June 2025
- Reflections on the Green’s challenge to the fiscal straightjacket.
- Daily Blog Panel discussion,
- St John, S (2025) The young need state support just as much as the old Newsroom, 6th June, 2025
May 2025
- St John, S ( 2025) interview with Susan Edmunds RNZ Budget 2025: Economists split over Government’s student loan move – NZ Herald, 25th May 2025
- St John, S ( 2025) : Govt should defuse NZ’s social time-bomb – but won’t Newsroom Op-Ed 21st May 2025
- St John, S ( 2025) Same old story—let’s frighten the horses with the bogey of net debt, Substack 3rd May 2025
April 2025
- St John, S (2025) (16) Ep 44 Head2Head – Susan St John on rethinking Superannuation, Substack interview with Byan Bruce, 23rd April 2025
- St John, S (2025)The fatal flaw in our social policies since 1991 remains to haunt us Substack 7th April.
- St John, S (2025) There is a truckload of trouble coming as the budget looms and the signals are ominous Daily Blog 2nd April 2025
March 2025
- Anne Marie Coury Interview with Susan St John on Senior focus: New Zealand Superannuation Listening on Planet FM 104.6 FM | Auckland New Zealand March 31st 2025
- Baucher reviews ‘NZ Super as a basic income’ Should NZ Super be changed to a UBI, and treated as a grant? Interest.co.nz March 22nd 2025
- St John, S (2025) Newsroom, NZ Super’s urgent reform needs to be granted (paywalled) 10th March
- Interview NewstalkZB with Francesca Rudkin, 8th March
- Susan St John On The Future Of Superannuation In New Zealand | Michael Laws, The Platform and YouTube
- Interview with Susan Edmunds Researcher Outlines Plan For Higher Tax On Well-Off Pensioners, Radio NZ, March 5th 2025, reported in Greymouth Star, Westport Times, Otago Daily Times and on NewstalkZB.
- St John, S (2025) New Zealand Superannuation as a basic income. PIE working paper 2025-1: March 5th 2025: The modelling illustrates that significant savings maybe achieved from a suitably progressive separate tax schedule for those who opt onto the basic income, called here the New Zealand Superannuation Grant (NZSG). Alignment of the various rates of NZS may generate additional saving.
February 2025
- St John (2025)Beware of ACT’s kite flying. Daily Blog 10th February,
January 2025
- St John, S (2025). Don’t let social service cuts lead us to our lowest point – Newsroom 3rd February, 2025 and BFM interview Budget Cuts to Social Services and the Effect on New Zealanders w/ the University of Auckland’s Dr Susan St John: 4th February, 2025 | 95bFM
- Susan St John Radio NZ interview with Susan Edmunds My entire years wages, mum, 47k debt for working for families 20th Jan and We can barely make ends meet as it is’: Mum facing $47k Working for Families debt Star News 21st January 2025
December
- Episode 30 – Head to head with Bryan Bruce. Economist Susan St. John – on the human cost of austerity. Audio and video version https://bryanbruce.substack.com/p/head-2-head-episode-30-economist Audio: https://bryanbruce.substack.com/p/episode-30-economist-susan-st-john
- St John, S (2024) Poor economic policy: history repeats, but a tiny bright light in the Budget Policy Statement 2025, Daily Blog 18th December
November
- St John, S. (2024) Interview with Bernard Hickey: Open letter on fiscal policy and the taxation of the NZ Super fund. The Hoon, (51) The Hoon around the week to November 22, from 48.3 min,
- Open letter to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance 15 Economists call for immediate suspension of spending cuts,
- Interview with Thomas Coughlan Thousands fewer families getting support as unemployment rises NZ Herald, 19th November 202
- St John, S (2024) The age of magical thinking: Taxation of the NZ Super Fund. Interest.co.nz 18th November 2024
- St John, S (2024) Economics- the key or the lock? Meeting of graduate women, Northshore, 7th November 2024.
