Report time – INZ Permanent & Long Term migration pt2
Filed under: Economics, Hubby's Views, Jobs & Work, Life in New Zealand, Property & General Investing
The contribution of Kiwi’s abroad to the NZ economy.
One of the interesting stand out comments in the DoL exec summary refers (again) to the Kea research. DoL cite this as “New Zealand’s diaspora is significant and our expatriate community is seen as an important contributor to New Zealand’s economic prosperity“.
Hmm, that sounds like a sound and solid contribution to the economy.
Only the Kea report cited doesn’t actually say that.
Kea talk about the potential for rich Kiwi’s living abroad to invest back in NZ.
They do identify that some of these rich folks are doing that already, but that there is huge potential for more investment from Kiwi’s who no longer live here.
Page 8 (section 3) of the Kea report makes for some fascinating colourful graphs. Although it is based on the assumption that listing on a stock exchange and having public share ownership must be a good thing and is the only way to run a successful company. Not an entirely fair and reasonable presumption. I know of quite a few world leading and competition beating companies that are entirely privately held.
It also assumes that Foreign Direct Investment (people abroad investing in your country) is a good thing too. Oh, right. Let’s just ignore all the FUD tub thumping about the Crafar farms sale then shall we. Foreign Investment in NZ is a bad thing, it must be. All those foreign types! We can’t possibly sell them bits of New Zealand! We will be ruined!!
FDI to NZ in 2010 is quoted as being $600m, while the Overseas Investment Office who approve who can buy NZ land maintain some interesting monthly stats.
2011 will be a bit better, thanks to James Cameron 
Not many people seem to mind him directly investing in New Zealand. But then he doesn’t look “foreign”. And he makes fun movies. So he’s alright.
The Kea report makes for fascinating reading, especially the theme’s that companies need to address if they’re looking for investors. Time for a sit down with a cup of tea, pen & paper to make some notes.
The 47 Rules of money
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, Banks, Cost of living, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
This appeared in the Herald on New Years Eve, written by Diana Clement. I really like her articles about personal finance, and shes well worth a read. Unlike Mary Holm, she writes about general finance and makes an awful lot of sense, rather than just bleating on about how wonderful Kiwisaver is and how bad eveything that isn’t Kiwisaver is.
She has written her 47 rules of money, apparently in line with 47 years of life. I have to agree with just about all of them – and actually practice many of them. So here they are – with an occasional comment!
General:
1 Track your spending. You can’t budget if you don’t know what you’re spending.
- Probably the single most important thing you can do with your money.
2 Needs and wants are often confused. This is perhaps the biggest financial mistake that people make.
3 Talk money with those linked to you financially. Whether it’s parents, partners, children, employers, or business associates, get financial discussions out in the open.
4 People are too quick to judge others’ financial decisions, me included. But that needs to be balanced against my next rule, number 5.
5 People will justify their bad financial decisions to the end of the earth. “I did all the right research,” one finance company investor told me as my eyebrows went through my hairline.
6 Monkey see monkey do. Children learn about finances by watching their parents, not listening to hypocritical lectures.
7 You can earn a good salary and still be poor. Budget advice services sometimes see people with six-figure salaries who still can’t make ends meet.
- This is one of the biggest fallacies many people believe about money – people who earn more cannot be poor. It just doesn work like that.
8 People can and do lose all their money. A couple of times a generation a collapse such as Black Monday arrives with disastrous effects for thousands of people. Others fall for tricksters such as the off-the-plan apartment salespeople or Ponzi scheme promoters.
9 Entrepreneurship is good. Grounded but entrepreneurial people do well financially. They may not succeed in making their fortune first time around, but often do if they persevere.
10 You can be a capitalist and still have a social conscience. I admire philanthropists.
11 You don’t have to have a high-paying job to get wealthy. I once interviewed a successful property investor who worked by day on the shop floor at Noel Leeming and made his real money after 5pm.
12 Don’t blame your parents, your children, your partner or your education. Responsibility is good when it comes to finances.
13 Even beneficiaries can save. Some people live within their means no matter how little they earn. Saving money is a choice.
14 Some people want to be poor. They think they’re poor and that they’ll always be poor and sabotage their financial future.
