The much-anticipated opposition tax cut plan has just been released by the National party in the last few minutes, and finally New Zealanders have a clear picture of what John Key has been talking about for several months.

It was revealed yesterday that National would scale back on tax cuts because of the declining state of the New Zealand economy. Breaking news has announced that if elected in the 2008 election next month, John Key plans to put an extra $15 in the average wage earner’s pocket each week above the current tax cut plan offered by the incumbent New Zealand Government.

National plans to, if elected, roll out most of the tax cuts in April next year, while the current Labour party plan sees cuts rolling out slower, culminating in 2011.

John Key will formally confirm figures this afternoon at a press conference in Auckland. Keep tabs on the NZS.com political news headlines for updates.

Biking to work, to coffee, and to the grocery store has become rampantly popular this year. With the ‘Green’ ecological movement, variable petrol pricing and increasing traffic congestion issues, biking or cycling has become a new way of life for thousands of Kiwis country-wide - many of whom would never have thought of biking for transport before.

Like any trend which is taken up, we’re now seeing the biking backlash - lead by those who are unhappy with the behaviour of cyclists on inner city roads. It has been a common topic in the opinion media lately - are cyclists arrogant and inconsiderate to every other road user?

A recent TV3 News piece assessed popular cycling roads around St Heliers in Auckland, particularly Tamaki Drive. The road, which does not have cycle lanes, is often congested with groups of 10+ cyclists who, according to some pedestrians, will not stop at crossings, cycle 3 or 4 people side-by-side (instead of the legal maximum of 2), and keep traffic at 30kms per hour, making the short drive to Auckland city take up to an hour.

What do you think of cyclists’ behaviour on central city streets? Are they arrogantly disobeying road rules, or simply trying their best to stay safe on the roads, looking out for opening car doors and overloaded 4WD’s, while enjoying themselves socially and keeping fit?

After months of waiting, it’s finally October 1, and New Zealanders can look forward to a slightly chubbier pay packet for their first pay period ending in October.

Labour’s tax cuts roll out today, giving Kiwi wage-earners a little extra each week to help with the rising cost of living.

How much more can you expect each week?

Salaries between $20,000 and $30,000 will gain an extra $12 per week ($624 per year); salaries between $40,000 and $60,000 will give you an extra $16 ($832 per year); and $70,000+ salaries will yield an extra $28 ($1456 per year).

This wage bump-up will increase yearly in 2010 and 2011, and to find out exactly how much extra your family is set to receive weekly over the next three years, check out the tax cut calculator on the Labour website.

Unfortunately the world’s financial crisis is again in disarray after the US congress failed to agree on a $1 trillion bail-out plan for the US economy. While the NZ Government and the opposition continued to insist that today’s tax cuts remain affordable, the NZX fell 4.5% yesterday, along with a NZ to US dollar, dropping 2c.

For updates, keep tabs on the latest business news headlines on NZS.com.

Image from Flickr.

You have probably heard about the world’s financial crisis which has unveiled over the last 24 hours - but investment news can be confusing to understand at the best of times. Do you know what is going on?

The Situation

The New York Stock Market saw the worst sell-off day in years yesterday, as Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest Wall Street investment bank, went under - filing for bankruptcy. Another financial management company, Merrill Lynch, then agreed to a takeover by the Bank of America, which sparked a global sell-off the stock market.

The firms plunged because of their enormous exposure to the US subprime mortgage market. This collapse is the cause for the global credit crunch, which will have worldwide effects. Economists are predicting more firms to fall into the same situation (insurance giant AIG has just been rescued by the US Government with an $85 billion emergency loan), particularly for companies with debt linked to mortgages.

How does this affect you?

While The Reserve Bank says NZ does not have much direct exposure to Lehman Brothers, AIG has 45,000 NZ customers, including some of our biggest companies. New Zealand banks are also largely owned by Australian parents, many of whom have reported direct exposure to the affected US firms.

The impact of the world financial crisis may mean New Zealand’s expected economy recovery may slow down or even not happen at all over the next year. The fall of the US firms will flow through to NZ shares and the NZ dollar, and may have significant effects on New Zealand savings schemes such as pensions, Kiwisaver and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Savings rates may also plunge, and mortgage rates could stay higher for longer.

Keep up to date with the financial crisis by keeping tabs on the business news headlines on NZS.com.

The next twelve months of NZ Design will be showcased for the next four days in New Zealand’s premiere fashion event, Air NZ Fashion Week.

The extravaganza kicked off with the launch party last night (amongst copious bottles of Moet champagne) as all of the usual Kiwi celebrities and fashion-philes came out in anticipation of the most exciting week in Auckland’s social calendar.

World kicked off at the tents at 11am this morning with the first show, which as promised was extravagantly theatrical with faux-fur mini skirts, sequined shirts and even male models carrying pink handbags! Dunedin designers Nom*D are getting ready as we speak for the headline show tonight, and the much talked about Trelise Cooper will take their place tomorrow as the one to watch for the day.

