National’s pattern of mishandling the private data of New Zealand citizens has again landed it in hot water. Is the party’s new leader willing to act or will he try to sweep it under the carpet?
Read MoreDuring a recent public consultation on the future of Archives New Zealand, a key report was suppressed. The Ombudsman has ruled that the refusal was unjustified. Sadly, the consultation was over by the time of the the decision has been made. However, the law on the use of the Official Information Act has been clarified.
Read MoreIs the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people?
Read MoreSIS raids on foreign embassies suggest New Zealand’s intelligence services are undermining the central plank of our foreign policy… and making hypocrites of us all. Surely it’s time our government stopped ignoring our history
Read MoreFuture or past? Merit or representation? This leader or one of the previous ones? National has been making some headlines this week and getting on the news. But not in ways that helps Todd Muller
Read MoreWill the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World?
Read MoreIt’s a shame that last night’s passage of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill got overshadowed by parliamentary shenanigans. But let’s pause and note what it all means, anyway.
Read MoreThe past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
Read MoreIs it really true that the High Court is (partly) to blame for the recent decision to allow COVID-19 infected travellers out of quarantine? No. No it isn’t.
Read MoreThe rebranding of the Government’s “Unite Against COVID-19” campaign into “Unite for the Recovery” is probably unfair to the opposition. Does that matter, and what could be done about it?
Read MoreThe Government is spending like it was trying to win the election. The Opposition is trying to outbid it
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Oliver Twist, famously asked for ‘more’. He did not challenge the system of workhouses – Dickens did – nor the authority of Beadle Bumble. He was only nine.
Read MoreLast month I noted that the public policy debate was all about how we deal with covid-19. That’s changing now, and will change more over the next couple of months as the buffering impact of the wage subsidy disappears and we see starkly the economic hole out of which we are now going to have to climb. It is a deep hole for sure but not impossible.
Read MoreTodd Muller’s first week as National’s leader made you want to look away in discomfort and raised the question whether National is entering the Shearer/Cunliffe phase of Opposition.
Read MoreThe ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting.
Read MoreWith popular support, a willing partner and many New Zealanders facing unemployment, now is the time for Labour to overhaul welfare. Instead, it has divided beneficiaries into the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’
Read MoreVE Day is 75 years ago this month; a victory in Europe that had profound implications for Africa. But we are still learning to grapple with ideas of racial superiority
Read MoreTodd Muller was National’s inevitable leader who never was, until he became it, writes National Party insider Hamish Price.
Read MoreA leadership coup so close to a general election isn’t the ideal situation for a party in freefall but by electing Todd Muller as its new leader the National party may see a positive turnabout in fortune writes John Elliot.
Read MoreThe media treat budgets as bit of a circus: lots of theatre and soon forgotten. For a serious economist they show how a team of economists is thinking about the wider economy.
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