Karl du Fresne: What privilege sounds like in 2025

We hear a lot about privilege these days. We’re told it’s an economic and political weapon that an affluent, selfish, male-dominated white capitalist society uses to keep disadvantaged minority groups in their place.

Wrong. Privilege in New Zealand in 2025 is the phenomenon that enables a small, effete and highly politicised media elite, cushioned by public funding, to capture and monopolise a crucial organ of public opinion and seek to influence the course of public debate.

Fiona MacKenzie: The “Land Back” Pogrom — Most Kiwis Don’t See It Coming

(Note: To reduce word count and aid understanding, Māori words have been omitted where possible.)

New Zealanders who pay attention to the slow creep of our political and legal institutions have every reason to feel uneasy. Many believed the 2023 election would halt the advance of racial division and restore a government committed to equal citizenship. Instead, the Coalition—particularly the National Party —seems schizophrenically determined to avoid offending those who demand ever-expanding tribal privilege. Far from dismantling race-based policy, it is still normalising it in much legislation and policy.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.11.25

Wednesday November 19, 2025 

News:
Local board chair apologises after leaving meeting due to karakia
The chair of a local community board has apologised for the “offence” caused after he walked out of the first meeting of the new term due to the pre-meeting karakia.

Mark Drury and fellow Whangamatā Community Board member, Deputy Chair Neil Evans, left the room where the meeting was being held while the karakia was being recited.

NZCPR Newsletter: A Media Crisis

Dr Julie Posetti, a Professor of Journalism at the City University of London, described the growing scandal over editorial bias at the BBC as an “existential crisis”.

She warned: “You cannot have democracy without credible public interest media.”

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 14

Prediction is hard ~ especially, as Yogi Berra is alleged to have said, about the future. Harold MacMillan, when asked what politicians fear the most, replied ~ ‘Events, dear boy, events’. Who has a crystal ball? International events ~ war, the interruption of overseas trade, financial calamity ~ even something a simple as the breakdown of the internet, or the actions of Artificial Intelligence ~ could fundamentally alter everything tomorrow. We might be flooded with refugees, or we might be the only people left in the world. We might all pull together in an emergency, or we might all tear ourselves apart. There might be a new pandemic, or climate catastrophes. A decent earthquake could destroy us overnight ~ without electricity for any length of time, without vital roads and bridges and the electronic systems we all rely on all the time ~ not to mention cooked meals and electric light and hot water ~ we would be plunged back into the dark ages. They say that only nine meals, three days, stand between civilisation and violence. A serious widespread drought would take only a bit longer.

Matua Kahurangi: Time for New Zealand to grow some balls on criminal deportations

New Zealand has always prided itself on being welcoming and fair, but fairness cuts both ways. If people choose to come here and build a life, they also choose to respect our laws and the social contract that holds this country together. When they break that contract in a serious way, our current immigration rules are far too soft. It is time for New Zealand to grow some balls and start treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Mike's Minute: Can the Opportunity Party succeed?

Well, welcome back Opportunity. I think I have that right.

Opportunity is the former "The Opportunities Party". Now it's just "The Opportunity Party".

It has a new leader and a new tax policy. They have been looking for a leader for ages and they even advertised.

None of this is a good sign.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: National's strategy is looking riskier by the day

These polls that keep showing Labour ahead of National are a sign of how crap the economy is.

Up until a few weeks ago, I was ignoring polls because Labour didn't have any policy. Labour was ahead, but it didn't have any policy.

Andrew Dickens: If we don't want congestion charges, give us alternatives

On the front page of the New Zealand Herald today there was a poll, and it shows that we're split as a nation on the issue of capital gains tax. So, the question for us here in this room and you in your room and all of us together is, should we have another discussion on the CGT?

And my answer to that is, of course not. And why?

Professor Paul Spoonley: Latest numbers show NZ now at risk of population stagnation...

Growing, going, gone: latest numbers show NZ now at risk of population stagnation

A year after the 2023 census, changes were already taking place in New Zealand’s population that meant the data was in danger of being superseded.

