Geoff Parker - TPM’s New Constitutional Policy: Who Should Hold the Political Power to Govern New Zealand?

Where should NZ’s political authority ultimately reside?

That is the real issue behind Te Pāti Māori’s new constitutional policy.

Constitutional Transformation

Te Pāti Māori wants to make Crown obligations arising from Te Tiriti legally enforceable and to fund the next stage of Māori-led constitutional transformation.

Steve Gaskell: TOP - A Fresh Political Brand, Treaty Politics and a Tax on Your Backyard.

The Opportunity Party wants to sell itself as something different from the usual crowd in Wellington. Fair enough. But have a look at its first 12 candidates and some interesting backgrounds start to emerge. Climate activism, Māori economic development, environmental restoration and Treaty issues feature in the experience of several candidates. Kayla Kingdon-Bebb was among the contributors to He Puapua, the report looking at how New Zealand could implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Wendy Geus: Electorate vote David Seymour for Epsom.....Mike Hosking is.

Goldsmith retained activist electoral commissioner and is impeding the BSA demise.

David Seymour received a high level endorsement this week for retaining the Epsom electorate. Mike Hosking, desperately trying to be balanced in his election coverage often comes off as piously clinging to the moral high ground.

Guest Post: These Are Stupid and False Claims

Guest Post on GoodOil by LilBaP

Joel Maxwell’s Stuff opinion tells readers they should fear billionaires more than Māori gangsters.

He starts: “Let me make the argument that our queasy fascination with a bunch of creepy, destructive, probably criminal idiots in the final weeks of the election is focused on the wrong group of creepy, destructive idiots.” The fascination is media click-baiting. There is no fascination for the rest of us.

Peter Williams: Opportunity needs a reality check

We can all start voting on Monday, but the perennially offended among us just keep on finding things to whinge about. Apparently, a public holiday means it’s an inconvenient day to cast a vote.

Just like all the complaining about how closing off the enrolment period at midnight this Sunday is “an affront to democracy,” you sometimes worry about the intelligence of people on the left side of politics.

John Klar: Is Electromagnetic Radiation Harmful to Health?

For decades, some Americans have claimed they are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation from cellphones, cell towers, power lines, or electrical devices. Industry and many Americans have dismissively labeled these as “tinfoil hat” conspiracies backed by zero evidence. But it’s not that simple. Much like vaccine injuries, illegal voting, and food additives, the industry at large has spent decades not looking for any evidence. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently announced that this is all about to change.

Chris Lynch: NZ First promises to scrap climate change tax on petrol and diesel

New Zealand First has announced plans to remove the climate change charge from petrol and diesel, promising motorists savings of up to 14 cents a litre.

The party wants to abolish the fuel component of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) during the next term of government, arguing it is placing an unnecessary financial burden on households and businesses.

David Farrar: An exception to the right to silence

Paul Goldsmith announced:

A re-elected National Government will make it a crime to remain silent and not disclose information relating to a child being murdered, National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“New Zealanders will remember numerous high-profile examples throughout our history where children have been brutally murdered, and Police have been unable to identify the attacker because people have chosen not to share critical information with them.

Damien Grant: I’d rather doom-scroll the Paris riots than spend an evening listening to a Luxon speech. But...

“From the very beginning, from the first moment, I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others.”

Thus said Elizabeth Bennet to William Darcy, as she rejected his proposal. For younger readers, imagine Bridget Jones delivering a similar line to Colin Firth.

Decisions are hard, and New Zealand faces a choice as compelling and consequential for our nation as that which confronted Bridget Jones as she weighed the merits and limitations of her two suitors.

John McLean: Wellington Regional Council's Sh*tty Deflection

“Greater Wellington” sues Wellington City Council and Tiaki Wai over Moa Point sewage disaster

The Wellington Regional Council (WRC) calls itself “Greater Wellington Te Pane Matua Taiao”. However, there’s nothing remotely Great about WRC and it’s certainly no greater that the Wellington City Council (WCC) or Tiaki Wai Limited. They’re all as bad and idiotic as each other.

