We regard the NZIER and Infometrics as reputable consultancy organisations. Having said that, we cannot emphasise too strongly that the NZIER/Infometrics report isnot a Regulatory Impact Statement. Read more
This submission on the Commerce Commission's 30 June 2009 Draft Report recommending the designation of mobile termination access services (incorporating mobile-to-mobile voice termination, fixed-to mobile voice termination and short-message-service termination) is made by the New Zealand Business Roundtable, an organisation comprising primarily chief executives of major New Zealand business firms. The purpose of the organisation is to contribute to the development of sound public policies that reflect overall New Zealand interests. Read more
The Local Government Forum welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. Overall, the Forum supports the Bill's intent and recommends that it should proceed - subject to specific comments in this submission. Read more
Your excellencies, ministers of the crown, members of parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I am Bill Day, vice-chair of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the fourteenth Sir Ronald Trotter Lecture. Read more
Most business organisations are saying that now that Australia, and perhaps the United States, are planning to put a price on carbon in some way, New Zealand should do likewise. But the issue is a political one, given that all New Zealanders will ultimately bear the costs of policy action. Read more
The Business Roundtable believes New Zealand is facing grave economic problems, many of them the result of policy errors in recent years. They are both of a short-term nature due to the international crisis and longer term due to the slump in productivity growth. Read more
Representatives of two separate and distinct peoples signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Maori immigrants from the Pacific region, who had lived in isolation on the islands now known as New Zealand for somewhere between 500 and 700 years, had been connected with the rest of the world in the decades following James Cook’s arrival in 1769.1 Their separation from the traders, religions, cultural achievements, military forces and diseases of other nations was inevitably going to end. Read more
The purpose of this report is to provide a primer on the core role of local government: the provision of public goods. Governments have to distinguish their roles from those of the private sector and prioritise their plans because the demands on them are unlimited, but resources are scarce. Read more
It is interesting in a public policy sense to review the various roles that have been given to the Maori portfolio of government over the last 160 years. Maori Affairs is one of the oldest of all government portfolios. Read more
The indicators of productivity in New Zealand's health sector are reason for concern, as is the paucity of transparent and reliable information with which to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and management. In spite of continuing substantial - and possibly unsustainable - increases in funding each year, the system struggles to meet some of its obligations, for example to provide treatment to all those who qualify under the points system. Read more
This report is motivated by the realisation that there is a need in New Zealand for a wider understanding of the importance of security of all property rights for civil peace, prosperity, constitutional government, social cohesion and ultimately the democratic system. Respect for private property rights implies the need for restraint, both by governments and by lobby groups. Read more
This paper explores the nature of iwi through time and is structured in three parts. First, the role and institutional limitations of a tribal collective are examined. Read more
This essay advances four propositions: (a) the separate seats are unnecessary to secure effective representation of Maori, (b) the seats entrench a form of historical paternalism that removes Maori issues from the mainstream political agenda, (c) the retention of the seats under MMP represents an insidious form of reverse discrimination and (d) the seats invite 'overhang' and the potential to undermine the expressed will of the people. Read more
We see the agreement as furthering New Zealand's efforts to become an open and competitive economy with strong links to the rest of the world. Trade liberalisation policies going back some 25 years have put the country in a sound position to benefit from freer trade with China. Read more
The Business Roundtable believes that the mandate of local authorities should be more tightly constrained. As a general rule, councils should only be permitted to engage in those activities, including regulatoryactivities, that fall within the proper role of government (as opposed to the private sector) and that should be the responsibility of local rather than central government. Read more