The New Zealand Initiative

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.