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
There’s a fundamental arbitrariness to almost any voting age. Except one. 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
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
Holly Gooch is part of the KiwiNet Emerging Innovator programme to progress a project to help twice-exceptional secondary students. Michael Johnston sat down with Holly to talk about her PhD research project. Read more
Mike Hosking discusses Roger Partridge's NZ Herald column on the RMA replacement.
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Oliver Hartwich joins Matthew Hooton and Damien Grant on The Working Groups Weekly Political Podcast hosted by Martyn Bradbury.
They discuss a range of issues including:
Issue 1 – New Zealand's manufactured recession
Issue 2 – The tough on crime rhetoric
Issue 3 – Three Waters entrenchment
Issue 4 – National to leave top tax rate
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There are years in which little happens. Then there are years in which everything seems to happen at once. Read more
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 0.75 percentage points (pp) to 4.25%. This isn’t surprising given that inflation has reached a 30-year high of 7.2%, but is it too little too late? Read more
Josie Pagani interviews Oliver Hartwich about the state of the nation in this week's Initiative podcast. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Even still, it is hard to see how policy could be less friendly to entry by grocers like Aldi or Lidl if it were intentional. Read more
A funny thing happened in the Supreme Court this week. The Court found that the Bill of Rights breached… the Bill of Rights. Read more
Is it enough to have good intentions? Or is it better to focus on the outcomes of one’s actions? Read more