The New Zealand Initiative

In this episode, Michael talks to Oliver Hartwich about his new satirical novella The Martian Audit, in which two alien auditors arrive in New Zealand to assess it for invasion, only to find themselves defeated not by weapons but by the country's regulation and bureaucracy. There are no villains, just a country full of friendly people trapped in systems that don't work, from leaky homes and hospital waiting rooms to view shafts you can't legally stop to admire.

In this episode, Michael and James talk with Sarah McLaughlin from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. They discuss attacks on free speech internationally,  with governments from Washington to Beijing using deportation powers, financial leverage, and anti-terror laws to silence critics. They analyse the censorship impulse across the political spectrum, the threat of social media age bans to internet anonymity, and the failure of even strong legal protections to protect free speech fail when citizens fail to defend their own rights.

The guns have paused in the US-Iran conflict but Oliver Hartwich and John Howard argue New Zealand should take little comfort from that. All parties are struggling to find an off-ramp, damage to Qatar's refineries alone means a two-to-three-year rebuild, and New Zealand still lacks the energy strategy promised in 2024. Singapore, a city-state the size of Lake Taupō, has built the fuel resilience we have not.

Bob Davies joined the New Zealand Army at 16 and served 31 years, rising to Sergeant Major of the Army. He deployed to Vietnam in 1968, took shrapnel wounds, caught malaria twice, and was exposed to Agent Orange. His infant son Geoffrey, born with spina bifida linked to that exposure, lived three days. Bob used his compensation to establish the Geoffrey Davies Memorial Prize at Victoria University of Wellington. On Anzac Day, Bob talks to Oliver Hartwich about what service cost him and why New Zealand's honours system fails its soldiers. Bob makes the case that New Zealand recognises its military personnel far less than comparable nations, and the numbers he cites are damning.

In this episode, Michael speaks with Professor Elizabeth Rata about the history of New Zealand's school system. The conversation challenges the contemporary narrative of 19th-century schools as authoritarian and oppressive. They discuss ways in which teaching was knowledge-rich and aligned with what we now understand from the science of learning before late 20th-century ideological shifts reshaped education, sidelining knowledge and teacher expertise.

In this episode, Michael talks to Lynda Knight, principal of Glenview School in Porirua, about how understanding the neuroscience of stress and trauma transformed her school's approach to dysregulated behaviour. They discuss why a felt sense of safety, strong relational connections and teacher self-regulation are essential foundations for learning, and what schools and policymakers can do to better support children experiencing stress and trauma.

In this episode, Michael speaks with Oliver Hartwich about his new research note "Who Runs the Country?", examining the friction between New Zealand's elected government and its permanent public service. They explore how the appointment of chief executives can undermine ministerial control, and why Germany's model of political appointments with institutional safeguards offers a promising alternative.

In this episode, Oliver speaks with retired Major General John Howard about the escalating Middle East conflict, unpacking the military realities behind the United States' shifting approach and the growing role of global powers like China and Russia. They explore what disruption in the Strait of Hormuz means for energy markets and why New Zealand may be more exposed to fuel and supply shocks than it realises.

In this episode, Eric talks with Andreas Heuser, partner at Heuser Whittington and lead economist on the government's fuel security study, about why the price system is New Zealand's best tool for managing fuel scarcity in the wake of the Strait of Hormuz closure. They discuss why calls for rationing are misguided, what the Marsden Point decision got right, and how the existing tax and transfer system can address the real pain households are facing.

In this episode, Nick and Benno discuss whether New Zealand's proposed planning reforms can actually deliver housing affordability or fail to escape the gravitational pull of the status quo. They unpack how our current planning system and the rules it makes are an extractive institution: one that concentrates decision-making power over land use in the hands of a few, beholden to a privileged group of incumbents. The result is artificial scarcity that inflates land prices across entire cities, driving up house prices and rents. They introduce competitive urban land markets as the countervailing force: a more inclusive institution that respects people's right to use land to meet society's needs and empowers the citizenry to participate in land and development markets. The Planning Bill does mark a genuine milestone: for the first time, competitive urban land markets appears as an explicit goal of the planning system. But we need to clarify what that means and provide the basic elements needed for that goal to bite: a definition, independent monitoring to assess whether land markets are actually competitive, and a requirement that the planning system respond when they are not. Without these, the new goal risks being captured by a planning and legal system that continues to do what it already knows how to do: predict and provide for scarcity.

