Some people think we live in relatively safe times. Those people are naïve. Read more
I. Introduction We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Australian Government’s (“Government”) consultation on the implementation of a new digital competition regime.1 As we outline in our comments, the Government’s proposal rests on the assumption that there exists a broad global consensus on the need for ex-ante rules for digital platforms. This purported consensus is, however, largely overstated. Read more
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has promised everything his government does this year will focus on creating growth. That is great. Read more
In this episode, James and Michael talk to Stephanie Martin from the Free Speech Union (and also the New Zealand Initiative) about a Law Commission consultation paper on hate crime legislation. The discussion examines the shift from treating hate as an aggravating factor in sentencing to creating specific hate crime offenses, while exploring philosophical questions about hate motivation and concerns about free speech implications. Read more
In 2002, the ‘Corngate’ controversy broke in the media. Journalist John Campbell blindsided then-PM Helen Clark with allegations that genetically modified (GM) corn had been accidentally released in New Zealand. Read more
When a councillor in New Zealand’s Carterton District was elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility, she could not have expected to be barred from participating in budget deliberations. Yet that is exactly what happened when council bureaucrats deemed her campaign promises a “conflict of interest” that disqualified her from key financial decisions. Read more
It is hard to believe today, but a TV interview about genetic modification (GM) once upended an election campaign. That interview cast a long shadow over the use of GM in New Zealand. Read more
Wellington (Thursday, 13 February 2025) - The New Zealand Initiative welcomes Minister Willis’s commitment to enabling new grocery entrants into the New Zealand market but warns against politicising KiwiSaver. Initiative Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich said, “We have long argued that New Zealand’s restrictive planning and consenting frameworks have made it unnecessarily difficult for new entrants to establish a viable presence in the supermarket sector. Read more
Perhaps geography is still destiny after all. The closer a Pacific nation sits to American shores, the more Washington seems to care about Chinese influence. Read more
Some essays are timeless. In 1964, Richard Hofstadter diagnosed what he called “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 This submission on the Resource Management (Consents and Other Systems Changes) Amendment Bill is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
It wasn’t that long ago that New Zealand’s housing market made international news because of its insanity. In 2016, The Guardian tagged Auckland as the “hottest property market in the world” – and part of a housing crisis. Read more
Jordan Peterson’s recent keynote at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in Sydney laid bare a critical divide within classical liberalism. Peterson champions individual responsibility and free markets. Read more
A few years ago, when I was still a classics lecturer, I started to notice a disturbing trend. Scholars were being denounced on Twitter (RIP) for wrongthink. Read more
I’m Barbara Oakley, and I’m delighted to be spending nearly six months with The New Zealand Initiative. My husband, Phil and I are thrilled to return to New Zealand. Read more
