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
In this episode, Michael talks to Tenby Powell ONZM, former mayor of Tauranga and leader of KiwiKARE, about his team's humanitarian work in Ukraine and how nearly five years of war have transformed the battlefield. Tenby describes evacuating civilians from areas too dangerous to stay in, and the stoves his workshops build from scrapped water cylinders to keep people alive in winter when energy infrastructure has been destroyed. 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
At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori asked its supporters for something no party had requested so openly before: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. The request rests on MMP’s overhang rule. Read more
Te Pāti Māori have told supporters to give them their electorate vote and send their party vote elsewhere. Oliver and Damien ask what happens if National voters start doing the same, and whether MMP survives it. Read more
Imagine you run a business as a “dag crusher”. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “dag” is a dirty bit of wool attached to a sheep’s rear end. Read more
The Financial Markets Authority is having a bad year. Its chair resigned in May. Read more
At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori told its supporters to split their votes: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. A new research note by The New Zealand Initiative warns this call could set off a chain of tactical voting that kills MMP. Read more
Wellington (Thursday, 20 August 2026) – At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori told its supporters to split their votes: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. A new research note by The New Zealand Initiative warns this call could set off a chain of tactical voting that kills MMP. Read more
In this episode, Nick talks with Oliver Hartwich about how the 2026 election could break MMP from two sides. Oliver's latest research note traces Te Pāti Māori's call for supporters to split their votes, why current polling could leave National with an overhang, and how the absence of compensation for overhang seats in New Zealand, unlike the German system it copied, could produce a Parliament that does not match the popular vote. Read more
For many today, inequality is a dragon that public policy must slay. The accusing fingers usually point at unequal outcomes for selected things, such as income and diversity representation. Read more
