Judy Gill: A Sacred Lie - The Rise Of Spiritual Politics In NZ Education

I am not a political figure. I have never stood for office, never joined a party, never published in any mainstream outlet until recently. I am simply a parent living on Waiheke Island, trying to raise my son in peace, in reason, and in freedom. I do not want my son to attend a Christian school, nor do I want to homeschool him. I want what used to be normal in NZ: a secular, neutral education free from religious or spiritual instruction.

And yet, today, that is no longer available to my child.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.7.25

Saturday July 19, 2025 

News:
How a local website was hijacked and filled with AI-generated 'coherent gibberish'
The headline states: "This valley is no longer safe for overnight stays - and DOC isn't explaining why."

The story that follows conjures a scene from a horror film. Something odd has been going on in Whakataki valley east of Mount Aspiring National park, it is claimed.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I thought National was supposed to be good with our money?

I’ll tell you why I don’t like the money we’re spending on Sunny Kaushal and the Retail Crime Advisory Group: it’s not a good deal.

I haven’t got a problem with Sunny Kaushal, but he was offering his ideas to the Government for free.

If someone offers you something for free and you then decide to pay for it, that is a bad deal.

Insights From Social Media:

Only the beginning of maori rule - by Unknown

Prior to European settlement, Maori squatted on land and resources until a stronger tribe invaded, killed and ate them. If their own tribe was stronger they invaded, killed and ate their neighbours. Thus Maori existed in a cycle of genocidal warfare amongst themselves and effectively owned nothing. Land and resources belonged fleetingly to whoever had the ability to seize or defend it successfully at a particular point in time.

Centrist: MMP’s weird rule could hand an extra seat to Labour

A by-election in Tāmaki Makaurau could lead to Labour gaining an extra seat in Parliament, not by winning more votes, but because of a strange rule in New Zealand’s MMP system.

Roger Partridge: Revolution by Judicial Decree....

Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”

Revolutions conjure images of violent uprisings, the storming of institutions, and the forcible overthrow of existing orders. But constitutional foundations can be destroyed through more subtle means. When judges discard long-established constitutional principles and remake the law according to their preferences, they engage in a revolution that may be no less destructive to a nation’s democratic foundations than an uprising in the streets.

Matua Kahurangi: David Seymour is right

ACT Leader David Seymour is standing up for common sense and individual rights by challenging the forced use of karakia in public and professional life. Speaking to the press gallery, Seymour made it clear that spirituality should be personal, not political, and certainly not compulsory.

Kerre Woodham: Prioritising flexible classrooms is the way to go

Around about 30 years from now the AI bot, who will be presenting the 9am to midday show, will announce breathlessly that single-cell classes are to be done away with and open plan classrooms are planned for future school builds to allow greater collaboration between students and teachers. A more relaxed style of learning, yadda yadda yadda – what do you think? 0800 80 10 80, the AI bot will say, because as sure as God made little apples, this is going to come around again.

Bob Edlin: Fringe benefits in the dunnies at IRD raise questions.....

Fringe benefits in the dunnies at IRD raise questions about what staff can say without upsetting the rainbow bunch

Free speech is under threat in Britain because people feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, according to research for the Commission for Countering Extremism, which advises the Government.

Moreover, almost half of Britons believe people are too easily offended.

Friday July 18, 2025 

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Heather du Plessis-Allan: Erica Stanford is this Govt's MVP

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Erica Stanford is this Government's MVP.  

Once again, she is taking an inexplicably stupid thing in schools, ditching it, and going back to common sense. 

This is something close to my heart at the moment because I have to make a decision in the next six months or so about which school we send our son to. 

Caleb Anderson: The fusion of opposites and a new age of darkness

The philosopher Hegel identified a process which later came to be known as thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Basically his idea was that when two seemingly conflicting ideas came up against each other, inherent contradictions could be resolved by the thoughtful incorporation (not fusion) of the best elements of both, potentially producing a better outcome than either idea in isolation.

Richard Prebble: Some suggestions to Winston on how he should write to the UN

Mr. Albert K. Barume, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, based in Geneva, wrote to ministers alleging that the Regulatory Standards bill “fails to uphold the principles of partnership, active protection, and self‑determination guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi”.

David Seymour responded expressing the views most of us hold saying: “We neither require nor welcome external lectures on our governance, particularly from bodies whose understanding of our nuanced historical, cultural, and constitutional context is so clearly deficient.”

Dr Will Jones: Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Ani O'Brien: I am proud to be British 🇬🇧

Is it okay to be proud of one's culture?

It has become fashionable all over the world to scoff at being British.

Mention you’re proud of your British heritage, and watch the room shift uncomfortably. Say you admire the culture that gave us Shakespeare, the Magna Carta, and the Industrial Revolution, and someone will interject with “colonialism!” faster than you can say “tea and scones.” Even in Britain, of all places, the Union Jack is more likely to be associated with shame than with shared identity.

Well, I’m not ashamed.

Chris Lynch: Charity ‘FACT Aotearoa’ accused of partisan election interference faces official scrutiny

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters has called for answers over the taxpayer funding of FACT Aotearoa, now under scrutiny for potentially breaching the Charities Act by campaigning against the party during the election.

Peter Dunne: National Prime Ministers seem to have a thing about Wellington.

In 2013 then Prime Minister John Key raised the ire of Wellington’s community and business leaders when he told an Auckland audience that the capital city was “dying” and that “we don't know how to turn it around.” He subsequently offered “an unreserved apology” to anyone his remark had offended, adding that “actually Wellington's an extremely vibrant place.”

Dr Eric Crampton: How to solve an empire state of mind

There is a fun sign at the Wairau Road Pak’nSave explaining the store’s story.

The story began in 1987 when Foodstuffs acquired an interest in the land. In 1990, they applied for a resource consent. Nineteen years later, after two failed resource consent applications, a zoning change, a new resource consent, and about four years of litigation, they finally opened.

Things have improved slightly since then. At least it is harder for supermarkets to tie each other up in court over consenting issues.

Dr Eric Crampton: Making sense of the case for compensation in regulatory bill

The Regulatory Standards Bill before Parliament provides no enforceable legal right to compensation for the cost of regulation. It only suggests that compensation can be warranted when regulation takes or impairs property. A sovereign Parliament remains free to ignore that advice, as is made abundantly clear in sections 24 through 26 of the bill.

JC: This Country Needs Strong Leadership

This situation can largely be laid at the door of the current prime minister. Real enthusiasm is lacking. The spark, whereby the good feeling might be lit, is just not there.

The headline of this article has an obvious implication: what we need in terms of leadership is not what we are getting. Why? The answer lies in looking at parliament as a whole. Look at the MPs and the truth is there are very few who could offer strong leadership. Certainly there are none on the left, and regrettably, very few on the right. That is the truth of the matter.