Written By:
- Date published:
8:14 am, January 28th, 2026 - 43 comments
Categories: act, atlas, chris bishop, david seymour, national/act government, nz first, winston peters -
Tags: Alan Gibbs, Atlas Network, Dame Anne Salmond, Debbi Gibbs, nz initiative, taxpayers union
Morena,
Regular readers of Mountain Tūī will know of Atlas Network – a pro fossil fuel, pro tobacco, anti indigenous group operating around the world.
Since 2023, well before it was featured on MATA, I’ve written extensively about its tentacles into NZ based politicians, policies, organisations (NZ Initiative / Taxpayers Union) and media.
Below is a new Australian media article here – outlining Atlas’s developments in Australia and NZ.
Most significantly, these are the networks and personalities that fund and boost politicians like Liz Truss, David Seymour, and Donald Trump.
Now the excerpt from the Atlas Network article in Australia:
When it comes to neoliberal think tanks, an extremely important moment came in the 1950s.
A British businessman, Antony Fisher, had been so inspired by reading Friedrich Hayek’s book The Road to Serfdom (1944) that he tracked Hayek down at the London School of Economics in 1945.
Fisher told Hayek that he was considering running for politics, as a Conservative MP, to try to make an impact, but Hayek gave him different advice:
“It was for me a fateful meeting,” Fisher later said.
“Hayek warned against wasting time — as I was then tempted — by taking up a political career. He explained that the decisive influence in the great battle of ideas and policy was wielded by the intellectuals whom he characterised as ‘second-hand dealers in ideas’ […]
“If I shared the view that better ideas were not getting a fair hearing, his counsel was that I should join with others in forming a scholarly research organisation to supply intellectuals in universities, schools, journalism and broadcasting with authoritative studies of the economic theory of markets and its application to practical affairs.”
Fisher was initially slow to act on Hayek’s advice because he decided to become a chicken farmer first, where he made a fortune.
But he eventually founded a think tank in 1955.
He called it the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
And his think tank would end up playing a historic role in British society over the next few decades by promoting the radical liberal and free-market ideas of the Mont Pelerin Society.
He didn’t have overnight success, though. In the late 1950s and 1960s, during the heyday of so-called “Keynesianism,” the IEA had to toil away on the political fringes.
But the tide of opinion slowly turned in the UK.
“During the 1960s and 1970s, a continuous stream of journalists were influenced through the ‘lunches and launches’ held by the IEA at its offices,” recalled Gerald Frost.
When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the opposition Conservative Party in the UK in February 1975, the IEA arranged for her to meet with Friedrich Hayek to “educate” her, given her “knowledge of economic issues was limited“.
And then in 1979, more than 20 years after the IEA had been founded, Fisher was personally thanked by Thatcher for helping her to win the national election that year:
“You created the atmosphere which made our victory possible,” Thatcher told him.
How did the IEA create the “atmosphere” that helped Thatcher to become prime minister?
An IEA publication, Waging the War of Ideas, tells the story of how Arthur Seldon, a co-founder of the IEA with Fisher, liked to use a military analogy to describe what function the IEA performed in society.
Liz Truss was linked to the IEA and widely viewed as a cultivated plant of the Atlas Network ideologies. After her disastrous Prime Ministership ended,Truss rewarded few IEA fellows as “Knights” of the United Kingdom
The incredible success of Fisher’s IEA did not go unnoticed globally, and it saw him embark on another career as a “think tank entrepreneur”.
“Starting in the mid-1970s, the IEA model began to be copied around the world, and Fisher found himself in great demand as a consultant to such fledgling groups,” noted the same IEA publication.
By the late 1970s, Fisher had helped create the Adam Smith Institute in the UK, the Fraser Institute in Canada, and the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco.
He co-created the Manhattan Institute (along with future CIA chief William Casey) to explain the virtues of the free market to New Yorkers.
In 1979, Fisher also sought formal endorsement from Margaret Thatcher, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman to help him fundraise for his growing global ambitions:
“A letter from you … expressing your confidence in the effectiveness of a proliferation of the IEA idea would be immensely valuable,” he wrote.
He secured their endorsement.
In 1981, he then incorporated the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (which is now called Atlas Network) as an organisation dedicated to helping free-market think tanks proliferate globally.
The mission of Atlas Network was to “litter the world with free-market think tanks”.
