The role and size of government in New Zealand is often hotly debated—frequently without much supporting evidence.

In this session, Derek Gill will challenge the widely held belief that New Zealand’s ‘neo-liberal’ reforms of the 1980s and 1990s led to a dramatic downsizing of the state. In fact, the data tells a different story.

We’ll introduce a new way of measuring the regulatory state—based on the size of the statute book—and explore how this has changed over time. This measure reveals trends that don’t align with popular narratives of deregulation or government retreat.

We’ll also examine how the 2024 Budget, introduced by the National/ACT/New Zealand First coalition, proposes fiscal adjustments that largely roll back recent growth in government activity—rather than reinstating a minimal state.