Reports & Media

As your Vice-Chancellor here at He Waka Kore Hoe (once known as Elizabeth University), I’m excited to announce the 17th consultation period (Round 3A) for our public panel on free speech, which will kick off next Monday, November 12th, 2031. I am grateful to all the groups who made submissions during the last round, including Anti-Racists for Climate Justice, Students Against Education, Queers for Palestine, Vegans Anonymous, Anonymous, the Philistine Society, Debating Debate Club, and More Mao Now! Read more

New Zealand has an infrastructure deficit of at least $100 billion, a significant drag on productivity and economic growth. Not all this deficit can be financed from within New Zealand, meaning we will need overseas investment. Read more

History often helps put current controversies in context. In 1968, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Ira Glasser defended racist Alabama Governor George Wallace’s right to speak at a city-owned stadium in New York. Read more

It is fashionable to see climate as the main threat to the future quality of life of young people today. The word “climate” is commonly followed by “crisis” or “emergency”. Read more

The Education and Training Act enshrines academic freedom in law. It distinguishes aspects of academic freedom over which the university itself has jurisdiction, from aspects that protect its students and academic staff from institutional interference. Read more

More than two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shattered the continent’s illusion of perpetual peace, Europe finds itself confronting a once-unthinkable question: is it time to bring back the draft? For decades, conscription seemed like a relic of a bygone era. Read more

I may have been the only New Zealander to raise a glass on Monday to the 300th birthday of Immanuel Kant. In our age of unreason, conspiracy theories and disinformation, we would do well to rediscover this Enlightenment philosopher. Read more

Shortly after the turn of the millennium, the gurus of progressive education coined the term twenty-first century learning. After all, what is the point of a new millennium if we don’t take the opportunity to try something new? Read more

It is time we liberalised our Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) regulations. Benefits to New Zealand would include pest-resistant crops, more productive crops and fruit, sterile pines for forestry, reduced carbon emissions, reduced agricultural methane, better healthcare products, cheaper medication, and pest control. Read more