MEDIA

Wellington (2 February 2015): The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the launch of LGNZ’s latest discussion paper on local government funding as an important step towards improving how councils deliver services to communities. The think tank’s Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich, said New Zealand has one of the most centralised forms of government among developed countries, with 90 cents in every tax dollar spent by officials in Wellington. Read more

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Only solution is for Greece to leave Eurozone, says New Zealand Initiative's Dr Oliver Hartwich. Read more

Wellington (22 January 2015): The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the overhaul of the Resource Management Act, in particular the focus on housing affordability and the restoration of property rights, but is still concerned about the ambiguity surrounding Section 5. The latest overhaul of the legislation was announced yesterday by the Hon Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Building and Housing, citing economic research that indicated the RMA had cost the country 40,000 homes and added $30 billion in costs. Read more

Eric Crampton talks to Newstalk ZB's Michael Sergel about private vehicle hire app Uber lodging an IPCA complaint over drivers being pulled over by Police.

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Duncan Garner speaks with Eric Crampton, Head of Research at New Zealand Initiative, on the growing number of immigrants coming into New Zealand, especially in Auckland. Is it time to cap the amount of immigrants coming into our country? Read more

Estimates have the economy growing above the trend rate compared to other developed nations, but other measures show the benefits of growth aren’t filtering through to all. Patrick O’Meara looks at whether New Zealand's household really are better off. Read more

Wellington (18 December 2014): The New Zealand Initiative’s Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, today urged Cabinet to look to the evidence before banning alcohol advertising and sponsorship. The Ministerial Forum on Advertising and Sponsorship this week recommended reasonably comprehensive bans on alcohol advertising and sponsorship. Read more

Wellington (3 December 2014): Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative, Dr Oliver Hartwich, is today publishing his new monograph Quiet Achievers: The New Zealand Path to Reform. It will be presented by Australia’s Minister for Finance, Senator the Hon. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich speaks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to New Zealand. Read more

Wellington (13 November 2014): Angela Merkel’s talk at the University of Auckland on Germany’s innovation policy will be interesting; but what the New Zealand business community want to know is how she plans to address Europe’s economic crisis, says the head of The New Zealand Initiative. In the first visit of a German head of government to New Zealand since 1997, Merkel will meet with Prime Minister John Key ahead of the G20 Summit in Brisbane this weekend, deliver a speech at the University of Auckland, and attend a reception for German and New Zealand business leaders. Read more

Wellington (21 October): The government must incorporate a rigorous evaluation framework into Investing in Education Success (IES) programme, to ensure that the $359 million is indeed a good investment, says The New Zealand Initiative. That is one of the recommendations from No School is an Island: Fostering Collaboration in a Competitive System, which analysed the performance of Learning Change Networks (LCN), a similar model to the IES where networks of schools voluntarily come together to share the best ways of lifting student achievement. Read more

Earthquakes are bad enough on their own but policy can always make them worse. Regulatory and planning policy in the lead-up to the February 2011 earthquake and in the subsequent response period led to needless deaths, too few options for those whose homes were damaged, a confusopoly in insurance, and an endlessly drawn out quest for the perfect downtown plan. Read more

Wellington (5 September 2014): New Zealand has improved its rank on the Global Competitiveness Index and extended the lead over Australia, according to an annual survey compiled by the World Economic Forum. The country is now ranked 17th on the Global Competitiveness Index, up one place from last year when it broke into the top 20 for the first time. Read more

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