Robin Westenra

Atlas Network (that Seymour has NO links with wink wink): “A crash programme of massive cuts; demolishing public services; privatising public assets; centralising political power; sacking civil servants; sweeping away constraints on corporations and oligarchs; destroying regulations that protect workers, vulnerable people and the living world; supporting landlords against tenants; criminalising peaceful protest; restricting the right to strike.“

I quote: “The Prime Minister’s chief policy adviser Matt Burgess received the briefing note, which had been delivered in hard copy in mid-2024. Burgess was in the role in the Prime Minister’s office between January 2024 to October 2025, and had previously worked at the New Zealand Initiative think tank as senior economist”. This is a known Atlas Network advisor on the payroll of the New Zealand Prime Minister.”

We. need to avoid myopia and think of “two cheeks on one arse” when considering this.

From Facebook – 2 May, 2026

I quote: “The Prime Minister’s chief policy adviser Matt Burgess received the briefing note, which had been delivered in hard copy in mid-2024.

Burgess was in the role in the Prime Minister’s office between January 2024 to October 2025, and had previously worked at the New Zealand Initiative think tank as senior economist”.

— This is a known Atlas Network advisor on the payroll of the New Zealand Prime Minister.

Now, tell me I’m wrong or mad or silly in my long-held belief that Luxon was…

1. Identified, recruited and placed in the National party by the Atlas Network. That

2. His profile was not managed by Atlas network money to

3. Raise him into the leadership position so that he could

4. Lift seymour out of his unpopular place of obscurity in order to

5. Push the 3x rejected RSB (written by the Atlas Network), and multiple other legislative abhorrations favouring corporate rights over established human, indigenous and environmental rights, into position.

And make my day- please please please doo… Go on, try to convince me it did not suit the NZ Initiative and this government, to promote cray-cray conspiracy theories during and after covid, to covertly drive a malignant campaign against the last government and threaten the lives of anyone who exposed them, in order to cover THE ACTUAL conspiracy… theirs.

Given that the NZ Initiative are the NZ wing of the extreme right, corporate, libertarian Atlas Network, who are now, indelibly linked to the actual NZ Prime Minister’s advisory staff, the question that must be asked and answered is this:

Did Luxon conspire with American Corporate interests to capture our government?

He was always Mr. Corporation and had never shown any previous interests in politics.

More information

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-24/atlas-network-think-tanks-active-in-australia-and-new-zealand/104788732

Australia is now in the thick of a federal election cycle, the United States just came out of one and in New Zealand, the fallout from the last national election has brought into focus a part of the political machine often out of view.

To a voter’s naked eye, the impact of think tanks and so-called research centres on public policy and any public vote might be imperceptible.

In New Zealand, there is now a conversation about an organisation called Atlas Network and whether or not it has influenced the right-bloc government’s agenda.

Atlas Network is a registered not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Washington DC and it is attracting attention because it receives donations from wealthy people and their foundations.

It runs training programs and offers grants to a network of think tanks, or civil organisations, across the world.

These organisations have names like “The Foundation for Economic Freedom” and “The Frontier Centre for Public Policy” and “The Centre of Free Economic Thought” and are often registered charities.

There are more than 580 Atlas Network partner think tanks and they are united in their vision to see that “the principles of individual liberty, property rights, limited government, and free markets are secured by the rule of law.”

Trump’s has retaken the White House, but even before he won he an “army” of 10,000 recruits at his disposal to help implement his controversial agenda.

The conservative American think tank the Heritage Foundation was previously an Atlas Network partner, but that relationship has now ended.

The Heritage Foundation developed the controversial Project 2025 — a blueprint for the United States during the second Donald Trump presidential term.

A number of Australian and New Zealand organisations are listed as Atlas Network partners in historical annual reports, still available on the organisation’s website.

And the network reports to be present in more than 100 countries around the world.

In New Zealand, one politician has sparked discussion about Atlas Network and how much influence it is actually having in the country.

David Seymour is the man behind New Zealand’s Treaty Principles Bill as well as another controversial piece of legislation set to be drafted this year.

When RNZ asked Mr Seymour about Atlas Network and the now-defeated bill last year, he called the line of questioning a “conspiracy theory”.

Atlas Network does have active partners in New Zealand and the organisation is part of Mr Seymour’s own origin story.

The Treaty Principles Bill debate ratcheted up interest in Atlas Network in New Zealand, but looking into its partners there, they have other priorities.

At its most simple, Atlas Network is an organisation that promotes classically liberal policies and ideas, and the people who back it are investing in the proliferation of that philosophy.

And, it can be argued, that is the business of advocacy and a common part of the political ecosystem.

But these organisations can become a type of third-party campaigner or promoter — not directly supporting a party or candidate, but boosting public support for certain ideas or policies.

That distance can provide cover for the people who fund them.

