Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at the Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords.
Oliver holds a master's degree in economics and business administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.
Oliver is available to comment on all of the Initiative’s research areas.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
It does not happen often that I set my alarm to just before 4am to watch the results from a provincial election in Germany. But that is what I did yesterday for Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany’s east. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks to John Howard, senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, about the CIA director's public visit to Moscow and what it says about the security of Western Europe. They also discuss Germany's decision to name Russia over the drone attack on Leipzig Airport, the vote for Russia-friendly parties in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the stalled Middle East conflict and its consequences for New Zealand's fuel supplies, and the new Cook Islands port deal. Read more
Voting opens today in the most important election of 2026. And no, this is not the General Election. Read more
Paul Henry is standing for ACT and Taine Randell for New Zealand First. Oliver and Damien ask whether celebrity candidates actually win votes, and why New Zealand tends to produce the reverse, politicians who become famous through politics. Read more
New Zealand is barely a military power. It has had no combat aircraft for 25 years, and its ageing frigates need replacing. Read more
What is politics? According to Max Weber’s classic definition, politics is “a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” Having worked around politics for over two decades has given me a good idea of what Weber meant by that. Read more
In November 2018, officials at Immigration New Zealand began work on replacing the ageing biometric systems that verify identities and manage immigration risk. Seven years later it was dead, having delivered no measurable benefit. Read more
Over the past couple of weeks, the two major parties have told us about their fiscal policies. Both promise to return the budget to surplus before the end of the decade. Read more
National has introduced a bill banning under 16s from social media, and both coalition partners have refused to back it. Oliver and Damien ask whether such a ban could work, and whether the state should be involved at all. Read more
On Monday evening, I sat on a panel at Foxglove on Queens Wharf in Wellington, where I was expected to play the neoliberal villain. The Institute for Democratic and Economic Analysis is a think tank devoted to fighting poverty and political exclusion. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich talks with Michael Laws on The Platform on how to fix our spaghetti diagram public service. Oliver discusses the need to have clearer responsibility lines within our state sector. Read more
I have always liked Iceland. My first visit was on a cruise ship in the mid-1990s. Read more
A fortnight ago, the government agreed a sale worth $702 million. Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop sold the loans the Crown made to Chorus to help build the ultrafast broadband network, for $60 million above book value. Read more
New Zealand is about to lose a German bread that was never German, and as the only German in the room, I have been invited to grieve. I will pass. Read more
On my first morning as Prime Minister, I would deliver a speech. It would contain no slogans or platitudes about becoming the best country in the world. Read more