On Thursday 14 July, the Initiative hosted Stephen Jennings for a dinner lecture. Jennings, the Taranaki-born economist and investor, has spent the past 24 years outside New Zealand. Read more

Accounting for 30 percent of the population and 35 percent of the economy, Auckland is New Zealand’s dominant city. Whoever will be Auckland’s mayor after October’s local elections, he or she will play an important role for Auckland– and for New Zealand. Read more

Government’s right to compel private owners to sell land for public works makes it easier for the government to build things like roads. A single hold-out owner along the route’s most logical path could otherwise hold the government to ransom. Read more

The economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region has been a major success story of the last few decades, with overseas trade helping lift a quarter of a billion people from poverty to middle income. Now trade growth is slowing, the demographic dividend is over, and technology is disrupting. Read more

The New Zealand Initiative welcomes you to a panel discussion on the rise of ‘lifestyle regulations’. While we may be used to policies that address the negative outcomes of smoking, we now see policies aimed at what you eat and drink too. Read more

Canadian and New Zealand responses to last October’s refugee crisis could not have been more different. Kiwis who wanted to help Syrian refugees did admirable work in preparing for those refugees that New Zealand did accept. Read more

Our Retreat is the chance to discuss social and economic issues with members and bring those issues to the attention of New Zealand’s leading politicians. Please contact Chelsy at chelsy.blair@nzinitiative.org.nz for further information. Read more

The European Union has been in crisis for many years. Simultaneous sovereign debt, banking and monetary crises have tested the European institutions to the limit. Read more

In today’s economy, regulations are ubiquitous. Successive governments have bequeathed us a legacy of thousands of pages of legislation and regulations which, in theory, every company manager and director should know. Read more

Changing national laws can be cumbersome. Finding central government solutions to local problems can be impossible. Read more

The Prime Minister has agreed to discuss the recommendations of our regulation project at a special members' lunch in September. About the speaker Prime Minister John Key has been the Prime Minister of New Zealand since November 2008 and Leader of the New Zealand National Party since November 2006. Read more

Come along and listen to some of New Zealand’s top university debaters battle it out with the moot: This house believes that high house prices make us poorer as a nation. We will have panellists Phil Twyford, MP, Labour Party Housing Spokesperson and Andrew King, Executive Officer, New Zealand Property Investors Federation. Read more

Come along and listen to some of New Zealand’s top university debaters battle it out with the moot: This house believes that economic growth always comes at the expense of people and the environment. We will have panellists Sir Roger Douglas and Sue Bradford. Read more

Come along and listen to some of New Zealand’s top university debaters battle it out with the moot: This house would legalise euthanasia. We will have panellists Maryan Street (former Labour MP) and Dr Stephen Child of NZMA. Read more

Hon Hekia Parata will give an update on charter schools, Investing in Educational Success programme, and her take on the future of Maths teaching. About the speaker Hekia has lived and worked in Wellington for most of the past 30 years during which time she has worked in both the public and private sector, holding senior policy and management positions and running a successful consultancy company with her husband Sir Wira Gardiner, advising clients in New Zealand and internationally, She has represented New Zealand at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, DC, and at a number of multinational forums including the South Pacific Forum, the United Nations Forum, the World Bank Forum and a number of international indigenous forums. Hekia came to Parliament after the General Election in November 2008. Read more