NZ isn’t “immune” to corruption. We’ve just been bad at detecting it, and too comfortable with the myth of exceptionalism. Here’s my breakdown of tonight's Corruption Perceptions Index fall and the new Govt anti-corruption taskforce findings: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The Epstein files aren’t just a grotesque scandal. They’re an X-ray of how power really works, and why New Zealand’s weak integrity rules are a liability: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The big story at Waitangi wasn’t Māori vs Crown. It was Māori vs Māori, and an opposition misfiring: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Another entry in what I’ve been calling “Broken New Zealand”: institutions hollowed out, contractors protected, warnings ignored, and the public left with the consequences - literally washing up on the beach: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Why is the political system so reluctant to take on insurers? Follow the influence: revolving doors, lobbying muscle, and industry-funded relationship-building. That context matters when judging how “independent” this review will be: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Monopoly isn’t just a board game. It’s our banking, groceries & building supplies. There’s a rare window right now to tighten competition law. We should take it, and resist the pushback from big law firms and business groups: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The public mood is increasingly anti-elite, anti-corporate, impatient, and increasingly climate-aware. In this article, I argue the Greens should stop drifting and ride the populist wave with a simple message: make polluters and profiteers pay: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

What is NZ's actual climate adaptation and disaster-resilience strategy? Mount Maunganui forces the question: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The Law Commission is meant to be above politics. So what happens when Cabinet installs one of its own to run it? This appointment should worry anyone who cares about independent law reform: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Mt Maunganui is a case study in fragmented governance: siloed information, outsourced expertise, underpowered councils, and weak national frameworks for climate-amplified hazards. If we can't keep treating resilience as optional spending: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Labour is talking like a class-based party again – attacking wealthy donors, property speculators, and inherited advantage. But do the policies match the rhetoric? This article analyses Labour’s emerging 2026 campaign strategy:: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

290 days of campaigning; one exhausted electorate. NZ is heading into its longest election grind in ages. This article explores the risks of voter fatigue, the advantage of well-funded parties, & why it may become a contest of endurance rather than ideas: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

NZ likes to think it has a clean, merit-based system of public appointments. This shows how fragile that assumption really is. McKee’s firearms advisory appointments look less like good governance and more like textbook "regulatory capture": www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Was this really a State of the Nation speech? Or a corporate progress report? Luxon’s address to business leaders signalled a cautious, low-ambition election strategy. Here, I examine the reaction, the omissions, and the risks of a trying not to excite: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The Greens should be thriving right now. They’re not. This column explores why, examining polling collapse, staff departures, leadership rhetoric, and the growing gap between Green ambition and public support as election year kicks off: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

This is the 7th and final column in my MisManageMyHealth series. After 6 pieces analysing how this disaster happened (privatisation, monopoly power, weak regulation, lobbying) this essay asks the unavoidable question: what would real reform look like? www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

This 6th piece in my MisManageMyHealth series follows directly from my earlier columns on privatisation, monopoly power, and watchdog failure. Here, the focus is lobbying: how industry actors shaped the policy environment: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

The Manage My Health breach wasn’t a tech failure, it was a policy failure. This column traces how 30 years of privatisation, light-handed regulation and “high-trust” governance left NZ’s most sensitive health data in private hands, with no real oversight: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

"Now it’s time to look at who built this house of cards in the first place. Who is Manage My Health... This breach wasn’t random bad luck. It was baked into the architecture... www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Who built the MisManageMyHealth house of cards? In this 4th analysis in a series on the scandal, I examine the company behind the breach: its ownership, its monopoly position and the offshoring decisions that left millions of NZers’ health records exposed: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

NZers were encouraged — sometimes required — to use digital health portals. But when that system catastrophically failed, the state shrugged and said: “Not our problem.” My latest article on the MisManageMyHealth scandal and the problems of privatisation: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

This is the 2nd column in my series on the ManageMyHealth debacle. The most damning fact isn’t the hack, but that clear warnings were issued months earlier and ignored. This breach was foreseeable & symptomatic of a hollowed-out regulatory state: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

This isn’t just a data breach. The Manage My Health hack is a case study in how NZ governs itself: hollowed-out oversight, light-touch regulation, and politicians who rush to condemn failures they quietly designed: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

