Pleased to see at least one journalist asking tough questions of TOP. It is alarming that the party leader doers;t even know her own party’s rules, especially one as important as the board being able to over-rule the caucus. I guess this is what you get when a party leader is not a long-standing member,…
The all powerful TOP Board
The all powerful TOP Board
23 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Judicial Power, Democratic Accountability, and the Smith Case
22 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Supreme Court lacks democratic responsibility and accountability: its excesses demand clearer leadership from the legal profession.
Judicial Power, Democratic Accountability, and the Smith Case
How much land tax will you pay?
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
TOP has proposed a 1.75% tax on the value of urban land (except Maori communal land) and 0.5% on rural land. It is worth noting that land values have been declining for the last five years, so TOP’s policy is to tax you on an asset that is declining in value! Urban Av land value…
How much land tax will you pay?
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The Opportunity Party policy is or was that any criminal offender aged under 25 should be sent to the Youth Court for a family group conference, rather than go to an adult court. They say this is because 24 year old brains are not fully developed, so they should not be held fully accountable for…
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Chris Lynch reports: The Sensible Sentencing Trust has launched a blistering attack on The Opportunity Party’s policy to raise the age of Youth Court jurisdiction, describing it as one of the craziest ideas it has seen in years. Opportunity’s “Smart on Crime” policy promised until recently to “raise the age of the youth court jurisdiction…
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
When former Solicitor-General Una Jagose KC told a Law Association breakfast on 2 July 2026 that New Zealand risks “sleepwalking” towards a collapse of the separation of powers, she framed herself as the constitution’s anxious guardian. The framing deserves scrutiny.
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
Yet more “pretty (il)legal” stuff from the Reserve Bank
05 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy
A month or so ago the Reserve Bank announced the appointment of a new Assistant Governor (a deputy chief executive) responsible for its financial stability functions. That must have prompted a Bloomberg journalist to ask what was happening to the vacant position on the Monetary Policy Committee (given that, previously, Geoff Bascand and then Christian […]
Yet more “pretty (il)legal” stuff from the Reserve Bank
Is America ruled by an oligarchy?
31 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
Any time you hear claims about American government, a sanity-inducing response is to ask whether they also are true of state and local governments. Here is an excerpt from my latest piece at The Free Press: First, in people’s daily lives, they typically interact with their state and local governments more than with the feds.…
Is America ruled by an oligarchy?
Radio NZ at it again
30 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Germany, media bias, war against terror
Simon O’Connor points out: So Radio NZ ran a story from Reuters about the terrible hate crime attack in Berlin which saw 1 killed and 29 wounded at a pride festival. However they removed a key detail from the story. That the attacker was an Islamist. Reuters had this in their story, yet Radio NZ…
Radio NZ at it again
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
29 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
The Herald reports: Ministry officials are denying they deliberately misled a Parliament select committee by not revealing an immigration IT project had been terminated while being questioned about its progress. Appearing before Parliament’s Privileges Committee today, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) chief executive Nic Blakeley and former Immigration New Zealand (INZ) head Alison…
Will MBIE be held on contempt?
A populist ACT
27 Jul 2026 1 Comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
There is insufficient support for neoliberal economic policies so political parties of the hard right are adopting populist causes. To succeed the neoliberal revolution of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson had to change the culture of New Zealanders from their belief that the government was usually the solution to a problem to a society which […]
A populist ACT
NZ First and the oil and gas ban
26 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, politics - New Zealand
Audrey Young writes: The ban was not in the NZF coalition agreement with Labour. They could have simply refused to back it, and there would not have been the votes for it. But they decided to back it. That is a fact. The post NZ First and the oil and gas ban first appeared on…
NZ First and the oil and gas ban
Hipkins hypocrisy
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Stuff reports: Labour leader Chris Hipkins wasn’t happy when new ACT Party candidate Paul Henry said he’d need to “shoot” Hipkins, during a game of “shoot, shag, marry”. His other options were Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and NZ First leader Winston Peters, who, given the options, he’d “shag”. Hipkins said Henry wasn’t a serious candidate. “New…
Hipkins hypocrisy
Just fix industrial allocations
25 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand Tags: carbon tax, carbon trading
New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme includes industrial allocations of carbon credits aimed at avoiding inefficient carbon leakage.But the formula is wrong. Imagine that you’re a domestic firm producing stuff that generates CO2 emissions. You correctly have to surrender NZU – one for each tonne of emissions. But if competitors in foreign markets do not face a…
Just fix industrial allocations
Let them build: electricity and datacentres edition
24 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, politics - New Zealand
New Zealand’s electricity companies know how to stick a pipe into the ground in the Taupo Volcanic Zone and generate electricity. They’ve been doing it for decades, and there is enormous untapped potential. America’s hyperscalers are currently willing to pay a large premium for immediacy. They are sticking expensive off-grid generators beside datacentres that would have…
Let them build: electricity and datacentres edition
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