Geoff Parker: The Real Constitutional Instability Is The Attempt To Rewrite New Zealand By Stealth

Writing for the University of Auckland, political theorist Stephen Winter warns of “short-sighted constitutional instability”, pointing to changes involving Treaty principles, Māori wards, electoral law and the Bill of Rights. He proposes stronger institutional safeguards, including a permanent constitutional select committee.

But this puts the cart before the horse. The far more fundamental question Winter does not adequately confront is:

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 17 October 2026

Election 2026: Polls, plans, and unexpected begrudging support

The latest polling hasn’t made life any better for either of the two Chrises. An Anacta poll (conducted by Labour’s former pollster Talbot Mills for corporate clients) has Labour on 29%, National on 28%, the Greens on 15%, New Zealand First on 10%, ACT on 9%, and Opportunity on 5.4%. Te Pāti Māori is languishing at 1.9%, but that is part of the strategy. The poll was conducted before the Mongrel Mob visit became controversial, however. The 1News Verian poll earlier in the week also placed Opportunity in the position of potential kingmaker. There continues to be little enthusiasm for either of the Chrises with both on 22% as preferred prime minister in the Anacta polling.

Claire Deeks: You Don't Even Have To Like Them

With the election just a few weeks away, there's something I want to talk about.

I've heard from people who have decided they won't be voting this year. Others are still trying to work out who, if anyone, deserves their vote.

And I understand why.

Bob Edlin: Champions of Maori flag raise questions about their grasp of sovereignty and history

RNZ’s audience might have been left wondering about the nature of the curriculum at St Stephen’s School, when they heard the reasons that students were giving for championing the Tino Rangatiratanga flag.

The students’ thinking about identity, history and culture is recorded in a report about a campaign to have the flag flown permanently alongside the New Zealand flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Campaign supporters are reported as saying this would recognise Māori identity, history and “the dual heritage of Aotearoa”.

Campaign organisers aim to gather 80,000 signatures in support of permanently raising the flag from Waitangi Day next year.

The flag now flies on the bridge each Waitangi Day before being removed the following day.

St Stephen’s School principal Nathan Durie told RNZ the campaign provided an opportunity for young people to engage with the country’s history and future.

He noted that in Australia, the Aboriginal flag has flown permanently on Sydney Harbour Bridge since 2022 following a long-running public campaign.


“The point was made about the Australians have been flying the Aboriginal flag for a few years,” Durie said.

“That does not correct the past, but it’s a statement. In terms of this flag, as it’s known as the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, recognises the fact that we did not cede sovereignty and our sovereign voice needs to be heard.”

Is that what is being taught at the school?

The highly contentious issue of whether Maori ceded sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi – or what sovereignty, if any, “the Crown” or Parliament are entitled to exercise – obviously has been settled by the headmaster.

Maori did not cede it – and that’s a “fact”.

A 16-year-old student at the school, Tāmati Bruce, is reported as saying that permanently flying the Tino Rangatiratanga flag would send an important message about Māori “belonging” in this country.

“It represents who we are as a country.

“Aotearoa is not just people from overseas, it’s the native people who are actually from this land.”

Hmm. The writer of this PoO article is entitled to describe himself as a native person who actually comes from this land.

That’s because the exact meaning of the term “native people” depends on the context, language, and whether it is used generally or as a synonym for indigenous peoples.

Google advised us:

• A “native” can simply mean a person born in a specific town, city, or country (e.g., calling someone a “Baltimore native” or a “New Zealand native”).
• When applied as “native peoples” or “Indigenous peoples,” it refers to groups who inhabited a country or geographical region before the arrival of later colonists, settlers, or dominant cultures.

Tamati Bruce probably had “indigenous” in mind.

But take note that the surname Bruce originated in Normandy, France. It was taken to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066 and later becoming famous in Scotland, thanks to Robert the Bruce.