As we head into an election year, voters should ask a simple question: "Does NZ still believe international law applies to everyone, or only to countries we’re comfortable criticising?" My analysis on NZ's craven response to the US invasion of Venezuela: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

NZ urgently needs stricter rules on taxpayer-funded political advertising. Until then, expect more billboards, sponsored “news” articles, and digital ads — all paid for by the public, all technically “allowed”. My latest analysis: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Can knighthoods be bought in NZ? Today’s New Year Honours include multiple major political donors. Once again, the proximity between large donations and royal honours raises uncomfortable questions about whether our honours system rewards merit or money: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

2025 was a bad year for NZ politics. Not just for the Govt, or Opposition, or any one party, but for the political system as a whole. If you’ve felt that politics this year has been more dispiriting than usual, you’re not imagining it - my latest column: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

My end-of-year analysis about the biggest hitter in parliamentary and ministerial politics in NZ, and what it says about NZ democracy: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

Who funds local democracy — and what do they expect in return? My latest column analyses the newly released local election donation data and finds a familiar pattern: developers, corporates and the wealthy dominating the megaphone: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

If a worker kills someone through negligence, it’s a crime. If a corporation kills 29 people, it pays a discounted fine. That says everything about who holds power in this country. My latest "Democracy Briefing" lays out the evidence: www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-...

I think @bryceedwards.bsky.social has really nailed it here www.linkedin.com/posts/bryce-...

While the world’s new left leaders are taking on corporate power head-on, NZ’s left remains timid. Here's what figures like Zohran Mamdani & Zach Polanski can teach Labour & the Greens about confronting the broken markets hollowing out NZ democracy: theintegrityinstitute.substack.com/p/integrity-...

The NZ political left needs to take the “Abundance” debate seriously (as well as get involved in the contest of ideas, in general). A good letter to the Listener this week:

Tighten your belts, they say. Except when it comes to $2.7 billion toys. Austerity for the people, extravagance for the military. Bell’s cartoon today in The Post about the new “investment” in “subhunters”:

The Integrity Institute wants to foster more media scrutiny of vested interests and integrity issues in NZ. One of our first steps is to make grants to media outlets to pay for journalists to conduct in-depth investigations. This is the first Newsroom item. What do you think? (link below)

“Ruffling feathers in the political lobbying world” — today’s Post piece on The Integrity Institute pulls no punches. Not all of it’s flattering, but that’s the cost of poking at power. Still, I’m pleased this debate is happening in public.

Join the Fightback against Oligarchy in NZ! The Integrity Institute has been formed to scrutinise and challenge the dominance of the wealthy in the political process. Here’s my explanation of our orientation to discontent: democracyproject.substack.com/p/integrity-...

Danyl Mclauchlan interviewed me for his excellent Listener cover story (“Paradise Lost”) explaining New Zealand’s decline, drawing attention to the role of vested interests in corroding politics and economy. Here’s an excerpt about lobbying:

NZ has yet again slipped in the latest Transparency International Corruption Perception Index released tonight – declining in score from 85 to 83/100, and dropping in the rankings from 3rd to 4th. NZ used to be #1. The trendline continues downward as seen in this graph showing NZ’s ranking over time

NZ has a cohesive business & political elite that can make deals and policies via matey networks. I recently posted about Shane Jones’ annual Waitangi party in which he hosts lobbyists etc. And here’s some insightful commentary on the topic from the Sunday Star Times editor Tracy Watkins:

Danyl Mclauchlan’s very good analysis of the Regulatory Standards Bill in the latest Listener:

The Deputy PM has agreed to “roast” Cameron Slater:

Coverage in BusinessDesk today of the launch of The Integrity Institute:

Murdoch’s cartoon in The Post today on the Regulatory Standards Bill (and see my analysis piece published in The Post on Monday: www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3605...):

Today, I'm launching an exciting project: The Integrity Institute, an organisation dedicated to scrutinising and challenging vested interests in NZ politics. My first analysis piece on the Government’s Regulatory Standards Bill was published in The Post. Please let me know your thoughts! Or re-post!

A whitewash? Cartoon by Murdoch in the Sunday Star Times today:

Simeon Brown, Health Minister - cartoon by Emmerson in the NZ Herald today:

Richard Mulgan – a giant of NZ political science, died in November. His obituary today in the Otago Daily Times by Mike Houlahan: