The Australian

Even mediocre would be easier to bear: how NZ lost its mojo

For many years, pollsters Roy Morgan and Curia have been asking New Zealanders whether the country is heading in the right direction. Apart from a few months around the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, large majorities of Kiwis have always responded “Yes”. [...]

NZ Reserve Bank virtue signalling rings hollow

No amount of virtue signalling and cultural appropriation can be a substitute for good policy-making. [...]

Is there an ethno-segregation agenda behind NZ’s water policy?

Three Waters is about everything. It is about the government’s new race-relations agenda. It is about the Ardern Government’s direction for the country. It is about the divide between Wellington and the regions. It may even be a little about water. [...]

NZ’s revolution in central banking and the stagflation monster

brown and orange house with outdoor plants

In Māori mythology, the hero Māui once used a magic jawbone to slow the sun. If New Zealand is to avoid galloping inflation, the RBNZ governor will need to devise some similar trickery soon. [...]

The foreign policy lessons NZ should learn from Germany

When it comes to their foreign policy issues, you might not think Germany and New Zealand have much in common. But the parallels in both countries’ international positioning are astonishing. [...]

Quiet Kiwi achiever John Key closes the door on politics

Rather than trying to define his time in office by some eye-catching policy reforms or projects, John Key's measure of success was that New Zealand was doing well under his management. [...]

Europe on the road to nowhere

The rise of the European welfare state, the reduction of economic dynamism and the increasingly questionable legitimacy of the European project go hand in hand. 'Panem et circenses' could have been the motto of Europe’s post-World War II mixed economy model. It remains to be seen whether the EU will also share the Roman Empire’s fate. [...]

Merkel’s U-turn on Greece reveals Germany’s real motivation

Should the 25 January elections result in a Syriza-led government, we will find out whether the Germans can actually succeed in kicking Greece out of the euro and also whether their optimism about being able to contain the crisis in Greece was justified. [...]

PM should follow Kiwi path to reform

Ultimately, Australia’s future prosperity depends on Abbott’s succeeding in just that. The adoption of the New Zealand method of quiet, incremental radicalism may be Australia’s best hope of rediscovering the art of reform. [...]

NZ finance minister puts Swan to shame

Ultimately, fiscal management is about choices: choices made according to principle and responding to circumstance. Swan made easy but poor choices, while English made difficult but sensible choices. As a result, New Zealand's public finances are in good shape, and the Kiwi economy looks forward to continuing its healthy growth rates. [...]