If next week’s American Presidential election is a coin toss, that coin looks increasingly weighted toward Trump. In early October, the race was much closer to a fair coin toss. Read more
While studying psychology, my fellow students and I replicated a famous study conducted by B.F. Skinner in the 1940s. Read more
2024 is a significant year for elections with over 60 countries having been to the polls or are going to the polls this year. The United States election on 5 November is without doubt the most consequential. Read more
When a council needs adult supervision, something has gone seriously wrong. Local Government Minister Simeon Brown's intention to appoint a Crown Observer to Wellington City Council reflects mounting frustration with the capital's governance. Read more
1. Introduction and Summary 1.1 This submission is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative) in response to the Government's consultation document "Have your say on Work Health and Safety," released in June 2024. Read more
Paul Brennan talks to Dr Eric Crampton on Reality Check Radio about New Zealand’s alarming drop in birth rates, and why we ranked dead last in infrastructure delivery in a global survey. Listen below. Read more
Rodney Hide talked to Roger Partridge on Reality Check Radio to discuss his report “Who Makes the Law? Reigning in the Supreme Court”, which questions whether the lines between the Court and Parliament are becoming increasingly blurred. Read more
Having worked at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney from 2008 to 2012, I know how inspirational the think tank’s annual Consilium conference can be. Last week’s gathering on the Gold Coast certainly was, not least because of a remarkable speech by historian Sir Niall Ferguson. Read more
Wellington City Council’s recent turmoil highlights a widespread misunderstanding of New Zealand’s local governance. Most Kiwis believe mayors wield significant power over councils. Read more
A few weeks ago, soon after checking into my hotel in Varanasi, I got a knock at my door. It was the manager, asking if I’d noticed that my visa was about to run out in precisely twenty-four hours. Read more
In this episode, Dr Eric Crampton and Prof Steven Hamilton explore why New Zealand and Australia's COVID responses shared similar successes and failures despite their different paths. Their conversation draws from Prof Hamilton's new book "Australia's Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race," examining how both countries excelled at initial elimination and wage subsidies but stumbled with testing regulations and vaccine procurement, ultimately revealing important lessons about institutional capacity and adaptable policy responses for future pandemics. Read more
On Tuesday, Ngāi Tahu set a compelling vision of tino rangatiratanga centred on economic self-determination. The late Māori King Arikinui Tuheitia asked iwi and hapū to hold four hui to build ‘kotahitanga’ – unity. Read more
My recent column, “Parliament should rein in our runaway Supreme Court,” sounded the alarm on a troubling trend. Our highest court is overstepping its bounds, reshaping laws in ways that challenge Parliament’s authority. Read more
On the latest episode of his podcast Different Matters, Damien Grant talks to Roger Partridge about his latest report on the Supreme Court, in which he warns of a looming constitutional crisis in New Zealand, as the Supreme Court increasingly oversteps its bounds, threatening the balance of power between the courts and Parliament. Listen below. Read more
Only a few days after the University of Auckland’s so-called academic freedom policy was rejected by the university’s Senate, Victoria University of Wellington’s own academic freedom policy has come to light. Victoria’s policy is likely a response to the government’s stated intention to make such policies a condition for government funding. Read more