Todd Muller Plots Downfall of Jacinda Ardern
Todd Muller’s launch last week in the Te Puna rugby clubrooms was not flashy or digital; in one sense it was politics of the old school. But for those who listened to the long,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
New Zealand “the New Leader of the Free World”
“When I say ‘new leader of the free world’, I don’t just mean Jacinda Ardern. I mean New Zealand. As a society,” London-based consultant, leading thinker and author Umair Haque writes in a feature…
Why is New Zealand so Progressive?
She wasn’t the only mother checking in with their whānau that evening. But this woman was Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, and the one who had decided – on expert advice – to…
James Shaw on Our Economic Climate Post-COVID-19
Cheap, renewable electricity is one way of reviving economies and preserving New Zealand’s natural environment, Climate Change Minister and co-leader of the Green Party James Shaw argues in an opinion piece for The Guardian. Shaw…
What Next for New Zealand’s Economy?
“In New Zealand, a country of five million people, new COVID-19 cases have been in the single digits for most of the past week. Australia reported just seven new infections on 23 April. That…
Jacinda Ardern “May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet”
Influential U.S. news journal The Atlantic says “Jacinda Ardern’s leadership style, focused on empathy, isn’t just resonating with her people; it’s putting the country on track for success against the coronavirus.” Uri Friedman, staff…
New Zealand One of World’s Most Resilient Economies
Experts have already begun assessing how a recovery might look once the COVID-19 virus is contained, and which countries stand to bounce back best. According to the 2019 Global Resilience Index, New Zealand sits…
PM Jacinda Ardern Inspires Across Planet
March is National Women’s History Month in the US and Washington state newspaper, the Chinook Observer, salutes several outstanding women, including our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. The Observer’s Robert Brake writes: “I extend kudos to 39-year-old New…
New Zealand Eases Abortion Restrictions
Lawmakers have voted to liberalise New Zealand’s abortion law and allow unrestricted access during the first half of pregnancy, ending the country’s status as one of the few wealthy nations to limit the grounds…
Jacinda Ardern Has the World’s Attention
History came fast at Jacinda Ardern. Just a few years ago, in 2017, having been a local Member of Parliament for a matter of months, she became a Hail Mary candidate for Prime Minister,…
Helen Clark Discusses Global Cooperation
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark is unequivocal when challenged on the pervading doom and gloom about the world. Can she really remain an optimist? “Of course,” she said enthusiastically, when former UK…
New Zealand Least Corrupt Country in the World
New Zealand is seen as the least corrupt country in the world, according to a new report by the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, which shows New Zealand and Denmark tied for the top…
Jacinda Ardern is Pacific Person of the Year
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is Fiji-based publication, Islands Business 2019 Pacific Person of the Year, the second person of non-Pacific heritage to ever be awarded the title. “Just over two years since she…
UK Ambassador Laura Clarke’s Aim in Office
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Laura Clarke, the British high commissioner to New Zealand, writes about why the UK wants to strengthen its relationship with Māori. “The connections between the UK and New…
Jacinda Ardern Makes Annual Bloomberg 50 List
“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern banned military-style semiautomatic and assault rifles six days after 51 people died in the worst mass shooting in the country’s modern history … and rallied the leaders of…
Labour Elects Hungarian-Kiwi Claire Szabó
“A truly surprising story from New Zealand. The ruling Labour Party has elected Claire Szabó as its new president. New Zealand-born Szabó is also a Hungarian citizen, her father served as Hungary’s Honorary Consul…
Tackling Hot-Button Liberal Issues in One Swoop
Next year, our country will hold public referendums to decide whether to legalise assisted suicide and recreational marijuana, and separately, lawmakers will consider a bill that would decriminalise abortion. Conflict-averse New Zealanders may be…
Housing Crisis Bites in Northland
A 30 per cent rise in people waiting for state housing in Northland is fuelling New Zealand’s “desperate” shortage in affordable homes, resulting in some families living in the woods, and in huts built…
New Zealand Passes Zero Carbon Law
New Zealand has passed a law to reduce its emissions in a bid to become mostly carbon neutral by 2050, Britain’s Independent newspaper reports. The zero-carbon bill aims to tackle climate change by setting a…
Clues for Brexit Future May Be Found Here
There may be insights for the UK on leaving the European Union without a deal from a long time ago on the other side of the world, Bloomberg economic writer Eddie Spence says. Britain would…
