Peter Williams: CGT is just an Envy Tax

As the Labour Party and other whingers of the left try their best to excite their mainstream media mates about why this country needs a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) perhaps it’s timely to remind the lefties about just who pays the most income tax in this country already.

Before that though, a quick glance at the Crown Accounts for 2023/24 FY published on October 10th. What they comprehensively show is that the country is living beyond its means.

Government income was $167.3 billion. It spent $180.1 billion.

Ele Ludemann: Who’s running this show?

David Farrar received an email alerting him to the Solicitor General’s new guidelines for prosecutions which started:

. . . “Research over many years has consistently found that Māori are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system at every stage, including as victims, and we recognised at the start of the project that the discretion to prosecute may contribute to that. The Guidelines expressly reference these disproportionate impacts and assist prosecutors by providing guidance about the matters to factor into their decisions. I am grateful to the kaitiaki and kaimahi of Ināia Tonu Nei for their wisdom, generosity and commitment. These Guidelines are much better for their input” says Ms Jagose.” . .

Lindsay Mitchell: Needless attack on government directive by public health academics

In September 2024 the government issued a directive to government agencies not to prioritise services on the basis of race. Shortly after, a group of public health academics from Auckland and Otago Universities wrote a paper which was published in the NZ Medical Journal strongly opposing the directive.

They began by objecting to the term "race" because it is "discredited terminology" which "suggests that the foundations of white superiority are still alive and well in New Zealand today."

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.10.24

Tuesday October 22, 2024 

News:
Government's colourblind directive an 'attack on science and public health advice' - expert
Public services must now be determined on need, not race. But in the health sector, experts say the biggest determination of need is ethnicity.

It's a dogma labelled in some sectors as 'colourblind ideology' - the idea that everyone should be treated the same when it comes to public services.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We might have to leave the America's Cup alone

As predictably as the clock striking 12 twice a day, here we are after an America's Cup win talking - yet again - about whether the Cup should be held in New Zealand.

In one corner, there's Helen Clark - who says Kiwis want to witness a successful event at home. And in the other corner, there's David Seymour who says we're too broke.

Clive Bibby: Shane Jones walks the talk

For those of us farmers here in the East Coast provinces- many of whom have just been through the most dreadful experience of our lives - listening to a Cabinet Minister who has our back is a refreshing change from all the broken promises we heard from the last mob of false prophets.

It isn’t so much that Shane Jones actually understands the problems we face here at the coalface - but more about his ability to state the obvious when helping us get back on our feet. There are things that we can and must do irrespective of whether they contravene established popular thinking about environmental primacy.

Jonathan Ayling: Desinformatsya - a Soviet hangover

The Disinformation Project represented so much of what is wrong with the censorship culture we’re experiencing in democracies like New Zealand today. The word disinformation itself has troubling origins, coined by Stalin to control public opinion.

I’ve studied 6 languages, and to me, big words can be fascinating.

The word obscurantism, for instance, means the use of technical or overly-complex language to confuse a meaning or make understanding a concept more difficult than it needs to be.

David Farrar: Sir Apirana Ngata on The Treaty

Sir Apirana Ngata is on our $50 note. He was a lawyer and then was the MP for Eastern Maori for almost 40 years. He was Minister of Native Affairs for six years.He made huge contributions to Maori land reform, language and culture.

He also wrote a booklet in 1922 on the Treaty of Waitangi, which NZPCR has usefully published online. Well worth a read to compare to what some today claim the Treaty means.

Some extracts:

Centrist: Broad funding guidelines for Rongoā Māori, while other alternative therapies remain uncovered by ACC

What is Rongoā Māori?

Rongoā (also known formally as Rongoā Māori), a traditional healing practice, is officially recognised by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in rehabilitation programmes, but loose guidelines regarding its definition raise concerns. Anyone can access this service equally under ACC.

JC: The Things Media Won’t Tell You

A Trump win looks inevitable. Will Kamala’s friend Jacinda find a place at Harvard for her so they can spout their Marxist duologues?

Regarding the presidential election in America, listening, watching or reading about this in the mainstream media gives you no idea of what is really happening. The results of polling from those companies which have proven to be the most accurate at picking the winner, are painting a very different picture from what 1News (Pravda) and other left-wing media are delivering – they do this by employing a false narrative – a tactic they employ on many occasions. It is their go-to for spreading propaganda.

Kerre Woodham: Can we really afford to host the America's Cup right now?

