Damien Grant: The maths behind TOP’s biggest promise falls apart

It had been my optimistic belief that I could ignore The Opportunities Party. Like Scientology, Aromatherapy and anything to do with Gwyneth Paltrow, some things are so ridiculous no commentary is necessary.

Sadly; it seems some of you have been telling pollsters you intend to vote for a party that was so moribund they advertised for their current leader by posting in the Situations Vacant section of the internet.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The attention on the Waikato ED case could increase the odds of fixing the problem

If there's any good that comes from this awful case of the man dying while waiting for help in Waikato Hospital's emergency department, it's that at least it's getting a lot of media attention.

I don't know if you recall but basically the same thing happened in 2021 at Middlemore Hospital. It was strange to me how little attention it received at the time, especially given everything else that was going wrong. There were people waiting for ambulances and dying in their doorways.

Spaniard: Tikanga plays third rail in public land changes

Tikanga is creeping into much of our nation’s life, with control passed to iwi underhandedly. One mostly unnoticed area is conservation. When Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka recently redesignated 513,042.2 hectares of West Coast public conservation land, he did it on the basis on tikanga.

His decision-making legitimised Ngai Tahu’s leveraging of lore and law in interpreting the Conservation Act and other legislation, serious conflicts of interest, and dominance of Ngai Tahu tribal rhetoric.

Rodney Hide: Parliament’s Assault on the Family Home

When candidates come knocking this election you may care to ask about the “Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act”. It was passed in 2022 because … compassion. Of course, the Act is everything but compassionate. It is a direct, brutal attack on parental authority, free speech, and religious liberty.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Dark Green Money

UK

Ed Miliband’s Dark Green Money Network

An investigation by The Spectator has exposed the Dark Green Money networks behind the ideological capture of Westminster.

This week’s cover piece reveals the monied interests behind a dense ecosystem of funders, think tanks, campaign groups and policy organisations that have helped shape Britain’s net zero debate. Also read this article in the Telegraph on the European Climate Foundation. 

John McLean: Infectious Medical Council Maori Madness

A chance insight into the Ministry of Health’s collective mind

Talking to embedded individuals can provide intriguing insights into elite sentiments on controversial matters.

I recently chewed the fat with one of our neighbors, an English-born doctor idling at the Ministry of Health. When I asked him what the general mood is at that Ministry, his face clouded with anger. He explained that Ministry staff are all furious and terribly distracted over the Minister of Health, baby faced assassin Simeon Brown, firing the chair and deputy-chair of the Medical Council.

Nick Clark: Who decides, and how

Local government reform has turned into a numbers game. The government’s ‘Head Start’ asks how many councils we should have, and where the lines between their jurisdictions should be drawn. But a more important question is, what decisions should be made at each level of government?

My new research note, Head Start Done Right, argues that decisions should be made at the lowest level able to make them well. That approach is called subsidiarity.

Dr Eric Crampton: Wegovy, RSV vaccines among drugs on slow track in NZ

Small countries in a big world can choose to be nimble or they can choose to be stupid.

When it comes to medicines, New Zealand has chosen the second path. Rather than recognising authorisations provided by better-resourced overseas drug approval agencies, New Zealand requires local approval for new medicines.

Dr Michael Johnston: Grading your grandmother

Victoria University of Wellington wants the teachers it trains to be ‘agents of change.’

According to the university’s handbook for teacher education programmes, teaching graduates must be committed to “social, cultural, and ecological justice.” Decoded, that means attending protests about political causes the activists lecturers find important.

Alwyn Poole: Re pre-school.....

Again – some recognition and help re pre-school but the Minister still misses the key point.

This week Erica Stanford made an announcement to expand a programme to enhance oral language skills in pre-school children. For those it will reach, it appears positive.

The issue is the “those it will reach” part.

From the article:

Mike's Minute: Stop focusing on the trivialities

For some reason trivialities fascinate some people, especially when it comes to someone else's money.

