Kerry Butler: Did Maori Cede Sovereignty to The British Crown

Cede means relinquish. Sovereignty is supreme authority, i.e. power to govern.

Certain members of the Waitangi Tribunal are claiming that the Māori chiefs did not cede sovereignty … by alleging that it was not the intent of the British to have them do so. And, by misinterpreting the Māori text in the Treaty as meaning they had agreed to self-determination; or to govern in partnership with the Crown.

Nicholas Kerr: Living Better Than Kings

Alex Tabarrok recently posted something on X that stopped me in my tracks:

“I bought a Tesla. The choice was simple; do I want a car or do I want a car + driver.”

He was referring to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology. His framing captures something much bigger and more interesting.

Caleb Anderson: What's really at stake in this election?

One of the preeminent features of humanity is its capacity for contemplation. Interesting things happen when that contemplation reaches the boundaries of the known (or certain).

There is a very real sense in which postmodernism operates like a cult. It has a breathtaking propensity for making claims that are neither rational nor scientific—claims that openly affront reason and common sense.

Nick Clark: Terms and conditions apply

Five weeks out from an election, bottom lines are everywhere. Almost every minor party has one. Some have several.

The bottom line is a strange beast. A party leader announces it with a stern face, and it tells voters, 'On this, we will not move.' Then it is released into the campaign dressed up as a binding contract.

Dr Michael Johnston: The liberal roots of New Zealand education

Imagining 19th-century schooling might bring to mind characters like Thomas Gradgrind from Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times. Gradgrind was a disciplinarian, obsessed with drilling facts into pupils' resistant brains. He had little time for art or poetry.

Like any caricature, Dickens' portrayal of Victorian English schools no doubt contains truth. But a close look at New Zealand's early school system reveals a rather different picture.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Why is the New Zealand dollar falling, and what could it mean for prices?

Might the plunge in the value of the New Zealand dollar in the last five weeks make you poorer?

The reason for asking is that, on 29 September, a New Zealand dollar bought 5.1% fewer US dollars than on 24 August, 3.1% fewer Australian dollars and 4.6% fewer units of the Reserve Bank’s basket of currencies.

What does this mean for you, what is behind it, and what, if anything, should be done?

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: The first Minor Leaders debate was a waste of time

So let’s talk about the Stuff "Kingmaker" debate.

Hated the name. Just call it the minor parties debate. It is what it is.

I’ve never liked the minor party debates because there are just too many talking heads. It’s always a mess as the moderator tries to herd cats. But I haven’t figured out a better way of doing it other than a week of one on ones and who’s watching that?

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Labour’s industrial revival runs into its own energy policy

This week Andy Burnham promised cheaper energy. John Healey promised a new age of industrialisation. Both gave Labour’s conference faithful something to applaud. Neither promise squares with the warnings from manufacturers that expensive energy is driving production out of Britain, or forecasts of household bills approaching £2,000 a year from January. Ministers even acknowledge that Burnham’s “buy British” grid policy could push bills higher. The applause is easy. Making these promises add up is another matter.

Dr Eric Crampton: Labour’s student loan plan not as progressive as you’d think

If Labour forms government after the election, it will forgive a portion of some student loans.

The policy announced on Sunday aims to leave graduates “with less debt, more of their income in their pocket, and a better chance to build their lives here in New Zealand.”

The policy will certainly reduce the outstanding student loan balances of eligible borrowers. Their loan balances will reduce by ten percent.

Rodney Hide: Your $82,011 for a party that wants Israel gone

We know what would happen if Palestine were free "from the river to the sea".

We learnt it, to our horror, on October 7.

Hamas murdered some 1200 people that day and dragged 251 into Gaza. They killed, tortured, raped and mutilated. They filmed it. They gloried in it.

They weren't alone.

Mike's Minute: Has the Opportunity Party blown it?

The Opportunity Party turns out to be a sham of sorts.

We have bottom lines, but not real bottom lines.

1) More power to the Commerce Commission. Big deal...

2) A 10-year health plan. That means nothing.

 Sunday October 4, 2026 

                   ⇩ 

Insights From Social Media: Sorry, National, You’ve Let Us Down

SORRY, NATIONAL, YOU’VE LET US DOWN - by Val Davis

Sorry, National, you’ve let us down
For so many of us that’s a fact
So I’ll give my Electorate vote to you
But my Party vote to ACT

Sorry, Sir John, this time you’re wrong
To ask us for 2 Ticks Blue
We feel betrayed - we feel dismayed
We’re wondering what to do

Breaking Views Update: Week of 4.10.26

Sunday October 4, 2026 

News:
Whanganui District Council’s Relationship Agreement With Iwi Still To Be Ratified
Whanganui District Council remains committed to forming an official partnership with iwi, after “a long and, at times, arduous journey” towards Treaty settlement.

Councillors last year voted to adopt a relationship agreement with iwi and hapū, coming into effect after the Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust’s (WLSNT) Treaty settlement with the Crown.

Anglo Saxon: New Zealand's equality failure pitches voters against Maori tribalism.

In this episode; Anglo Saxon asks do you think people in New Zealand have equal rights; and why are maoris always fighting for more?


Click to view

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 3 October 2026

This week New Zealand lost a great former Parliamentarian and Speaker, the Right Honourable Adrian Rurawhe. He died at just 65 and most people had no idea how ill he was. Chris Hipkins said Adrian had not even told the Labour caucus he was sick because he knew they were busy with the election and “didn’t want to get in the way”, which is entirely consistent with everything people have said about him since his death.

Brendan O'Neill: The lesson of Flydubai? Don’t mess with Zionists

The heroism on that crazy flight was a beautiful reminder that the Jewish nation is here to stay.

I was in the calmest place in the world yesterday as the news of the terror on that Flydubai flight started to trickle in: Tel Aviv airport. Yes, the very airport for which that plunging, blood-stained jet was destined was an oasis of serenity. Passengers watched the news on their phones with superb, unflappable composure. Smiles cracked over pints of dark lager as it became clear the crisis had been resolved. Then it struck me: we were chill because we knew that if a suicidal loon tried any sh*t on the flights we were about to board, he’d be slapped and hogtied in seconds.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Is NZ now saying ‘no’ to foreign investment?

When law firms advise foreign clients on investing in New Zealand, they usually include some version of the same paragraph. It describes the country as a stable democracy with independent courts, secure property rights and predictable politics, and for decades nobody had to think twice before writing it.

Last week, a lawyer at one of the leading firms told me his team is advising an overseas client on an investment here. They have just toned that paragraph down, he said, because it is no longer true. That is not because the law has changed, but because promises made by various parties during the campaign for the 7 November election would undermine property rights.

Kerre Woodham: Just how big is Labour's fiscal hole?

How big is his hole? Nicola Willis was asking Grant Robertson back in 2023, where are you going to find the money to fill that Government's financial fiscal hole? And now yesterday, she says that Labour has another fiscal hole to fill and it's a beauty. She told us yesterday when she was a guest in studio that there is no way Labour can afford to fund their pay equity promises, far less many of the other promises they're making to voters. Labour in response has said, well just taihoa, all will be revealed when our fiscal plan is produced sometime soon.

Bob Edlin: Effective altruism.....

........a philosophy shunned by the Trump team but embraced by The Opportunity Party

I might have been busy thinking about mowing the lawns next day, or some such, on September 19 because I missed the chance to attend a conference on “effective altruism”.

The one-day conference, organised by an outfit called Effective Altruism Aotearoa New Zealand, was held at the National Library of New Zealand (not too far from my home).