Mike's Minute: It's revealed Adrian Orr left with little dignity

It's hardly a surprise, is it? Adrian looks at what Nicola is offering to run the place, packs a sad, and is off.

It’s a pathetic end to a tumultuous period in which we, the people who paid him, deserved an awful lot better.

Tui Vaeau: Why the Regulatory Standards Bill Terrifies the Wellington Priesthood.......

The Bureaucrats Who Cried Wolf: Why the Regulatory Standards Bill Terrifies the Wellington Priesthood

There is a peculiar scent that lingers whenever the Wellington set begin howling in unison: the stench of self-preservation. One whiff of accountability and the entire public health-industrial complex recoils like a possum in torchlight. The latest outburst of institutional hysteria? The Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB) - a modest, methodical attempt to reintroduce sanity, transparency, and adult judgment into New Zealand's lawmaking process.

Insights From Social Media

"Your Rates at Work: Fixing Feelings, Not Footpaths" 

Stephen Mark Gaskell writes > If you thought your council rates just paid for roads, rubbish, and the odd library, think again. In modern New Zealand, rates are less about fixing potholes and more about fixing your mindset one Māori engagement strategy and rainbow pedestrian crossing at a time.

Amin Saikal: Why did Israel defy Trump.....

Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major war – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?

Alarmed by an intelligence assessment that Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within months if not weeks, Israel has launched a massive air campaign aiming to destroy the country’s nuclear program.

Bob Edlin: Teachers say Treaty must be included in our English curriculum......

Teachers say Treaty must be included in our English curriculum – but are we envied by overseas schools?

Time is running out, if you want to contribute to the consultation on a draft intermediate and secondary school English curriculum that reportedly prioritises Shakespeare, grammar and 19th century literature. A report from RNZ says the consultation “ closes on Friday”, which is today.

Ele Ludemann: More than carpets

Kāinga Ora’s decision to use wool carpets in new houses is good financially and environmentally.

Using wool shouldn’t stop there where there are a lot more uses for this wonderful fibre than in flooring.

There’s:

Guest Post: KiwiSaver, the employment contract and Budget 2025

A guest post on Kiwiblog by Michael Littlewood:

KiwiSaver is about to change again. The Budget announced an increase in the minimum employee contribution (from 3% to 4%) over three years and in the matching minimum contributions paid by employers.

The government is also cutting its own contribution from a 50% match to the first $1,042.86 of members’ contributions to 25%. So, the maximum taxpayer subsidy drops from $521.43 a year to $260.72. It will also be income-tested so that the highest paid employees (receiving more than $180,000 will lose that.

Saturday June 14, 2025 

                    ⇩

DTNZ: US will defend Israel – Trump

Washington was aware of West Jerusalem’s “preemptive” strike on Iran beforehand, but was not involved militarily, the president has said.

The US will “defend itself and Israel” if Iran retaliates for West Jerusalem’s “preemptive” strikes, President Donald Trump has told Fox News. He made the remarks in a phone call with host Bret Baier on Friday morning, according to the network.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 8.6.25

Saturday June 14, 2025 

News:
Govt cuts Māori research projects that don’t fit with ‘growth agenda’
A $5 million boost to a new Māori research fund has been outweighed by the Government siphoning $31m from elsewhere in the sector, pulling the rug from under three projects already years in the making.

The formation of the $10.9 million He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund as part of last month’s Budget has been hailed by Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Shane Reti as something that will contribute to the country’s overall performance.

Peter Williams: Another Biased Judge

We first heard the term “judicial activism” in 1987. Justice Robin Cooke, in his opinion for New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General, said the Treaty of Waitangi was “akin to a partnership.” It is one of the most famous lines in this country’s jurisprudence and was the first enunciation of the concept of partnership as a principle of the Treaty.

Chris Lynch: Labour pulls ahead of National as economic anxiety grows and Luxon stumbles

Labour has overtaken National to become the the most popular party in Parliament, according to the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll, marking a potential shift in the political landscape just weeks after the Government’s Budget announcement.

Matua Kahurangi: Taxpayer-Funded meth dens

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Kāinga Ora homes are riddled with meth contamination. When you hand out the cheapest rents in the country to society's bottom-dwellers, it’s only natural they’ll have more cash left over to blow on meth.

According to figures released under the Official Information Act, Kāinga Ora has blown $20.6 million of taxpayer money since 2020 decontaminating and repairing meth-damaged state houses. Millions spent on cleaning up after tenants who turned their government-funded homes into drug dens. Not a single one of them has paid a cent.

Kerre Woodham: Prisons are evidence of failure, but what's the alternative?

Prisons to me are tangible evidence of failure. Failure of a person to do the right thing, failure of family, of community, of society. Before they've even been used, they smell like failure. I’ve emceed a fundraiser for the Shine domestic violence prevention charity at Mount Eden's remand prison before the first prisoner had stepped foot inside it. And even though it was brand-spanking new and done to the very best of the budget and to the specs, you just felt like failure the moment you walked in there.

Bob Edlin: A lesson for home-schooled children....

A lesson for home-schooled children: they can be better than kids taught in schools, but be denied the medals

How can you come third in a race but be denied the bronze medal, which was awarded instead to the fourth-placed competitor?

By being a home-schooled competitor participating in an event administered by an outfit called School Sport New Zealand.

We learned this from Centrist, which reports:

JC: Will Willie Win?

Following Cam’s excellent article on Monday regarding Willie Jackson’s attempt to put the Māori Party on the right track, I thought I would add my tuppence worth. The question has to be: will Willie win over the dissenters?

Has Willie ever won anything in his life? He left school, became a freezing worker and got involved with the union movement, has worked in broadcasting and spent time as a politician, which is where he now finds himself. Where he also finds himself now, by the looks of it, is between a rock and a hard place, as does the party he belongs to.

David Farrar: Judicial Conduct Panel to be appointed

Paul Goldsmith announced:

A Judicial Conduct Panel will inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken, Acting Attorney-General Paul Goldsmith says.

“Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct at the Northern Club on 22 November 2024 was the subject of a preliminary examination by the Judicial Conduct Commissioner.

Mike's Minute: The Census work numbers give me hope

The Census, and some of those numbers released this week, really are a treasure trove of not just fact and stats but, I would have thought, hope.

That astonishing move south, with the tens of thousands who have headed to the South Island and particularly Christchurch, is a framework for what the whole country could be.

Friday June 13, 2025 

                    ⇩

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Can we trust another word out of Neil Quigley's mouth?

I don't enjoy saying what I'm about to say because personally I quite like Neil Quigley, but I think that he needs to quit as the chair of the Reserve Bank - simply because I do not think that we can ever trust a single word that comes out of that man's mouth again as the chair.

He has been busted telling not just one, but quite a lot of fibs about Adrian Orr's resignation.