The New Zealand Initiative

In this episode, Jamuel talks with Oliver Hartwich about his report Half a Turnaround, which examines how ACC's outstanding claims liability more than doubled over a decade as more injured New Zealanders became stuck on long-term support.

Oliver argues that ACC has halted the financial deterioration through tighter claim decisions, not yet through proven gains in rehabilitation, and sets out reforms including a 28-day rehabilitation guarantee to restore the scheme's original promise of getting injured people back to work.

In this episode, Oliver talks with retired Major General John Howard about his recent trip to Washington and what the conflict centred on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reveals about American power and the international order. They then turn to New Zealand, where Howard argues the crisis exposed serious gaps in fuel resilience and intelligence, and a public service that struggled to match ministers' urgency.

New Zealand spends more on infrastructure than almost any developed country, yet still cannot build the pipes and roads new housing needs. Why?

Oliver Hartwich and Benno Blaschke trace an idea the Initiative has followed for over a decade. It began in 2013 with a proposal drawn from how other countries fund the infrastructure needed to connect new suburbs to cities: let the people who move in pay for it, rather than loading the upfront cost onto existing ratepayers. At the time it seemed radical. Then the Initiative discovered New Zealand had done exactly this for most of the twentieth century. Communities could raise their own debt and build what they needed, without asking central government for money or permission, and funded more than half the country's local infrastructure that way, before the system was dismantled in the 1990s.

The Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 2020 began rebuilding it, but the government still sits at the centre, and six years on only three projects have used it. Benno sets out a ten to fifteen year pathway to developing institutions robust enough that communities can choose to fund their own growth, carry the risk themselves, and build without waiting on councils or central government for permission. When communities can stand on their own feet, the government can step back. The result would take the burden off ratepayers and taxpayers, and give a more responsive planning system the infrastructure it needs to make housing affordable.

In this episode, Eric talks with Jillaine Heather, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, about the Government's plans for an under-16 social media ban and the universal age verification that may come with it. They examine why the Department of Internal Affairs appears to be building delivery machinery ahead of any legislation, what Australia and the UK reveal about compliance and scope creep, and why policy aimed at online harms could create serious risks for privacy and free speech.

In this episode, Eric talks with Prof Chris Berg from RMIT University about the Australian regulatory ideas New Zealand has considered importing, from the news media bargaining regime to the under-16 social media ban and prescription-only vaping. They discuss how policies sold as protecting journalism, children or public health can instead create rent-seeking, surveillance, black markets and unworkable rules.