Geoff Parker: Bastion Point, Rewritten History, and the Politics of Permanent Grievance

Hana Pera Aoake’s article in The Post reads less like history and more like advocacy presented as reflection. It leans heavily on symbolism and emotion while relying on selective memory and the omission of inconvenient facts—choices that serve a predetermined grievance narrative rather than an honest accounting of the past.

Start with Bastion Point itself. In 1886, 5.3 hectares of land were acquired under the Public Works Act for declared military purposes. This was neither a confiscation nor an unpaid seizure. Ngāti Whātua received £1,500 in compensation—roughly equivalent to about NZ$570,000 in today’s terms. On a per‑hectare basis, that payment was approximately twice the median value of today’s undeveloped New Zealand farmland. By any reasonable standard, the compensation was generous. Calling this “theft” obscures the basic facts: it was a lawful acquisition, accompanied by substantial payment.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Here's the worst part of the Bondi Beach terror attack

This terror attack in Sydney is what everyone else has been saying it is: absolutely horrific. Antisemitic terrorism.

Sadly, this type of attack is happening and will keep happening more frequently, according to intelligence agencies. And the worst part is that it's almost impossible to stop.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm confident for the economy in 2026

If you weren’t already feeling confident about 2026, I've got two reasons you should.

At least two major retail banks see signs of an economic recovery and we have a new Reserve Bank Governor.

John Robertson: Secularism by Exception - Why New Zealand Needs One Rule for All

New Zealand likes to tell itself a comforting story: that we are a modern, secular democracy where the state stays neutral and citizens are free to believe - or not believe - without pressure. In theory, that sounds right. In practice, it increasingly feels untrue.

Across schools, councils, universities, hospitals, courts, public workplaces, environmental law, research funding, museums, and national ceremonies, a single belief system has been given a status no other belief enjoys. Māori spiritual concepts—tikanga Māori (customary rules), wairuatanga (the spiritual dimension), mauri (life force), tapu (sacred restriction), and related ideas—are routinely embedded into public institutions. Participation is expected. Opt‑outs are rare or non‑existent. Questioning it is discouraged. Compliance is assumed.

Bob Edlin: More Stuff and nonsense – this time about a rates cap

Check out the photograph above.

Published today by The Post and on the Stuff website, it shows the vice president of Local Government New Zealand, Rehette Stoltz, speaking to journalists.

It illustrates a report which the headline writer apparently did not read.

Ani O'Brien: What's the story? Willie Jackson and MUMA

Accusations have been flying for more than a week between independent or ‘new’ media and the legacy lot (mainstream media). Yours truly has been guilty of a few exasperated contributions to the outrage also so do not take this as Ani on a soapbox.

The argument is over what the media should report on. What is newsworthy? What is a story? And on the flipside, what is a cover up? Why are the media burying what appears to be a significant scandal? It has now descended into embarrassing levels of stupidity with one member of the mainstream media trying to characterise the story as an ‘attack on Māori’. A negative story featuring Māori is not an attack on Māori anymore than reporting on Trevor Mallard’s many examples of poor behaviour is an attack on old white guys.

David Harvey: The Elephant in the Room

The podcast “The Elephant” is an online video series that tackles the conversations New Zealanders often avoid.

It dives into big, uncomfortable questions, looking beyond the echo chambers in search of a fearless and honest debate. In episode 10, hosts recently released, Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell ask ‘When does free speech become hate speech?’

The promotional material for the programme states:

John MacDonald: Another kick in the guts for our volunteer firefighters

I’m glad I’m not a volunteer firefighter. Because, if I was, I would be brassed-off that an attempt to get volunteer firefighters the same ACC cover as full-time firefighters has gone nowhere.

A petition calling for the change has been rejected by a parliamentary select committee because it doesn’t want to set a precedent. The committee is trotting out all the usual platitudes but the fact remains that volunteer firefighters have just had another kick in the guts.

Simon O'Connor: Blood on their hands

For too long, we have tolerated people calling for the very violence that occurred at Bondi Beach last night.