“The objective of the new organisation was to push for and help the seeding, staffing, and coaching of neoliberal think tanks across the world to ‘influence public sentiment’ and in the process ‘make legislation possible,’” write researchers Marie-Laure Djelic and Reza Mousavi.
In 2026, more than 40 years later, the Atlas Network now “partners” with more than 500 free-market think tanks around the world, with 10 of them in Australia and New Zealand.
Shortly before his death in 2006, Milton Friedman said, “Atlas’s coverage of the world on behalf of liberty is truly remarkable”.
Atlas Network’s current Chair is Kiwi Debbi Gibbs, daughter of ACT Party “Godfather’s” Alan Gibbs. The money of the pro-tobacco, pro-fossil fuel, property rights group likely flows through to all right wing parties
The 1970s was a watershed decade for the neoliberal movement.
A series of political and economic crises provided the perfect catalyst for their “free-market” ideas to be adopted by policymakers.
In 1971, when US president Richard Nixon suspended the US dollar’s convertibility to gold, it marked the beginning of the end of the international monetary order that had governed the global economy since World War II and supported “full employment” policies globally for almost 30 years….
……
It was the perfect situation for ideological disruption.
As Milton Friedman wrote in 1982, it was the type of moment the Mont Pelerin Society had been waiting for:
“Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change,” he wrote.
“When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.
“That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”
Full article: ABC
Murdoch press and right wing personalities regularly call for Australia’s national broadcaster to be disbanded and/or defunded for a reason. Here in NZ, Atlas’s Taxpayers Union regularly criticises RNZ and last year the National led Coalition dramatically cut funding for RNZ with Winston Peters saying the outlet needed to be “taught a lesson”
In New Zealand media, only Newsroom, including journalists and Dame Anne Salmond, has substantively covered Atlas Network’s influence
I got strong Why Files reading this (thats a compliment)
Here in NZ, Atlas’s Taxpayers Union regularly criticises RNZ and last year the National led Coalition dramatically cut funding for RNZ with Winston Peters saying the outlet needed to be “taught a lesson”
And that would be why RNZ doesn't cover the Atlas network.
Yes Kay. Straight out of the Trump playbook. Intimidation.
RNZ clearly got the message after their budget cuts indeed. Pathetic really how easy it it is to attack our newsrooms in NZ – and the degree with which taxpayers accept it.
Y'know kiwi's MT, apathy rules….if that's ok with everyone else of course.
IMO it's also a measure of how out of the mainstream RNZ are as across the ditch the equivalent (ABC Radio) would go to war in public with the govt knowing the public has their back.
Can RNZ say the same here, sadly not so if I were them I'd take aim and fire the Atlas salvo in a timely manner before the election.
Coalition win RNZ/TVNZ are gawn baby regardless so may as well go down swinging against the wanna be tyrants.
Thanks Mountain Tui. Terrifying list of the "achievements" of Taxpayers Union/Atlas this term of Government. With MPs backing the planning we are losing the battle.
That's the core playbook but it's evolving, Ian.
Around the world, they have many a crisis as springboards for "Ideas lying around awaiting their time" These ideas have definitely infected this Government.
@Kay @ 2.
RNZ has had a look at Atlas and Seymour's links to it. One of the few times I've seen Seymour rattled.
Also speaks to a former or nearly ACT candidate and reveals some of the training requirements.
https://youtu.be/QLOjiiC3P1Y?si=56D_pT6SrmsTx1me
MATA's documentary is one of the best – it should be circulated far and wide.
Thanks gsays.
And an extra piece of trivia: David Seymour said Jacinda Ardern was too dumb to be part of a conspiracy when she was PM.
No wonder – he was in one of his own the whole time. A real one.
When first questioned about his ties to Atlas Network, Seymour claimed it was a conspiracy. Chris Bishop, linked to Atlas, also said it was a conspiracy.
Soon after, as evidence mounted, Atlas pivoted to claiming they are a respectable organisation with both Taxpayers Union & NZ Initiative declaring their partnerships.
Thank you for the link gsays. I will be watching it with great interest later on.
I think the only proven example of ATLAS funding in New Zealand was funding the Free Speech Union to oppose the gang patch ban law.
Jordan Williams is on record as admitting they are partners, and all that involves including sponsorship. Newsroom has an article you can look up called "Chiding in Plain Sight" which talks about this too
NZ Initiative proudly declares their Atlas Network partnership as well and the models are all very similar.