In this episode, Michael talks with Dr James Kierstead about the pressures on academics to align with universities’ institutional priorities, including expectations to incorporate Māori and Pasifika perspectives in all teaching programmes. The discussion raises questions about academic freedom, institutional neutrality, and accountability, illustrated by the circumstances surrounding Dr Kierstead’s redundancy from Victoria University of Wellington.

Renowned urbanist Alain Bertaud has spent six decades studying cities: from working as a young draftsman in Chandigarh in 1963 to advising governments worldwide on urban land markets. His book Order Without Design has become a touchstone for New Zealand's housing reforms, cited by ministers on both sides of the aisle. In this episode, Eric and Benno are joined by Bertaud and Salim Furth of the Mercatus Centre to discuss why cities are labour markets first and infrastructure projects second, what happens when planners try to control things they cannot predict, why monitoring land prices may be the single most important thing a planning department can do, and how to make sure infrastructure investment and delivery serves the spontaneous order rather than the other way around. As both guests note, New Zealand has worked through so many of the foundational policy questions that the debate is now at the frontier: how to finance and deliver infrastructure under genuine uncertainty, in a system that lets cities grow flexibly. These are problems you only get to when the earlier questions have been answered well. The world is watching.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton are joined by retired Major General John Howard to assess the Iran conflict three weeks on, covering how it has escalated, what the odds of de-escalation look like, and whether a US ground invasion or ceasefire is realistic. They also explore the wider global picture, from China's posture around Taiwan to Ukraine's worsening position, and what it all means for New Zealand's fuel security, energy resilience, and national preparedness.

In this episode, Nick talks with Bryce about the government’s proposed replacement of the Resource Management Act and what it means for property rights. Bryce argues the bills fall short of the government’s stated commitment to property rights, lacking the economic disciplines needed to ensure regulation delivers net benefits for New Zealanders.

In this episode, Oliver talks to retired Major General John Howard about the first week of US–Israel strikes on Iran — what the opening strikes reveal, how Iran is responding, and why the risk of escalation remains real. They then zoom out to the global ripple effects (Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, NATO cohesion) and the practical consequences for New Zealand, from fuel and supply-chain disruption to the need for more proactive national security planning.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report, Renovating the Nation, which proposes selling around $25 billion worth of government-owned commercial assets and reinvesting the proceeds into critical public infrastructure. Drawing on the success of New South Wales's asset recycling programme, Roger argues the Crown has too much capital tied up in businesses it doesn't need to own, and that ring-fencing sale proceeds in an independently governed fund could deliver the roads, hospitals, and public transport New Zealand desperately needs.

In this episode, Eric Crampton talks to Nick Clark about New Zealand's long and troubled history with the Resource Management Act — and whether the Government's 744-page replacement really fixes it. They examine the missing property rights protections, the absence of robust cost-benefit analysis, and the fail-safes needed to ensure the new framework delivers better outcomes for New Zealanders.

In this episode, Oliver talks to retired Major General John Howard about escalating US–Iran tensions, what 'phase zero' military build-up signals, and the pathways from diplomacy to potential strikes. With New Zealand holding, as Howard notes, around 14 days of fuel reserves, they explain why disruption in the Strait of Hormuz matters, and why energy security and national resilience deserve far greater urgency.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich speaks with retired Major General John Howard, whose 40-year military career included a senior executive role at the US Defense Intelligence Agency. Howard explains New Zealand is strategically underprepared for a more contested world, lacking clear national security and intelligence strategies, modern capability and sustained investment to protect a trading nation's interests.

In this episode, Michael Johnston speaks with Kaaryn Cater of MindWise Connection about sensitivity – a temperamental trait that makes some people more affected by their environment. They explore why open-plan classrooms can overwhelm highly sensitive children, how social cues and sensory stimuli shape learning, and practical strategies teachers and workplaces can use to reduce overload and better support highly sensitive people.

In this episode, Michael talks to demographer Marion Burkimsher about New Zealand's falling fertility rate and looming population decline. They explore whether immigration can fill the gap as birth rates drop, the psychological implications of ageing societies and what might actually help young people form families - from affordable housing to healthier relationships and realistic expectations about parenthood.

In this episode, Eric and Oliver talk about New Zealand's negotiations with the United States over rare earth minerals, following a 180-day ultimatum from America requiring allied nations to sign mineral access deals or face tariffs. They discuss the complications revealed in Australia's similar agreement, the implications for New Zealand's mining regulations and international relationships, and how this pressure from the US represents a fundamental shift away from the traditional rules-based international order.

In this episode, Michael and Stephanie are joined by former Chief Justice of Australia Robert French to examine academic freedom and freedom of expression in universities. French reflects on the model code he developed in 2019 for Australian universities and explains why the real threat to free speech often lies in vague codes of conduct rather than controversial speakers. They discuss the difference between free speech and academic freedom, the limits universities can legitimately place on expression, and the case for institutional neutrality.

