New Zealand Initiative

The New Zealand Initiative is a pro-free-market public-policy think tank and business membership organisation in New Zealand.[1] It was formed in 2012 by merger of the New Zealand Business Roundtable (NZBR) and the New Zealand Institute.[2] The Initiative’s main areas of focus include economic policy, housing, education, local government, welfare, immigration and fisheries.

The New Zealand Initiative
FormationApril 1, 2012 (2012-04-01)
TypeThink tank
Legal statusLimited company
Location
Executive Director
Oliver Hartwich
Chairman
Roger Partridge
Websitewww.nzinitiative.org.nz

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.[3] 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.[4] Chapman is also Deputy Chair of 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.[5]

Background

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 the main proponents of New Zealand's neoliberal economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.[6] To that end, the Business Roundtable produced a wide range of publications (books, reports, submissions) and undertook other activities that informed and influenced public debate.[7]

The New Zealand Institute was established in Auckland in 2004. Like the Business Roundtable, the New Zealand Institute 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 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.[8]

Organisation

The New Zealand Initiative is based in Wellington. It is a limited company, governed by a board of directors under a constitution.[9][10] It is one of the three biggest think tanks in New Zealand, the other two being the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) and Business and Economic Research (BERL).[1]

The membership of The New Zealand Initiative comprises about 70 members, mainly large New Zealand companies.[11] According to the Initiative’s Annual Report 2016, the combined revenue of its members equals a quarter of the New Zealand economy.[12]

The chief editor of the New Zealand Initiative, Nathan Smith, resigned from the position in December 2020 after news reports emerged that he was the author of a far-right blog.[13][14] 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.[13] Hartwich said that these views were "abhorrent" and had no place at the New Zealand Initiative.[13]

Approach

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"[15] and describes itself as "strictly non-partisan." It takes a more free-market perspective than the NZIER or BERL.[1]

Apart from its research activities, 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.[16] In May 2017, The Initiative organised a study tour of Switzerland for more than 30 senior New Zealand business leaders.[17]

Among the speakers hosted by The New Zealand Initiative are New Zealand Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English, Leaders of 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 the lead-up to the 2017 general election.[18]

Policy positions and public reception

Education

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).[19] 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.[20] In September 2022, the NZ Initiative asked the Ministry of Education to provide evidence that large, open-plan classrooms helped improve students' learning.[21]

Housing and local government

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, 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.[22]

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 the rural-urban boundary.[23] The article was interpreted as a shift from traditional Labour positions on land-use planning[24] and regarded by international commentators as a sign of a new emerging consensus on housing policy.[25]

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.[26] Government papers released under the Official Information Act revealed that cabinet ministers were considering the Initiative's proposals.[27]

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.[28] The New Zealand government introduced such a scheme in July 2017 when it charged Crown Infrastructure Partners with this task.[29]

Foreign direct investment

The New Zealand Initiative promotes the deregulation of New Zealand's restrictions on overseas investors,[30] a position which attracted fierce criticism from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.[31]

Fisheries management

Based on comparative research, the Initiative proposed to establish a new agency to represent recreational fishing interests, modelled on the Western Australian body Recfishwest.[32] The proposal was rejected by fishing advocacy group LegaSea.[33]

Immigration

In its immigration report, the New Zealand Initiative defended New Zealand's liberal immigration policy,[34] arguing that migrants contribute positively to the economy and integrate well into New Zealand society.[35] Winston Peters rejected the Initiative's findings as "academic gobbledygook"[36] and attacked the Initiative for being a thinktank run by foreigners.[37] The Labour Party's Immigration spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway welcomed the report while criticising its alleged ignorance of migrants' infrastructure needs.[38]

Social policy

The Initiative supported the Key/English government's 'Social Investment Approach,'[39] including the introduction of Social Impact Bonds.[40] 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 the 1990s.[41]

Climate

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.[42][43] It supports the current focus on net-emissions as opposed to shift in focus towards gross emissions advocated by the Climate Change Commission.[44]

