Environment

o Is NZs clean green image at risk?

Effects of degradation of environment
Health
Tourism
Productivity
o Should carbon taxes in NZ be re-examined?
Alternative taxes aimed at improving environmental conditions?
Subsidies or grants for environmentally friendly firms

Agriculture
o Is New Zealand overly/under dependent of agriculture?
Botulism scare
Future trends such as Asian middle income increasing
Elasticity of meat and dairy
What if there is a major biological disaster?
o Is dairy good for New Zealand?
Environmental impacts of dairy
Should we switch to meat
o Why are milk and dairy products so expensive in New Zealand?
Compare to agriculturally strong countries?
Do we have enough competition?
o Fonterra
Good or bad for New Zealand?
Would we benefit from a duopoly/oligopoly
Was the float a good idea?
Botulism scare

Energy
o Electricity policy
o Do we need more competition in the market to reduce costs of electricity?
o New Zealand costs compared to other nations
Electricity
Fuels
o Should we lift the nuclear energy ban?
o What is the most efficient means of creating energy in New Zealand?
Solar v hydro v wind
Renewable v finite
o Fuel
Increase/decrease fuel tax
Oil exploration in New Zealand
Methanol in cars
o Were the asset floats beneficial? Have they had any effect?
o Is our national grid effective?

Australia
o Australian and New Zealand income differences
After tax and after cost of living adjustments
What can be done to close the income differential?
o Standard of living differences
ACC for New Zealand immigrants, how much is a safety net worth?
Discrimination against kiwis
o Job opportunities in New Zealand and Australia
Brain drain and effects on New Zealand
o NZ ranks higher in business freedom, why arent businesses coming here?
o Should CER (Closer Economic Relations) be abolished or amended?
o Is Australia about to have its GFC recession
Do kiwis work harder than their Australian neighbours?
What will this mean for New Zealand

Housing
o Is there a housing bubble in Auckland or Christchurch?
Where in the city is it?
o City planning, what is really needed?
Do different demographs demand different types of houses?
State housing apartments, (US style projects)
Develop Manakau and the North Shore into a minor CBD
o House price inflation
Solutions?
Rezoning and Council consent process
Resource act amendments and city limits
Taxes and subsidies
Examine a housing capital gains tax and compare with current housing tax laws
Should the reserve bank have a duty to help home owners?
Has the Reserve bank LVR policy had an effect
o How can we help first home buyers?

Transport
o What can be done to improve public transport around major cities?
Buses, ferries and trains
o Alternatives to motorway expansion
Externalities of heavy congestion
Secondary toll motorway
Expansion of bike lanes
Public transport
Policy and law changes
T2 lane on all major citys motorways
Trucks only allowed to travel at night, or in slow lanes
o Consequences of having a proportionately large and outdated fleet of vehicles in NZ

Currency
o What can be done to depreciate our dollar?
How much is it overvalued by? Is it overvalued?
Reserve bank to have a greater duty to keep the dollar lower?
What is sustaining the high dollar?
Carry traders
o Negative and positive effects of having such a high dollar on the economy
o Should we consider a currency union with Australia?
o Should the dollar be pegged or fixed or floating to another country?
Australia?
China?
Direct conversion of NZD to RMB

Banking
o Do we have enough competition?
Australian banks crushing local banks?
o Benefits of having local banks?
o How did they make large profits all through the GFC?
o Do we need more or less regulation in the banking sector
GFC
Mortgages accessibility
Inflation stability
RBNZ
Explain rational behind legislation and regulation
How does New Zealand compare internationally?
o Insurance partnerships
o Savings
How can we encourage savings?
Exempt inflation component of interest
Why is New Zealand so bad at saving?

RBNZ
o Greater control over banks?
o PTA
Increase RBNZs power
Currency
Inflation
House price inflation
o How does the RNNZ compare to other Central Banks?
o Political independence good or bad?
o Inflation targeting regime good or bad?

Insurance
o Why have insurance costs almost doubled in the past 4 years?
Earth quakes and natural disasters
Storms in the North
When will prices level off?
o Is insurance worth it for the average New Zealander?
Pay-out ratio
o Is the insurance market in New Zealand competitive how does it compare internationally?
o Does the government need to intervene?
Compulsory car insurance?
Do more people need insurance?

Health
o Aging population
Increase retirement age?
Super anuation alternatives?
Economic impacts of baby boomers retiring?
Kiwisaver
Good idea or bad?
What can be done to improve it?
Increase contributions?
o Demographic / geographic disparities
o Obesity epidemic
Are particular demographics particularly at risk and how can they be helped?
What are the costs to society?
What can be done?
Saturated fat tax, the applicability of Denmarks fat tax to NZ
GST removed from fruit and vegetables
Healthy food labels
Food Stamps as part of welfare payments to encourage healthier eating

Education Primary
o Government funded or subsidised food or in schools?
International research
Costs
Long term benefits
o Teachers pay
o Do strong grades and support in youth translate to success later in life?
o International models for schooling
Academic v cultural v physical


Education Tertiary
o Tertiary course fee options, which is the best?
100% subsidy
Abuse of free courses
Different subsidies for different courses
Student loans
Should weekly cost of living associated payments be increased?
Interest free loans to continue?
Student allowance eligibility?
o University fees
Increase/decrease fees of specific courses
Should more funding be given to socially valuable courses?
o Can anything be done to improve domestic job prospects for graduates?
Grants for hiring graduates?
Increase minimum grade entrance requirements to universities?
Would this improve the signalling effect of education?
o Returns to tertiary education
Which degrees have reduced return?
To society?
To Student?
University Brand image
Are UoA graduates paid more than AUT?
Are Engineering graduates in commerce paid more than commerce grads?
International comparisons of degree specific returns
Do we need more graduates or more skilled graduates?
o Should less focus be given to university more on other forms of tertiary education?
Apprenticeship, polytechnics, on site job training
Differences between academic and practical courses such as UoA and Unitech
Experience as a requirement of the degree?

Youth
o What are the resulting effects from psychological damage
Physical and sexual abuse
Child poverty
Neglect
o Homelessness
Support networks
Government intervention
Government register
o Economic and social impacts of youth consumption of or participation in
Drugs
Alcohol
Violence
Teenage pregnancy

Christchurch
o Should the entire CBD be redesigned from scratch
Modern infrastructure
Transport networks
Natural disaster proofing
Evaluation of proposed ideas
o Should Christchurch be relocated away from the fault line?
Costs of moving
Costs of rebuilding on building laws
o What will be the impacts if there is another large earth quake?
National and Christchurch insurance
Population exodus
Government rebuild costs
What were the effects of the last quakes on the economy and Christchurch?