Good news for the wool industry. Wasn't such good news in December of last year when Kainga Ora, the country's largest landlord, put out tenders for new carpet and underlay, and specifically said wool suppliers need not apply.

So that was in December of 2024 then in January 2025, the agency opened its tender process to wool carpet suppliers, allowing a direct price and offering comparison. Remember when the representative for the wool industry said that wool suppliers, wool carpet suppliers, hadn't even been able to tender? For more than a decade, Kainga Ora had been using nylon and that was that. You weren't even allowed to say, look, actually, we can give you a really good price. It was just thanks, but no thanks.

And that was still the policy back in December of last year. in January, Kainga Ora opened itself up to what the wool industry could offer. At the time, chief executive Matt Crockett said Kainga Ora had traditionally used solution-dyed nylon carpet due to the durability and price. But yesterday came the announcement that Kainga Ora will use wool carpet in new state homes as of July.

The Government has played a huge part in this decision. Back in December of last year, as I say, Kainga Ora said no. Wool providers were specifically excluded in the call for tenders. That was because it was believed that wool was an extra $2-400 more per home than nylon. But after a directive to about 130 agencies in April that government buildings and government suppliers would use wool where possible, Kainga Ora changed its mind. Said, feel free to make a submission. Feel free to give us a price. And now New Zealand sheep farmers will be providing the carpet for Kainga Ora homes as of July. About 4500 new state houses will be affected, will be expected to be fitted out in the next three years.

Now I'm a huge fan of wool. I've been harping on about it for nearly a year now after having wool carpet put into my place. And surely its benefits outweigh the fact that it's slightly more expensive than the nylon – or rather it was. You know the $2-400 was before the wool carpet providers were able to actually come up with a price for Kainga Ora. They may well have sharpened their pencils. We won't know because the total value of the contract is commercially sensitive and can't be disclosed, according to Kainga Ora. So we don't know but you'd imagine that it's at least competitive with the nylon. And when you look at the whole of life of the carpet, you may well see that it's cheaper in the long run, better value in the long run than the nylon. The natural qualities allow wool to dampen sound, absorb pollutants. They contribute to healthier indoor environments by regulating humidity and improving air quality. So in terms of whole of life costs, sustainability, and health benefits, it ticks all the boxes.

So yay for the government directive. Yay for New Zealand's sheep farmers. Yay for the durability and environmentally superior qualities of all carpet. It's got to be a win for everyone, doesn't it?

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The largest agricultural expo in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the largest business expos in the Southern Hemisphere, has opened its gates this morning, and exhibitors are ready to do business.

That hasn't always been the case in Fieldays’ 57 year history – the rural economy has had its ebbs and flows over the years, and Fieldays in Hamilton has felt them. Confidence has waxed and waned, but not this year. This year, you've got the Massey Ferg’s descending on the Tron in their droves. This year the feeling is bullish, according to Richard Lindroos, the CEO of the National Fieldays.

“They say down here it's a bit of a positive vibe going on. Everything's going the right direction. We have certainty now in terms of where the prices are and the forecasts are pretty good, so we expect the rural community to open up the wallets at Fieldays. I think you're going to see those large capital expenditure, and the more certainty you have from the farming community, the better it will be. So our exhibitors down here, and we have over 1200, are looking forward to gates opening at 8am today. We go right through to Saturday. Saturday is Super Saturday, so I'm looking forward to even the townies coming down.”

Absolutely. It's an amazing event. I've had the privilege of going a couple of times —working and as a spectator— and it’s enormous amounts of fun, and enormous amounts of business is done in the good years. And as Richard referred to when he was talking to Mike Hosking this morning, he's expecting the wallets to be open, because there have been good prices in the agricultural sector for the farmers, and also one of the big ticket items in the Government's 2025 Budget was ‘Investment boost’. The facility that allows businesses to deduct 20% of a new assets value from that year's taxable income on top of normal depreciation.

There was a good example in the Herald: let's say a company invests in a machine worth $100,000, or a farmer if you will, that depreciates over 10 years, assuming a 10% straight line depreciation rate. Previously the company would have been able to deduct $10,000 worth of depreciation each year from its taxable income. Under investment boost, it could make a $20,000 upfront deduction, followed by $8,000 in depreciation deductions each year, including in year one. So you can see that that would have an impact. The Government hopes the change will significantly increase productivity by encouraging businesses to invest in new assets now, rather than waiting for the economy to improve.