15 Pay your taxes on time. The IRD has a big stick.
- And endless funds (paid for by you) to chase you with!
Spending:
16 I regret frittering money on coffees and unnecessary eating out. It would be better to direct that money towards savings.
- Um, Ok – can’t agree with that one clearly!
17 Spending money on experiences is good spending. I am eternally grateful that I sold all but one of my shares at age 22 (by coincidence in August 1987) and went backpacking through Latin America. It’s good spending if the experience enriches life.
18 Braking wastes fuel. This was one of those wonderful chestnuts that it takes a few seconds to get your head around. If you drive too fast and brake regularly, you’re using petrol on wasted momentum. Driving well can save 10 per cent of your fuel bill.
19 It’s moronic to incur fines. Like the maniac driver in a big red American-style pickup truck who overtook me on State Highway 2 on December 17, just to be pulled over and fined.
20 You can get rich one dollar at a time. Every dollar is precious. Think before you spend it.
Debt:
21 Save before you buy. A bit of a radical concept in 2011, but it can change people’s financial future.
22 Interest-free hire purchase deals are for suckers. You still pay an establishment fee and the majority of people fail to clear the debt on time and pay interest anyway.
23 Credit cards make you look rich. Anyone can live well for a few years, but the debt catches up.
- I would add to this that often when you see people splashing the cash around, and you feel sorry for yourself because you can’t do the same – you might want to spend some time wondering if that’s really their money – or a credit card they can’t afford to pay off. They may not be as rich as they look.
24 The only “good debt” is mortgage debt. Provided you don’t over-leverage yourself.
25 Interest payments on personal loans, credit cards and HP are “idiot tax”. Why throw money away unnecessarily?
26 Having a credit card debt need not be the norm. A credit card limit is a safety net, not personal money to spend.
Investments and financial products:
27 Beware of investments discussed at barbecues. When the whole world is piling into an investment such as property, gold, tech shares and so on, you’ve almost certainly missed the boat.
28 Buy property young, preferably in your 20s. Move heaven and earth to get the deposit. Rent is wasted money.
29 Any offer that comes over the telephone isn’t worth having. Just ask the people who were cold called by Blue Chip, timeshare schemes, or horse betting scams.
30 Having life insurance is a good idea. Paying that monthly premium feels like dead money (excuse the pun). The payout when you die can give your beneficiaries choices at a difficult time in life.
31 An entire class of investment can crash and burn. Who remembers: Equiticorp, Chase Corporation, Renouf Corp, Judge Corp and more that collapsed like a pack of cards after the 1987 crash? Then there were tech stocks, mortgage-backed securities and finance company debentures.
32 Shares can be “safer” in the long term than bank deposits. The argument, which I first read on the Motley Fool website, is that over 10 or 20 years good share investments will keep pace with inflation, while bank deposits will be eroded.
33 KiwiSaver is good. This is a red rag to many readers. Government-led retirement programmes get people saving for their future.
- Ok – one point out of 47 – at least it’s in balance!
34 Insurance policies are full of gotchas. For goodness sake READ EVERY WORD of your policy.
35 Property investment isn’t always as safe as bricks and mortar. It can turn to custard. Mortgagee sales happen all the time – especially with investment properties.
- A lesson many people are learning the hard way – you still need to watch your money, be sensible, and understand the basics. It is NOT easy money, it is NOT guaranteed, and it is NOT always a fast road to riches. (You will also meet a lot of arseholes willing to screw you over (Mr Agile Property management AKA Eric Voice) among some of the friends you will make.
36 Markets overshoot and undershoot. If a market’s fundamentals (such as the yield on investment property) are out of historic kilter the market is probably brewing a bubble.
37 The best time to buy is just after a crash. Buy fundamentally good investments when everyone else is bailing out of the market.
- I so wish I was flush with cash right now. One of the painful side effects of buying property at the hight of the market is not having cash to buy in the crash!
38 Beware of investing just to save tax. Is the investment actually any good or is someone desperate to sell it to you?
Financial advice and salespeople:
39 Take your advice from people who have been through several cycles. Johnny-come-latelies going through their first financial cycle underestimate the risks.
40 Your money is your responsibility. Yes, employ a financial adviser, mortgage broker, accountant and other professionals, but make sure you understand what they tell you and double-check that your money is adequately spread.