October
- St John, S ( 2024) PIE Commentary 2024-10: Bigger deficit for Christmas from the deficit buster. Expect higher ACC levies.
- St John, S ( 2024) PIE Commentary 2024-9: The capital gains tax debate is hotting up: Time to check out the Fair Economic Return.
- St John, S (2024) Hundreds of thousands of children could be put into financial difficulty as benefit numbers soar RNZ 25th October
- St John, S (2024) Bigger deficit for Christmas from the deficit buster. Expect higher ACC levies Daily Blog, 26th October
- St John and Baucher (2024), Fair Economic Return v Land Tax, PIE Policy report 2024-1
- St John, S (2024) If foodbanks were the answer, can underfunding them be the solution? Daily Blog 16th October
- St John, S ( 2024) Govt failing NZ’s most vulnerable says economist Midday report, Radio NZ, 11th October
- Episode 17 – Susan St John on taxing wealth – Bryan Bruce Investigates watch
SusanStJohnIV2.mp4 Bryan Bruce Investigates – Substack
- St John, S Fair Economic Return rather than a Capital Gains Tax, interest.co.nz, 2nd October 2024
September
- St John, S ( 2024) Ballet dancing is as dangerous as rugby? Or is the complex super structure of levy setting dangerous to much needed 21st century reform of ACC , Daily Blog, 24th September
- St John, S ( 2024) We do not need ACC levy increases Daily Blog, 22th September
- Rennie, D & St John S (2024) Should ACC levies be raised? PIE Commentary 2024-6 , 20th September
August
- Guest speaker, Susan St John Variety, 20th August, and Citizens Advice Bureau CAB, AGM, West Auckland, 22nd August, 2024
- Bryan Bryce Podcast with Susan St John on Working for Families, Head to Head, Audio only substack Bryan Bruce series, August 19th, 2024
- St John, S (2024) Just listen to Matthew and apply market-based technology to solve complex social problems Daily Blog 13th August
- July
- St John, S (2024) Some may be worse off due to tax cuts: expert | RNZ 31st July 2024′
- St John, S (2024) There are many more past injustices for the state to answer Daily Blog 29th July 2024
- St John, S ( 2024) Time to cut through the weirdness, be bold and simplify Working for Families. Daily Blog 23rd July 2024
June
- St John, S. (2024) Government Assistance for Families BFM, 27th June
- PIE 6-monthly newsletter PIE hub, Economics Policy Centre, Auckland University June 2024
St John, S (2024) Review of crippling debts to government now delayed to the Never Never. Daily Blog 24th June 2024 - St John, S ( 2024) Time for a multi party focus on working for families, Newsroom, 20th June 2024
- St John quoted in Susan Edmunds (16th June) Warning as Working For Families debt increases by more than $42m | RNZ News
- St John quoted in Susan Edmunds(17th June) ‘We don’t cope’: 55,000 people have Working for Families debt | Stuff
- St John, S (2024) The rich get richer while child poverty just increases Daily Blog 4th June 2024. Also see: Christopher Luxon says low- and middle-income Kiwis get ‘emphasis’ of tax package, Treasury figures say the opposite – NZ Herald
- What impact did the Coalition government budgets have on the reduction of child poverty? Waatea interview 4th June 2024.
May 2024
Budget 2024.
St John, S (2024)Budget hot takes Ask the experts. Spinoff Budget 2024: The great Spinoff hot-take roundtable | The Spinoff 30th May2024
St John, S (2024)Will the true debt figure please stand up. Daily Blog 21st May 2024
Susan St John (with Brian Easton and Len Cook) Addressing financial hardship. Brightstar conference ‘Delivering equity for Older New Zealanders’, 31st April/1st May 2024, Millenium Hotel PIE Commentary 2024-4. Economic Policy Centre
April 2024
St John, S (2024) Simplistic views of the causes of inflation don’t do the left any favours. Daily Blog, 10th April
March 2024
St John, S (2024) PIE Commentary 2024-2: Superannuation – a fiscal challenge or opportunity? Contribution to The Retirement Commission’s Super Summit: New Zealand Super Issues and Options 21st March 2024, Wellington.
