Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Kiwis put ETS on the shelf
New Zealand’s realistic policy approach, combined with its almost defunct carbon market, should be a real wake-up call for Australia to reconsider its ill-fated Carbon Tax Scheme. Read More
Land of the long white cloud faces bad weather
SINCE 2008, New Zealand has been led by former investment banker John Key's National Party. The party campaigned on growing New Zealand's economy and encouraging individual enterprise. However, three years... Read More
Kiwis facing a critical choice
New Zealand must overcome challenging economic conditions, writes Luke Malpass Read More
Spending Spree wasted decade of prosperity
NZ’s decade long spending binge was prosperity wasted. Read More
Stop pricing young workers out of the labour force
Minimum wages hurt employment prospects for the people they're intended to help. Read More
The Don reignites the war of ideas
Dr Don Brash’s return to politics will breathe new life into New Zealand’s political debate, start a healthy battle of ideas and finally see the important policies debated. Read More
Brash’s ‘extremist’ policies seen as sensible in Australia
Don Brash’s economic policies are closer to Julia Gillard’s in Australia, a country whose standard of living is significantly higher than New Zealand’s. Read More
New Zealand's risky re-regulation path
The recent rise of wrong-headed economic populism in New Zealand brings the threat of protectionism in an economy that is already woefully stagnant. Read More
New Zealand’s great regression
New Zealand was once a beacon to the Western world for classical liberal reform. No longer. Where did it all go wrong? Read More
Australians hung-over post election
New Zealander politicians can draw a couple of lessons from the Australian election, says Luke Malpass in the Sunday Star Times, 29 August 2010. Read More
Aussie election offers Key a warning
There is a grave warning for John Key's National Party in the result of the Australia federal election, says Luke Malpass in The National Business Review, 27 August 2010. Read More
Failing to deliver on policy promises came back to bite
What are the lessons New Zealand politicians can learn from Kevin Rudd’s sudden fall from grace, asks Luke Malpass in the Dominion Post 6 July 2010. Read More
The spectacular descent of Kevin Rudd
The central lesson in Rudd’s demise is that at some point, the polls have to take back seat to the policy. Read More
Little John shows Kevin how it's done
Soon after John Key was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand in late 2008, he visited Kevin Rudd. The Australian Prime Minister was at the height of his popularity, soaring in the polls, saving Australia... Read More
Policy debate isn’t helped when the Left descends into hatred
The abuse of Peter Saunders conceals more serious welfare questions in New Zealand. Read More
KiwiRail - a costly indulgence?
Auckland and Wellington commuters may have to pay for local rail – despite KiwiRail’s billion-dollar investment so far. Read More
MMP struggles in Germany, now it struggles here
MMP in Germany suffers the same problems as MMP in New Zealand and New Zealand should learn from this. Read More
Question time on whether NZ needs to reinstate an upper house
Voters in New Zealand will decide the fate of MMP next year. But what about options not on the ballot paper? Read More
New Zealand misses the reform boat
Instead of using his mandate to push forward with liberalisation, Prime Minister John Key is losing his way Read More
The high price of subsidies
Like virtually all industry assistance schemes, the feel-good factor of the New Zealand government’s subsidy to the makers of Avatar outweighs any economic benefit. Read More
Labour should not take its eyes off the target
Twenty years after introducing inflation targeting in 1989 and revolutionising central bank governance that was to sweep the world during the 1990s, Labour is back in opposition and rejected the monetary... Read More
Hostility to aspiration and the tall poppy syndrome hold New Zealand back
In last week’s Sunday Star Times, Rod Oram dubiously claims the 2025 Taskforce's analysis is inaccurate, lazy and shallow, and dismisses the chairman’s credentials and the report’s findings. Read More
Kiwi monetary muddle
The falling U.S. dollar is sparking a dangerous debate about the New Zealand central bank's role. Read More
Smartest Kiwis nest in our warmer climate
For the half a million Kiwis living in Australia, the New Zealand government’s goal of reaching Australia’s living standards by 2025 will come as a welcome tonic, if only for the sake of their relatives... Read More
Life’s joys get a little lost down holes of health-cost analyses
Any time we make a decision that lets us enjoy a bit of fun but with some risk to our health, that decision is considered irrational and cannot generate any real enjoyment. Read More
‘Healthist’ doomsayers are spoiling all our fun
The hidden cost of healthist cost reports is the slow erosion of liberty that ensues when we take them at face value. By conflating the costs that risk-takers impose on themselves with the costs they impose... Read More
No light at end of tunnel for KiwiRail
Since KiwiRail was renationalised in 2008, it has become clear that the previous government’s justifications for purchasing a hugely expensive, loss-making asset were driven more by ideology and political... Read More
KiwiRail mired in Labour ideology
On election night, Helen Clark expressed hope that all her government’s gains would not go up in a ‘bonfire of right-wing ideology.’ Curiously, few have dared question the Clark government’s ideological... Read More
Want a centre-right government in New Zealand? Move to Australia
It is ironic that National’s Budget mirrored the Australian Labor Party’s budget a few weeks earlier. To rephrase one of the great political one-liners of the last decade in New Zealand: John Key and... Read More
NZ tries harder for foreign cash
Rugby is not the only arena in which Australia is losing out to New Zealand. Australia also faces increased competition from across the Tasman in the race to secure scarce global capital. In sharp contrast... Read More
Incentivising welfare
The Key government campaigned on reforming welfare, but as the recession bites deeper we shall see if John Key and Paula Bennett are serious or not. Read More
Kiwi Crunch Time
NZ Prime Minister John Key often talks about his desire to grow New Zealand out of the global economic recession, rather than bail the country out through huge spending packages. This puts him at odds... Read More
NZ should stay put on UN Indigenous declaration
Recently Prime Minister John Key was caught musing over whether New Zealand should follow Australia’s lead and sign up to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Let us all hope... Read More
The recession will be a good time to reform welfare
If there was any doubt that welfare in New Zealand needed reforming, a recent picture told a thousand words. It was of a mother of a mongrel mob member, herself on the Invalid’s Benefit attempting to... Read More
Should Keynes have a seat at the G20 table
If the leaders of the G20 nations and the International Monetary Fund are to be believed, activist fiscal policy is essential to save the global economy from an even deeper and more protracted downturn.... Read More
Is the new National-led government up to the task of remaking New Zealand?