- Abso-fragging-loutely. NO ONE will care as much about your money as you do. Unless they are looking to take it off you.
41 Seminar presenters aren’t always financial experts. They probably make their money from seminars, not from the actual investment they’re preaching about.
42 Credit rating agencies don’t always get it right. Some companies deceive the agencies, others are part of an industry that may not be well understood by the ratings agencies.
43 Don’t believe the get-rich-quick conmen. You should aim to get richer slowly, but steadily.
44 Government subsidies are a magnet for spruikers. Sharks swarm around government money. Just look at the people selling insulation, heating, and ventilation or those who have been caught selling KiwiSaver door-to-door.
Others:
45 Passive cash-flow rules. Finding ways to make money that don’t need your hourly input makes sense.
46 Telling the truth infuriates some readers. Suggesting that people can change their financial ways brings in a flurry of outraged emails.
47 You can learn more about money. The easiest and cheapest way to improve your knowledge is to get a book out of the library.
- Or – ahem – buy mine!
And I’m adding one of my own:
48. Have a Sanity Allowance. Pocket money is not just for kids, and it will save you a whole heap of money and arguments. Along with tracking our money and actively managing the money – this would be the most useful thing I ever learned about dealing with finances.
Less writing more pictures.
Due to the horrific dangers involved in ongoing gym membership – I have buggered up my shoulder. My right shoulder. Which makes typing for more than a few minutes pretty painful. So there may be a lack of posts that include my usual at-length rambling about stuff for a while until the Physios get me sorted.
In the meantime – enjoy one of the secrets of successful investing – ignorance.
The Mortgage Pig
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing
I was on the train today heading to the Wairarapa for the weekend, and I was mulling over our latest money saving exploits. And I was thinking about Fred’s comment and how we actually attempt to make sure that saving are just that – real savings – and that we don’t waste the money elsewhere.
Because of course Fred is quite right – it’s all very well not spending money on something – but if you then spend it on other stuff – you really haven’t saved anything at all.
That’s where the Mortgage Pig comes in. This was an idea I came across on the MoneySavingExpert forum – and seems to have been “invented” by Aliasojo.
I decided a while ago that I really wanted my mortgage paid off. It wasn’t very large to start with admittedly, but it wasn’t coming down as quickly as I would have liked.
As the mortgage was one of those background constants that just gets paid every month without thinking about it, I figured that if it was in front of us and on our minds more, we might make more of an effort to collect more money to chuck at it.
So……I got a mortgage pig.
It’s a large green pig which sits on my kitchen worktop in a very central position with a ‘speech bubble’ printed on A4 paper and stuck to the wall above it. The mortgage pig explains (in the speech bubble) who he is and why it’s a good idea to check whether you really need that bottle of wine or takeaway and if it might be better to give the cash to him instead. It also a bit to remind us why we wanted to pay off our mortgage and lists the things we want to do in the future.
Now we don’t use cash. And while we have used a physical piggy bank in the past – because we don’t use cash – it takes too long to save anything. So we have a “Virtual Mortgage Pig”. It’s not large, it’s not green and it doesn’t have a speech bubble explaining what it is. Instead, we have a category on Quicken called Mortgage Pig. When we make a saving, get a bit of extra income (such as share dividends, trade me sales), or we use our ASB points to buy stuff instead of money, we transfer the money to Mortgage Savings. Now that our personal mortgage has gone and been replaced by a business mortgage – the Mortgage Pig savings get paid to our Investment Savings Pot.
At the moment, not all our “savings” will make it to the Pig. That’s basically because the past year or so have been very hard for us financially, and to be perfectly frank – savings we make in one area are pretty much eaten up with price rises in another. Right now it feels like Standing Still financially is a battle of epic proportions – let alone trying to get ahead!
Should we have any money left at the end of the month – that too would be a Mortgage Pig saving – and get shoved into to the Investment Savings. These savings are what keep our rental business afloat. Given how much money we lost on because of our issues with Agile Property Services’ negligence and failures to manage our properties – that account is in pretty much a mess. But with some hard work, and some tough management – we are clawing back the losses he caused. It does help that the tenants we now have are paying rent like clockwork, and I am not having to pay it for them. Ill be blogging more about that later – but every time I start I just get too furious at the trouble the Property Manager caused me – and his refusal to get some balls and deal with me.
