Ananish Chaudhuri writes – Dame Anne Salmond recently wrote a column on Newsroom berating people for having views on the Treaty of Waitangi when they cannot even read the Māori version of the treaty. So, what she is saying is that even when customs, laws or treaties impinge on your daily life, you cannot hold any views […]
Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand
Inability to understand te reo Māori does not prevent people from asking questions about race relations in New Zealand
12 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The WaPo describes (and distorts) a big “culture war” in New Zealand
10 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, media bias, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
ADDENDUM: See added comments and clarifications under “addendum” at bottom. ******************** I’ve written many times about the battle of the indigenous people in New Zealand (the Māori) to get their “way of knowing”—which includes a lot of superstition and unreliable word-of-mouth “knowledge,” as well as legends and morality—adopted as official policy or as a “way […]
The WaPo describes (and distorts) a big “culture war” in New Zealand
Down But Not Out: The Supreme Court Rules 5-4 Against the Freezing $2 Billion in USAID Funds
07 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
In an interesting 5-4 split, the Supreme Court has denied the Trump Administration’s application for a stay of a district court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Administration’s effort to freeze $2 billion in funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Administration is down by one vote but hardly out in the fight […]
Down But Not Out: The Supreme Court Rules 5-4 Against the Freezing $2 Billion in USAID Funds
Spoiling for a Fight: Why the Administration’s Loss Last Night May Be Not Just Expected But Welcomed
07 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
Late Saturday, D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that President Donald Trump violated federal law in firing Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel. Jackson’s decision is forceful, well-written, and challengeable under existing precedent. Indeed, it may have just set up an appeal that both presidents and professors have long waited for […]
Spoiling for a Fight: Why the Administration’s Loss Last Night May Be Not Just Expected But Welcomed
RICHARD PREBBLE: Letter of resignation from the Waitangi Tribunal
06 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Hon Tama Potaka Minister of Maori Development 28 February 2025 Dear Minister, After careful consideration I must resign as a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal. The treaty is not just our founding document, it makes New Zealand unique. Two peoples peacefully agreeing to form a nation. Over the summer I have been reading Tribunal reports […]
RICHARD PREBBLE: Letter of resignation from the Waitangi Tribunal
GRAHAM ADAMS: John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori are in a world of pain
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The government cutting Whānau Ora funding would be a crippling blow. For the longest time, it has been impossible to make Te Pāti Māori…
GRAHAM ADAMS: John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori are in a world of pain
The sovereign reality and our path to nationhood
07 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Waitangi day debates about New Zealand’s sovereignty often fixate on a single moment: the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. This focus is understandable, given the Treaty’s significance to both Māori and the Crown. But is this the full story of how New Zealand’s sovereignty was established? And if […]
The sovereign reality and our path to nationhood
Nicholas Reed Langen: The Use and Abuse of Citizenship Deprivation: SSHD v Kolicaj
07 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: British politics, constitutional law, Middle-East politics, war against terror
Any British citizen that happens to hold citizenship for another country could find themselves in an invidious position. If the Home Secretary decides that it would be ‘conducive to the public good’, they can single-handedly strip a person of their citizenship, and with it, their right to remain in the country. So long as the deprivation […]
Nicholas Reed Langen: The Use and Abuse of Citizenship Deprivation: SSHD v Kolicaj
It’s comforting to hear Hipkins’ stance on an all-powerful Treaty Commissioner – but what might change his mind?
06 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Bob Edlin writes – Labour leader Chris Hipkins has told RNZ’s Morning Report the Labour Party will not support the Māori Party’s outrageous call for the establishment of a parliamentary commissioner for the Treaty of Waitangi with the extraordinary power to veto parliamentary decisions. His position is stated in this account of his response to […]
It’s comforting to hear Hipkins’ stance on an all-powerful Treaty Commissioner – but what might change his mind?
Identity-based hiring goes wild in New Zealand
05 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Just to show you how, in the hiring process, New Zealand gives much more weight to identity than to merit, I enclose part of the job description for the position of Chief Operating Officer of Wellington Water, the water utility for the Greater Wellington region (Wellington, a lovely city, is the capital of New Zealand). […]
Identity-based hiring goes wild in New Zealand
Spoiling for a Fight: Why Challenging Birthright Citizenship is a Win-Win for Trump
04 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law, economics of immigration, regressive left
Below is my column in the Hill on the move of the Trump Administration against birthright citizenship. The Trump Administration believes that this is fight worth either winning or even losing in the courts. Roughly half of the country oppose birthright citizenship. The key is where those voters are coming from. The minority of voters […]
Spoiling for a Fight: Why Challenging Birthright Citizenship is a Win-Win for Trump
Supreme Court’s rush to judgment is a constitutional wake-up call
02 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – Has the Supreme Court once again stepped outside its lane? A recent ruling about who controls our coastlines suggests our highest court is trying to reshape laws made by Parliament, rather than just apply them. Even more concerning is the Court’s extraordinary haste in delivering its judgment, just as Parliament prepared […]
Supreme Court’s rush to judgment is a constitutional wake-up call
ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Oral submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
30 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, development economics, discrimination, economic history, growth disasters, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Presented Jan 30, 2025 Kia Ora. Morena. Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou Katoa. My name is Ananish Chaudhuri. I am Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland. My views are my own and not those of my employer. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to speak this morning.…
ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Oral submission on the Treaty Principles Bill
ELIZABETH RATA: Oral Presentation to the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
28 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
January 27, 2025 What is the best title given to any New Zealand legislation? My money is on the 1877 Education Act – ‘An Act to make Further Provision for the Education of the People of New Zealand’ – the People of New Zealand. So as early as the 1870s there’s the commitment to a…
ELIZABETH RATA: Oral Presentation to the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
MICHAEL BASSETT: REFORMING THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
27 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
So loud are the squeals from the likes of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer against the new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal that I can only assume that Minister Tama Potaka has got things right. And that the new members are likely to shake the organisation into some sort of compliance with its mission that was set out…
MICHAEL BASSETT: REFORMING THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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