The New Zealand Initiative

Bryce Wilkinson and Leonard Hong discuss their latest report "Walking the path to the next global financial crisis" and the implications for New Zealand.

Senior Fellow Dr David Law discusses his new paper on the Government’s plans to introduce an unemployment insurance scheme.

Matt Burgess joins Oliver Hartwich to discuss his latest research note, Climate of fear: How the Reserve Bank is overstepping its mandate. Matt’s research documents serious breaches of the RBNZ's responsibilities as regulator of the financial system, including one instance of misconduct. The Reserve Bank has no legal or democratic mandate for climate change. It should not be threatening regulated industries with repercussions if they do not follow its political agenda.

The Government has announced they will confiscate councils’ three water assets, despite widespread opposition from mayors, councillors, and ratepayers. Ben Craven sits down with Oliver Hartwich, Matt Burgess and Eric Crampton to discuss what the proposals will mean for councils; the winners and losers; and why centralised control of water assets is not the answer to local water issues.

Oliver Hartwich joins Ben Craven to discuss his latest Newsroom column on a media funding scandal that has led to the resignation of centre-right Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The investigation has highlighted the dependency of Austrian media on government advertising, and the influence that funding can exert.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson and Emeritus Professor Gary Hawke join Ben Craven to discuss Bryce’s latest report, The Illusions of History: How misunderstanding the past jeopardises our future. The trio look at some of the prevailing myths of New Zealand’s economic history, and explain the risks of basing contemporary public policy on inaccurate stories of our past.

It is not clear how the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan can reduce emissions. The government is proposing massive interventions in everything from energy to transport to manufacturing. Nearly all of the proposals are already in the ETS emissions cap. They cannot lower emissions any further. An army of officials is planning how you live your life, knowing most of their rules will contribute nothing towards emissions targets. This is emissions policy in name only. Matt Burgess joins Eric Crampton to discuss the government’s draft Emissions Reduction Plan released earlier today.

How can New Zealand improve its Covid response? Dr Eric Crampton joins Ben Craven to talk about his latest research note Safer Arrivals and the Path to 2022. The pair discuss the report’s findings; why Covid restrictions should not be compared to the nanny state; and the policies New Zealand could introduce now to prevent even greater outbreaks.

Matt Burgess joins host Ben Craven to discuss the government’s feebate policy which launches in April 2022. The policy is egregiously regressive. Buyers of new EVs including the Tesla Model 3 will receive $8,625, paid for by people who buy more affordable petrol and diesel vehicles. Feebate taxes three times more imported vehicles than it subsidises, and could add thousands of dollars to the cost of secondhand cars. The scheme will not reduce emissions by a single tonne since transport is already covered by the ETS emissions cap. Those cheques to high-income households, paid for in part by low-income households, will do nothing to lower emissions.

Germans went to the polls on Sunday to elect the first post-Angela Merkel government. Ben Craven talks to Oliver Hartwich about the results, who the winners and losers are, and what the next government could look like.