Wellington (Tuesday, 16 September 2025) – The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the Government’s decision to strengthen the governance of the Commerce Commission, describing it as an important step towards world-class regulatory practice. The Initiative’s 2018 report Who Guards the Guards? Read more

Roger Partridge talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about The New Zealand Initiative's report proposing consolidating New Zealand's fragmented public service structure. Partridge outlined a three-step plan to streamline government by reducing ministerial portfolios from 81 to 15-20, creating junior minister roles, and consolidating departments from 43 to around 20, similar to peer nations like Ireland and Norway. Read more

Roger Partridge talked to Wallace Chapman on RNZ's "The Panel" about his report "Unscrambling Government" which calls for reducing New Zealand's 81 ministerial portfolios to improve government efficiency. He argued that New Zealand's fragmented structure, with three times as many portfolios as comparable countries like Norway, creates accountability issues and inefficient decision-making compared to more streamlined international models. Read more

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report "Unscrambling Government," which proposes consolidating New Zealand's extraordinarily complex government structure from 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments down to a more manageable 15-20 portfolios with corresponding departmental consolidation. They discuss how New Zealand's fragmented ministerial system creates accountability problems, increases fiscal costs, and hampers effective decision-making on critical issues like housing affordability, comparing unfavourably to other small advanced economies that operate with far simpler structures. Read more

This webinar launches Unscrambling Government: Less Confusion, More Efficiency, a report by Roger Partridge proposing practical reforms to New Zealand’s fragmented executive of 81 portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments. Hosted by Dr Oliver Hartwich with commentary from Dr Murray Horn (former Treasury Secretary; ex-ANZ CEO), the discussion explores how consolidating portfolios into 15–20 senior ministers supported by junior ministers, and aligning departments to around 20, could restore clarity, speed up decisions, and sharpen accountability—drawing on lessons from Ireland, Norway, Singapore, and Australia’s Hawke-era reforms. Watch below. Read more

Nick Mills discussed Roger Partridge's report "Unscrambling Government: Less confusion, more efficiency" on Newstalk ZB, criticising New Zealand's bloated public service structure of 81 ministerial portfolios and 43 departments. Mills argued that The New Zealand Initiative's recommendations to consolidate portfolios and create mega-ministries represent common sense reforms that the government should have implemented already. Read more

Roger Partridge's report on New Zealand's ministerial portfolios was featured in Newstalk ZB's news bulletin. His research found that New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios compared to just 17 in Norway and 16 in Singapore, with The Initiative calling for a culling of ministers and the creation of junior ministerial roles to improve decision-making efficiency. Read more

Roger Partridge talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about his latest report calling for a major overhaul of government structure. Partridge argued that New Zealand's complex system of 81 ministerial portfolios across 28 ministers and 43 departments creates fragmented decision-making and higher costs, advocating for consolidation to around 15-20 policy areas and 20 departments similar to other developed countries. Read more

Wellington (Tuesday, 2 September 2025) - New Zealand has one of the most complex systems of executive government in the developed world. With 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers and 43 departments, we have three times as many portfolios and nearly twice as many departments as comparable countries. Read more