On 1 October, WRC filed criminal prosecutions in the Wellington District Court against both WCC and Tiaki Wai, over the failure of Wellington’s Moa Point wastewater treatment plant and the resultant continuing discharges of untreated sewage.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Losing sight of the lucky country – why we need a crisis to reform again

When I first visited Sydney in 1999, what struck me most were the cranes. They stood over the city in every direction, building towers, stadiums and rail lines for the Olympic Games. The future was being built, quite literally, in front of my eyes.

I had come partly to meet, at last, the South Australian penfriend I had been writing to since 1991 and whom I later married. Australia had always been my dream destination, but at least at the time I thought it would be a one-off holiday.

It felt refreshing to be in Australia. Back home, The Economist had just called Germany “the sick man of the euro”. Some four million Germans were out of work, and reforms were debated for years before being quietly shelved.

Australia back then was the opposite.

Nick Clark:

Localism is a wonderful thing. I recommend it to any politician in opposition. It draws applause and offers a chance to accuse one's opponents of being control freaks.

 
Last week, at the annual Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference, I watched Labour, Green and Opportunity politicians champion partnership with councils. 'Communities deserve respect,' they said. 'Ministers should listen. The Coalition Government is getting everything wrong.'

Monday October 26, 2026 

                   ⇩

NZCPR Newsletter: Defining Election Issues

Voting for the 2026 election has started. Anyone living overseas can now vote. Within New Zealand, early voting starts on Monday. At the last election, over 60 percent of voters had already voted by Election Day.

So, with the left and right blocs neck and neck in the polls, let’s look at five defining issues as we head towards November 7.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.10.26

Monday October 26, 2026 

News:
Mahurangi Oyster Farmers, Te Uri O Hau, Celebrate $2.8m Investment

A $2.8m Government funding boost will allow Mahurangi oyster farmers affected by sewage-related harvest closures to shift oysters to Kaipara Harbour for purification, while supporting the establishment of a Māori-owned oyster farming operation.

Geoff Parker: Godfery’s Great Omission

Morgan Godfery’s claim that New Zealand’s latest “race relations crisis” will “almost certainly resolve in favour of Māori” is a political prediction dressed up as historical inevitability.

A political prediction — resting on remarkably convenient omissions and unexamined assumptions.

Godfery tells us that Māori power has grown. He does not properly explain how it grew.

David Harvey: Two Solicitors-General - two constitutional visions

Within the space of a couple of months, we have had the advantage of speeches from Una Jagose KC, the recently retired Solicitor-General, and Anna Adams KC, her successor in the role.

Jagose gave a reasonably relaxed speech in July 2026 at a breakfast organized by The Law Association and which was reported in LawNews. I wrote a critique of that speech which was also published in Law News.

Richard Prebble: Who else?

“It is just as important to say what you are against as what you are for”.

Political candidates take their lead from their leader. They need to know not just what the party stands for, but what it stands against.

While in no way excusing Kerrin Leoni’s attempt to cover up her gang visit, it is obvious that she and her campaign team did not know Chris Hipkins’ position on gangs.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Jackdaw gets the green light as Britain's energy security comes under scrutiny

This week, Labour approved the Jackdaw gas field while Rosebank remains in limbo. Meanwhile, winter blackout warnings are mounting, energy bills could rise again and ministers are reportedly considering cuts to Net Zero spending. Is the Government's green agenda becoming a casualty of its own contradictions?

Ashley Church: The new symbol of anti-western hatred

The latest face of an ancient evil

As we watch the scenes of chaos emerging out of France we see the same unifying emblems which have become synonymous with protest in the West. Disparate groups rallying for a range of causes including poverty, socialism, open immigration, climate change, and opposition to Western governments increasingly gather under the same colours and motifs: the Palestinian flag, supported by the keffiyeh and the covered face. These have become fundamental to the architecture of protest.