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…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
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,
New Zealand’s NZX Partners With Nasdaq
“NZX Ltd (NZX.NZ) has signed a deal with U.S. exchange Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) to explore opportunities in dual listings and depository receipts, as the New Zealand bourse looks to attract share sales by providing…
Jacinda Ardern On Universally Accessible Arts
New Zealand’s Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern says art should be for the many, not the few. The opinion piece features in Australia’s ArtsHub, and was originally published…
NZ Seeks Housing Solutions by Halting Foreign Sales
“New Zealand has lured Asian billionaires, Hollywood filmmakers, and tech entrepreneurs with a liberal immigration policy and light regulation of foreign property purchases. Now, as it tries to cool one of the world’s hottest…
Why Top Investor Immigrants Choose New Zealand
“People do not usually think of New Zealand as an investment destination,” Andy Semotiuk, a US and Canadian immigration lawyer, writes in an article for Forbes. “However, the country is rated number one for…
Jacinda Ardern Returns to Work with Neve in Tow
Juggling the needs of a baby and running a country became a reality for New Zealand’s prime minister as she returned to work after becoming the first western leader to have a child in…
KIWI Act Signed by U.S. President
A bill has been signed by U.S. President Donald Trump that is intended to make it easier for New Zealanders and Americans to trade with and invest with each other. President Trump is pictured…
Geopolitics and New Zealand’s Antarctic Presence
New Zealand is increasingly mobilising resources to secure a share of Antarctica. Current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific, The Diplomat investigates. “When New Zealand’s Defence Minister Ron Mark presented the new 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement…
Post-Brexit Architect Crawford Falconer Optimistic
In his first interview since taking up the role of British chief trade negotiation adviser, New Zealander Crawford Falconer talks to John Arlidge from The Sunday Times, about why he emerged from the “comfort…
New Zealand Is a Haven of Liberal Politics
“Unlike most other countries, New Zealand’s parliament appears to have realised that no one’s going to get anywhere by pretending to agree with, or make bargains with, Donald Trump,” freelance journalist Matteo di Maio…
NZ Passport Ranked 7th Most Powerful
New Zealand has been placed on rank #7 – tied with the Czech Republic and Malta – in this year’s Henley Passport Index, which ranks “all the world’s passports according…
Trans-Tasman Tussle Over Deportation
The cancellation of Australian visas on the grounds of “character” has soared since December 2014, when the government amended its immigration law. Last year, more than half of those visas belonged to New Zealanders,…
Jacinda Ardern What the Global Left Needs Now
The future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and American political activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to Guardian Australian columnist Van Badham. As a political communication, Ardern’s recent handheld Facebook Live…
New Zealand Fifth Most Reputable Country
New Zealand has been named the fifth most reputable country in an annual ranking by Reputation Institute. Sweden, “known for its generous social benefits and commitment to gender equality, is…
NZ’s Leader, Jacinda Ardern, Delivers Baby Girl
“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Thursday, making her the first world leader in almost three decades to give birth while in office,” writes…
Winston Peters’ 40-Year Political Rise
The ascension of power will be a curious one for Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters who, at times through his career, has looked like he could take the role with ease and at others…
New Zealand Wants to Start Taxing Tourists
“New Zealand is planning to start taxing the millions of foreign visitors who flock to its shores every year,” writes Jethro Mullen in an article for CNN Money. While the…
NZ Gives BC Lesson on Proportional Representation
When New Zealand pitched a switch to proportional representation in the early 1990s, it triggered a wave of conjecture and confusion similar to what British Columbia in Canada is experiencing now. New Zealanders voted in…
NZ Plans To Invest In More Recycling Plants As It Deals With China Waste Ban
“New Zealand is planning to invest more in recycling plants and set up government-led taskforce to work out how to grapple with the fallout from China’s ban on waste imports, its associate environment minister…
