NZCPR Newsletter: Voter Sentiment

New Zealand heads toward the 2026 election facing three interconnected difficulties that are shaping voter sentiment: a deepening cost‑of‑living crisis, a perception of political instability within the governing coalition, and unresolved attacks on our constitutional integrity through co‑governance.

Anglo Saxon: New Zealand Local Government Democracy In Decline

In this episode of the Anglo Saxon show the Far North Council controversy. What's really going in local body government . How is this happening and what needs to be done to fix it. Cameron Luxton responds to questions about his bill and the other methods that the left are using to misappropriate public assets and resources.

Click to view

Ryan Bridge: Winston was always going to turn on Luxon

This was always going to happen - the closer you get to the election, the more your friends become your enemies under MMP.

Winston's office released OIA docs showing Luxon's people wanted to go further in supporting Trump's war in Iran.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: TVNZ crossed a line with their handling of Maiki Sherman

From the commentary I’m seeing online, it’s clear there is a perception that no one reported on the Maiki Sherman revelation because the media were protecting one of their own.

I can tell you that perception is true. It’s not imagined - it is true.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.4.26

Thursday April 30, 2026 

News:
Ngāi Tahu calls for controversial Central Otago gold mine to be rejected
Strong concerns have again been raised by iwi regarding a large gold mine in Central Otago proposed by Australian company Santana Minerals.

At a hearing of the Fast-track expert panel in Dunedin on Tuesday, Kā Rūnaka, made up of four rūnaka representing southern Ngāi Tahu hapū, said they opposed the controversial project in its present form.

Geoff Parker: ANZAC Day Is About Service — Not Cultural Drift

ANZAC Day exists for a clear purpose: to honour those who served and those who died in war. It is not a general cultural showcase, nor a platform for modern identity signalling.

The historical record matters.

Pee Kay: The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Once again we find we been badly let down by National. Chris Luxon’s assurances to reign in co-governance were nothing but hollow promises!

The Democracy Action newsletter from earlier this month proves voters have been treated as “suckers” by Luxon/National because they are allowing local bodies to firmly embed co-governance into new water management structures!

“…will ensure that drinking water, stormwater and wastewater remain in local control.” was nothing but political duplicity and political double speak!

John McLean: Who's The Racist-est?

Would the real racist please stand up

On 20 April, New Zealand First Government Minister Shane Jones warned of a potential “butter chicken tsunami” coming to New Zealand.

Butter chicken curry (Murgh Makhani) was invented in the 1950s at Delhi’s Moti Mahal restaurant, by a couple of Punjabi chefs. But Matua Jones wasn’t referring to a tidal wave carrying curry to New Zealand. Jones was referring to the prospect of a figurative tide of ethnic Indians emigrating from India to New Zealand as a result of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) about to be entered into between New Zealand and India. The FTA will provide for increased immigration from India.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Sleepwalking into the worst crisis since Covid

“Thought Covid was bad? If New Zealand runs out of diesel, Covid will look like the rehearsal.” That line from Matthew Hooton in the Herald this morning lands like a slap. Not because it’s designed to alarm, but because Hooton is making a precise argument, not a rhetorical one. During the pandemic, the circulatory system of the economy kept pumping. He explains today that trucks still delivered to supermarkets, harvesters still picked crops, milk tankers still collected from farms, and ambulances still ran. None of that is guaranteed now.

David Harvey: The Art of Not Deciding

Why New Zealand — a small, connected, relatively wealthy democracy — consistently fails to move from idea to action, and what that paralysis is really protecting.

There is a particular kind of meeting that haunts New Zealand’s public and private sectors alike. Everyone is present. The problem is well understood. A solution has been proposed. And then, with great efficiency, the meeting produces not a decision but a process: a working group, a further review, a consultation round. The project does not die. It simply becomes harder to find.

Dr Michael Johnston: Universities’ approach to Treaty at odds with academic freedom

New Zealand’s university leaders seem restless. In recent months, Massey, Victoria, Canterbury and Auckland Universities have all advertised for new Vice Chancellors (VCs).