Who doesn't love hosting a good party? Who hasn't enjoyed the buzz that comes from having people from all over the world heading into town intent on having a good time?

Even if you can't afford the price of the tickets to the Rugby World Cup, or through fee for Women's World Cup, or you haven't got a gin palace to head out on the water to get up, close and personal to the America's Cup racing, you can still share in the good times and the positive vibes that are generated when a marquee event is set up in New Zealand.

Monday October 21, 2024 

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Mike's Minute: A win for common sense

A very good victory on Friday for common sense.

The Solicitor-General fell on her sword over the instructions to the prosecution service promoting race.

It was Monday, this time last week we raised it because it seemed scandalous.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/10/24

Don’t forget the Paddle Ferns, while saluting Kiwi sports teams’ weekend triumphs – and please note Peters’ success in Thailand

Our sports teams did the country proud over the weekend.

Besides holding on to the America’s Cup and winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, our teams beat Aussie netballers (here in Wellington) and Indian cricketers on their home turf.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Multiple Sclerosis NZ argues....

Finance Minister Willis, Pharmac Chair Bennett & Regulation Minister Seymour Should Answer Multiple Sclerosis NZ

Evaluating spending and regulation decisions on the basis of objective criteria is a good thing. The standard tool in economics to do so in called Cost-Benefit Analysis. In a high quality, just-released report, Multiple Sclerosis NZ argues, with great lucidity, that Pharmac is not taking into account all costs & benefits on society when it decides which drugs to fund.

Graham Adams: Should patients be able to choose medical staff by race?

Racial compatibility is central to affirmative-action entry programmes.

The news early this month that a Pakeha patient asked not to be treated by Asian staff at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital and that the hospital complied was quickly and roundly condemned by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and health-worker unions. Many of the public, too, criticised the patient’s request as blatant racism.

Sir Bob Jones: The dying Wellington myth

Sheer nonsense is being published about the capital dying.

House prices have not risen as fast as other cities, the government has sacked lots of (unnecessary) public servants, cafes and small businesses particularly retail, are failing, Council rates are soaring and so it goes with a seeming daily toll of publicised woes. A seriously dysfunctional Council adds to the negativity.

Now, here are the facts.

David Farrar: Which ethnicities are over and under represented in the public service?

The PSC reported that the ethnicity of the public service is:

Professor Robert MacCulloch: A Police State for the "Next (Inevitable)" Pandemic?.....

Is Sir Ashley Bloomfeld Arguing in the NZ Medical Journal that this Nation should be Turned into a Police State for the "Next (Inevitable)" Pandemic?

In the latest edition of the NZ Medical Journal, former Ministry of Health employee, Ashley Bloomfeld, who was head of our health system during the pandemic, has written a paper called "Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response: Are We Better off Now than Pre-COVID?". The paper seems to argue that Kiwis are now better off. The authors seem to have missed something called the "cost-of-living-crisis", which has seen GDP per capita - that is, Kiwis personal incomes - decline more over the past several years than even during the Global Financial Crisis. That decline is directly attributable to policies implemented during the pandemic that never traded off economic & health outcomes. The underfunding of our health system happening now is collateral damage.

Mike Butler: The Ned Fletcher Treaty book

The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi, published two years ago, adds new footnotes to the old argument that in 1840 the British only really intended to set up in New Zealand a government to control wayward British subjects while the chiefs could carry on being chiefs.

The main problem with that view is that there was no record in any of the treaty debates and signings of any British functionary telling the chiefs just that.

Moreover, chiefs at the February 5, 1840, treaty debate were recorded as objecting to the prospect of having a chief over them, which is clear evidence that the treaty contemplated a government over settlers and Maori alike.

Fletcher does include this inconvenient fact but carries on with his argument, unfazed.

Peter St. Onge: They Have the Money - We Have the Numbers

Authoritarianism is back across the West — from Europe to the Biden-Harris censorship regime that would fit perfectly in Communist China.

I think many of us were surprised during Covid to realize just what the supposedly liberal West has become: Essentially the Soviet Union but with better uniforms — well, better video games, anyway.

Of course, it was decades in the making — Covid just showed their cards.

The question, as always, is What’s Next.

Peter Murphy: U.S. government pushing climate lies on schoolchildren

The ever-changing climate continues to be a perverse obsession with the Biden administration and will continue in earnest if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected next month, notwithstanding her deliberate reticence on the subject during her presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris federal bureaucracy continues to be the largest purveyor of climate lies. This began with President Biden’s executive order one week after assuming office, to require a “government-wide approach to the climate crisis” to control the populace and steer the nation to a climate war footing.

