Dr Oliver Hartwich joins The Panel, Wallace Chapman and panellists Anna Dean and Phil O'Reilly, to discuss accepting Chinese funding for infrastructure projects.
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New Zealand's general medical practitioners (GPs) are facing a crisis, with a workforce shortage set to worsen over the next decade unless immediate action is taken to support workforce expansion and development. The health of all New Zealanders and the delivery of top-tier healthcare heavily relies on community-based medical care, mainly provided by Specialist GPs and multi-disciplinary health care teams. The introduction of an "accountability-free capitation" has seemingly driven a decline in the hours GPs work by creating a financial incentive to minimize patient service costs, and analyses indicate a significant decrease in the GP to population ratio, and a decline in GP work hours. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 9 August 2023) – The New Zealand Initiative has released a report, "Lifeline for Health: Meeting New Zealand’s need for General Practitioners," authored by Emeritus Professor Des Gorman and Dr Murray Horn. It highlights a critical crisis facing New Zealand's general medical practitioners (GPs). Read more
Dr Michael Johnston joined Michael Goldwaer on The Shape of Dialogue podcast to discuss his report Save our Schools. Read more
In the world of politics, timing is everything. And sometimes, the timing of events can create a curious contrast that cries out for a closer look. Read more
Join us for a discussion as we dive deep into the heart of New Zealand's economic landscape with special guest Damien Grant, a renowned business commentator and liquidator. In this episode, host Oliver Hartwich guides us through a candid conversation covering a range of topics, from the challenges of economic reform to the role of government in education and healthcare. Read more
Donald Trump convinced himself and a lot of Americans he could build a wall at America’s southern border and make Mexico pay for it. It was an obviously terrible idea. Read more
It can be hard for a country to admit that one of its idols has feet of clay. As it happens, one of New Zealand’s educational idols not only had feet of clay, but her name was Clay. Read more
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
A few months ago, I stepped into a parallel universe. I was following up a routine administrative task and soon found myself outside a building I’d never seen before, after 10 years working at Victoria University. 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
Wellington (Thursday, 3 August 2023) – Pharmac is commonly criticised for being too slow to fund new medicines and for not funding many of them. A policy note released today by the New Zealand Initiative shows why this may be desirable. 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
Pharmac is often criticised for not funding enough new medicines and for being too slow to determine which ones it will fund. However, being slow and focused is not proof of being too slow or too focused. Read more
A new report finds New Zealand universities have the highest ratio of non-academics to academics amongst English-speaking countries. The report, from the think tank The New Zealand Initiative, finds there are 40 to 50 per cent more managers and administrators than teaching staff. Read more