Reports & Media

Wellington (Wednesday, 29 October 2025) - New Zealand's three-year parliamentary term is too short for effective government and the country needs more MPs to keep politicians accessible to voters, according to new research examining 30 years of MMP in New Zealand. “MMP has delivered fairer and more representative parliaments, but it’s time for an upgrade,” says Nick Clark, Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative and author of the report. Read more

This webinar launches “MMP After 30 Years: Time for Electoral Reform?”, a report by Nick Clark proposing practical updates to make New Zealand’s MMP work better. Hosted by Dr Oliver Hartwich and featuring David Farrar (foreword author; political commentator and pollster), the discussion canvasses a four-year parliamentary term, expanding Parliament to 170 MPs with stronger select committees, moving to a 50:50 electorate–list split to avoid overhangs, modestly lowering the party-vote threshold while retaining the one-seat pathway, abolishing by-elections (filling vacancies from lists), repealing waka-jumping rules, and streamlining special-vote processing with consistent campaign rules across the whole voting period — drawing on international comparisons and lessons from the 2023 election. Read more

Nick Clark talked to Wallace Chapman on RNZ's The Panel about The New Zealand Initiative's report examining MMP's performance, which recommends increasing Parliament to 170 MPs and introducing a four-year parliamentary term. He explained that New Zealand's parliament is small by international standards and argued that larger electorates and overstretched select committees justify the expansion, whilst also advocating for rationalising the current 81 ministerial portfolios. Read more

Dr James Kierstead talked to Damien Grant on Different Matters about The New Zealand Initiative's research showing substantial grade inflation at New Zealand universities, with A grades rising from roughly 15% to over 30% of all grades awarded, peaking at nearly 50% during COVID at some institutions. Dr Kierstead explained how this grade inflation undermines the signalling value of university qualifications for employers and represents a "tragedy of the commons" where individual academics inflate grades to boost student numbers, ultimately damaging the credibility of the entire tertiary education system. Read more

In this episode, Michael talks with Sir Nick Gibb, who served as England’s Minister for Schools for a decade, about the evidence-based reforms that transformed English education through systematic phonics, a knowledge-rich curriculum, and structured maths teaching. They explore how progressive education ideology led to England’s earlier decline in international rankings, the cognitive science underpinning effective teaching, and New Zealand’s promising early results from adopting similar reforms. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about Labour's Future Fund proposal, explaining how it differs from New Zealand First's similarly named policy and noting it lacks detail on funding and operations. Dr Hartwich highlighted contradictions between the fund's dual mandate, compared it unfavourably to Singapore's Temasek Fund, and identified protecting state assets from privatisation as the real political purpose behind the proposal. Read more