If you can’t get to Fashion Week, and are looking for a little designer something, check out endemicworld.com. Stocking not just designer fashion but giftware, homeware and a range of other pieces of NZ Design, they are your online source of fashion accessories and streetwear today - a great fix when you can’t be front row at a New Zealand designer show!

Image from Flickr.

The Election Date for New Zealand was set just minutes ago, as Saturday November 8, 2008. Kiwis countrywide have been waiting for the announcement of this date for some time, so it’s a relief to all to finally put a day to the event.

And so the Election 08 race begins! Expect to see the Clark versus Key showdown come into full force in the coming eight weeks…

The real estate sales game, alongside property management in New Zealand, often gets a bad wrap from tabloid-style news shows in New Zealand. We’re constantly hearing about families who have been ripped off or mislead by those within the real estate industry, and the media create a flurry in reporting these cases because until now, there has been nothing those families could do.

This is all set to change next year when anyone who has had a grievance with somebody within the property industry can go to a crown agency with their complaint, and will be able to receive up to $100,000 in compensation if a complaint is upheld.

Currently, there are no provisions for compensation, and real estate professionals are only liable for a maximum fine of $750 for individuals, and $5000 for companies. Offences that will draw these fines include: practicing without a license, giving false or misleading information, failing to disclose conflicts of interest and rendering false accounts, among other breaches.

Due to be implemented in late 2009 or early 2010, this approach aims to reinstall faith in the real estate industry. The system will ideally make sure that reliable property management and property sales companies get the credit and respect they loose by the few cases of sour experiences with others from their profession.

In the next bid to Googlise the online world, Google launched the BETA version of its new browser Chrome just hours ago. Contrary to many New Zealand reports, the new browser is now available for download - many New Zealand news stories have claimed it wasnt to be released until Thursday the 4^th.

So what is new and different about the new Google browser? The NZS.com team’s first impression is that pages are loading faster than on other browsers, and the interface, while decidedly simple, is cohesive and easy to adapt to.

All of our settings were imported, and we love the fact that each individual tab runs itself with ‘crash control’ - so if one site causes problems the entire browser won’t need to close, just that tab.

Every time you open a new tab, you also get a ‘most visited’ page with screenshots of your most frequently visited sites and searches. A great novelty feature is the ‘incognito view’, meaning ‘what comes into this browser, stays in this browser’ - it’s stealth surfing made easy.

Creating, dragging and moving tabs and shortcuts is easy, and there’s no doubt that we’ll discover many more customisable beauties throughout Google Chrome’s first day of use.

Olympics fans across the world were stunned and amazed by the quality of the Olympics opening ceremony on Saturday morning over the weekend - with many noting their favourite segment to be the 28 fireworks footprints leading to Olympic Stadium, signifying the previous 28 modern Olympic Games.

Breaking news this morning just revealed that those fireworks were faked - at least those which millions of viewers saw from home in the televised version. While the Beijing opening ceremony organisers did let off 28 fireworks footprints into the sky leading to the Bird’s Nest, this was not filmed, as they believed it was going to be too dangerous and difficult to have a helicopter following them so low down in the skies.

Instead, a 55-second computer generated sequence was made, taking over a year to compete, which featured camera shake and even Beijing smog to create a realistic and stunning fireworks display.

With some promising efforts from Mahe Drysdale, Emma Twigg and Moss Burmester last night, New Zealand can hope to see its first Olympic Medal in finals over the coming days.

Image from Flickr.

It’s been a dark and stormy few days in New Zealand weather this week, and we’re only just starting to see the end of Mother Nature’s turmoil this afternoon. Nationwide flooding has caused evacuations, road closures, rolling ships, power cuts and landslides over the last two days, threatening the homes and lives of New Zealanders in several different parts of the country.

Civil defense emergencies have been declared in several difference provinces. The Marlborough region of the South Island saw the storm carve a 1100 metre swathe down the country, destroying almost everything in its path. Wellington has seen 120 kilometre per hour winds which have toppled trees and cut electricity, and a small tornedo has ripped roofs off houses in Mt Maunganui. The cruise liner Pacific Sun was hit by seven metre swells and 50 knot winds at sea, rolling the ship and injuring 42 people on board 600kms off Auckland. Kaikoura has seen a bus flushed out to sea, and a woman in the Bay of Islands was swept to her death while trying to cross a swollen creek in the Bay of Islands. These are just some of the horrifying events New Zealand has seen over the last 48 hours.

Weather forecasts are showing the storm easing this evening over most parts of the country, with heavy rain becoming occasional, and gusts lessening. People are being allowed to return to their homes in the North Island, however many North Canterbury residents will be forced to brave the night elsewhere tonight.

If you’re able to help out anybody in distress, make sure you’re true to our Kiwi ideal of sticking your neck out for others, and lend a hand to those in need. If you or anyone you know is in need of any emergency services, staff and volunteers are working overtime countrywide to assist wherever they can. Stay safe and rest assured that the worst is over New Zealand!