Last week, the government finally released the Simpson-Roche report detailing the failures that led to August’s Covid outbreak in Auckland. Some of the failures, like inadequate testing regimes for MIQ staff and border workers, were entirely preventable. Read more
Insights 48 / 18 December: Christmas wishes from the Initiative Insights 47 / 11 December: Note From The Executive Director | World-leading Mediocrity |When Cutting Emissions Cuts No Ice | The Abolition Of Scarcity Insights 46/ 4 December: Minimum wages to the max | Grassroots rebellions | The curse of scarce money Insights 45/27 November: Expensive housing | Education Ministry strikes fool’s gold | Military theatre Insights 44 / 20 November: It’s the emissions, stupid! | To graduation and beyond | That’s not how this works Insights 43 / 13 November: Good news weeks | Why house prices are high | What are the turtles standing on? Read more
They thought banning migrant farm labour would boost wages for native-born farm workers. They were wrong. Read more
Eric Crampton joins Newstalk ZB to analyse the latest GDP figures. Read more
In his latest podcast on Newstalk ZB, Leighton Smith talks to Oliver Hartwich about citizenship, the Emissions Trading Scheme, China, education, and other matters.
The New Zealand Initiative · Leighton Smith podcast with Oliver Hartwich Read more
New Zealand needs better friends, if comments by other countries about our efforts to reduce emissions are to be believed. Last week, Newsroom reported “players like the United Kingdom and the European Union have promised much more ambitious cuts [in greenhouse gas emissions] and pledged not to use international offsets. Read more
Canada’s carbon tax is set to rise from its current $30 per tonne ($33 NZD) to $170 per tonne ($188 NZD) by 2030. A credible price on carbon is the strongest commitment a country can make in reducing carbon emissions. Read more
This morning, Newsroom published a story concerning a private and anonymous blog by one of our staff, Nathan Smith. Nathan joined us earlier this year from the National Business Review, where he had worked as a journalist for seven years. Read more
There are those who say that government can only give away the produce of the productive. There are those who say that government can spend up to national income, but not beyond. Read more
New Zealand is now below average for all but one international education TIMSS measure. Released this week, the 2019 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) reveals Kiwi 10-year-olds are now the only group of students performing above the international average in science. Read more
As that great philosopher Homer Simpson once said, “Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” For climate policy debates, it is a bit different. Most people do care about cutting carbon emissions, but they still do not understand how it works. Read more
In this Quick Take podcast, Roger Partridge outlines the core arguments from his Herald column on Australia’s success against Covid-19 and why setting up a trans-Tasman bubble should now be a government priority. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Thanks to the work of successive climate change ministers from David Parker to James Shaw, New Zealand has a world-leading Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). We should rely on it to drive down our carbon emissions, argues the Initiative’s executive director Dr Oliver Hartwich. Read more
Wellington, 10 December 2020 - Thanks to the work of successive climate change ministers from David Parker to James Shaw, New Zealand has a world-leading Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). We should rely on it to drive down our carbon emissions, argues the Initiative’s executive director Dr Oliver Hartwich. Read more
In this Quick Take podcast, Matt Burgess says small countries depend heavily on access to international markets. He argues the government should embrace international co-operation on reducing emissions. Read more