Caleb Anderson: The Ethical Void - Why the West’s True Crisis is a Moral One

The Western world today is in the grip of a profound crisis, yet we remain blind to a significant contributing factor. We debate economic trends, political polarization, and social fragmentation, as if they are distinct (stand alone) issues, failing to realize they are mere symptoms of a deeper, more fundamental affliction: the collapse of ethical standards of discourse, inquiry, and conduct, and the absence of generally agreed (although often intrinsic) moral boundaries.

Clive Bibby: Special Needs vs Ideological or Race based Entitlement

It is interesting to note how Governments of different political persuasions respond to a crisis by rationing the availability of critical resources.

It doesn’t seem to matter who is in power when an international event forces a prioritising of scarce resources to the areas that are perceived to need it most - the results of the decisions are inevitably the same - for some, ideology or race  almost always takes preference over common sense special needs. 

Breaking Views Update: Week of 12.4.26

Monday April 13, 2026 

News:
Local government Minister orders Far North District Council investigation
Local government Minister Simon Watts has asked his officials to ‘engage with’ Far North District Council after a local councillor called for the appointment of a Crown Observer.

Kerikeri ACT Local councillor Davina Smolders recently made claims of governance issues at the council.

Centrist: Co-governance comes roaring back to life

Speaking to Duncan Garner, Steve Gibson, the Hastings councillor described the region’s new water structure as “Three Waters in drag” and said the core problem is not Māori, but unelected influence.

“Nothing to do with Māori, it’s to do with the unelected officials running the show,” he said. His warning is that power is being shifted away from elected councillors and towards people the public cannot remove.

David Farrar: A fiscal reality check

The Taxpayer’s Union has found:

Total crown borrowing per household went from around $60k in 2017 to $120k in 2023

Craig Stevens: NZ is surrounded by ocean energy. Just what would it take to tap it?

Same as it ever was” is a phrase that continues to resonate in 2026.

The oil shocks of the 1970s, triggered by conflict in the Middle East, sent global energy prices soaring and exposed the vulnerability of modern economies to fuel supply. They also sparked a global surge of interest in alternative energy.

One particularly intriguing idea at the time came from Stephen Salter, a University of Edinburgh researcher who recognised the enormous amount of energy that is constantly cycled within oceans.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - When Police go into business with Netflix

There is something rather dystopian about a public police force collaborating with a global streaming giant to turn an unfolding family tragedy into carefully produced entertainment. That is what the controversy over the Netflix documentary on the Tom Phillips case has become: a debate about whether New Zealand Police crossed a line when they entered into formal arrangements with commercial filmmakers while a highly sensitive investigation was still live.

Guest Post: The Problem Isn’t the OIA – It’s the bureaucracy behind it

A guest post by Rhys Hurley on Kiwiblog

Taxpayers have a right to know what is being done with their money. The Official Information Act (OIA) is one of the only tools they have to find out.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has, however, asked his officials to review the cost of this system and even floated the idea of restricting access to some of this information.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Auckland's wilful no-build lines

Auckland Council protects eighty views across the city. Mainly, not views from homes. Instead, mostly sightlines from public spaces toward landmarks. Vistas like Rangitoto and the Waitākere Ranges.

From the 1970s, Council drew invisible lines through the air above the CBD. It declared that no building could rise above them. The planning term is a view shaft.

Those rules stifle development. Freezing the past comes at a cost.

Henry Olsen: Two negatives don't make a positive

When were you last genuinely enthusiastic about casting your vote? Not just resigned to the least bad option, but actually excited to tick that box?

For most of us, the answer is a long time ago, or never. We know exactly who we cannot stand and why the other lot would be a disaster. But our positive support for any party is probably lukewarm at best.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Who runs the country? No board would tolerate this

Try running a company where the board is accountable to shareholders but cannot choose the CEO. Instead, the CEO is appointed by an independent commissioner. The board works from a different building. Half the CEO’s job description is set by other boards. And the CEO rotates to a new industry every few years, on the assumption that management skills are transferable and subject-matter knowledge is optional.

No private sector board would accept this for a week. New Zealand’s government has accepted it for nearly four decades.

Sunday April 12, 2026 

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Mike Butler: How iwi smears ratepayer

When local ratepayer Ivan Howe told the New Plymouth District Council’s new public engagement committee that “you’ve got the iwi coming in here … and they’re giving you advice – and the councillors they don’t know what the iwi’s talking about,” the response was predictable.

According to Te Ao Maori News, which is a part of Maori Television, and which is funded by taxpayers, Howe said: “They’ll tell you what they think, and what they think happened and the councillors [have] got no argument to counter it.”

The Te Ao Maori News story is far from objective reporting. The story exists solely to name and shame a critic of the current treaty and co-governance orthodoxy. Howe also questioned whether Maori are indigenous.

Democracy Action: Where art thou - Treaty Principles Review?

> The coalition agreement between National and NZ First committed to reviewing all legislation referencing “Treaty principles,” with the aim of replacing or repealing those references.

> The Government established a ministerial oversight group and expert advisory panel to carry out the review.

> A list of 23 laws was identified as being in scope, and the review was expected to be completed by August 2025.

> Since that timeframe passed, there has been little to no public update or visible progress.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Britain’s Net Zero nightmare continues

UK

Tony Blair urges Ed Miliband: Don’t be ideological on Net Zero and drill

Sir Tony Blair has accused Ed Miliband of taking an “ideological” approach to net zero and called on him to approve new oil and gas fields in the North Sea to protect households and businesses from energy price shocks.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 11 April 2026

Poll Panic vs Political Reality

The latest Taxpayers’ Union–Curia poll triggered media framing of a crisis for National, languishing below 30% with leadership under pressure. And being stuck under 30% is definitely not a good place for a governing party, but it is also only part of the story and the more interesting part was largely ignored.

Roger Partridge: What Freedom of Speech Is For - The case against silencing

In 1633, the Roman Inquisition condemned Galileo for heresy. His offence was to argue that the Earth moves around the Sun.

The Church was not acting out of malice. It was protecting a politically approved consensus against what was considered to be dangerous nonsense. The theologians and philosophers who condemned Galileo were not fools. They were defending what every educated person knew to be true.

They were also wrong. And being wrong with institutional authority behind you is far more dangerous than being wrong alone.

Nicholas Kerr: America broke up with New Zealand years ago....

America broke up with New Zealand years ago – we just seem not to have noticed

Bryce Edwards asks whether it is “time to break up with America”. Don Brash asks whether it is any longer safe to be an American ally. Both are fair questions. Both, however, miss a more awkward truth.

New Zealand is being invited to agonise over the condition of a relationship that, in any serious strategic sense, ended long ago.

John McLean: Pilots of the airwaves

“Pilot of the Airwaves” is a 1979 single by English singer-songwriter Charlie Dore. The song, which reached #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, was written from the perspective of a woman who listens to a late-night DJ. The song conveys her emotional connection to the DJ and highlights the intimacy and connection that mainstream radio used to provide.

Professor Jerry Coyne: More touting of indigenous knowledge as coequal with modern science

Once again we have an article about how science could be improved if only it incorporated indigenous “ways of knowing”—the “braiding of knowledge” referred to in the Guardian article below (click to read). I often see another metaphor used to express the same thing: “two-eyed seeing”, with one eye seeing the way indigenous people do, and the other way modern science does. (I won’t use the term “Western science,” often used to denigrate it.) The implication is that modern science is half blind without indigenous knowledge.