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
When it comes to pointlessness, the Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill takes some beating. When drawn from the ballot, the Bill proposed amending section 131 of the Companies Act 1993 dealing with the duty of directors to act in the best interests of the company. Read more
Local government often finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Councils have limited sources of funding – mainly ratepayers and borrowings – which have practical limits. Read more
The eight days since last Thursday have not been kind to Minister of Finance Grant Robertson’s budget. Initial assessments flattered to deceive. Read more
Anyone hoping for an end to the country’s housing affordability crisis should despair. Or at least they should if they live in New Zealand’s largest city. Read more
Sometimes change is sudden. At other times, it creeps up slowly and is only obvious looking back. Read more
This week’s revelation that the Government has spent over $80m in rebates to Tesla owners should cause outrage. And not simply because subsidising the well-off into new cars fails to pass the sniff test. Read more
Mike Hosking discusses Roger Partridge's Sunday Star Times column about Environment Minister David Parker’s Resource Management Act reforms and the three extraordinary interventions during March that point to the reform’s inevitable demise. Read more
This month, Environment Minister David Parker’s Resource Management Act reforms will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Provided, that is, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is listening. Read more
This submission in response to the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
Mike Hosking again discusses Roger Partridge's NZ Herald column about why a public service rethink is needed. Read more
The country’s public service is at a crossroads. Under former Public Services Minister Chris Hipkins, public sector headcount has exploded. Read more
Mike Hosking discusses Roger Partridge's NZ Herald column about why a public service rethink is needed. Read more
On Monday, journalists from Stuff tackled Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on his favourite pie. It’s steak, cheese and gravy, should you be wondering. Read more
Building back better was a common catch-cry as the country looked ahead to the post-Covid economy. And why not, you might think. Read more
Environment Minister David Parker’s Resource Management law reform proposals have been a long time in the making. The trio of Bills Parker proposes to replace the much-maligned Resource Management Act date back to the work of a government task force established in 2019. Read more