You won’t normally find this column defending nanny-state initiatives around healthy eating. Personal responsibility matters, and the simple fact that somebody chooses food you would not choose for yourself hardly means they are irrational, or that force-feeding them things they do not like would make them better off. Read more
Fran O'Sullivan, Managing Director of NZ INC and NZME's Editorial Director - Business, talks to Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB about the Initiative's recent business delegation to Switzerland, and what they learnt about their approach to localism, business and education.
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An unusual event took place among the leaders of New Zealand’s largest companies last week. Whether it was Air New Zealand’s Christopher Luxon, ASB Bank’s Barbara Chapman or delegation leader Fraser Whineray from Mercury, en masse they put aside their desk jobs to participate in The New Zealand Initiative’s week-long Go Swiss trip. Read more
Chairman Roger Partridge talks to Mike Hosking about our submission on the Employment Relations (Allowing Higher Earners to Contract Out of Personal Grievance Provisions) Amendment Bill.
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If the Government wants its announced increase to the Accommodation Supplement to do any good, it had better have some policies ready to help increase housing supply. Otherwise, landlords are likely to be the main beneficiaries. Read more
When the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) started testing 15-year-olds in 2000, New Zealand students ranked second in reading and third in maths. Ever since, our scores have perpetually declined. Read more
It may not have caught your attention but New Zealand is in the grips of a tragic health disaster. Is this a particularly deadly new strain of the flu? Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich and Simon Power are interviewed by the Swiss Weltwoche Magazine during The New Zealand Initiative's mission to Switzerland. Read more
Wellington (31 May 2017): Western Australia shows what is possible when competing fishing sectors collaborate in fisheries management, say delegates from across New Zealand’s fishing sectors. The New Zealand Initiative and the US-based Environmental Defense Fund last week led a group of New Zealanders involved in the recreational, commercial and customary fishing sectors to learn from Western Australia’s example. Read more
Election year budgets are when politicians massage the voters with their own money. Massage can ready a ball player, ballerina or boxer for action, or induce blissful passivity. Read more
Australia makes me happy. It gives me a sense of perspective. Read more
When the UK voted to leave the European Union in last year’s referendum, it was widely interpreted as a victory of the political right. That was not incorrect. Read more
On television early yesterday evening I saw a well-known presenter give Budget 2017 an 8 out of 10 for massaging the electorate. A subtitle read “something for everyone”. Read more
While Budget days bring focus to the Government’s spending priorities, there is no budget day for regulation. Regulation never gets the same attention as spending, but it is at least as important. Read more
I thought the point of the Budget lock-up was to give everyone adequate time to process and digest complex information, and ensure no media organisation had an exclusive. Now I’m not so sure. Read more