Breaking Views Update: Week of 14.12.25

Wednesday December 17, 2025 

News:
Executive assistant resigns over mayor’s ‘disregard for Treaty principles’
Napier mayor Richard McGrath’s executive assistant has resigned, saying she can no longer work for him due to his “disregard for Treaty principles”.

Vanessa Smith-Glintenkamp, who was employed in the role under former mayor Kirsten Wise in May 2023, wrote to McGrath and the Napier City Council chief executive Louise Miller last Thursday saying she would resign.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Another fiscal result telling us what we already know

Well, of course you heard it here first last Monday - the surplus has been pushed out again.

It's like waiting for Christmas when you're a ten-year-old, the whole month of December feels like an eternity.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Bondi attack was a race relations problem

This business of Australia tightening up its gun laws feels like it runs the risk of distracting from the bigger problems over there.

I don’t think guns were the problem on Sunday. Australia already has some of the tightest gun laws in the world.

Pee Kay: DOC’s OIA Response

In late October I posted an article about Northland iwi, Ngatiwai, landing on one of the strictly protected Poor Knights Islands, raising a flag and concreting in a carved pou in protest at the amendment to the Marine and Coastal Area Act.

Click to view

Ani O'Brien: Bondi Terror - Can we look back in anger yet?

Tolerance must not be a suicide pact

If you were shocked by what happened at Bondi last night you have ignored every warning sign.

You might be horrified. In fact, if you are, you are human. But if you are surprised you have not been paying even minimal attention to what has been happening across Western cities for the past two years. The last twenty plus years really. This was the inevitable direction of travel.

Dr Will Jones: Right Wins Chile Election on Mass Deportation Platform

The Right has won the Presidential election in Chile, with conservative Jose Antonio Kast defeating his communist rival on a platform of cracking down on crime and deporting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. The Telegraph has more.

Philip Crump: The Architecture of a Capable State - Why Cuts, Cosmetic Fixes and Good Intentions are not enough

Keynote address to the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union AGM – 15 December 2025

This is the text of a keynote address I delivered to the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union AGM on 15 December 2025. It is offered in a personal capacity and reflects an institutional and structural analysis of how the State is organised to deliver outcomes. It is not an endorsement of any organisation, political party, or policy programme.

Bruce Cotterill: Christopher Luxon leadership - Why National would be ‘nuts’ to roll him

The past couple of weeks have seen plenty of conjecture about the future of Christopher Luxon as the leader of the National Party and hence, Prime Minister.

I don’t know if the rumbles about Chris Bishop rolling him are true or not. And I’m no political strategist. But let me say this. The National Party would be “nuts” to drop Luxon now.

JC: West Not Fit For Purpose

The world right now is probably in its most dangerous state since WWII. The West is showing that there is a reluctance to accept reality. Allowing situations to develop as they are is inviting more trouble further down the track. Talkfests that fail to produce the action required are largely a waste of time. The policies introduced will not solve the problems we are currently facing.

David Farrar: The ever growing black market

1 News reported:

The latest estimates put the market share for illegal tobacco sales between 25% and 65%, illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner Amber Shuhyta told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night.

Tuesday December 16, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: Bastion Point, Rewritten History, and the Politics of Permanent Grievance

Hana Pera Aoake’s article in The Post reads less like history and more like advocacy presented as reflection. It leans heavily on symbolism and emotion while relying on selective memory and the omission of inconvenient facts—choices that serve a predetermined grievance narrative rather than an honest accounting of the past.

Start with Bastion Point itself. In 1886, 5.3 hectares of land were acquired under the Public Works Act for declared military purposes. This was neither a confiscation nor an unpaid seizure. Ngāti Whātua received £1,500 in compensation—roughly equivalent to about NZ$570,000 in today’s terms. On a per‑hectare basis, that payment was approximately twice the median value of today’s undeveloped New Zealand farmland. By any reasonable standard, the compensation was generous. Calling this “theft” obscures the basic facts: it was a lawful acquisition, accompanied by substantial payment.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Here's the worst part of the Bondi Beach terror attack

This terror attack in Sydney is what everyone else has been saying it is: absolutely horrific. Antisemitic terrorism.

Sadly, this type of attack is happening and will keep happening more frequently, according to intelligence agencies. And the worst part is that it's almost impossible to stop.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm confident for the economy in 2026

If you weren’t already feeling confident about 2026, I've got two reasons you should.

At least two major retail banks see signs of an economic recovery and we have a new Reserve Bank Governor.

John Robertson: Secularism by Exception - Why New Zealand Needs One Rule for All

New Zealand likes to tell itself a comforting story: that we are a modern, secular democracy where the state stays neutral and citizens are free to believe - or not believe - without pressure. In theory, that sounds right. In practice, it increasingly feels untrue.

Across schools, councils, universities, hospitals, courts, public workplaces, environmental law, research funding, museums, and national ceremonies, a single belief system has been given a status no other belief enjoys. Māori spiritual concepts—tikanga Māori (customary rules), wairuatanga (the spiritual dimension), mauri (life force), tapu (sacred restriction), and related ideas—are routinely embedded into public institutions. Participation is expected. Opt‑outs are rare or non‑existent. Questioning it is discouraged. Compliance is assumed.

Bob Edlin: More Stuff and nonsense – this time about a rates cap

Check out the photograph above.

Published today by The Post and on the Stuff website, it shows the vice president of Local Government New Zealand, Rehette Stoltz, speaking to journalists.

It illustrates a report which the headline writer apparently did not read.

Ani O'Brien: What's the story? Willie Jackson and MUMA

Accusations have been flying for more than a week between independent or ‘new’ media and the legacy lot (mainstream media). Yours truly has been guilty of a few exasperated contributions to the outrage also so do not take this as Ani on a soapbox.

The argument is over what the media should report on. What is newsworthy? What is a story? And on the flipside, what is a cover up? Why are the media burying what appears to be a significant scandal? It has now descended into embarrassing levels of stupidity with one member of the mainstream media trying to characterise the story as an ‘attack on Māori’. A negative story featuring Māori is not an attack on Māori anymore than reporting on Trevor Mallard’s many examples of poor behaviour is an attack on old white guys.

David Harvey: The Elephant in the Room

The podcast “The Elephant” is an online video series that tackles the conversations New Zealanders often avoid.

It dives into big, uncomfortable questions, looking beyond the echo chambers in search of a fearless and honest debate. In episode 10, hosts recently released, Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell ask ‘When does free speech become hate speech?’

The promotional material for the programme states:

John MacDonald: Another kick in the guts for our volunteer firefighters

I’m glad I’m not a volunteer firefighter. Because, if I was, I would be brassed-off that an attempt to get volunteer firefighters the same ACC cover as full-time firefighters has gone nowhere.

A petition calling for the change has been rejected by a parliamentary select committee because it doesn’t want to set a precedent. The committee is trotting out all the usual platitudes but the fact remains that volunteer firefighters have just had another kick in the guts.

Simon O'Connor: Blood on their hands

For too long, we have tolerated people calling for the very violence that occurred at Bondi Beach last night.

My heart goes out to the Jewish community in Sydney, and also across Australia and New Zealand – not to mention around the world. Hanukkah is one of the great high festivals of Judaism; a feast of light and yet last evening, the light was shattered – but importantly, it will not be broken or eclipsed despite the violence.