Dr Eric Crampton: Opening to investment

BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie had the best synopsis of New Zealand First’s announcement on foreign direct investment this weekend: “it was less important for what it said than for the fact that Peters said it.”

The Overseas Investment Act has placed New Zealand among the developed world’s least hospitable climates for foreign investment.

Dave Patterson: North Korea Joins Russia Against Ukraine – A Growing Global Conflict

There is an expanding alliance of enemies moving on Ukraine, and the US is in denial.

It appears North Korea is itching for a fight, any fight. For some time, we’ve heard numerous reports on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) providing artillery ammunition and other assistance to Russia to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, we are learning that Pyongyang is preparing ground troops to join Russia in the war against its neighbor to the West.

Sunday October 20, 2024 

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Dieuwe de Boer: Are We Ready For Population Decline?

Allow me to stay on the theme of demographics for another week. This has been on my mind as I will be taking a break from writing as I will be on holiday for a month visiting Japan and Korea which are dealing with this scenario: low birthrates and a declining population.

New Zealand faces the same situation, but we have replaced the second ingredient with a more dangerous one: mass migration.

Ele Ludemann: Faster dissolution for abuse victims

This week victims of domestic abuse got a lifeline – the right to a speedy divorce.

Until this law change, victims had to wait two years, living apart from their abuser, before they could get a dissolution of their marriage.

Hansard records the background to the law change:

Guest Post: Conflicts of Interest

A guest post by a reader on Kiwiblog:

This opinion is expressed without intimate knowledge of Cabinet rules or the rules around conflicts pertaining to electoral donations if such exist. It is a “pub-test” analysis which goes looking for and finds what the average bloke might consider hypocrisy and bias.

The Opposition (by which I mean the Media) and the parliamentary parties not in government (Labour and the Greens) have been agitated much about conflicts of interest they perceive in the current Government. Many stirring words have been written about:

David Lillis: Ethnicity and Public Health

Abstract

Up to now ethnicity has been used as a marker of public health in New Zealand, both as a means of identifying high-risk communities and proportioning resources for health and medical services and intervention. In 2024 the Coalition Government has reduced, though not eliminated, the use of ethnicity as a marker, so that public services, including health services, are prioritized on need rather than race. 

NZCPR Newsletter: Moving Ahead

A number of opinion polls published over recent weeks confirm support for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National-led governing Coalition is holding. That’s in spite of the tough economic times, public service resistance, and biased media reporting.

Mary Hobbs: Protecting the innocence of our children

If we are to reach real peace in this world .. we shall have to begin with children; and if they will grow up in their natural innocence . . . we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until . . . all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which consciously or unconsciously the whole world is hungering. — Mahatma Gandhi

Imagine you are a 13-year-old girl, about to start high school. You may look forward to it with a sense of positive anticipation for what the future holds, combined with a little trepidation – because you’re back to being one of the “new kids”. You’ll probably be keen to find good friends, and hope to have good teachers. High school is an exciting step and most of us remember a sea of children at a bigger school we will be attending for the next five years, so those first few weeks loom large — especially as they cement foundations for the majority of the teenage years.

Lushington Brady: The Bell Is Tolling for Us All

The attacks on Jews are an attack on our entire democracy.

Many in the West are belatedly waking up to the reality that the ‘Great Awokening’ is a Cultural Revolution in the fullest sense of the word. Where Mao unleashed his Red Guards to protect his own grip on power, the new Red Guards have been turned loose by a Marxist establishment that has spent decades surreptitiously white-anting nearly every institution of Western liberal democracy.

John MacDonald: ACC is in desperate need of treatment

Here’s my perception of ACC: some people get ACC pay-outs at the drop of a hat and others have to fight, for what can be years.

And it’s the fighting bit that seems to be biting ACC on the backside, with the news that it’s gone from having a $900 million surplus last year to a $7.2 billion deficit this year.

It’s saying one of the reasons for that is that the courts are coming out with rulings telling it to pay people more money than it wanted to in the first place. Which, if that is the case, tells me that the ACC model is broken. It needs a re-think.

Roger Partridge: Who makes the law?

Picture a country where unelected judges, not elected politicians, make the laws. Where courts rewrite statutes they do not like and reshape long-standing legal rules based on their views of ‘society’s changing values.’ Sound far-fetched? The New Zealand Initiative’s latest report – of which I am the author – shows this scenario is becoming a reality in New Zealand.

