Articles in ‘Opinion’

It’s hard to believe that when I signed off my article for the March edition of Elocal, on 11 February, I didn’t mention the words ‘pandemic’, ‘coronavirus’, or ‘Covid-19’. In the four or five weeks since, the media – and I mean all the media – have talked about almost nothing else. What I write now, for publication at the beginning of April, could also be totally blind-sided by events over the next two weeks. At the moment, it appears as if…

There’s only one show in town right now, and it’s a chart-topper. I’m actually somewhat loath to launch into coronavirus, given that it’s such a rapidly-moving piece of theatre and I’m writing this a week ahead of publication; but regardless of how the spread of the world’s newest and most popular disease unfolds over the next fortnight, there are truths interwoven through the entire subject that won’t be going away. Firstly, it’s actually…

New Zealand has changed dramatically in a week in response to Covid-19. Fundamental rights and liberties have been curtailed to assist in suppressing the virus. From a legal history perspective, this is similar to what New Zealand experienced in World War I and II and during the 1951 Waterfront Dispute. · It is unclear how long these measures will be necessary. At the present time we just don't have enough data to confirm the severity of this…

As this edition goes to press, New Zealand and the world are approaching the anniversary of the horrific events in Christchurch on March 15th 2019. Nearly a year on from that dreadful day, what has changed about New Zealand – both for the better, and more pertinently, for the worse? On March 15th, 2019 I was in a shop in Rangiora. As a Police patrol car went screaming past in the direction of Christchurch, lights and sirens blazing, doing about…

It seems no time at all since we were celebrating (or lamenting) the election of the Labour–New Zealand First–Green Government in 2017. And now, in little more than six months’ time, we’re going to the polls again. As I write in the middle of February, the outcome of the election is still very uncertain. If the latest poll results were replicated in the election, we would have another Labour-led Government, with the Greens in support (and…

Through all of history, everywhere in the world, recorded or otherwise, it has been proclaimed that The End is Nigh. Preachers, politicians, protestors, pundits of every ilk and hue; from the pulpit to the podium to the sandwich board in the street, all manner of doomsayers have sung and shouted and chanted their various predictions as to the impending demise of Mankind. One day, of course, one of them will be proved right; but when that…

But its not all doom and gloom, we can empower ourselves and those close to us to minimise the likelihood of being affected by it. In actual fact, there’s no one better equipped than ourselves to take those crucial steps. One year ago, almost to the day, the results of this country’s latest crime and victim survey, conducted by the Justice Ministry, was released. A report described by experts as “the most comprehensive report ever undertaken…

There are two pieces of legislation wending their way through Parliament at the moment designed to further entrench the crazy notion that the Treaty of Waitangi created an obligation on governments nearly 200 years later to treat anybody with a Maori ancestor in some kind of preferential way. One is the Public Service Bill, introduced to Parliament last month and now being considered by the Governance and Administration select committee. It…

A few years ago, when I wrote my autobiography, I included a chapter called “The challenge of making economic policy in a democracy”. In that chapter, I tried to debunk a lot of commonly held myths about economic policy. There are lots of them: · “Government should control what private landlords charge for rental accommodation to protect low income people”. “Import controls and tariffs protect jobs and create employment”. “The government has…

It would seem that ‘progress’, as defined by Auckland Transport (AT), is actually ‘regression’. I always considered progress as advancement by moving forward. According to Auckland Transport, moving backwards into the past is really the way forward. A return to pre 1985 speed limits is how the ‘visionaries’ of our local regional transport network view our driving future. Never mind that roads have improved in the past 30 years. Never mind that…