The significance or influence of Atlas Network is somewhat overstated relative to other conservative players in New Zealand.
National and ACT are large, well established political organisations with long standing ideological traditions of their own. While their views align with those promoted by Atlas affiliated think tanks, alignment does not imply direction or dependence. These parties would hold, and campaign on these positions regardless. The think tanks reflect the ideology rather than dictate it.
David Seymour is his own man. He is the person to be worried about as he holds very strong views on things, which he has always held and will always hold despite what Atlas is doing out there.
Agreed. I gave the Seymour&Atlas Mihi/Mata thing a watch and thought they were reeeallly reaching. The main gist was that Seymour used to work with some outfit in Canada, some other bloke also worked at the same place. The other bloke has reportedely said something untrue/unpopular about indigenous Canadians and maybe the residential schools. But they didn't really join any strong dots as to how that impacts Seymour or Act or NZ.
The video outlined important points:
David Seymour has also continued Atlas Network junkets around the world, promoted by their think tanks as an example of successful libertarian models around the world for the work he is doing in NZ.
Act is a large Party? David Seymour is his own man?
So when did 7 to 8% make a 'large Party'?
David Seymour is an Atlas acolyte, follower of Gibbs and Prebble, friend of other Atlas acolytes like Bishop and his Dad.
He is not a "big man", he is a nasty fringe politician hanging with a poor National Leader Luxon, who is on record as being "aligned with Act", but he said at the time, "He did not know Winston.'
Now Winston is a weather vane, and the wind direction has turned Winston imo.
Winston is positioning again.
Yes ACT is a large extremely well funded political party.
I am not sure why you push everything onto a lobby group, when it is the ACT party that devises their own policies and agenda.
Are you suggesting without Atlas, ACT would cease to exist, or would have more balanced polices?
Taxpayers Union are on record as saying they define this right wing government's policies and let's be honest, if you looked at NZ Initiative commentary, you can draw a direct line between what they say and what ACT / National eventually parrot.
It's quite uncanny and interesting actually
Of course they on record saying that. Every lobby group likes to suggest they are influencing, if not dictating government policy. I also think every lobby group overstates the level of their own influence. Their funding relies entirely on their ability to get results, so they over inflate that for obvious reasons.
But I’m not convinced the presence of a lobby group here is as remarkable as it’s being portrayed. Conservative parties are formed to advance a particular set of economic and regulatory ideas, so it’s unsurprising that they overlap with conservative think tanks. That overlap doesn’t necessarily mean policy is being directed externally.
The same pattern applies on the left. Unions advocate for worker friendly policies, which is why many of us support them, and a reason why I pay fees to my Union. But Labour and the Greens would be expected to pursue those policies anyway. In that sense, advocacy groups on both sides reflect existing political commitments more than they determine them.
The direct influence and infiltration of Atlas Network think tanks is well documented – particularly in the USA and UK.
And no, think tanks don't generally boast about directly writing policies for the new government. But Taxpayers Union explicitly did.
And again, you can draw a direct line between NZ Initiative articles and government policies soon after.
As to the old union line, there's a stark difference at play:
Unions are made up of workers i.e. members
Think tanks are made up of high networth, pro fossil fuel, pro tobacco, networks – hidden in the darkness of financial loopholes and which usually benefit only a select few
A huge difference and not similar at all
It’s noteworthy to mention Dr Bryce Wilkinson, Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative and the original ‘architect’ of the Regulatory Standards Bill (now Act thanks to ACT’s skewed sway in the CoC) for which he was made ONZM in the 2025 New Years Honour List. To call that ‘advocacy’ is more than a euphemism, it’s mischaracterisation.
100% and thanks for this point
The links are insipid and obvious once you even take a cursory look.
Wilkinson is on record as crafting ACT's US style libertarian Regulatory Standards Bill that will give people like Peter Theil and the Mowbrays free reign in NZ.
And the Taxpayers Union were correct.
But it's the ongoing attempts to characterise it all as "normal" and "the same as unions" that represents the deflection that's insipid in political discourse – and a tactic of the new right wing
Of course ACT supporters think their party is "big"
So does Mr 8%
I read up on what the Atlas Network as I wasn't sure about its reference here and the description says:
"The Atlas Network is a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization founded in 1981 that supports a global partnership of over 500 free-market think tanks and advocacy groups. It promotes individual liberty, limited government, and property rights, providing training, grants, and networking to influence policy, culture, and ideas.