So yes – it doesn’t really matter how you do it – but you do need some way of locking in the savings. Like I said – ours is for mortgages – which is the best use of money you can make. If you haven’t got a mortgage – then it’s really up to you. I really like the idea of the Mortgage Pig. It’s a bit silly, it’s a bit fun, and you can basically run it however it suits you: from putting all spare change in – to literally deciding not to buy a takeaway and gettimg cash out to put in the pig instead. Remember there is no “one true path” and what works for me may not be good for you – but there is certainly no harm creating your own version of “The Mortgage Pig”.
Thanks Fred 
You don’t save when you have debts to pay.
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, Economics, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver
It is a fundemental rule of personal finance and budgeting:
Do not save while you have debt to pay off.
So why is it that the supposedly “clever” people in the savings working group want to force people to save because we have too high a level of debt? It makes no sense, in fact its the most stupid and finacially dangerous idea you could come up with. The scary thing is – they have to know this – they really can’t be that thick – so why are they suggesting it?
First of all- why is it a bad idea?
Well, its all to do with interest rates. You get less interest for saving than you pay for borrowing. For example, ASB pay you 3.65% for any savings you have, and charge you a minimum of 6.25% for any borrowings you have. (Up to 19.25% if you have credit card debt with them). So WHY would you put any money in the savings account when it can work at least twice as hard for you paying off the debt?
And because you pay tax on any of the interest that you earn – you are even worse off. The simple fact, to earn enough interest to make it worth “saving” (or “investing” ) instead of paying off debt you need to be able to earn that 6.25% AFTER THE INCOME TAX HAS BEEN PAID. That means you need to earn about 8% interest in savings or investments.
Anyone know where you can get that?
(Actually – First Direct in the UK are currently offering 8% on thier regular savings account – but that aint gonna help most Kiwis, or expats unless you already have an account with them).
So – Forced Kiwisaver then?
Yep – thats the bee-all and end-all of everything. Open a Kiwisaver account and the economy will fix itself. You won’t be able to eat – but hey – who cares about that? We will stop using debt to buy things we can’t afford, and no one will have any money to plow into investment properties because it will all be in the stockmarket. NZ Business needs the investment – and as too many of us are not doing as we are told – we need to be forced to behave.
A classic quote in a second article today shows the attitude of these people really eloquently I think:
“KiwiSaver has considerable potential to further help people select appropriate investment assets,” the working group report said. “At the moment this potential is not being fully realised.”
Ie – “stop thinking you know better than us – we tell you Kiwisaver is the best investment – and if you won’t believe us – we will force you to. You are too stupid to select your own shares and we really are terribly hacked off that you want to buy property – because none of us get a cut of that!”
Of course, buying shares, unless you buy in an Initial Public Offering never actually puts money into a business – it just values the business. Which means that on paper the business is worth more and can borrow more. Um – isn’t that bad and greedy when Property Investors do it? It will of course put money into the pocket of the person you bought the shares from. Much like buying a property off someone who bought it as an investment puts money into the greedy gits pocket!
The first rule of smart finances:
Pay off your debt first.
It’s the best form of “saving” there is, purely because of the cost of borrowing and the effect of compound interest. If you want to try and beat the interest rate you are paying on debts, then you tend to have to save the money in risky investments, or property (and that as we all know is BAD!) And even then – it isn’t easy – and is dependent on a lot of outside forces. Investments can and do lose money – because money always goes in cycles. Theres are booms and busts – in a boom your investment goes up, in a bust it goes down.
But one easy way to get the best return on money is paying down debt. It’s risk free, makes the absolute most of every pound or dollar, and also reduces your personal risk. Can you get a better investment for your money than that?
Does this include mortgages?
Yes and no. In general when people talk about “debt” they mean non-mortgage debt. But clearly when you end up in the middle of a financial crisis like we are right now, mortgage debt is also a huge issue for people, so I personally think you can’t forget about it that easily. And when the boffins in these working grups are whining about our debt levels – they are also talking about mortgage debt. Most of our mortgages are business related, so they are tax deductable – effectively this brings the interest rate down by about 1/3. (which would be exactly the same if we have taken out the loan to buy shares with by the way). But it should never be forgotten that they are still debts, and they cost a lot of money to service. It is in the end money we owe. To be honest – if we didnt have the investment properties then financially we would be laughing all the way to the bank because our spending is way lower than earnings right now. All our spare money is going into paying down debt and keeping our properties.