This concluding episode examines what it takes for housing reform to endure. Minister Chris Bishop reflects on his journey to Competitive Urban Land Markets (CLM) and why housing affordability is best understood as a problem of land supply. The conversation situates Bishop within a decade-long reform arc spanning governments and parties. Building on earlier work under Bill English and Phil Twyford, he discusses how CLM has been socialised within National and translated into the Going for Housing Growth agenda. A central theme is the generational nature of the housing challenge. Bishop observes that the divide on housing is less partisan than generational, and frames the current term as a narrow window in which to act: if progress slows, gravity reasserts itself. Part 3 also explores durability, examining why both local and central government struggle to stay the course when reform becomes politically uncomfortable. The discussion turns to the risk of relying on unusually capable ministers to champion reform, and the need for rule-based systems that hold course regardless of whoever office. Bishop frames his new ministry as an attempt to pull the reform arc into a single institutional locus, a partial answer to the challenge of maintaining coherence across political cycles. The series closes with CLM no longer being a question of whether it offers the right diagnosis, but whether New Zealand is willing to embed that diagnosis deeply enough, as an explicit goal of the planning system, in law, and supported by institutions and incentives, for it to survive its own champions. Bishop's answer is the roadrunner: keep running and leave the road on fire behind, long enough to make it irreversible. Related links: Read 'The housing theory of everything' here: https://lawliberty.org/the-many-deaths-of-liberalism/?mc_cid=c7e3361d2d&mc_eid=f6d1114f29 Listen to part 1 of this series, 'Clarity Emerging from the Mists', here:https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/podcasts/podcast-housing-affordability-nz-at-the-global-policy-frontier-part-1-clarity-emerging-from-the-mists/ Listen to part 2 of this series, ‘From Heresy to Reform’ (with Phil Twyford), here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/podcasts/podcast-housing-affordability-nz-at-the-global-policy-frontier-part-2-from-heresy-to-reform/

In this episode, Oliver and Michael reflect on a packed 2025 that brought major policy wins in education, housing, and regulation, while looking ahead to the bigger picture challenges shaping 2026. They cover everything from the Initiative’s Dutch delegation and Prof Barbara Oakley’s visit, to the dramatic early gains in literacy and numeracy under Minister Erica Stanford, the new Resource Management Act, and the work ahead on AI, demographic change, and political polarisation.

In this episode, Oliver, Nick and Bryce talk about the Fast Track Approvals Amendment Bill, focusing on the use of Henry VIII clauses that allow ministers to amend legislation without full parliamentary scrutiny. The discussion examines why these powers have typically been used only in genuine emergencies, how their application in planning reform raises constitutional questions, and why the Initiative recommends clearer limits and stronger sunset provisions to protect democratic processes.

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/

In this episode, Oliver talks to Michael Johnston about New Zealand's productivity paradox and why the country underperforms economically despite having strong institutions. They discuss lessons from small European countries like Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, exploring how factors like decentralisation, foreign direct investment, trade integration, and national culture could help improve New Zealand's economic performance.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Eric Crampton, the New Zealand Initiative's chief economist, about his latest report Building Nations examining Canadian First Nations' experiences with autonomous land development and what New Zealand might learn from them. They discuss how Canadian reserves transformed from heavily regulated, impoverished areas into thriving self-governing communities that are now solving urban housing crises through major development projects like the Squamish Nation's apartment towers in downtown Vancouver. Read our report "Building Nations: What Canada’s First Nations can teach us about devolution and development" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports/building-nations-what-canadas-first-nations-can-teach-us-about-devolution-and-development/

In this episode, James talks to Craig Mellare and Abdul Razeed, senior lecturers at the University of Sydney Business School, about their empirical study on grade inflation in Australian higher education. They discuss findings showing that grades have risen significantly over the past decade despite no improvement in student ability, and explore the institutional pressures driving this phenomenon including student evaluation systems, time constraints on academic staff, and the need to manage student appeals and expectations.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Sam Andrews, Chief Strategy Officer at Bastion Security, about New Zealand’s cybersecurity landscape and the evolving threats facing organisations. They explore how AI is reshaping both attacks and defences, the strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand’s regulatory framework, and why building resilience is just as vital as strong security.