You might have heard that yesterday when we were talking the solar power interest-free loan from ASB for farmers to invest in solar power technology. We had a farmer who rang in, he had actually got his loan through ANZ, but he said he'd been looking at solar power for a while and he just wasn't in a position to make that kind of upfront investment. This year he can and has.

So there's more money going on farm and into farmer's pockets. The investment boost, it is hoped, will see farmers and other businesses investing in new technology to allow for increased productivity. Is that what's going to happen? If you're heading to Fieldays, are you going there with the express aim to invest in new technology, technology you might have had your eye on for a while but you haven't been in a position to do anything about it until prices improved, and until you gets a commitment from the government like investment boost. Does investment boost, now you've had time to let it settle, mean that you are going to be investing in the kind of technology that's going to boost your productivity?

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As more people take the leap to owning their own businesses, many seem to be buying into already established brands.

Data suggests the business of franchising and owning established brands is booming, with around 30,000 franchise unites currently existing nationwide.

Association CEO Katrina King told Kerre Woodham they see franchising as being in business for yourself, but not by yourself.

She says as a franchisee you’re part of a system, but you’re very much still a small business in your local community.

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There’s been plenty of buzz around AI in the last few years.

The most recent headlines have been highlighting its evils, such as the creation and lack of regulation around deepfake technology and fake pornography.

However, there are many positive applications for AI technology, particularly in business.

Jason Flitter, founder of NewZealand.AI, joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the potential it holds to transform a workplace, as well as taking listener questions as to how it all works.

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If you turned up to work yesterday, first day of a new week, with a bad case of Mondayitis, feeling like you're getting nowhere working for the man, thinking now is the time in your life when you should be the master of your own destiny, making your own decisions, getting the true reward for your labours, well join the queue.

Buyer demand for New Zealand businesses is on the up with large business brokerage firm LINK reporting a record 19% year-on-year increase in would-be buyers signing confidentiality agreements, even though times are tough. You would think in a relatively depressed economy that people would stay put, that going out on your own would be the last thing you'd want to do, but no.

It's not just LINK, ABC Business Sales CEO Chris Small also reported a record number of sales. He said business sales were countercyclical to unemployment, with people looking to buy themselves into a job when employment opportunities dry up or they're made redundant. He says right now there's a lack of stock, listings were down 10%, while the number of buyers looking to buy a business was up 30%. You can put that down to immigration, a significant number of would-be buyers are immigrants, but Small says a growing number of those who are just sick of working for other people.

“It's becoming a real thing that people are coming to us and going, you know what I'm sick of, I'm sick of working for a big corporate. It's too woke or it's too annoying. I don't like my boss, and I want that financial freedom where actually, if they work really hard, you get rewarded. If you don't work hard, you're obviously going to be in a bit of trouble versus in corporate New Zealand - you can probably work pretty hard and not necessarily get rewarded for the hours you put in.”

Now, when I've talked to people who own their own businesses, who are one of the myriad small to medium businesses that are the backbone of the business economy, a lot of them grew up with parents who had their own business. That's the way they saw the world. That you had your own business, that you worked as a team, husband and wife within the business, the kids quite often helped out, and so it was the culture of your family, was to own your own business.

In our family, it was a bit different. My dad was adamant that my brother and I should get good jobs. When I signed up to the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand and my brother was an officer in the New Zealand Army, that was it for him. It was job done. We both had good, safe, secure jobs. Wonder how we'd look at the media landscape right now, but for him, it was getting a good, secure job. That was the dream.

And I'm really interested in those people who are leaving paid employment. Leaving a corporate or middle management role and deciding to go out and buy a business. Can you actually make a go of it if it's not in your bones? If it's not in your in your blood? Because running your own business is hard work and I wonder if people underestimate that when they think no, I'm going to buy myself a little business and everything will be tickety-boo. I won't have to answer to anybody if I work hard, I'll get the return on it, it won't be going to anybody else. If I want to take Saturday off then I can.

Well, can you? I mean, most of the business owners I know, especially in the early days of the business, were working seven days a week. Can you actually become a business owner later in life, without any kind of experience? Running your own business – it's not for the faint hearted. I totally understand that for people who don't enjoy their jobs, turning up, sitting down at the hot desk and finding filth is the first thing you do to start your day, having some overpaid tit telling you what to do and when to do it would be really grinding. You know, endless, pointless meetings would sap your soul. And I totally understand the desire to pick up your jacket, walk out, and start doing it for yourself.

