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Remember the days when economic news coverage of Europe wasn’t about its impending collapse? After years of doom and gloom about the eurozone’s economy, figures released this week from Eurostat suggest that the dark stormy recession cloud may soon be lifted. Read more
Ever since the creation of the Auckland super city, murmurings have surfaced in Wellington about a greater Wellington council to include the Hutt Valley, Wairarapa and Kapiti. Intuitively, large councils seem undesirable; why take local governance further away from locals? Read more
Bad ideas have a habit of being spread. The Labour Party’s policy to ban foreigners (except those nice Australians) from buying houses in New Zealand is such an example. Read more
Following the 2011 election, part of the Confidence and Supply agreement between the National Party and the Maori Party was the formation of a Constitutional Advisory Panel (CAP). This panel of the good and the great is tasked with examining New Zealand’s constitutional structure, with an emphasis on the Treaty of Waitangi. Read more
Recently, I met a New Zealander who asked me how I, as a relatively newly arrived foreigner, experienced New Zealand. I returned the question straight back to him. Read more
As Australians approach a federal election, asylum seekers and people smugglers are turning out to be a key issue for the fifth time in a row. New Zealanders may look sceptically at this: Why is this captivating the Australian public? Read more
One of the major downsides of the 2008 financial crisis has been the re-emergence of ‘macro-prudential’ regulation. This sort of regulation, hoping to limit systemic risk in the banking sector, is currently fashionable but signals a return to the 1970s mentality of economic fine-tuning, albeit with different tools. Read more
Auckland’s population is projected to be well over two million by 2041. This will place enormous pressure on road and transport infrastructure. Read more
A few weeks ago, I spoke at a breakfast event opened by Maurice Williamson, Minister for customs, Statistics, Land Information and Building and Construction. I wish I had taken the Minister’s remarks more seriously, as I would have been less surprised by the government’s announcement last week: the government is considering options to make credit card companies and online payment services like PayPal collect taxes on online shopping imports. Read more
The wowsers are back on a futile mission to enforce public morality through statute. In Australia, as in New Zealand, a new temperance movement is testing the boundaries of prohibition to encourage better manners. Read more