Reports & Media

Many students … intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance … to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. Read more

The Royal Commission announced this week will not help voters provide better-informed brickbats or bouquets in 2023. The inquiry will focus instead on lessons for future pandemics and will report back well after the election. Read more

Newly appointed Royal Commission of Inquiry chair, Professor Tony Blakely, says he is happy with the terms of reference for his inquiry. But should we be? Read more

Parliament monopolised the attention of public and constitutional law experts late last month. And for good reason. Read more

In 2017, when Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand’s Prime Minister, she set out to transform policy-making. Her administration was meant to be the most open, honest, and transparent in history. Read more

This morning’s newspapers carried a full-page open letter from 42,576 signatories pointing out how undemocratic is one aspect of the Government’s three waters legislation. The Government’s Bill confiscates local communities’ investment in water assets without compensation, and wrecks their future governance. Read more

When Auckland topped the Global Liveability Index in 2021, something seemed wrong. The report's authors had clearly never tried to buy a house in the City of Sails. Read more

There’s a fundamental arbitrariness to almost any voting age. Except one. Read more

At the risk of losing a few readers in this first paragraph, let’s start with a quote by a lawyer. To make it worse: by a German judge. Read more