The strongest protection tenants can have is plenty of other potential places to rent, from different landlords eager to rent them a home. When zoning rules make it very difficult to build new housing, existing landlords do not face much potential competition. Read more

Last year, Cabinet papers promised that New Zealand’s agricultural-product regulator would be required to use assessments from trusted overseas regulators. The bills now before Parliament instead say the regulator must merely “have regard to” them. Read more

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single politician in possession of good polling must be in want of an election. Similarly, politicians lacking public support are wary of the electoral meatgrinder that awaits them. Read more

An alcohol licensing regime should have one big job: to ensure that licensed outlets operate responsibly, first by vetting applications and then by monitoring compliance. Its measures should be proportionate to the risks being addressed, and cost-effective. Read more