My heart goes out to the Jewish community in Sydney, and also across Australia and New Zealand – not to mention around the world. Hanukkah is one of the great high festivals of Judaism; a feast of light and yet last evening, the light was shattered – but importantly, it will not be broken or eclipsed despite the violence.

David Farrar: Haeata spent almost $20k on Queenstown trip

I blogged previously on the remarkable stats achieved by Haeata Community Campus, where school lunches is their special focus.

Well the Auditor-General has just revealed:

Monday December 15, 2025 

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Mike Butler: Councillors who prefer the local tribe

“Gross misjudgement and disrespect” was the lead headline in the Hawke’s Bay Today on Friday after a meeting of the Napier City Council when the new mayor proposed not to include “mana whenua voices and voting rights” on standing committees.

In response, a new Maori ward councillor, Shyann Raihania, proposed an amendment which would retain two “Nga Manukanuka o te iwi” councillors voting to represent tribal interests on those committees.

John McLean: Critical Social Justice "Criticisms Of Reforms

A Woke battle for victimhood supremacy drowns out mature debate on resource management reforms

The current Government has proposed legislation designed to reform New Zealand’s resource management laws. National Party Government Minister Christopher Bishop is leading the reforms.

David Harvey: Tikanga and the law - evolution or a quiet revolution?

In a recent paper, Ellis v R: A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Emeritus Professor Peter Watts KC argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Ellis v R marked a revolutionary break from New Zealand’s constitutional foundations.

By declaring tikanga relevant to any issue of common law or statutory interpretation, he says, the court has fundamentally transformed our legal system without democratic mandate.

Damien Grant: Outside the headlines, a cohort of outstanding ministers is actually delivering

When I am in the beating heart of Auckland, although it has a distinct atrial flutter these days, I like to admire the old Central Post Office. The CPO was built over a century ago; before electrification, cranes, building consents and Worksafe improved construction.

Across Quay St we have the Ferry Building, a similar vintage, but the real magic lies beneath.

Centrist: Government unveils app, but next year it becomes New Zealand’s digital ID platform

The government has launched its new Govt.nz app, marketed as a convenient place to find information, bookmark services, and receive emergency alerts.

However, the real transformation arrives next year. Minister for Digitising Government Judith Collins told RNZ’s Morning Report that digital driver’s licences and other identity credentials will be added once legislation passes early in 2026.

Duggan Flanakin: The U.S. re-enters the rare-earths race

Hardly anyone in 1972 saw President Nixon’s decision to reopen diplomatic relations with the Peoples’ Republic of China as the beginning of a half-century of America surrendering its mining and manufacturing superiority to the fledgling Communist regime.

Successive administrations did little or nothing to halt the export of American skilled labor jobs, or even to promote skilled American labor as vital to national security. Unlike his predecessors, President Trump determined to promote American labor and restore mining and manufacturing as the pathway to a stronger nation and a prosperous economy.

Melanie Phillips: The humanitarian front against Israel

Mass murder has been branded as conscience to mess with people’s minds

Amazing news: Amnesty International has now acknowledged that night follows day!

Well, almost. In a report just published, Amnesty has stated for the first time that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and torture, on and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Brendan O'Neill: It is not racist to tell the truth about Britain’s rape gangs

Why is the left so hell-bent on burying the truth of what was done to working-class girls?

Here’s a surefire way to know if you’ve lost the moral plot – you get angrier about the public discussion of mass rape than you do about the mass raping itself. Your moral conscience gets more fired up by people talking about the industrial-scale abuse of working-class girls than it does by the abuse itself. You’re more horrified by the phrase ‘Pakistani rape gang’ than you are by the existence of Pakistani rape gangs. If any of that applies to you, then your morals have been well and truly shattered on the wheel of cultural relativism, classism and cowardice.

James Alexander: America’s National Security Warning to Europe

There is value in following Trump’s comments. I wanted to see the recent interview in which he said “Europe is weak”, and this led me to something more serious, more apparently serious, I should say (since they are related): the recent publication of the ‘National Security Strategy of the United States of America‘. A primary document. I found it, and printed it out: 30 pages. And it is a good read: well-written, lacking the sort of matron-in-the-asylum-in-denial tone that afflicts the style in which HM Government documents are written.