Nick is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy.
Nick brings 30 years of policy and advocacy experience both inside and outside government. He joins us after 19 years at Federated Farmers, as the National Policy Manager. Nick managed a team of policy advisors, and led work on economic policy, including fiscal, tax, monetary, banking, competition, and overseas investment policies.
He also worked extensively on local government policy issues and has been the administrator of the Local Government Business Forum, a grouping of national business organisations interested in local government policy issues.
New Zealand's resource management system is broken. Many attempts have been made over the past three decades to fix it. Read more
“New Zealand's resource management system is broken”, said Nick Clark, author of The New Zealand Initiative’s new research note RMA Reform: Getting the new system right. “Many attempts have been made over the past three decades to fix it. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 1 April 2026) - “New Zealand's resource management system is broken”, said Nick Clark, author of The New Zealand Initiative’s new research note RMA Reform: Getting the new system right. “Many attempts have been made over the past three decades to fix it. Read more
Nick Clark's research note on the government's draft RMA reform bills was featured on Newstalk ZB's news segment. The bulletin reported the Initiative's warning that the bills risk creating a worse system than the current one, with Clark calling for a property rights presumption to be embedded upfront in the legislation. Read more
In this episode, Nick and Benno discuss whether New Zealand's proposed planning reforms can actually deliver housing affordability or fail to escape the gravitational pull of the status quo. They unpack how our current planning system and the rules it makes are an extractive institution: one that concentrates decision-making power over land use in the hands of a few, beholden to a privileged group of incumbents. Read more
In this episode, Nick talks with Bryce about the government’s proposed replacement of the Resource Management Act and what it means for property rights. Bryce argues the bills fall short of the government’s stated commitment to property rights, lacking the economic disciplines needed to ensure regulation delivers net benefits for New Zealanders. Read more
The central Government has a local government problem. Rates have been rising too fast, regional councils are seen as inefficient and unaccountable, and the public wants action. Read more
New Zealand has been trying to fix its resource management system for the better part of three decades. The Resource Management Act has been amended virtually every year since 1991 and reviewed several times during that period. Read more
In this episode, Eric Crampton talks to Nick Clark about New Zealand's long and troubled history with the Resource Management Act — and whether the Government's 744-page replacement really fixes it. They examine the missing property rights protections, the absence of robust cost-benefit analysis, and the fail-safes needed to ensure the new framework delivers better outcomes for New Zealanders. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This submission on the Department of Internal Affairs’ draft proposal ‘Simplifying Local Government’ is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative). Read more
PART 1 – HIGH-LEVEL VIEWS ON THE OVERALL REFORM PACKAGE 1. Introduction and support for reform intent 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This submission on the proposed rates target model for New Zealand is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative). Read more
Parliament returned this week after a six-week holiday. It will have a lot to consider this year. Read more
The paint was still drying on the Auckland convention centre when Christopher Luxon delivered his State of the Nation speech on Monday. Some of the furniture had not arrived. Read more
INTRODUCTION 1.1 The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the opportunity to submit on the Land Transport (Revenue) Amendment Bill. 1.2 The Initiative is a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more