Ryan Bridge: The India FTA is up to businesses now

Judging by the coverage out of New Delhi overnight, the Indian press appears optimistic about the trade deal with New Zealand.

As optimistic as our government and industry, and as of last week Labour, are about it here.

Barrie Davis: Indiana Jones Cries Fowl

Dear Perzen Patel,

I read your piece “NZ Indians have been silent on the butter chicken row. So I’m speaking up” in the Sunday Star-Times today (here). If the Indians have not mentioned it, I can see a good reason why.

Caleb Anderson: Dare to be a Daniel

The words below will be familiar to those who grew up in Christian homes. Whether you view Daniel in truth, or in archetype, his story bore/bears witness to the willingness of some to stand for principles in spite of the cost.

Clive Bibby: United We Stand and Fall

I doubt there is an event anywhere in the world that unites the peoples of a country more than our Anzac Remembrance Day.

And this commemoration doesn’t stop at our shore - it stretches across the ditch embracing our nearest neighbour Australia who fought alongside us in two World Wars hence the name ANZAC - Australia New Zealand Army Corp.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.4.26

Tuesday April 28, 2026 

News:
Aotea/Great Barrier Island iwi meet with government amid overfishing concerns
The Oceans and Fisheries under-secretary has met with iwi and the local board on Aotea/Great Barrier Island.

It is feared that overfishing has decimated the kōura population, and Ngāti Rehua - Ngātiwai ki Aotea Trust Board and the Aotea/Great Barrier Local Board are wanting the government to back a plan to manage the population before it is too late.

Dave Patterson: Technology Theft - How American Tech Keeps Showing up in China

On Wednesday, April 22, the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony on the topic “Stealth Stealing: China’s Ongoing Theft of US Innovation.” Witnesses included Mark Cohen, Senior Fellow at the University of Akron Law School's Intellectual Property Institute; Tom Lyons, Co-Founder of the 2430 Group; and Helen Toner, Interim Executive Director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. The issues included blatant theft of US technology and intellectual property, as well as intense competition with China for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence. And this theft by the CCP is nothing new.

Rodney Hide: New Zealand’s Rot Starts in Empty Pews

Christianity didn’t just arrive in New Zealand—it built the place. Missionaries planted the first permanent settlement in 1814, translated the Treaty, ran the early schools and hospitals, and gave us a moral framework of personal responsibility, stable families and covenantal duty. For a century and a half it was the cultural default. Then the 1960s secular wave hit. By the 2023 Census only 32.3 per cent called themselves Christian; 51.6 per cent claimed no religion. The collapse is not coincidence. It is the root of the social decay now choking the country.

Peter Williams: Luxon lacks courage

Backing out of interviews is poor form

Any politician who refuses to front on a particular media outlet essentially because he or she is afraid of being made to look foolish is, frankly, a coward and not competent to be in a position of responsibility.

It’s into that category that we must now place the current Prime Minister. We know that Jacinda Ardern was already a certified member.

Pee Kay: An Open Letter To The Prime Minister

“Prime Minister, the country is running out of time — and you are running out of excuses.”

“Enough. New Zealand cannot survive more soft leadership. “

Colinxy: The Success Rate of Rehabilitation of Criminals

New Zealand Labour’s crime policy is built on a simple premise: rehabilitation works, and therefore the best way to reduce crime is to focus on treatment, programmes, and reducing reoffending. Labour rejects the “tough on crime” approach and frames rehabilitation as the humane, evidence‑based alternative.

Dr Eric Crampton: We are only hurting ourselves

Every year, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, sends over a thousand infants to hospital.

Six years ago, Kiwis volunteered to be part of a large international study testing whether vaccinating pregnant women for RSV would protect their newborns.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The art of the contradiction

On Tuesday morning, President Trump told CNBC he did not want to extend the ceasefire with Iran. Yet on Tuesday afternoon, he extended it.

Contradiction is the art of the deal. So it is no wonder that the entire war has been conducted this way.

On 28 February, the United States and Israel struck Iran. At first, the President said the operation would take four weeks or less. Then four to five weeks. Then “whatever it takes.”

David Farrar: After 20 years, a hydro dam gets consented

The Government announced:

A fast-tracked renewable energy project on the West Coast will strengthen regional electricity supply and improve resilience, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones say.

In August 2025, Westpower Limited lodged a substantive application to build and operate a 23MW hydro scheme in the Waitaha Valley, about 38km south of Hokitika. The project includes a weir and a 1.5km tunnel to a two-turbine powerhouse.

 Monday April 27, 2026 

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Geoff Parker: Stability Doesn’t Come From Ambiguity

The claim that adjusting Treaty clause wording will create decades of instability gets the problem backwards.

New Zealand’s ongoing tension over Treaty principles isn’t caused by too little legal weight—it’s caused by inconsistency and ambiguity across laws. Different statutes use different phrases (“recognise,” “have regard to,” “give effect to”), creating uncertainty about what the Treaty actually requires in practice.

That lack of clarity is exactly what drives litigation, not resolves it.

Damien Grant: Chris Bishop has emerged as the main pretender to a shaky crown.....

Chris Bishop has emerged as the main pretender to a shaky crown. How shall we assess his performance?

“Will no one rid me of this turbulent bishop?" cried King Henry the Second, yelling to the ceiling in frustration at the antics of the archbishop of Canterbury, the soon-to-be-murdered Thomas Becket. It is, if you forgive the literary fudge alert readers will have noticed, a sentiment our Prime Minister may be feeling as his premiership is undermined by the persistent stories that the current Hutt South MP has been counting the numbers. It is also a lesson in being clear with your retinue on your intentions.

Centrist: Will National rule out Labour?

• NZ First has ruled out Labour, but the bigger question may be whether National would do the same.

• A National-Labour deal sounds unlikely, but cross-party arrangements have happened before in wartime.

• Both major parties may see their own minor-party partners as harder to manage.

• Centre-right voters may need to pressure MPs now: will you rule out Labour?

The bigger question

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why has the Government pulled SailGP's funding?

I’ve tried very hard to understand the Government’s decision to essentially cancel SailGP in Auckland next year and I just can’t.

I cannot understand what has gone on here because, as I understand it, this has come down to a few hundred thousand dollars.

Professor Alexander Gillespie: Anzac then and now: as trans‑Tasman defence relations get closer, NZ must be on guard

Anzac Day 2026 arrives in tumultuous times: unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the erosion of the old international order, the famous Doomsday Clock set closer to midnight than ever before.

Without doubt, this brings New Zealand’s defence relationship with its closest neighbour (and only formal ally) Australia into sharp focus.

Peter Williams: Anzac Day Address 2026

NOTE: I was asked to be the guest speaker at the Cromwell Anzac Day service. This address is similar to one I gave at the small Southland community of Waikaka in 2023

As a recently arrived Central Otago resident – albeit with a long personal and family history in Otago and Southland – it’s a privilege to deliver the first ANZAC Day address outside this brand new and soon to be officially named Cromwell Memorial Events Centre.