February 2024
St John, S (2024) Is child poverty really too hard to cure? Daily Blog 28th February 2024
St John, S ( 2024) Opinion: The Government’s great welfare reset is a broken record TVNZ One news 21st Feb 2024 republished University Auckland news.
Stats show “an unprecedented depth of poverty” : Economist RNZ Interview Susan St John 24th Feb Nine to Noon
Fears Government will target more beneficiaries after moves to impose sanctions on job seekers RNZ Midday report St John spoke to Charlotte Cook, 20th Feb 2024
January, 2024
December, 2023
St John, S (2023) “New Zealand’s housing market drives inequality. Why not just tax houses like any other income? “ 2023: A year of consequence—Essays that got the world talking, The Conversation, editors Grattan, M and Bergman J, Thames and Hudson, Australia
November 2023
St John, S (2023) The coalition agreement for Working for Families is very weak but tweaks could improve it. Daily Blog 27th November, 2023
Dale, C & St John (2023) Who’ll pay to care for us when we grow old, and then even older?
Newsroom 12th November
St John, S (2023) If NZ’s new government wants a simple fix to improve child poverty, here’s what it should do The Conversation, 10th November 2023, republished NZ Herald
October 2023
St John, S and O’Brien, M (2023). Structuring taxes to achieve equitable and efficient outcomes. CPAG 2023 Policy Brief Tax .
September 2023
Susan St John (Sept 2023) What does the unique New Zealand approach to pensions policy offer women? guest speaker at the 1st Annual Pension Conference 14th September Pensión Research & Consulting: Building Gold Standard for Private Pensions hosted as a virtual event
St John, S (2023) The Labour-National consensus on family support means the election won’t change much for NZ’s poorest households The Conversation, 12th September and PIE Commentary 2023-11: The strange coalescence of agreement by Labour and National on Working for Families.
Susan St John and Claire Dale Podcast: interviewed by Sangita Chawla, Chief Marketing Officer at Standard Life. What the UK can learn about auto-enrolment from New Zealand | Thinking Forward | Standard Life and article New Zealand’s KiwiSaver: a template for auto-enrolment reform in the UK?.
August 2023
St John, S (2023) So this is the best we can expect from the Working for Families (WFF) review?14th August 2023
St John, S (2023) What are we to make of welfare and Working For Families reform now? Daily Blog 10th August, 2023
July 2023
St John, S ( 2023)When will we ever learn? Daily Blog 31st July, 2023
St John, S (2023), All for an extra $20 a week? Daily Blog 17th July 2023
St John, S (2023) Paid Parental Leave KiwiSaver contributions. Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill – commentary on the Bill. Pension and Intergenerational Equity Hub PIE submission.
June 2023
St John, S, O’Brien, M (2023) Fix “Working For Families” income assistance for children in low-income families, CPAG 2023 Policy Brief series
O’Brien, M , St John, S, ( 2023) Benefit income adequacy CPAG 2023 Policy Brief series
St John, S, ( 2023) Outdated income relationship rules CPAG 2023 Policy Brief series
St John, S (2023) NZ’s housing-market drives-inequality why not just tax houses like any other income. The Conversation, 21st June 2023, also Stuff, interest.co
May 2023
St John, S and O’Brien M (2023) Modelling income adequacy for those on benefits Report based on a welfare model developed for CPAG by Dr Yun So, Economics Policy Centre, University of Auckland.
