MEDIA

Wellington (Tuesday, 9 November 2021) The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has no legal or democratic mandate for climate change, says a new report from think tank The New Zealand Initiative. Climate of fear: How the Reserve Bank is overstepping its mandate documents serious breaches of the RBNZ's responsibilities as regulator of the financial system, including one instance of misconduct. Read more

As the world is slowly emerging out of Covid-19, the next big crisis may already appear on the horizon. After bold fiscal and monetary packages to cushion the blow of the pandemic, inflation, stagflation and asset market disruption are dangers for the world economy. Read more

Eric Crampton told Heather Du Plessis-Alan on Newstalk ZB that vaccinated people should get hospital priority. New Zealand only has 183 ICU beds, so cases will be dealt with based on urgent need. Read more

In his latest podcast Leighton Smith discusses a wide range of important issues with Oliver Hartwich including the economy and Covid, interest rates,  centralism, education and debt.

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Wellington (Tuesday, 19 October 2021) – Today, the Government took a significant step toward restoring housing affordability. The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomed the announcement, supported by Labour and National, of a broad upzoning across urban centres where housing is terribly unaffordable. Read more

On Newstalk ZB, Mike Hosking reviews and reads out parts of Roger Partridge's latest NZ Herald article "Covid Delta outbreak: An end to New Zealand exceptionalism". Roger says If Auckland takes the full eight weeks to work its way through the Government’s “three-step plan” for Alert Level 3, 1.6 million Kiwis will have endured amongst the world’s strictest restrictions for more than half a year. Read more

Wellington (Tuesday, 12 October 2021) – The New Zealand Initiative is urging the Government to substantially reconsider a provision in the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No. 2) that would allow it to commandeer private Covid testing facilities and equipment such as those of Rako Science. The egregious provision and its implications for New Zealand’s testing capability were the subject of the New Zealand Initiative’s submission on the Bill. Read more

Wellington (Thursday, 30 September 2021) – The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed today’s announcement from Immigration Minister Hon Kris Faafoi that the government will provide a pathway to residency for migrants currently in New Zealand. In May, The New Zealand Initiative implored the government to rethink their hostile approach to skilled migrants and called for migrants to be given residence. Read more

Eric Crampton talks to Bryan Crump on Radio NZ Nights about the history of Libertarian attitudes towards vaccination.

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Dr Anne Wyllie, a New Zealand-born researcher at Yale University, led the development of Yale’s SalivaDirect test authorised for use in the USA, and independently validated in Portugal, Mexico, Ireland and the Philippines. She joined the New Zealand Initiative’s Dr Oliver Hartwich and Dr Eric Crampton for a public Zoom webinar on New Zealand’s COVID-19 response, and how we can better manage the pandemic. Read more

Germans have cast ballots to choose a successor to Angela Merkel. Oliver Hartwich, originally from Germany, speaks to Mike Hosking about the election results and what they could mean for Europe’s largest economy. Read more

Mike Hosking reviews and reads out part of Bryce Wilkinson's article (published in the NZ Herald) "How past illusions and future follies mar Grant Robertson's economic strategy." Hosking calls it today's "must read". In the article on his new report "Illusions of History: How misunderstanding the past jeopardises our future", Bryce warns that the government's economic policy settings risk a repeat of past mistakes. Read more

Wellington (Tuesday, 21 September 2021) – The 2.8 percent jump in GDP in the June quarter 2021 does not mean that the government’s economic strategy is sound. In fact, it is dangerous wishful thinking based on a false reading of history, according to a new research report from The New Zealand Initiative. Read more

On Newstalk ZB, Mike Hosking reviews Roger Partridge's latest NZ Herald article "Should the Ministry of Health be responsible for pandemic policy?" Roger highlights various studies that have called for a dedicated agency to manage New Zealand's pandemic response. The NZ Herald article "Should the Ministry of Health be responsible for pandemic policy? Read more

Mike Hosking reads out Roger Partridges' opinion piece (published in the NZ Herald) about why the Government can't drive covid strategy by looking backwards. Roger points out that looking back at what worked on the early part of the Covid journey may not help with what is in front of us now and looking backwards is a big part of New Zealand's current predicament. Read more