MEDIA

In his new report, The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand, Leonard Hong highlights New Zealand's housing crisis and explains why it is imperative to build now and to build fast. He spoke on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report about how demographic changes (such as population growth, ageing, and birth rates) mean that New Zealand will need far more dwellings than are currently being built. Read more

We are not building enough to meet the looming demographic changes and demands. In his interview on The AM Show, Leonard Hong highlighted findings from his report, The Need to Build: The demographic drivers of housing demand, which says policymakers should stop blaming the housing crisis on migration and speculation and instead find policy solutions to free up urban development and housing supply. Read more

Leonard Hong discusses the findings of his new report "The Need to build - the demographic drivers of housing demand" with Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB. He explains that with New Zealand's population changes, we need to be build close to 20,000 dwellings annually for the next 20 years (even with zero net migration). Read more

There are calls for the Government to ease building restrictions if we want even a chance of fixing the housing crisis. The New Zealand Initiative report "The need to build - the demographic drivers of housing demand" shows population growth will require an extra 30-thousand homes per year. Read more

New, accurate, and rapid saliva-based PCR testing for Covid-19 has started to be used in New Zealand, after being validated by the University of Illinois in 2020. The New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist, Dr Eric Crampton, and Rako Science Executive Director, Leon Grice, discuss the benefits of this test and how it makes daily testing possible for those who work at the New Zealand border. Read more

The Government announced that the Resource Management act is going to be scrapped and replaced with three new laws. Bryce Wilkinson talks to Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ about why the RMA was no longer fit for purpose and how the new laws can address the issues that are left in its wake. Read more

In his latest podcast on Newstalk ZB, Leighton Smith talks to Matt Burgess about the Climate Change Commission's report on emissions reduction and its implications for New Zealand. Read more

Mike Hosking reads out Matt Burgess’ opinion piece (published in the NZ Herald) about the Climate Change Commission's plans to reduce emissions. Matt points out that New Zealand already has a system for reducing emissions called the Emissions Trading Scheme, which puts a price on greenhouse gases. Read more

The Ministry of Education has called in an expert panel for advice on how to improve math skills. Oliver Hartwich tells Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB that today's 15-year-olds are performing the same as 13-year olds in 2000. Read more

In this Magic Talk interview, Dr Oliver Hartwich shares his thoughts about the Government's response to the recent Climate Change Commission's report, which outlined a path to achieve more ambitious greenhouse gas reductions. 

 

The New Zealand Initiative · Government's response to Climate Change Commission's report Read more

Wellington, 15 January 2021 - The New Zealand Initiative welcomes today’s announcement of quarantine-free travel to New Zealand from the Cook Islands. Initiative Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton said, “About 80,000 Cook Islanders live in New Zealand. Read more

Eric Crampton joins Newstalk ZB to analyse the latest GDP figures. Read more

In his latest podcast on Newstalk ZB, Leighton Smith talks to Oliver Hartwich about citizenship, the Emissions Trading Scheme, China, education, and other matters.

 

The New Zealand Initiative · Leighton Smith podcast with Oliver Hartwich Read more

Wellington, 10 December 2020 - Thanks to the work of successive climate change ministers from David Parker to James Shaw, New Zealand has a world-leading Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). We should rely on it to drive down our carbon emissions, argues the Initiative’s executive director Dr Oliver Hartwich. Read more

Wellington, 3 December 2020 - Calls to lift the minimum wage will not fix inequality and could end up hurting the most vulnerable – particularly during a recession, according to a new report by the New Zealand Initiative. The report is a response to a joint paper released last week by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research which suggested lifting the minimum wage (presently set at $18.90) to a “living wage” of $22.10, among other proposals. Read more