New Zealand’s Treasury has two big jobs that nobody else can do. They’re both highlighted in the first line of Treasury’s ‘Who we are’ website. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about Act's promise to reset government agencies Parliament's already written merits into the Public Service Act, yet departments are still pursuing the diversity agenda. He says they can explain how much an individual ethnic group is paid, yet Treasury can't say how many economists it employs - so there's still work to do. Read more
Suppose a public official holds an office with limited powers. The limits are not in doubt. Read more
One day after Christopher Luxon survived a confidence vote, Oliver and Damien ask whether he has finally shown the country who he really is. Next, they discuss Chris Penk's departure from politics and what it costs National. Read more
Bürgen is leaving New Zealand. After decades on our supermarket shelves, the grainy loaves with the German name will soon be gone. Read more
If nobody is planning to invade New Zealand, why would we need a defence force? So runs the logic of those questioning the decision to increase defence spending. Read more
Outside Chris Bishop’s office in the Beehive hangs a framed copy of a court judgment. Last week, in a speech to the Law Association, the Attorney-General explained why he keeps it there. Read more
Suppose a business is deciding where to expand around Christchurch. It can compare rates and building consent performance in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri. Read more
Free to Disagree is a new weekly podcast produced by The New Zealand Initaitive. Join Oliver Hartwich and Damien Grant as they talk about New Zealand politics and economics. Read more
Drones near airports, at least in New Zealand, are usually a nuisance rather than a threat. They are often flown by careless amateurs who have not read the rules. Read more
Last week, this newsletter’s third slot was dedicated to all those poor bots that have President Trump’s AI-slop forced down their digitised throats. While their position is unenviable, it pales in comparison to the miserable experience of African diplomats. Read more
Last month, the Ministry of Social Development released the latest of its excellent statistical reports documenting the extent of child poverty, hardship/deprivation in New Zealand. The proportions are much below their peak rates around 15 years ago but are still too high. Read more
The cover of MBIE’s new Workforce Diversity Action Plan shows nine staff holding signs reading “I belong” in several languages. Inside, it declares itself “People-centred | Performance-driven | Evidence-informed”. Read more
Election 2023 brought us a new government committed to localist approaches. National had campaigned on greater localism as an alternative to the prior Labour government’s more centralising tendencies across water services, polytechnics, housing and farming regulation. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks with Dr Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, associate professor of history at the Australian Catholic University, about why the West has largely lost the ability to think meaningfully about its own past. She calls this the ahistoric age and argues that the statues we topple and the national days we fight over are evidence of it rather than signs of real engagement with history. Read more