Dr Oliver Hartwich

Notes from New Zealand

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Sydney Morning Herald

The Sirius housing building above surrounding homes in Sydney.
Sydney Morning Herald

A few home truths on people and houses

28 September 2011

Stop population growth, and solve the housing crisis.

Opera Quays is a residential and retail precinct near the Sydney Opera House.
Sydney Morning Herald

Don’t get starry-eyed about housing

5 September 2011

Unlike the market models they teach in undergraduate economics courses, the housing market is not a sanitised place behaving in an always rational, easily predictable fashion.

Façade gommage® at the Bank of England, London.
Sydney Morning Herald

Look to Britain and hold the champagne

25 April 2011

The most frightening parallel between pre-crisis Britain and Australia today is more fundamental.

The Home Front in Britain, 1944 TR2324.
Sydney Morning Herald

Should we have an absolute freedom of speech?

26 March 2011

When everyone agrees with a proposition, you have to fear that it is meaningless.

30. Tagung 1980 Chemiker; Studentenabend- am Tisch Friedrich A. v. Hayek, Frau v. Hayek, Manfred Eigen - LABW - Staatsarchiv Freib.
Sydney Morning Herald

Why world must take interest in our boom

11 October 2010

It is appropriate for the society’s international members to visit Australia.

The Department of the Treasury building in Canberra.
Sydney Morning Herald

Ken Henry should get a new career – as a pollie

23 June 2010

Ken Henry has shown that he is no longer willing to confine himself to the role of a senior public servant.

See talk page New Zealand’s first official television broadcast took place on the evening of 1 June 1960.
Sydney Morning Herald

Political idol: why TV offers more creative answers than politicians

28 April 2010

Australia needs more political creativity.

A demonstration of an LG 3D television.
Sydney Morning Herald

Every vice is really a blessing in disguise

13 January 2010

Good intentions pave the way to hell, but that’s only half the truth.

A CityRail train approaching Zig Zag station in New South Wales.
Sydney Morning Herald

It’s time to bring back a bit of class to rail travel

29 October 2009

It’s a pity this year’s Nobel Prize for physics has already been awarded to achievements in fibre optics.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg with Frank-Jürgen Weise.
Sydney Morning Herald

Say it like you mean it, we love a bold leader

7 August 2009

The public is thirsting for political leaders who dare to speak their minds.

Posts pagination

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About me

Oliver Hartwich

I run The New Zealand Initiative, a Wellington think tank that argues for free markets, limited government and institutions that work. I grew up in Germany's Ruhrgebiet and worked in London and Sydney before moving to New Zealand in 2012. This site collects two decades of my columns, reports, speeches and interviews, with the occasional satire.

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Latest video

All TV appearances · Playlist on YouTube

Latest audio

  • Newstalk ZB · 9 November 2026 · 8 min

    What the 2026 election shows about MMP

    0:00
  • Free to Disagree · 6 November 2026 · 56 min

    Why hasn’t New Zealand warmed to its prime minister?

    0:00
  • Initiative podcast · 5 November 2026 · 32 min

    Why an ageing New Zealand is an opportunity, not a burden

    0:00

All interviews and podcasts

My books

Cover of The Martian Audit

The Martian Audit (2026)

Two Martian auditors land in the Wairarapa and are promptly fined for parking without consent. A satirical novella, free to download as PDF or EPUB.

Cover of In the Meantime

In the Meantime (2026)

Investing in a more tribal, less rational world. Written for the Da Vinci Lecture at the Portfolio Construction Forum. Free to read online.

Cover of Leonardo's Legacy

Leonardo's Legacy (2025)

Why investment professionals must become civilisational stewards. Written for the first Da Vinci Lecture at the Portfolio Construction Forum. Free to read online.

Free to Disagree

Free to Disagree podcast logo, with Damien Grant and Oliver Hartwich
Weekly podcast with Damien Grant

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