Dr Oliver Hartwich

I run The New Zealand Initiative, a Wellington think tank that argues for free markets, limited government and institutions that work.

My points of view More about me

Foreword to ‘No Minister’

16 November 2026

As you read this report, you will come across Sir Humphrey Appleby again and again. More than forty years after the last episode of Yes Minister, the officials the authors interviewed kept bringing him up.

Read more: Foreword to ‘No Minister’

Recent publications

Insights · 13 November 2026

Helen Clark is right

Helen Clark wants MMP reviewed after an election decided by eleven overhang seats, and a one-year Royal Commission with a referendum before 2029 is the way to do it.

The Australian · 12 November 2026

NZ’s slow count gives National time to work through strategic minefield

National came second, won no list seats and lost much of its frontbench, and the fortnight before the final count gives it time to consider an orderly handover from Christopher Luxon.

Other publications · 9 November 2026

Neue Versuchungen der Unfreiheit

Ralf Dahrendorf fragte einst, was Intellektuelle gegen totalitäre Versuchungen immun macht, und seine Frage stellt sich neu, seit liberale und konservative Denker den Regelbruch der eigenen Seite billigen.

The Australian · 3 November 2026

Luxon never won Kiwi minds, let alone their hearts

Christopher Luxon's ministers delivered on schools, housing, trade and crime, but his government went into the election in a close race because its leaders offered voters neither a plan nor warmth.

Newsroom · 3 November 2026

Berlin used to be ‘poor and sexy’ – now it’s afraid

The woman likely to become Berlin's next mayor is too afraid for her family to name a pro-Palestinian activist, and that says more about Germany today than any statistic could.

The Australian · 28 October 2026

Ten years for keeping quiet? NZ eyes end to right to silence

National wants to punish adults with up to ten years in prison for staying silent when a child is killed, giving up a centuries-old right without saying how the law would work.

Quadrant · 28 October 2026

Promises Half-Kept

Christopher Luxon's coalition achieved more than its critics admit, especially in education, but it wasted its mandate to fix the books and the public service.

Insights · 23 October 2026

Judged by their peers

Business leaders gave Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis, two former executives, lukewarm marks and saved their praise for the ministers who delivered.

The New Zealand Herald · 22 October 2026

Fight over a rounding error

National's and Labour's fiscal plans differ by a rounding error, neither touches the cost of an ageing population, and no independent watchdog tells voters what the promises would cost.