Ryan Bridge: NZTA - the Grinch that stole Christmas

A few years ago, we had a bunch of stories about Santa parades getting cancelled because of red tape and traffic management.

NZTA was the Grinch that stole Christmas.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Expect this asset sales debate to get heated

Well, entirely predictably, the debate about selling state assets has already kicked off ahead of election year - with Winston calling the idea a 'tawdry, silly argument'.

And Chris Luxon then shooting back that Winston's view is not surprising, because he's been there for 50 years, for goodness' sake, he's got a lot of entrenched views.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.11.25

Wednesday November 12, 2025 

News:
Human rights complaint filed to United Nations over treatment of Māori
Prominent Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon has filed a human rights complaint to the UN over "systemic discrimination" of Māori in New Zealand.

Moxon told RNZ the 42 page complaint was sent to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday.

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 11

We are not in charge. We are being stitched up by a bossy professional class which is metastasizing at the rate of a runaway cancer. Every year there are more laws and regulations telling us what to do and not do. There are not just environmental regulations for farmers and foresters. They are the extra road signs and white lines and cycleways and bus lanes planted everywhere on roads, the physical searches at airports as security men with rubber gloves give us the once over, new regulations about everything, the continual attempts of government agencies to indoctrinate us and tell us what we may and may not think.... The Broadcasting Standards Authority’s bid to ban the description of tikanga as ‘mumbo-jumbo’ is just yet another unsurprising power grab by a handful of overpaid entitled self-righteous bullies.

DTNZ: Cabinet approves sweeping gun law overhaul

Cabinet has approved major reforms to New Zealand’s gun laws, transferring oversight of the Firearms Safety Authority from the Police Minister to the Firearms Minister in a move aimed at improving safety and simplifying compliance for licensed owners.

DTNZ, Social media ban for under-16s to begin before Christmas as petition gains momentum

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed the government’s plan to introduce legislation before Christmas to ban under-16s from accessing social media, signalling his strong support for age verification requirements.

Melanie Phillips: Defund the BBC

Recent revelations show it's betrayed its Charter principles and is a disgrace to journalism

The BBC has long been accused of left-wing bias. However, the revelation that it doctored comments made by US President Donald Trump to make it appear falsely that he promoted the attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021 takes this onto a very different level.

Kerre Woodham: Why put money back in the pockets of users?

So the government's Sunday sessions this year have involved announcements of all sorts of policies, ranging from ho-hum to meaningful.The announcement yesterday of the action plan against organised crime comes under the meaningful. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith released what he called a bold and comprehensive action plan that aimed to disrupt supply, go after those who profit from the drug trade and rebuild communities afflicted by meth, as he outlined to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.

Matua Kahurangi: Kim Dotcom claims Luxon rejected peace offer, teases Covid exposé and new party

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has returned to X following his serious stroke late last year and claims that Prime Minister Chris Luxon has rejected a “peace offer” he made directly to the Government.

Dotcom, 51, is still facing extradition to the United States on multiple charges related to his former file-sharing website Megaupload, which once dominated global internet traffic before it was shut down by US authorities in 2012.

“Peace offer” to the Prime Minister

Eliora: Our Red Remembrance Day This Saturday

The losses experienced in New Zealand over the Covid-19 pandemic and all the nonsense that went with it are incalculable. Some people have been stripped of everything through no fault of their own. Cries of warning were ineffectual.

What happened to these people must never be forgotten!

David Farrar: Waitangi Tribunal is now officially racist

The Waitangi Tribunal has officially recommended that New Zealand have tow standards of citizenship – superior and inferior. This would be based on ancestry.

They recommend:

Mike's Minute: The BBC scandal shakes the roots of journalism

I'm trying to work out what the ratio would be.

How much squeaky clean, beyond doubt, rock solid truth would the BBC need to deliver to offset the one gargantuan cock up that has seen the Director General and Head of News quit?

Or in this day and age, where doubt and mistrust is so high, is it a futile exercise and the damage is permanent?

Dr Don Brash: My Oxford Union Speech

The House believes that the Sun should never have set on the British Empire

Mr/Madame President, I speak in opposition to the motion.

But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history.

 Tuesday November 11, 2025 

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Bob Davies: Remembrance Day 2025 - Royal Honours

Remembrance Day is the day we Honour sacrifice: It is a time to remember the service and sacrifice of all who have served, including the loss of life and the impact on families and communities. I would like to dedicate today’s address to my 20 year old friend, Don Bensemann, who was killed in action 57 years ago this Sunday.

Ryan Bridge: Shocks can come any time

Tongariro is a National Park for a reason. It's a stunning part of the country.

The fact is currently on fire is worrying not just because it's a fire and you want fires to be put out, but also because of where it's happening.

Ruapehu/central North island's been taking a hammering lately.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The BBC scandal impacts trust across all media

Well, at least someone's resigned at the BBC.

In fact, two have resigned, both the director general and the boss of news - and the fact that this bias scandal at the BBC has claimed two of the most senior executives there tells you how serious it is.

David Farrar: Te Pati Maori expels two MPs

Te Pati Maori has expelled Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. I can’;’t recall if any party has ever before expelled two MPs at once, let alone a third of their caucus.

What is also unusual is there appears to have been no due process where they get to argue in their defence.

Matua Kahurangi: Iwi heritage claims on private land are a racist rort

If you thought co-governance was bad, wait until you hear about this latest racket. Across Auckland, iwi are quietly working with councils to declare random chunks of privately owned land “culturally significant” and homeowners aren’t even told why.

ACT MP Simon Court exposed this shocking new front in the ongoing war against private property on The Platform last week, where he revealed that iwi are using so-called “heritage provisions” to muscle in on land they don’t own, under the flimsiest possible pretence of “spiritual connection.”

Pee Kay: It might not be about ownership of the water today… but it will be TOMORROW!!!

An article in the Herald headed “Māori group takes freshwater rights fight to court in landmark case against Crown” caught my eye last week .

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/maori-group-take-freshwater-rights-fight-to-court-in-landmark-case-against-crown/

“In a landmark case, a group representing Māori landowners and hapū across the country is fighting the Government in court over freshwater rights.”