MEDIA

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

Major General John Howard is a retired military leader who was Chief of Defence Intelligence for the NZDF and was also Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration at the US Defense Intelligence Agency. He talks to Guyon Espiner about Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith cancelling an appearance at a meeting in Canberra with his Australian and Japanese counterparts. 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

Dr Oliver Hartwich talked to Leah Panapa on The Platform about New Zealand's falling fertility rate and NZ First's proposal to pay families $15,000 for each child. Dr Hartwich argued that baby bonuses overseas have mostly been windfall payments for parents who wanted children anyway, and that making housing more affordable would do far more to help Kiwis start bigger families. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich talked to Wallace Chapman on RNZ's The Panel about NZ First's plan to pay parents $5,000 a year for a child's first three years, and why the money is unlikely to shift a fertility rate that has slipped to just under 1.6 children per woman. Schemes like it overseas have typically failed, including Australia's baby bonus, which rewarded parents who were having children anyway, and Dr Hartwich suggested that anyone serious about lifting fertility should look instead at the cost of housing, which pushes couples to start families later. Read more

Major General John Howard talked to Ryan Bridge on Newstalk ZB about the Defence Minister's announcement that New Zealand will get long range, one-way strike drones, with the Minister wanting a New Zealand company to make them. Howard pointed to the size of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone and to cost in explaining why the drones are one way, and called it a great decision to invest in lower cost capabilities that deliver strategic effect and deterrence. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about growing concern over data centres, arguing that much of the worry is founded on not understanding the scale of industrial water use and on misunderstanding the effects on electricity networks. Dr Crampton said a data centre proposed for Southland could take water comparable to almost two golf courses, or about a quarter of the average Canterbury irrigation consent, and he argued that fast consenting of new generation, particularly geothermal, would let data centres fund a build out of electricity that reduces overall cost rather than increasing it. Read more

Wellington (Wednesday, 22 July 2026) – Two weeks ago, New Zealand by Numbers asked whether New Zealand was improving. A new report from The New Zealand Initiative asks a harder question: is it keeping up? Read more

Newstalk ZB's news covered our report measuring New Zealand against 28 other countries on areas like work, health and the economy, which placed the country first for labour force participation but 20th for productivity and 26th for economic diversity. Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich said policy factors were holding the country back, such as how hard it is for foreign investors to do business here, and that New Zealand is shutting itself off not just from capital flows but from the international connectivity that comes with them. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Heather Du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB about the government's $60 million payment to keep Golden Bay Cement's Northland plant open, which he described as a one-off that leaves the underlying problem in the Emissions Trading Scheme unresolved. Dr Crampton argued the scheme's industrial allocations are poorly designed for cement, and that setting them properly, whether by allocating credits that track how carbon intensive production is overseas or by applying a carbon border charge on imports, would remove the need for payments like this one. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about ACT's proposal for innovation trials, which would let the government temporarily suspend regulations to test new technology such as driverless cars, AI and drones. Dr Crampton supported the idea and said New Zealand should go beyond it by also recognising products already approved overseas, pointing to geothermal energy abundance and clinical trial abundance as promising areas to trial. Read more

Wellington (Tuesday, 14 July 2026) – New Zealand's two main warships will reach the end of their working lives within about a decade, and Cabinet must decide by 2027 what should replace them. The choice will shape the country's ability to help keep its trade routes open for a generation. Read more

In this webinar, we launch our new research note "Adrift: A Trading Nation, an Ageing Navy and the 2027 Frigate Decision". Author Major General (Retired) John Howard presents key findings on why a trading nation like New Zealand needs a frigate and what is at stake in the 2027 replacement decision, joined by commentary from Major (Retired) Tim Ewing-Jarvie. Read more