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How Can We Make Independent Public Policy Institutions a Less Fragile Species? Reflecting on the closing of the Productivity Commission
Get PDFIn late November 2023 the staff and commissioners of the New Zealand Productivity Commission Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa were shocked to learn that the newly elected coalition government would be abolishing the commission. It was disestablished just three months later, having functioned for 13 years. The commission’s primary task was to provide the government with independent policy advice, via inquiries requested by the government of the day. From an historical perspective, the commission’s closure was unfortunately par for the course. Few independent government institutions providing economic and social policy advice have survived even that long. This article explores the factors which contribute to these short lives, and the factors which contribute to the effectiveness of such institutions, and suggests ways in which they can be made less fragile
Embracing Superdiversity: Pathways to Inclusive Education in New Zealand
Get PDFDiversity is on the rise In Aotearoa New Zealand. This article conducts an updated exploration of New Zealand's educational landscape in light of this cultural richness, emphasizing the importance of tailored policies and initiatives to address disparities and foster intercultural understanding within the context of superdiversity. It highlights the need for broader shifts towards creating inclusive educational environments, while also acknowledging and rectifying historical injustices experienced by Māori, as tangata whenua or people of the land. Integrating intercultural perspectives offers a promising pathway for societal transformation, championing respect, comprehension, and inclusivity across diverse communities in New Zealand and beyond. Although research on cultural responsiveness in New Zealand classrooms is growing, there is a notable gap in studies addressing Pasifika learners' experiences and the impact of Māori-medium education on student success. A stronger foundation in Pasifika pedagogical approaches and Māori education models will further inform New Zealand’s transition toward intercultural education. This thorough examination emphasizes the ongoing necessity for concerted efforts to address educational disparities and nurture intercultural understanding in New Zealand's evolving educational landscape
Christine Ladd-Franklin and the progress of formal logic
Get PDFI want to highlight Christine Ladd-Franklin's contribution to logic, by placing her technical contribution to the algebra of logic in the broader context of her philosophical contribution to logic in general, concerning her view of the nature of logic and its role in philosophy. First, I will present the sense in which her algebra of logic means a progress within formal logic towards a higher level of formality. Second, I will focus on the contrast between the new symbolic form of logic and the traditional non-symbolic form of logic. Third, I will focus on the contrast between the symbolic form of logic and the "mathematical" form of symbolic logic that Russell and his ilk were trying to impose
Navigating Towards an Airworthy Protection Regime for New Zealand's Airline Passengers
Get PDFDelays and cancellations are a frequent occurrence in air travel, but passenger protections in New Zealand lag behind those in other jurisdictions such as the European Union and Canada. Concerns around airlines' treatment of passengers were brought to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic, but protections were not strengthened in the replacement of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 with the Civil Aviation Act 2023. The new Act provides insufficient protection to passengers, and New Zealand's other consumer law is also inadequate and difficult to apply to an airline context. Neither set of law has a dispute resolution scheme that is fit for purpose. Public enforcement of relevant laws by regulators is limited to breaches of the Fair Trading Act 1986, largely for misleading or deceptive trading practices, and not for breaches of specific obligations to passengers.This article examines the deficiencies in New Zealand's airline passenger protection law and compares that law with the corresponding law in Australia, the European Union and Canada. It advocates for the making of regulations that provide for fixed amounts of compensation when a flight is delayed for controllable reasons, rather than laws which require a passenger to prove damages. That is consistent with the European and Canadian approaches. It also advocates for refunds to be made available to passengers where flights are cancelled or significantly delayed. To ensure that new regulations would be effective, this article also advocates for an adjudicative dispute resolution scheme, funded by airlines according to their market share and the number of complaints received, with capacity for public enforcement (monetary fines) by the Commerce Commission
The Purpose of Investor Stewardship
Get PDFThis article explores the evolving purpose of investor stewardship, reframing it as a pivotal yet underexamined dimension of the broader corporate purpose debate. It traces the shift in institutional investors' roles – from capital allocators and shareholder monitors to "enlightened stewards" – and critiques the traditional conception of stewardship as a mechanism for mitigating agency costs and governance failures.
Through a close analysis of the UK Stewardship Code, the article maps the normative expansion of stewardship from narrow, firm-level engagement to encompass a broader set of responsibilities to "unseen others": end investors, investee entities, society and the environment, alongside immediate client-centric obligations. It argues that the central tension in stewardship lies not between profit and purpose, but between the fiduciary and contractual duties owed to clients and beneficiaries and the wider responsibilities institutional investors may bear toward systemic sustainability.
Advancing the concept of enlightened stewardship, the article develops a framework that balances financial accountability with sustainability goals, drawing conceptual parallels to the UK's enlightened shareholder value regime. It offers a critical assessment of the UK Stewardship Code's normative ambition, regulatory architecture and the structural and interpretive constraints that inhibit its transformative potential. In doing so, it calls for a revised understanding of stewardship – one that explicitly acknowledges its dual mandate, and positions it as a credible soft-law complement to investor regulation and a vehicle for sustainable, long-term value creation
Corporate Purpose and the Impact on Equitable Remedies, Economic Growth and Democracy
Get PDFSection 131(5) of the Companies Act 1993 permits a director, as part of the duty to act in the best interests of the company, to "consider matters other than the maximisation of profit (for example, environmental, social, and governance matters)".
