Local Government New Zealand’s Mike Reid has an interesting piece in the latest Policy Quarterly about local council turnout. (Short version: it’s low largely because councils don’t have many powers, and this is set to get worse as central government reforms strip even more power from them.) One of the other factors behind low turnout,…

Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party yesterday (re)announced its first policy, Morgan’s long-standing plan for a comprehensive capital income tax. In effect, the policy argues that all forms of wealth generate – or should generate – income, just like savings accumulate interest, and that that income should be taxed, just like interest is. Most controversially, the…

Stuff reported last week that young New Zealanders were “losing faith in democracy”, based on a journal article showing that only 29.3 percent of Kiwis born in the 1980s say it is “essential” to live in a democracy. The story adds: This is a dramatic drop off from those in older cohorts – almost half of…

The New Zealand Initiative think tank yesterday launched The Local Manifesto, calling for more responsibility to be devolved to – and greater freedom for – local councils. It’s a call I broadly agree with, especially since the think tank points out that local councils are currently too much beholden to central government and not answerable…

As of today, there is 13% left of 2016. And since women earn on average 13% less than men, as of today, women are effectively working for free for the rest of the year. The Pay Equity Challenge Coalition does a lot to raise this issue, and to point out that women aren’t working working for…

In the midst of the earthquakes last night, it was striking to compare the performance of two key public and private institutions, Radio New Zealand and Uber, and the things that motivate them. As dozens of people noted, RNZ put in a stellar performance: Susie Ferguson rushed to the studio, and she and others provided…

Stuff has the story of Pete Bryant, who’s been on the Housing New Zealand waiting list for 14 months, including two winters. He’s sleeping on the floor of a friend’s place while waiting for HNZ to find him a place, which they seem unable to do. In the story, HNZ staff say Pete – who…

Having spent much of the last few years researching and writing about income inequality, I have a new project that I’m very excited about: a book about the renewal of government – what it does and how it does it – in the face of the major problems of the twenty-first century. The big, interconnected…

At their party conference yesterday, Labour announced a plan, labelled Ready to Work, to give long-term unemployed young people the chance of six months’ work on environmental and community projects. It’s a good idea, in essence. This kind of work offer helps keep people out of the despondency that unemployment can engender, and helps them…

The Saudi sheep scandal, as laid bare yesterday by the auditor general’s report, shows up two major flaws in New Zealand politics: a growing disregard of ethics, and the privileging of private over public interests. On ethics, much turns on the question of what is a bribe, and what isn’t. By definition, a bribe is…