Last week, documents came to light under the Official Information Act, showing that the Ministry of Education has been putting pressure on NZQA to make new literacy and numeracy requirements for NCEA easier to attain. It's not hard to see why Ministry officials are worried. Read more
What a difference a few weeks make. At the beginning of the year, I thought the economy would pick up momentum, inflation would soon come down, and polling trends would continue, possibly leading to a change of government come election time. Read more
The New Zealand Herald this week revealed a government-commissioned research report – just as the opposition called for fewer external consultants. The University of Auckland report for the Ministry of Transport seeks to identify public support for new methods of financing transport infrastructure. Read more
New Zealand’s school curriculum has things exactly backwards. Let me explain. Read more
On Monday, journalists from Stuff tackled Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on his favourite pie. It’s steak, cheese and gravy, should you be wondering. Read more
Rob Campbell’s uncalled-for derogatory comment about National‘s “three waters” replacement policy has raised concerns about public service bias in New Zealand. His is not the only case. Read more
It was a big political story last week when the Hipkins Government sacked Rob Campbell from his prominent public service roles. The statements Campbell made on LinkedIn were blatantly political. Read more
Police Minister Stuart Nash was right about retail crime. Solving the problem, as he suggested, requires reducing the number of targets. Read more
The most effective policy ideas are not always the most glamourous. In education, there are so many problems that, even having decided on a policy programme, the challenges faced by a Minister in getting it implemented are daunting. Read more
The sacking of Rob Campbell from his role as chair of Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ and the Environmental Protection Authority highlights an urgent need to reform New Zealand’s public service. Campbell’s partisan comments on his LinkedIn profile were inexcusable for someone in his position. Read more
Building back better was a common catch-cry as the country looked ahead to the post-Covid economy. And why not, you might think. Read more
Managed retreat from floods and rising sea levels seems like a difficult problem. How to decide who might be allowed to live where, and what risks are acceptable? Read more
When politicians talk nonsense about economics, it often goes unnoticed. This is likely both because nonsense is such a routine occurrence in democratic politics, and because many people cannot distinguish economic sense from nonsense. Read more
Sound decision-making underpins sound businesses and sound organisations. Major changes must be well-considered. Read more
Few people attend business functions because of the speeches. No matter the speaker, these events are usually networking opportunities. Read more