It’s been hard to get a decent night’s sleep lately. Stories of the Government’s mismanagement of its quarantine facilities and of the pandemic worsening abroad make for restless nights thinking through safer ways of running those operations. Read more

New Zealand’s border is its first line of defence against Covid-19. The gross failures exhibited this week cannot be repeated and require a complete reversal of the Government’s border procedures. Read more

If you try to make a balloon smaller by squeezing it, you should be careful. It tends not to work well. Read more

A government is not a household and reasoning from wrong assumptions can lead to errors. In the last recourse, households cannot print their own currency. Read more

Minister for Climate Change James Shaw this week announced substantial strengthening of New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Total emissions will be capped, and carbon prices allowed to increase to help reduce New Zealand’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Read more

The North Island’s drought is getting rather serious. Auckland’s urban water users have been urged to take shorter showers and only to use dishwashers and clothes washing machines when they’re full; they also have been banned from using water-blasters and garden hoses. Read more

Kiwis are very likely heading into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. But the nature of this downturn harkens back to even earlier business cycles. Read more

Lifeboats are tricky things. If they are overburdened, they can tip and spill everyone out. Read more

A good 2020 Budget would achieve three things. First, it would strengthen the public health response to the pandemic, ensuring that any future outbreaks could be handled through rapid contact tracing, testing and quarantine rather than renewed lockdowns. Read more

The government should have two priorities in this budget. First, and most importantly, the health system needs to be ready for the medium to longer term changes that the pandemic has forced on the country. Read more