In this episode, James Kierstead talks with Sarah McLaughlin, Senior Scholar, Global Expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), about her forthcoming book Authoritarians in the Academy. They explore how authoritarian governments, particularly China, pressure universities abroad through funding ties, partnerships, and intimidation of students and scholars. The conversation covers cases from New Zealand and Australia, including cancelled Tiananmen Square events and harassment of pro-democracy students, as well as the investigation of China scholar Anne-Marie Brady. Sarah and James also discuss the role of Confucius Institutes and student groups, the influence of regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and broader threats to free expression including religious censorship laws and new restrictions on campus speech in the United States and parts of Europe.

In this episode, Eric and Nick talk to Michael Keen, a former Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department and co-author of "Rebellion, Rascals and Revenue", about the many ways taxation can go wrong throughout history. They explore bizarre historical taxes like Britain's window tax and ship taxation, discuss New Zealand's exemplary GST system, and examine how poor tax design can lead to smuggling, rebellions, and unintended economic distortions.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Stephen Crosswell, a partner at Baker and McKenzie in Hong Kong, the world’s strongest law firm brand. He is chair of the firm’s Asia-Pacific Antitrust & Competition Group and one of Hong Kong’s leading trial lawyers, admitted to practise in five countries. Stephen has seen first-hand how law shapes innovation, and he joins Oliver to explore what history, from Roman law to Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution, can reveal about the forces driving change today. Their conversation centres on Stephen’s paper "The Common Law and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations", which asks whether the legal system we have makes a difference to whether our societies can innovate, prosper, and deliver material improvements to our quality of life. They consider why common law’s flexibility may provide a stronger foundation than sweeping regulation for addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence and digital platforms.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report "Unscrambling Government," which proposes consolidating New Zealand's extraordinarily complex government structure from 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments down to a more manageable 15-20 portfolios with corresponding departmental consolidation. They discuss how New Zealand's fragmented ministerial system creates accountability problems, increases fiscal costs, and hampers effective decision-making on critical issues like housing affordability, comparing unfavourably to other small advanced economies that operate with far simpler structures. Read the report here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/unscrambling-government-less-confusion-more-efficiency/

In this episode, Oliver talks to Eric Crampton and Benno Blaschke about the New Zealand government’s supermarket competition reforms, which closely reflect The New Zealand Initiative’s policy framework—a major policy win that saw their research inform the Minister of Finance’s approach. They explain how their practical policy document shifted government thinking away from heavy-handed breakups and toward tackling the real structural barriers in planning and regulation.

In this episode, Oliver talks to James Keirstead about his latest research report "Amazing Grades" which provides the first systematic analysis of grade inflation across all New Zealand universities. They discuss how A-grades have increased by 13 percentage points over two decades, reaching 35% of all grades awarded, and explore potential solutions including statistical moderation systems and national examinations to restore meaningful academic standards. You can read Dr Kierstead's report "Amazing Grades: Grade Inflation at New Zealand Universities" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/amazing-grades-grade-inflation-at-new-zealand-universities/

In this episode, Benno Blaschke talks to Oliver Hartwich about the recent Trump-Putin meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, where Trump appeared to abandon the Western position of seeking a ceasefire first in favour of Putin's demand for an immediate "peace deal" that would cement Russian territorial gains. They discuss the troubling implications of Trump applauding Putin on arrival, the bizarre shared ride in the presidential limousine, and how this summit signals a dangerous shift from rules-based international order to great power politics that could embolden other territorial aggressors, particularly China.

In this episode, Eric talks to Ben Hamlin, Barrister at Clifton Chambers, about new Commerce Commission guidelines on occupational regulation and how professional licencing systems can restrict competition and increase prices for consumers. They discuss how government-created licencing boards often operate like cartels by limiting who can enter professions, and how the Commission's new guidance aims to prevent these anti-competitive practices. Related links: • Cabinet Office Circular CO (99) 6: Policy framework for occupational regulation. - https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-99-6-policy-framework-occupational-regulation • Commerce Commission. 2025. Occupational regulation guidelines. - https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/367556/Occupational-Regulations-Guidelines-July-2025.pdf

In this episode, Oliver talks to Adelle Keely, Chief Executive of Acumen, about the Initiative's delegation to the Netherlands. They explore the country's remarkable approach to challenges, uncovering how Dutch culture of collaboration, technological innovation, and pragmatic problem-solving offers profound insights for New Zealand's future development and national thinking.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich talks to Michael Johnston about the government’s proposal to replace New Zealand’s National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) after more than two decades. They discuss how the current system, with its fragmented assessments and focus on collecting credits, has weakened learning. Michael explains how the proposed changes aim to create a clear, curriculum‑aligned qualification framework and open better pathways for both academic and vocational students.