Graeme Spencer: Who is running this country?

In June 2002 I wrote a comment about the Labour party - "They have to go and never be allowed into power again, you simply could not trust them. Labour has tentacles like an insidious octopus and they have infiltrated every facet of lives - democracy, health, education, media, freedom of speech and local government. Procedures , perhaps via a new constitution, have to be put in place so that no party can ever do this again"

Well - despite all their failures, they did a magnificent hit job on us, they managed to embed their ideology deep into our public sector.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 23.11.25

Monday November 24, 2025 

News:
Ngāi Tahu warns conservation reforms could take iwi settlements back to court
The chairperson of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu is a warning the Government not to open “Pandora’s box” by changing the legislation that breaches treaty settlements.

The iwi took the Conservation Minister to the High Court on Friday in defence of its treaty settlement in the face of proposed conservation reforms.

Geoff Parker: Ngāi Tahu History Isn’t What 'The Press' Claims

The Press’s latest Ngāi Tahu puff piece — complete with misty-eyed claims about “Crumbs from the white man’s table” — is yet another exercise in historical distortion masquerading as journalism. It parrots the modern Treaty-industry script while ignoring the most basic historical facts, many of which sit openly in Crown archives. Either the reporter didn’t look, or didn’t want to.

John Robertson: The Curriculum Revolt Nobody Voted For

New Zealand’s public schools are staging a quiet revolt, and hardly anyone is admitting it out loud. More than a thousand schools — yes, a thousand — have decided they no longer care what Parliament has legislated. The Government removed the requirement for school boards to “give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi,” but schools are pressing ahead as if the law never changed.

Sean Rush: Letter to the Roseneath School Board

Response to Your Letter Regarding Upholding Te Tiriti

Dear Members of the Board,

I am writing in response to your recent letter to the Government stating your intention to uphold Te Tiriti. I have been a proud resident of Roseneath since 2013, my two children were pupils at the school, I have supported the school in fundraising activities and I chaired the Roseneath Resident’s Association. I also did a term as a Wellington City Councillor. I will continue to champion the school.

Insights From Social Media: When the Story Doesn’t Match the Truth

Roger Strong writes > This is the headline in today’s weekend POST newspaper ‘Crumbs From The White Man’s Table : The story of the Ngai Tahu deeds' – a full page article coming from Ngai Tahu Itself and the then there is this paragraph - ‘The relationship between the Crown and the iwi was established by the Treaty of Waitangi. It did not take long to be breached. The first step in the slow process that was Te Kerēme was taken in 1849, a mere nine years after the Treaty signing. A solution took nearly 150 more years, before the iwi signed the deed of settlement with the Crown in 1997'.

So we have an article that mixes up half-truths with outright lies and contains countless lies by omission-the things not mentioned (deliberately surely) that perpetuate even more lies.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Failing the politics of feels - why NZ’s Luxon is tanking

Something peculiar is happening in New Zealand politics. Labour, routed just two years ago with their worst result since proportional representation began in 1996, has surged to 38 per cent in the latest political poll. What might have helped Labour was its capital gains tax proposal that would fund free GP visits for everyone.

Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon has watched his approval rating sink to minus 14. Two years into their first term, Prime Ministers should still be enjoying their honeymoon with voters. Instead, Luxon is struggling.

Dr Eric Crampton: Über-messy

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that four Uber drivers have actually been Uber employees all along.

In the Court’s view, Uber had enough control over those drivers’ businesses that they couldn’t be considered contractors.

Dr Michael Johnston: Opportunities and challenges for secondary vocational education

When NCEA was introduced in 2002, one of its goals was to improve the uptake and reputation of educational pathways leading to trades and industry. It was assumed that assessing vocational skills for NCEA alongside subjects like mathematics and history would help to accomplish this.

It didn’t work. In fact, the goal was doomed from the outset. Far from overcoming the lower status of vocational education, NCEA locked it in.

Mike's Minute: We need to understand debt better

There is a growing idea in economic circles in America that young people might never own anything.

