Breaking Views Update: Week of 21.6.26

Monday June 22, 2026 

News:
Ngāti Whātua artists bring 9-metre sculpture to Auckland’s Tūhono Light Trail
The free two-kilometre Tūhono Light Trail links Queen Street to waterfront in one of the world’s longest indigenous light trails

A rōpū of Ngāti Whātua artists has added new works to the Tūhono Light Trail for Matariki - a two-kilometre immersive art experience that connects Aucklanders with the stories of mana whenua.

Bruce Cotterill: Public sector waste - Public servants must remember who they work for

It’s all in the name they call themselves. Public servants. Their trade union is named the Public Service Association. The ultimate “boss of the bosses” within the complex structure carries the title Public Service Commissioner.

It’s probably not too much of a stretch to suggest that the core purpose of the people who fill these roles is to “serve the public”.

Olivia Pierson: Memorandums and the Midterms

The Memorandum of Understanding with the Iranian regime displays an unwelcome shift that has sent shock waves throughout the world, raising serious questions among those who fully expect aggressive pressure on the brutal regime and unwavering support for Israel.

Trump’s pivot in rhetoric on the stage of the G7 has made heads explode, and I cannot help but wonder if Vice President Vance is the conduit of toxic whispers straight from the mouth of his buddy Tucker Carlson and into the President's ear.

Colinxy: White Babies Are Racist…According to Racists

Every few years, a peculiar claim bubbles up from the activist‑academic complex and spreads through the media like mould on damp plaster: “White babies are racist.”

Sometimes it’s softened to “all babies show racial bias by 6–9 months.” Sometimes it’s framed as a scientific breakthrough. Sometimes it’s used to justify ideological programmes in early childhood education.

But the core message is always the same: Racism is innate, universal, and detectable before a child can crawl.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Will Miliband become the Net Zero Chancellor?

UK

Burnham’s Makerfield victory could make Miliband even more dangerous

Burnham said remarkably little about Net Zero during his by-election campaign, but recent reports pubished by his campaign aides suggest his by-election win is unlikely to mean much change on energy. If anything, it raises the prospect of Ed Miliband moving to the Treasury, where he could prove even more influential. As Chancellor, Miliband - who has gone rogue and is no longer speaking to the Prime Minister - would have far greater control over spending and taxation. Rather than abandoning the renewables-first strategy as costs rise, he could seek to shift more of those costs from bills into general taxation and use redistribution to shield households from the political consequences.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The twenty-dollar week

For months, commentators had one demand of Labour: stop holding your fire and show us some policy.

Last week, Labour obliged. It would cap public transport fares at $20 a week in the big cities, and $10 everywhere else. Two numbers came attached: a cost of $65 million a year, and an average saving of $25 a week.

So, I reached for a calculator, and that is where the trouble started.

Benno Blaschke: Helping government take its foot off the brake

Before anyone builds a house in New Zealand, someone must pay upfront for the pipes and the roads that connect a development to the city. Almost always, that someone is the council.

But a council can only borrow so much: about two to three times what it collects in a year. Once it hits that limit, it can no longer pay, so it uses its planning rules to say no.

David Farrar: The world’s first trillionaire

Elon Musk in now the world’s first trillionaire, with his net work now estimated a US$1.3 trillion.

He did not inherit even 0.000001% of this from his parents. Instead he simply:

David Farrar: Make sure this is in the next coalition agreement

ACT announced:

“New Zealanders shouldn’t have to choose between their career and their right to free speech,” says ACT Public Service spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

“Today ACT is announcing a 2026 election policy to stop professional regulators acting as ideological enforcers. ACT will, if returned to Government, introduce legislation to this end. …

Mike's Minute: More and more proof age is only a number

As Donald Trump celebrated his 80th this week, I read the stat that he is not alone in still having work to go to.

The retirement age in America is 67, but the percentage of those still in work past that age has quadrupled since the 80s.

So, a couple of things come out of that:

Sunday June 21, 2026 

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Mary-Louise Kearney: Is UNDRIP enforceable under the law of a sovereign state?

Is UNDRIP - technically an aspirational non - legally binding UN mechanism - actually enforceable in national law? If so, why do politicians say the opposite? Are they seeking to allay citizens’ concerns? Or are they disregarding the reality of legislative processes?

Gary Judd KC: Inflation - the struggle for simplicity

Why the Reserve Bank must distinguish monetary inflation from supply shocks

This morning I heard Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Bridges describing the dire state of the Auckland economy. He put part of the blame on the Reserve Bank’s signal that interest rates may need to rise in response to increasing prices. His point was that the immediate cause of the latest price pressure was not excessive domestic demand, but a spike in fuel prices caused by disruption to Middle East oil supplies.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 20 June 2026

Labour’s plan for “FREE” everything, paid for by one extra tax

Labour has had a busy time announcing policies (finally). Last week was the public transport fare cap of $20 a week in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and $10 elsewhere. Labour costed it at $65 million a year, but the numbers immediately began to wobble. Economists Sam Warburton and Brad Olsen put the more realistic figure somewhere between $91-112 million.

Joshua Riley: India Free Trade Agreement - What They Didn't Tell You

Five days after the parliamentary majority for ratification was already locked in, New Zealand released the full text of its Free Trade Agreement with India.

Read it. Because what it says is not what you were told.

Melanie Phillips: Trump’s surrender

Something darker is at work here than just a concern over rising fuel prices

Does Donald Trump actually understand what he’s done?

Responding to critics of his agreement with Iran, the US president called them “fools” and either “jealous or bad people” because “the stock market just hit A RECORD HIGH, and oil prices are tumbling down.”

So the economy is all that matters in a struggle to neutralise a fanatical Islamic revolutionary regime that puts its weapons where its mouth is when it screams “Death to America”?

Guest Post: Molesworth Station

Guest Post by Gravedodger on No Minister

A reasoned argument from one who understands how to relieve Pamu of Our Largest Station, Molesworth.

At present Pamu the current “Woke” iteration of the Government Lands and Survey farming department actual farming the vast estates still in Crown ownership returning often paltry returns when compared to private enterprise farming opperations is about to announce the future ownership and management strategy for the 500, 000 acre high country station on the southern boundary of Marlborough that was abandoned to the Crown due largely to rabbits and poor prices c1930s then added to with parts of St Helens after three farms were created on the Hanmer Plains for returned soldiers in 1949 and Tarndale Station also abandoned as run country.

Colinxy: Profit vs. Plunder - The Two Economic Moralities

Two Ways of Seeing the World

Every political ideology rests on an implicit theory of how wealth comes into existence. Strip away the slogans, the moralising, the academic jargon, and you find only two fundamental worldviews:

David Farrar: A doctor speaks out

A reader comments:

The RNZCGP is outdoing them and GP’s are sick and tired of it to the back teeth.1/4 of my CME is about “Cultural Safety and Equity.

25% of my continuous medical education is spent on this. Every 3 years the same stuff! Over and over again! Why not just once.

Mike's Minute: Labour's "splash the cash" mentality will solve nothing

What is the matter with Labour? They are giving me free doctor’s visits – I don’t want them or need them.

Now they are giving me free prescriptions… it’s tens of millions of dollars we don’t have, handed out to people who don’t need it. Some people need it – give it to them.

You are literally wasting money giving these things to anyone on a half-decent salary.