OPINION

In his key work, Machiavelli warned his Prince, “there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new one.” Machiavelli’s words could describe David Seymour’s predicament as he sets out on his bold quest to reestablish Charter Schools. Read more

Political strategists are obsessed with the art of winning elections. However, they sometimes overlook the equally impressive skill of losing them spectacularly. Read more

Eminent New Zealander, Sir Roger Douglas has renewed his case for radical changes to fiscal policy in the last three weeks. The issues are relevant to Budget 2024. Read more

For over a decade, we at The New Zealand Initiative have been staunch advocates for liberalising New Zealand’s foreign direct investment (FDI) regime. Our consistent message has been that New Zealand needs an influx of foreign capital to accelerate economic growth, and that our current FDI rules are overly restrictive, acting as a significant deterrent to potential investors. Read more

The European Central Bank’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time since 2019 is a significant turning point in the Eurozone’s monetary policy. After months of grappling with stubbornly high inflation, the ECB has finally blinked, betting that the worst of the post-pandemic price pressures are behind us. Read more

New Zealand's superannuation scheme is laudable for its universal and simple approach to ensuring dignity for our elders. However, the system's simplicity obscures unfortunate truth – it will punish our younger generations. Read more

If a picture contains a thousand words, this column is going to run well over our normal word limit. But the charts do say a lot, so we’ll let the charts do most of the talking. Read more

Yesterday, 6 June, was the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy. This day marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazism. Read more

Last weekend, deeply disturbing allegations emerged that the privacy of New Zealanders’ census data was grossly violated in the lead-up to the 2023 general election. Media reports include allegations that confidential personal information collected during the 2023 census on behalf of Statistics New Zealand was illicitly copied for private benefit. Read more

The nation is in shock following reports that former President of the USA, Donald Trump, is eyeing up New Zealand as a retirement option. With the two-term limit on the American presidency due to kick in if he wins the coming election, the former host of NBC’s ‘The Apprentice’ is considering a quiet exit from politics as New Zealand’s premier. Read more

It is not every day that a disagreement between a think tank and a central bank makes international headlines. But that is precisely what happened last week. Read more

New Zealand could use some easy wins. A miasma of slow stagnation appears to be settling over the country. Read more

New Zealand is heavily centralised. This stifles local initiative and contributes to sluggish productivity and anaemic economic growth. Read more

And so, the state advances. Thirteen steps forward, four steps back, then onward again. Read more

After criticism of his decision to postpone its free speech event after a student protested the involvement of ‘big meanies,’ Elizabeth University of HAMILTON Vice-Chancellor Jac Jones proved the nay-sayers wrong, showcasing diversity with an event at which 80% of the speakers took exactly the same view. ‘My critics didn’t think I had the cojones – sorry, the courage (I really do apologise),’ Jones said. Read more