References
  1. Dann, Liam (19 January 2018). "Who are New Zealand's economic think tanks?". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  2. Pattrick Smellie (2012-04-04). "Roundtable and NZ Institute morph into new libertarian think tank". National Business Review.
  3. "Dr Eric Crampton". www.nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  4. NZ Companies Office (16 September 2023). "NZ Companies Register". NZ Companies Office. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  5. "NZME. - Board Members". www.nzme.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  6. "Fran O'Sullivan: Kerr's courageous stances kept Government honest". NZ Herald. 2011-10-30. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  7. "Kerr receives CNZM for services to business". Stuff. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  8. "Oliver Hartwich: New business think-tank head". The Listener – Noted. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  9. "The New Zealand Initiative Limited". Companies Register. New Zealand Companies Office. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  10. "Constitution of The New Zealand Initiative Limited". Companies Register. New Zealand Companies Office. 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  11. "Our Members | The New Zealand Initiative". nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  12. "Annual Report 2016 | The New Zealand Initiative". nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  13. Daalder, Marc (11 December 2020). "Think tank editor runs far-right blog". Newsroom.
  14. "Nathan Smith resigns from NZ Intiative [sic] after racist, sexist, anti-semitic views". RNZ. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2021-06-15.
  15. "About Us | The New Zealand Initiative". nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  16. "Events | The New Zealand Initiative". nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  17. O'Sullivan, Fran (2017-06-16). "What's the key to Swiss success? It's the education". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  18. "House prices a top election priority". Stuff – NZ Initiative. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  19. Collins, Simon (2017-07-05). "Rate teachers on student achievement, advises think tank". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  20. "Back-to-basics call on maths". NZ Herald. 2015-06-03. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  21. "Are open learning classrooms actually good for children?". Radio New Zealand. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  22. Smellie, Pattrick (2017-04-17). "Why councils want to keep a lid on their population growth - Pattrick Smellie". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  23. Twyford, Phil (2015-11-29). "Opinion: Planning rules the cause of housing crisis". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  24. "Phil Twyford and his surprising enthusiasm for the private sector". Politik | New Zealand politics, inside news and analysis. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  25. "Land Regulation Making Us Poorer: Emerging Left-Right Consensus | Newgeography.com". www.newgeography.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  26. "Creating special economic zones could see regions prosper, experts say". Stuff. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  27. "Special Economic Zones still on the table". Radio New Zealand. 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  28. "Take a hint from Texas, report says". Taranaki Property Investors' Association. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  29. "Government setting up new housing infrastructure company, will invest $600m". Stuff. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  30. "Editorial: Restrictions put us at a disadvantage". NZ Herald. 2012-09-02. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  31. "New Zealand Initiative more like New Zealand Submissive" (Press release). New Zealand First. Scoop Media. 2014-04-30. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  32. "Outdoor issues need to be discussed inside the house". Stuff. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  33. "Licensing a smokescreen for real agenda". LegaSea. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  34. "Migrants' benefits to NZ outweigh costs – report". Radio New Zealand. 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  35. Tan, Lincoln (2017-01-31). "Do migrants dilute the New Zealand identity?". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  36. "Immigration report 'nonsensical': Winston Peters". Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  37. "Q+A: Winston Peters interviewed by Corin Dann | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  38. "Immigration Report Glosses Over Big Issues". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  39. Jeram, Jenesa (2017-05-22). "Jenesa Jeram: Data can tell us when 'social investment' is worthwhile". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  40. "Insight: Social Bonds - Funding innovation or risky experiment?". Radio New Zealand. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  41. "NZ politics daily: Anger and debate over inequality". The National Business Review. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  42. "World best ETS ruined by costly emissions nonsense". www.nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  43. "Auckland Council should ditch emissions reduction policy". www.nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  44. "Submission: The Emission Reduction Plan". www.nzinitiative.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
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