In this episode of Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams sits down with Oliver Hartwich, Executive Director of the New Zealand Initiative, to discuss why he believes the country’s public service is "fundamentally broken" and incompatible with implementing good policy.

Oliver explains how the 1988 reforms inadvertently created a  state where department heads are more beholden to the Public Service Commissioner than their own ministers, and how the bureaucracy can subvert political will.

Drawing on the German model of ministerial accountability, Oliver argues for a system that prioritises deep subject matter expertise over generic management skills to ensure that voters finally get a government with the power to perform its job.

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What if the world is actually getting better — and we just can't see it? In this episode, host Jordan Williams sits down with Marian Tupy, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and founder of HumanProgress.org, to challenge the doom and gloom dominating today's headlines. Drawing on his books Super Abundance and 10 Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, Tupy makes a data-driven case that life expectancy, poverty, child mortality, and war are all trending in the right direction — and explains why our brains are wired to miss it.

From the hidden costs of Net Zero and NIMBYism, to the real story behind American inequality, housing affordability for young New Zealanders, and what AI might mean for the future of work, this is a wide-ranging conversation about progress, freedom, and what it takes to build a better world. A must-listen for anyone who suspects the catastrophists might be missing something important.

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Our latest Taxpayers’ Union–Curia poll sent Wellington into a frenzy at the beginning of March. But in this week’s Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams sits down with Curia founder - and Taxpayers’ Union co-founder - David Farrar to separate the signal from the spin.

Are polls actually driving political decisions, or just measuring them? And why do politicians pay attention, even when they ignore the results?

David lifts the lid on how polling really works (spoiler: no, they’re not ringing every Kiwi every night), why the trend matters more than any single headline-grabbing poll, and which numbers actually tell you if a government is in trouble.

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The New Zealand Initiative Chair Roger Partridge joins Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams to discuss a new report arguing New Zealand could unlock more than $24 billion for essential infrastructure by recycling mature Crown-owned commercial assets.

Roger explains how redirecting capital tied up in government-owned companies such as Air New Zealand, Kiwibank and the mixed ownership electricity generators could help fund hospitals, schools, roads and water systems — without raising taxes or increasing public debt. Drawing on the successful New South Wales model, he outlines how a ring-fenced National Infrastructure Fund could convert government commercial holdings into the infrastructure New Zealand urgently needs.

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Federated Farmers National Board member Mark Hooper joins Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams to critique the government’s "deeply flawed" replacement of the Resource Management Act with the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill.

Mark walks Peter through why the new framework fails to deliver a faster, cheaper, better system, arguing that a predicted 46% reduction in consents is insufficient and warning that farmers could face double the red tape through a combination of complex farm plans and discretionary consents.

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In November 2025, Garrick Tremain joined Peter Williams to discuss his colourful life as one of New Zealand’s finest and most influential political cartoonists of the contemporary era

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Author David Cohen joins Jordan Williams for a no-holds-barred chat about his new book, Jacinda: The Untold Story. Billed as a refreshingly un-mushy take on Jacinda Ardern’s premiership, David drew on hundreds of interviews to cut through the PR gloss and media fawning. His verdict? Ardern was a talented brand manager, powered by what he calls a “missionary zeal” — but that communications-first style came at a cost, with big policies like KiwiBuild never properly stress-tested.

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Entrepreneur and Crimson Education founder Jamie Beaton joins Taxpayer Talk to discuss his extensive academic career, including his 11 degrees, and to offer a strong policy critique advocating for replacing the NCEA high school qualification with a more rigorous, globally standardized system.

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Jordan is joined by international consultant Rowan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police officer and Customs and Border Force expert, to unpack the explosive rise of illicit tobacco in Australia.

With around half of all cigarettes now sourced from the black market, Rowan reveals how sky-high excise taxes have fuelled organised crime, gang violence, and a thriving underground trade. Drawing on his frontline experience, he explains how well-intentioned policies can backfire — and what New Zealand can learn from Australia’s mistakes.

If you care about harm reduction, smarter regulation, and keeping communities safe from criminal networks, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams is joined by ACT MP Cameron Luxton for a wide-ranging discussion on the Government’s new Gene Technology Bill and what it means for innovation and regulation in New Zealand.

Cameron shares his perspective on the Bill’s Māori advisory committee and how ACT approached its position.

Peter and Cameron also discuss the Bill he has drafted to improve transparency and accountability in local government by banning unelected voting members on council committees.

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