MEDIA

Wellington (7 July 2019): The New Zealand Initiative is proud to support the release of Local Government New Zealand’s (LGNZ) localism discussion paper, Reinvigorating local democracy, which was launched today at the 2019 LGNZ Conference in Wellington. The discussion paper outlines a gradual process for New Zealand to move from being one of the world’s most centralised countries in the developed world to one that is prepared to trust its communities to play a meaningful role in our social, economic and cultural development. Read more

Wellington (4 July 2019): The New Zealand Initiative commends the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s draft report on local government funding and financing. “The report stresses the importance of high performing local government for community wellbeing. Read more

New Zealand has been confirmed, by industry sources, as the primary location for a massive new TV series on Lord of the Rings. It is being produced by Amazon and it was a toss up between here and Scotland. Read more

The Independent Climate Change Committee's (ICCC) report into how New Zealand can reach the 100% renewable energy target seems to suggest the policy will be very expensive and will undermine New Zealand's efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions overall. This is completely in line with findings from our report Switched On! Read more

The New Zealand Initiative has appointed Barbara Chapman, CNZM, as Deputy Chair of its Board of Directors. Ms Chapman, who has sat on the Initiative Board since 2017, is a former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ASB Bank. Read more

New Zealand attracted global attention after unveiling a "world-first" well-being budget. It's based on priorities such as mental health and child poverty instead of the usual growth and jobs. Read more

Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton talks to Newstalk ZB about the deterioration of the Treasury and the lack of economists being hired. Listen to the full interview below:  Read more

As we wait for the release of the Interim Climate Change Committee's (ICCC) report on the 100% renewable energy policy, the Initiative's Matt Burgess and Oliver Hartwich explain why a Government decision to abandon the policy and take a different approach will be a win for the environment and a win for Kiwi households - and that is something to be congratulated. Matt Burgess is the Initiative's energy expert, and published his report, Switched On! Read more

The Government is not considering lowering the speed limits on most major roads, despite new evidence showing around 87 percent of speed limits are too high for the conditions. But is it that simple: reducing the road toll by lowering the speed limits? Read more

Wellington (28 May 2019): As teachers prepare to leave the classroom on strike, a new policy point released by The New Zealand Initiative proposes a potential solution to the seemingly impossible impasse. "Minister Hipkins is in a thoroughly unenviable position," said Dr Eric Crampton, the Initiative’s Chief Economist and author of Biting education bullets. Read more

Public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the changes to NCEA that have been announced today by Education Minister Chris Hipkins. It is encouraging that the Minister’s NCEA Change Package mirrors so many of the recommendations in our 2018 report, Spoiled by Choice: How NCEA hampers education, and what it needs to succeed. Read more

The New Zealand Initiative today released its latest report, Refreshing Freshwater: Valuing the priceless. We believe it provides the best way of achieving the goals set in Minister Parker's Essential Freshwater programme. Read more

Eric Frykberg discusses our new report Refreshing Water in the Rural News update on Radio New Zealand. Author Eric Crampton explains why a cap-and-trade system (similar to the Emissions Trading Scheme) would give New Zealand a real chance to substantially improve the sustainability of our rivers and aquifers. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton speaks to Ngati Porou radio about his report, Refreshing Water, saying we believe our research provides a tool that will help Minister Parker, and the Government, achieve their goals of improving freshwater in New Zealand as outlined in the Essential Freshwater programme.

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Chief Economist Eric Crampton shares his thoughts on the cannabis referendum, and legalisation, with Mike Yardley on Newstalk ZB. 

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