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This submission on the Commerce Commission's 30 June 2009 Draft Report recommending the designation of mobile termination access services (incorporating mobile-to-mobile voice termination, fixed-to mobile voice termination and short-message-service termination) is made by the New Zealand Business Roundtable, an organisation comprising primarily chief executives of major New Zealand business firms. The purpose of the organisation is to contribute to the development of sound public policies that reflect overall New Zealand interests. Read more

The Local Government Forum welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. Overall, the Forum supports the Bill's intent and recommends that it should proceed - subject to specific comments in this submission. Read more

Most business organisations are saying that now that Australia, and perhaps the United States, are planning to put a price on carbon in some way, New Zealand should do likewise. But the issue is a political one, given that all New Zealanders will ultimately bear the costs of policy action. Read more

The Business Roundtable believes New Zealand is facing grave economic problems, many of them the result of policy errors in recent years. They are both of a short-term nature due to the international crisis and longer term due to the slump in productivity growth. Read more

The purpose of this report is to provide a primer on the core role of local government: the provision of public goods. Governments have to distinguish their roles from those of the private sector and prioritise their plans because the demands on them are unlimited, but resources are scarce. Read more

It is interesting in a public policy sense to review the various roles that have been given to the Maori portfolio of government over the last 160 years. Maori Affairs is one of the oldest of all government portfolios. Read more

The indicators of productivity in New Zealand's health sector are reason for concern, as is the paucity of transparent and reliable information with which to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and management. In spite of continuing substantial - and possibly unsustainable - increases in funding each year, the system struggles to meet some of its obligations, for example to provide treatment to all those who qualify under the points system. Read more

This report is motivated by the realisation that there is a need in New Zealand for a wider understanding of the importance of security of all property rights for civil peace, prosperity, constitutional government, social cohesion and ultimately the democratic system. Respect for private property rights implies the need for restraint, both by governments and by lobby groups. Read more

This paper explores the nature of iwi through time and is structured in three parts. First, the role and institutional limitations of a tribal collective are examined. Read more

This essay advances four propositions: (a) the separate seats are unnecessary to secure effective representation of Maori, (b) the seats entrench a form of historical paternalism that removes Maori issues from the mainstream political agenda, (c) the retention of the seats under MMP represents an insidious form of reverse discrimination and (d) the seats invite 'overhang' and the potential to undermine the expressed will of the people. Read more