Geoff Parker: Improving Māori Health Requires Facts, Not Narratives

"The health system is dangerous for Māori." — Dr Lance O'Sullivan

Dangerous in what sense?

That is a fair question, because "dangerous" is an extraordinarily serious accusation. It suggests that Māori are placed at risk by the health system itself—not by illness, not by lifestyle factors, not by socio-economic disadvantage, but by the doctors, nurses, hospitals and institutions entrusted with caring for them.

If that is the claim, then it demands equally serious evidence.

Pee Kay: A Capital Gains Tax is never about economic fairness!

New taxes are a hard sell, so how do you make the unpalatable palatable?

It is quite simple. You simply employ the politician’s oldest political tricks in the book, sleight of hand and deliberate obfuscation.

And labour are well practiced in the art of sleight of hand and obfuscation

Lindsay Mitchell: TOP's Citizen's Income policy

Let's look at the costings first.

Nicole McKee: Speech - Rally '26

I have to admit, I never saw myself becoming Deputy Leader of a political party. In fairness, I never really saw myself becoming a politician. When I gave my maiden speech, I said maybe this was my mid-life crisis. Now I’m a Cabinet Minister and Deputy leader of the only party that has the courage and the principles to unlock New Zealand’s potential.

Mike's Minute: I win one last time against the moaners

I would like to thank Stuff for reporting on what might well be one of the final times my name is associated with the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

It encapsulated everything that is wrong with the BSA.

David Harvey: Reading Between the Lines

How the Human Rights Commission’s Trojan Horse Deepfake Submission Smuggles In a Regime of Pre-Emptive Speech Control

The gift at the gate

The Greeks did not take Troy by force. They took it by leaving a gift the defenders could not bring themselves to refuse — and by hiding inside it the army that would do the actual work. The Human Rights Commission’s submission on the Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill follows the same design.

Vance Ginn: The Poverty of the UN’s Degrowth Agenda

The latest attack on economic growth comes wrapped in moral language. Its advocates promise less poverty, greater equality, and a safer climate. Their policies would deliver less production, less investment, and fewer opportunities. That is managed decline, not prosperity.

The UN-backed Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth proposes 80 policies meant to reduce society’s dependence on growth. A separate Global Justice Report, led by Thomas Piketty and researchers at the World Inequality Lab, puts numbers behind this vision.

James Fite: Is War the Only ‘Understanding’ Between America and Iran?

The US and Iran are fighting again – or still, perhaps, as one could argue they never really stopped. It has been almost two weeks now since Presidents Donald Trump of the US and Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran signed their “memorandum of understanding.” But what understanding was really reached? It was supposed to put an end to the fighting in the Middle East – even if only just long enough to negotiate a more permanent arrangement.

David Farrar: What would a change of Government cost farmers?

The Taxpayers’s Union has looked at what a change of government could cost NZ farmers. It isn’t pretty:

Monday June 29, 2026 

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Ryan Bridge: The Opportunity Party needs more time to hit five percent this election

I don't think Opportunity will hit five percent this election.

It's fun to flirt, people are frustrated, but I was there when Colin Craig got close and failed, saw Gareth Morgan then Geoff Simmons have a crack and fail.

I encourage anyone listening to have a look at their policies, do the maths and figure out for themselves how much worse, or better off, you'll be.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Well done to Spark Arena

So an email landed in my inbox - Spark Arena named among the world’s top 20 arenas.

Now, this is a big deal. This isn’t a list that’s put together by some random Instagram account in Norway with 100 followers. This is a list put together by IQ Magazine. And if you’re into music in a big way - like, really into it, more than a Rolling Stone kind of way - you’ll know IQ Magazine is a big deal.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 28.6.26

Monday June 29, 2026 

News:
Ngā Hapū o Whangārei disappointed after Whangārei District Council rejects Mana Whakahono ā Rohe plan
Whangārei hapū leaders say their relationship with the local district council has been damaged after councillors voted against a key agreement for environmental planning.

About 40 supporters of the Ngā Hapū o Whangārei collective’s request attended Thursday’s council meeting at Te Iwitahi Civic Centre.

Ani O'Brien: How National lost the Conservation Bill argument

Lawyers read statutes. Voters read headlines.

Disclosure: Prior to working in Parliament I worked at the Department of Conservation for about two years in the digital team.

The Conservation Amendment Bill has become one of the Coalition Government’s biggest political headaches of the year. Over the past fortnight New Zealanders have been told the Coalition is planning to sell off conservation land, open national parks to commercial development, and fundamentally rewrite the purpose of the Department of Conservation. These messages exploded onto social media and spread like wildfire. The Coalition, meanwhile, has accused its critics of scaremongering, insisting it only ever intended to tidy up a handful of low value properties and modernise a conservation system that has become bogged down in bureaucracy.

John McLean: Opportunity......

But for what? Analysis of an ascendant political party

New Zealand’s latest political poll, a 1 News-Verian poll conducted from 13 to 17 June, has The Opportunity Party at 4.6% of the popular vote. Opportunity is trending upwards. If the trend continues, Opportunity will get over the 5% threshold for representation in Parliament and would probably form part of NZ’s next Government.

David Harvey: A Good Bill and a Bad Detour

Why InternetNZ's call for a digital regulator should be resisted

The Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill is one of the more sensible pieces of legislation to come before Parliament in some time. It does one thing, and it does it well. It should pass. What should not pass — and what should not be smuggled in on its back — is the far larger regulatory apparatus that InternetNZ has used its submission to promote.

The Bill gets it right

Colinxy: A Tax Suggestion for the Coalition

Marama Davidson recently told Ryan Bridge she’d be perfectly happy to pay more tax. Chloe Swarbrick claims people approach her all the time, saying the same thing. And every election cycle, a parade of self‑anointed “rich people” step forward to publicly announce their eagerness to hand more of their money to the State.

Fine. If they’re that desperate to give the government more of their income, let’s make it easy for them.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Campaign against Red Ed gathers pace

UK

Banks and unions unite to keep Miliband away from the Treasury

Ed Miliband has done the unthinkable by bringing trade union bosses and bankers together in an unlikely alliance - to stop him becoming Chancellor. They say he would put a ‘noose’ around job creation with a senior government figure saying “It takes something to unite Goldman Sachs bankers and the unions.”

Damien Grant: Why default is inevitable under our current fiscal trajectory

I’d ignored the Budget. I am good at ignoring things. Dental appointments. Column deadlines. Parking fines. Eventually they catch up with me. Like death, taxes and tooth decay.

It was the American polymath Benjamin Franklin who is credited with the quip that only death and taxes can be certain and a few wags have pondered that perhaps he meant debt and taxes. It’s a good joke but what Franklin actually wrote was “... excepté la mort et les impôts.”

That’s French. Franklin was writing in French. Dette and mort don’t rhyme. And given everyone his age had false teeth I think tooth decay should have been included. I am off-track.

Dr Michael Johnston: Second-class confidentiality

New Zealanders who visit psychologists would expect their clinical conversations to be private and confidential. But a draft Code of Ethics from the New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB), the professional body that registers practising psychologists, would weaken the privacy rights of Māori clients.

The NZPB claims that “…concepts of privacy and confidentiality may be somewhat altered [for Māori] when the sharing of information leads to additional support and culturally appropriate processes…”

In other words, psychologists may be required to water down the privacy rights of Māori clients based on the NZPB’s characterisation of Māori as a “collectivist culture” in its draft code.