Water pricing of selected local councils in New Zealand Water reform is an important issue in New Zealand. There have been several rounds of reforms on water in recent years, including Labour’s Three Waters reforms which were repealed and replaced by the Coalition government’s Local Water Done [...]
Planning Bill and heritage listings TDB Advisory recently assisted, on a pro bono basis, the Voluntary Heritage Group (VHG) prepare its submission to the Environment Select Committee on the Planning Bill. VHG is a nationwide group of citizens who support heritage protection where it has the agreement [...]
Airports’ Appeal against 2023 Input Methodology Determination For the past several years, TDB has been providing independent expert advice to the Board of Airline Representatives New Zealand (BARNZ). This support has been focused in part on the Commerce Commission’s 7-yearly review of the Input Methodologies (IMs) for [...]
Amalgamation options for the Southland region Environment Southland commissioned TDB to undertake a high-level review of the options for integrating its activities with other councils in the Southland region. The report prepared by TDB has now been published on Environment Southland’s website. The report starts by analysing [...]
Ports' financial performance, 2015 - 24 Ports are vital to the prosperity of New Zealand. A thriving port sector not only connects New Zealand to the rest of the world but also contributes to growth in the wider economy. Our latest report examines the financial performance of [...]
Reforming the RMA: heritage designations The Government has initiated a comprehensive reform to the Resource Management Act (RMA), with plans to replace it entirely with new legislation aimed at balancing property rights and environmental outcomes. The RMA is a foundational piece of legislation for the heritage listing [...]
Ports: what role for mixed ownership? The great majority of the international published and peer reviewed empirical literature finds that a degree of private ownership tends to improve firms’ performance on average and over time. Key reasons are that the incentives and ability to monitor 100% government-owned [...]
Phil Barry on RNZ on heritage housing – March 22
Councils’ heritage policies In a recent report for the Voluntary Heritage Group, TDB analysed the policies and practices of all 67 district councils in relation to heritage properties – including for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) and non-HNZPT heritage-listed sites. We explored for each district council: [...]
How are the Government’s Commercial Businesses Faring? Currently, the government owns or part-owns eighteen large commercial businesses with combined assets totalling $78 billion. These businesses include three electricity generator/retailers, an airline, a post/courier company, a bank and minority stakes in three airports amongst other enterprises. Together these [...]