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Politics and Economics
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…
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…
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…
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 ……
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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.
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…
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,…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,”…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