The Shane Jones story is your latest example. No, he shouldn't have done it, but its $30,000. We have bigger fish to fry.

The "energy in, energy out" equation didn’t stack up, but you can't tell the media that.

Sunday July 5, 2026 

                   ⇩

Breaking Views Update: Week of 5.7.26

Sunday July 5, 2026 

News:
Judge La-Verne King appointed as Principal Family Court Judge, first of Māori descent to hold the role
District Court Judge La-Verne King has been appointed New Zealand’s next Principal Family Court Judge, becoming the head of the country’s Family Court from November.

Attorney-General Chris Bishop announced the appointment on Friday, confirming Judge King will take over following the retirement of Jackie Moran, who has held the role since 2018.

Insights From Social Media: It Must Be So Embarrassing Being Different

NOTE: The following article was published in June 1995, newspaper unknown.

I am glad I am not a Maori. It must be awful being a Maori. So embarrassing.

Fancy knowing that you are so dumb you need extra resources for your education, that you are not capable of becoming a nurse without special help such as being allowed to sit your tests again and again till you pass, that you need a special quota system to give you a chance of becoming a doctor or a teacher or a policeman, that you are very good at “cultural” things such as singing and dancing and flax-weaving, but absolutely hopeless at practical things and useless at business!

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 4 July 2026

Did you know…

That Labour was at 25.5% in Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for June 2026?

Did you read about it? See it in the news? Was Chris Hipkins chased through an airport by reporters asking if he would resign? Were Labour MPs asked if they still support him?

Graham Adams: Five years on, the tide turns against ideological censors

It is five years this month since a letter signed by seven Auckland University professors was published in the Listener under the title “In Defence of Science”. They argued that although mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) is “critical for the preservation of culture and perpetuation of local practices, and plays key roles in management and policy… it falls far short of what we can define as science itself.”

The letter sparked a firestorm. Auckland University’s Vice-chancellor, Dawn Freshwater, wrote that questioning “whether mātauranga Māori can be called science has caused considerable hurt and dismay among our staff, students and alumni”. She emphasised the letter did not represent the university’s views.

Peter C. Earle: The American Revolution Redefined Freedom Itself

When the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, its immediate purpose was practical: to justify severing ties with Great Britain and explain to audiences both foreign and domestic why rebellion had become necessary. Yet the document’s historical importance extended far beyond the thirteen colonies. The American declaration not only created a new nation, but helped establish a new political language: a language rooted in natural rights, popular sovereignty, and the legitimacy of political self-determination. It was a language that would reverberate across continents for centuries.

Guest Post: If Nothing Changes, Your Daughter Will Be Wearing A Burqa

A Guest Post by Nathan Smith published on RCR

It was about this time, 11 years ago, when I was in London, news emerged about foreign men and rape gangs across the UK. The horror story of Rotherham was on all the front pages, and I remember thinking, surely this can’t go on. Surely something must be done.

Yet nothing has been done. In fact, it is getting worse because the importation of foreign men has not slowed down, men who have no kinship with the young women in the societies they now call home. Moreover, nothing can be done because the modern police have no idea how such men think about women on a fundamental psychological level. They think they do, but they don’t.

Kerre Woodham: Should security guards have the power to intervene?

Security guards will be given the power to detain people and use force under a sweeping ACT Party proposal that makes the very fair point that police are overstretched, and businesses can no longer wait for officers to respond. Some of them would see tectonic plates drift as they waited for the Police to respond to shoplifters who are slowly but surely causing their business to buckle under the pressure and the increased costs.

Bob Edlin: Why the PPTA needs PoO.....

Why the PPTA needs PoO – to help them identify the extremists who need expelling from the classroom

Too late, the PoO team today realised that time was fast running out to pitch for a $10,000 (plus GST) contract plus expenses. The job is up for grabs for “experienced writers and educators”, a category into which we modestly reckon we comfortably fit.

The challenge would be to develop advice and guidelines on dealing with extremism in the classroom.