The New Zealand Initiative

In this episode, Eric, Nick and Benno talk about the Government's proposal to abolish regional councillors while retaining regional councils, shifting governance to new Combined Territories Boards made up of local mayors. They explore how this reform creates space for mayors to rethink regional governance through a function-by-function approach, potentially establishing purpose-built agencies for issues like water catchments and transport that cross council boundaries.

This episode traces how Competitive Urban Land Markets (CLM) made the leap from dissident economic insight to the organising principle of New Zealand's housing reform agenda. Hon Phil Twyford reflects on his time as an Opposition MP, where he absorbed CLM's logic, underwent an intellectual shift inside Labour, and worked with a small circle of economists to translate competition and abundance into a language government could act upon. Once in Cabinet, Twyford and aligned thinkers became the policy entrepreneurs who embedded CLM in the Urban Growth Agenda (UGA). For officials trained in planning orthodoxy, this proved a conceptual shock. Ministers often found themselves teaching the system—literally sketching the framework on whiteboards—as economic reasoning clashed with established planning culture. The episode revisits the structural wins that followed: wins Twyford now reflects on as the most meaningful work of his ministerial career. A small policy network, spearheaded by Twyford's political courage, pressed ahead of global academic thinking to articulate a practical blueprint for restoring housing affordability. This work helped position New Zealand at the frontier of global housing policy. What emerges is a portrait of policy entrepreneurship: an emotional and political journey where leadership, economic clarity, and persistence pushed the boundaries of what a small country can achieve. By the close, the broader arc comes into view—including the cross-party consensus highlighted by Sir Bill English—showing how a once-heretical idea became a bipartisan reform movement. Related links: • Watch the Sholly Angel’s Making Room for Urban Expansion video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkuoPFq3PM • To read the reports by the Urban Land Markets Group visit this link the first paper (“A New Paradigm for Urban Planning”): https://www.auckland.ac.nz/assets/business/about/our-research/research-institutes-and-centres/Economic-Policy-Centre--EPC-/USEPP002.pdf Visit this link for the second paper (“How We Supply Infrastructure Makes Housing Unaffordable: Introducing a New Approach to Funding and Financing our Cities”): https://www.auckland.ac.nz/assets/business/about/our-research/research-institutes-and-centres/Economic-Policy-Centre--EPC-/USEPP003.pdf

In this episode, Eric talks to Oliver about a major loophole in New Zealand's tax system that allows some companies to accumulate PAYE and GST debts, stop filing, and effectively walk away — contributing to almost $7 billion in unpaid corporate taxes. They discuss Oliver's new research note, "Responsibility before ruin: A pre-emptive fix for NZ's phoenix problem", which examines how Germany prevents such debts from building up through automatic insolvency triggers. Oliver explains how a New Zealand-adapted version — requiring directors to act within a set timeframe after missing tax payments — could stop phoenix behaviour and reduce the $700 million in corporate taxes written off each year. Read Oliver's research note here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/responsibility-before-ruin-a-pre-emptive-fix-for-nzs-phoenix-problem/

In this episode, Oliver talks to James Kierstead and Damien Grant about James's departure from New Zealand after 12 years, reflecting on his journey from academia to policy research and his observations of New Zealand's cultural and political shifts since 2013. They discuss the challenges facing New Zealand universities, including grade inflation and administrative bloat, alongside broader themes of democracy, academic freedom, and the tension between New Zealand's liberal traditions and parochial tendencies.

The opening episode traces the intellectual and personal journey that gave birth to the idea of "Competitive Urban Land Markets" (CLM). It follows Chris Parker’s path from his early attempt at NZIER to broaden traditional cost–benefit models so they could capture the transformative effects of infrastructure investment, to his move into Auckland Council as Chief Economist, where he began to see high land prices not as signs of prosperity but as symptoms of monopoly and institutional failure. The conversation explores how Parker’s challenge to the “compact city” orthodoxy led to professional isolation, the coining of the term CLM to communicate publicly without triggering entrenched interests in rising property values, and the emergence of a small, dissident circle of urban economists that quietly germinated a new paradigm. Later, at the invitation of The New Zealand Treasury, Parker joined central government to help redesign the national urban planning system. The CLM framing marked a decisive turning point, from confusion to conceptual clarity, about the real cause of unaffordability and, crucially, how to chart a new pathway out of it. What began as a local heresy would become a world-leading insight: a framework that leapt ahead of state-of-the-art academic thinking and is now shaping global urban policy. The episode culminates in the seminal Treasury “chew session” with then-Finance Minister Rt Hon Sir Bill English, who, grasping the paradigm shift, declared that “clarity is now emerging from the mists”—the moment New Zealand’s housing debate found a new compass. Related links: Read the supporting advice for the famous Treasury "chew session" with Rt Hon Sir Bill English here: https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-01/oia-20180476.pdf

In this episode, Michael talks to Sir Ian Taylor, founder of Animation Research, about what schools should prioritise in a rapidly changing world. The conversation explores whether traditional literacy still matters when machines can read, and whether curiosity-driven learning or knowledge-rich curricula better equip students for critical thinking in an unpredictable future.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Dr Prabani Wood about her research note "Better health through better data", which examines how New Zealand's fragmented health data systems prevent policymakers from knowing whether their decisions actually improve health outcomes. They discuss Dr Wood's recommendation for a Canadian-style primary care data network that would enable practitioners to improve their performance while giving policymakers the evidence they need to make better funding and policy decisions. Read our research note "Better health through better data" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/better-health-through-better-data/

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich talks to Nick Clark about his new report reviewing New Zealand’s MMP electoral system after 30 years. They examine quirks that have emerged over recent elections — from delayed results that stall coalition talks to by-elections creating extra seats, overhangs expanding Parliament beyond 120 MPs, and outdated election-day restrictions despite most people voting early. Nick outlines practical reforms including filling by-election vacancies from party lists, removing overhang seats, lowering the party-vote threshold to 3.5–4%, keeping coat-tailing to minimise wasted votes, shifting to a 50/50 split between electorate and list seats, and increasing Parliament to 170 MPs to improve accountability and strengthen select-committee work. They conclude by reflecting on the need for cross-party consensus and public confidence in any future electoral reform. Read our report "MMP After 30 Years: Time for Electoral Reform?" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/mmp-after-30-years-time-for-electoral-reform/

In this episode, Michael talks with Sir Nick Gibb, who served as England’s Minister for Schools for a decade, about the evidence-based reforms that transformed English education through systematic phonics, a knowledge-rich curriculum, and structured maths teaching. They explore how progressive education ideology led to England’s earlier decline in international rankings, the cognitive science underpinning effective teaching, and New Zealand’s promising early results from adopting similar reforms.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Bryce Wilkinson about his new report examining Kāinga Ora, New Zealand's largest social housing provider, which manages around 78,000 units housing 200,000 people at a cost of roughly $2 billion annually to taxpayers. Bryce argues that the government could better support vulnerable New Zealanders by transitioning away from direct housing provision towards voucher schemes and other market-based alternatives that give tenants more choice whilst reducing costs. Read the report "Owning less to achieve more: Refocusing Kāinga Ora" on the Initiative's website here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/owning-less-to-achieve-more/