The network aims to foster "locally grown solutions" to promote prosperity, rather than one-size-fits-all policies."
To be honest I am all for limiting government. NZ is very much over governed and the number of taxpayer funded politicians and employees is akin to the defunct USSR.
I do however not agree with any interference to the NZ governing body, no matter from what direction or what the banner/name is.
please provide a link for your quote so we can see it in context.
Goggled "what is the atlas network" to get a description. The blue colored name gives the ling to their webpage.
I am not familiar with the "Club" but equally open to every point of view. Everybody has their reasons to form an opinion, many times by association to a circle of others but also by experiences going back to school days. It is interesting and I sometimes have to revise my take on something because I learned a fact I did not know about.
However, in the political arena – and I think that was the aim – I am a firm believer of democracy and its values. Hence I defend the framework and give the respect it deserves.
I hope this gives you my side of things.
please stick to the one user name thanks.
thanks. It's a failure of wordpress' interface, sometimes those embedded links aren't visible on some screens. It's very obvious on my phone, only visible on my laptop if I look closely.
You are quoting from the Atlas Network website I presume?
Even better, you can go to Rupert Murdoch newspapers and there you can copy and paste quotes saying how Atlas is a benign, friendly organisation full of normal people!
The other places you can find praise for Atlas Network include:
Taxpayers Union NZ
NZ Initiative
and any of their think tanks around the world
Yes, there's a link to Atlas Network's website in the 2nd and 3rd words of the quote in Son's comment.
Thanks for confirming, Karolyn
I love your reckons without any substance.
What does this even mean? Sounds to me you’re contradicting yourself (and subscribe to the thesis in the OP) or you’re speaking from both corners of your mouth (and your rejecting the thesis in the OP).
BTW, why did you change your user handle here?
Incognito,
1/"As of mid-2025, there were approximately 62,654 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed in the core New Zealand Public Service (departments and ministries).
When including the wider public sector—which covers Crown agents like ACC, Fire and Emergency NZ, schools, and hospitals—the number of people paid via public money is significantly higher, often cited as encompassing around 430,000–480,000+ people, representing roughly 18-19% of New Zealand's total workforce. "
"As of late 2024–2025, the average public servant in New Zealand earns significantly more than the average worker, with public service average salaries exceeding $100,000 annually. In contrast, the national average salary is approximately $81,484 to $84,500 and median incomes are closer to $70,000 annually. Public sector hourly rates are also higher, roughly $50.65 compared to $40.39 in the private sector. "
What I am saying is that, since some 19% (on a higher wage/salary no less) are supported by 81% earning less, my view is that we need to reduce this as those 19% are NET tax receivers. Not saying that they don't earn their salary but rather that the majority is facing ever increasing costs without a real benefit. Somehow the available funds need to be allocated in a fair and just manner.
USSR: Almost all were in some form employed by he state due to central control.(130-140 million) However, the Administrative Bureaucracy (Nomenklatura) had 1-2 million approved by the party staff and communist party members governing 19.5 million. This puts the number to about 16% of the working population.
Comparing the numbers give me pause.
2/ I do not agree for populist trend to set policies, these days fanned by predominantly by social media and other means. As long as NZ is a democracy, parliamentarians are being voted in to do a job and it is up to every citizen to respect that. There is no need to do irreparable damage to a governing system unless another one is being sought. In such case, people need to know what that is.
I have Son as a handle in another forum, my apologies. Its a genuine mix up.
You don't have to be offensive, I am able to understand and accept contradictive points of views. Learning every day, no one is an island.
But public services like health & education are not part of the governing body of NZ. They are employed by the state.
There’s a much smaller section of the workforce employed in government public services:
eg in 3 months to sept 2025:
63,162 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff
https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/data/workforce-data/public-sector-composition/workforce-size
this is different from the public SECTOR employment.
Sectors of employment in New Zealand
2018 & 2023 Census, % of employed people aged 15+
the census puts 80+% of people employed in the private sector:
https://figure.nz/chart/AxqFW8xbC10eb9xs
Statistics comparing the employment in the public and private sectors in NZ in the 2023 4th quarter, shows there are far more private than public sector filled jobs.
