Open Journal Systems at the Victoria University of Wellington Library
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Fixing the housing crisis: the role of intergenerational policy design in addressing the issues
Get PDFThis article looks at the intergenerational issues associated with housing in New Zealand. Election year is again upon us (Covid-19 permitting) and, with the problems surrounding KiwiBuild, housing affordability is under the spotlight. It is no secret that New Zealand has a housing affordability problem and many causes are feeding this.
Two of these causes – capital taxation inconsistencies and infrastructure issues – will be the focus of this article. Inconsistencies in the taxation of capital income are a major source of the problem, causing intergenerational transfers from younger to older generations. A land tax is a possible solution. Complementary policies targeted at addressing infrastructure bottlenecks also have an important role to play
Integrated land use options for the Aotearoa New Zealand low-emissions ‘careful revolution’
Get PDFThe Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 is a welcome start on the path towards a low-emissions future for Aotearoa New Zealand, but it is not much more than a set of targets and some tools. There are also so many potential alternative tools and processes now on offer that we face the additional significant risk of an unsystematic effort, without enough focus to secure an optimal pathway. Most of the needed tools and processes involve decisions about land use. This article outlines various options for well-integrated land use policies for Aotearoa New Zealand that in sum attempt to address the land use-related lowemissions challenge in a coherent way. The analysis is built around seven key integrative themes: an Aotearoa New Zealand world view and identity; sustainable low-emissions dietary and nutrition policy; integrated lower-emissions farming, forestry and freight transport; natural capital’s contribution to wellbeing; integrated catchment approaches; resilient cities; and meta-integration. Without significant effort on the integration of these and many other components of the required ‘careful revolution’, the revolution will be neither careful nor successful
New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific Economic Decade
Get PDFThe last decade has seen the Asia-Pacific region undergoing new patterns in economic development, driven by major changes in trade, capital and technology flows, together with demographic disruption. On top of that, the region is experiencing the resurgence of the Chinese economy, a defensive US response, climate change concerns, and the problems of Covid-19. This brings new worries about globalisation and challenges for New Zealand hosting APEC in 2021
Agriculture Trade Reform and Sustainable and Inclusive Food Security
Get PDFThe food system in the Asia-Pacific needs to be viewed as a whole, from production to plate, in order not only to achieve food security in the region but also to contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth. To that end, there is a strong case for AsiaPacific economies to bring a renewed focus to structural reform in agriculture, including substantially reducing trade-distorting subsidies and liberalising market access barriers, alongside seeking to increase productivity, improve infrastructure and leverage digital technologies. The Covid-19 pandemic underscores the importance of open, undistorted markets, and will also stand economies in good stead in the longer term as adverse impacts from climate change add to production challenges and potential food insecurity
Under the Radar: international regulatory cooperation in ASEAN and New Zealand
Get PDFInternational regulatory cooperation (IRC) refers to a diverse range of ways government regulators from different countries work together on developing and enforcing regulations. It has grown rapidly over the last 40 years, but it is little understood because much of it occurs beneath the radar. New research shows that ASEAN countries, along with the New Zealand government, are deeply imbedded in a complex web of international regulatory cooperation arrangements and agreements. Among ASEAN countries these groupings are predominately multilateral, bilateral and regional. In New Zealand, bilateral agreements with Australia predominate. Much of this cooperation occurs outside formal free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization’s Technical Barriers to Trade regime. Instead, regulators often work directly with their foreign counterparts through informal networks. The economic and technological drivers of the growth in international regulatory cooperation will persist in the post-Covid-19 era, providing continued impetus. For example, the need to manage international spillovers will increase the need for cooperation on regulatory policy design and enforcement and other regulatory practices to ensure that domestic regimes remain effective. The experience of Covid-19 has underlined the value of cooperative activities between states, such as information gathering and exchange. Dealing effectively with three of the principal issues currently confronting public policymakers – pandemics, climate change and effective governance of the digital environment – requires extensive international cooperation
The Neutral Theory of Evolution
Get PDFToday most people are perfectly happy to accept Charles Darwin’s ideas about ‘evolution by means of natural selection’ as the dominant paradigm in biology. So many of us may be quite surprised to know that this has not always been the case among professional biologists. First, the very idea of evolution as ‘descent with modification from ancestral forms’ predates Darwin (see below). Second, during his own lifetime Darwin’s account was overshadowed in the imagination of the Victorian public by Robert Chambers’ 1844 speculative work Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.This book invokes quite differ-ent processes driving evolution – sometimes called a mixture of magick plus the ‘inheritance of acquired characteristics’ (and following Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in this latter idea). However, it was Darwin’s version that the scientists of the day preferred. His greatest achievement became recognised as his hypothesis of ‘natural selection’ being the most rational explanation of the process driving evolution. This makes the notion of evolution per se logically acceptable as accounting for the history of life on our planet.
