The New Zealand Initiative

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich interviews the New Zealand Initiative's newest recruit, Benno Blaschke, exploring his extraordinary journey from his Austrian upbringing to becoming passionate about urban economics and housing affordability in New Zealand. They discuss Benno's unique background spanning contemplative practice, academic study, and public service roles before joining the Initiative to contribute to solving housing challenges through economic frameworks rather than continuing in the bureaucracy.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich interviews Dr Prabani Wood, who has worked as a GP in New Zealand for 15 years and discusses her report "The Heart of Healthcare," advocating for greater recognition of primary care's value in New Zealand's healthcare system. Dr Wood explains how continuous GP-patient relationships improve health outcomes and reduce costs, while highlighting challenges facing general practice including the inadequate capitation funding model and antiquated systems.

In this episode, Michael Johnston interviews Katherine Hall, Executive Director of ConCOVE (Construction and Infrastructure Centre of Vocational Excellence), about the challenges facing vocational education and apprenticeships in New Zealand. They discuss systemic issues including poor completion rates, funding problems, and cultural stigma compared to university pathways, along with potential solutions inspired by Germany's dual training system.

In this episode, Michael talks to Professor Barbara Oakley, a McGraw Prize recipient, New York Times bestselling author and creater of the world's largest Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with over 5 million students. They discuss evidence-based approaches to mathematics education and the problems with constructivist teaching methods, while outlining their mission to support New Zealand's new knowledge-rich curriculum through workshops for teachers across the country.

In this episode, Eric talks to Patrick Phelps, Manager at Minerals West Coast, about the complex challenges of rural council governance including infrastructure costs, heritage regulations, and voter apathy. They discuss how small towns struggle with funding vital services across widely dispersed communities while managing political incentives that often lead to misplaced priorities and wasteful spending.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich interviews Michael about his new research report "Trade Routes," which examines how New Zealand can improve its apprenticeship system by adopting elements of Germany's dual education model. They discuss the stark contrast between Germany's highly respected apprenticeship system (with 50% participation) and New Zealand's underdeveloped approach (with just 6% participation), along with Michael's practical recommendations for creating clearer pathways from secondary school to industry training. Read Michael's report "Trade Routes: Charting New Pathways from Secondary School to Industry Training" on The New Zealand Initiative website at www.nzinitiative.org.nz

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich and former Australian Department of Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo discuss growing regional security threats, with Pezzullo warning of a 10-20% chance of conflict with China while advocating for an integrated ANZAC military force. Pezzullo argues that New Zealand should reconsider its anti-nuclear stance to join AUKUS as a full partner, increase its defence spending beyond the current 1.2% of GDP, and recognise that "if Australia goes down, New Zealand is next" - emphasising that both countries need a unified approach to territorial defence in an increasingly unstable Indo-Pacific region.

In this episode, Oliver interviews Jemma Stevenson, a new economist at The New Zealand Initiative, about her background and current research on government inefficiency. Jemma is working on a sequel to the Initiative's research on "Cabinet Congestion," examining whether New Zealand's complex government structure of 81 portfolios and 28 ministers leads to increased spending compared to more streamlined systems like Norway's.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Bryce about his new report "The People's Portfolio", which examines New Zealand's $571 billion in Crown-owned assets and makes the case for privatising many of them to improve economic efficiency rather than simply raising funds. They discuss how current government ownership of these assets is actually costing taxpayers money, the historical success of privatisations like Telecom, and the challenges of implementing a politically viable privatisation strategy. You can read the research report "The People's Portfolio: A $571 Billion Question" on The New Zealand Initiative website www.nzinitiative.org.nz

In this episode, Eric talks to Marko Garlick about how New Zealand's local government planning and zoning regulations create anti-competitive conditions in the retail sector, particularly for supermarkets. They explore specific examples of bizarre regulatory barriers to market entry and discuss potential solutions to enable more competition, such as national policy statements and amendments to the Commerce Act.