Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He is a regular commentator in the media on public policy and constitutional law. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014, after 16 years as a commercial litigation partner. He is an honorary fellow of the Legal Research Foundation, a charitable foundation associated with the University of Auckland and was its executive director from 2001 to 2009. He is a member of the editorial board of the New Zealand Law Review and was a member of the Council of the New Zealand Law Society, the governing body of the legal profession in New Zealand, from 2011 to 2015. He is a former chartered member of the Institute of Directors, a member of the University of Auckland Business School advisory board, and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
As chairman of a business-funded think tank, I have been called many things — neoliberal, libertarian, right-wing, and even (indirectly) one of “Hayek’s Bastards.” But never left-wing. And certainly not “left of Jacinda Ardern.” That is, until I started writing about Donald Trump. Read more
Two ships passing in the night might share the same destination yet follow very different courses. So it seems with David Harvey’s latest response to my report for The New Zealand Initiative, Who Makes the Law? Read more
The Reserve Bank has finally acknowledged it must review its controversial 2019 bank capital decision requiring large banks to increase their capital reserves from 10.5% to 18% by 2028. The timing is revealing. Read more
My previous columns critiquing President Donald Trump’s constitutional overreach and foreign policy blunders prompted some readers to suggest I had failed to grasp the President’s strategic brilliance. Trump, they insisted, was playing four-dimensional chess while the rest of us fumbled with checkers. Read more
Trust in New Zealand is fracturing before our eyes. The 2025 Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a society divided by mistrust. Read more
Jim Allan’s spirited response to my Quadrant Online column, Trump’s war on constitutional democracy, misses what makes this moment so dangerous for America. While Jim and I share deep concerns about judicial activism and bureaucratic overreach, his attempt to normalise Trump’s recent actions ignores their unprecedented assault on constitutional government. Read more
President Trump promised to drain the swamp, fight bureaucratic overreach, and defend American interests. His policies resonated with voters. Read more
Some see Ukraine’s fight as a defining battle for freedom. Others dismiss it as a reckless provocation. Read more
Donald Trump rode to office pledging to “drain the swamp,” fight runaway bureaucracy, and defend ordinary Americans against elite-driven progressivism. In a world of “woke” excess and activist courts, these promises resonated deeply with conservatives who believe in smaller government, individual liberty, and strong national defence. Read more
Sir Geoffrey Palmer’s critique in the December New Zealand Law Journal of my report, Who Makes the Law? Reining in the Supreme Court,i is remarkable in what it fails to address.ii Rather than engaging with the substantive constitutional arguments about concerning trends in our highest court’s jurisprudence, his response amounts to ‘nothing to see here, trust the judges.’ More remarkably still, he resorts to ad hominem argument, suggesting critics can be dismissed as simply serving business interests. Read more
Roger talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform, articulating principled concerns about Donald Trump's approach to governance, warning that despite identifying legitimate problems, Trump threatens democratic institutions by systematically undermining constitutional checks and balances. Watch below. Read more
For many conservatives, Donald Trump’s return to the presidency brings hope. America’s institutions desperately needed disruption. Read more
The Finance and Expenditure Committee resumed its banking inquiry this week, with Committee members wanting to hear again from bank chiefs. The Committee is looking for answers about banking competition. Read more
The Supreme Court’s decisions late last year in A, B and C v D and E Limited as Trustees of the Z Trusti (the Alphabet case) and Whakatōhea Kotahitanga Waka (the Edwards case) v Ngāti Ira O Waiowekaii (the Edwards case) offer a striking study in contrasts. Both decisions have drawn attention for appearing to resist judicial overreach. Read more
Jordan Peterson’s recent keynote at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in Sydney laid bare a critical divide within classical liberalism. Peterson champions individual responsibility and free markets. Read more