Public Forums

The New Zealand Initiative and LEANZ invite you to our upcoming webinar. It’s hard to find fans of the Resource Management Act. Read more

Are Māori dying earlier because they are Māori? Do Māori lead less healthy lives because they are being discriminated against? Read more

The ongoing fall in the literacy capability of New Zealand’s school students and school leavers is a national scandal. New Zealand needs a fresh start for literacy education. Read more

Central bank independence in monetary policy was hard fought and desperately needed. The deal was simple. Read more

As the world is slowly emerging out of Covid-19, the next big crisis may already appear on the horizon. After bold fiscal and monetary packages to cushion the blow of the pandemic, inflation, stagflation and asset market disruption are dangers for the world economy. Read more

Saliva-based PCR tests are an efficient, less intrusive, and accurate alternative to COVID-19 deep nasal swabs. Dr Anne Wyllie, a New Zealand-born researcher at Yale University, led the development of Yale’s SalivaDirect test authorised for use in the USA, and independently validated in Portugal, Mexico, Ireland and the Philippines. Read more

Individualised Funding (“IF”) is a rapidly-growing alternative funding model for disability support. IF gives each recipient control of a personal budget they can use to obtain the support services best suited to their individual needs. Read more

In 2012, US psychologist Jonathan Haidt rose to fame with the publication of his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided on Politics and Religion. In its review, The New York Times called Haidt’s book “a landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself.” It has since gained widespread praise from commentators left, right and centre (see here). Read more

Professor Barbara Oakley is the co-creator of the world’s most popular online course: Learning How To Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects, which has helped over 2 million people to improve the way they learn new things. In this event she will be discussing the science behind how we learn, and how we can apply this research in the classroom. Read more

The Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Initiative invite you to a moderated discussion involving representatives from the Tomorrow’s Schools Independent Taskforce, academia, schools and boards of trustees. Together we will explore some of the assumptions on which the taskforce has based its findings and some possible consequences of its recommendations, intended and otherwise. Read more

Trump. Brexit. Read more

We partnered with researchED to reignite evidence-based education in New Zealand. On Saturday 2nd June, over 240 passionate educators, parents, researchers and school trustees gathered at Auckland Grammar School to discuss the evidence on effective education. Read more

On Thursday 31 May 2018, The New Zealand Initiative hosted Katharine Birbalsingh for a dinner lecture in Auckland. New Zealand-born Katharine Birbalsingh studied at Oxford University before becoming a teacher. Read more

The Future Catch was launched with a panel discussion in Wellington on 4 December. Randall Bess (report author), Stuart Nash (Minister of Fisheries), Sir Mark Solomon (Deputy Chair, Te Ohu Kaimoana) and Bob Gutsell (Vice President, New Zealand Sport Fishing Council) discussed the issues facing the recreational fishing sector. Read more

We released our report on welfare policy, Welfare, Work and Wellbeing: From Benefits to Better Lives, with a panel discussion on 28 November in Wellington. Author Bryce Wilkinson and social activist and former MP Sue Bradford, who wrote the foreword, discussed the report's findings with a diverse and knowledgeable audience of about 100 people. Read more