New Zealand continues its decline in the global transparency rankings, slipping from 3rd to 4th place while dropping two points in the Corruption Perceptions Index. Our 2024 report "Shining a Light: Improving transparency in New Zealand's political and governance systems" offers a number of practical suggestions to turn around this decline. Our lack of corruption is an important competitive advantage and it needs to be protected and strengthened if we are serious about growing our economy.
About us
The Helen Clark Foundation is an independent public policy think tank based in Tāmaki Makaurau at the Auckland University of Technology.
The Foundation publishes research that aims to contribute to a fairer, more sustainable and inclusive society.
Our goal is to gather, interpret and communicate evidence in order to both diagnose the problems we face and propose new solutions to tackle them.
We welcome your support - please become a member to get more involved.
https://helenclark.foundation/become-a-member/
- Website
-
https://helenclark.foundation/
External link for Mahi a Rongo | The Helen Clark Foundation
- Industry
- Think Tanks
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- Auckland , Auckland
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 2018
Locations
-
Primary
Get directions
Dominion Road
Auckland , Auckland 1146, NZ
Employees at Mahi a Rongo | The Helen Clark Foundation
-
Murray Bruges
Executive Director at Mahi a Rongo - The Helen Clark Foundation
-
Kali Mercier
Public policy analyst, researcher, and social justice advocate
-
Pieta Bouma
Recent graduate with a conjoint degree in health sciences and global studies, a heart for community and a passion for evidence-based social change.
-
Akram Hussain
--
Updates
-
A sobering article by Jonathan Milne about what we can expect from increasing insurance costs in the age of climate change. This won't just hit our pockets via more expensive (or more difficult to get) home premiums, but council insurance costs will also keep going up, impacting rates. Meanwhile, councils may face legal action from insurance companies if they don't protect residents adequately from floods - something many councils, especially the smaller ones, are struggling to pay for. Our recent report with WSP in New Zealand, Premiums under Pressure, covered many of these issues in detail (link below), and sets out some policy recommendations to help us deal with an increasingly uncertain future. https://lnkd.in/g2tE4cEy
-
Richard Woods discussing the importance of data transparency for natural hazard risk information from our webinar, "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it", in partnership with WSP in New Zealand. Hear more from the full webinar, available to watch on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Jonathan Boston emphasizing some of the core questions of fairness that must be addressed when responding to the pressures of climate change. Jonathan was speaking during our webinar "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it", produced in partnership with WSP in New Zealand. Hear more from the full webinar, available to watch on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Kali Mercier, author of our report in partnership with WSP in New Zealand, "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it", speaking about the significance of equity considerations under the pressures of climate change. Hear more from the full webinar about our report with insights from our expert panel, available to watch on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Richard Woods discussing the importance of comprehensive risk management when managing the pressures of climate change, during our Foundation's recent webinar, "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it", in partnership with WSP in New Zealand. Hear more from the full webinar, available to watch on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Sir Geoffrey Palmer discussing instability in the international environment, from our webinar, "Celebrating the five years of Mahi a Rongo | The Helen Clark Foundation", a conversation between Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Helen Clark. This webinar covers a wide range of topics, from global security to the global decline in democracy. Find out what this all means for Aotearoa New Zealand by watching the full webinar now, available to view on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Jonathan Boston highlighting the significant economic impacts of climate change from our public webinar: "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it" in partnership in WSP in New Zealand. Hear more from the full webinar, available to watch on our website.
-
Hon. Kris Faafoi, from the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa(ICNZ), discussing the important questions of funding for insurance schemes and protection for local councils during our recent public webinar, "Premiums Under Pressure: How climate change will reshape residential property insurance, and what to do about it", in partnership with WSP in New Zealand. Hear more from the full webinar, available to watch on our website or listen to the audio version on Spotify.
-
Well said, David Hall. To paraphrase Tristan Harris from the Center for Humane Technology, tech companies are like urban planners building a city in which all social media users live, regardless of their citizenship. The rules that govern what content is acceptable (and who decides) might be decided in one or two countries, but affect social media users the world over. The principles for managing harmful online content set out in our report (available at link in comments) remain just as relevant now as when they were published and should help inform policymakers and tech companies alike. Helen Clark Paul Ash Ellen Read
Policy Director at Toha Network | Climate Action at AUT | LinkedIn Top Green Voice | IPCC Contributing Author (AR6 WG2)
With the overt politicisation of X/Twitter and the return to laissez faire at Meta/Facebook, #SocialMedia looks like its trending toward disharmony again. This is an interesting example of domestic politics having global impacts. In this case, the peculiarities of the #UnitedStates – its adversarial politics over constitutional freedoms, its immunity from liability for internet service providers (search "Section 230" to learn more) – has implications for other countries, because US politics shapes #OnlinePlatforms that operate everywhere. At face value, X and Facebook might appear to be expanding #FreeSpeech, yet this is debatable. Several years ago I produced a report for Mahi a Rongo | The Helen Clark Foundation, The Christchurch Principles, which conceived of free speech in terms of #EqualParticipation: ▶️ A well-functioning democracy is one where people within a political community have the opportunity to participate as equals in public life. The problem with harmful online content is that it impedes that parity of participation. It undermines the capacity of individuals and groups (often already marginalised groups) to express themselves in public – that is, to exercise their free speech and opinion. In doing so, the careless and reckless management of social media platforms can degrade democracy rather than empower it. We have frameworks for responding to such challenges. One is the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Originally designed for extractive industries operating in other countries, these principles work well for allocating responsibility to manage harmful online content. In short: 1️⃣ states have a responsibility to #protect the rights of citizens where these are undermined by harmful online content. 2️⃣ platform companies have a responsibility to #respect the rights of persons, as well as the institutions that uphold and enable rights. 3️⃣ where rights are undermined, there is a obligation to #remedy which should be allocated among states, businesses and civil society actors according to responsibility, capacity and efficacy. These are augmented by other principles which assert various commitments to structural reform, democratic means, decentralisation, inclusivity and more. I think these still hold up well, five years later, but I'd love to hear your feedback! If you'd like to read the full report, find the link in the comments below. Helen Clark Murray Bruges Kathy Errington