Net Zero Watch Samizdat - Labour’s energy price ‘doom loop’: the Net Zero legacy

Household energy debts are heading towards £7bn, with paying customers facing a £100 annual charge to cover unpaid bills. Ministers, meanwhile, are weighing Rosebank and Jackdaw as researchers warn that blocking them could forgo almost £11bn in tax revenue. Overseas, the IEA is accelerating emergency diesel releases as supplies tighten.

Kerre Woodham: Government gang rehab programmes need to show us their value

The Greens are under fire with Marama Davidson doubling down on her desire to work with the mob to get positive health outcomes. First there was the photo in the mob headquarters, cha ching, look at us, woo hoo! That was the Greens and Te Pāti Māori MPs popping along to a health hui.

And when asked about that in faintly judgy tones by the media, Greens co leader Marama Davidson said, "We are open to funding the Mongrel Mob to deliver drug prevention programs. We're open to funding what works. We're an evidence-based party." And that instead of pushing problems under the carpet, they want to bring problems out into the light, get to the people who are hard to reach, and if that means working with the mob, well, all well and good.

Richard Prebble: Those about to be defeated

“The average length of time served in Parliament has dropped since MMP was introduced”, says the Association of Former Members of Parliament. For list MPs it is “about four years”.

The Association ran at a loss this year of $2,806, but the treasurer “expects the situation to improve next year as more MPs leave Parliament following the 2026 General Election.”

The Association reports that many former MPs struggle to find employment.

Rodney Hide: Henry Cooke wants a do-over if you vote wrong

The Post's political editor, Henry Cooke, has a plan if the MSM’s relentless campaign for the Opportunity Party fails. It’s a simple plan: if you vote the wrong way, you vote again.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361099333/dirty-deal-chris-hipkins-and-christopher-luxon-should-actually-strike

He says so plainly. He wants Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins to promise that "if an overhang is the only path to government, then we'll ask the Governor-General to call another election instead." He says it "would be called a 'dirty deal' between the big two almost immediately."

 Sunday October 18, 2026 

                   ⇩

NZCPR POLITICAL PARTY TREATY POLICY 2026

 

Executive Summary 

The 2026 election presents New Zealanders with a stark constitutional choice. For the first time in our history, voters must decide whether the country remains a Parliamentary democracy based on equal citizenship — or whether it will begin a transition towards a Treaty-based constitution that would replace democratic authority with tribal control. 

Peter Williams: The Minor Parties Hold The Keys To Power

 

The political week has been dominated by debates, with three of them generating numerous headlines and reactions – the televised leaders' encounter on Wednesday, the so-called Kingmaker show on Tuesday and the Queenstown finance spokespersons' debate also on Wednesday, which drew an audience reported to be 800 strong, possibly the biggest turnout of the campaign so far.

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.

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.