In 2016, Parliament gave local councils the ability to set local policies to allow for Easter trading if a shop chose to. Although two-thirds of all councils now have Easter trading policies in place, most of the spending, and people, in New Zealand remain under restricted trading options. In short, shop trading hours are a patchwork tapestry of non-sensical rules. It’s time to reconsider our entire shop hours trading regime and reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and households. Read

This month I’ve been participating in the #30DayMapChallenge – an informal event organised online for geospatial and cartographic enthusiasts to learn, practice and “have fun”. There are 30 daily prompts to inspire, and anyone who wants to can just post to their preferred social media platform (eg Twitter, Instagram, …) with the hashtag. It’s a great opportunity to get creative and try new things, without the pressure to fully polish the outputs before sharing. Read

New Zealand’s population continues to evolve as changing working trends, affordability considerations, and people movements help shape local communities. Fewer births and deaths, a huge reversal in net international migration, and sustained net internal migration trends all contributed to the changing population around New Zealand. As our analysis shows, these trends are driving stronger population growth in provincial centres around New Zealand, as urban centres feel the loss of overseas migration. Read

The bounce back from Lockdown 2.0 has begun, but the overall recovery has been restrained by Auckland remaining at higher alert levels. Auckland’s move to Level 3 is welcome news, with a larger amount of economic activity to take place. But risks remain for the pace of New Zealand’s rebound, with supply chain issues and the need to balance health and economic priorities creating a difficult set of choices. Read

Drawing inspiration from Emma Vitz’s maps showing how much income is needed for housing costs around New Zealand’s regions, we thought we’d compare costs with household incomes across cities and districts. Read

Usually in our monthly newsletter we feature a single “chart of the month”, but this time we are featuring April as the “month of the chart” and making a chart for each day. Cédric Scherer and Dominic Royé have organised the #30DayChartChallenge on Twitter, inspired by the success of the similar #30DayMapChallenge, as a chance … Read more Month of the Chart Read

What we export as a nation shapes us considerably. It influences the skills we develop, how the countryside looks, and how other countries view us. Our exports also shape our regions, with a typical Waikato scenery of rolling dairy country, Marlborough’s endless rows of grapes, and the Bay of Plenty with its tangled kiwifruit vines. We should then be very aware of what produce comes from each part of the country, as it not only shapes the local economy it shapes the entire landscape. Read

With Easter occurring later this week, there’s an increased interest in all things chocolate. In the March 2021 Chart of the Month, we wanted to dive into the numbers and see where Sunday’s easter egg hunt might have originated from, where we make our local chocolate, and where it might eventually end up (aside from our stomachs). Read

The loss of international tourism has seen dairy regain its position as New Zealand’s largest export. Among the upheaval of COVID-19 in 2020, New Zealand’s primary sector has held up well, providing high-quality food and beverage products to both the local and overseas markets. Read

There’s been considerable talk in 2020 about people moving around the country as COVID-19 changes how people live, work, and play. We’ve never had complete and official data on how Kiwis are shifting across New Zealand, but Stats NZ has recently included some net internal migration data which provides a first cut of Kiwis mobility. Read