If I were PM: Fix the machine before the policies
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
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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 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
Wellington (Wednesday, 19 August 2026) – The New Zealand Initiative welcomes today’s announcement that the coming urban planning system will include a competition watchdog. Hon Chris Bishop, Minister for RMA Reform, and Simon Court, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for RMA Reform, announced today that the coming Planning Bill will include an independent Urban Land Market Officer. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about Act's promise to reset government agencies Parliament's already written merits into the Public Service Act, yet departments are still pursuing the diversity agenda. He says they can explain how much an individual ethnic group is paid, yet Treasury can't say how many economists it employs - so there's still work to do. Read more
One day after Christopher Luxon survived a confidence vote, Oliver and Damien ask whether he has finally shown the country who he really is. Next, they discuss Chris Penk's departure from politics and what it costs National. Read more
Suppose a business is deciding where to expand around Christchurch. It can compare rates and building consent performance in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri. Read more
Free to Disagree is a new weekly podcast produced by The New Zealand Initaitive. Join Oliver Hartwich and Damien Grant as they talk about New Zealand politics and economics. Read more
Election 2023 brought us a new government committed to localist approaches. National had campaigned on greater localism as an alternative to the prior Labour government’s more centralising tendencies across water services, polytechnics, housing and farming regulation. Read more