The Wire with Manny

BNZ’s latest research into New Zealand’s scam savviness has shown that Nine out of Ten Kiwi’s have been targeted by scams.

This number is up 13% on last year, but fortunately the research also found that only one out of ten Kiwi’s have actually fallen victim to a scam.

BNZ’s research coincides with the beginning of their Scam Savvy Week, in which the bank raises awareness around scams as well educating the public on tips and tricks to avoid being duped.

Nicholas spoke to Ashley Kai Fong, the head of BNZ’s Financial Crime unit, about tell-tale signs of common scams as well as the upcoming resources provided during Scam Savvy Week.

Last week, the NZSIS released it's New Zealand Security Threat Environment report for 2023, outlining what the government sees as the biggest threats to Aotearoa's domestic security. The largest threats were outlined as violent extremism, foreign interference, and espionage. 

Wire producer Rosetta spoke to Dr William Hoverd, associate professor at Massey University, about the NZSIS report, and what he believes are the risks involved with publishing potential security threats to the public.

Last week, the commmerce COmmission Komihana Tauhokohoko released it's Preliminary Issues Paper, and found that Aotearoa's banking sector has persistently high profitability compared to banks overseas.

Wire producer Rosetta spoke to Kassie Hartendorp, Director of ActionStation, about what she believes the Government should be doing to combat the cost of living crisis through taxing cooperations and banks.

The Labour Party announced their tax policy over the weekend. It included policies like dropping GST off fruits and vegetables and changes to Working for Families.

The Policy has received some support, but several organisations advocating for the eradication of poverty and tax reform say it does not go far enough to address the wealth gap in Aotearoa.

Caeden spoke about this with Glen Barclay, Chair of Tax Justice Aotearoa and the Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign which is a coalition of 20 organisations aiming to work for better taxes to grow revenue and have a fairer tax system.

They started by asking Glen if Labour’s announcement is fair tax policy.

Caeden also spoke to economist Susan St John for the Child Poverty Action Group’s position on the announcement. As they have been quite critical of it, they started by asking what the issues were.