I'd be really interested to hear from people's experiences and those of you who are business owners, who have been business owners since you left school. And what your words to these would-be businesspeople, what your words of wisdom might be to them. What would you tell those who are looking to leave the corporate world, where they've been a paid employee for the most of their working life, they're now in their 30s or 40s, and they've had a gutsful. And they want to buy a business and get out there and make something of themselves. What would you tell them?

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ASB is offering loans to help farmers balance their energy costs.

They’re offering five-year, interest-free loans of up to $150,000 for the installation of solar and battery systems on their properties.

The bank said farm electricity costs are rising, with the average 2025/26 season power bill expected to be around $28,000 for owner-operated dairy farms.

Research found most farms have rooftop space available for solar, and 60% of farmers say they have land that could be used for solar without reducing production.

Rural General Manager Aidan Gent told Kerre Woodham the main barrier to electrification in rural areas was a lack of understanding as to what it would mean for them to electrify their farms, as well as what the cost and payback would look like.

He says the bank is trying to ease access to capital, but also provide tools that help bring it to life.

Electrifying rural areas would also be a major boost to resilience, Gent says, as in the event of a major weather event like Cyclone Gabrielle, it’s much easier to distribute power from farmers’ set ups rather than waiting on the main lines to be repaired.

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When I was doing the rounds of the open homes, travelling all over the Auckland isthmus a couple of years ago, I was looking for something quite specific. A house where I could have my own space and where the kids could live separately as a family, because we were buying together. And there were quite a few just like that. One house I visited was owned by two doctors, they had two children, and they had brought her mother over from India – she was living downstairs and provided childcare and general household assistance. Another house was owned by a Chinese family. I don't know what they did, but the living arrangements were pretty much the same. A separate space pointed out to me by the real estate agent for the mother, so she could help out in the home. Not every family who makes a new home in New Zealand needs live-in help. But families who migrate here would probably love to be able to have their parents, their grandparents, come and visit for extended periods and it's going to be easier for them to do so.

Now the government is introducing a new visa to allow the parents of New Zealand citizens and residents multi-entry access for up to five years with the opportunity to renew that once again. There’s criteria to fulfil before the visas will be granted – it's not open slather. The parents sponsor, presumably their adult children, who are the New Zealand residents, have to earn the median wage for one parent, one and half times the median wage if they want to bring in two parents. The parents themselves have to have an income equivalent to the Super and importantly, they must meet an acceptable standard of health and have health insurance. As Katie Armstrong, owner of Into NZ Immigration, told Mike Hosking this morning:

“Obviously the concern when you're making this kind of visa is how to protect the system, how to help people reunite, but also how to protect the system. We've got a stretched health system, so trying to get that balance right is difficult, but I think it's, you know, with the insurance that's going to take the edge off a whole lot of this, it's going to be the first, well no, sorry the second Visa that we have that requires insurance.”

So the insurance means that they have to have at least one year of health insurance coverage, which provides for emergency medical cover up to at least a quarter of a million dollars, repatriation return of remains, and cancer treatment of at least $100,000. They must maintain this insurance for the entire duration they’re in New Zealand. While offshore during the third year of the multiple entry visitor visa, they will have to complete a new medical assessment and demonstrate that they have maintained their insurance.

ACT’s Immigration Spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar says the new visa means that skilled migrants can come to New Zealand with confidence they can have their parents around when they welcome a new child or when they need support, during any challenges that life throws or to help out with the childcare. Ultimately, she said, this visa makes New Zealand a more attractive destination for the talent we need to drive economic growth.

So does that make sense? If parents of migrants can come here at no cost to taxpayers, is there an issue? Is there a problem? If parents are going to be able to pay for their healthcare, if they have an income, if the sponsors (their children) are going to be looking after them. They're going to be contributing in terms of helping out with the childcare, helping out with support, it's going to make it a lot more attractive than new migrants coming here bringing their skills and not knowing if they're ever going to be able to get their parents over here. It's so much better than a lottery system.

I think it makes perfect sense. I would be really wary if there were any cracks or gaps they could fall through, that would mean expensive healthcare was going to be provided by the New Zealand taxpayer, but it looks like any possibility of that happening has been excluded with the health care coverage and with the requirement that before they can come back, they have to show that that health coverage has been maintained. So I'd love to get your views on this. I'd love to get your thoughts on this. If there is absolutely no cost to the taxpayer, where is the harm?

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