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New Zealand’s ministers answer to Parliament for departments they cannot control. They cannot choose, direct or remove the chief executives who run those departments. Read more
2025 marked a turning point for The New Zealand Initiative’s mission to build a more prosperous country. Ideas we have championed for years moved from research papers into the Government’s reform programme. Read more
When land is subdivided and new roads are created, every holder of a registered covenant or easement over that land must individually consent before the road can vest as public road. In practice, this can mean obtaining written consent from hundreds of parties and their banks, at significant cost in legal fees and delays that are ultimately passed through to the price of new homes, even though courts have never found that any of these parties has a material interest. Read more
Report author Roger Partridge will also discuss his report on a webinar with Fran O'Sullivan and Fraser Whineray on 2 March at 2:30 pm. You can register for that webinar here. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This submission on the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Amendment Bill 2025 (the Bill) is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
PART 1 – HIGH-LEVEL VIEWS ON THE OVERALL REFORM PACKAGE 1. Introduction and support for reform intent 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill. Read more
The Planning Bill 2025, introduced to Parliament on 9 December 2025, represents the most significant reform of New Zealand’s resource management framework since the Resource Management Act 1991. Among its stated objectives is the enablement of “competitive urban land markets”, which signals a conceptual shift in how the planning system conceives of its relationship to housing supply and affordability. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 This submission on the Commerce (Promoting Competition and Other Matters) Amendment Billis made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
A new approach to director accountability could prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in tax debt from becoming unrecoverable by requiring directors to act early when financial distress emerges. The research note, 'Responsibility before ruin: A pre-emptive fix for NZ's phoenix problem', addresses companies that accumulate large tax debts before dissolving, sometimes only to restart under a new name. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill (FTAAB). Read more