It's based on the recent news that a new car average price cracked $50,000 for the first time.

It was added to by Trump's idea that we have 50-year mortgages.

 Sunday November 23, 2025 

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Steven Gaskell: The Great Spiritual Rebrand - Now Featuring the Waitangi Treaty Clause

Get ready to light your sacred incense, because the art world has finally achieved peak cultural enlightenment. In a stunning theological breakthrough, the holy family has been officially naturalized. That’s right, the classic Nativity scene, that ancient Palestinian story, has been given a definitive Aotearoa makeover. A swaddled baby Jesus in the manger, a weary Joseph, a beatific Mary, and the three wise men have all been decisively recast as Maori. For the low, low price of $160, you can own this bold reimagining and prove your cosmopolitan sensibilities right in your own living room, because nothing says "quiet devotion" like a conversation-starting piece of theological revisionism.

Barrie Davis: Better Together

We, the people of New Zealand, are being forced apart by our own representative Parliament into two groups – part-Maori and non-Maori. Here is my understanding of the situation:

David Lillis: Harassing Others Online

Online Harassment

Online harassment is a growing problem in pretty much every country. Unfortunately, it is readily available here in New Zealand too (Netsafe New Zealand, 2025). Netsafe defines online harassment in the following manner: when someone says or does something unkind or unsafe to someone else. When such activities happen on a device, such as a computer or mobile phone, it is called online bullying or cyberbullying.

Geoff Parker: Tribalism Is Creeping Into New Zealand....

Tribalism Is Creeping Into New Zealand — And It Threatens Centuries of Hard-Won Democracy 

Democracy didn’t fall from the sky. It was built through blood, rebellion, struggle, and centuries of ordinary people refusing to live under systems where power belonged only to the few. It took generations to overcome monarchy, class hierarchy, feudal obligation, and tribal rule. What replaced them was the revolutionary idea that every individual is an equal citizen, and that government answers to all the people — not to clans, castes, or inherited elites.

Today, New Zealand risks sleepwalking backwards.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 22 November 2025

Puberty blockers

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced that from December 2025 onwards, no new prescriptions for puberty‐blocking medications (specifically GnRH analogues) will be issued for minors for “gender‐affirming care” for gender dysphoria. It is technically until the results of a major UK-based clinical trial expected in 2031 come in, but anyone with a brain can see that any trial will prove that there are few if any benefits and significant lifelong side effects. Unfortunately, current users can continue treatment. The drugs also remain available for other uses (such as precocious puberty, prostate cancer, endometriosis).

Dr Will Jones: Judges Need Fewer Powers, Not More

The Hillsborough Law is well-intentioned, but its effect will be to transfer yet more power from elected members of Parliament to judges – the opposite of what is needed to restore public trust and democratic accountability, says Toby in the Spectator. Here’s an excerpt.

John McLean: Hey there, George's girl!

There’s Jacinda Ardern on the rise...

When Jacinda Ardern quit as New Zealand Prime Minister in 2023, she announced in her resignation speech, “You cannot, and should not, do it unless you have a full tank — plus a bit in reserve for those unexpected challenges”.

The Morrinsville Meteor’s metaphor of running short on fossil fuel somewhat missed her mark, given Ardern’s ardent adherence to climate change carbon catastrophisation. In her campaign speech before New Zealand’s 2017 general election, she’d pontificated, “This [climate change] is my generation’s nuclear-free moment, and I am determined that we will tackle it head on”.

Melanie Phillips: The muddled morass of "settler violence"

Israel has allowed its enemies to defame victims of attack as perpetrators

Earlier in the week, an Israeli man was murdered and three other people were injured in a stabbing and car-ramming attack at the Gush Etzion junction in central Israel.

This attack barely registered among Western media outlets. Gush Etzion is a major crossroads in the “West Bank,” the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. The West views the Jewish residents of these territories as illegal and violent “settlers” rather than the victims of attack.