Young Māori Women Stand up for Their Land
Five years ago, law graduate Pania Newton and her cousins got together around a kitchen table and agreed to do everything in their power to prevent a housing development at Ihumātao, the south Auckland…
“The Maori Model” Hailed As Investment Blueprint For Reconciliation
Bloomberg reports from Wellington on the investment record of South Island Maori tribe Ngai Tahu https://www.ngaitahuholdings.co.nz/, turning a $170 million government compensation payment into a $2 billion asset base with an average annual…
Edmund Hillary Fellows Encourage Bold and Humble Leaders
“A verdant Burning Man with lots more global utopianism” is how American business columnist and Elon Musk biographer Ashlee Vance describes on Bloomberg.com the experimental New Zealand Global Impact Visa. Helmed by Illinois…
Review: Marilyn Waring The Political Years
Marilyn Waring’s forensic record of her Parliamentary career (Marilyn Waring: The Political Years Bridget Williams Books) is a layered work, a primer in the travails of Aotearoa’s parliamentary democracy. It…
Jacinda Ardern Popular In Australia
Jacinda Arden’s “empathy and grace” in the aftermath of the Christchurch shootings has been applauded in a recent New York Times opinion piece by Sisonke Msimang, an author who divides her time between Australia…
Government Switch for Gabriel Makhlouf
The New Zealand government’s chief economic and financial advisor Gabriel Makhlouf has landed the role of new Central Bank Governor in Ireland. The Irish Independent reports on the appointment. The Central Bank of Ireland will…
Liddell Says U.S. Government Digital Assets Vital for Unleashing Innovation
The U.S. government has a critical role in working with the private sector to harness emergent technologies such as 5G, quantum computing, AI, advanced manufacturing and synthetic biology, says Chris Liddell, White House Deputy…
Kiwis Among World’s Worst Savers while NZ Banks Deliver Highest Profits
Newly released household income data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that New Zealanders ranked among the world’s worst savers. The study forecasted that by 2020, Kiwis would be in…
NZ Passes Law Banning Most Semiautomatic Weapons
“Less than a month after 50 Muslim worshipers in the city of Christchurch were fatally shot in terrorist attacks on two mosques, New Zealand passed a law banning most semiautomatic weapons on Wednesday —…
PM Jacinda Ardern Discusses Global Scrutiny
Optimism is baked into Jacinda Ardern’s character, Spinoff editor Toby Manhire writes in a feature about the prime minister published in The Guardian. At school, her mother once revealed, she convened a “happy club”….
NZ Rolls Out ESTA-Style Visa Waiver for Visitors
“Most international travellers visiting New Zealand will soon be required to obtain an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) which, while functioning as a US ESTA-style visa waiver rather than a visa per se, will all…
Ambassador Clare Fearnley Interviewed on China
The changes that have taken place in China in the past 70 years are very significant, New Zealand’s Ambassador to China Clare Fearnley has said in a recent interview with Xinhuanet. The ambassador also…
Helen Clark Fighting Erosion of Women’s Rights
More than 30 female world leaders including current and former heads of state have called for a fightback against the erosion of women’s rights, with one former minister singling out countries led by “a…
Has the Overseas Investment Amendment Act Worked?
After watching home prices rise by 60 per cent in a decade, New Zealand decided to ban foreigners from buying property. Will it work? The New York Times reports. When it was reported in 2017 that…
Chris Liddell Helms Rural America Broadband Era
Chris Liddell, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination at The White House, is leading a newly announced initiative to address a significant gap in broadband access in rural America. Writing in Agri-Pulse, Liddell…
NZ-Dubai Roll Out Electronic Trade Processes
New Zealand and Dubai have initiated an electronic exchange of export certificate process that will provide a simpler, more time effective and sustainable method to facilitate two-way trade currently estimated at around $2 billion,…
Helen Clark On Jacinda Ardern’s Kindness Quotient
“Jacinda Ardern’s sudden, spectacular rise to the position of New Zealand’s prime minister in 2017 propelled her into headlines around the world. Deservedly so,” Helen Clark writes in a piece for Foreign Policy magazine. “In…
Hopes World Will Follow Our Wellness-Based Policies
In an article featured in the Financial Times, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urges the world’s governments to focus on “living standards and human, social and natural capital when we set targets and track progress”. “There’s…
Unusual Coalition Survives in a Febrile World
In a piece for online policy forum, East Asia Forum, Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University, Robert Ayson reviews New Zealand’s “unlikely coalition”. “As 2018 began New Zealand did not have an answer to…
What Can New Zealand Teach the UK about Brexit?
