In Tuesday’s parliamentary questions, Minister of Finance Grant Robertson engaged in some impressive word play. He had previously dismissed exempting fresh food and vegetables from GST. Read more
From the vantage point of my earlier career at think tanks in London and Sydney, I have had front-row seats to the theatre of value-added tax (VAT) and goods and services tax (GST) policy lunacy. I have seen this seemingly innocent taxation mechanism morph into a clumsy beast, causing bureaucratic nightmares and economic distortions. Read more
As a sometimes absent-minded academic, I’m often very grateful for non-academic staff. Helping me set up my courses before the trimester begins. Read more
There is plenty of room for honest disagreement on economic policy. Normally, it’s about trade-offs among worthy goals. Read more
Politicians are naturally drawn to top-down solutions. For one thing, they afford Ministers the illusion of control. Read more
New Zealand prides itself on being an open trading nation. When it comes to trade in goods and services this claim is certainly true. Read more
Everyone knows that Wellington’s CBD will thrive when those who know best ban cars. People will love coming into the CBD to buy bulky products, such as a microwave, to cart home on the handlebars of their bicycles. Read more
The number of potholes on the country’s highways has more than doubled since 2017. In 2022 alone, more than 54,000 needed urgent repair. Read more
With his surprising decision not just to resign but to step away from politics altogether, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has created a phase of uncertainty. Rutte’s tenure, one of the longest among European heads of government, was previously characterised by adroit navigation of a political environment that can be as challenging as it is diverse. Read more
There is no chance it is deliberate. Deliberateness would require more coordination than government is able to manage these days. Read more
Meetings of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) are a regular fixture in the calendars of Australian and New Zealand business leaders and politicians. But their content has also become regular – which is to say, repetitive. Read more
Last week’s NATO summit in Vilnius was supposed to be about Ukraine’s needs and whether they would be met. Zelenskiy wanted guarantees for future NATO membership and the military alliance wanted to present a united front to Putin. Read more
New Zealand’s roads are in the political headlights, as opposing camps clash over the delicate balance between road safety and road efficiency – think of it as the policy equivalent of Ford vs Holden. Advocates of greater efficiency point out that potholes have turned our state highway network into a lunar landscape, a phenomenon I had the opportunity to acquaint myself intimately with during a road trip to Gisborne over Matariki. Read more
It was a perfectly executed transition from one Prime Minister to another. When Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation in January, it took the New Zealand Labour Party only a few days to anoint her successor, Chris Hipkins. Read more
The early decades of the 21st century may be remembered as the great age of misinformation. From false assertions about the size of the 45th President’s inauguration crowd to science-free claims about nano-technology, 5G cell phone towers and COVID-19, fake news abounds. Read more