Nick is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy.
Nick brings 30 years of policy and advocacy experience both inside and outside government. He joins us after 19 years at Federated Farmers, as the National Policy Manager. Nick managed a team of policy advisors, and led work on economic policy, including fiscal, tax, monetary, banking, competition, and overseas investment policies.
He also worked extensively on local government policy issues and has been the administrator of the Local Government Business Forum, a grouping of national business organisations interested in local government policy issues.
Five weeks out from an election, bottom lines are everywhere. Almost every minor party has one. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 23 September 2026) — Parliament has passed the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill, ending the Resource Management Act's 35-year reign. The New Zealand Initiative says the Acts settle the system's architecture but defer almost every decision about how it will behave to national direction that does not yet exist, to be written by whoever is the Minister after next year's election. Read more
Picture a councillor about to vote on whether her council should sell its shares in the local airport. Management tells her that voting one way could expose the council to legal risk. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill. Read more
Imagine you run a business as a “dag crusher”. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “dag” is a dirty bit of wool attached to a sheep’s rear end. Read more
In this episode, Nick talks with Oliver Hartwich about how the 2026 election could break MMP from two sides. Oliver's latest research note traces Te Pāti Māori's call for supporters to split their votes, why current polling could leave National with an overhang, and how the absence of compensation for overhang seats in New Zealand, unlike the German system it copied, could produce a Parliament that does not match the popular vote. Read more
Suppose a business is deciding where to expand around Christchurch. It can compare rates and building consent performance in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Draft Guidance on Regulations for Groups of Activities for Councils’ Planning and Reporting. Read more
Eric shows that, under the right ministers, the government’s replacement legislation should be an improvement on the existing RMA. But being better than the RMA is a very low bar. Read more
Local government reform has turned into a numbers game. The government’s ‘Head Start’ asks how many councils we should have, and where the lines between their jurisdictions should be drawn. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks with Nick Clark about the Government's Head Start process, which asks councils to put forward their own reorganisation proposals or have changes imposed on them. Nick draws on his report Head Start Done Right to question whether the amalgamation the process points towards would deliver the efficiencies the Government expects, and argues instead for subsidiarity, keeping decisions at the most local level rather than consolidating them upwards. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 30 June 2026) – The Government wants to merge New Zealand’s councils into a smaller number of big councils. A new report from The New Zealand Initiative says this is the wrong fix. Read more
The Government wants to merge New Zealand’s councils into a smaller number of big councils. A new report from The New Zealand Initiative says this is the wrong fix. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Better Regional Boundaries Bill. Read more
Once a year, as the days shorten, a great migration begins. From the warm offices of Wellington and the cafes of central Auckland, the political class sets out for Mystery Creek, where the gates of Fieldays open and the country remembers that it has a countryside. Read more