Reports & Media

Wellington (Wednesday, 1 April 2026) - “New Zealand's resource management system is broken”, said Nick Clark, author of The New Zealand Initiative’s new research note RMA Reform: Getting the new system right. “Many attempts have been made over the past three decades to fix it. Read more

In this episode, Nick and Benno discuss whether New Zealand's proposed planning reforms can actually deliver housing affordability or fail to escape the gravitational pull of the status quo. They unpack how our current planning system and the rules it makes are an extractive institution: one that concentrates decision-making power over land use in the hands of a few, beholden to a privileged group of incumbents. Read more

Heather du Plessis-Allan discussed Dr Bryce Wilkinson's NZ Herald article on Newstalk ZB, drawing on his analysis of the 1970s oil shocks as a cautionary lesson for today's politicians. Dr Wilkinson argues that the government should resist pressure to intervene through price controls, subsidies, or fuel tax cuts, and instead rely on price signals and targeted income relief for the most vulnerable, while leaving risky energy investments to private capital. Read more

Dr Marian Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, the world's most comprehensive database tracking improvements in human wellbeing, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and co-author of the acclaimed book Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. A leading voice on human progress, globalisation, and economic development, Marian's work does something rare: it challenges the pessimistic narratives we hear every day — not with opinion, but with hard evidence. Read more

Bertaud is an urban planner whose work has shaped city policy debates internationally. Over a career spanning several decades, he has advised governments and institutions on urban development, housing markets and infrastructure, including work with the World Bank and on major city reforms across Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Read more