RNZ: Oliver Hartwich on election policy's "bizarrely bad" turn
Dr Oliver Hartwich joined Lisa Owen on Checkpoint with RNZ to discuss the open letter signed by more than 50 business leaders, spanning construction, grocery, property, banking, and investment, calling on political parties to uphold private property and contract rights.
He argued that proposals to buy back BNZ, split up supermarket chains, break apart electricity "gentailers," and re-regulate retirement villages all share the same flaw: they're designed to poll well with focus groups rather than solve real problems, several of which stem from past government decisions such as pandemic-era money printing, restrictions on oil and gas, and decades of restrictive planning law. He argued the better fix for supermarket competition is removing the barriers stopping new chains like Aldi or Lidl from entering the New Zealand market, rather than restructuring existing players who, he noted haven't actually been accused of anti-competitive behaviour, even by the parties proposing to break them up. Hartwich also revealed that while every business leader he approached privately agreed with the letter, several were reluctant to publicly attach their name to it, describing a culture of fear among business leaders wary of being singled out by politicians who may become their future regulators.