A New Comic Era
25 February 2009
Mike Moore
The truth is so rare and painful in politics, it’s so valuable it must be rationed.  That’s why satire and comedy are so important because it’s the best way to explain the absurdities of life. ... More >>>  

In Praise of Changing Your Mind
18 February 2009 
Mike Moore
The hardest thing in politics is to change your mind, it’s embarrassing to switch horses, it’s ungainly, and makes a politician vulnerable to attack.  The great economist, Lord Keynes, was once challenged at a media event... More >>>  

The rise of the Reserve Bank Act
11 February 2009 
Hon David Butcher
This week's guest piece is a letter written by The Hon David Butcher, to Bryan Gould. Although it was written in 1995, it outlines the risks associated with politial interference in the economy and ... More >>>  

Summits-peak disappointments
28 January 09 
Mike Moore
Remember the drama of the G20, the group of the Top 20 industrialised nations, and their summit in Washington , D.C. to address the needs of concerted global action to address the global economic crisis? ...   More >>>  

Speech from the Throne
21 December 08
Prime Minister, Rt Hon. John Key (Delivered by Governor General.)
"The driving goal of the new Government will be to grow the New Zealand economy in order to deliver greater prosperity, security and opportunities to all New Zealanders. It will be going for growth because…" More >>>

The Class War
11 December 08 
Mike Moore
Election cycles drive up the feeling that it’s time for a change and new governments get honeymoons. Both are at work in NZ now. The size and magnitude of Labour’s defeat has not sunk in. More >>>  

The Dog that Isn't Barking
11 November 08 
Mike Moore
I’ve spent the last few weeks overseas at Board meetings, various self-indulgent seminars and think tanks in Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, and Canada. I don’t know how anyone can get any work done in London... More >>>  

The Genius of Democratic Capitalism
10 October 08 
Mike Moore
With unabashed glee, many commentators over the past week have again predicted the end of capitalism, some even suggesting a worldwide depression. It’s the capitalist system that’s at fault, they yell, none can point to a single example anywhere in the world as a model. They have no success stories to report... More >>>

Wither Global Trade
3 October 08 
Mike Moore
The real cost to the global economy of the lack of progress in concluding the Doha Development round is not yet apparent.  We have just concluded the most successful, sustained period of global growth in history... More >>>

Winston and the Privileges Committee
24 September 08 
Michael Bassett
Anyone watching yesterday’s parliamentary debate about the report of the Privileges Committee into Winston Peters’ dissembling over his knowledge of the donations that have been made to his legal expenses will realize that MPs took the matter extremely seriously. Peters was censured by the House for knowingly providing false or misleading information, and was ordered to file, within seven days, amended returns for his pecuniary interests over the last three years.... More >>>

New Zealand, MMP and Corruption
17 September 08 
Mike Moore
Helen Clark has again proven to be the most gifted political manager of our age.  It’s tough to euthanise old comrades but her new Party list will give us at least 10 new faces in Parliament.  If things go wrong a quarter of our MP’s will be new, which is a good base to rebuild, fight back and hold the Government accountable.  Most will be loyal because they have worked in the Beehive. More >>>

A Very Foreign Ministry
20 August 08 
Mike Moore
I’m guilty of forgiving, even covering up for, Winston Peters over the years.  After his anti-Asian rave, I even went on a visit with him to Asia to make the point he was not anti-Asian, it was just politics. Shame on me, I like Winston, good bloke to have a beer with, but all this is now a danger to NZ’s credibility. When asked about him overseas, I would say, “It’s bunkam, populism. Don’t worry”. More >>>

Global Warming Science Moves On
6 August 08 
Dr. David Evans
On global warming, public policy is where the science was in 1998. Due to new evidence, science has since moved off in a different direction. More >>>

The Bottom Billion
30 July 08
Mike Moore
This week Trade Ministers assemble in Geneva to try and make progress at the World Trade Organisation on the Doha Development trade round. The global economy needs the boost that further trade liberalisation has always delivered.  More >>>

The "P" Word
23 July 08
Mike Moore
In a rare moment of candour, the Minister of Police confessed we are losing the battle against methamphetamines, commonly known as P. It is a chilling admission, and it’s true. A South Auckland mayor said if we get rid of P, we will get rid of gangs. Dead wrong. P is a relatively new evil, gangs existed well before P became a huge money-spinner for the gangs.  More >>>

Legal Empowerment for the Poor
16 July 08
Mike Moore
Look at the worst places to live in the world – Burma, North Korea, Zimbabwe. What have they in common? No democracy, no human, civil, commercial and legal rights. When governments deny you your rights, then they have the worst outcomes for ordinary people. The elites always do well. Equality under the law, the fact that the sovereign is accountable to the law, are fundamental to man’s progress. More >>>

Mike Moore needs some reminders of Labour’s past
9 July 08
Michael Littlewood
In his rush to judgement (The Politics of Retirement, 18 June 2008, nzcpr midweek), Mike Moore slides by some inconvenient truths about the last 30 or so years of New Zealand ’s superannuation history. More >>>

Clark for UN Human Rights Role?
2 July 08
Murray McCully
The announcement that New Zealand has declared its candidacy for membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council raises a number of interesting questions. Like why are we doing this? And what do we hope to achieve? More >>>

High Noon in Geneva, Again
25 June 08
Mike Moore
Agriculture has always been the deal-breaker or deal-maker in world trade talks at the World Trade Organisation.  Ministerial trade talks have often collapsed, because governments have not been able to agree.  Unlike other Ministerial meetings, WTO talks are real, between contracting parties, backed up by a binding disputes system, and agreements need to be ratified by Parliaments.  More >>>