Other stats do show that public sector wages tend to be higher than the private sector. It looks to me that has a lot to do with higher union membership in the public sector, and to do with the fact that traditionally female heavy occupations (eg nursing & teaching) tend to be underpaid.
In essence, jobs paid for by the taxpayer need to be within reason and budget. Otherwise the private sector employees, who are generating income for the country and pay the tax maintaining said employees, have to carry the higher load. Remember, those are your truck drivers on $ 26-40 per hr., hospitality workers on minimum wage, managers on 65K., etc.
As for Unions, I need to say that they are in my book untrustworthy and I do not respect that the ordinary taxpayer is being blackmailed into submission to support those paid for by tax collected from those who maintain the public sector. Of cause Unions fight for their survival and membership is very high in the public sector. In fact people are auto enrolled and have to actively rescind if they don't want to join the union. The better the pay the higher the fee collected. In my view it means they survive mostly on tax paid to public service employees. In a perverse way those who are being marooned with strikes by doctors, nurses, teachers, administrators etc. pay for the pleasure. Its obscene. If Union would care, they would care about the effect on those on the lowest pay scale. Actions speak louder than words.
Is that a "fact", or claptrap? I joined a workplace union voluntarily in the late 1980s, and subsequently had cause to be thankful for doing so.
https://union.org.nz/unions/new-zealand-nurses-organisation/
https://www.nzeiteriuroa.org.nz/get-involved/why-become-a-member
https://teara.govt.nz/en/unions-and-employee-organisations/print
Some have ideological objections to workers banding together for decent pay and conditions – take ACT's Brooke van Velden, please.
Alas, CoC is govt by and for the sorted – their wrecking is going to plan.
It’s claptrap.
What nonsense.
For a start, the public sector employees play a huge part in "generating income for the country". A teacher, for example, is generating income by educating workers regardless of whether their pay slips are from Government or private shareholders. A power station worker is generating wealth whoever pays him. Except that schools, or power stations, owned by private shareholders, unlike State owned, remove a percentage of wealth from local communities every year. A private tax.
That Unionised workers are paid more of the wealth they produce, than non unionised workers, shows exactly why we need Unions.
The CTU has been organising low paid workers through initiatives such as ETU. Securing better conditions and pay for workers in fast foods and other industries. As well as supporting legislation against gross worker exploitation, such as zero hours contracts and break times. This has been subsidised by the wider Union movement, as many of these workers cannot afford corresponding union dues.
The most successful Unions in NZ, by the way, are federated farmers, Big shareholders (Business round table, and offshoots) and landlords. Who have secured for their members subsidies and tax breaks way in excess of their real contribution to the economy. Workers, in both the public and private sectors have wages declining, as a share of the economy, since Union coverage was decimated after 1984.
Okay then, superficially comparing 18-19% in the public sector in NZ with the USSR Nomenklatura (the bureaucratic apparatus of a totalitarian government) made you conclude that NZ is “over governed”!? Again, you didn’t provide a single link, so we cannot check your reckons for accuracy and appropriate context.
You lost me completely with your tortured analysis of (average and median) wages, hourly rates, and how 81% is supporting 19%. In any case, I can’t see the relevance to NZ being “over governed” nor being “akin to the defunct USSR”.
Your second point sounds as profound as the vague musings of Shane Jones on Facebook. The relevance to the Atlas Network and the OP escapes me. For example, I still cannot tell whether you’re agreeing with or rejecting the thesis of the OP, being indecisive, or elusive & evasive. In other words, there’s no point debating your platitudes.
Foreign Waka, is unthinkingly parroting the meme, popular with followers of the privatisation dogma, that State run organisations cannot "generate wealth" and are simply a cost. "A burdon on tax payers".
An obvious contradiction, when they claim workers magically become "wealth generators" when the same people are doing the same jobs in the private sector.
What the proponents of low taxes and "small Government really mean, is they want the wealth "generated" to go into their pockets, not, the community and especially not to the workers who "generate it".
If they were really concerned about truck drivers, hospitality workers and "low paid managers" they would be advocating for less income taxes and GST, for those people, and higher CGT and wealth taxes for non workers.
DPM Seymour's recollections of his links to the Atlas network are weirdly inconsistent – maybe Atlas uses tech akin to a neuralyzer to purge acolyte memories – damn Atlas!
https://thestandard.nz/how-the-atlas-network-is-shaping-your-life-even-if-youve-never-heard-of-it/#comment-2055113