If we are forced to pay Kiwisaver contributions as well – how the bloody hell am I supposed to pay the mortgages and reduce debt levels???
I may be good with money – but I am not that good!
I will be writing another blog about this, and what the Savings Working Group actually said in full, because from the skim read I have had – there are some really good ideas in there. Just some truly barmy ones as well, and an arrogant insistance that I MUST have a Kiwisaver account.
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Would you check a bill to save $5? $500 or $37,000
This past week I have been pouring over receipts and bills for which our apartment body corporate are being charged. These are back-payments relating to the past 3 years – where the developer has been paying for upkeep on the property, when really the body corporate (that is – a collection of the owners) should have been paying them.
Except maybe they shouldn’t have been.
Which is where my “I have no life and get a sick kick out of playing with spreadsheets and scrutinising receipts” skills come in.
Every single one of the receipts was uploaded on to a website for us to look at. So we did, and then rolled on the floor laughing at some of them. Some of them were for other buildings owned by the developer, or his other businesses. Quite a few in fact.
One was even for light bulbs (nearly $6,000 worth of the things) for the new IBM office in Petone.
Talk about adding insult to injury – we have to be prepared to take IBM to court, and now we are being asked to pay for their damn light bulbs!!!
I don’t fippin’ well think so.
The upshot of me being picky, and a pain in the arse, is that this portion of the “special levy” we were being asked to stump up for went down by about $37,000.
I’m still not happy with some of the expenses being claimed, and we have voted for someone independent to check them out (with the best will in the world I am not qualified to go further with it than I already have). The saving to us personally is still a few hundred dollars – not to be sneezed at – an independent check could save us even more. And although it was a bit awkward and time consuming – I don’t think it hurts for people to be made aware that I will indeed check and make sure that what I’m being asked to pay for is legitimate and fair.
In the past 2 months we have actually claimed back about $60 in fees that we have been overcharged by various companies. That might not sound like a lot – but right now every little helps.
You may not save $37,000 every week by spotting mistakes in bills – but you won’t save anything if you never check.
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Christmas pressie from the Reserve Bank
Filed under: Cost of living, Economics, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing
Alan Bollard (bless his little cotton socks) has decided that the base interest rate in New Zealand is not going up this month.
“Interest rates are now projected to rise to a more limited extent over the next two years than signalled in September.
Oh Yay! Just in time for my investment mortgages to come off their fixed rates – and there was me thinking that I might have a snowballs chance in hell of reducing my mortgage payments.
Of course the reason for the hold is becuase no one has any money to spend, so the economy isn’t taking off as well as it should. I’m not sure where anyone expects us to get money to spend from right now – prices are still going up and wages aren’t. And to be honest, even if I had any money – what he’s saying is that If I spend it and “help the economy” hes going to put my interest rates up as a result.
Does this make any sense to anyone?
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Should you be forced to save?
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, Economics, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver
Forced savings – in the form of compulsory superannuation (or – shudders – compulsory Kiwisaver) is back on the agenda in new Zealand. Because apparently, not enough of us are doing as we are told and opening up Kiwisaver accounts. So we need to be made to do it.
This comes out of the Tax Working Group, now we have to pay some more academics to sit around and tell us how we need to save for retirement and how we need to do it. I hope they get different people from the ones that just beat the living crap out of any Kiwi that was using Property to try and fund their retirement. Apparently that doesn’t count as retirement planning, cos it’s not shares or managed funds.
So when they talk about “Forced Savings” just be aware that what they really mean is “Forced Stock Market Investments”.
I’m not impressed – if you couldn’t tell. 
I personally believe that forcing people in a low wage economy like this to give up at least 2% of their after tax salary is just not on. The “theory” is that if we all do this – then it will cause investment in businesses (through the sale of shares) to increase, and those businesses will then be able to pay the staff more.
Anyone actually think your wages are gonna go up?
