Richard Meade: An attempt to lower NZ electricity prices could end up doing the opposite – here’s why

In its quest to lower electricity prices for New Zealand households, the Electricity Authority may inadvertently make the situation worse.

This week, the authority announced plans to require New Zealand’s “gentailers” – firms that both generate electricity and retail it to consumers – to offer the same supply terms to independent retailers as they do to their own retail arms.

Ele Ludemann: Hard now or harder in future

Richard Prebble writes:

. . .America is heading for an economic crisis.

This crisis hasn’t been caused by one party or President. It’s been building for decades, driven by demographic change, too many promises and not enough taxpayers. . . .

Mike Butler: Don’t forget the old pioneers

The Pioneers – Makers of New Zealand, a new book by writer-publisher John McLean, reminds us of those who built New Zealand, tells how, and explains why their contribution should not be forgotten.

McLean descends from an unusual pioneering family of Scots who did a double migration, first to Nova Scotia in 1793, and then on to Waipu, in Bream Bay, Northland, in 1854.

The people behind contractors John McLean and Sons also descended from this group. This company built bridges, railways, most of Wellington’s wharves, the entire Auckland electric tramway system, as well as the early stages of the Otira Tunnel under the southern Alps, starting in 1907.

Richard Meade: NZ and Australia face a complicated puzzle when it comes to supermarket prices...

This may be as good as it gets: NZ and Australia face a complicated puzzle when it comes to supermarket prices

With ongoing cost of living pressures, the Australian and New Zealand supermarket sectors are attracting renewed political attention on both sides of the Tasman.

Allegations of price gouging have become a political issue in the Australian federal election. At the same time, the New Zealand government has announced that “all options” are on the table to address a lack of competition in the sector – including possible breakup of the existing players.

Dr Will Jones: Here Comes the Politics of Kindness

Covid tyrant queen Jacinda Ardern is set to tour the UK and US to promote her new memoir, subtitled A Different Kind of Power. In the Spectator, Michael Jackson says Kiwis remember all too well Ardern’s use of power and are still suffering the effects. Here’s an excerpt.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The US is in retreat as China rises - it’s time for ANZAC 2025

Donald Trump’s February call with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s future marked the end of the post-war order. His promised visit to Moscow and Putin’s planned trip to Washington herald a new era of raw power politics. His Vice President’s speech in Munich then delivered the divorce papers to America’s traditional allies. The clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House then made it official.

With America in global retreat, the world has lost its policeman. America’s long-standing security commitments can no longer be relied on – not under Trump and not for a long time after him, not in Europe and not in the Pacific.

Philip Crump: New Zealand’s MMP Journey - Lessons from Germany’s Electoral Long Game

New Zealand’s move to Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) representation in 1996 unlocked the old two-party grip of Labour and National and ushered in the multi-party era. Achieving greater representation in Parliament was, after all, one of the drivers for reforming the electoral system at that time.

Nearly three decades later, the vote shares of the two main parties in New Zealand have slid from highs above 40% to long-term averages hovering in the 25–30% range.

Professor Rupert Sutherland: The need for critical minerals might change the way we define Earth’s zones....

Continental drift: why the need for critical minerals might change the way we define Earth’s zones

Continents and oceans have scientific definitions that underpin international law. The idea of dividing the world into geographical zones is ancient. Sovereignty and influence over natural resources is at the heart of most global divisions.

Barrie Davis: What does New Zealand mean to me?

The United Kingdom is continuing down the path of illegal migration together with its attendant problems. Could the racial discord in Britain be a sign of things to come for New Zealand? Here are some recent events for consideration.

The British knew before the July 4 election that they were about to elect someone they did not want. But after 14 years of Conservative rule, they had no other choice. Brexit was about migration, yet the Tories did nothing with it. The boats continued to cross the channel and the UK detected 39,000 illegal migrants in the year to June 2024.

Peter Dunne: Earthquakes

Taiwan and New Zealand are two small island states with much in common.

Both are vibrant, independent democracies, living in the shadow of an overbearing neighbour. (Admittedly, Taiwan’s overbearing neighbour has far more aggressive tendencies than our at-times overbearing neighbour!) There is a strong free trade agreement between the two countries and a growing cultural link based on DNA evidence that Taiwan’s indigenous people and Māori share a common ancestry.

Penn Raine: New Zealand! What are you like?

On the face of it this British idiom invites self-description. That’s not quite it, but more of that later.

So, what are we like, we En Zedders, Kiwis, Aotearo-ians, and is the view we have of ourselves the same as others have?

