Misplaced Pages

#843156

26-554: Economist Oliver Hartwich has been the executive director of The Initiative since its formation in 2012, and local writer and media commentator Eric Crampton is currently Chief Economist at the organisation. NZME 's independent chair Barbara Joan Chapman (formerly the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ASB Bank) has been a director of the NZ Initiative since 2017. Chapman is also Deputy Chair of

52-1080: A research role at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) in Sydney , moved to Australia in October 2008. At the CIS, he has published reports on local government, population growth, immigration, and international economics. In Australia, he is best known as a media commentator on the European debt crisis and his popular weekly column for Melbourne-based online magazine Business Spectator , which he has been writing since February 2010. His articles have been published by all major newspapers and magazines in Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand, including The Sunday Telegraph , Die Welt , The Australian , The Sydney Morning Herald , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , and The Dominion Post . On 1 May 2012, Hartwich

78-698: Is a minister in the New Zealand Government with responsibility for the country's schools, and is in charge of the Ministry of Education . The present Minister is Erica Stanford , a member of the National Party . The first minister was appointed in 1878, shortly after the abolition of the Provinces allowed the central government to assume responsibility for education. It has existed without major interruption since then. The size of

104-581: Is a German economist and media commentator. He is the Executive Director of the think tank The New Zealand Initiative in Wellington and a columnist with the online magazine Newsroom. Hartwich graduated from Ruhr University Bochum in 2000 with a Diplom-Ökonom. He was a visiting fellow at the Law of School of University of Sydney in 2001/02 and later received a doctorate in law, also from

130-612: The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , is a member of the Atlas Network , a global conservatarian group. On its website, The New Zealand Initiative says its mission is "to help create a competitive, open and dynamic economy and a free, prosperous, fair, and cohesive society" and describes itself as "strictly non-partisan." It takes a more free-market perspective than the NZIER or BERL. Apart from its research activities,

156-658: The Official Information Act revealed that cabinet ministers were considering the Initiative's proposals. In a 2013 Initiative report, co-authored by former cabinet minister Michael Bassett , the Initiative proposed funding residential infrastructure through targeted rates in special purpose vehicles. The New Zealand government introduced such a scheme in July 2017 when it charged Crown Infrastructure Partners with this task. The New Zealand Initiative promotes

182-716: The 1990s. The Initiative does not support policies other than the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to reduce emissions, arguing that other policies do not reduce emissions due to the emissions cap in the ETS. It supports the current focus on net-emissions as opposed to shift in focus towards gross emissions advocated by the Climate Change Commission . Oliver Marc Hartwich Oliver Marc Hartwich (born 8 July 1975 in Gelsenkirchen )

208-573: The Labour Party David Shearer , David Cunliffe and Andrew Little , former Australian Prime Minister John Howard , former British Trade Secretary Peter Lilley as well as members of all parties represented in the New Zealand Parliament. The New Zealand Initiative released Manifesto 2017: What the next New Zealand Government Should Do , an overview of its policy recommendations from its first five years, in

234-499: The NZ Initiative asked the Ministry of Education to provide evidence that large, open-plan classrooms helped improve students' learning. According to business columnist Pattrick Smellie in 2017, the New Zealand Initiative's main contribution to the housing debate was to point out the factors that were limiting housing supply: Along with high immigration, a sub-scale building industry, and dysfunctional planning law,

260-483: The NZ Initiative, is currently the chairperson of Genesis Energy Limited , holds an independent directorship on the board of Fletcher Building Limited , and holds a seat on the Reserve Bank Act Review Panel. The New Zealand Initiative's predecessor organisations were both business membership organisations. The Wellington -based Business Roundtable, founded by Roger Kerr in 1986, was among

286-464: The New Zealand Initiative defended New Zealand's liberal immigration policy, arguing that migrants contribute positively to the economy and integrate well into New Zealand society. Winston Peters rejected the Initiative's findings as "academic gobbledygook" and attacked the Initiative for being a thinktank run by foreigners. The Labour Party's Immigration spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway welcomed

SECTION 10

#1732798345844

312-441: The New Zealand Initiative hosts a range of events. These include public forums, panel discussions, an annual debating tournament for university students, as well as events for its members. In May 2017, The Initiative organised a study tour of Switzerland for more than 30 senior New Zealand business leaders. Among the speakers hosted by The New Zealand Initiative are New Zealand Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English , Leaders of

338-683: The Ruhr University, under the supervision of Professor Daniel Zimmer in 2004. He started his career as a research assistant to Lord Oakeshott in the UK House of Lords in 2004. From January 2005 to October 2008, he worked for the conservative British think tank Policy Exchange , first as a research fellow and then as chief economist. At Policy Exchange, Hartwich co-authored several reports on housing and planning policy with Alan W. Evans. Their report Unaffordable Housing – Fables and Myths won Prospect Magazine's prize for Publication of