Because heres the thing (speaking as a complete non-economist here of course):
Buying shares on the stock market does not actually put money into the business. It puts money into the pocket of the guy selling those shares. If that just happens to be the company floating shares – then yeah – you just invested money in that company. Otherwise, some guy on the street sold some shares and you bought them.
BTW, we recently found out that if you work for one of the banks, which just happens to be a “Default Provider” of Kiwisaver (where you money sits if you don’t bother to actively choose a fund), they take their “Employer contributions” out of you salary. So basically, they don’t actually contribute to their own staff’s Kiwisaver fund.
Why is this not illegal, and why is it still being allowed? And how the hell does such a company get to run a default fund???
So regretfully – still not a fan of Kiwisaver, and would still like the government to keep its grubby little paws of my money thank you very much!
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Will KiwiBank become an AussieBank.
Filed under: Banks, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver
There are rumours that the NZ (National) government are thinking of selling some State Assets. Which for many people is the worst thing a government can do and brings out all sorts of diatribes. I’m in two minds about it myself – I think it’s good to have assets – even if you are country, but also you have to be prepared to sell them if they are basically not working for you, or you are in financial trouble. There’s just no point having a boat load of shares looking pretty if you cant afford your mortgage this month.
But when it comes to government assets – a whole load of issues come up. Which as far a my admittedly not-politically-astute mind can grasp comes down to Labour wont sell them – National will. In fact just prior to the financial world crash – the NZ government at the time (Labour) went so far as to buy back KiwiRail which had previously been privatised and was failing, at a massively over inflated price of $690m when it was worth about $369m.
So the first head on the chopping block this time round looks to be KiwiBank.
Now I’m not sure of all the pros and cons of the case – but what I can tell you is I’m pretty bloody disgusted at the sheer amount of bunkum being spouted about the effect this would have on new Zealand if it was sold. It’s a bit like the plonker who said that if we used credit cards we would lose our sovereignty to Australia. The way the opposition is talking it up – a float of KiwiBank and sales of shares to New Zealanders will ensure that KiwiBank is owned by the Aussies. Or even worse – in the hands of greedy “foreigners”.
And thus – ordinary Kiwis will lose out on something that they own.
But here’s the thing:
Firstly – if the Shares in KiwiBank are sold to Kiws – then it will only end up in the hands of “greedy foreigners” if the Kiwis sell the shares to make a fast buck. So who would really be the greedy ones?
Secondly – do Kiwi’s really “own” Kiwibank? If we do – where the hell are the profits we should be sharing in? The government gets a cut – which technically I guess Kiwis get back in the form of government spending – but c’mon! That hardly the same as being a shareholder and having a stake in the company – or getting dividends.
Thirdly, we also “own” most the electricity companies in New Zealand, or rather as with KiwiBank the government owns them. And how are rewarded? With ridiculously high electricity prices which just go up and up and up while the companies we “own” make more and more profit. Its estimated that we have been overcharged by the electricity companies we “own” to the tune of $4.3 Billion in the past 5 years. Hmm – yes – ownership of companies via the government is really working for us.
So all in all – when you hear about the horror of selling national assets – don’t necessarily believe what the papers are telling you. If you disagree with privatisation – fair enough. But just take a moment to wonder if you are being fed a line that is somewhat an exaggeration. That’s not to say that selling KiwiBank (or anything else) is a good idea. Just that it wont cause the destruction of life as we know it.
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What have we sold to the Aussies?
Theres a small (and I mean small) piece in the Sunday Star Times today about the Overseas Investment Office. This is the body that was set up a few years ago to “protect” New Zealand from greedy overseas investors intent on buying up huge tracts of pristine NZ. If I recall correctly – after an unholy furore when Shania Twain bought a rather large hunk of land near Lake Wanaka and wanted to not be seen by the local plebs.
Essentially if a foreigner wants to buy large properties here, they need to get permission from the OIO.
It seems that in their latest list of transactions that they have approved, one is so sensitive, that they wont actually say what it is that has been sold, who sold it, or who to.
Nothing except as the article puts it: “something, somewhere, was sold by its New Zealand owner to an Australian Buyer”.
Hmmmm – have we sold Christchurch I wonder? Got rid of Auckland? Sold the Government?
Answers on a postcard….
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