Reforming the RMA: heritage designations The Government has initiated a comprehensive reform to the Resource Management Act (RMA), with plans to replace it entirely with new legislation aimed at balancing property rights and environmental outcomes. The RMA is a foundational piece of legislation for the heritage listing [...]
Ports: what role for mixed ownership? The great majority of the international published and peer reviewed empirical literature finds that a degree of private ownership tends to improve firms’ performance on average and over time. Key reasons are that the incentives and ability to monitor 100% government-owned [...]
Phil Barry on RNZ on heritage housing – March 22
Councils’ heritage policies In a recent report for the Voluntary Heritage Group, TDB analysed the policies and practices of all 67 district councils in relation to heritage properties – including for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) and non-HNZPT heritage-listed sites. We explored for each district council: [...]
How are the Government’s Commercial Businesses Faring? Currently, the government owns or part-owns eighteen large commercial businesses with combined assets totalling $78 billion. These businesses include three electricity generator/retailers, an airline, a post/courier company, a bank and minority stakes in three airports amongst other enterprises. Together these [...]
The year of Zoom Welcome to the November 2020 edition of the TDB Digest. For many of our readers, lockdown life this year saw just about everything moved to Zoom or other video-conference providers, from client meetings to team chats to Friday work beers. Despite the drop [...]
Improving local government funding The Productivity Commission is undertaking an enquiry into ways to improve local government funding. As part of a submission for Foodstuffs NZ, TDB analysed the use of development contributions (DCs) by local councils. Development contributions are a fee charged by councils on new [...]