For all our claims of nationhood, at least until the middle of last century we were like the kid put to bed early, creeping out to get glimpses of the partying adults down the hall. At a remove from Europe and Britain where everything happened that was intellectual, sophisticated, cool, we were South Pacific  copyists, saving up for the cheap airfare or boat journey to somewhere else, for the irritatingly named ‘OE’, when our real lives would begin.

Karl du Fresne: Australia has never looked more appealing

It came as no surprise to read that the number of New Zealanders leaving the country approached record levels in the year to August 31.

There was a net migration loss of 42,600 New Zealand citizens, not far short of the record loss of 44,400 in 2012. More than half of those leavers were bound for Australia.

Overall, migration figures show an unprecedented population increase. Annual migrant arrivals reached an all-time high of 225,400. Most of the new arrivals came from India, China, the Philippines, Fiji and South Africa.

Dominic O'Sullivan: A retiring NZ MP has suggested joining Australia

– we should at least think about it (before saying no)

Big policy ideas usually don’t come up in parliamentary valedictory speeches – they’re for saying goodbye and thank you. So departing Labour MP Jamie Strange was the exception last week when he made a case for New Zealand and Australia becoming one country.

Oliver Hartwich: For richer or poorer - Kiwis really need to get out more

In New Zealand’s public policy circles these days, you cannot escape the buzz about Ireland. Whether in the corridors of power, at business gatherings, or even casual coffee catch-ups, Ireland is the talk of the town.

That may seem strange. It is not St Patrick’s Day, and the Rugby World Cup has not kicked off yet. But the reason is a recent business delegation visit to the Emerald Isle – a trip our organisation, The New Zealand Initiative, organised.

Bryce Wilkinson: Benchmarking New Zealand's economic performance against Ireland's

New Zealanders should not be too proud to learn from others.

In 2017, The New Zealand Initiative led 36 senior business leaders to visit Switzerland for this purpose. Critical points of difference that emerged were its direct and participatory democracy, devolved government, strong vocational training system and flexible labour market. Both its education system and its devolved government were instructive for New Zealand.

Kate Hawkesby: Is Marc Ellis right about New Zealand?

After yesterday’s shooting in Auckland, those words are still hard to believe - 'shooting in Auckland', a lot of debate’s been thrown up around law and order, crime, people on home detention, discounts given to offenders and so on.

There are those saying this was only a matter of time given the state of law and order in this country these days.

I know the state of our country right now is enough to drive people out, I know many who are doing just that - upping sticks and leaving.

Bryce Wilkinson: Productivity: Wot about Ireland?

Background

Yesterday the Treasury hosted a seminar on New Zealand’s lagging productivity growth rate. It shared the slot with the New Zealand Productivity Commission (NZPC) and Motu, a Wellington-based research institute.

Attendees could (and many did) pick up a new NZPC paper, “Productivity by the numbers”.

It was data heavy, with 54 charts, but light on solutions.

Oliver Hartwich: Australia reaping the spoils of New Zealand’s decline

Sadly, the current government seems to be taking the opposite approach. Instead of fostering a competitive environment, it is openly considering new taxes on the most successful individuals in society.

It is sometimes a personal experience that brings abstract policy discussions to life. And so let me share with you a chat I had last Friday with an Uber driver in Auckland.

He was a Pakistan-born New Zealander who has called Auckland home for 21 years. On our way from the CBD to the airport, he shared his story of how he and his family are planning a move to Australia. The cost-of-living crisis, high crime rates, and better opportunities across the Tasman Sea influenced his decision, he explained. All his friends were thinking about the same move.

Mike Butler: How to regain our nation

There is a new madness afoot. A determined race-based minority within the Maori community is seizing control of the country while most others remain ill-informed unaware and uncaring. Such are the words of John Robinson in his new book Regaining a Nation – Equality and Democracy.

Robinson, who has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and wrote Unrestrained Slaughter: The Maori Musket Wars 1800-1840, The Kingite Rebellion, Dividing a Nation: the return to tikanga, and He Puapua – Blueprint for breaking up New Zealand, gives insight as a scientist who did research for New Zealand government entities.

Bryce Edwards: The problem of “blindly following” the US against China

New Zealand may have finally jumped off its foreign policy tightrope act between China and the US. Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern effectively chose sides, leaping into the arms of the US, at the expense of the country’s crucial relationship with China.

That’s the growing consensus amongst observers of New Zealand’s foreign policy, following Ardern’s visit to the White House and her government’s strong stance against China’s increased diplomatic presence in the Pacific region.

Blindly following traditional allies

Observers are now questioning whether Ardern’s obsequence to American power will badly damage New Zealand’s national interests, and there is criticism that the Government is “blindly following” the US against the interests of both New Zealand and the Pacific.