“Who Makes the Law? Reining in the Supreme Court” examines how our Supreme Court has strayed beyond its proper constitutional role. The report argues that the Court has adopted a dangerously loose approach to interpreting statutes, sometimes even ignoring Parliament’s clear language. More and more, it is also reshaping common law principles to align with judges’ views of society’s changing values.

Saturday October 19, 2024 

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Cam Slater: Go Back to the Mat

Winston is on fire as he raises the ire of Te Pāti Māori by highlighting their appalling behaviour.

Te Pāti Māori really aren’t that smart. They keep starting fights with Winston Peters and bizarrely attacking him as a racist. This is ironic given their own violent and racist rhetoric.

Now the fools are complaining to the Speaker.

David Farrar: Trans sporting guidelines

Chris Bishop announced:

Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop has asked Sport NZ to review and update its Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport.

“The Guiding Principles, published in 2022, were intended to be a helpful guide for sporting bodies grappling with a tricky issue. They are intended to be voluntary, not mandatory.

Laura Trask On Racist Themes In Children’s Book Of The Year Winner

Sean Plunket talks to ACT MP Laura Trask on The Platform about racist themes in children’s book of the year winner

Click to view

Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.10.24

Saturday October 19, 2024 

News:
Major backdown from Government’s top legal advisor over controversial Māori prosecution guidelines
The Solicitor-General has backed down over controversial guidelines that asked prosecutors to “think carefully about particular decisions... where a person is Māori”.

Una Jagose KC has admitted in a statement on Friday that her wording “missed the mark”. She said that realisation came after reading and listening to public commentary.

Kerre Woodham: What do we expect our politicians to do?

The Greens voted last night to swallow a dead rat. Even the vegans had to chew on a dead rat last night. Green Party delegates overwhelmingly decided to use the Waka Jumping law, which they hate, to eject Darleen Tana from Parliament if she decides not to quit first. Darleen Tana, the former Green MP, currently sits, useless as tits on a bull, as an independent and was the subject of a late night special general meeting zoom. All 185 party delegates present at the meeting reached consensus —I don't think they do anything so trad and bourgeois as vote— they reach consensus within the Green Party, to endorse using the legislation against Tana.

David Farrar: We still have more public servants than a year ago

The media and the left have reported on the reductions in public service numbers as some form of brutal year zero policy which would have you think the Government has turned the clock back decades.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Absurd Beehive theatre

It is a Monday afternoon in Wellington. Journalists gather in the Beehive’s theatrette for the weekly post-cabinet media briefing. The Prime Minister enters.

Prime Minister: Good afternoon, everyone. Today, I’d like to make a few simple statements about New Zealand. Firstly, New Zealand is in the South Pacific Ocean. Secondly, the kiwi is a flightless bird native to New Zealand. And finally, Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city.

Rachel Stewart: Gunning for McKee

What's really behind the incessant Nicole McKee hatred?

Political scientist Bryce Edwards is someone I respect for his level-headedness but his recent article on Nicole McKee needs to be fact-checked, and fact-checked hard. If you haven’t seen it here it is: https://substack.com/@democracyproject/p-149335230

I mean, I get if you’ve only got access to journalism that is overwhelming negative - and clearly that’s the case here when you read who his key sources are - then this is the result. But it’s lazy. And far too trusting.

Brendan O'Neill: Death of a fascist

The elimination of Yahya Sinwar is a great moment for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

So Yahya Sinwar has been killed. The leader of Hamas in Gaza is no more. The man widely believed to have been the architect of the pogrom of 7 October has been eliminated. The worst mass murderer of Jews since the Nazi era has been served the ultimate and most righteous punishment. The fascist is dead. This is a great day not only for Israel and the Jewish diaspora that has been smarting for more than a year from the horrors that Sinwar and his army of anti-Semites visited on southern Israel, but also for all of humanity.

Friday October 18, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 18/10/24

Dairy squabble with Canada: sorting out a trade dispute (like making good cheese) can take time

The trade relationship between Kiwis and Canadians began to curdle more than two years ago, when we initiated dispute settlement proceedings against Canada regarding its implementation of dairy tariff rate quotas (TRQs) under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Mike's Minute: Chris Hipkins the opportunist

Here's a lesson for life - beware the opportunist.

In this case I refer to Christopher Hipkins, leader of the Labour Party and now, apparently, keen speculator and sports fan.

