Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 1 August 2026

Election 2026: Buff Bros and Bad Ideas

In a week full of controversy, Green candidate for Waiariki, Tania Waikato, drew attention by posting photographs of scantily clad Māori men and women (including herself) alongside information about enrolling and switching electoral rolls. She calls it the “bikini baddies and buff bros” campaign, the media calls it a thirst trap, and I call it a red flag for the Green Party. I am not sure they have room for an ego of Waikato’s size in their caucus.

Tony Orman: The Political Power Culture is Wrong – and Dangerous to Democracy

The first paragraph of a recent article on website “Newsroom” said “Labour says it will “100 percent” repeal one of the most contentious parts of the Government’s Planning and Natural Environment Bills if it wins power.”

Power?

Power over who?

John McLean: Evolution Of New Zealanders Into Entitled Aoteachondriacs

The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near

Sit down and pour yourself a strong one. Or a cup of tea. It’s all the same to me. I’ve got news for you. You are going to DIE. And, in the overall scheme of things, your death will come soon. The longer you live, the more likely it is that your last few years will be unproductive and unpleasant. In old age (if you get that far), you’ll be a burden on your fellow New Zealanders. There is no “right to life”.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Both Labour and National are tiptoeing around Winston

Did you see even Don Brash reckons Luxon should fire Winston as Foreign Minister?

Before anyone gets their hopes up, this never going to happen. If the PM cut Winston loose, the government would fall apart. That would kill not only Luxon's current term but his ambitions for a second.

Rodney Hide: Karl Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance

In “The Open Society and Its Enemies” (written during the Second World War, in New Zealand), Karl Popper identified a structural problem for liberal societies. Unlimited tolerance, he argued, is self-defeating. If a tolerant society extends unlimited tolerance even to those who are themselves intolerant — and who would, if they gained power, abolish the tolerant order — then the tolerant will eventually be destroyed, and tolerance with them.

Peter Williams: Stop the madness

Local government amalgamation deadlines nonsensical

From the wilds of Central Otago I am cheering loudly, clapping enthusiastically and hooping and hollering “go you good thing” to the councils in Taupo, Tararua and Rangitikei who are basically saying to the government “get stuffed.”

I write this on the last day of July. In ten days the deadline imposed by Local Government Minister Simon Watts for the country’s local authorities to find a dance partner or two runs out.

Peter Dunne: Opportunity Party Poaching National Voters

Christopher Luxon's ruling out any possibility of National working with the Opportunity Party after the election is not nearly as emphatic as it sounds.

This time three years ago Luxon was saying his party's strong preference was not to have to work with New Zealand First after the 2023 election, only to end up going into coalition together a couple of months later. In a similar vein, ACT's David Seymour originally specifically ruled out ever sitting around the Cabinet table with New Zealand First Ministers, only to join the post-election coalition because of the perceived greater good of keeping Labour out of office.

David Farrar: My hierarchy of needs for energy

The fuel crisis caused by the Middle East conflict has caused me to think a lot about how we should consider our energy needs in future.

The worst case scenario for the disruption to our energy supply was catastrophic. It wasn’t not enough petrol for cars. It was our industrial and agricultural industries grinding to a halt due to lack of diesel. It was potential food shortages due to lack of fertilisers. The worst case scenario was much more severe than anything else we have faced.

Mike's Minute: The housing developments and fast-track conundrum

We can end the week by adding another example of angst and anger to the fast-track pile.

We have talked about Delmore and their 1200 houses north of Auckland, as well as Pegasus and their 1000 homes north of Christchurch.

The fast-track application was lodged this week, and now we have Ridgeburn in Arrowtown; 1200 more houses and this week, a hall full of ropeable locals.

