Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.11.25

Thursday November 20, 2025 

News:
Iwi Leaders Call for Stronger Māori Voice in Government Policy
Iwi leaders from across the motu are urging the Government to strengthen its partnership with Māori as major policy reforms continue to reshape the political landscape.

At a national hui over the weekend, representatives from rūnanga, urban Māori authorities, and Māori service providers reaffirmed that Māori must be included from the beginning, not the end, of policy development.

Clive Bibby: Running on Empty- it doesn't have to signal the end is nigh

In some ways, I'm quite proud of the fact that most of my adult life has been spent struggling to survive during events that are not of our making - we are survivors!

My guess is that a good dollop of the population can identify with that rather negative claim but it would be a mistake to assume that those like me are living an unfulfilled existence.

Steven Gaskell: When “Identity” Becomes a Funding Strategy: The Magically Expanding Population

For decades we’ve been told that the rapidly expanding Māori population is a triumph of cultural revival a demographic renaissance driven by pride, resilience, and whakapapa. A neat story, certainly, but one that becomes a little less poetic the moment you look at how the numbers are actually assembled. Because the “doubling” of the Māori population since 1991 isn’t the result of a baby boom or sudden historic revelation. It’s the product of an increasingly flexible, politically convenient definition of ethnicity one that can expand or contract depending on who’s filling out the census and what benefits are attached to ticking the right box.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Breakers proved why sport needs to stay out of politics

There would not be a drama today about the Breakers basketball team not wanting to wear the rainbow flag on their jerseys if the basketball league had stayed out of politics in the first place.

Now, if you haven't caught up on this, there is unnecessary upset today because it's emerged that the entire Breakers team will not wear that little rainbow Pride flag on their jerseys during Pride Round next year because some of the players don't want to.

Garrick Tremain: His decision with Euthanasia - Part 4

In the final part of this 4-part interview on The Platform, terminally ill Garrick Tremain talks to Sean Plunket about his decision with Euthanasia.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Chris Bishop has done a Tory Whanau

The story about Chris Bishop and the funding switcheroo is mostly a beat up, I think, and nobody will care. He's the Housing Minister, the Transport Minister, and the MP for Hutt South.

Basically, some Kainga Ora housing project cash was transferred to transport to pay for a bridge. He signed it off - so far, who cares, right?

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Luxon’s Cosplay Will Lead to Failure

I’ve written two prior essays on this: one dissecting the structural incoherence of NZ’s proposed social media legislation and another diagnosing Christopher Luxon’s managerial style. Though the first wasn’t targeted at him directly, his recent promise to pass the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill before Christmas 2025 proves both points. It’s a convergence of strategic failure and performative urgency – a case study in cosplay politics.

Luxon is not leading. He is floundering to achieve ‘something’ that might resemble leadership. But what he’s delivering is symbolic action dressed up as governance – hollow in conception and dangerous in its implications.

Dr Michael Bassett: Whose Auckland Festival

As I was looking over the programme for next March’s Auckland Arts Festival I was struck by the large number of events with a Maori theme. Open the cover and the introduction is headed Toitu Te Reo with a large piece of text in Maori. Then Ihi. Wehi. Mana featuring a group of Maori adorned with stick-on chin tattoos. Then He Manu Tioriori follows with a further long burst in Te Reo. Then ONO with Moana & the Tribe, featuring another column of Te Reo. And there’s a “free” Whanau Day for the citizens of Tamaki Makaurau!

Graham Adams: Stanford Redeems Herself With Reverse Ferret

Furore over Treaty flip-flop boosts her credentials.

A “reverse ferret” refers to someone suddenly taking a dramatically different position on a particular issue — as Erica Stanford did last week with her screeching u-turn over removing the most prominent of the Treaty clauses in the Education and Training Act (2020).

Matua Kahurangi: The shocking truth about John Tamihere and Waipareira Trust

John Tamihere has spent decades selling himself as a champion of the underdog, a tireless advocate for Māori and community empowerment. He parades on stage, dominates media debates, and paints himself as the voice of the marginalised. As Duncan Garner lays bare in his recent podcast, the reality is far uglier.

Chris Lynch: Government digital ID plan raises new privacy concerns

A civil liberties organisation has raised fresh concerns about the Government’s plan to introduce a national digital identity system, warning it could erode personal freedom and place new pressures on New Zealanders to adopt a single digital pathway for essential services.

Andrew Moran: Is the Global Economy Preparing for Another Inflation Wave?

If you don't learn from history, you're doomed to be a Keynesian.

An inflation wave is coming, and it will not be because of tariffs. In the United States and the rest of the world, governments and central banks are preparing to fill the pool with red ink and grease up the printing presses. Whether out of fear that the global economy is on the brink of a recession or conditions need a boost, recent actions and proposals signal policymakers think something is on the horizon.

Dr Eric Crampton: How to improve the emissions trading scheme

Announcements earlier this month make the Emissions Trading Scheme a bit less credible over the longer term. The problem can be fixed – and relatively easily. But it should be fixed.

First, a bit of background.

Bob Edlin: DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui....

DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui – but who decides we need 10 years of such healing?

PoO today was minded to check out a bit of conservation legislation and wonder why it is not likely to be as effective as a rahui.

 Wednesday November 19, 2025 

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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.

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.