Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014, after 16 years as a commercial litigation partner. Roger was executive director of the Legal Research Foundation, a charitable foundation associated with the University of Auckland, from 2001 to 2009, 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 chartered member of the Institute of Directors, a member of the University of Auckland Business School advisory board, a member of the editorial board of the New Zealand Law Review and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
A week is not just a long time in politics. It is a long time for democracy. Read more
They may not know it, but unsuspecting Kiwis will soon be protected from unregistered log traders and forestry advisers. What a relief that should be. Read more
Is a van driver who delivers shopping ordered online a member of the transport industry or the retail industry? Either way, why would you want to know? Read more
Double jeopardy is a defence that prevents a person being tried twice for the same offence. Unfortunately for the Government, the defence is not available for bad public policy decisions. Read more
The future is notoriously hard to forecast. Just dial the clock back two years and try finding an expert predicting a year after the start of the pandemic that New Zealand would be suffering labour shortages. Read more
Two years ago, the coronavirus pandemic took most of the world by surprise. Twenty-four months later, Russia's invasion of Ukraine caught us equally off-guard. Read more
Flushed with success from restricting the distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests, the Ministry of Health is considering regulating other 'at home' medical testing devices. "The household thermometer is an obvious candidate," Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Read more
Since last week’s announcement, Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s proposed social unemployment insurance has been criticised across the political divide. Some complaints relate simply to timing. Read more
The OECD’s country report for New Zealand always reveals sobering home truths. This year’s was no exception. Read more
When something seems too good to be true, it usually is. New Zealand's apparently record-low unemployment figures are a classic case. Read more
With the Auckland border coming down today, it is tempting to talk about Covid. There is certainly plenty still to say. Read more
The Prime Minister started the week looking ahead to the New Year. “It can’t always be Covid,” Ardern said in an interview on Monday. Read more
Our Chairman and Senior Fellow Roger Partridge joins Ben Craven to discuss the Initiative's latest education research and what can be done to reverse Kiwi students' poor literacy results. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Written language came to humanity relatively recently. Modern homo sapiens have walked the earth for at least 100,000 years. Read more
Earlier this week, epidemiologist and media personality Professor Michael Baker was reported saying, "It's hard to imagine any justification for lowering the alert level in Auckland." In case readers in Auckland think they have misread that, Baker didn't say, "It's a tight call, but on balance… ." The Professor said it's "hard to imagine any justification." Forget the hospitality businesses going to the wall. Or the hairdressers, beauticians and gym-owners defaulting on their mortgages. Read more