Over the past couple of weeks, the two major parties have told us about their fiscal policies. Both promise to return the budget to surplus before the end of the decade. Read more
National has introduced a bill banning under 16s from social media, and both coalition partners have refused to back it. Oliver and Damien ask whether such a ban could work, and whether the state should be involved at all. Read more
Mike Hosking recommended Dr Oliver Hartwich's New Zealand Herald column on Labour's capital gains tax on Newstalk ZB, calling it "absolutely brilliant". He worked through Dr Hartwich's account of a debate hosted by the Institute for Democratic and Economic Analysis, where no one in the room backed the policy, along with the design flaws Dr Hartwich set out, including no adjustment for inflation, exemptions that leave little beyond rental housing, and revenue earmarked for free GP visits in a country already short of doctors. Read more
On Monday evening, I sat on a panel at Foxglove on Queens Wharf in Wellington, where I was expected to play the neoliberal villain. The Institute for Democratic and Economic Analysis is a think tank devoted to fighting poverty and political exclusion. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich talks with Michael Laws on The Platform on how to fix our spaghetti diagram public service. Oliver discusses the need to have clearer responsibility lines within our state sector. Read more
I have always liked Iceland. My first visit was on a cruise ship in the mid-1990s. Read more
In this episode, Michael talks to Tenby Powell ONZM, former mayor of Tauranga and leader of KiwiKARE, about his team's humanitarian work in Ukraine and how nearly five years of war have transformed the battlefield. Tenby describes evacuating civilians from areas too dangerous to stay in, and the stoves his workshops build from scrapped water cylinders to keep people alive in winter when energy infrastructure has been destroyed. Read more
A fortnight ago, the government agreed a sale worth $702 million. Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop sold the loans the Crown made to Chorus to help build the ultrafast broadband network, for $60 million above book value. Read more
New Zealand is about to lose a German bread that was never German, and as the only German in the room, I have been invited to grieve. I will pass. Read more
On my first morning as Prime Minister, I would deliver a speech. It would contain no slogans or platitudes about becoming the best country in the world. Read more
Te Pāti Māori have told supporters to give them their electorate vote and send their party vote elsewhere. Oliver and Damien ask what happens if National voters start doing the same, and whether MMP survives it. Read more
The Financial Markets Authority is having a bad year. Its chair resigned in May. 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
At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori asked its supporters for something no party had requested so openly before: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. The request rests on MMP’s overhang rule. Read more
At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori told its supporters to split their votes: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. A new research note by The New Zealand Initiative warns this call could set off a chain of tactical voting that kills MMP. Read more