Alarming results have come from a pilot of new literacy and numeracy assessments for NCEA. The new assessments are scheduled to be introduced as part of the Ministry of Education’s review of the NCEA system. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative rebuts the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety’s claim to a select committee that New Zealand’s labour productivity growth rate since 1991 was 46% below that of Australia. On figures recently supplied by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the correct figure was 30%. Read more
Last month, the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, Michael Wood, appeared before Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee in support of the Government’s Fair Pay Agreement Bill. He was asked for his response to the New Zealand Initiative’s case that the wage rates were not showing a ‘race to the bottom,’ a decline in either employees’ share of income, or labour productivity growth since the Employment Contracts Act in 1991. Read more
Commercial regulatory agencies wield enormous power. They can take away a business’s licence to operate; impose restrictions on how it operates; and take enforcement action by exercising powers of interrogation, search and seizure that the police can only dream of. Read more
Like many businesses, Covid meant that The New Zealand Initiative had to continue to work differently. It also kept giving us extra policy challenges to address. Read more
Kiwis households are paying more than $3,000 extra on essentials than they were 12 months ago, and policies implemented by the Government and Reserve Bank are contributing to the problem. The rising cost of living for Kiwis, shows New Zealand has the second-highest inflation rate among our major trading partners, besides the USA, and this is plausibly the result of excessive government stimulus. Read more
At May’s Budget, the government will commit $4.5 billion to new spending on climate change, more than $2,000 per household. The government will also deliver its Emissions Reduction Plan, an array of levies, subsidies, regulations and hard bans. Read more
New Zealand’s reading light has been dimming for some time. International assessments show New Zealand’s reading performance has fallen, and that Māori and Pasifika students are particularly underserved. Read more
When presenting Budget 2021 in May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced that an unemployment insurance (UI) scheme was being developed for New Zealand. Prior to this, the Productivity Commission had considered UI as part of its inquiry into technological change and the future of work, as had the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Read more
On 26 October 2021, the Reserve Bank released Climate Changed 2021 And Beyond. The report, timed to coincide with the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, showcases the Reserve Bank’s efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and new climate change disclosure rules for banks. Read more
New Zealand must prepare for next global financial crisis New Zealand’s economy suffered less damage from the pandemic than analysts expected. But new research warns, however, that just as we are emerging from the COVID-19, a new crisis is already on the horizon. Read more
Until August 2021, New Zealand laudably maintained elimination. Elimination was fragile. Read more
Closing his 2020 Budget speech, Finance Minister Grant Robertson looked back to the First and Fourth Labour governments for lessons on how to tackle New Zealand’s current economic challenges. His first history lesson was that the way forward today lay in the “great traditions of the First Labour Government” (1935–49) that “rebuilt New Zealand after the Great Depression” under Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. Read more
Government policies should be judged by the outcomes they deliver for people who need public support. This report has described a fundamentally different funding model for public services which gives control and responsibility to recipients of support services. Read more
Providing future generations with rivers and aquifers at least as clean as our generation found them requires durable freshwater management systems that can stand the test of time. Regulatory measures can improve outcomes for now. Read more