Along with the things one might expect in a VC, like an outstanding academic record and experience in senior management, the jobs ads all emphasise Treaty of Waitangi considerations. The Massey ad says that ‘Te Tiriti principles are central to its governance and operations.’ Canterbury University wants its new VC to ‘embed Te Tiriti principles across all aspects of university life.’ The University of Auckland claims that ‘a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is fundamental to its future direction.’

Peter Williams: Is this the age of Substack?

If mainstream media won’t report on their own then others will have to

The most significant aspect of the Maiki Sherman affair is that it became public because a Substack writer made it so.

David Seymour made his distaste for the year-long media silence on the matter very obvious by calling April 28th “Ani O’Brien Day.” This was in honour of the woman who wrote an online expose about how the TVNZ Political Editor had homophobically insulted another political reporter, her one time TV3 colleague Lloyd Burr, now at Stuff, at a function in the Finance Minister’s office in May last year.

Kerre Woodham: The matter of New Zealand's shrinking working population

The headline in the Herald read “New Zealand population bombshell” – but is the news really that much of a bombshell? We know we have an ageing population. We know that we're not replacing ourselves with babies. And we know that there's going to be a real crunch when it comes to finding sufficient workers in the next 20 odd years.

 Wednesday April 29, 2026 

                   ⇩

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: It's strange where people's minds went on the Donald Trump assassination attempt

I’ll tell you what I found most surprising about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at the weekend: the number of people who do not believe it really happened or that it was a genuine attempt at all.

There are a remarkable number of people who believe the incident was staged and who are openly discussing that belief, including claims that Trump was not actually shot through the ear a couple of months ago.

Ryan Bridge: Why are young women doing the job of cops?

Did you hear the story about these three young flatmates who hunted down their own burglars, busted them and took back their stuff?

Sarah, Anna and Charlotte... all in their 20s... got home from work in Christchurch, and some mug, or mugs, had broken in and stolen their stuff.

Douglas Murray: The Attempt on Trump’s Life and Political Violence in America

Douglas Murray, journalist and author, joins School of War host Aaron MacLean to discuss the assassination attempt that both witnessed in person at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. Was there a lapse in appropriate security? Is political violence being normalized? Can it be contained? WATCH BELOW.

David Farrar: Saving billions through fewer WOFs

The Government announced:

“Compared to other countries, New Zealand has very frequent inspections for light vehicles. Modern light vehicles are significantly safer and more reliable, but our rules haven’t kept pace, imposing unnecessary costs on motorists. Other countries including Ireland, Germany, Japan, and Australia inspect every one to two years or at ownership change and achieve comparable or better safety outcomes,” Mr Bishop says.

John McLean: Is Anzac Day For Honouring The War Dead Or Advancing An "indigenous" Agenda?

My earliest memory of Anzac Day is as a child standing on Wellington's Lambton Quay watching the parade pass - first some army jeeps with about a dozen very old men in them - too old to march. These were the Boer War veterans. Next came a mass of grey-haired men - a few with walking sticks and the odd wooden leg or so but all of them in jackets and ties and wearing their colourful medals. These were the First World War men.

Then an even larger group of much younger men - again all in jackets and ties and with medals and banners proclaiming Alamein, Crete, Italy and, of course, a handful of Battle of Britain fighter pilots. Then a much smaller bunch of much younger looking Korean War vets brought up the rear together with Wrens and bands and other things to impress my young mind.

Ani O'Brien: Unreported for nearly a year - media misconduct in Parliament

Inside the Press Gallery: power, silence, and the accountability gap in New Zealand media

On the evening of 13 May 2025, Finance Minister Nicola Willis hosted a pre-Budget drinks event in her parliamentary office. The event appears, in official records, as “EVENT: Press Gallery… Parliament… Invited Guests” at 6pm in her ministerial diary. It was intended to be a fairly standard engagement. These gatherings are a familiar ritual; relatively informal, off-camera, and populated by the country’s most senior political journalists alongside ministers and staff. They exist in the grey space between professional obligation and social familiarity and are a mechanism through which relationships are built and managed.