364-687: The Year at the British Think Tank Awards in 2005. Some of Hartwich's policy proposals, such as the establishment of the Office for Budget Responsibility and reforms to strengthen community involvement in town planning, were taken up by the UK government under Prime Minister David Cameron . In August 2008, Hartwich caused controversy in Britain with a report on urban regeneration Cities Unlimited , which he had edited. It allegedly called for

390-500: The abolition of Northern English cities. In fact, it had made no such proposal. However, media reports to the contrary caused then British opposition leader David Cameron to suggest Hartwich should leave the UK. Some weeks later, the report received support from urban economist Ed Glaeser writing in Prospect Magazine . Hartwich, who before the publication of Cities Unlimited had already announced his decision to take on

416-503: The deregulation of New Zealand's restrictions on overseas investors, a position which attracted fierce criticism from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters . Based on comparative research, the Initiative proposed to establish a new agency to represent recreational fishing interests, modelled on the Western Australian body Recfishwest. The proposal was rejected by fishing advocacy group LegaSea. In its immigration report,

442-533: The incentives for local councils to discourage rather than compete for new citizens was a big part of why Auckland's housing crisis existed. The NZ Initiative had been pointing out these growth-limiting settings almost since its creation five years earlier. In November 2015, Hartwich and the Labour Party's housing spokesperson Phil Twyford published a joint opinion piece advocating the abolition of height and density controls, infrastructure bonds, and an end to

468-593: The lead-up to the 2017 general election. In July 2017, the New Zealand Initiative has called for the performance measurement and management of teachers in New Zealand schools, a proposal that was cautiously welcomed by Minister of Education Nikki Kaye and rejected by the teachers' union Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA). In an earlier report, the Initiative had criticised the New Zealand government for introducing new teaching methods in mathematics that led to worsening numeracy of students. In September 2022,

494-614: The main proponents of New Zealand's neoliberal economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s . To that end, the Business Roundtable produced a wide range of publications (books, reports, submissions) and undertook other activities that informed and influenced an often controversial public debate. The New Zealand Institute was established in Auckland in 2004. Like the Business Roundtable, the New Zealand Institute

520-582: The other two being the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) and Business and Economic Research (BERL). The membership of The New Zealand Initiative comprises about 70 members, mainly large New Zealand companies. According to the Initiative’s Annual Report 2016, the combined revenue of its members equals a quarter of the New Zealand economy. The chief editor of the New Zealand Initiative, Nathan Smith, resigned from

546-463: The position in December 2020 after news reports emerged that he was the author of a far-right blog. In this blog he said, amongst other things, that the media controls people's thoughts and authors lengthy posts tying together "Muslim rape gangs" and incel ideology. Hartwich said that these views were "abhorrent" and had no place at the New Zealand Initiative. The New Zealand Initiative, together with

SECTION 20

#1732798345844

572-464: The report while criticising its alleged ignorance of migrants' infrastructure needs. The Initiative supported the Key/English government's 'Social Investment Approach,' including the introduction of Social Impact Bonds . It has also argued that concerns about the recent rise of economic inequality were driven by rising house prices while income inequality in New Zealand had remained constant since

598-524: The rural-urban boundary. The article was interpreted as a shift from traditional Labour positions on land-use planning and regarded by international commentators as a sign of a new emerging consensus on housing policy. The New Zealand Initiative's proposal to establish Special Economic Zones across New Zealand was supported by Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and Malcolm Alexander, chief executive of Local Government New Zealand . Government papers released under

624-518: The two organisations. The merger discussions were successful and the New Zealand Initiative was launched in April 2012, with Partridge and Carter as co-chairs. Hartwich was appointed its first executive director. The New Zealand Initiative is based in Wellington. It is a limited company , governed by a board of directors under a constitution. It is one of the three biggest think tanks in New Zealand,

650-403: Was a business membership organisation that operated as a think tank, albeit with a more centrist political tilt. Some members of the Business Roundtable moved their support to the New Zealand Institute. By 2011, according to New Zealand Institute chairman Tony Carter, the organisation lacked scale. Carter approached Business Roundtable chairman Roger Partridge and raised the possibility of merging

676-908: Was appointed the first Executive Director of the New Zealand Initiative , a public policy think tank created out of the merger of the New Zealand Institute and the New Zealand Business Roundtable . Hartwich is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society , the Economic Society of Australia, the Foreign Correspondents' Association, and the German journalistic network Die Achse des Guten . Selection: Minister of Education (New Zealand) The Minister of Education

#843156