MEDIA

Wellington (Wednesday, 23 September 2026) – Fifty-one New Zealand business leaders have signed an open letter asking every political party to uphold private property rights and freedom of contract. The signatories include chief executives, chairs and directors of companies in banking, construction, education, energy, farming, finance, fishing, grocery, insurance, manufacturing and property. Read more

Our Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich joined Ryan Bridge on Newstalk ZB to discuss an open letter signed by around 50 business leaders calling on political parties to respect private property rights, freedom of contract, and lawful agreements. Oliver argued that policies like rewriting already-signed retirement village contracts, cancelling lawfully granted mining approvals, and threatening firms with nationalisation (including National's supermarket break-up plan) form a broader pattern of "post-rational politics," where any policy that polls well with focus groups is fair game, regardless of party or merit. Read more

Wellington (Wednesday, 23 September 2026) — Parliament has passed the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill, ending the Resource Management Act's 35-year reign. The New Zealand Initiative says the Acts settle the system's architecture but defer almost every decision about how it will behave to national direction that does not yet exist, to be written by whoever is the Minister after next year's election. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich joined Lisa Owen on Checkpoint with RNZ to discuss the open letter signed by more than 50 business leaders, spanning construction, grocery, property, banking, and investment, calling on political parties to uphold private property and contract rights. He argued that proposals to buy back BNZ, split up supermarket chains, break apart electricity "gentailers," and re-regulate retirement villages all share the same flaw: they're designed to poll well with focus groups rather than solve real problems, several of which stem from past government decisions such as pandemic-era money printing, restrictions on oil and gas, and decades of restrictive planning law. Read more

Wellington (Tuesday, 22 September 2026) – National wants to pass a law forcing Foodstuffs to split in two if the Commerce Commission signs off. PAK'nSAVEs and New Worlds would become members of separate nationwide co-operatives. Read more

Why does New Zealand need a defence force at all when no one is going to attack us? In this New Zealand Initiative webinar, retired Major General John Howard launches his research note Worth Defending, which argues that a credible, combat-capable Defence Force is not discretionary spending but the foundation on which the country's security, sovereignty and economic prosperity rest. Read more

Wellington (Wednesday, 16 September 2026) – New Zealand's prosperity depends on open sea lanes and a stable Pacific, and a new report from The New Zealand Initiative argues the country cannot secure either without a defence force able to contribute alongside its partners. In Worth Defending: Freedom, prosperity and the case for a stronger New Zealand Defence Force, Major General (Retired) John G Howard, MNZM, a Senior Fellow of the Initiative and the inaugural Chief of Defence Intelligence, argues that a credible, combat-capable Defence Force is not discretionary spending but the foundation on which the country's security, sovereignty and economic prosperity rest. Read more

Retired Major General John Howard joined Susana Lei'ataua on RNZ to discuss the current Geopolitical climate. Tensions in the Middle East have escalated again, with the US military announcing it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for an attempted Iranian attack on a US Navy warship. Read more