“Brexit is, to put it mildly, an unusual event,” BBC World Service economics correspondent Andrew Walker writes. “But there are precedents for some aspects of it. New Zealand provides one example.” “The country faced a…
Jacinda Ardern Launches New “Green Fund”
“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a new NZ$100 million green investment fund on Wednesday, aimed at boosting private-sector participation in a campaign to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050,” writes Charlotte…
“NZ Perfectly Situated To Change the World”
“New Zealand is pushing the boundaries of innovation as a “country-sized incubator,” and seeking further synergies with Korean small and midsized companies and startups, according to the country’s top envoy to Korea.” Joel Lee…
New Zealand Ranked Second Most Prosperous
New Zealand has been ranked second in the Legatum Institute’s 12th annual global Prosperity Index, which lists the world’s 37 richest, healthiest, happiest, and most prosperous nations. Business Insider Australia…
At Home in Seoul with Ambassador Philip Turner
“One way to experience something Kiwi in Seoul would be to order a flat white at a coffee shop,” Philip Turner, ambassador of New Zealand to Korea, told English-language newspaper, JoongAng Daily at a…
Winston Peters’ New Standing as Elder Statesman
“Winston Peters’ New Zealand First has been a textbook case of how to combine populist rhetoric and nativist discourse in the service of political mobilisation,” according to Hans-Georg Betz, adjunct professor of political science…
Helen Clark Says World Needs More Women Leaders
In a sit-down interview with CTV National News chief anchor and senior editor Lisa LaFlamme, former prime minister Helen Clark said if more women were in positions of leadership, the world would be a…
Solicitor Karla Hill on the Case for Mother Earth
When lawyers become standard-bearers for high-profile activism, funding major litigation requires innovative thinking. Social media has a vital role too, writes Grania Langon-Down. New Zealand solicitor Karla Hill is the director of programmes for…
Chris Liddell on “The Biggest IT Transformation of All Time”
“In the wake of Tuesday’s power-shifting midterm elections, the White House plans to stay the course in tech policy and may even work with Democrats on beefing up the nation’s broadband infrastructure, a trio…
NZ Passes Ban on Offshore Oil Exploration
“New Zealand’s government has passed a polarising law ending future offshore oil and gas exploration around the country,” as reported in an article for The Australian. “Environmentalists called the decision historic, but industry…
NZ Falls out of Love with 2 Per Cent Targets
“Japan and Sweden and even the Fed could take a lesson from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand,” according to Daniel Moss in an opinion piece for Bloomberg. Former chair of the Federal Reserve,…
NZ Tops Ease of Doing Business Rankings
New Zealand has clinched the top spot in the ease of doing business rankings by the World Bank where it scored 86.59, ahead of 190 other countries, despite not implementing any reforms in the…
Crawford Falconer Tackles Brexit Conundrums
When the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the British government had no chief trade negotiator and only a handful of people engaged in trade policy. As part of the EU,…
Bunker Buyers and Billionaires Still Seek Shelter
“If the New Zealand government was sending a message when it banned foreigners from buying houses in the country earlier this year, it does not seem to have been heard by the global billionaire…
NZ Passport #8 on Power Ranking
“Global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners has released its quarterly report on the world’s most desirable passports,” as reported in India’s Economic Times. New Zealand has been…
NZ and Australia Ground Zero for Chinese Influence
Chen Weijian rests on his balcony, listening to the cicadas in a leafy suburb of Auckland, Rob Schmitz reports in an NPR broadcast. He moved from China in 1991, escaping imprisonment for working on…
Jacinda Ardern Gives Maiden Speech at the UN
The collapse of multilateralism would be “catastrophic,” Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, said in her first speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Opening her address with a Māori salutation,
