The other day, I became aware of another example of the way in which the last Government tried to embed its own narrow interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi into every aspect of New Zealand life. This one involves the Real Estate Authority. Like many similar bodies, it encourages its authorized agents to get…
DON BRASH: The new government has one helluva a task in front of it: Compulsory indoctrination is unworthy of professional bodies
DON BRASH: The new government has one helluva a task in front of it: Compulsory indoctrination is unworthy of professional bodies
28 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: consititutional law, political correctness, regressive left
Calls to ban free speech at Auckland University in New Zealand
24 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left

Troubles continue at the University of Auckland as it’s being sued by a somewhat off-the-rails professor named Siouxsie (real name Susannah) Wiles. Wiles apparently made some statements about Covid-19 as a public communicator of science, statements that the public didn’t like. The result was that she claimed to be inundated with hate mail and threats. […]
Calls to ban free speech at Auckland University in New Zealand
When Wokes and Racists Actually Agree on Everything
23 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Unconvincing
21 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: monetary policy

The Herald ran an op-ed yesterday under the heading “Why the Government’s new Reserve Bank mandate may lead to worse outcomes”. It was written by Toby Moore who served as an economic adviser in Grant Robertson’s office while he was Minister of Finance (a fact the Herald chose not to disclose to its readers). I’m more […]
Unconvincing
GRAHAM ADAMS: Fear stalks Auckland University campus!
20 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
‘Progressive’ academics all aquiver before Siouxsie Wiles decision. Graham Adams writes – Last week, the NZ Herald published a very curious article about an “unsafe workplace”. You might have expected it to be about volunteer firefighters, or police dog handlers, or perhaps even nurses at the front line of hospital emergency departments, where unruly patients […]
GRAHAM ADAMS: Fear stalks Auckland University campus!
Monetary policy turning points
18 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy

When the Reserve Bank MPC came out late last month with its last words on monetary policy before its extended summer break, my post then was headed “Really?“. It was a commentary on the disjunction between the Reserve Bank’s inflation forecasts on the one hand, that showed quarterly inflation collapsing (not really too strong a word […]
Monetary policy turning points
Dr Lawrie Knight: Fact Checking Waitangi Tribunal Finding
16 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Evidence that Northern ,Māori ,knew they were ceding sovereignty to the Crown when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi – fact checking the Waitangi Tribunal 2014 findings and the 2023 findings released on the 8th of December 2023. The Waitangi Tribunal has stated in its 2014 inquiry into Te Paparahi o Te Raki, that the…
Dr Lawrie Knight: Fact Checking Waitangi Tribunal Finding
Casey Costello’s maiden speech
15 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Casey Costello provided a welcome change of perspective in her maiden speech. . . . I talk of my tūpuna, and of my whānau not to qualify for some credentials to be recognised as Māori. I know who I am and my strength comes from who has gone before and who are with me now. […]
Casey Costello’s maiden speech
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, unemployment Tags: monetary policy

I guess it will be an Act by the end of the day, but for now the short bill giving effect to a return to a single statutory objective for monetary policy is here. Yesterday’s parliamentary debate (first and second reading) is here, here, and here. The heart of the bill is this clause Note […]
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Economic Objective) Amendment Bill
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Does the Māori Party really speak for all Māori?
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: regressive left

Over the past week New Zealand has seen the Māori Party forcefully assert that it is the true and authentic voice of Māori, and other parties equally strongly assert the Māori Party does not own Māori. Neither faction has provided factual evidence for their position although Shane Jones moved in that direction with an off–the-cuff…
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Does the Māori Party really speak for all Māori?
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
LAST WEEK The Waitangi Tribunal released Tino Rangatiratanga me te Kāwanatanga: The Report on Stage 2 of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Wai 1040). For the sake of brevity, I shall refer to this spawling document as the Northland Report. Sadly, the Report seems destined to make the already fraught relationship between Māori…
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
Wellington
11 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, urban economics

Yesterday’s Sunday Star-Times had an article built around some comments from me and from Infometrics economist Brad Olsen on the economic prospects of Wellington. The headline captured the gist of my contribution, “Sorry, Wellington, things could get worse and they probably will”. The question the journalist, Kevin Norquay, had posed to me a week ago […]
Wellington
All very small and short ranged
11 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, transport economics

JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigenous spirituality
09 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation philosophy of science, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

Jerry Coyne writes – This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland, the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other word, she’s a scientist. One key to […]
JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigenous spirituality
BREAKING: Green Party to Oppress Woman, Gays and Trans
08 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror

It’s hard to believe I know, but what other conclusion can be made based on what Green MP (and superstar) Chloe Swarbrick said the other day at the “Pro-Palestine” rally in Auckland: … after what we’ve witnessed, I want to say strongly, clearly and vehemently, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand stands for a […]
BREAKING: Green Party to Oppress Woman, Gays and Trans
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