since disappeared. Crypto tax specialist Tim Doyle joins Nadine Higgins to explain why even small investors are now in the IRD's sights, the mistakes that create nightmare tax bills and what to do if you've fallen behind.

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Infrastructure and health are the big priorities in this year's Budget, as banks face a new levy, and cuts take shape.

There are no specific cost-of-living payments or Budget sugar hits - but Finance Minister Nicola Willis promises spending initiatives will create thousands of jobs.

And our books are set to return to surplus earlier than expected.

But, Opposition parties are saying the Government doesn’t live in the same reality as struggling Kiwis.

So, what does it actually mean for households, for the economy, and for the political landscape?

Today on The Front Page, NZ Herald chief political reporter, Jamie Ensor, is with us to break down the numbers, the politics, and what it all means for you.

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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The Government says this year's budget especially strengthens Auckland's role as New Zealand's economic engine room.

They point out that they're investing in health, including funding to purchase land for a future South Auckland Hospital, and a share of the Government's $5.5-billion health package.

Additionally, they highlight plans for housing growth with a new $400-million fund for councils to enable more homes.

Lastly, they're putting aside a billion for rail improvements, and another billion for school upgrades.

But Mayor Wayne Brown says the devil is in the detail - and we'll need more clarity into a timeline of these initiatives, along with an explanation of how the Government's funding their share of the CRL.

So what do these investments actually mean for Aucklanders - and how confident can we be in keeping a globally competitive city?

Minister for Auckland Simon Watts talks to Tim Beveridge to discuss...

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Not knowing what to sell is one of the biggest reasons people never start. In this episode I share the exact five methods I have used to identify every product that has made me millions, including the strategy behind my shapewear business that did $3.5 million in its first year and my supplement brand that hit $2.6 million.

From finding what frustrates people to validating your idea before spending a single dollar, this is the system I wish I had when I started. Your million dollar product idea is already out there. You just need the right system to find it.

Ready to start building? Join my Business Masterclass today ⬇️

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📲 Socials: https://www.instagram.com/makeithappen

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“We choose our defence spending and no one else,” the Prime Minister says as the United States continues to pressure other nations, including New Zealand, to increase military spending.

Speaking with Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast, Christoper Luxon has backed New Zealand’s defence spending.

Luxon denied New Zealand is “freeloading” off America after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth fired comments at New Zealand over the weekend.

“We choose our defence spending and no one else,” Luxon said.

“I’m damn proud we’re doubling [the budget] it’s been run down over 30 years and it’s a big job building it back.”

He said spending 2.5% of the country’s GDP on defence was “a start and a good place for us to get to” in wake of recent conflict.

Luxon confirmed New Zealand is going to maintain its nuclear-free position.

“It’s [nuclear-free] one of the best things we’ve done.

“I’m very proud and it isn’t changing while I’m prime minister. Period.”

Over the long weekend, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told the Shangri-La Dialogue defence and security conference that New Zealand was “freeloading” off the US military.

The claim came in response to a question from Kiwi journalist Anna Fifield, after Hegseth said allies that “refuse to stand up and carry their weight for our collective defence will face a clear shift in how we do business”.

At the Singapore conference, Hegseth said he expected allied governments to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence. Last week’s Budget outlined how New Zealand will boost defence spending to just over 2% of GDP over eight years.

Fifield asked Hegseth if that meant New Zealand was considered a “free rider”.

Hegseth said 2% of GDP was not enough, so “2% is freeloading” – though he also said New Zealand and the US’ relationship had been “a very fruitful one for a very long time”.

Allies couldn’t just say: “‘Oh, we’ve been friends for a long time, so let’s work together’,” Hegseth said.

“It’s: ‘We’ve been friends for a long time so you better have the same visibility as we do, because if we don’t, our alliance is meaningless’.”

Hegseth also said he didn’t have anything against New Zealand and was looking forward to working with New Zealand’s Defence Minister and ”enhancing capabilities". Defence Minister Chris Penk was in the audience.

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Move over ChatGPT, Claude is now the #1

Anthropic announced a new $65 billion funding round, bringing their valuation to $965 billion and making their company more valuable than OpenAI (valued at $852 billion in March). Now the race is on for the first AI company to grow to be worth $1 trillion.

I just can't stop thinking about the incredible wealth growth of their employees. We thought social media fuelled a new class of wealth, but this is next level.

It came the same day they launched Opus 4.8, which they say has better capabilities in agentic tasks, advanced coding, and comes with more of a focus on honesty and self-correction.

Search engine DuckDuckGo is embracing the AI backlash

Google announced it was going all in on AI for search. They're planning to retire the ten blue links and search will be "reimagined". In the promo video they show you being able to get alerts when your favourite bands are going on tour, or when an item you have your eye on drops in price. You can search multi-modal more easily – so using photos and text together to help explain your query.

But not everyone is onboard, with concerns that if everything happens inside Google, the open web and the websites will die.

DuckDuckGo —the privacy focused search engine— is offering a "No AI" search experience. Since Google's announcement they're seeing a 30% jump in users, but it’s worth remembering they have just a 2% market share.

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