In 2011 and 2012 I worked on the establishment of Australia’s PBO. While it is... now part of the institutional furniture, getting it established was a hard-fought battle. I remember late nights sitting in the advisers’ box in the Australian House of Representatives as MPs fought over competing bills, argued over confidentiality and independence, and voted on amendments well into the night.

In this piece for the New Zealand Herald I argue that Labour is right to call for a PBO but setting one up won’t be easy.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/labours-vow-to-set-up-a-parliamentary-budget-office-wont-be-pretty-but-its-the-right-call-marcus-ganley/premium/N6WHHA7CEFBE5A6BKVH4K25ANU/

New Zealand’s last election under the first past the post electoral system took place in November 1993. Almost 33 years later the electoral system is now back at the centre of political debate. First, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon proposed another referendum, then Te Pāti Māori opened a new debate on tactical voting and the way MMP treats overhang seats.

My Newsroom article explores whether reverting to FPP would also see a reversion to single-party governments.

In June 2026 I found myself in Lancaster while the Makerfield by-election was taking place. I took a road trip to some of the towns in the constituency and filed this report for Newsroom: https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/06/22/the-9231-voters-who-may-have-chosen-uks-next-pm-and-why-it-matters-to-nz/

With New Zealand heading into a 2026 election where Labour’s proposed capital gains tax proposed (narrowly focused on investment property) is sure to be a major issue of debate, I look at what Australia’s change to increase the reach of its capital gains tax across asset classes might mean for New Zealand.

Read the full article on Newsroom: https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/13/australian-budget-widens-capital-gains-tax-what-does-it-mean-for-nz/

Following an announcement from the New Zealand Government that it was reviewing the administrative burden of Official Information Act requests, I argued that the real issue is how information is released and made accessible https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/10/its-official-that-doesnt-mean-its-discoverable/

Artificial intelligence is already shaping election campaigns. Europe’s experience shows that heavy regulation alone has limits, but doing nothing is not a viable response. In this piece for Newsroom https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/13/ai-politicking-isnt-coming-its-already-here-and-proving-hard-to-regulate/ I discuss the early findings of my research with Dr Nicky Gillibrand subsequently published and discussed further at: https://www.marcusganley.com/content/use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-european-union-elections-lessons-for-new-zealand

I also discussed this research with Emile Donovan on RNZ Nights https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2019023263/are-we-ready-for-ai-this-election-year

Time, not urgency, is Parliament’s real problem. That’s the core argument of my latest piece in Newsroom on parliamentary urgency: https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/11/how-parliamentary-urgency-can-be-a-good-thing/

This article for Newsroom explored the Australian government’s proposed changes to its Freedom of Information Actthat would allow agencies to reject more requests and introduce a new fee for applying for information.

I conclude that NZ’s Official Information Act is overdue for review and the effort should go into building capacity, not creating new barriers.

In 2013 Australian business leaders and conservative politicians were pointing to New Zealand as an example of good economic management. In this article for Crikey.com.au I suggested we needed to look deeper.