Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He is a regular commentator in the media on public policy and constitutional law. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014, after 16 years as a commercial litigation partner. He is an honorary fellow of the Legal Research Foundation, a charitable foundation associated with the University of Auckland and was its executive director from 2001 to 2009. He is a member of the editorial board of the New Zealand Law Review and was a member of the Council of the New Zealand Law Society, the governing body of the legal profession in New Zealand, from 2011 to 2015. He is a former chartered member of the Institute of Directors, a member of the University of Auckland Business School advisory board, and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Anyone who has visited Sydney recently will have seen what asset recycling built. New metro lines that transformed commuter rail. Read more
Last week, the Government confirmed it would spend up to $200 million buying new Genesis Energy shares. Three ministers lined up to explain the decision. Read more
A principal who runs a school well does not get to tell parents what to cook for dinner. The authority is real – but it is specific. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report, Renovating the Nation, which proposes selling around $25 billion worth of government-owned commercial assets and reinvesting the proceeds into critical public infrastructure. Drawing on the success of New South Wales's asset recycling programme, Roger argues the Crown has too much capital tied up in businesses it doesn't need to own, and that ring-fencing sale proceeds in an independently governed fund could deliver the roads, hospitals, and public transport New Zealand desperately needs. Read more
Wellington (Monday, 2 March 2026) - New Zealand could unlock more than $24 billion for essential infrastructure by recycling mature Crown-owned commercial assets, according to a new report by The New Zealand Initiative. Renovating the Nation: How Asset Recycling Can Help Solve the Infrastructure Deficit, by the Initiative chair Roger Partridge, argues the government should redirect capital tied up in commercial enterprises into hospitals, schools, roads and water systems — without raising taxes or increasing public debt. Read more
Report author Roger Partridge will also discuss his report on a webinar with Fran O'Sullivan and Fraser Whineray on 2 March at 2:30 pm. You can register for that webinar here. Read more
This webinar launches Renovating the Nation: How Asset Recycling Can Help Solve the Infrastructure Deficit, a report by Roger Partridge arguing New Zealand can fund new infrastructure by recycling Crown-owned commercial assets the government does not need to own. Hosted by Dr Oliver Hartwich and featuring Fran O’Sullivan and Fraser Whineray (former CEO of Mercury), the discussion unpacks the New South Wales model and why New Zealand’s past asset sales failed to build trust. Read more
Roger Partridge discussed the New Zealand Initiative's new report on Newstalk ZB, which argues the government could unlock more than $24 billion by selling or leasing Crown-owned commercial assets such as Kiwibank and Air New Zealand. The report points to New South Wales as a model, where asset recycling raised more than $50 billion for a dedicated infrastructure fund, and Partridge suggested the approach could work alongside the proposed Infrastructure Commission. Read more
Roger Partridge discussed the Initiative's new report on asset recycling on RNZ, proposing that selling selected state assets — including TVNZ, NZ Post, energy company stakes, Transpower, and Landcorp — could free up around $25 billion for a ring-fenced infrastructure fund. Partridge argued the model, drawn from a successful New South Wales programme, would direct proceeds exclusively to infrastructure priorities vetted by an Independent Infrastructure Commission, and called for public debate to move beyond slogans like "selling the family silver." Listen below. Read more
On 5 February 2026, Donald Trump stood before the National Prayer Breakfast. The room was full of the faithful – pastors, politicians, and conservative leaders who had long believed that America’s renewal required a strong hand. Read more
Few policies manage to unite the left, the right and the Taxpayers' Union in opposition. The Government's billion-dollar LNG import terminal in Taranaki managed it inside 24 hours. Read more
Turn on the news and you will hear endless references to the Crown: “Crown obligations,” “Crown land,” “Crown Treaty settlements.” Politicians make decisions “on behalf of the Crown.” Courts issue rulings about what “the Crown” must do. Yet ask Kiwis what this “Crown” actually is, and many will give blank stares. Read more
Education Minister Erica Stanford stands accused of compressing a generation of reform into two years. Her programme is “radical,” “ideological,” and risks turning children into guinea pigs. Read more
Imagine Parliament passes a Schools Act “to promote the establishment of schools for the benefit of New Zealand.” Parliament is careful. It specifies exactly what the Minister must consider before approving a new school: the operator’s financial capability, site safety, compliance history, and consultation with local iwi. Read more
The pre-Christmas stoush between Finance Minister Nicola Willis and her 1990s predecessor Ruth Richardson has faded. The planned debate was cancelled. Read more