Matua Kahurangi: Subscriber Stories - Maorification of the health system is out of control

After I published the Wellington nurse’s story last Saturday, the response was huge. More than ten thousand people read it in the first few days. That sort of reach usually means one thing. It was shared inside a nursing or health sector group somewhere in New Zealand.

Not long after, someone from inside the system contacted me, wanting to remain anonymous. Their message was simple. The Māorification inside Health NZ is completely over the top and getting worse.

Kerre Woodham: Who genuinely thinks they have the right to mete out violence?

A new report from the World Health Organization has found (old news really), a quarter of women have been physically or sexually abused by a partner. It's 24.5% for Australia and New Zealand, so about the same. And there are calls for a public awareness and education campaign in this country about domestic violence. Really? Who needs to be taught that assaulting someone, hurting someone is wrong? You know it's wrong. Children know it's wrong.

Bob Edlin: How much does van Velden expect FENZ to cut from its spending?.....

How much does van Velden expect FENZ to cut from its spending? Not $70m – but she was coy when asked during Question Time

The Public Service Association (PSA) earlier this month was urging the government to step in to stop Fire and Emergency’s (FENZ) proposal “to cut almost 170 jobs”.

FENZ was circulating its restructure proposal to its staff at that time but told RNZ it would not release it publicly.

David Farrar: Which David is right?

One of the “safeguards” in the Electoral Integrity (waka jumping) Act is that a party leader needs the support of two thirds of their MPs to expel an MP from Parliament. S55D(c) of the Electoral Act says that a statement by the leader must:

Saturday November 22, 2025 

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Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.11.25

Saturday November 22, 2025 

News:
EIT programme blends practical environmental training with kaupapa Māori learning
Students at EIT are gaining practical environmental skills through programmes that embed the principles of kaitiakitanga (Māori environmental guardianship).

The NZ Certificate in Primary Industry Skills (Level 2) and Primary Industry Operational Skills (Level 3) are delivered, combining predator control, native planting, fencing, and machinery training with a kaupapa Māori approach.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The talk of rolling Luxon is very real

Either Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is telling porkies, or he’s the most out-of-the-loop person in Wellington. His claim that there’s “no talk” of rolling Chris Luxon is complete nonsense. There is talk—serious talk.

Ryan Bridge: Can we rule out a NZ First/Labour coalition?

Can you trust Winston Peters not go with Labour next year?

No you can’t. He hasn’t ruled it out.

Despite National scoring a higher party vote in 2017, he went with Jacinda.

Roger Partridge: Police integrity failures expose gap in law on misconduct in public office

When serious allegations threaten an institution’s reputation or its leader’s credibility, the temptation to bury them may be overwhelming.

In New Zealand’s public institutions, a structural flaw makes this suppression not just tempting but rational.

JC: Right vs Left Media Viewers

Following on from my article earlier this week, I have done some digging, otherwise known as research, to get some recently released numbers on how the left versus the right are faring in the viewer stakes in television land. The figures I managed to unearth are unsurprising, bearing in mind the trend over the last five years or so. I decided to concentrate on Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA – their media landscapes being closely related to our own.

Mike's Minute: Richard Chambers is the Police Commissioner we need

Would we be asking the questions of Police Commissioner Richard Chambers if we hadn't been dealing with McSkimming and Coster and Co.?

From my dealings with Chambers, he is exactly the sort of person who the Police need leading them.

Centrist: After years attacking ACT as ‘colonisers.....

After years attacking ACT as ‘colonisers,’ ex-TPM MPs’ chaotic vote flip triggers allegations Parliament misled

After years of denouncing ACT and its bills as racist and colonial, newly independent MPs Takuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa Kingi have suddenly reversed their votes to back ACT’s Medicines Amendment Bill in the House.

Peter Dunne: A Kids Kiwisaver scheme

The proposal advanced by the Institute for Democratic and Economic Analysis (IDEA) for a Kids Kiwisaver scheme raises interesting questions.

