Brendan O'Neill: The hatred for the Jewish State is endangering the Jewish people

After Bondi, we can deny it no longer – bourgeois Israelophobia has aided and abetted a lethal new violence.

Let me get this right – we’re expected to believe it is entirely coincidental that there has been a spike in anti-Jewish violence at the exact same time as hatred for the Jewish State has soared? We’re meant to think there is no connection whatsoever between today’s frothing bourgeois animus for the Jewish nation and the rise in disdain for the Jewish people? You’re telling us the targeting of Jews in the West is wholly unrelated to the Western elites’ ceaseless damning of the Jewish homeland as a uniquely barbarous entity?

Kerre Woodham: How do we heal our country's divisions?

I remember back when I first started talkback, a million years ago at nighttime, it must have been the semicentennial of the waterfront workers strike of '51, or the lockout, depending on which side you're on. It was the biggest industrial confrontation in New Zealand's history for those who don't know of it. It was 151 days from February to July, and at its peak, 22,000 waterside workers, or wharfies, and associated unions were off the job, out of a population of just under 2 million.

David Farrar: Yes there should be a by-election in Papatoetoe

Radio NZ reports:

A district court judge has reserved his decision on whether a by-election is needed in an Auckland local body election.

The hearing followed a petition by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, who claimed to have received reports of voting papers being stolen from residents and submitted without their consent.

David Farrar: TPM skip electorate offices, as well as Parliament!

The Herald reports:

Te Pāti Māori has broken with tradition and decided against running MP constituent offices in their electorates, despite getting additional funding for the large electorates it won at the 2023 election.

New Zealand First, as well, has decided not to run any offices in the community – but it has no electorate MPs.

Wednesday December 17, 2025 

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Breaking Views Update: Week of 14.12.25

Wednesday December 17, 2025 

News:
Executive assistant resigns over mayor’s ‘disregard for Treaty principles’
Napier mayor Richard McGrath’s executive assistant has resigned, saying she can no longer work for him due to his “disregard for Treaty principles”.

Vanessa Smith-Glintenkamp, who was employed in the role under former mayor Kirsten Wise in May 2023, wrote to McGrath and the Napier City Council chief executive Louise Miller last Thursday saying she would resign.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Another fiscal result telling us what we already know

Well, of course you heard it here first last Monday - the surplus has been pushed out again.

It's like waiting for Christmas when you're a ten-year-old, the whole month of December feels like an eternity.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Bondi attack was a race relations problem

This business of Australia tightening up its gun laws feels like it runs the risk of distracting from the bigger problems over there.

I don’t think guns were the problem on Sunday. Australia already has some of the tightest gun laws in the world.

Pee Kay: DOC’s OIA Response

In late October I posted an article about Northland iwi, Ngatiwai, landing on one of the strictly protected Poor Knights Islands, raising a flag and concreting in a carved pou in protest at the amendment to the Marine and Coastal Area Act.

Click to view

Ani O'Brien: Bondi Terror - Can we look back in anger yet?

Tolerance must not be a suicide pact

If you were shocked by what happened at Bondi last night you have ignored every warning sign.

You might be horrified. In fact, if you are, you are human. But if you are surprised you have not been paying even minimal attention to what has been happening across Western cities for the past two years. The last twenty plus years really. This was the inevitable direction of travel.

Dr Will Jones: Right Wins Chile Election on Mass Deportation Platform

The Right has won the Presidential election in Chile, with conservative Jose Antonio Kast defeating his communist rival on a platform of cracking down on crime and deporting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. The Telegraph has more.

Philip Crump: The Architecture of a Capable State - Why Cuts, Cosmetic Fixes and Good Intentions are not enough

Keynote address to the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union AGM – 15 December 2025

This is the text of a keynote address I delivered to the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union AGM on 15 December 2025. It is offered in a personal capacity and reflects an institutional and structural analysis of how the State is organised to deliver outcomes. It is not an endorsement of any organisation, political party, or policy programme.

Bruce Cotterill: Christopher Luxon leadership - Why National would be ‘nuts’ to roll him

The past couple of weeks have seen plenty of conjecture about the future of Christopher Luxon as the leader of the National Party and hence, Prime Minister.

I don’t know if the rumbles about Chris Bishop rolling him are true or not. And I’m no political strategist. But let me say this. The National Party would be “nuts” to drop Luxon now.

JC: West Not Fit For Purpose

The world right now is probably in its most dangerous state since WWII. The West is showing that there is a reluctance to accept reality. Allowing situations to develop as they are is inviting more trouble further down the track. Talkfests that fail to produce the action required are largely a waste of time. The policies introduced will not solve the problems we are currently facing.

David Farrar: The ever growing black market

1 News reported:

The latest estimates put the market share for illegal tobacco sales between 25% and 65%, illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner Amber Shuhyta told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night.

Tuesday December 16, 2025 

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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.