So, it is almost unthinkable that during the succeeding century Darwin’s ideas would face serious challenges and even outright rejection from biologists. Even more so that this hap-pened twice! Indeed, today it is well and widely understood that evolution will still proceed even in the absence of natural selection.
Biologists and philosophers now recognise that a key vulnerability in Darwin’s writing was his very sketchy knowledge of genetics. Specifically, it is our later knowledge of mutational processes and the distribution of naturally occurring genetic variants that led to conflict with Darwinian thinking. This article is concerned with the second of these periods of controversy arising from Motoo Kimura’s so-called Neutral Theory. The author of this present article devoted a large part of his early career to participation in laboratory investigations around this question and these experiences form the basis for this account. But, before one can begin to explore this topic, it is necessary to examine its origins
Dismantling Cook’s legacy: Science, migration, and colonialism in Aotearoa
Get PDFI Aotearoa nei, ko te tau 2019 tērā i tohu mai kua 250 tau i te taunga mai o Kāpene James Cook, i runga i te Endeavour, i tana haerenga ki te ‘rapu mātauranga pūtaiao’. Kia whakanuia ai taua kaupapa, i tuku ngā kāwanatanga, ā-motu, ā-rohe anō hoki, i te 23 million to fund events including a flotilla that travelled to sites of significance around the country. While organisers intended to commemorate our ‘dual heritage’ and in particular the early ‘encounters’ of Māori and European peoples (Ministry of Culture and Heritage 2018), the sight of a replica Endeavour on the horizon was not a cause for celebration for many Māori communities. Strong objections to the commemorations were raised because of the imperial intentions and violent actions of Cook while here (which included abducting and murdering Māori; see Ranford 2018). Cook’s presence in Aotearoa is an interesting case study of how science, migration, and colonialism have converged in this country. In this essay, I sketch a history of science and migration in Aotearoa (from the arrival of the ancestors of modern Māori through to the advent of the European and beyond), and outline how migration policy and contemporary migration science weigh economic benefits against the presumed ‘risk’ posed by racialised migrants while obscuring the racist settler–colonial structures New Zealand was founded on. I suggest new pathways for the scientific study of migration to move forward
Nothing to See Here? The Extension of Parent Company Liability in James Hardie Industries plc v White
Get PDFIn James Hardie Industries plc v White, the New Zealand Court of Appeal considered circumstances where a parent company could be directly liable for defective products produced by its subsidiary while upholding the principles behind separate corporate personality. The Court passed off the case as an unexceptional development in the law, based on an application of ordinary tort law principles and supported by decisions from overseas jurisdictions. However, the Court neglected to consider the underlying policies of the cases it cited, ignored important distinctions between them and the present case and did not inquire into whether they were in fact relevantly applicable. In fact, the Court extended parent company liability for the acts and omissions of its subsidiary far beyond what courts in overseas jurisdictions have held. In doing so, the Court implicitly lifted the corporate veil and failed to acknowledge the impact such a finding of liability would have on the corporate form
It Ain't Necessarily So: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd and the Reasons for Reforming s 36 of the Commerce Act
Get PDFThe Government has indicated it is going to amend s 36 of the Commerce Act 1986. Its reasons are that s 36 fails to capture sufficient anticompetitive conduct, is difficult and complex to apply and makes litigation unpredictable. The Government proposes a substantial lessening of competition test which it claims will capture more conduct, make analysis more straightforward and provide a source of Australian authority for New Zealand courts. This article uses an Australian Federal Court case, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd, to show that the claims for reform are overstated and in some cases incorrect. It argues the foundations of the case for reform of s 36 are wobbly and infirm
Reflections on the Woodhouse Legacy for the 21st Century
Get PDFThis lecture commemorates the life of one of our most distinguished judges and citizens, Sir Owen Woodhouse. His compassion, generosity of spirit and social conscience were reflected in his work as President of the Court of Appeal, President of the Law Commission and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Compensation for Injury that recommended a no-fault accident compensation scheme and laid the foundations for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) scheme. He made an immense contribution to New Zealand's law and society
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