Under IDEA's plan, which is effectively a compulsory savings scheme by stealth, every child would be automatically enrolled in Kiwisaver at birth. There would be a government kick-start to each new Kiwisaver account and thereafter a government matching of small annual contributions by low- and middle-income families to a child's account.

Roger Partridge: Analysing Uber - the critical point the Supreme Court failed to properly consider

The Supreme Court’s Uber judgment (Rasier Operations BV v E Tū Inc [2025] NZSC 162) has delivered clarity of a sort. The Court dismissed Uber’s appeal, upholding the finding that drivers are employees when logged into the Uber app.

The decision was unanimous on the outcome but divided on reasoning. The majority judgment of Winkelmann CJ , Williams and Miller JJ and the separate judgment by Glazebrook and Ellen France JJ disagreed on fundamental questions, including whether the Court of Appeal had erred in the role of subjective intention in the analysis.

Bob Edlin: Is it modesty?.....

Is it modesty? Brown is coy when asked what he expected after funds and jobs were bled from Health NZ’s IT projects

When $330 million in funding was lopped from Health New Zealand digital work along with 400 staff and more than 132 IT projects – what did the Minister think would happen?

David Farrar: BSA did not talk to Crown Law

I sent in an OIA to Crown Law on the 16th of October asking:

any communication between Crown Law and the Broadcasting Standards Authority around whether a person who publishes audio and video over the Internet can be regarded as a broadcaster under the Broadcastings Act 1989.

If there is such advice, and it is legally privileged, I would still like to know whether such advice was sought and given, even if the actual advice can’t be provided.

Crown Law has responded:

Friday November 21, 2025 

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Ryan Bridge: Are we on the cusp of an economic turn around?

We've got a bunch of new economic numbers this morning.

The recovery is underway. Finally.

We've had false dawns before, so I'm not overcooking this, but things are moving in the right direction. Investor confidence is up for Q3.

Ani O'Brien: Parole Board called it "managed risk", now a woman is dead

Inside the offender-first justice system that keeps releasing New Zealand’s monsters

We can all see it. Our Government can see it. They’ve made legislative changes, but the judiciary digs in. Our justice system bends over backwards for offenders while the people they’ve terrorised are told to “trust the process.” Officials love to talk about “risk management” and “rehabilitation,” but for victims, in particular women living with the consequences of male violence, those phrases are code for one thing: he’ll keep getting second chances until he kills someone.

Craig Rucker: COP30 - The UN wants trillions more!

In Brazil, they call it a “mutirão,” meaning the community pitching in together to accomplish a common goal.

At COP30 in Belém, it means you do the paying, and the UN pitches in by doing the collecting.

Chris Lynch: Government move on puberty blockers follows strong push from New Zealand First

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has welcomed the Government’s decision to halt any new prescribing of puberty blockers, saying his party had pushed for the change throughout the election campaign.

Dr Eric Crampton: If this is employment law, the law needs to change

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that Uber did not merely facilitate connections between four drivers and their various passengers – as Uber has maintained. And that the four drivers were not contractors for Uber either.

Instead, those drivers were Uber employees while logged into the app.

If they were employees, it’s a strange sort of employment relationship.

Matua Kahurangi: It's time To abolish the Broadcasting Standards Authority....

ACT’s Laura McClure is right: It's time To abolish the Broadcasting Standards Authority

ACT MP Laura McClure has sparked a necessary debate with her member’s bill to abolish the Broadcasting Standards Authority, calling time on what she describes as an outdated and unnecessary institution. After years of creeping overreach, ballooning levies, and increasingly irrelevant regulation, her proposal lands at exactly the right moment.

Kerre Woodham: What makes NZ workplaces so dangerous?

It's the 15th anniversary today of the Pike River mine disaster, and on this anniversary, unions are calling for a corporate manslaughter law to be enshrined in legislation, as it is in other countries like the UK, Australia, Canada.

Alwyn Poole: Equity of Opportunity in Education

A Summary of Cameron Bagrie’s Business Desk Piece on Education (all quotes below)

– Do we have equality of opportunity in schooling? We’d like to think so. I’ve heard many politicians talk about it. We do not have it.

