Richard Prebble: Grievance Politics

It will outrage supporters of Te Pāti Māori and New Zealand First, but their parties are remarkably similar.

Both are grievance parties.

Both are led by politicians who specialise in outrage.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Cost of living crisis won’t be solved by subsidising prices

Voters are rightly worried about the cost of living. How can they balance the household budget? Should they move to Australia?

It is a nationwide issue. After allowing for inflation, population growth and seasonal effects, real national disposable income per person fell 4.3 percent from the September quarter 2022 to the September quarter 2024. A modest subsequent rise has reduced this decline to 1.5 percent.

If you are feeling harder up now than in the second half of 2022, you are not alone. If you are not, you should feel fortunate.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.10.26

Sunday October 25, 2026 

News:
Te Puia unveils new waharoa to mark 100 years of Māori arts protection
A new waharoa stands at Te Puia this week, unveiled at dawn in front of hundreds to mark 100 years since the passage of the Māori Arts and Crafts Act 1926. Positioned within Rotorua’s geothermal valley at Whakarewarewa, the gateway pays tribute to a century of preserving traditional arts and culture.

Ian Bradford: The horrendous cost of getting to Net Zero in the UK and in NZ

Net Zero in the UK

In the UK it’s all about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The cost of installing and operating CCS could reach a staggering £408 billion by 2050. In NZ Dollars this is $963,124,800,000. The reason for such a cost is put down to the technology being risky and technologically unproven. 

Geoff Parker: The Dog Tax War — Or Another Another Māori History Fairy Tale?

RNZ's treatment of the 1898 Hokianga “Dog Tax War” fits neatly into today's preferred colonial narrative: RNZ's treatment of the 1898 Hokianga “Dog Tax War” fits neatly into today's preferred colonial narrative: Māori were subjected to an oppressive colonial regime, the dog tax became the final outrage, and an armed confrontation with the colonial authorities was the inevitable result.

But before accepting that version, it is worth looking at what the law actually said - and at the wider issues surrounding the dispute.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 24 October 2026

Halt! Enrol first.

Before we get into anything else, please check that you are enrolled to vote, and that your details are correct. The deadline is midnight tomorrow, Sunday 25 October. If you have moved, check your address. You cannot leave enrolling until you turn up to vote this year. vote.nz

Snitching pays, Labour candidate resigns, Chippy gets tearful

Timothy Welch: The next government faces transport tests that new roads or cheap fares won’t solve

In an election campaign, not all transport spending is talked about in the same way. A new motorway might be presented as an investment in the economy, while subsidising public transport can stir debate about the cost to taxpayers.

This election is no different. National is promising more major roads, while Labour and the Greens are pledging public transport fare caps, among other measures. The latter proposals have already attracted scrutiny over how they’d be paid for.

JC: It Will Be Right on the Night

It is the right who will be popping the champagne corks on November 7th.

Mike Hosking says the election will be decided within an hour of the polls closing – a win for the right. Michael Laws is in no doubt which way the election will go – a win for the right. Bob McCoskrie of Family First, in pointing out the many flaws, predictions and twisted reasoning of the left wing media, is effectively indicating which way the election will go – a win for the right. This, as in 2023, will be for the left and their cheerleaders in the media, the worst nightmare come true. Once again they will have to accept that their specious jabbering has been for nothing. They will know that the pattern of the last election has been repeated in that the majority ignored their blather.

Nicholas Kerr: It’s Time to Give New Zealanders the Freedom to Turn Left on Red

One of the small pleasures of driving in America is something most Americans probably take for granted: the ability to turn right at a red traffic light.

Provided you come to a complete stop, check for pedestrians and other traffic, and proceed only when it’s safe, you don’t have to sit waiting for the light to turn green.

It’s a remarkably sensible rule. And every time I return to New Zealand, I’m reminded that Kiwis don’t enjoy the equivalent freedom to turn left on red.

Richard Prebble: Opportunity to opportunistic

All parties disappoint. National used to stand for property rights. Labour has abandoned taxing landlords. The Greens have gone from environmentalists to socialists. Sir Roger Douglas campaigned for zero income tax. ACT now says the country cannot afford a tax cut.

But no party has ever abandoned its founding principles faster or more completely than Opportunity.

David Farrar: The Law Society has a problem

I blogged in March about an outrageous decision by a Law Society Standards Committee decision which fined Stephen Franks and Franks Ogilvy for the sin of “being lawyers”. I wrote:

The Legal Complaints Review Officer overturned the decision, noting:

Rodney Hide: Hipkins sets the bar, then trips over it

Another day, another Chris Hipkins fact check.

His complaint today (Friday) was that Māori MPs are held to a different standard. And that it was racist. "There is an element of racism in this as well that is just ugly," he said.

Different standard? Whose standard? His.

Mike's Minute: The right bloc looked better than the left this week

So a good week for National and, by association, for the Government in general.

There has been a shift with two weeks to go. The gang drama might just have put a nail in Labour's chances of government.

Their polling is now in trouble. Their gap to National is now a problem.

Saturday October 24, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election

Oh, I tell you what, I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election now.

I mean, if you thought that Mongrel Mob fiasco was bad before, it's got so much worse for Labour. Their candidate has quit and Chris Hipkins himself now looks like he's been fibbing to the public.

Clive Bibby: In the Nick of Time

Comments by the founder of the Opportunity Party, Gareth Morgan, about TOP, couldn’t have come at a better time for voters trying to decide which coalition would be most worthy of their vote.

For me the key parts of his message were in two sentences - one a warning and the other a statement of fact.

Roger Childs: Scott Watson at the Supreme Court

In December 2023 … police decided to go back to the hairs that had been collected from the tiger blanket 25 years previously and DNA test them in an effort to … link Watson to Hope or Smart.

 The following year the Institute of Environmental Science and Research began testing 30 hairs from the blanket. Results showed that none of the hairs contained any DNA from Hope or Smart. Mike Wilson, The Post, September 3 2025

Breaking Views Update: Week of 18.10.26

Saturday October 24, 2026 

News:
RIF grants fund completion of marae projects
Grants from the Regional Infrastructure Fund will support two marae to strengthen their ability to serve as community hubs and offer refuge in times of emergency, Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka say.

A $4 million grant will go to Mataura Marae in the Southland town of Mataura. A $150,000 grant will also be provided from the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) to Takitimu Marae in Wairoa.

Geoff Parker: Land Back? The Greens’ Dangerous Rewrite Of New Zealand’s History

The Green Party says “returning land to Māori is the right thing to do”. It sounds morally compelling — until you ask the obvious question: which land, taken from whom, and owned by whom today — and on what legal and historical basis?

There is no question that New Zealand's nineteenth-century land history was complex. There were land purchases, sales, disputed transactions, confiscations following the New Zealand Wars, and later changes in the way Māori land ownership was administered. Some transactions were contested then and remain contested today.

But that history cannot simply be reduced to a story of Māori land being “stolen” by the Crown and therefore remaining subject to an automatic claim for return.

Pee Kay: Claire Charters Calls Democracy a “Fairy Tale”

Meet Claire Charters an Auckland University law professor who has spent years climbing the ranks of the academic and bureaucratic elite.

She has bounced from an advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly to a stint as an “Indigenous Governance adviser” for the Human Rights Commission. But don’t let the fancy titles fool you—Charters has built her career on ideas that many everyday New Zealanders find completely out of touch.