Government touches most of what New Zealanders do. It taxes and spends more than a third of national income, employs hundreds of thousands of people and sets the terms on which the rest of us work, build, travel and trade. How well it is organised is not a technical question.
New Zealand concentrates power unusually tightly, with one chamber, a three-year term, few formal checks and constitutional conventions that depend on restraint rather than rules. That combination can pass good reform quickly. It can pass bad law just as quickly, and it makes any commitment lasting longer than a parliamentary term difficult to sustain.
The Initiative argues for accountability that bites. Ministers should be able to direct, and answer for, the departments they are blamed for. Legislation should be scrutinised properly rather than pushed through under urgency. Electoral rules should be judged by whether voters can work out who decided what. And the public service should be organised around results somebody measures rather than functions somebody reorganises.
Institutions outlast the governments that inherit them, which is why they are worth getting right.
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill. Read more
New Zealand's prosperity depends on open sea lanes and a stable Pacific. The country cannot secure either without a defence force able to contribute alongside its partners. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 This submission on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Keeping Cash Local consultation is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Draft Guidance on Regulations for Groups of Activities for Councils’ Planning and Reporting. Read more
Two weeks ago, New Zealand by Numbers asked whether New Zealand was improving. Our latest report asks a harder question: is it keeping up? Read more
In this podcast episode, retired Major General John Howard joins Oliver live in a webinar to discuss his new research note "Worth Defending" and why New Zealand needs a stronger, combat-capable Defence Force. Howard, who served forty years and retired only last year, describes what decades of declining capability looked like from the inside, explains why he thinks the $9 billion of new defence money is not enough, and sets out what it would take to rebuild across two or three successive governments. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 16 September 2026) – New Zealand's prosperity depends on open sea lanes and a stable Pacific, and a new report from The New Zealand Initiative argues the country cannot secure either without a defence force able to contribute alongside its partners. In Worth Defending: Freedom, prosperity and the case for a stronger New Zealand Defence Force, Major General (Retired) John G Howard, MNZM, a Senior Fellow of the Initiative and the inaugural Chief of Defence Intelligence, argues that a credible, combat-capable Defence Force is not discretionary spending but the foundation on which the country's security, sovereignty and economic prosperity rest. Read more
Greece. Crete. Read more
Why does New Zealand need a defence force at all when no one is going to attack us? In this New Zealand Initiative webinar, retired Major General John Howard launches his research note Worth Defending, which argues that a credible, combat-capable Defence Force is not discretionary spending but the foundation on which the country's security, sovereignty and economic prosperity rest. Read more
National has announced it would split Foodstuffs into separate Pak'nSave and New World chains, in the name of more competition. Oliver and Damien ask whether breaking up a family-owned cooperative is likely to persuade an Aldi or a Lidl to come here, or convince them to stay away for good. Read more