Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans know the dangers of having a sense of proportion. Appreciating our own insignificance relative to the infinity of creation is fatal. Read more
In this episode, Michael and James talk with Sarah McLaughlin from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. They discuss attacks on free speech internationally, with governments from Washington to Beijing using deportation powers, financial leverage, and anti-terror laws to silence critics. Read more
It is hard to convince anyone they need to change when they think nothing is broken. The story of the emperor’s new clothes captures it. Read more
Is it better to be a policy analyst or a plumber? In the minds of many New Zealanders, university degrees carry greater status than industry qualifications. Read more
Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan in 1651, amid the wreckage of the English Civil War. We know him for his defence of the state: without a sovereign authority to impose order, human life reverts to a “war of every man against every man”, where existence is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”. Read more
Each year, more than a quarter of New Zealand’s school leavers enrol at university. But around one in five new university students leave within their first year of study, without completing a degree. Read more
Dr Michael Johnston talked to Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB about the Initiative's report calling for vocational and industry-led subjects to be part of the new post-NCEA qualification from 2029, directing more students towards apprenticeships and the trades rather than defaulting to university. Dr Johnston said schools will need to partner with tertiary institutions and employers to deliver these subjects, and suggested that trade skills may prove more durable than many white-collar professions as AI reshapes the workforce. Read more
From mid-2020 through 2022, New Zealand women helped test whether vaccinating pregnant women against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) could protect their newborns. It worked. Read more
Newstalk ZB's news bulletin reported on the Initiative's report questioning why New Zealand still treats university as the gold standard when a tradie can earn as much as a policy analyst. Dr Michael Johnston said industry-led subjects must be designed with schools and students in mind, not just the industry, and that schools will need additional resources to teach them well. Read more
A heavy diesel mechanic earns roughly the same as a policy analyst, qualifies in the same time and graduates with little or no debt. Yet most New Zealanders still regard university as superior to industry training and our school qualifications system has quietly reinforced that bias for decades. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 28 April 2026) - A heavy diesel mechanic earns roughly the same as a policy analyst, qualifies in the same time and graduates with little or no debt. Yet most New Zealanders still regard university as superior to industry training and our school qualifications system has quietly reinforced that bias for decades. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 This submission on the Commerce (Commerce Commission Reform) Amendment Bill (the Bill) is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
New Zealand’s university leaders seem restless. In recent months, Massey, Victoria, Canterbury and Auckland Universities have all advertised for new Vice Chancellors (VCs). Read more
Every year, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, sends over a thousand infants to hospital. Six years ago, Kiwis volunteered to be part of a large international study testing whether vaccinating pregnant women for RSV would protect their newborns. Read more
Bob Davies joined the New Zealand Army at 16 and served 31 years, rising to Sergeant Major of the Army. He deployed to Vietnam in 1968, took shrapnel wounds, caught malaria twice, and was exposed to Agent Orange. Read more