This article suggests that the section is problematic in that it appears to suggest that ESG factors can override the pursuit of shareholder wealth. That in turn gives rise to three concerns.
First, the section creates added complexity for how to assess whether directors' actions amount to a breach of the fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the company. That is problematic when the duty gives rise to equitable remedies, such as rescission of contracts, and therefore detracts from commercial certainty. Secondly, the section, by distracting directors from a focus on company and shareholder wealth enhancement, lessens the benefit of the corporate form as an engine for economic growth. Thirdly, an approach that favours ESG matters over shareholder interests is undemocratic, as directors are expected to make judgements on whether actions are socially and environmentally desirable when that should be the function of a democratically elected Parliament.
The article suggests that the current Government was right to suggest that s 131(5) should be repealed
Understanding Corporate Purpose: Bringing Clarity to Corporate Purpose, Success and Law
Get PDFWe have misconceived the nature of the fundamental driver of a business, namely its profit. We do not account for its "true costs" and therefore do not report its "fair profits". Categorising this as a market failure arising from "externalities" has resulted in wrong policy prescriptions regarding competition and regulation to address the problem. Instead, we should recognise it as a failure to define the purpose of a business appropriately.
Corporate law and corporate governance standards should establish that a profit derives from solving, not creating, problems for others. This is not a stakeholder theory of the firm. It retains the notion of "shareholder primacy" in corporate law, with the duties of directors remaining solely to their shareholders, but in the context of the success of the corporation deriving from profit without harm.
The difference between the United Kingdom's Companies Act 2006 and recent proposed changes to New Zealand's Companies Act 1993 illustrates the reasons why broadening objectives of firms beyond shareholders to other stakeholders does not provide an appropriate resolution of the problem of internalising externalities.
As Adam Smith noted in The Wealth of Nations, inclusion of profit without harm in law is central to freedom of choice of corporate purpose, the functioning of markets, the effects of competition and the ability of firms that incur their true costs to compete against those that do not
Optimising machining parameters to minimize occupational noise exposure
Get PDFNeed - Metal removal processes are generally optimised to maximise productivity, not minimise noise which is an occupational health risk. There is a need to represent noise in production simulations and minimise it. Approach - This is addressed by developing a systems dynamics model was developed for machining, including a regression equation for noise, which may be optimised. The benefit of using a regression approach is that it allows a quantification of the complex dependency between noise and process parameters. The benefit of constructing a simulation model is that it provides the tools to optimise noise exposure: i.e. change machine process parameters to reduce noise. This is challenging to do because generally cutting slower or making less deep cuts will reduce noise, but at the cost of worsening the productivity metrics. Results - For the optimised process parameters, the predicted daily equivalent noise dose was 0.72 dBA, compared to 5.73 dBA for the unoptimised processes. Results show the feasibility of the method, and the ability to reduce noise exposure while not adversely affecting production time. Contribution – A joint optimisation process parameters to maximise productivity and minimise noise has otherwise not been shown in the literature. The overall here is piloting a practical methodology for the reduction of noise in a manufacturing environment. This can then be included in a simulation, to calculate occupational noise exposure dose for the multiple machining tasks that make up a realistic production sequence. The model simultaneously optimises both noise and productivity
Case review: Maritime New Zealand v A Gibson
Get PDFThe criminal prosecution of Anthony Gibson, the former CEO of Port of Auckland Limited (POAL), involved various allegations of breaches of the due diligence obligation under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) with the charge being proven in the District Court. The case involved leading experts who commented on deficiencies in the health and safety system which ultimately contributed to Mr Gibson being found guilty.  
Confronting the DeFi Revolution: A Comparative Analysis of the Application of New Zealand's Personal Property Securities Act 1999 to Cryptoassets
Get PDFThe financial sector in the 21st century is experiencing a revolution. The major disruptor is decentralised finance (DeFi) which leverages emerging blockchain technology to eliminate the need for centralised financial institutions and empowers individuals with peer-to-peer digital exchanges. DeFi is underpinned by cryptoassets such as bitcoin, ether, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As DeFi offerings have become increasingly sophisticated, important legal issues have arisen. One such issue is whether the law is appropriately positioned to recognise and give effect to the use of cryptoassets as collateral in lending arrangements. The lack of legal certainty at present poses a substantial risk to market participants who are, for the most part, transacting blindly. This article, therefore, addresses the applicability and comparative suitability of New Zealand's Personal Property Securities Act 1999 (PPSA) to cryptoasset collateral, using the recent Singaporean case of Chefpierre as a test case. It argues that the PPSA is generally better positioned than English (Singaporean) secured credit law to respond to the emerging use of cryptoassets as collateral. Nevertheless, the challenges posed by cryptoasset collateral necessitate legislative change; in particular, change to the PPSA's perfection requirements and priority rules. After reviewing and analysing recent legal developments in the United Kingdom and the United States, this article proposes that a number of bespoke rules and concepts designed to respond to cryptoassets be introduced into the PPSA
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