April 2023
St John, S.( 2023) Lets have some straight talking on tax Interest.co.nz. 25th April , 2023
St John, S. ( 2023) A prayer to the god of small things, Daily Blog 24th April 2023
March 2023
St John, S (2023) Let them eat cake Daily Blog 23rd March
February 2023
St John, S. (2023) What comes next Labour? Time for transformational change- PLEASE Lets just do it this time. Daily Blog 10th February 2023
St John, S (2023) We need to talk about the New Zealand Super Fund, Daily Blog 1st February
January 2023
St John.S ( 2023) Flying blind into the recession Daily Blog 27th January
St John,S (2023) Serious deficiencies in the social policy processes Daily Blog 7th January
December 2022
St John, S (2022) Basic Income for the old and the young in New Zealand. PIE Briefing 2022-2:
Christmas Wishes For a More Generous New Year CPAG Press release, 22nd Dec,
November 2022
St John, S No excuses for hungry children, NZ Herald, 29th November
St John, S. Monetary policy, inflated house prices and lack of tax made it worse, Radio NZ interview 11th November
October 2022
St John, S (2022) Child Poverty in NZ- what is the truth here? Daily Blog 10th October
September 2022
St John, S (2022) Is KiwiSaver fit for the 2050? panel discussion, FSC conference, 23rd September Cordis hotel Auckland
St John, S & Baucher S. ( 2022) PIE Policy Report 2022-2: Fair Economic Return Revisited. Presented at the housing affordability conference, EPC 9th Sept Auckland Business School, power point presentation, ppts FER 9th sept
August 2022
St John, S. (2022) If we want a fair system lets fix our low rate broad-base system Newsroom August 30th 2022
St John, S. (2022) Poverty is not a partisan issue, Newsroom,5th August 2022
July 2022
St John, S. ( 2022) Social security purposes and principles are cold comfort for too many NZ Herald 25th July 2022
St John, S ( 2022) Here is what must happen in child poverty before the end of this year Daily Blog 21st July
St John, S quoted in Carmel Sepuloni receives review into Working for Families, but some worried focus is not on poverty – NZ Herald 28th July
June 2022
St John, S (2022) The only trade-off that matters. Newsroom,15th June.
May 2022
St John, S (2022) Policy Report – The Irish Autoenrolment
RPRC PR 2022-1 in AE-Ireland by TOR Financial Consulting Ltd. It draws on the New Zealand experience with KiwiSaver and its relevance for women.
St John, S. ( 2022) Improving the Child Poverty Reduction Framework 23rd May) CPAG commentary.
St John, S (2022) The budget will not feed hungry children Daily Blog 23rd May 2022
St John, S (2022) Little hint of meaningful action Spinoff budget round table, 19th May
St John, S (2022) interviewed by Susan Edmunds Working for Families needs to do better.What do you want to see in the Budget this year? | Stuff.co.nz 15th May
April 2022
St John, S. (2022) interviewed by Isaac Davison NZ Herald on Marginal tax rates 22nd April
St John,S (2022) interviewed by Susan Edmunds Marginal tax rates 4th April
March 2022
St John, S (2022) Children shouldn’t pay for a broken system
Newsroom 24th March 2022
St John, S (2022) International Women’s Day, New Zealand is still a long way from gender equality, Newsroom, 8th March 2022
St John, S (2022) The Purpose and Principles of the Social Security Act, The Daily Blog, 2nd March 2022
February 2022
Dale, M, St John S (2022) Long term in-home and residential care for New Zealand’s ageing population Long term aged care for New Zealand’s ageing population RPRC PensionBriefing 2022-1, 23 February
Asher I, St John, S. & G Craw, CPAG Submission: On the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (Jan 2022) as a PDF (Word Doc), 11th February, 2022
St John, S (2022) Social insurance , Newsroom, 7th Feb 2022
Job benefit plan misses mark Waatea News, 10th February, 2022. Concerns new income insurance plans could drive inequality, Radio New Zealand Audio. 2nd February 2021
January 2022
St John, S (2022) Tackling the Big Issues in 2022? Yeah Right! | The Daily Blog 17th January, 2022
St John, S ( 2022) Our accidental ACC scheme, New Zealand Herald dialogue page 12th January 2022
Latest news 2021
December
St John, S (2021) Time to rock the KiwiSaver boat 27th Dec interest.co.nz
November
St John, S (2021) What could possibly go wrong next? Daily Blog, 27th November 2021
St John , S & Neuwelt, C (2021) Australia and NZ tax credits for children. A 5-year comparison: July 2018- July 2023 – Part 2 of the Rethinking Income Support for Children series CPAG backgrounder, 18th November 2021.
