The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw jointly announced the Office today, to be operational from mid-2021. Read more
Our report, Living after Midnight, highlights New Zealand's antiquated way of restricting life after dark, and explains how cities such as Melbourne and Amsterdam have implemented very different, but successful, solutions to enable a thriving nightlife. The Initiative's Executive Director Oliver Hartwich spoke on Magic Talk to explains our findings in more details. Read more
Following the release of our report, Living after Midnight: For a better night-time environment, Dr Oliver Hartwich spoke to Newshub and explained how New Zealand could learn from cities such as Melbourne and Amsterdam who have implemented successful solutions to enable a thriving, and safe, nightlife - and highlighted how Sydney got it wrong. Read more
New Zealand's way of regulating nightlife often restricts the opportunities for night owls without improving issues of public health and security. Natanael Rother talks to Bryan Crump on Radio NZ about possible solutions. Read more
Following the larger than anticipated cut in the cash rate, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has signalled its preparation for unconventional monetary policies such as negative interest rates and quantitative easing. But such a move requires an urgent clarification of the Remit given to the RBNZ’s Monetary Policy Committee, argues a new research note by The New Zealand Initiative. Read more
What would happen if New Zealand banks implemented negative interest rates? Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich discusses his concerns on TVNZ Breakfast following the Reserve Bank's move of cutting the OCR to 1%. Read more
Earlier this week the Reserve Bank dropped the official cash rate by 50 base points to one percent - citing slow GDP growth over the past year and declining international trade. But what does this actually mean? Read more
Wellington (25 July 2019): The Interim Climate Change Committee has delivered a landmark report, according to The New Zealand Initiative's new policy paper When the facts change: How the ICCC saved New Zealand from a policy disaster. Analysis by the Interim Committee found the Government’s 100% renewable electricity policy would hike power prices and potentially deliver worse environmental outcomes. Read more
Eric Crampton talks on Radio NZ about the Integrated Data Infrastructure and how it might be best used to inform government policy. Read more
Bryce Wilkinson talks to Peter Williams on Magic Talk about our report Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour. He discusses the findings of the Fair Pay Agreements Working Group and explains why Fair Pay Agreements will not improve productivity. Read more
Wellington (16 July 2019): The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the decision by Minister of Energy and Resources Hon Megan Woods to accept the Interim Climate Change Committee’s recommendation to shift focus away from 100% renewable electricity to other more effective and less expensive emissions policies. The Interim Committee found the Government’s 100% renewables policy would increase power prices by up to 39% and could effectively raise New Zealand’s emissions by preventing a transition off fossil fuels to electricity in transport and parts of industry. Read more
Heritage buildings are in the spotlight after a devastating fire at Christchurch's 110-year-old Antonio Hall. The owners had not done any maintenance to it for more than 20 years and this led to calls for tougher rules for owners of heritage properties to take more care of their buildings. Read more
The Government must reject the recommendations made by former Prime Minister Jim Bolger’s Fair Pay Agreements Working Group (FPAWG) or face harming economic growth and productivity and the interests of workers, the unemployed and consumers, says public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative. The Initiative’s new report Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour, reveals that the Bolger report misrepresents New Zealand’s labour market record. Read more
Our report, Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour, was released on Tuesday, 9 July. Chairman, and co-author of the report Roger Partridge spoke on TVNZ Breakfast to discuss how our research has found that the case for the recommendations of the Fair Pay Agreement Working Group (FPAWG) in pursuit of the government's goal of a highly-skilled and innovative workforce and an economy that delivers well-paid, decent jobs and broad-based gains from economic growth and productivity, does not stack up. Read more
The Government must reject the recommendations made by former Prime Minister Jim Bolger’s Fair Pay Agreements Working Group (FPAWG) or face harming economic growth and productivity and the interests of workers, the unemployed and consumers, says public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative. The Initiative’s new report Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour, reveals that the Bolger report misrepresents New Zealand’s labour market record. Read more