He is telling us it is time to get the America's Cup back to New Zealand. Now why would he be saying that do you think?

Ele Ludemann: But what would she advocate?

Chris Hipkins wants his predecessor, Jacinda Ardern back into public life to advocate for New Zealand:

While Dame Jacinda enjoyed a near-saintly international reputation, at home, her legacy was more contested.

She was loathed by anti-vaxxers for her government’s Covid-19 mandates, and was blamed by many on the right for New Zealand’s post-pandemic economic downturn. . .

David Farrar: The difference six years makes

The latest Crown financial statements have just been published so let’s look at the annual crown financial statements for 2023/24 compared to 2017/18.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Legal letter threatening Auckland University....

Law firm partner who wrote legal letter threatening Auckland University with defamation on behalf of Foodstuffs is also a lecturer .. at Auckland University

Amusingly, when my (now retired) colleague, Tim Hazeldine, wrote at article about the Foodstuffs - Countdown duopoly, Auckland University got threatened with defamation. The letter from Chapman Tripp somehow found its way onto the government's own Commerce Commission Website - you can read it at the end of this link:

Gary Judd KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer

Yesterday, Parliament's Regulation Review Committee heard oral submissions concerning my complaint to the Committee asking that a member of the committee move a resolution asking the House of Representatives to disallow the regulations promulgated by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. If the regulations are not disallowed, they will take effect from 1 January 2025. Every first-year law student in New Zealand will be required to take and pass a course in tikanga Māori. In addition, tikanga will be infused into all the other compulsory subjects (contract, tort, property law, et cetera). The Committee allocated 15 minutes for me, 5 minutes for lawyer Thomas Newman (who supported my complaint), and 15 minutes for Justice Neil Campbell, who is now chairman of the NZCLE. For each of us, the allocated time was to include time for questions from Committee members.

Graeme Reeves: The Treaty Principle’s Bill or the Constitutional Principles Bill or neither?

In his blog of 14 October 2024 Professor Robert MacCulloch, in discussing the Treaty Principles Bill suggested that the bill be renamed the “Constitutional Principles Bill”. He suggested that it should simply map out the fundamental values all Kiwis hold dear avoiding the futile treaty interpretation and mind reading game.

If only it were that simple.

Karl du Fresne: The sad, ignoble decline of Frog City

On a recent Monday morning, my wife and I had breakfast at Bordeaux Bakery on Thorndon Quay, Wellington. I expressed surprise that the place was empty. A couple of years ago it would have been humming.We sat by the window with a view over the street. What we saw was a forest of traffic cones and red-and-white posts designating the cycle lanes that have spread like a cancer all over the city (a city, it should be noted, whose topography makes it singularly unsuited to cycling because many of its main thoroughfares are narrow and winding).

Dr Guy Hatchard: Do White Coats Make You More Intelligent?

This week we were subjected to a piece of biotech propaganda from the Hon. David Seymour MP, leader of the ACT Party and soon to be Deputy Prime Minister. Dressed in a white coat Seymour spoke to us as he was visiting Ruminant Biotech.

He held up a bolus (or pill) the size of a potato and announced that once put in a cow it would release a very special and secret synthesised compound that reduces the cow’s methane emissions by 75%. The bolus is a slow release pill that continues to work for six months. Seymour described this as a real win-win because we can keep having steaks and dairy products and not worry about climate change. He finished with “science is awesome and the real solution to our climate challenges”.

Peter Dunne: Health system reforms

The last thing the beleaguered public health system needs right now is a distracting debate about which language hospital staff should use when communicating with patients. There should be no argument that English, the most widely used language in New Zealand, is the one that should be used in all communications with or about patients, unless they do not speak English and need to be communicated with in a different language. But, at the same time, how, and in what language, hospital staff talk privately to each other, away from their patients, should be their own business. This is not a question of cultural respect, but simply a matter of practicality. As such, it does not deserve the attention it is currently receiving.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Nato leader arrives at a crunch time

There are easier jobs than NATO Secretary-General. And if you have just finished almost 14 years as Dutch PM, it is hardly a downscaling option.

Yet that is what Mark Rutte has chosen to do. He formally started his new job on 1 October – and he has inherited a military alliance facing its most significant challenges since the Cold War.

Russia wages its war in Ukraine. China expands its global influence. Within NATO itself, political tensions threaten its future. Yet Rutte, in his first statements, appears undaunted by the task ahead.