His fellow student, Eli Rush, rejected calls for the New Zealand flag to be the only flag flown on the bridge.

“I think there’s definitely two cultures in New Zealand, and Māori should definitely be up there too.”

“Definitely two” opens the possibility that maybe there are more.

Indeed there are.

Google reckons New Zealand is home to over 200 distinct ethnic groups and people who speak more than 150 languages.

According to data from the Stats NZ 2023 Census, the population is divided across five major ethnic categories, alongside people identifying with multiple or other backgrounds:

• European: 67.8%
• Māori: 17.8%
• Asian: 17.3% (including Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Korean, and other communities)
• Pacific Peoples: 8.9% (including Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, and Niuean)
• Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African (MELAA): 1.9%.

The “indigenous” issue is open to argument, too, of course.

PoO suggests the students who talk of being indigenous dip into their history books.

Or they might read an article posted this week on The Conversation

How Did Early Māori Society Develop? New Research Reveals A Clearer Timeline

Fiona Petchey, from the University of Waikato, writes –

When the first Polynesian settlers arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand some 750 years ago, they found an environment very different to the lands they left behind.

To arrive here, they must have come from somewhere.

The Conversation article goes on:

Archaeologists have traditionally divided early Māori history into three broad periods. The first, from around 1250 to 1400, was marked by the establishment of settlements and hunting of moa and other native wildlife.

A less understood “transitional” period followed, before the emergence of “classic” Māori society around 1600, with more intensive food production, fortified settlements and distinctive cultural traditions.

Terms such as the “Māori Middle Ages” highlight the frustrating unknowns that still cloud this picture.

The article is about research which offers a more precise definition.

The definition of “indigenous” remains bemusingly elastic.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.

Graham Noble: The Rise of Socialism in America....

.....Not Popular, but Not Shunned

In a sane world, there would be no need for anybody to conduct a poll asking voters whether they are concerned about socialist candidates running for public office because, in such a world, the percentage of people who say they are concerned would be 100. Still, the most recent poll published on this issue holds both good news and bad.

Alwyn Poole: Such a brilliant story in the NZ Herald today...

 .....re the progress of Auckland Girls Grammar

Great article:

“Earlier this year the Ministry of Education awarded AGGS the Education Excellence Award for Raising Student Achievement after the school recorded NCEA and University Entrance results above 90% in 2025.”

David Farrar: Green priorities

The Greens are campaigning on:

• Funding gangs to do drug rehabilitation

• Their right to campaign at gang pads for votes and selfies

• Repealing the gang patch law

• Allowing all prisoners to vote, even mass murderers

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm glad to see the back of public payphones

Do you know what I'm not going to miss? Public payphones.

Spark has finally reached the end of the road. They've made the decision to rip 90% of these public payphones out of the ground.

They tried to save them. They tried to talk Auckland Council into a deal where they could modernise the payphones in Auckland and operate them on behalf of the public. In exchange, Spark would have been allowed to run digital advertising on the sides of the phones.

Nicole McKee: Look who's courting votes at a Mongrel Mob pad

Look who's courting votes at a Mongrel Mob pad.

It's hardly surprising they think this is a promising place to campaign. The Greens oppose measures to put more offenders behind bars, and Te Pāti Māori wants to abolish prisons by 2040.

Oriini Kaipara says the visit was about the ‘health and wellbeing of the Mob community’. Their health and wellbeing would be a lot better if they stopped cooking meth, assaulting each other, and abusing their families.

Mike's Minute: Did October 15 change the election?

Is it too far-fetched to ask two things:

1) Whether the campaign turned dramatically against Labour yesterday.

2) If within a 24-hour period, whatever chance they might have thought they had is now blown to smithereens.

