Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.8.26

Friday August 21, 2026 

News:
Ngāti Mutunga O Wharekauri Signs Historic Deed Of Settlement
Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri has today signed its Deed of Settlement with the Crown on Wharekauri, marking a historic milestone for the iwi after many years of negotiation.

Caleb Anderson: New Zealand's True tipping point may be closer than we think

It certainly appears that New Zealand, and the West generally, is facing a number of utterly persistent, concurrent, and often interconnected crises.

Worrying signs are evident in many Western economies. Health sectors are under strain, racial tensions simmer, immigration tensions persist, and crime, media, governance, adherence to (and respect for) due process, freedom of speech, parenting, and so on, seem to be breaking down. The speed at which this is happening has taken most by surprise.

David R. Henderson: The Deadly Focus on Income and Wealth Inequality

Myths that make for stirring political slogans hold back—and even harm—actual people.

Readers under age fifty-five might not realize this, but economic inequality was not a large issue in American political discussions until 1992. After that year, discussions of the issue ebbed and flowed. So much of what has been said by opponents of inequality is simple assertion. What has been missing in the statements of those who want government to reduce inequality is much information about why it exists and any sense of why some kinds of inequality are good.

Ashley Church: “He doesn’t believe in climate change”

Back in June, I published an article titled The Prophecy of Catastrophic Climate Change: 50 Years of Failed Predictions.

It wasn’t an argument that the climate never changes, but rather an expose’ of the more than half a century of warnings of climate catastrophe that failed to come true.

Dominic O'Sullivan: The Opportunity Party’s Treaty policy is closer to Labour than National. But is it a bottom line?

During the current parliamentary term, the debate over te Tiriti o Waitangi’s place in public life is arguably more polarised than at any time in the past 50 years.

But the parliamentary split on the issue could shift if the Opportunity Party becomes a player in forming the next government.

Roger Partridge: Hiding in Plain Sight - Chief Justice Winkelmann’s revolutionary vision

This column was first published in LawNews on 1 August 2026. It continues a series examining the Supreme Court’s departure from the constitutional limits of judicial power.

Suppose a public official holds an office with limited powers. The limits are not in doubt. They are written down, and the official has never denied them. Yet the office acts, case by case, in ways that are hard to square with the limits. Then, in a series of measured public addresses, the official sets out an account of the office under which its powers exceed those limits. The account is careful and scholarly, delivered to expert audiences. No one objects, because it is offered as observation, a reflection on how things have come to work.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Unravelling MMP - How the 2026 election could break the voting system from two sides

At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori told its supporters to split their votes: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left. A new research note by The New Zealand Initiative warns this call could set off a chain of tactical voting that kills MMP.

Kevin: She Must Be Taking Lessons From Chlöe

Opportunity leader Qiulae 7ong has defended accepting more than $400,000 in political donations this year while campaigning to ban them, saying the party has to “play the game with everyone else” to get into parliament.

[…] But the party’s leader was grilled as she appeared on Q+A this morning.

Kerre Woodham: I'm all for paying what you owe, but...

Every bailiff in the country is going to be out in force today, scanning the number plates of parked cars to identify those amongst us who have overdue court fines and reparation. You can run but you cannot hide. And if you can't pay your fines or make arrangements to pay them, your car may well be clamped or towed away to be sold to recoup the parking fines you haven't paid.

Bob Edlin: Brownlee’s bet with Willie Jackson is intriguing....

......but who has a record of it?

What was it that Mr Speaker said during Question Time? That Labour’s Willie Jackson – correction, the Honourable Willie Jackson – had not settled a bet with him?

Alwyn Poole: Dear “Chippy” - Why only 15% of voters want you as PM

(Not that the media even seem to but notice that aspect of the polls).

I have lived and worked in Auckland, primarily in Education, from 1998 until now (with a 6 year gap when I was in the BoI, which co-incided with your covid response).

I will try and keep this reponse to points.

Thursday August 20, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who really believes Labour won't give us more taxes?

Hands up - who believes Labour when they say none of their political mates will be allowed to introduce their taxes in a future Labour-led Government?

This started on Mike's show, with Ginny Andersen on Politics Wednesday saying, "Nah, the Greens aren't going to be allowed to introduce their wealth tax, and nah, Te Pāti Māori isn't going to be allowed to introduce its land tax."

Clive Bibby: Finding and adopting our Multi-Cultural Heritage

When I was a kid, I had little control over what we ate.

In retrospect, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing as most Mum's were a damn sight better judge of the food that was good for us than the stuff dished up if it had been left to us youngsters.

Mind you. I personally would have preferred a roast meal every night rather than occasionally being force fed sheep offal like tripe.

Dr Eric Crampton: The troubling gaps in Treasury’s performance.....

...and in its knowledge of how it might tackle them

New Zealand’s Treasury has two big jobs that nobody else can do.

They’re both highlighted in the first line of Treasury’s ‘Who we are’ website. Treasury is “the Government’s lead economic and financial adviser and steward of the public sector financial management systems.”

June’s Performance Improvement Review for Treasury did not go well at all on one of those big jobs. It may point to issues in staff capabilities.

Mike's Minute: Our access to Australia could soon be limited

I couldn’t understand it at the time, but you may remember four years ago then-Prime Minister Ardern did a deal with Anthony Albanese over our access to Australian citizenship and welfare.

Essentially, they gave us a bunch of stuff we previously hadn't had.

JC: She’s a Must to Avoid

Many reading this will be old enough to remember the Herman’s Hermits song, “She’s a Must to Avoid”. That is how the leader of the Opportunity Party, Qiulae Wong, presented in last weekend’s Q+A interview with Jack Tame. Mr Tame, who does not often inspire me, deserves credit for pushing to get to the bottom of what Opportunity stands for. This was no easy task, as Wong has an unflappable streak, where every criticism or query is met with a smile and is seamlessly brushed away. The interviewer therefore has to dig deep and press for answers that the audience wants. Tame’s ‘dog with a bone’ technique often frustrates me, but on this occasion it was necessary.

Ani O'Brien: Don Brash & Te Pāti Māori agree on a strategy

How both sides of politics are thinking strategically about voting.

After 30 years of Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) representation, we may finally have reached the point where everyone works out how to properly game the system at the same time. For most of the MMP era, political parties have called for “two ticks” with a few notable exceptions like the Epsom electorate. The idea has been to not encourage voters to think too hard about the fact that they have been given two separate votes because parties would very much like both of them.

Kerre Woodham: Auckland's harbour crossing - a discussion that goes round in circles

I can imagine 50 years from now, the morning host on ZB 9am to Noon will be nearing retirement and they'll have talked about everything, as I have done over my time here. So, they'll be opening their show on the 18th of August 2076, and they'll say, “Harbour crossing, tunnel or bridge? Meola Reef crossing or a bridge alongside the existing one? 0800 80 10 80.” And 50 years from now, the discussion will begin again and again and again.

Bob Edlin: ACT wants to ban working-time karakia in the public service....

..... but MBIE shows why more prayers might be a blessing

The Taxpayers’ Union has drawn attention to the cost of daily prayers and sing-songs in just a few of the country’s many state agencies.

Fair to say, the union’s figure – around $3.5 million – is a small drop of the $180 billion or so spent by the government in 2024/25.