– Education is one of my bugbears that I consider an essential part of the economic formula for addressing social challenges and increasing living standards.

David Farrar: $2.3 billion saved on ferries

Winston Peters announced:

The Government has saved the taxpayer billions with two new Interislander ferries from Guangzhou Shipyard International and no-nonsense infrastructure in Picton and Wellington, Rail Minister Winston Peters announced today.

“Two new ferries serving road and rail will enter Cook Strait service in 2029, thanks to a $596 million fixed price contract between Ferry Holdings and experienced shipbuilder Guangzhou Shipyard International,” Mr Peters says.

Richard Prebble: A Year Is an Eternity in Politics — Luxon Knows It, Trump Fears It

If a week is a long time in politics, a year is an eternity. Both Prime Minister Luxon and President Trump must hope so — though for one of them, time may already have run out.

In New Zealand, the National-led coalition is somehow trailing Labour in the polls on economic management. Labour took office with a wonderful set of books, inflation under control, and the economy growing. They left behind deficits, debt, inflation, and a recession. Yet today Labour leads on the very issue they mismanaged. If the coalition cannot reverse that number, it signals defeat.

Mike's Minute: This is why the govt shouldn't mess with markets

This is how we end up in trouble. Things are said that aren't challenged.

Here's the headline: "NZ will be dumping ground for high emission cars".

That was a claim from an EV lobby group. I wonder why they would say that?

 Thursday November 20, 2025 

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Clive Bibby: Running on Empty- it doesn't have to signal the end is nigh

In some ways, I'm quite proud of the fact that most of my adult life has been spent struggling to survive during events that are not of our making - we are survivors!

My guess is that a good dollop of the population can identify with that rather negative claim but it would be a mistake to assume that those like me are living an unfulfilled existence.

Steven Gaskell: When “Identity” Becomes a Funding Strategy: The Magically Expanding Population

For decades we’ve been told that the rapidly expanding Māori population is a triumph of cultural revival a demographic renaissance driven by pride, resilience, and whakapapa. A neat story, certainly, but one that becomes a little less poetic the moment you look at how the numbers are actually assembled. Because the “doubling” of the Māori population since 1991 isn’t the result of a baby boom or sudden historic revelation. It’s the product of an increasingly flexible, politically convenient definition of ethnicity one that can expand or contract depending on who’s filling out the census and what benefits are attached to ticking the right box.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Breakers proved why sport needs to stay out of politics

There would not be a drama today about the Breakers basketball team not wanting to wear the rainbow flag on their jerseys if the basketball league had stayed out of politics in the first place.

Now, if you haven't caught up on this, there is unnecessary upset today because it's emerged that the entire Breakers team will not wear that little rainbow Pride flag on their jerseys during Pride Round next year because some of the players don't want to.

Garrick Tremain: His decision with Euthanasia - Part 4

In the final part of this 4-part interview on The Platform, terminally ill Garrick Tremain talks to Sean Plunket about his decision with Euthanasia.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Chris Bishop has done a Tory Whanau

The story about Chris Bishop and the funding switcheroo is mostly a beat up, I think, and nobody will care. He's the Housing Minister, the Transport Minister, and the MP for Hutt South.

Basically, some Kainga Ora housing project cash was transferred to transport to pay for a bridge. He signed it off - so far, who cares, right?

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Luxon’s Cosplay Will Lead to Failure

I’ve written two prior essays on this: one dissecting the structural incoherence of NZ’s proposed social media legislation and another diagnosing Christopher Luxon’s managerial style. Though the first wasn’t targeted at him directly, his recent promise to pass the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill before Christmas 2025 proves both points. It’s a convergence of strategic failure and performative urgency – a case study in cosplay politics.

Luxon is not leading. He is floundering to achieve ‘something’ that might resemble leadership. But what he’s delivering is symbolic action dressed up as governance – hollow in conception and dangerous in its implications.