Once the dust from the financial crisis settles, there is a lot of work to be done in New Zealand. But what the country needs and what is electorally popular are two different things. The newly elected... Read More
Welfare is killing Kiwis softly
If you believe the editorial in the most recent edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal, a toxic combination of bad social and economic policies is responsible for killing thousands of New Zealanders... Read More
Is New Zealand saving itself to death?
How important are savings to economic growth? Would you gamble billions of dollars on the answer? This is the challenge facing the New Zealand government after the launch of a radical new savings plan... Read More
Kiwisaver or KiwiSucker?
You’d have to be an idiot not to join KiwiSaver, according to most financial advisors. In effect the government is paying you thousands of dollars to join, and soon employers will have to contribute... Read More
Supersize my economy
Everyone knows that Australians are richer than New Zealanders, with wages a third higher on average. Almost everyone agrees this is a bad thing, but the hard part is working out what exactly to do about... Read More
Don’t choke on your cornflakes but Australians are much richer than New Zealanders
Why are Australians so much richer than New Zealanders? It’s almost an embarrassing question to ask because we don’t like admitting superiority to the Aussies at anything, be it sport or economic policy. Read More
Australians are no bigger and no smarter than New Zealanders, but seriously better off
Kiwis have become used to finishing behind Australia in sporting contests, but the most serious gap between the two countries is the level of wealth. Thanks to 16 years of uninterrupted growth, Australians... Read More
Why is Australia so much richer than New Zealand?
Why are Australians so much richer than New Zealanders? It’s almost an embarrassing question to ask because we don’t like admitting superiority to the Aussies at anything, be it sport or economic policy. Read More
Why Australia is much richer than NZ
Why are Australians so much richer than New Zealanders? It’s almost an embarrassing question to ask because kiwis don’t like admitting superiority to Aussies at anything, be it sport or economic policy. Read More
Time for Politicians to treat our money more carefully
This week’s budget will be the biggest spend-up in New Zealand’s history. Even in the days of Muldoon there was nothing to rival the $54 billion spend-up that Dr Michael Cullen will unveil on Thursday. Read More
A breather before bingeing
Finance Minister Dr Cullen is in an enviable position, despite his protestations of poverty. Every year he receives billions of dollars in bonus tax that he did not expect. Most treasurers around the world... Read More
Hey, Big Spender
Does the Government actually do any good? This might sound like a strange question, but it’s one that New Zealanders don’t ask often enough. Read More
People should be able to opt out of welfare entitlements in return for tax reductions
In 1970, taxes consumed one-fifth of everything New Zealand produced. Today taxes absorb one-third of it. If things go on like this, the government will be soaking up half of everything we produce by the... Read More
Who's paying all their tax?
Nobody likes paying tax, but for a large number of people it’s now an inconvenience they don’t have to bother with. Read More
Our beneficiary nation
Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable at the latest Working for Families ad on TV, where the middle class family (complete with iPods and cellphones) are exhorted to claim their entitlement? Read More
Bad manners to blame politicians
As an exuberant child of the 1980s I had many excuses for my misbehaviours and public rudeness. But I never thought to blame David Lange or Roger Douglas. Read More
Growth needs basic rules
The New Zealand economy is one of the freest in the world. This still holds true despite its freedom rating having slipped somewhat since the bold economic reforms that ended a decade ago. Read More
Time to care for ourselves: Instead of a welfare state, it would be cheaper and more efficient if we each made our own arrangements
The welfare state has developed over a hundred years. In this time, increasing numbers of people have become dependent upon it, not just as consumers but also as producers and managers of its services. ... Read More
Lessons from across the Tasman where policy strength has brought economic growth
A new political leader is promising some radical ideas. Massive tax cuts, reduced government spending (compared to his rival at least), work for the dole and a 90 day trial period for new workers are all... Read More