As localism – the idea that local communities should have more control over decisions that affect them – gains political capital, questions naturally arise: What would localist policies look like? What do councils think about localism? Read more
Ever since HSBC’s Paul Bloxham first called New Zealand a “rock star economy” back in 2014, I have been wondering what he had meant. It was not entirely clear, even back then when the economy was doing a lot better. Read more
New Zealand’s councils want more of a say over local matters. Informed by local knowledge, they believe they can make better choices for their people than the central government in Wellington. Read more
German state elections rarely warrant a column in New Zealand. But when an election threatens to end Germany’s post-war political order, an exception is justified. Read more
In recent weeks, media reports have highlighted two seemingly unrelated issues: a severe shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) and the closure of businesses due to soaring electricity prices. While these issues may appear to be distinct, they share a root cause. Read more
Te Whatu Ora Commissioner Lester Levy opened our second Health Innovators’ Summit with a sobering stocktake. Patients wait too long for essential services. Read more
This week the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered the Official Cash Rate (OCR) from 5.50% to 5.25%. Many market economists predicted this change. Read more
Old fashioned crimes, like car theft and burglary, have certain characteristics that can be annoying for the police. For one thing, laws have to be passed to define them. Read more
If you have ever attended an Australia-New Zealand business conference, you will know how predictable they have become. So much so, one could script them in advance: effusive declarations of being family, obligatory jokes about rugby and pavlova, followed by the same old gripes about mutual recognition and franking credits. Read more
Access to primary healthcare is as critical to a government's survival as keeping the lights on. Yet a quarter of a million Kiwis cannot even register with a local GP. Read more
New Zealand has one of the world’s more centralised governments. Most taxation, regulation, and spending happen at the central government level. Read more
Even if Labour had not banned offshore oil and gas exploration in 2018, it seems unlikely that exploration since then would have been delivering gas today. Gas reserves would have had to be discovered, then permits and equipment for drilling secured. Read more
Prime Minister Luxon declared at last weekend’s National Party conference that the country faces an educational crisis. New data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS) show that 78% of Year 8 students – nearly four out of every five – are behind curriculum expectations in maths. Read more
As an education academic, I taught the quantitative component of a research methods paper for the Master of Education programme. Most of the students undertaking that qualification were mid-career teachers. Read more
New Zealand's housing crisis has long been a bugbear for policymakers, affecting a wide range of policy areas beyond housing itself. Almost everyone sees a serious problem, but addressing it continues to be hampered by a fundamental misalignment of incentives between central and local government. Read more
