Opinion

As New Zealand’s foreign policy year draws to a close, it seems fitting that Volodymyr Zelensky will have the final word. Ukraine’s President is scheduled to address the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington by video link early on Wednesday morning, local time. New Zealand is something of a latecomer when it comes to inviting Zelensky to speak to its legislature …

Tim Groser addresses the US/NZ Partnership Forum in Auckland, 30 June 2015. Full speech provided below. I would like to thank our two co-chairs, the Hon Simon Power, Chair of the NZ-US Council and Stu Van Soyoc, President of the US-based counterpart organisation for assuming joint responsibility for the Partnership Forum. I think it is a great idea for us …

  Listen to the full episode of Q+A in the podcast below

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland gives shares her views on why she believes businesses shouldn’t go back to normal after the Coronavirus pandemic. Today there is an eerie silence across the globe. Bustling cities have gone quiet and highways that were once jammed with bumper to bumper traffic, are empty. In homes, thousands of families are anxiously awaiting a phone call …

Bates Gill, Macquarie University Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power as head of the Chinese Communist Party – the most important position in China – in late 2012. Today, nearly seven years on, he is one of the most recognisable figures on the world stage. Yet, while he already commands the destiny of some 1.4 billion Chinese people, and seeks …

The China/Australia Free Trade Agreement, or “CHAfta” as it is being called, gives Australian dairy farmers much better access to the Chinese infant formula market, which they have been beaten out of by the New Zealanders in recent years. Agricultural sector writer Alan Emerson recently noted that in 2009 New Zealand and Australia produced approximately the same amount of milk. …

By Charles Finny With the Republicans back in control of both the House and Senate in the US there are positive signs that the dysfunction apparent in recent years on the hill may be ending.  With both President Obama and the Republican Leadership stating a desire to work together on matters of national importance APEC 2014 and ancillary meetings offers …

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom presented no evidence to back his claim the Prime Minister was at the centre of a Hollywood plot to have him extradited to the United States to face charges. As I wrote on the New Zealand Herald website last night  “If Kim Dotcom thinks his Moment of Truth will affect the outcome of Saturday’s election, he …

By Charles Finny On 3 September 1939 a Labour Government in New Zealand declared war on Germany in support of the UK and others following Adolph Hitler’s decision to invade Poland. Until the war ended in 1945 New Zealand made enormous sacrifices and as we all know, and as happened in World War I a disproportionately large number of New …

The “bubble” is not about to burst, and we don’t find “Chicken Little” style commentary useful – say ANZ’s Morning Brief authors. “That said, New Zealand is facing challenges, as we have highlighted many times before, and with euphoria sky high according to both business and consumer confidence surveys, it’s perhaps timely to remind readers of that. New Zealand is …