Category: Economic Issues

Avatar photo

Time for Reform

If Sir Roger is right in his prediction that none of the existing political parties will support the proposed reforms because they don’t want to relinquish their tight-fisted grip on power, then we  will need an army of Kiwis who are prepared to help us create the momentum we will need for a change of this scale...


Avatar photo

Budget 2024: Policy Solutions to New Zealand’s Funding Problems

Most politicians are tribal, they support their political party right or wrong, often in the hope of getting a ministerial job down the line. I never fitted into that category of politicians. For me, policy always came first - that is policy I believed to be in the best interests of New Zealand. Today, I still find it impossible to stay silent...


Avatar photo

Budget Challenges

New Zealand suffers from low productivity. While many factors influence a country’s productivity, the regulatory burden plays a significant role. Instead of clearing away the mountains of mind-numbing regulations and red tape that hold up progress and deter investment, the Ardern-Hipkins Government spent six years creating more.


Avatar photo

New Zealand Budget - May 2024: There’s got to be a better way

This article calls on all New Zealanders to be clear-eyed about the state of social services, particularly health, education, welfare and superannuation, and acknowledge that without major changes the system will inevitably collapse under its own weight. No government has had the courage to face up to the fundamental structural flaws of our present system.


Avatar photo

Mana or Money

A cynic, or perhaps a realist, would conclude that the cultural agenda that’s now confronting New Zealand is being driven by money not mana. It’s time for the cancer of cultural appeasement to be removed – it’s been tolerated for far too long.


Avatar photo

Coastal Court Action Flies Under the Radar

Before MACA became law, Finlayson reassured critics that only around 2000km of New Zealand’s 20,000km coastline — or roughly 10 per cent — would end up being under the control of iwi and hapu via customary title. That promise looks to be hollow.


Avatar photo

Activist Capture

New Zealand is suffering from ‘activist capture’. As a nation, we’ve allowed this to happen because some at the top of the political pyramid have themselves been activists, while others have lacked the backbone and focus to say "enough is enough".


Avatar photo

Statement by Sir Russell Coutts Sail GP CEO

Unfortunately yesterday was another example of there being almost no balance in the decision making – another example of New Zealand being handcuffed by unprecedented layers of bureaucracy and red tape.


Avatar photo

A “Global Warmer” Against the Polluters 

It is crucial to the administration of justice that all judges approach the cases before them with open minds and setting aside all pre-conceived views and beliefs. Once that corner stone is eroded then our court system rapidly descends to one of patronage, and who you know. 


Avatar photo

A Media Reset

Democracy is undoubtedly enhanced by a strong media landscape. But if New Zealand is to return to having that, there needs to be a reset. The media needs to commit to their own principles to “be bound at all times by accuracy, fairness and balance." A balanced approach to climate change may well have prevented the damaging policies that are now in place.