John MacDonald: It's like getting a bank loan to pay the pocket money

Nine billion dollars a year. $750 million a month. Or $24 million a day.

That’s how much interest we are currently paying on government debt. Just the interest.

But, despite that, the Government thinks it’s a good idea to borrow more money to cover the cost of the revenue it’s not going to get because of the fuel tax freeze.

JC: Opt for TOP

This should have been the front page headline in the Herald. They were keen to let their readers know they were on TOP of things last weekend, at least when they came to the Opportunity Party. I picked up the paper and there staring me in the face was another face, that of the by now all too familiar Qiulae Wong. At the bottom of the A1 half-page spread readers were invited to go to A10 to continue the fascinating read. They didn’t mention the furthering of the epic on A11. Suspect bias is one thing but blatant bias is quite another. This was completely ‘over the top’.

Ryan Bridge: Is this really AI theft?

IP lawyers will be licking their lips with all these AI cases landing on their desks.

The latest, we spoke about yesterday, was Sony and Warner going after Anthropic.

Their argument is basically that Anthropic's AI models, the ones we use to get answers to questions, scrape and bottom trawl the internet for information.

David Farrar: The TPM overhang strategy could result in permament left wing government

Te Pati Maori are trying to use the Māori seats to engineer overhang seats, to try and lock the centre right out of power – even if they win more votes. But recent law changes means the potential impact of this strategy could be huge.

At present there are seven Māori seats. If TPM won all seven, and got fewer than 0.4% PV that would be a seven seat overhang. It means that you would need 64 seats to form a Government instead of 61.

Pee Kay: Forget co-governance – the Centre Left will entrench Te Tiriti and co-governance will only be the start.

Michael Laws on Willie Jackson and how Labour will be introducing co-governance under a new guise because the term co-governance has negative connotations.

Dave Patterson: Sudan Remains the Most Under-Reported Foreign Policy Crisis

Thousands have been killed, and there looks like no end to it.

Headlines and major stories focus on the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Iran, and what appears to be a growing tariff dispute with Canada. There’s another deadly international conflict, however, that the American media has barely covered: the civil war in Sudan. The fighting has been going on for nearly four years and has claimed a reported 59,000 lives – probably an estimate on the low side. Furthermore, secondary consequences include more than 13 million people being displaced and enormous areas of Sudan suffering famine.

Kerre Woodham: Hiking the fuel tax would take political courage

It's not often you hear people moaning that taxes should be put up, but we live in interesting times, people. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Transport Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announced that the Government had scrapped the 12 cents per litre fuel increase, with equivalent increases to road user charges, that were planned for January 1st next year.

Bob Edlin: Asian school attendance rates cast doubts over links between the Treaty....

....“cultural safety” and Maori truancy

Newsroom brought Maori truancy into focus in a report headed Record school attendance masks persistent gap for Māori.

It was a narrow focus. No mention was made – for comparative purposes – of school attendance rates among other ethnic groups which might be culturally disadvantaged in the New Zealand school system – or who might feel culturally “unsafe”.

The report said:

Mike's Minute: Fast-track needs to get back to infrastructure, not housing

The prediction we made some weeks back over fast-track housing is starting to come true.

Fast-track in and of itself is working. The Tauranga Port has the green light after literally years of regulatory BS that had it tied up in court, going nowhere.

If you put RMA v fast-track, then fast-track wins hands down and our country will be better for it.

Wednesday September 2, 2026 

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Ani O'Brien: Breaking Down Te Pāti Māori's Constitutional Policy

Te Pāti Māori has proposed a far-reaching constitutional policy that seeks to entrench Te Tiriti in legislation and establish a Te Tiriti Commission with powers to review executive decisions. This video breaks down the details of the Matike Mai report, exploring its implications for governance, political authority, and the broader debate surrounding New Zealand's constitutional future.

Click to View

Steven Gaskell: Iwi In Space — With the New Zealand Government

New Zealand has apparently decided that if we're going to reach for the stars, we might as well take co-governance with us. The result is Tāwhaki, a Crown–iwi aerospace venture being developed at Kaitōrete Spit near Christchurch. It sounds impressive. Rockets, satellites, technology, investment and highly skilled jobs. What's not to like? Well, the interesting part is who owns it, who pays for it and who gets a say over what gets launched.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.8.26

Wednesday September 2, 2026 

News:
Whakatōhea leader presents evidence to Waitangi Tribunal
Te Whakatōhea leader, Te Kahautu Maxwell, opened with a haka before presenting evidence on the histories, grievances and aspirations of Ngāti Ngahere before the Waitangi Tribunal in Ōpōtiki this week.

Terere Marae hosted the tenth hearing week of the North-Eastern Bay of Plenty District Inquiry, Wai 1750, where the Tribunal is examining the impacts of Crown actions on hapū and iwi throughout the region.

Dame Elizabeth Rata: History of New Zealand Education Promo

Why did New Zealand have one of the best education systems in the world from the 19th century to the 1970s.

Why was that remarkable legacy deliberately dismantled? What can be done to restore quality education?

I’m making thirty-nine narrated podcast episodes using historical documents and photos to try and answer this question.

Pee Kay: “…we’re in bad company…”says Chris Luxon

We could be on the hook for up to $5 billion in carbon credits but Chris Luxon has made a pronouncement from on high that “remaining in the Paris climate agreement is a bottom line in any coalition negotiations…”

Is this another of Chris’s “big time outbursts” that just might end up inflicting pain on his posterior like the July decree might when he stated during a post-Cabinet press conference that National “ain’t doing business” with parties that want to spend, borrow, and increase taxes, pointing to TOP’s proposed land value tax.

Gravedodger: Why Allow Travel When Money Is Owed?

National are tinkering with student loan money recovery?

It is currently four and a half Billion outstanding and reports often state much of it will never be repaid.

How difficult to prevent anyone owing money to the State to leave the country and the debt behind.

Ryan Bridge: We can't afford a credit downgrade

You know how New Zealanders love it when foreign countries, or media or even tourists talk about us?

There always the most read stories on news sites. It's like a national past time.

Oh look! Brad Pitt says New Zealand is beautiful! Oh look... Jason Mamoa did a bungy and Queenstown is beautiful!

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The New Mandarinate

In November 2018, officials at Immigration New Zealand began work on replacing the ageing biometric systems that verify identities and manage immigration risk. Seven years later it was dead, having delivered no measurable benefit. Nobody can yet say what it cost.

Kerre Woodham: It's about time the Government cracked down on debt dodgers

Over the weekend too, Nicola Willis announced policy around student loans. And finally, finally, finally, we have a government that's going to get tough on overseas student loan defaulters.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said yesterday that National will introduce harsher penalties on Kiwis who move overseas and simply refuse to pay back the New Zealand taxpayer.

Bob Edlin: Good health news for Hutt....

....but we didn’t see a picture of Simeon Brown among patients in the Wellington ED queue

It’s a great publicity shot, for two cabinet ministers keen to persuade voters that they should be re-elected at the General Election just a few weeks hence.

Health Minister Simeon Brown is shown wielding a pair of scissors to cut the ribbon at a new medical centre in Lower Hutt.