Year: 2017

Niue is a place in need of foreign aid, mainly from New Zealand. It is unclear whether an invasion of Australian libertarians would change that.

Central banks have a crucial role to fulfil in our economies. This role thus deserves public scrutiny and debate. Given the RBNZ’s independence, external commentary on its actions is the most effective check on its operations.

We have a choice in New Zealand if we are satisfied with our status quo and content to keep fighting the same old political battles for the next decades. Alternatively, we could break out of our old ways and try something radically new.

For those people who campaigned for Brexit in the hope that it would yield a more liberal, more free market Britain, Theresa May’s repositioning of the Tory party is a huge disappointment.

Over the next parliamentary term, many tough nuts need to be cracked, chief among them the overhaul of our planning laws. What better way to go about such seminal reforms than with a large majority?

It is a distraction that National could do without this election year. Instead of battling the opposition, they are facing Eminem’s lawyers in the High Court.

New Zealand needs to be presented choices for our future. It needs to have clear-cut alternatives offered by its parties. It needs to ensure that we solve today’s problems and not leave them to future generations.

Election years should be festivals of democracy. They should be about debating novel ways of tackling our country’s most pressing problems.