Fertility was continuing to decline, the number of immigrants arriving was beginning to climb, there was an exodus of New Zealand citizens, Māori made up more of the population and Asian communities were continuing to grow.

Chris Lynch: Government announces major cut to vehicle importing charges to keep car prices down

A reduction in the cost of importing new and used vehicles has been announced, with the Government introducing changes it says will help prevent higher prices being passed on to New Zealand buyers.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the update to the Clean Vehicle Standard aims to ease pressure on importers at a time when families are already struggling with rising costs.

Lindsay Mitchell: Latest benefit data - Three observations

The latest monthly benefit data was released yesterday.

Here are three observations.

There are more Cook Islanders on benefits in New Zealand than the Cook Island's entire working-age population

Cook Island's resident population doesn't fluctuate much.

Matua Kahurangi: Justice by tikanga? Not for Kapa-Kingi, she prefers the colonial courts

It is pretty funny to watch Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, the ousted Te Pāti Māori MP, trot off to the courts to challenge her expulsion from the party. The very courts she now seeks help from are the colonial structures that most Māori politicians today seem to despise. We are constantly told that Māori want to settle matters through tikanga, that uniquely Māori approach to justice, that we should deal with things in a way that reflects our values and customs.

So where is that approach here? Nowhere.

Tuesday November 18, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: Kiwis need to be more forthright - Silence is Surrender

For too long, New Zealanders have watched in silence as governments of all stripes have chipped away at the principle that every citizen should stand equal before the law. The steady advance of race-based governance, special rights, parallel systems, and political power granted on the basis of ancestry has gone virtually unchallenged by the everyday New Zealander. That era has to end. This country won’t fix itself, and it certainly won’t return to democratic equality if the public continues to whisper their frustrations privately while remaining silent publicly.

Ryan Bridge: What Kiwis think of a CGT

Couple of things from this morning's poll on CGT.

Basically, we're evenly split.

As many of us are in favour of Labour's plan as are against it.

The results are interesting, though. The details.

Chris Lynch: New poll shows cost of living remains top concern and government performance sinks to record low

A new Ipsos Issues Monitor poll has revealed that New Zealanders are most concerned about the cost of living, with public confidence in the government falling to its lowest level since tracking began.

The October 2025 report, based on responses from 1004 people between 21 October and 30 October, has shown that 61 percent of New Zealanders see inflation and the cost of living as the most important issue facing the country.

Matua Kahurangi: Jacinda Ardern - New Zealand’s most hated export - live in London, because she can’t show her face at home

Picture this: a cozy Sunday afternoon in late November 2025, the kind where London’s fog clings to the Thames like a bad hangover. At some upscale venue, details fuzzy because who needs transparency when you’re selling inspiration, Jacinda Ardern will grace the stage for a How To Academy event titled A Different Kind of Power. There, in a fireside chat hosted by comedian Bill Bailey, she’ll regale a fawning audience with tales of empathetic leadership, her “compassionate” response to the Christchurch mosque attacks, her pandemic “heroics”, and the trials of being a mum in the spotlight. Tickets start at what feels like a small fortune, with premium ones tossing in a copy of her shiny new memoir. Subscribers get a discount because nothing says “people power” like paywalls and perks for the elite.

David Farrar: Labour’s record of terrible Police appointments

Unlike other public service entities who are appointed by the Public Service Commissioner, the Commissioner and statutory Deputy Commissioners of Police are selected by the Prime Minister. There are usually multiple qualified candidates, and they get to pick the one that they think will do the best job.

And Labour’s record is almost beyond belief – they managed to pick four “duds” in a row. Not one, not two, not. three but all four of their appointments turned out to be seriously flawed.

Mike's Minute: Tariff backdown is a big win for NZ Inc.

Big win for NZ Inc. and a lesson for everyone who doesn’t understand tariffs.

Donald Trump has cut tariffs on beef and the beneficiaries are largely New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.

Brazil has had a 50% tariff so they will be thrilled.