Brand New Zealand

Some percentage pure

Well, this was only a matter of time: Guardian columnist takes a quick look at our green credentials and doesn’t like what he sees. “My prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community goes to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as ‘clean and green’.”

Don’t fear the reaper

By Chris Tobias

John Key is doing his best to scythe sustainability from the government dictionary—and maybe he’s right. The S-word has baggage. It's about disagreement, good and bad science, frugality and fear. Chris Tobias suggests how to move beyond the arguments.

Mind the bollocks

By Mike Booker

Johnny Rotten once mocked the Queen; today he saves his sneer for New Zealand butter. Our key export markets are increasingly in the grip of environmental and social activism, led by a virtuous circle of consumers and supermarkets. Some Kiwi exporters are on to this rapidly growing and mutating phenomenon. Others, Mike Booker discovers, haven’t a clue.

The unproductive commission?

By Vincent Heeringa

Don Brash’ Productivity Commission is doomed for a simple reason: The Don. He's too divisive and wonkish to lead New Zild into the great productivity debate.

The tourist tax

By Amanda Cropp

Concerns about souvenir rip-offs have led to a Commerce Commission investigation of dietary supplements favoured by Chinese tourists. The possibility of legal action under the Fair Trading Act comes after Tourism New Zealand discovered visitors were paying up to four times the going price for some health products.