Saturday October 17, 2026 

                   ⇩

Breaking Views Update: Week of 11.10.26

Saturday October 17, 2026 

News:
How a West Auckland pilot brings Specialist Hauora Practitioners to Bilingual Units
A collaborative health initiative is currently underway in West Auckland primary schools to embed wellbeing practices into bilingual learning environments. The program, Whāia te Oranga, operates within the bilingual units at Rānui Primary School and New Windsor School, providing structured hauora sessions for over 150 students.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Taxpayers' Union's Chris Hipkins AI advert is brilliant campaigning

Right, so the question is whether the Taxpayers' Union has gone too far with its AI advert about Chris Hipkins.

If you haven't seen the ad yet, let me explain it. It's a short video that starts with a ginger-haired man in a suit and red tie sprinting down a suburban street. He kicks in a door and runs into a house where a family is having dinner. He grabs all their wallets from the table and runs off. Then he kicks in the door of another house. A woman is watching TV. He rushes in, takes her wallet and bolts out the door.

Andrew Dickens: Is the Greens' co-leadership a thing of the past?

Yesterday's talkback outrage was all about the MPs and the gangs.

A meeting that was condemned by both the Chrises in the Leaders debate.

But despite this weight of opinion, Marama Davidson doubled down on the visit – and then she promised more funding for gang run social programmes.

Ani O'Brien: Thumbs Up for the Mongrel Mob. Middle Finger to its Victims.

How many rapes does it take before politicians stop smiling?

I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to voting rights. It is my firm belief that the right to vote is fundamental and should not be taken away for any reason. It is controversial among my friends that I oppose the Coalition’s legislation to prevent prison inmates from voting. I do realise that this population overwhelmingly vote for left wing parties, but it is their right to do so. Even if we sequester criminals and take away their physical freedom, they are still part of society at large and I don’t think disenfranchisement should be part of their punishment.

Colinxy: When Bureaucracy Replaces Reality....

.....The Soviet Whaling Disaster and New Zealand’s Box‑Ticking Culture

Students for Liberty recently highlighted one of the most grotesque examples of central planning gone wrong: the Soviet Union’s whaling industry. It is a case study in what happens when bureaucratic incentives replace human needs, and when “success” is measured not by outcomes but by paperwork.

Their summary is brutal:

Kerre Woodham: The MP-gang meeting brought back memories of the bad old days

Sweet mercy. I don't know about you, but the sight of Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs posturing and posing with members of the Mongrel Mob brought back very bad memories of the bad old days. Remember when gang members were given funding for dubious rehab programs? And when they took over the roads and the streets as they were going to tangihanga or just, you know, going from point A to point B and wanted to put on a show?

Bob Edlin: Family centre’s boss sits on Wellington City Council....

.....and three staffers soon may be sitting on the Porirua council

An article on the Scoop website reminded us that more than one election campaign is under way in one chunk of Porirua. A by-election is being fought in the Onepoto General Ward.

The Scoop article drew attention to Sāmoan educator and community services leader Lealamanu’a Aiga Caroline Mareko, who is running in the by-election.

David Farrar: An Amazing Principal

The Herald reports:

In 2017, Ngaire Ashmore walked into a school in crisis. Now Auckland Girls’ Grammar School is winning awards, fielding hundreds of out-of-zone applications per year, and 92% of its Year 13 students have gained University Entrance – compared to 48% a decade ago.

The school’s first Māori woman principal spoke candidly to Carolyne Meng-Yee about becoming a mother at 19, challenging low expectations and the personal experiences that shaped her conviction that every student has potential – even when they can’t see it in themselves.

David Farrar: More on the Herald so called poll of polls

On the 2nd of October I wrote:

So the last six polls, all from different firms, have had ACT ahead of Opportunity by margins ranging from 1% to 6%, and the Herald-MOTU poll of polls says that the poll of polls means Opportunity is ahead of ACT.

On the 8th of October the Herald did an explainer, and have made some changes. Much of their explanation has nothing to do with why they had Opportunity above ACT, when every single pollster had them 1% to 6% behind. But there were some nuggets of useful info: