Ani O'Brien: Who gets to run your life?

Forget the policies, what political philosophies separate our parties?

November the 7th is fast approaching and we are drowning in often bizarre and ill-thought out promises from almost every party. Te Pāti Māori seems to only put out press releases to call everyone else racist, but the other parties are dropping policies left, right, and centre. There are subsidies, taxes, schemes, and a lot of pledges to make things “free”. But stepping aside from the minutiae of quickly dreamt up policies, New Zealanders face the fundamental question of what kind of country we want to live in. Both sides seem to view this election as existential, as if we are standing on a precipice and one outcome spells disaster.

In this essay, I want to explore what I see as some of the core philosophical differences between the two futures we are to choose from.

Colinxy: The Green Party’s Staggering List of Promises

When the numbers get so large that nobody is supposed to ask where the money comes from.

One of the easiest ways to understand a political party is not by what it says, but by what it promises.

And by that measure, the Green Party is either the most generous party in New Zealand history, or the least economically grounded.

Guest Post: A Respectful Reminder Regarding National’s Constitutional Legacy

Guest post on No Minister by Ivan Barnett

Dear National Party Leadership,

I recently received Sir John Key’s message encouraging voters to continue supporting National and to trust the Party to complete the work it has begun.

Damien Grant: Electorate candidates deserve your vote on merit, not tactical gaming

I’ve spent this election hauling myself around remote electorates hosting debates with former Labour MP Anna Lorck, thanks to the excellent folks from the Taxpayers’ Union, and interviewing political leaders with fellow Stuff columnist Verity Johnson.

I’ve met a retired All Blacks captain, a Certified Parrot Behaviour Consultant, a couple of mayors and, with some trepidation, a former police detective. Let me tell you, those who are running for an electorate seat put in the mahi. Hard, relentless, grinding hours spent debating, door knocking, presenting, memorising party lines and talking to potential voters, random strangers and other candidates.

Richard Prebble: Interesting electorate races - James Christmas

National is winning so many electorates that taking Tāmaki back from ACT could leave it with no list MPs.

ACT’s James Christmas is seventh on its list and will be an MP regardless.

But Tāmaki matters because our electorate vote lets us choose the best candidate.

Bob Edlin: Rongo Wetere’s stance on discrimination suggests ACT should recruit him...

....in promoting needs-based govt policies

PoO has been alerted to the “impassioned speech” of Rongo Wetere, founder of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, which he delivered after award-winning historian Vincent O’Malley spoke in Te Awamutu last week about the 1864 Invasion of Waikato.

Wetere described the invasion by British forces in 1864 as a land grab that had never been fully compensated for.

Dr Eric Crampton: The pricey and perversely unexpected outcomes of parties’ social media controls

Whatever government manages to form after 7 November seems likely to bring substantial new restrictions for online freedom of speech, including social media age limits and an online regulator.

Experience with similar regimes overseas does not suggest that this will end well. And it will be difficult for any online age-verification regime to keep kids off social media without also imposing substantial encumbrances on adults or threatening privacy.

Let’s look first at what each of the parties has proposed, and what the different coalitions might then bring.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Rosebank divides Cabinet as pressure mounts over Britain’s energy costs

This week, Rosebank has exposed divisions within the Government, while Tony Blair’s think tank calls for a rethink of Britain’s energy strategy. Meanwhile, households face rising bills despite promises of relief in the Budget, and Germany’s green transition faces a multitrillion-euro price tag. How much longer can the Government put net zero ambitions ahead of affordable energy and Britain’s industrial future?

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Ten years for keeping quiet? NZ eyes end to right to silence

In April 1638, guards in London tied a young man to a cart and whipped him through the streets to Westminster. There they locked his head and hands in a wooden frame for all to see. When he kept talking to the crowd, they gagged him.

His name was John Lilburne, and the authorities had arrested him for spreading leaflets that attacked the church’s bishops. Yet the whipping was not punishment for the leaflets. It was for refusing to swear an oath demanded by the Star Chamber, a royal court that sat without a jury.

Dr Nathan Peres: How wars in the Middle East affect New Zealand’s economy

Whether you fill your tank, book a flight or pay for groceries, the rising costs stem from a war in which this country is not involved. Since the Gulf war broke out on 28 February, Iran has kept shipping through the Strait of Hormuz largely choked.

From January to September, petrol prices rose 24.3 percent and diesel 55.8 percent. Food prices rose just 2.4 percent, but that restraint will probably not last.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Who runs the country after the election

In August, two senior coalition politicians in the governing coalition disagreed in public about the officials who serve them.

ACT's Simon Court said new governments arrive in office to find 'a wall of people who don't necessarily agree with you'. National's Chris Bishop admitted it can be frustrating to get the government's priorities through the system and said that officials could improve on how free and frank their advice is. But he praised the public service for being apolitical.

Every three years, New Zealanders vote for a government. But there is one part of government nobody votes for: the permanent public service. These are the officials who turn the government's plans into action. Their job is to help each elected government deliver on its promises.

  Sunday November 1, 2026 

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Anglo Saxon: Top 10 worst things the Labour Communist Party did to New Zealand

It's a week out from the New Zealand 2026 election; least we forget what's at stake.

Click to view

Richard Prebble: Interesting election races - Chris Bishop

Some electorate races matter not because they will decide the government, but because electing an outstanding candidate will make for a better Parliament.

Frankly, many MPs are third raters whom you would not employ to take out the rubbish.

It is not often I agree with Winston Peters, but Chris Bishop is a remarkable MP.

Penn Raine: The irrelevant peaceful majority

'France To Deploy 70,000 Police For Halloween Protests Amid Violence Fears’

Headlines like this continue to dominate Europe’s news as French riots inspire Italians, Spanish and Germans to throw wheelie bins at police, loot branches of Front Runner and firebomb heritage sites.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.11.26

Sunday November 1, 2026 

News:
Owners regain whenua after more than half a century under perpetual lease
Owners of Māori blocks in Otorohanga regain control of their whenua following a momnumental perpetual lease deal.

Through support from the Māori Trustee, owners of Waikowhitiwhiti F1 and Waikowhitiwhiti F2B1 in Ōtorohanga have regained control of their whenua following the purchase of a perpetual lease.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 31 October 2026

Election 2026: Pick a poll, any poll

The polls are arriving almost daily and depending which you prefer National is either out in front or doing worse than we were when I worked for Judith Collins as leader (they were challenging times). On Tuesday 1News-Verian had National on 29% and Labour on 27%, but on Thursday RNZ-Reid Research had National on 24.8% and Labour on 30.6%. Two very different pictures. There wasn’t quite such a dramatic difference for the smaller parties with the Greens getting 15% and 14.5% respectively, ACT 12% and 10.1%, New Zealand First 10% and 9.9%, and Opportunity 6% and 7.2%. And let’s just round Te Pāti Māori down to zero.

Richard Prebble: TOP’s Circus Act

For TOP to be kingmaker, the party must persuade at least one voter in twenty to vote for it. Not easy.

I identify four very different TOP voters.

First, the protest voter. I have been a scrutineer. Some people go to the trouble of voting only to cross out every candidate. There were 16,252 informal party votes in 2023. TOP offers another way to register a protest.

Kerre Woodham: What do you do when your lifesaving treatment isn't funded?

What would you do? I've been thinking about this ever since Paul's phone call yesterday. You might have been listening when he rang in. We were talking about the cost of living and how you can make economies and you can get an extra job and you can do all this and all that and try and get through, unless life throws you a curveball.

Matt Ridley: Can we make photosynthesis more efficient?

We human beings could succeed where nature has failed

An economy is also an ecology. Society is fuelled mostly by hydrocarbons, which are derived from carbohydrates synthesised by plants and turned into coal, oil and gas. A typical coal seam a metre thick was formed by 2,000 summers of plant photosynthesis 300 million years ago.