The Politics of Retirement
18 June 08
Mike Moore
After nearly a decade out of power, it’s easy to forget how dreadful, cynical and short-sighted the National Party has been in the past, especially in regard to the treatment of retired New Zealanders.  They have done it again, with waffle on KiwiSaver. More >>>

Big Ideas to Super-size New Zealand's Economy
11 June 08
Dr Don Brash
Don Brash outlines a 10-point plan to increase our living standards. He says implementing it would take courage, but none of it is politically impossible and the results would be remarkable.   More >>>

Science, Politics & Climate Change
4 June 08
Dr Ron Smith
Science does not proceed on the basis of consensus. The history of science is full of cases where a minority (or even single individuals) turn out to be right and the majority turns out to be wrong.  More >>>

"Bunkham", Populism & Demagogic Politics
28 May 08
Mike Moore
Politics should be more noble than a checklist of fears and promises to targeted sectors, to be ticked off during an election cycle. One of the tragedies of NZ politics is how the real promise of Winston Peters, who had much to offer NZ, has been wasted. More >>>

A Moral Question. What do you do?
14 May 08
Mike Moore
Dictators hardly ever quit. They can’t. They may be prosecuted or worse. Those who replace them may take revenge. How do they live, who pays them when they retire or run?  That’s why many steal millions of dollars and park the money overseas for a rainy day.. More >>>

Reforming Auckland Local Government, a submission
30 April 08
Dr Michael Bassett 
The 1989 structure was the best that was politically achievable at the time (29 territorial authorities into 7, with a regional body) but weaknesses have shown up with the structure and especially at the regional level where the voice is weaker than intended at the time. That regional voice needs to be strengthened. More >>>

Food for Thought
23 April 08
Mike Moore
What has been the most successful 50 years of alleviating poverty in human history is threatened. What’s happening, what’s new? Nothing is more important than food. In 12 months, corn and rice prices have doubled, wheat price tripled, soy beans up by 87%, and global food reserves are at their lowest levels ever. A 100 million people in the poorest countries have been pushed further into poverty... More >>>

The Good; the Excellent; and the Bad
16 April 08
Mike Moore
China has only become integrated into the global economy over the past 20 years, the results for China, stunning, hundreds of millions of people lifted out of extreme poverty. This lifts living standards worldwide, has kept global inflation down, and stretched families’ purchasing power. In part, this is why the last 10 years has seen the most sustained economic growth in history... More >>>

It's Now or Never - almost, at the WTO
9 April 08
Mike Moore
No-one was confident we would launch a new trade round when Ministers met in Doha when I was Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.  We managed a launch because, in the end, there was so much in it for everyone.  The World Bank suggested, at the time, abolishing all barriers could lift the global economy by almost US$3 trillion, and lift 320 million people out of poverty. ... More >>>

The Middle East - Work in Progress
1 April 08
Mike Moore
The Middle East conjures up dark pictures in Westerners’ minds, the agonies of Palestine and Iraq.  That’s like judging all of Africa because of Dufar, or all of Asia because of North Korea.  There’s more to the region and the Muslim world than that... More >>>

China Revisisted, China Revisitng the World
26 March 08
Mike Moore
I just made my 20^th visit to China.  China will not change the modern world, it already has.  They have taken more than a million people a month out of extreme poverty over the past 20 years, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, and now generate wealth, jobs and growth everywhere. More >>>

Reflections on Political Courgage
5 March 08
Mike Moore
Sometimes you need to oppose the majority, try to survive and create a new majority.  Politicians in corners don’t often lie, their compromise is to say nothing.  I’ve had a number of mute politicians confide that they agree with my attacks on the Electoral Finance Act.  Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ... More >>>

An interview with John Boscawen, campaigner against the Electoral reform Bill
27 February 08
NZCPR director, Muriel Newman, interviews John Boscawen about his high profile opposition to the Electoral Reform Act... More >>>

Dissent J’Accuse
20 February 08
Mike Moore
Dissent is the lifeblood and oxygen of progressive politics. It always has been.  We social democrats trace our history of dissent back through the centuries as we wrung concessions out of the powerful and privileged... More >>>

Prime Minister's Statement to Parliament
12 February 2008
Helen Clark PM
It's a privilege for me as Prime Minister to present this annual statement to Parliament on our government's priorities for the year ahead. 2007 was a year of progress on many major government initiatives... More >>>

A Funny Year?
6 February 08
Mike Moore
2008 is an important year for us all, not only because it’s election year but because, internationally, many great issues will come to the forefront. More >>>

State of the Nation Address
30 January 08
John Key
This time a week ago we were saying goodbye to our country's favourite son.... More >>> ... and the Prime Minister's speech in reply >>>

A Banana Republic - Without the Bananas
21 January 08
Rt Hon Mike Moore
New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements; a republic, will soon be on the political agenda, here’s why, and why it’s dangerous... More >>>

Poverty Is Not Inevitable
16 January 08
Rt Hon Mike Moore
Why is it that countries that should be wealthy, that have resources, have continued to under-perform?  Poverty is a man-made thing so we can fix it.   What’s the common denominator in success and failure? Open economies always do better. More >>>

Christmas Thinking
26 December 07
Rt Hon Mike Moore
It’s often said that elections are decided by discussions over the Christmas barbeque before election year.  Erratic Christmas weather will provoke discussion about climate warming.  It’s fascinating that New Zealand’s record of emissions is higher than many who have not signed the Kyoto Agreement.  The record is the opposite of the rhetoric. More >>>