OPINION

An Auckland apartment complex has just taken advantage of the new Unitary plan and opened without any carparks. The developers point out the proximity of public transport. Read more

If you wanted to know how well New Zealand’s education system and Kiwi students were doing, you really wouldn’t want to start with NCEA data. Getting a comparative assessment of students’ strengths was never the point of NCEA. Read more

To begin with, sugar taxes are offensive. They presume that some government official knows better than you about what food choices are best for you. Read more

Policy analysis is like a lot of other project work. It can be good, it can be fast, and it can be cheap – but it cannot be all three. Read more

In last week’s Insights, Oliver Hartwich argued that ACT can learn little from Germany’s FDP. As ACT’s Leader, I am grateful for the right to reply. Read more

Sir Michael Cullen wants to use the tax system to help us all behave better. We have a few ideas to help build upon this noble pursuit. Read more

Parliament deserves better advice about the policies it is being asked to consider. Imagine that you and your partner agreed that you would buy a house together after the wedding – and you both had your eyes on a particular property. Read more

The excitement around the new Labour-NZ First-Green Government and National’s leadership change makes it easy to forget there is a fifth party in Parliament, too. But at last we learnt earlier this week how ACT wants to revive its fortunes. Read more

Now is the time for all good Jedi to come to the aid of their country. In the classic Cold War film, Dr Strangelove reminded us that it is pointless for a country to have a doomsday device if it is kept secret. Read more

We all want a New Zealand where citizens can enjoy a healthy and prosperous life. But, there is still a long way to go. Read more

If monetary policy is the Reserve Bank’s smash hit, its prudential regulation of financial markets is its B-side track. Yet the bank’s role as prudential regulator deserves scrutiny. Read more

The housing supply shortage is worse than expected. That makes it even more important that government focuses on the key barriers to getting more houses built. Read more

Imagine buying a house, or choosing a spouse without knowing anything about them. You wouldn’t do it. Read more

When I was a lad, Treasury was a home for bean counters. Many a fine public servant did an accounting degree part-time at evening classes at Vic. Read more

For cynics, it would be easy to denounce the government’s provincial growth programme as a slush fund. However, I am not cynical about the government’s intentions. Read more