Reports & Media

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

Jordan Peterson’s latest message to his followers is a masterclass in rhetorical sleight of hand. Peterson delivered a keynote address at last week’s ARC conference in Sydney, which was also broadcast on Sky News Australia. Read more

In February this year, I wrote about a surprising decision from New Zealand’s Supreme Court (Absurd: New Zealand courts can now decide on climate change, 5 February 2024). The Court allowed a climate change case against seven large companies to proceed, despite New Zealand’s emissions being a mere rounding error in global terms. This decision was not an isolated incident. Read more

If you haven’t yet read Aaron Smale’s series on abuse in care, you really should. New Zealand doesn’t have a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism, but the series would rightly be up for nomination. Read more

Fertility rates have been dropping for a very long time, but the recent plunge is precipitous. Neil Johnson, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Flinders University, took us through the numbers at a panel session for Fertility Counts Aotearoa at Parliament last week. Read more

Picture a country where unelected judges, not elected politicians, make the laws. Where courts rewrite statutes they do not like and reshape long-standing legal rules based on their views of ‘society’s changing values.’ Sound far-fetched? Read more

It is a Monday afternoon in Wellington. Journalists gather in the Beehive’s theatrette for the weekly post-cabinet media briefing. Read more

Imagine a game of tug-of-war in which one team steadily gains ground. Now, picture our legal system as a rope, with Parliament on one end and the Supreme Court on the other. Read more

BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie had the best synopsis of New Zealand First’s announcement on foreign direct investment this weekend: “it was less important for what it said than for the fact that Peters said it.” The Overseas Investment Act has placed New Zealand among the developed world’s least hospitable climates for foreign investment. Other countries recognise investment as a benefit to be sought. Read more