St John, S ( 2021) Let them eat cake Daily Blog 15th November 2021
St John, S ( 2021) Urgent reform of Working for Families needed – not tinkering 8th November 2021
October
St John, S ( 2021) Interview with Waatea Radio on Working for Families policy changes , interview here, 22nd October 2021
St John, S ( 2021) Mercer’s pensions index,The Panel with Andrew Hoggard and Mihingarangi Forbes (Part 2) From Radio New Zealand Audio
St John, S (2021). Time for bold action for children,New Zealand Herald, 21st October 2021
St John, S(2021) Working for families isn’t working for poor families Daily Blog 20th September
St John, S (2021) Is appeal to self-interest the answer? St John, (2021) Daily Blog 13th September 2021. Chris Trotter reply:Not Understood: Chris Trotter Replies To Susan St John
Taxing pensioners’ other income at higher rate ‘could be better way to make super affordable’ Susan Edmunds, Stuff 2nd September
St John, S ( 2021) What a disgusting state of affairs | The Daily Blog 2nd September, 2021. Chris Trotter reply:Staying focussed, Why Labour still wont help the poor
August
St John, S ( 2021) New Zealand Superannuation Fund PensionCommentary 2021-2 RPRC, 30th August 2021
St John, S ( 2021) New Zealand Superannuation as a basic income PensionBriefing 2021-2 RPRC, 27th August 2021
St John,S (2021) Will the New Zealand Super Fund help pay the costs of the babyboom retirement? interest.co.nz 16th August, 2021
St John, S (2021) Pressure points in our polices facing up to the ageing population University of Auckland Alumni series Shaping our Futures 10th August 2021 RPRC event summary
July
St John, S ( 2021) Housing is Labour’s Achilles’ Heel, interest.co.nz, 30th July, 2021
June
Susan St John and Terry Baucher, The Fair Economic Return: Restoring equity to the social fabric of New Zealand. RPRC working paper 2021-1 30th June.
NZH, Susan St John: ‘Running a gender equity lens over social policies, childbirth, women’s work’, 27 June, 2021
Susan St John, S (2021) ACC papers on Women Maori Pacifica and disabled, Radio NZ, Waitea News, 22nd June, 2021
May
Susan St John. S (2021) Commentary on the 2021 budget The SpinOff, 20th May 2021
St John, S (2021) Running a gender lens over our sacred social policies Daily Blog, 13th May 2021
St John, S (2021) Interview with Bernard Hickey on financial priorities Lower debt in, cutting child poverty out: podcast 7th May, 2021
Neuwellt, C , St John , S (2021) Rethinking Income Support for Children Part 1: Ensuring Adequate Indexation of Working for Families, CPAG backgrounder, 4th May 2021
April
Susan St John and Terry Baucher (2021) The housing crisis, taxation policy: restoring equity to the social fabric of New Zealand Wednesday, Auckland University of Technology, 28th April 2021.
St John, S (2021) Oral submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee: The Budget Policy Statement We are facing a pandemic of poverty that has been intensified by COVID | The Daily Blog Daily Blog 3rd April 2021
March
St John, S (2021) Submission to the Pensions Commission Ireland on reform of the state pension, RPRC, submissions, March 2021 Irish submission 9th March RPRC NZ final.pdf (auckland.ac.nz)
St John, S (2021) IRD, Treasury and MSD – Does the tail wag the dog? Daily Blog, 12th March 2021
St John, S (2021) International women’s day? How are the worst off mothers and their kids doing? Daily Blog: 5th March 2021
February
St John, S ( 2021) Time to use the Tax hose on the housing market, NZ herald 24th February, 2021
January
St John, S ( 2021) Any economic fix starts with fixing inequality (paywalled) and audio link here, National Business Review, 7th January 2021, PDF here