Yet we pretend that most New Zealand politicians are of some ability. This is not to argue that we have no world-class writers, politicians or business leaders (or economists for that matter), but we have far fewer than we pretend. The small size can mean we end up with monopolistic gatekeepers who control a key topic and allow no competition. We have to think small when we are designing New Zealand systems rather than imitating the big. It may be small, but thinking for ourselves is ambitious – and it is hard.

Source: Stuff January 11, 2026 20:34 UTC