After many difficult years, 2025 felt different. It was not easier. The economy remained stagnant and the reform agenda demanded hard choices. But attitudes shifted. New Zealand stopped merely diagnosing its problems and started taking practical steps to solve them.

The Government moved decisively on housing. Minister Chris Bishop outlined reforms that would improve property rights, abolish rural-urban boundaries and establish a planning system that favours development. It is the most significant challenge to restrictive planning rules in a generation.

The Initiative has argued for these ideas for more than a decade. Seeing them move from our research papers into the Government’s reform programme is gratifying.

Transport funding is also being overhauled. The Government has committed to replacing the tax paid at the petrol pump with a system where all vehicles pay based on the distance driven. The new approach should prove fairer and more stable, as it links the amount we pay to how much we drive. This, too, is something the Initiative has long proposed.

In education, Minister Erica Stanford’s mandate for structured literacy is bringing proven teaching methods into every primary classroom. For years, literacy rates have been slipping, but policy has finally caught up with the evidence, and with our research.

Other reforms moved ahead as well. Resource management and foreign investment rules are being rewritten. However, housing, transport and education demonstrate how things are changing.

For the Initiative, 2025 was also a year of learning. In June, we took forty business and civic leaders to the Netherlands to understand how a small, open economy can be around 50 percent more productive than New Zealand.

The lessons were humbling. Dutch success stems not from clever legislation but from culture: practical problem-solving, trust between people and government, and measuring what works and dropping what does not.

Beyond the delegation, we kept up a busy programme of research and events throughout the year, with reports ranging from electoral reform to grade inflation.

None of this means the hard work is done. New Zealand still faces crumbling infrastructure, overloaded hospitals and a persistent productivity gap. The reforms now underway will take years to deliver results. It will take patience and persistence.

But looking to 2026, there is genuine cause for optimism. Long-planned projects will start to make a noticeable difference. The City Rail Link is due to open in Auckland, transforming the way the city moves. The new, knowledge-rich curriculum begins to reshape what happens in classrooms. Lower interest rates are already being felt throughout the economy, easing pressure on households and businesses.

We look forward to carrying on our work in the year ahead. None of it would be possible without our members and supporters, whose engagement keeps our research grounded in what matters.

And we thank you, our Insights readers, for following along and offering feedback throughout the year. Whether encouraging or critical, it is always welcome.

From all of us at The New Zealand Initiative, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a restful summer. See you in the New Year.