Because think tanks aren’t required to be as transparent as a political party when it comes to who the donors are and the interests behind the cash.

What do you need to know before you vote in the upcoming federal election? What would you ask the candidates? Have Your Say.

As the Australian election campaign rolls on, respondents to the ABC Your Say project have specifically raised concerns about American ideas and political styles being imported to the region.

It’s something political scientists in New Zealand have watched bubble up as an issue across the ditch too — often in relation the role of Atlas Network organisations.

Those experts and others who have long studied Atlas Network are imploring voters to become literate about how think tanks work to have influence, and right now, New Zealand provides a real-time example.

First mention of the Atlas Network in NZ Parliament (think Seymour)

From The Daily Blog

Remember Seymour in an interview denied any connection to Atlas which is not true. He called it conspiracy … EWNZ

The Article 2/2/25:
By Martyn Bradbury

Last night [1 Feb] during the reading of ACTs Bill to dump the Productivity Commission, Labour mentioned the Atlas Network for the first time in Parliament…

Whose interests are ACT actually serving here by silencing the Productivity Commission?

The Atlas Network is an international far right think tank whose extreme policy platform seeks to attack public servants, push for radical privatization, dismantle regulation protecting workers and the environment and champions Landlords over renters.

That sounds remarkably similar to this Government. Who is behind the ACT Party and their policy? The Atlas Network sounds exactly like the policy platform of this new Government and the ACT Party, the Taxpayers’ Union and The NZ Initiative all have links to the Atlas Network so I ask , who is really pulling the strings here?

…the Atlas Network are an international far right think tank and George Monbiot has done an expose on how the Atlas Network influences UK politics and TDB has highlighted the links between them and NZ politics.

Look at the Atlas International play book and ask yourself if it sounds familiar…

A crash programme of massive cuts; demolishing public services; privatising public assets; centralising political power; sacking civil servants; sweeping away constraints on corporations and oligarchs; destroying regulations that protect workers, vulnerable people and the living world; supporting landlords against tenants; criminalising peaceful protest; restricting the right to strike.

…watch how each of these extremist free market agendas are being slowly and quietly implemented. The new draconian gang powers

Atlas Network also gets mentioned by the Public Health Communication Centre who note the connections between Tobacco Lobbyists and the Atlas Network…

Tobacco CompanyPolitical connectionsEvidence of industry linksBritish American TobaccoCasey Costello (NZ First Party) formerly Chair and member of Tax Payers’ Union Board. Now Minister with responsibility for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990; vaping; smokeless tobacco; oral nicotine.¹Guardian investigation reported TPU received funding from British American Tobacco

TPU has links with the Atlas Network, which has received tobacco industry funding.

In 2023, a TPU staff member received an Atlas Network competition prize. TPU was described as an Atlas Network partner.

…it also notes that Nicola Willis is a former Nazgul at the NZ Initiative…

British American Tobacco

Imperial Brands Australasia

Nicola Willis, Deputy leader National Party, formerly Board Director New Zealand InitiativeNZI list tobacco companies British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands Australasia as members.

…at some point the mainstream media are going to have two investigate the influence of the Atlas Network over the Political Right in NZ.

It’s good that Labour has started that questioning.

Where are the Greens and the Māori Party?

SOURCE

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz

SOURCE

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A reader, Geoff Waterhouse, asked ChatGP about the Atlast Network’s activities and connections in NZ. The response is posted here in summary:

There are some real and documented links between ACT, the NZ Taxpayers’ Union, Atlas Network, David Seymour, and Ruth Richardson — but the strength of those links varies.

• The NZ Taxpayers’ Union is officially connected to the international free-market Atlas Network. Its founder Jordan Williams attended Atlas training and received Atlas fellowship support.

• David Seymour also has direct Atlas connections. He worked for Atlas-aligned think tanks in Canada and completed Atlas Network’s “Think Tank MBA” programme before becoming ACT leader.

• There is overlap between ACT and the Taxpayers’ Union through staff, board members, and shared ideology. Example: former ACT chief of staff Chris Milne later joined the Taxpayers’ Union board.

• Ruth Richardson represents the older “Rogernomics” free-market movement that ACT grew out of. She later joined the Taxpayers’ Union board and became chair.

• Richardson also served as a director of Bank of China NZ. That sounds dramatic to some people, but it was part of a broader trend where former NZ politicians joined boards of Chinese bank subsidiaries operating in NZ. There’s no strong public evidence she acted for the Chinese government. The important thing is that this looks less like a secret conspiracy and more like an interconnected network of: – free-market think tanks – political parties – lobbying groups – former politicians – advocacy organisations – corporate boardrooms The strongest documented link is: Atlas Network → Taxpayers’ Union → ACT-aligned people and ideas.

SEE EWNZ’S RELATED ARTICLES HERE

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