Saturday August 1, 2026 

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Andi Cocroft: Molesworth Belongs to New Zealand

The Department of Conservation has selected Ngāi Tahu Farming as its preferred operator for Molesworth Station, ending a competitive process that attracted five bids. The decision has inevitably generated discussion, particularly following the disappointment expressed by former manager Jim Ward, whose proposal centred on creating “a station for the nation” through a charitable trust. While attention has naturally focused on who won the concession, the more important question is what New Zealand should expect from whoever manages one of the country’s most iconic landscapes.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.7.26

Saturday August 1, 2026 

News:
Ngāi Tahu Farming chosen to operate country’s largest farm, Molesworth Station
Ngāi Tahu Farming has been chosen by the Department of Conservation to operate the country's largest farm.

Molesworth Station, an iconic 180-thousand hectare high country farm that spanned Marlborough and North Canterbury, was run as a cattle farm by state-owned Pāmu Landcorp.

Ani O'Brien: Behind the curtain of a NZ media scandal

Appointing the aligned is democracy, not corruption

Contrary to the breathless reporting we have seen this week from The Post and Stuff, it’s both natural and necessary for ministers to staff statutory boards with people who are willing and able to contribute to the objectives of the current government. By law and custom, ministerial appointees must have “appropriate knowledge, skills and experience” to fulfil the board’s functions and inevitably that also means picking individuals who support the government’s policy agenda.

Troy Bowker: Labour Capital Gains Tax Is Actually a Tax On Inflation

Labour governments tend to boost inflation. Chris Hipkins now wants to tax inflation as well.

Labour’s proposed Capital Gains Tax risks taxing inflation rather than genuine wealth creation. By applying a 28% tax to nominal gains on residential and commercial property acquired from 1 July 2027, the policy would tax increases in asset values caused by rising prices as well as real investment returns.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Winston's right about one thing in this situation

Winston Peters has a point - but is making it terribly.

In fact, if you've been following what happened in the House yesterday, it doesn't actually make all that much sense. But the bit the media is focusing on is the part where Winston tells Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country".

Andrew Dickens: Winston should know better

Winston Peters escaped censure yesterday from the Speaker after his little outburst against a Green MP.

But Mr Peters is still being judged in the court of public opinion.

Carmel Sepuloni was jumping up and down demanding he resign, or be sacked or just go away, which is not going to happen.

Geoff Parker: Captain Cook Deserves History – Not Cherry-picked Propaganda

Professor Tony Ballantyne's article, New Ferry Names: Winston Calls it Woke, But Debating Cook’s Legacy is Nothing New, presents itself as a balanced examination of Captain James Cook's legacy. Yet the article follows a familiar pattern: it highlights every negative episode associated with Cook while giving little attention to his extraordinary achievements, the historical context of the eighteenth century, or the many positive assessments of his contribution made by generations of historians.

No serious historian claims Cook was perfect. He was an eighteenth-century Royal Navy officer operating in an era when encounters between European and Indigenous societies often involved fear, misunderstanding and sometimes violence. But judging him solely through the moral standards of the twenty-first century risks replacing historical analysis with modern political judgement.

David Farrar: Does Labour want a navy without combat ships?

Labour managed to remove any combat ability from the Royal NZ Airforce in 2000. Now it seems they want to do the same with the navy!

The Post reports:

The Labour Party is open to the idea of a frigate-less Defence Force, saying it’s yet to take a position on replacing the ageing Anzac-class fleet.

David Farrar: Why has the Parole Board stopped publishing decisions?

The Parole Board has not published a single decision since May 2025. They used to publish once or twice a week, yet for over a year they have not published once.

This is appalling. We are meant to have an open justice system. The Minister should send them a rocket, and not reappoint anyone who was party to the decision to stop publishing their decisions.

Rodney Hide: The Strange New Face of Women’s Empowerment

Here is a single image that captures the extent to which we are lost.

Khadija Patel stands at the Palace of Westminster, recipient of the British Citizen Award 2026 for her “work empowering young women.” She is covered from head to toe. Only her eyes are visible. The official caption celebrates her as a champion of female empowerment.