Missing the Boat

“New Zealand was a 1980s-era beacon of economic reform and rising prosperity,” writes Luke Malpass, an analyst in the New Zealand policy unit of the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney. In an article for the Wall Street Journal Malpass continues: “The election in late 2008 of National Party leader John Key as prime minister promised to return some of that liberalizing spark after nine years under a left-leaning Labour government. Yet more than a year into his tenure, Key is losing his way. With a unicameral parliament dominated by his party and a right-of-center coalition partner, Key ought to be able to push through a range of free-market reforms. Instead his signature policy achievement is to move ahead with a pork-laden emissions-trading scheme even as the rest of the world seems set to reject that approach. Meanwhile, other important reforms are in danger of falling by the wayside. If he doesn’t come to his senses — and return to the reform track — soon, New Zealand risks missing opportunities for growth.”